From mom's who've graduated seniors or those close to graduation

[sandalwood]

If you had to do it all over again (Moms) and you could start 9th grade with a clean slate ---- What curriculum would you use? Would you use a "boxed" curriculum or individual things? I have read pros and cons of using Christian curriculum, secular curriculum, certain maths, etc. till my head spins.

 

I have no idea where my son will go to college so I can't gear his curriculum towards that right now. I have one child, so this is my only test run with high school. I don't know what curriculum to choose for high school. He's very good doing independent work, so I think I could probably use most anything?

 

Any advice? Anything you wouldn't do again?

[laughing lioness]

I started responding here, but my answer grew in to a blog post. You can read it here. :001_smile:

We're on our 3rd homeschool high schooler (just finishing our 21rst year of homeschooling). 2 graduates so far: our oldest is graduating this May with a B.A. after spending time in Europe. Our 2nd oldest is graduating this May with a Cosmetology degree and is going to start an R.N. program in the fall. Our 3rd will be a Senior in High School this fall.

Have fun planning high school!

[3byzaz]

I started responding here, but my answer grew in to a blog post. You can read it here. :001_smile:

We're on our 3rd homeschool high schooler (just finishing our 21rst year of homeschooling). 2 graduates so far: our oldest is graduating this May with a B.A. after spending time in Europe. Our 2nd oldest is graduating this May with a Cosmetology degree and is going to start an R.N. program in the fall. Our 3rd will be a Senior in High School this fall.

Have fun planning high school!

 

Wow - Just read your blog - it was so helpful!!! Thanks so much!!!:001_smile:

[kroe1]

I am eager to hear some responses also. My first one was only after-schooled so I cannot take credit. And my second one just wants to do A Beka texts no matter how much I try to entire her with a more classical and/or literature based program. It's very frustrating for me, but it is how she is. So we'll be starting 9th grade this fall with all A Beka. Box day came last week.

[laughing lioness]

Wow - Just read your blog - it was so helpful!!! Thanks so much!!!:001_smile:

 

ymvw and tyvm!!:001_smile:

[Leanna Tomlinson]

We are about to graduate child #3 (ds). Dd#1 is about to graduate from college, get married this summer, and begin teaching in the fall. Dd #2 is wrapping up her sophomore year in nursing.

 

My second two definitely benefitted from having a sister ahead of them. For both of my younger two I did things a little differently.

 

1- I learned that they need outside accountability in subjects they don't love. They have all the motivation they need in their chosen fields, but someone who hates math is not going to push themselves. How did this translate?

My younger two took several classes at an academic co-op which I organized. The accountability was motivating and the classroom discussions made these subjects more interesting. These two are both science and math oriented, so the co-op classes they took were discussion based history, lit, composition, and Spanish classes.

 

2 - I committed to find math tutors/classes when my children surpassed me. My ds is taking Calculus II and will likely CLEP out of a 5 hour introductory Calc class for his college engineering program. My eldest REALLY REALLY needed a math class, and I regret not providing that for her. (Ironically, she's marrying a math professor, so I guess she'll be OK if they decide to homeschool.;))

 

3- I had the younger two take college classes online for credit during senior year. They also took several CLEPs. Both did/will enter college with 15 -18 credits. This allowed my dd#2 to add a music minor to her nursing major. It will allow my ds to add a business minor to his computer engineering major.

Dd #1 could have finished in 3.5 years had I known about CLEPs and online classes.

 

4 - We tried to encourage job opportunities which promoted self-discipline, self-management, and leadership. We observed several teens in our kids' circles and were much more impressed with those who used jobs to explore their potential rather than become slaves to a schedule and a paycheck. I also observed many teens suffering academically when they allowed their minimum wage jobs to take a toll on their academic output.

 

5- I was very glad we did TOG for history and literature. Every time a new family joins our co-op, I have to teach the new students that the answers to the weekly questions require analysis and thought. Many students who have used pure textbook approaches are accustomed to finding the right answers, but not analyzing the information or forming their own opinions.

 

6- I am very glad I emphasized writing for my dc. It was tempting not to push my younger two who were flying in math and science, but I'm so glad I persevered. My ds was appalled at the writing skills of many in his online classes and many of these were college seniors!

 

7- If I could, I would try to provide access several different writing teachers over the course of high school. I think it is a huge benefit to receive input from different view points.

 

8- I would try to get some of those annoying little requirements like Health and PE out of the way in 9th and 10th grades. When your child is old enough to drive, his opportunities increase, and it's nice to have those little classes out of the way. (Yes, ds is STILL doing Health!)

 

I'm sure there is more to say, but that's a start.....

[RobinL in Canada]

I started responding here, but my answer grew in to a blog post. You can read it here. :001_smile:

We're on our 3rd homeschool high schooler (just finishing our 21rst year of homeschooling). 2 graduates so far: our oldest is graduating this May with a B.A. after spending time in Europe. Our 2nd oldest is graduating this May with a Cosmetology degree and is going to start an R.N. program in the fall. Our 3rd will be a Senior in High School this fall.

Have fun planning high school!

 

Just wanted to say: I glanced at your profile on your blog and...Galaxy Quest! One of my family's all-time favourites with every line a memorable quote! ("Could they be the miners? " Well, sure, they're like 4 years old." Pause. "Miners, not minors!" Pause. "You lost me....")

[Lori D.]

Well, I think you'll get a different answer re: curriculum from every single homeschooler ;) because what works for each of us is different, so that may not be of help. Also, you will likely find that your student will change *dramatically* throughout the high school years, along with life circumstances/needs, so quite often you may start with one theory and plan for home education, and find you end up in a completely different place.

I would suggest that in planning for a successful high school homeschooling experience, first take a step back and think through/jot down your "big picture" overall goals -- specific curriculum often falls in line when you realize the what direction you want to head in, and how much ground you want to cover.

Welcome to high school planning, Sandalwood! BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.


_______________________

excerpt from this past thread:

While it is really tempting to jump in and starting picking programs for subjects as your starting point for high school, my suggestion is to first back up a little and do some "big picture planning". Usually, the smaller details, such as curriculum, then fall into place. And more importantly, you won't accidentally miss out on something you wanted to do if you plan ahead.

First (and you'll need to do this for EACH student, since each is very different), think about what you are trying to accomplish in high school: transition your student from childhood to adulthood, and to be prepared to step into career/college or other independent experience after graduation.

Here are a few questions to think about to help come up with your "big picture":
- What God-given interests, gifts, or strengths does the student already exhibit?
- What values do YOU wish to pass on?
- What knowledge/skills (life, relationships, career, etc.) will the child NEED to succeed?
- What specific academic coursework, extracurriculars, and/or experiences will help the student move smoothly into into life after high school?

Some questions to help think about how homeschool fits in with your "big picture":
- Do you think home school will be for all of high school? Part of it? Just one year?
- Will attending a "brick and mortar" school be a possibility at some point?
- Does the student have remedial needs?
- Does the student have advanced/excellerated needs?
- Does the student have specific gifts/interests to encourage? Weaknesses to work on?

And while the final authority and decision rests with the parents, seek the student's input:
- What is the student's attitude towards schooling at home and toward the parent as teacher / mentor / administrator?
- What does the student say are his/her future goals? And his/her plans to achieve these goals?
- Does the student have any career or special interests at this time?

If you would like, you can email me and I can send you in a return email a "packet" in text format that I made for our homeschool group that includes: thinking through "the big picture" and setting goals; how to make a high school plan; a time-table of important dates/deadlines through the high school years; info on transcripts, grades, GPA, record keeping, etc. My email: neferlla AT hotmail DOT com


Okay, so once you've thought through these questions, hopefully you come up with a paragraph or a list of what you want to accomplish in high school -- your "mission statement". (lol) Now you can start figuring out what kinds of classes will help you accomplish your goals, and *then* from there, what materials do you want to use for those classes.


At this point, it is helpful to find out what your state high school graduation requirements and local college admission requirements are, and use their combined requirements as a sort of overall "framework" for YOUR goals.

- Find your state high school graduation requirements here.
- Do a google search for several public and private universities in your state for "freshman admission requirements" to find out what credits your students must accomplish to enter college.


Combining state graduation and college requirements generally results in a list like this:

- English = 4 credits
- Math = 4 credits (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, a math above Algebra 2)
- Science = 3 credits (with labs)
- Social Studies = 3 credits (1= American Hist.; 1 = World History; 0.5 = Gov't; 0.5 = Economics)
- Foreign Language = 2 credits (of the same language)
- Fine Arts = 1 credit
- Computer = 1 credit
- PE / Health = 2 credits
- Electives = 2-4 credits
TOTAL = 22-24 credits

(Note: if you have a student headed into the STEM (science-technology-engineering-medical) fields, you will need 4 science credits rather than 3. Also, some colleges require 3-4 years of a foreign language, and not all colleges accept Latin as the foreign language.)


When you divide that total by the 4 years of high school, you'll see you usually need about 6 credits (classes) per year of high school. Remember, a 1 credit course roughly equals 1 hour of work per day, 4-5 days a week. So to do 5 credits, plan on 5 hours of school a day for 4-5 days a week. To do 6 credits, plan on 6 hours of school a day. For 6.5 credits = 6.5 hours/day, and for 7 credits = 7 hours a day.

_________________________________________


Transitioning into high school: how do you know where to put the focus?
How to you get motivated to enter the high school years?

An open invitation to all the moms of 8th graders
Looking back
If you knew then what you know now
From those who have high school graduates -- what worked?
Preparing for high school
S/O from K8 Board -- what would you do differently to be better prepared for high school?
What would you do differently/the same regarding exracurriculars?
What is life like on the other side? (Do you wish you had done some things differently)

What HAVEN'T you managed to pull off? (a very helpful thread to also realize you have to be able to just let go of some expectations for high school)

If you had to do over again, what would you have emphasized in the Logic stage
High School Parents -- looking back, what would your ideal be for 7th/8th grade?

[laughing lioness]

Just wanted to say: I glanced at your profile on your blog and...Galaxy Quest! One of my family's all-time favourites with every line a memorable quote! ("Could they be the miners? " Well, sure, they're like 4 years old." Pause. "Miners, not minors!" Pause. "You lost me....")

 

It's a classic, isn't it?!;)

Our VERY fav is the scene with Guy panicking, "Oh no! I just realized it! I don't have a last name! It's always the guy without a last name who dies!......(he continues to panic...)

"Guy! You have a last name!"

"Do I? Do I? Mommy! Mommy!"

 

"Are we there yet??"

 

Or how 'bout, "Look! I have one job on this ship. It's stupid, but I'm gonna do it!" (I quote that all the time!).

 

This is so our family.

 

The humor is so lost when written down but I'm still:lol: thinking about it!

[Lori D.]

"Does the rolling help?"

(this gets quoted a lot at our house, whenever someone does something deemed by another as showy and unnecessary...)

 

:lol:

 

 

"Oh, it's always about YOU!"

(Alan Rickman's annoyed response as Tim Allen is calling for help, about to be squashed by the Rock Monster -- it's the WAY he delivers that line; you KNOW they have a history...)

 

:lol:

 

"Maybe you're not the expendable extra... Maybe you're the plucky comic relief!"

(gotta love Tony Shalub's cheery outlook!)

Edited April 1, 2012 by Lori D.

[usetoschool]

If you had to do it all over again (Moms) and you could start 9th grade with a clean slate ---- What curriculum would you use? Would you use a "boxed" curriculum or individual things? I have read pros and cons of using Christian curriculum, secular curriculum, certain maths, etc. till my head spins.

 

We never used a boxed curriculum, but that is just us. I don't think it matters, really. I think it matters more that you focus on your child's interests, talents, and strengths. How your child likes to learn and how diligent you and they are at implementing it matters much more. After 20 years I am reasonably convinced there is no right curriculum (but, hey, I am open to suggestions).

 

I have no idea where my son will go to college so I can't gear his curriculum towards that right now. I have one child, so this is my only test run with high school. I don't know what curriculum to choose for high school. He's very good doing independent work, so I think I could probably use most anything?

 

I think that answer is different for all my kids, never mind giving advice to someone else :) I am a fan of a basic, well rounded education that involves lots of writing, thinking, discussing, and covers the basics of science, history, math, and literature reading and analysis. (and more writing...) Make sure all the foundational stuff like grammar and spelling are up to par.

 

Any advice? Anything you wouldn't do again?

 

I wouldn't get caught up in making sure they KNOW everything :willy_nilly::willy_nilly: We got distracted by pursuing facts and trivia a couple of times. I need to keep my focus on the big picture, connections, communications, skills. There are basic foundation bits of information that other things build on but it is more important to learn how to learn, how to study, and how to communicate that knowledge.

 

High school is pretty fun and young adults are pretty amazing (mostly ;)). Enjoy!!

[RobinL in Canada]

"I see you managed to get your shirt off....." (And not long after, we watched an episode of the original Star Trek series where, sure enough, Kirk managed to get his shirt off.....)

 

"But surely you don't think Gilligan's Island...." "Oh--those poor people!"

 

"Remember--mum's the word!"....... "Mum, mum, mum, mummmmmmmm...."

 

Okay, enough before I quote the entire movie!

[Elinor Everywhere]

"Does the rolling help?"

(this gets quoted a lot at our house, whenever someone does something deemed by another as showy and unnecessary...)

 

:lol:

 

 

"Oh, it's always about YOU!"

(Alan Rickman's annoyed response as Tim Allen is calling for help, about to be squashed by the Rock Monster -- it's the WAY he delivers that line; you KNOW they have a history...)

 

:lol:

 

"Maybe you're not the expendable extra... Maybe you're the plucky comic relief!"

(gotta love Tony Shalub's cheery outlook!)

 

 

Yes, but your boys are so QUICK and funny! Tessa is still talking about it (we always think of something clever to say 5 hours later....:D )

[laughing lioness]

:lol:reading the quotes...we've got to watch that again!!

 

FYI and all that:001_smile:! Thanks for the good laugh first thing this a.m.!!

[elegantlion]

The humor is so lost when written down but I'm still:lol: thinking about it!

 

Galaxy Quest is a classic here. We watch it on bad school days.

 

Our favorite line is "Give him a hand, he's British." When they are introducing Alan Rickman's character. So whenever we see Alan Rickman in anything, we of course say..."Give him a hand, he's British." Then we applaud. Dh doesn't get it, he thinks we are insane.

[Nan in Mass]

LOL - We quote Galaxyquest here, too!

[Nan in Mass]

Definately have to watch it again LOL.

[Nan in Mass]

Ok (wiping away tears of laughter) - here is something more helpful than Galaxyquest. Although, when I think about it, those quotes are awfully applicable to homeschooling, at least at our house, and contain some wise advice LOL, like dream big and things might not be the way they seem when you get there and don't take things too seriously and ...

 

Ok - If I could do it again...

I would pay more attention to TWTM basic skills. Those are the key to having the more advanced academic skills that allow a student to learn something in an academic way, which they will have to do eventually if they want to go to college.

I would assume less that if something were easy for me (like those basic skills) they would be easy and obvious for my boys. That is what contributed to my ignoring way too much of TWTM in the first place, that and their ability to do the things well for their age early on. I should have kept checking to make sure they could still do them at the new, age-appropriate level.

(http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255839&highlight=basic+wtm+skills and http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255841&highlight=basic+wtm+skills)

 

I wish I had figured out the balance between academic learning and non-academic learning earlier on, and the balance between exploring and textbook learning, and the difference between skills and content.

 

I wish I had outsourced Latin after we got through the first two books of Ecce Romani. And I wish I had outsourced French grammar.

 

I wish the older one had taken more CC classes all at the same time his senior year so he had more experience juggling a full schedule of non-negotiable classes (rather than 2 CC classes and negotiable home ones).

 

I wish I had outsourced the math for my youngest to a more challenging math program than the CC one, which is just fine for basics but doesn't include much in the way of challenging problems.

 

Basically, I knew fairly early on to concentrate on academic skills and be very loose about the content, but I wish my definition of "academic skills" had included more study skills.

 

I'm pretty happy about a lot of what we did, though. : )

 

Nan

[Joan in GE]

Nan made some very good points...

 

Boxed or not is quite hard to answer because situations can be so different - but I tend to think that not boxed can offer more engagement on the part of the parent and more variety....besides more parental stress:)

 

There was a huge change in how much work my ds3 could handle over the high school years....so be prepared for 'fast-forward'....prior to that I think I had him working at too low a level for his capacities with the exception of R & S grammar and French...

 

I would have done fewer chemistry experiments and more theory (he did half and half) but he's doing fine in chem now...so maybe it was really ok. But he didn't have a level for SAT II...

 

In some ways I was a bit too attached to the WTM history cycle...because for SAT II history or AP History (US or European or World) you need to approach it a bit differently...Then you might also need to take into account state requirements...If yours is quite interested in history and might want to take any of these exams - the organization is better planned ahead...But I still greatly appreciate the WTM cycles so have mixed feelings at another level...

 

Joan

[Lori D.]

Yes, but your boys are so QUICK and funny! Tessa is still talking about it (we always think of something clever to say 5 hours later....:D )

 

 

I'm clever about 5 *days* later... :tongue_smilie:

 

So, I have to be honest and say that DSs did NOT inherit their quick-wittedness from me. And BTW, I am still smiling over our lovely opportunity to get together, too! :)

[Tardis Girl]

I have two graduating this spring. Here are a few thoughts :

 

- Outside accountability: They each took 2 courses each year (a science and something else) from soph-sr yr. I am really glad they had this opportunity because it exposed them to new people, ideas, routines, teachers, than they would've had otherwise. It pushed them out of their comfort zones and I was grateful that we could talk about some of this while they are here under our roof. My only regret is that I didn't factor in more how to incorporate more elements of accountability in other subject areas for balancing multiple subjects, like a pp said.

 

- Record keeping: Oh, I had good intentions freshman year... sophomore year... junior year.... then that summer after jr year came and I realized I HADN'T DONE IT! :( It would've taken comparatively little effort to write a brief course description for courses as we went along. It was much more stressful than it needed to be because I kept putting off doing it (like I was waiting for the perfect inspiration or something?? c'mon!). Short paragraph covering topics, assessment, note the books used (author, title, edition, ISBNs -- you might not even need all that later, but it's so easy when you're in the midst of it), and a grade if you give letter grades.

 

- AP testing: Wish I would've considered AP test earlier on, instead of waiting until junior year. No one in my area (homeschooling) does these, so it didn't even occur to me to do them sooner.

 

- Focus on developing depth in passions/interests... not being overly scheduled: Mine did this, but I wish I had had more foresight to seeing the importance of this.

 

- Live interaction for foreign language: Again, mine had some of this, but I wish I had thought about this sooner and explored more options.

 

I'm sure there are tons more I could say! lol It's been a great ride, and none of my regrets are too major, but definitely some lessons learned (and many more not listed here, no doubt).

 

Good luck, and ENJOY these years!!

Edited April 3, 2012 by StaceyZ

[Elinor Everywhere]

I am still smiling over our lovely opportunity to get together, too! :)

 

We need to plan another outing!

[birchbark]

I wish I had figured out the balance between academic learning and non-academic learning earlier on, and the balance between exploring and textbook learning

 

Can you expound on this? :bigear:

[Joan in GE]

- Live interaction for foreign language: Again, mine had some of this, but I wish I had thought about this sooner and explored more options.

 

This can't be overemphasized but does take a lot of work usually to ensure...

 

Joan

[Nan in Mass]

This can't be overemphasized but does take a lot of work usually to ensure...

 

Joan

 

I agree.

[Nan in Mass]

My oldest's version of exploring was peacewalking. In between, when he was back home, we did a mix of WTM and whatever I felt was necessary to prepare for the next walk. I wish we had done more WTM skills when he was younger (that thread I linked) and I wish we had done more cc classes senior year (as I explained) but other than that, the balance was fairly obvious with him. The younger one is STEM oriented. He, too, is peacewalking and learning that way, but he also needs time to explore in his area of interests at home. Balancing the peacewalking, STEM exploring, and the very obvious need to switch to textbook science at some point before he went off to engineering school was tricky. (We did textbook math from the beginning - the comment about challenging math referred to him.) I panicked and panicked over this balance. If you do a search for Nan in Mass and swimmermom3 and "tree" you will come across a number of panicky posts where Lisa (swimmermom3) coaxes me back down out of the tree LOL. The massive "depth vs. breadth" thread was part of that, also. (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1855739#poststop) My panic ended, eventually, and there was a series of posts on the accelerated board with Correllano (may have mangled the spelling) where I think I posted about where I ended up. Basically, I wound up doing textbook science plus some exploring in 6th and 7th grade, a mishmash (this is where the regrets come in) in 8th, exploratory science in 9th and 10th (very happy about this), and text book science this 11th year at the community college and next year (chem and physics - outsourced math as well). Part of the reason I didn't outsource math earlier was because by then the older one was in college and adamant that we continue doing NEM, since he was seeing a huge difference in his ability to understand math compared to his fellow students, all non-mathy people in the first place at an easy-to-get-into-but-not-necessarily-easy-to-graduate-from college. Anyway, there were a few years here and there for my youngest where we just sort of muddled around while I waffled. If I had had the balance figured out earlier, we would have done something else for those years - either proper textbook science OR proper exploratory science rather than not enough of either to be effective for either purpose. Does that answer your question?

 

Nan

[birchbark]

So Nan, is the "balance" you're referring to basically the inclusion of both exploratory and textbook science? Not a magic ratio of the two?

[Nan in Mass]

No - I meant a magic ratio of the two. I wish I had known how better to teach science skills during the exploratory phase and how better to teach textbook skills during the textbook phase and had them divided out better. It would have helped me find that magic ratio, as well as make each period more productive. I can't tell you what the magic ratio is now, even though I have a better idea of what I am doing, because it will differ for each child. I'm not even sure you can plan it out ahead of time, except very roughly, because it would change depending on how fast or how interested the child was at each skill or bit of knowledge or project when its turn came.

Nan