teachermom2834 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 My 9th grade ds started high school this week. We have always been very eclectic and unstructured but now we are using Kolbe. I was so nervous that we wouldn't be able to do it. I was afraid it would be too hard and we wouldn't get done. But we made it! He worked hard but finished all his work by about 2:00 Friday afternoon. I'm just so excited and relieved. I think this is going to really work for us. It is a big departure from how we have done things and a substantial step up in difficulty. He is capable, though, even if he has a learning curve getting up to speed with Kolbe. He will be challenged but he is capable. Yay! Now I am really excited about our year. I'm so happy to still have my oldest guy at home for high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 :hurray: Welcome to high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NineChoirs Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Thanks for this post! We too will be using Kolbe this year, although we won't be starting till October. This will be my first attempt to homeschool for high school. I sent my oldest son to ps for his 9th and 10th grades. But we recently decided to pull him out and use Kolbe for high school for him, 11th, and my entering 9th grade dd. I have been organizing all the books and lesson plans and it has been a bit overwhelming. Kolbe is a huge departure from the "do the next thing" method we have been using since I stopped using lesson plans two years ago. The kids and I are going to have to get used to sticking with a set schedule again. I am scared and excited at the same time, your post gives me hope that I can do this! Which diploma are you going for? My daughter is going for the Summa, and my son the Magna, he will be doing all of the work for a Summa, but transferring students are not eligible for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted August 11, 2012 Author Share Posted August 11, 2012 Thanks for this post! We too will be using Kolbe this year, although we won't be starting till October. This will be my first attempt to homeschool for high school. I sent my oldest son to ps for his 9th and 10th grades. But we recently decided to pull him out and use Kolbe for high school for him, 11th, and my entering 9th grade dd. I have been organizing all the books and lesson plans and it has been a bit overwhelming. Kolbe is a huge departure from the "do the next thing" method we have been using since I stopped using lesson plans two years ago. The kids and I are going to have to get used to sticking with a set schedule again. I am scared and excited at the same time, your post gives me hope that I can do this! Which diploma are you going for? My daughter is going for the Summa, and my son the Magna, he will be doing all of the work for a Summa, but transferring students are not eligible for it. I actually am not planning on doing the reporting to get the Kolbe diploma. I am with an umbrella school (an extension of a brick and mortar Christian school) that will grant ds an accredited diploma and all do all the guidance counselor duties. I enrolled to get all the materials (and even bought the evaluation service for the 1st quarter) but I'm not planning on using the Kolbe diploma option. I did spend time putting all the assignments into a spreadsheet so we had each subject on the same page for the week. I knew from my homeschooling experience that flipping through all those syllabi on a daily basis would make me crazy. I took the time to make up weekly schedules pulling all that info together. That seemed to work well, having all the assignments for the week in one place. My 7th grader is using mostly Kolbe and my 4th grader is using about half Kolbe. All 3 had really good first weeks. I'm really excited. I'm not sure why I resisted the structure for so long. It will be good for us, I'm pretty sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NineChoirs Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 I think we enjoyed taking a couple of years off from a rigid structure. We were really getting stressed out over lesson plans prior to that. We would get behind on one or two subjects and then I would have to rewrite everything or we would fall behind trying to catch up. I was a bit worried that without lesson plans we wouldn't get anything done, but I think we actually made better progress. We were able to take our time with subjects the kids were struggling with while not falling behind in the ones they were not. That being said, we are definitely ready to get back to a set schedule. I actually like the fact that Kolbe plans are broken down by subject. What I did was divide all of the lesson plans into their own binders, sorting by subject & grade level. Then I took out the exams and AK's and filed them. This way the kids are free to grab the binder they need, as they need them. I am hoping this works out well since it does give them some flexibility with pacing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jibaker103 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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