s/o "average" work in high school: when did you know that's how it would be?

[JaneP]

I was reading the thread about high schoolers doing "average work" and I wondered when you knew or planned that that is what your high school dc would be doing?

 

Was it always obvious that your dc wouldn't be headed for a STEM career or become a english lit. major at college and you made your middle school (or even elementary) curriculum choices accordingly?

 

When did you start considering some subjects as less important and choose the easier and less thorough curriculum to get them done?

 

I would love to hear your stories :)

[SailorMom]

My son is heading for a STEM career - and he's doing pretty average work, I think. I mean - he may be higher in some ways and lower in others, but he's certainly no AP/gifted kid.

I don't think you have to be gifted to go in to STEM. You just have to know you'll have to work hard.

As far as when we knew - it wasn't anything I actually thought about until this thread, actually....

I don't ever chose easier work. I've told him right off the bat that standards are standards and that he'd just have to work harder to achieve them like any kid in school would.

Now - if you are talking about LD issues - he does have those, but I've also been preparing him for normal classes since he was very young.

There is one exception I can think of. Latin. We took a break this year for both of our sakes. He really has to work on English grammar, and Latin was taking time away from that.

Edited September 10, 2012 by SailorMom

[FaithManor]

I agree with sailormom in that long before we knew what the kids would want to be when they grew up, we had determined the standards to graduate from our homeschool. Since college texts tend to be better written then high school texts, we knew we would use a lot of "non-standard" homeschool or high school curriculum and therefore, "upped the ante", so to speak, through middle school. I would not have required non-Stem bound children, if I'd had any, to take science or math AP exams, but choice of curriculum in order to earn credit, in order to graduate this homeschool, would not have changed unless one of my kids had been diagnosed with a learning disability in which case, expectations and curriculum adjustments would have been made.

 

My parents had an absolutely phenomenal education at their rural high school back in the early 60's. I decided that in terms of expectations and rigor, that even if my children didn't cover the same courses they did, the educational philosophy needed to be the same. My parents were just average students way back then. But, my mom, had she not married, could have gone to work directly for Simplicity or Butterick pattern company in their children's clothing design department based on the fashion design and sewing work she had been taught after four years of "majoring" in it in high school. (She ended up marrying my dad and following him around his 8 years in the air force). My dad, though not one of their stellar students, missed a 100% by two questions on his entrance exam into the Air Force missle technician program. So from my perspective, an average student from that time would be considered a gifted student today. This has held true. I don't consider my kids to be prodigies, or little geniuses, but many of the educators that have encountered my kids and spent time with them in conversation think my kids are literally in that top 1-5% of achievers.

 

So, it's hard for me to define "average" in discussions like this.

 

Maybe it would be helpful to try to define "remedial", "average", "honors", and "gifted" in order to have some common ground for this discussion because this is a good topic and especially for the homeschooling parents on the board that are just beginning to plan for the high school years.

 

Faith

[JennW in SoCal]

So, it's hard for me to define "average" in discussions like this.

 

Maybe it would be helpful to try to define "remedial", "average", "honors", and "gifted" in order to have some common ground for this discussion because this is a good topic and especially for the homeschooling parents on the board that are just beginning to plan for the high school years.

/QUOTE]

 

 

On the one hand, I do not think we should define these terms because ideally homeschool work should be tailored to fit the child. If the outcome is a thoughtful, articulate and hard working young adult, does it matter if you or I consider the kind of school work used "rigorous" or "average" or if the child is "gifted" or "average"?

 

On the other hand, as you start writing transcripts and preparing for the college admissions circus you have to be aware that admissions committees will be comparing your child's school work to that of all those other applicants whose high schools do differentiate courses as "honors" or "average". It helps to have an idea of how your child's course work compares. But it is likely more important to think about how you can highlight what is unique about your child's homeschool transcript, what makes your student an especially strong applicant.

 

I started high school with both my boys intending to follow a "college prep" track: 4 years of English, math, science, and 3 years of social studies, at least 2 years of foreign language, and electives such as logic and fine arts. I adapted the course work to fit each child, though by creating my own coursework and selecting math or science texts that fit each teen. One teen used AP or college level texts, and took college courses, with the other we used what ever worked, which wound up being the more remedial math texts. It wasn't that I had tracked them differently from middle school, I just used whatever fit each year. I also tweaked the courses as we went along -- one child graduated with nothing past geometry (shocking, I know, but there you have it!)

 

I also happen to believe outside activities are equally important as academics in high school in order to develop interests, learn skills and nurture ambitions. My more "average" student had built an impressive resume by the time he graduated and is thriving in a professional school -- he certainly isn't average in his field of interest. My AP-text using student also had valuable outside internships. I think the adult mentors for both boys were hugely instrumental in helping them become such successful college students.

 

Do what works best each year while keeping the big picture in the back of your mind. Being engaged in work -- and being successful at something -- are the best incentives in the long run.

[caroljenn]

I agree with the person above who mentioned the educations back in the 60s. I went to a very small elementary school in a good public district back in the early 1970s. All 10-12 of us ended up in honors classes in high school because we had such a good base education and so much time spent on us by our teachers. And that was public school! Haha! I sent my daughter to a very small Lutheran school 1-8, with about a year homeschooling because of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and she got a terrific education too.

 

Now that she's home permanently, I am juggling the expectations for her being a future STEM major with the realities of CFS. She has a really good base, trying to expand more on that in English/Language Arts, with more of an emphasis on making sure she really knows her math and science. We tried Foerster's Alg 2, but it went a bit too fast for a kid with CFS brain fog, so we switched back to Pearson Hall. PH is a good text, shes been using it for three years and is comfortable with the presentation of the material, so it will have to be good enough. I am hoping that if I make sure she REALLY understands the STEM type material, it will help later on in getting into the school of her choice.

 

But for now, we are running with the punches that CFS throws at us, and there is a sense of "good enough". I will make both of us crazy if I don't think that way. Not everyone is a Sheldon Cooper in the STEM majors- some kids, like my daughter, seem to have natural gifts for what they want to do. Hopefully she will be accepted into the program straightaway, without a CC start, but who knows? I don't have a crystal ball, I just have to do as much as I can to help her. And if she ends up going to CC and then to a four year, then i guess that's the plan God had for her. Hope that answers the question!

Edited September 10, 2012 by caroljenn

[JaneP]

I have really appreciated reading your replies.

 

It looks like we might continue to homeschool my older dd longer than I had expected so I have been thinking ahead to what our high school might look like in a few years. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth pushing her in certain subjects (eg. math and science) when she may not end up pursuing those subjects at a higher level ...... but then she is only 11 and it is too early to say what she may end up doing...

[dbmamaz]

My kids were all 2E . . .my daughter was doing so well in school until high school when she started getting sick, couldnt stand the work load in the advanced classes and couldnt stand the boring content of ordinary classes. I had to let her drop down to a standard (not advanced) diploma so she coudl be dual enrolled in graphic art at the community college. She's doing fine now, tho, transferred to university 1 credit shy of a junior, the month before she turned 20. she, though, also has fibromyalgia, and was trying to work too - a few nights of closing on school nights, she went for a cup of coffee and seems to be in flair, just really hoping this passes soon

 

my older son was in special ed in school due to behavior problems. i had no idea how bad it was. WHen i brought him home for 8th grade, he could not write a chorent paragraph and could not do arithmatic with fractions. He also is very slow and has a lot of anxiety. So we have made great strides, but i would not characterize it as excellence. This year is 11th, and the stuff we are doing . . . i probably could have done in 9th. but i plan on sending him to community college as well

 

My youngest is very delayed in all LA areas . . I hope we can get him caught up by high school, but we'll see. I try to look forward to where they will go in their lives and what will serve them best, not just how to get in to a great college. I think protecting their passions and joy is more important than getting in to a school I cant afford if they arent totally passionate and devoted to that idea