Do you have overall goals for your kids for high school. Here are mine..

[Ame E.]

but I am not sure they are big picture enough.. It's a combination of piddly details and overall goals.. Do these seem do-able.

 

Academically - this year

For my son, getting up to speed and through Algebra I is my immediate goal.

 

For both children, getting them interested and involved in science.. is also a goal. The goal is scientific literacy -- whatever that means..

 

these are hard goals for me, because neither my husband nor myself are very interested or know much about math or science so how do we pass on a skill we ourselves don't have..

 

I want them enrolled in an online Latin program.

 

I want them enrolled in honors English.

 

I want them to write a lot.

 

I want him to be able to pursue his musical talents.

 

I want her to be able to pursue her fine arts talents.

 

I am willing have them help me pick curriculum for the upcoming year.

I am also willing to use separate curriculums for both kids based on learning styles..

 

I want an experienced academic advisor.

 

I am willing to enroll in a program...but because of how I have homeschooled before, I don't really like not being able to pick and choose.

 

I am willing to enroll in a program, so long as there is a lot of academic support available and a lot of flexibility and they can stand doing the work..

 

I am still going between the advantages of an accredited versus nonaccredited programs.. Does accrediation really mean all that much.

 

PERSONALLY

I want them to keep their faith.

I want them to grow in virtues and in love for God.

I want them to be happy.

I want them to be physically fit.

I don't want the academics to be so overpowering that it eats up every moment of their day (and mine too).

I want them to see other kids on a regular basis.

I also want them to have time to help me clean the house

and to work outside the house if need be.

 

FUTURE

I would like them enrolled in at least a few AP classes by junior year.

I want them to get into college.

I want them to have some ideas about which careers they are interested in before college.

I would like them to do really well on the SATs so they have scholarship options.

I want them to be able to earn a decent living once out of college.

I don't want them in debt for 25 years paying off college expenses

 

Are these goals?? please share yours.

 

Thanks

 

Ame

[JennW in SoCal]

You've articulated everything that goes through all of our minds as we face the high school years -- academic goals, personal goals. The next challenge is to come up with a plan that best fits you, your kids and your goals.

 

My own goal has always been to produce thoughtful, caring, articulate and responsible young men who have a broad knowledge base and the tools they need to continue studying throughout life. That's my bottom line, the absolute minimum I expect from them. My personal goal is to keep as many doors open for them as possible, which in other words means not to screw it up so they are unable to go to the kind of college they'd like!:D

 

For one child the plan that fit best has been being enrolled in a charter school for homeschoolers and checking off all those boxes for a California high school diploma. It has meant making lots of time for his volunteer work in his field of interest. He has specific plans for his life -- where to go to school, what career he wants and where he is going to work, and it does not include SATs or private, elite 4 year colleges. He graduates next year, and he is a young man I'm quite proud of.

 

For the other child the future is still wide open (he's just heading into 8th grade), so I'm planning for the best possible WTM style high school I can give him.

 

By the way, about whether it matters to be in an "accredited" program. Some state colleges don't accept transcripts and diplomas from non-accredited high schools, including independent homeschoolers. The California colleges and universities don't for example (excpet UC Riverside). Most independent homeschoolers here either go to private universities or to local community colleges first.

[Anne/Ankara]

One of my heroes is John Gatto, and this is from his article on universal education... I think I agree with a lot of these goals in education, adding of course a firm religious sense, moral strength, and belief in God. http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=794

 

 

What Private School parents want

 

Now let's take a look at what parents at the finest private schools want from schooling. I've been studying their expectations for nearly 20 years in order to compare them with my own goals. I'm talking about the 20 ritziest private boarding schools in America – schools like Groton, St. Pauls, Deerfield, Kent.

 

I'm going to ask you to note that none of the principles these parents seek cost a penny to develop. Everybody could do one or all these things with their kids just as well as Exeter or St.Paul's could. What these elite private school parents want schools to teach their children, in no particular order of importance, are:

 

• good manners and to display those manners to everyone without thinking, because they know in this way their children will be welcome everywhere.

 

• hard intellectual knowledge, undiluted, but in simple English so no specialized jargon interferes with understanding the fundamental ideas.

 

• love and appreciation for the land and the natural world of plants and animals, because without this understanding, life becomes lonely, barren, and abstract.

 

• a public sense of decorum so that they can adapt naturally to every setting they find themselves in without provoking anger and opposition.

 

• a common core of western culture so that all the generations can be comfortable with a shared set of tastes and values.

 

• leadership; they aren't interested in their children being part of a managed herd.

 

• self-discipline.

 

A major concern of private school parents is that the schools understand the partially invisible qualification system that provides access to key positions in the economy. These parents expect schools to qualify their children to move freely through the economic system. But don't we all want this?

 

Private school parents also demand individualized attention for their children, small classes, continuous pressure on their children to stretch individual limits, exposure to many different theoretical and practical aspects of life, exercises to develop self-reliance and self-confidence.

 

To be educated is to understand yourself and others, to know your culture and that of others, your history and that of others, your religious outlook and that of others. If you miss out on this, you are always at the mercy of someone else to interpret what the facts of any situation mean.