Kfamily Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 This is my first year with a high school student and I'm finding that the older she gets the more defined her interests become. This year my dd has enough interests in books and topics to keep her busy for almost her entire 9th grade year without any requirements by me. I know that there are many parents who would suggest I only add the absolutely necessary requirements and follow her lead, and then there will be parents here who will insist that their interests should be done only on their own time. I have to admit, I think I'm somewhere in the middle right now. For me the problem with letting her follow her own interests on her own time, is that she still needs and wants help with many of these subjects. She is only 14 still and just beginning high school so her foundation is still in process. The problem I have with only requiring a few specific subjects and allowing her to choose the rest of what she learns is that she often realizes she enjoys something after I've introduced it to her. She's also very opinionated (:lol:) and I know that she needs to be introduced to ideas that are different from what she is certain matters the most. :D I can't complain too much in this department, because her interests are very academic in nature. This is also why I'm struggling with this. I'm trying to decide how to balance this. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 My 14 y/o DD has a very strong non-academic interest to which she devotes 25-30 hours per week - horses. She is also interested in creative writing and loves to read. I require her to work on the necessary regular core subjects (math, science, English, history and French) for 5.5-6 hours per day. Any time thereafter is hers to use as she pleases - this leaves her enough time to follow her interests while simultaneously following a rigorous college preparation course of studies. Now, if she develops a specific interest WITHIN the frame of her coursework, she has the freedom to tailor her work. This means,for instance, that she chooses the topics for her writing assignments, essays and presentations; she also gets a say in the literature selections. She does not have an imposed schedule, but is free to choose which subject she wants to work on - a long as it averages out over the month. I believe this gives her enough freedom. She has completely free choice of electives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 (edited) Thanks regentrude, I like your approach as it seems to match my idea of balance too. She has so many interests that I'm not always sure how to fit it all in. She is a true lover of the humanities in every aspect and foreign languages too. Math and science are the subjects she could happily skip, but these are the very subjects she must have. Her dad and I are resolved that she will graduate with 4 years in math and science, so we will devote the 2-2.5 hours daily to achieve this. This leaves the rest of the time for all her favorites. If I typed in here all of the books she would need to meet her goals, most of you would insist that is was far too heavy. I need to trim the list but I can't seem to decide what I should eliminate. She wants to study much of this, but also wants me to be involved. She wants input and feedback from all that she is learning. (Of couse, I haven't read almost all of the books myself which makes this even harder.) She does read, research and write what interests her much of the time independently, but I know that if I could be a better guide for her she could achieve so much more. It doesn't help that my younger dd is very much like this too. I've already worked up a list for her and it is very stout as well. Both girls love and are doing well with French and Latin so this is not an area to be dropped. They would like to learn more languages! In fact, they both just added Gaelic to the list! My older dd already has an Anglo-Saxon primer and dictionary she uses. She loves mythology and is already reading and well into Bulfinch's Mythology. Here is a list of just some of the newest books I need to find a place for along with what we already had planned. (We are reading the Iliad, the Odyssey, The Oresteia and The Three Theban Plays this year as well as others.) The Nibelungenlied: Prose Translation (Penguin Classics) The Wagner Operas by Ernest Newman The Song of Taliesin: Stories and Poems From the Books of Broceliande by John Matthews The Saga of the Volsungs (Penguin Classics) The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise by Christopher Tolkien Honestly, there could be more books for this category, but I have a budget for our school year. In fact, outside of the needed textbooks such as science and math, most of the budget went towards a couple of books for my younger dd and the rest to the Gaelic and the above books. So, I think I have a plan, but it is full and I would like to create something that has more order to it. Any advice? Edited August 29, 2011 by Kfamily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 If I typed in here all of the books she would need to meet her goals, most of you would insist that is was far too heavy. I need to trim the list but I can't seem to decide what I should eliminate. She wants to study much of this, but also wants me to be involved. She wants input and feedback from all that she is learning. (Of couse, I haven't read almost all of the books myself which makes this even harder.) She does read, research and write what interests her much of the time independently, but I know that if I could be a better guide for her she could achieve so much more. It doesn't help that my younger dd is very much like this too. I've already worked up a list for her and it is very stout as well. She loves mythology and is already reading and well into Bulfinch's Mythology. Here is a list of just some of the newest books I need to find a place for along with what we already had planned. (We are reading the Iliad, the Odyssey, The Oresteia and The Three Theban Plays this year as well as others.) The Nibelungenlied: Prose Translation (Penguin Classics) The Wagner Opera by Ernest Newman The Song of Taliesin: Stories and Poems From the Books of Broceliande by John Matthews The Saga of the Volsungs (Penguin Classics) The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise by Christopher Tolkien So, I think I have a plan, but it is full and I would like to create something that has more order to it. Any advice? Your DD sounds much like mine! We went chronological; she read the Greek stuff last year - and zipped through Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Herodotus, Ovid and several Greek tragedies. I can not read every single book, since I also have a job; but I listened to all 72 Teaching company lectures we used, and that gave me enough information to be a discussion partner. This year we started in the Middle Ages; DD read Beowulf (the fabulous verse translation by Heaney) is currently working on the Nibelungenlied in German in verse, has Chaucer and Dante next and insists on studying the whole Comedia and not just the Inferno. The way I start the year is with a long book list and the understanding that some are important works that must be read, and otherwise that she will read and study as much as is feasible. This gives us the freedom to omit the occasional book she can not get into (last year: Thukydides). And some books she just reads, without in-depth study. We like TC lectures, and have found an Open Courseware class for Dante - these I will do with her, but I will not be able to read everything. I just pick a few most important works. I am thrilled when DD jumps up and down for pleasure because the Beowulf is so gorgeous, or develops strong opinions about the characters in the Nibelung saga -I find this stuff a lot of fun, too, and it is so wonderful to have a motivated student whom you don't have to drag to the books ;-) Good luck to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Can you create a minimum of works that will be discussed and written about? Then allow her time to linger in her interests without planned assignments. Do you have anyone that could mentor her in the literature department? We're reading Tolkien's biography right now and I kept thinking of your dd's studies as we read today and how fascinating it was. I wonder if there is an online group of philologists that could help? From what I've read, I know you are a very active participant in your childrens' education, so I'm not saying you couldn't. However, this may be an area to allow her to spread her wings and bring in another person's expertise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Honestly, there could be more books for this category, but I have a budget for our school year. In fact, outside of the needed textbooks such as science and math, most of the budget went towards a couple of books for my younger dd and the rest to the Gaelic and the above books. Have you checked Project Gutenberg? Many old works are available for free - the Nibelungenlied most definitely. DD got a Kindle and now most of her books for literature are available free - at least while we are still in olden times. They may not, however, have the translation you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Thanks regentrude, and I agree, they do sound alike. :001_smile: I like your idea of creating a main list and working from it. Once we get settled in Japan, I hope to find that the library has many TC lectures and I will get started on those right away. I was just thinking about MIT's OpenCourseWare... I agree, it is wonderful that she is so interested. I can hardly keep up! Paula, I will definitely keep looking for anyone/anything that can feed her mind better than I am right now. I really cannot wait to get to Japan, because this messy schedule and lifestyle is sooo hard when I really need to be studying and preparing for the girls. We are really just hanging in there. :lol: Sadly, I would love to have more time to learn with her. I find all of this fascinating too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Actually I did find one very interesting site that has many of these works as pdf downloads. In fact, the book by Christopher Tolkien is so expensive and I was thrilled that I could download it from this site. This same site had the Saga of the Volsungs as well (only I had already ordered it) and many other very interesting books/articles. I do like Google Books and Project Gutenberg and find these sites very helpful. Dd found a Gaelic grammar book she liked and we have this saved too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Actually I did find one very interesting site that has many of these works as pdf downloads. Would you mind sharing the address of that site? I'm sure many of us can use it. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Not at all... http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.