Heading into high school next year ....

[5LittleMonkeys]

With my oldest has me nervous about preparing her well for college. She wants to be a vet so there is going to be no "skating by" if she wants to be one of the few who are accepted into a veterinarian college (hopefully the one in our state). So, in the midst of researching curricula and trying to determine how to fit in as much math and science as She could possible do, I took a break to read and came across two blog posts that made me stop and reconsider the lists and lists of programs and the hours upon hours I was scheduling.

 

This one and this one are by Brian Phillips on the Circe site.

 

I was speaking to dh about it and he said that she doesn't need to be a vet before she even gets to college. That's what she's going to learn once she gets there. It is our job to make sure she is well read, well spoken, has a solid foundation of skills, but most importantly, that she have a confident spirit, solid mind, and virtuous heart.

 

I just wanted to share the links, as I thought they might bring some clarity or peace to others struggling with some of these issues.

[happi duck]

thanks for posting this

[5LittleMonkeys]

Your dh is right.

 

:iagree: Yah, I should probably listen to him more often. Maybe it would save me some worry and frustration.;) He has such a simple, clear idea of educating at home.

 

Now, we have been homeschooling for awhile now and he has always been supportive of what I'm doing, but never really voiced an opinion that I should do things differently or even that he had a strong opinion on method or philosophy. He has given advice on this or that program or this or that subject, but that's about it. When I began talking to him the other day about all of the Circe, LLC and purer classical things I've been researching, I asked him how he thought it best to teach vocab...he said read a lot and write often. I asked him about spelling...read a lot and write often. I asked him about grammar...read a lot and write often. I asked him about logic and rhetoric...read a lot and write often. :glare: I asked him if he really thought it was that simple...he said absolutely not. They have to read the right books, those that might me hard to read at first. Those that are honestly and beautifully written and have a message of virtue. He added that you couldn't just read them though. Some you had to digest, mull over, talk about and question, re-write them and write about them.

 

His opinions (and mine as well after much experimentation and research) on spelling, vocab and grammar are that those things are best taught in context. It completely blew me away when he started talking about needing to use words, manipulate them, make them your own before you could start naming them and learning their rules. Otherwise they were just abstract rules for things you are unfamiliar with. (This was specifically about teaching grammar early) It floored me that what he was saying is exactly what I heard Peduwa and Kern talking about in a lecture and blog post earlier.

 

I asked him why he hadn't shared all of this with me before and he smiled and said, "Two reasons. One; you didn't ask. Two; you had to come to these ideas on your own in order for you to own them. If I had told you earlier that I thought you should homeschool this way then you would have been frustrated trying to teach with someone else's philosophy. It has to be yours, hook, line and sinker, in order for it to be effective."

 

And now that I've derailed my own thread, which by the title should be about high school, I will slink back into my head and continue to sweep away the cobwebs.

[fairfarmhand]

Listen to the man.

 

My dh is an engineer. We were discussing this identical thing the other night (dd wants to be a vet too!) He went to school on full scholarships, so he's a pretty smart guy. Basically he told me that although he was able to test out of most of his 1st semester stuff due to AP classes, he said. "Well, even if I hadn't tested out, I would have learned it anyway that first semester."

[AmyontheFarm]

Thank you. I was starting to stress about high school, college, etc. Now, I am much calmer.

[birchbark]

Bumping this so I can find and read it in a couple years. I'm going to need it!