How did you prepare to teach HS?

[sahm99]

These last months it has become clearer to us that we might "pull through" homeschooling HS...

I am now very seriously scared!!!

 

How should I prepare to teach what I barely remember? I was a very good student, but this was a looooong time ago!

 

I went ahead and ordered Omnibus 1-3 with Spielvogel, "to get a feeling" for the GB, ahead of time.

Also, I intend to look more thoroughly at the Rhethoric assignments in ToG (ds is doing Dialectic).

 

What about math? I have been "okay" in school, none in College. Should I study ahead?

 

Did you establish a self-education schedule for you ahead of time, or just tag along your HS-student (latin, math, history, science...GB...writing!!!)

 

Also, ds will need to take at least 5 APs by his Junior Year, for admission into european universities (2 languages, 1 math, 1 science, 1 social science, 1 additional).

How should we prepare for this?

Is an AP-course going to substitute a "regular class"? Should I just make sure that he has a thorough grounding in these subjects by 8th, or is there more to it, concerning preparation?

 

Thank you for helping me to figure out the first steps...this is unknown territory...and I am lost...and panicked...!

Edited June 22, 2011 by sahm99

[Nan in Mass]

Rueful grin... I taught my children middle school.

 

Short answer: My own high school math, lots of reading for fun, my college Greek, my college anthropology, keeping up with my French, and reading my children's lessons out loud to them have been what I did that allowed me to teach high school.

 

And I had a good math program in my own high school. And on a whim I took ancient Greek in college and a French literature class. And just for my own purposes, I went to spent a month in Switzerland one summer in order to try to improve my French. I don't think it improved it so much as cemented it and helped me to be able to use the French I had studied (French program was bad in my high school). Then to keep myself from losing my high school French, when I got out of college I read one book in French each year. I began with TinTin comic books and worked my way up to Agatha Christie novels and Harry Potter. I've always read a lot and never had any trouble with things like Shakespearian English. Honestly, if it is any comfort, except for the Greek class, the lit class, and 2 anthropology classes, my college education has been no help whatsoever. What has really, really helped was remembering my own high school classes. I didn't remember them before I taught them AT ALL. But when I reread the material in my children's books, as we went along, I knew what to do with it. The college Greek class is no help as far as Greek goes because I don't remember any of it, but it was a big help with Latin because I knew what conjugations and declentions were and I understood the different tenses and moods. I didn't remember any of it, but when it was explained in Latin, I understood it. My high school math was really important. I read every chapter aloud to my children and write out the example problems to remind myself so I can help them if they get stuck and check their work properly. And the anthropology (I took cultural and linguistic) were helpful because they allowed me to see how a society works, which is helpful for history and geography and great books and peace studies, and also helpful because it showed me how many different systems do work just fine and gave me the courage to try something different with my own children. It also gave me a more global outlook. I suppose the computer programming I had helped me with the logic and organization of essay writing, also. I wish I were fluent in several foreign languages and I wish I had learned how to write before my children were in high school and I wish I had known more about teaching in general and what works and I wish I were a scientist, a working scientist. One thing that I did do which was good was go through the Pimsleur French tapes and the old foreign service French pronounciation program (free online now). That was very helpful.

I can suggest some things I wish I had done, if you like.

-Nan

[Mommyfaithe]

I guess the best prep is to be prepared for your kids to be smarter than you are. :D

 

Read...read...read. Then discus...discuss...discuss.

 

Much of our high school years are devoted to reading and discussing....

 

I prepared for high school by teaching all the way through grammar and middle school. Like Nan said, I read aloud many of their books and try to read books on the subjects they are taking, but at a higher level. I have watched dvd's and you tube videos with them for science and math...whatever it takes to grasp a subject and help facilitate an understanding of it.

 

I think reading through some of the omnibus books and maybe working through some TOG is a good idea to get a feel for how you want to approach the high school years.

 

Good luck,

[choirfarm]

I went ahead and ordered Omnibus 1-3 with Spielvogel, "to get a feeling" for the GB, ahead of time.

Also, I intend to look more thoroughly at the Rhethoric assignments in ToG (ds is doing Dialectic).

 

...!

 

Hi. I'm confused. Are you going to switch from TOG to Omnibus???? I would just stick with TOG unless you don't like it and yes, read the rhetoric and do it yourself as he is doing it. That would be the "easiest" way and it has plenty of material for self-education.

 

As far as math, it depends on you I guess. I remember all basic math and all of college Algebra. I remembered most of Geometry, though needed to brush up on proofs. However, by the end of Alg II, this last year I was no help at all to my oldest. Nor will I be able to help in in Pre-calc at all. Thankfully, he rarely needs my help. I generally hand him the key and let him look at it and he goes.."OHH!! I see." I am going to try and find a math teacher that may meet with him every so often this year.

 

Which brings me to the point that I want to make and I know I sound like a broken record. The truth is you will not be able to self-educate yourself on every single subject your children are taking if you have more than one child..though I could just about do it with two. Adding the third child into the mix made me realize the futility. I have taken the last couple of years and had one or two subjects that I feel are a priority for each child and made sure to concentrate on that, self educate myself, etc.

 

As far as AP, we are using PA Homeschoolers which I find to be great so far. Last year my oldest took AP stats, next year both boys will take AP government and my oldest will take AP Chemistry. As far as does it subtitute...depends. For history, TOG should give them a great background. You might just self study for the exam if you feel comfortable. Otherwise enroll them in PA Homeschoolers. What they did for TOD will give them a good background. However, for science most children need a year introductory course before they take an AP. That said, I know people on this board have done Apologia Chemistry and Advanced Chemistry in one year. We chose to break it up and actually do a different text for AP Chemistry with PA Homeschoolers. He is actually looking forward to having something other than Apologia for science even though he has enjoyed it. For language I have used RS and SOS and this year the older two will take it at community college.

 

Christine