For those of you requiring "Projects" for high school completion, what are you doing?

[Kelly on the prairie]

I would love to hear what kinds of things you are having your students do for senior/high school projects.

 

I am a local GED teacher and I just heard word that the colleges in Illinois are going to start requiring portfolios of all their students in order to graduate. The portfolios will reflect their creativity, critical thinking skills, project capabilities and communication skills. It got me to thinking that projects in high school may be looked upon as highly marketable in the college arena.

[Tokyomarie]

My oldest daughter did some background research on Renaissance era clothing, then made her own full dress outfit.

 

My younger daughter produced an EP demo CD with the young man she played some alternative/folk/Irish fiddle gigs with. They weren't aiming to do something really big, but they went through the process of finding a recording studio, deciding which of their repertoire to put on the CD, deciding on a name for the CD, designing a CD cover, going through the recording process, and doing a local gig at which the EP was released. As sometimes happens with young people, the band broke up about 2 months after the release! It happened partly because dd was really deep into her college auditions and just too busy and partly because she was ready to move on from this group and the relationships. It was a really valuable experience for her though to have done the EP.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I haven't done it yet (ds is in 7th grade), but I had a revelation at my first high school seminar that I went to a few weeks ago. I am thinking about ds spending a year investigating the Science of Sports, since sports is his passion and science is my weakness.

[Nan in Mass]

My son met some Nipponzan Myohoji monks (Japanese Buddhist Peace monks) when I got disgusted with the whole Iraq war thing and totally uncharacteristically for me, took my children to join a peace walk led by the monks as it passed through my town. My family couldn't BELIEVE it - I'm normally way too shy to go joining strangers like that and I had previously had nothing to do with social activism or peace. The monks asked my son to join them for the rest of their walk (another few weeks) when they heard he didn't have to be in school. That was the beginning of his peace walking. The next year, he walked for 3 months in Japan. Then he did a month in the south east. Then he did a 3 month sacred run, a combined effort of the Nipponzan Myohoji and some Native Americans. Then he walked through Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England. And last spring, he sandwiched 3 weeks in France between CC classes and our 2 month show-the-children-the-beautiful-USA cross-country trip (important for him, since he's gotten a massive amount of anti-US stuff peace walking and I want him to love his country, at least the land, if not the current government). He's done a little reading to go along with each walk, and on the last two, he managed to keep a journal. The first walks he was supposed to, but between walking 10 or 20 miles a day and then meeting with locals in the evening, he was just too exhausted to do any writing, hard for him at the best of times. He comes home and sleeps day and night for a week after the longer walks. For the most part, it is hard to see what he has learned on the walks. At first, we just went on the assumption that travelling that much, he must be learning something. As the years have gone by, we've heard bits and pieces of the results. One day, as we are doing Latin, he'll suddenly let drop that he crossed Hadrian's Wall and had to tell everyone in the group why it was important because nobody had heard of it before and didn't know what it was. Or he'll give me a quick comparison of how conflicts are resolved among the Japanese, the Native Americans, and the USers. Or he'll see some graffitti when we're in Boston and tell us how different the two halves of Belfast were, how the graffitti in one half glorified the soldiers and the war and in the other half glorified current peace. Or he'll say, "When we had dinner with the mayor of Dublin..." And we'll say, "What?????" He tells us lots when we pick him up at the airport, and I've brought a recorder and recorded it each time, but his focus, naturally, is not on what-did-you-learn-that-could-be-construed-as-educational. He just tells us his adventures and the things he thinks are cool, like being shown how to use a lariat and taking refuge from a tornado in a tribal police station and playing fireball and how he thought he was going to eat a yummy cream-filled donut and it turned out to be filled with curried meat and how he rescued a kitten and the really cool dragon mural he saw at a temple. It only comes out later that he heard speeches made by the survivors of Hiroshima and other "educational" things like that. I never did figure out how much Japanese he learned. Assessing the educational value of a project is sometimes difficult. This project will be represented on his transcript by 1/2 credit of Japanese Studies, 1/2 a credit of Native American Studies, 1/2 credit of geography (travel + The Geography Colouring Book), 1/2 credit of government (peace activism + reading The Idiot's Guide), 1 credit of Peace Studies I, and 1 credit of Peace Studies II. We obviously aren't doing Carnegie hours for this LOL. He'd have way too many credits on his transcript if we did. Those 4 credits are a pretty meagre representation of the amount of time and energy spent. I don't know how else to do it, though. I've labelled some of them honours because they required travel. Again, rather mingy, but...

 

I don't know yet what the youngest will do for a project. It isn't something you can choose for the child, I think; you can just help make their dreams happen with money, time, ideas, and discipline, and help add in an academic componant if you are going to count it for school. My youngest dreams of getting his own boat and living on it. He is heavily involved with gymnastics, but doesn't want to do it single-minded-ly enough to aim for the Olympics or something (phew!), and he invents things all the time. We'll look at robotics club for him next year, keep him supplied with building materials, get him some education in electronics and computers somehow, and we're looking for a small sailboat for him. We'll see what emerges there. Or maybe he'll do something having to do with the D+D and strategy games he is so wrapped up in at the moment. I wish we could manage a bit of riding and fencing. He'd love it. It conflicts with gymnastics, though. Or maybe he'll compose lots of piano music and make a CD. Anyway, we're sort of waiting and seeing.

 

My oldest wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. My middle one wanted to get his pilot's license. Getting certified to do something via the CC is a good possibility. They have everything from vet assistant to cosmotology to xray tech to accounting to graphic arts to airplane pilot. That's the easy way to do a project LOL.

 

I've found that I have to help the interests bubble up to the surface of my children's brains and out as words. I have to keep asking them to dream big. If you could do anything you wanted for highschool, what would it be? If you could learn anything you wanted for high school, what would it be? Who do you want to be when you are grown up? What would you like to be able to do? I am careful to separate that from WHAT do you want to be, a career or a major. This is something extra. I also have to be careful not to make any dreams happen that they want to stay dreams, and not to turn anything that they are liking just messing about with in a low pressure way just for their own enjoyment into "school". Some projects have been smaller ones, too small to count for school.

 

That is the way we've done it so far, anyway. There are all sorts of projects, though, not just the big, dreamy, non-academic sort. I hope other people add to this thread.

 

-Nan

[JennW in SoCal]

I don't know if my son will have one large final project for this his senior year, but he has been quite the project kid over the last few years. He was given a semester's credit last spring semester in "Community Leadership" for being a stage manager for a community theater production, for being a teacher's assistant in a theater class, and for his work in the tech ministry at our church where he designs and runs the lighting for 3 services each week and for special concerts and events. This coming semester he will once again be a stage manager and will be working with the director to produce a stage manager's handbook for this particular theater, something they really need!!

 

The charter school my kids are enrolled in really encourages their students to put together portfolios and to do final projects for their classes. My son included photographs, work logs, programs and letters of thanks in his porfolio. One thing I wanted him to do, but that he resisted, was to keep a journal of his experiences.

[Nan in Mass]

Journals... I know what you mean... Sigh...

[dirty ethel rackham]

Kelly,

 

Do you have any more information on this? I live in IL and it is likely that my son will go to school here (unless some unbelievable scholarship lands in his lap.)

[Jane in NC]

It seems that many public high schools are requiring senior projects incorporating research, community service and presentation skills. I saw one project at the ice rink. The young man wrote about hockey--I don't remember what exactly--but he also coached a group of youngsters as part of his project. In his journal he recorded how much he learned about team work and diligence by teaching young kids the sport.

 

We have a friend who won an engineering competition and is using the work involved in this as part of his portfolio.

 

I would think that the National History Day competition or something similar would make an excellent project as well.

 

My son's community service work (bird rehabilitation) is being used as a 4-H project but I could see him doing the Cornell Ornithology course and shaping it into a major project. We are still tossing project ideas about on this end. The presentation part should be easy. Community service organizations like the Lions Club are always looking for speakers and would welcome a kid to a meeting. (My son and his friend did a Lion's Club presentation on robotics last year. They gave the boys a donation for their robotics club as a result!)

 

Jane

[laughing lioness]

great thread:). My oldest dd had the opportunity to travel internationally 3 times during high school (England, Ecuador and Hungary/Romania). She did a lot of research for the places that she was going to visit and kept journals/blogs of each trip and made scrapbooks of each trip. Upon her return from Hungary/ Romania she did a ton of research about the history, politics and culture of the 2 countries, including a whole tangent on gypsies. She also taught herself enough of the languages to be conversant. This past summer she went back and stayed for 2 weeks in gypsy villages (she is 21 so way past high school but the land and people are a passion for her now).

My second dd has worked on a couple of political campaigns, been involved in TeenPact for 2 years and is going on the "Back to DC" trip in Sept. She loves politics and will be working on another campaign this fall. She has been the guest speaker at co-op government classes and been "field staff" with TP. She has a good grasp of politics and learning more about organization and management. I am creating a business/ managent class for her this year (Sr. year).

She also loves tea parties and led a protocol class for girls last year with 2 formal teas (one at Christmas, one in the spring). This year she will be hosting a "little princess" tea party for little girls (ages 4-11) and their moms, leading another girls group, and managing a 1/2 day women's retreat for homschooling moms. She has done a boatload of research on teas and has a notebook full of notes and a shelf full of stuff on protocol and teas.

Both my 14 and 17 yos have been involved in drama with 1x a year camps and 1x a year Festival of One Act Plays. This year is a tragedy year so we'll be doing a mini-study on WWII as our play is about teen concentration camp victims.

I have loved reading what others are invovled with!!:001_smile:

[Guest Katia]

My dd planned, prepared and presented a formal senior recital on harp and alto recorder for her senior project. She had 6 solo songs per instrument, with 6 duets with one teacher and 3 duets with the other teacher.

 

She helped to format, print and fold the programs, and put together a human interest article for the newspaper about the recital. And she planned the reception following the recital with the caterer (two of her homeschool age-mates that have just started their own catering business).

 

The practice time alone for this was phenomenal, and the actual performance lasted well over an hour, not including intermission. This was quite the project but related to her intended field of study in college (harp performance major).

 

And, after all of that, I forgot to list this on her transcript at all! I need to do a teacher re-do. Opps!

[SusanAR]

My son wants to be a vet and will complete a 9 week apprenticeship in equine reproduction, foaling and imprinting, and horse preparation-

 

http://mountaintopranch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=70

 

He really wants to do this this spring, but I think we will wait until next year (jr. year).

Susan AR

[ClassicMom]

final project. Most of her work her this year is to prepare her for running a business and she is in an Internship presently.

 

She will have to write a business plan, do the marketing, set up the books and actually start her business as her final project. She's really excited about it. I think she wants to just skip her Senior year and go right to the business! LOL!

[carol]

Are the "projects" part of a class or is credit issued?

How is it put on a transcript?

 

Carol

[Jackie in NE]

This is a great thread. I'm thinking of all the possibilities for my dc. Nan in Mass, what a wealth of knowledge you are! thanks for all the details. When I read these posts, I think, why would I ever want to send them to the local high school?

[Jane in NC]

How are those senior projects going?

 

My son and I were discussing the "senior project" concept for next year. Because I benefit greatly from what many of you have learned along the way, I turn to you for updates and further input.

 

Have any of the colleges to which your students applied commented on the senior project? Did it detract from the rest of his work and life or was it a benefit? Anything you would do differently?

 

Anyone have any new senior project ideas?

 

Best,

Jane

[Nan in Mass]

I can see now that peacewalking has built a very strong, good man, which is what I was aiming for. There definately was a sacrifice in formal academics, but my son doesn't learn well from formal academics anyway, so it was nice to have another way to learn. Being out and about in the world gave him confidence and independence and a wisdom beyond what one would expect of an 18yo. The college that accepted him didn't mention it. As I've said before, I think they just wanted to see those CC classes and that he had experience with boats and looked at his brother (already at the college) for the rest of their information. I think it was a good thing that we didn't let the peacewalking interfere with his CC classes the last two years of high school. If we had, I think it would have been harder to get him into college, and I think he would have had a harder time doing the work when he got there (next fall). I looked at him last week, thinking that I very much wanted the things he has for my youngest, but thinking that the youngest wouldn't peace walk. Well, I was wrong. Youngest is now walking to DC. Phew! That happened quickly! Combining peacewalking with the science and math he needs to get into engineering school is going to be a challenge, but I think we have that figured out now. DO THE PROJECT EARLY seems to be our answer. That way it doesn't interrupt CC classes at the end of high school. I guess we'll be doing math this summer. Sigh. That was how we dealt with math with the older one. And now I am going to let my older one take me disc golfing (his answer to how to comfort his mourning mother). I hate, hate having my children away. Sigh. I know that it is for the best, but it is very hard.

 

-Nan

[Veronica in VA]

Nan :grouphug: I will be facing this next spring as my youngest will be graduating in December. We should have planned ahead for dd's project but for whatever reason she just wasn't into going outside the box like I wanted. Now she is ready and she is debating what she really wants to concentrate on for next Fall. I would love her to be able to start now, but since she is squeezing a year of chemistry into one semester, and she needs it for nursing, she really needs to concentrate on that. She is deciding between a walking for life organization in our church, studying people and cultures, and one other thing that I can't remember. She wants to tye whatever she decides on into her study on government. After I read her all these posts, she got a lot more enthused and is busy planning. Can't wait to see what she chooses.

 

Veronica

[Nan in Mass]

Thanks for the hugs. Let us know what she decides and how it works out, ok? I love hearing about this sort of thing.

[Nan in Mass]

Jane - Whose daughter was doing costume design and historical reenactmenting? How did that work out? Last I remember, she was applying to college?

[Jane in NC]

Jane - Whose daughter was doing costume design and historical reenactmenting? How did that work out? Last I remember, she was applying to college?

 

I can't remember, Nan. I do hope that others will chime in with updates on their senior's interesting projects.

[Joan in GE]

We're not there yet, but to keep this thread active as it is so interesting to hear about what people are doing to help stimulate my 9th grader...

 

My sister's oldest was the editor for the PA homeschoolers "newspaper" many years ago in his senior year. It was a good experience and he went on to be the editor for his college newspaper and eventually to run a small newspaper...

Edited March 4, 2009 by Joan in Geneva
typo

[JennW in SoCal]

I couldn't remember having posted to this thread even though the icon in the message list shows I had. And no wonder I couldn't remember -- that was last August!! Much has happened since then.

 

My senior's big project last fall was to work as a stage manager for a youth theater production then write a handbook for future stage managers. It turned out really well.

 

He worked closely with the director in the fall production and as stage manager had to handle several unusual situations -- the fire alarm was set off (twice) during performances by smoke effects, an actor was injured and fainted on stage, the keyboard player fell and broke her arm an hour before curtain. I was working in the tech booth with him and got to watch him take control of each situation, calling for the curtain to be closed and house lights brought to half and letting the audience know whether to evacuate or not. (Thankfully one of the dads in this company is a fire chief and was in the theater both times the smoke alarms were triggered!)

 

My son then wrote detailed manual on the duties and responsibilities of a stage manager from auditions through rehearsals and performances through closing. He turned it in to the adults in charge of the company who all were thrilled to have it, then he trained the stage manager for the current production, even taking calls when the new manager needed advice on how to handle some things. He has seen what needs to be tweaked in the handbook and will edit a final copy for the group.

 

He is graduating in June but isn't heading to a 4 year college. He has been asked to apply for a technical theater internship at a local professional theater, which he will likely do while starting to whittle away at core requirements at community college. He is taking a break from backstage too to perform in a couple of productions this spring.

[Jane in NC]

I couldn't remember having posted to this thread even though the icon in the message list shows I had. And no wonder I couldn't remember -- that was last August!! Much has happened since then.

 

 

 

Thanks for the update Jenn! Congrats to your son for his dedication, composure and success.

 

I left part of your quote up in order to make a remark. It is nice to know that I am not the only one who forgets having posted in threads of long ago! Where is my head these days?

 

Jane

[Gwen in VA]

My dd was the one doing the reenacting and sewing/costume design.

 

She is finishing up her sophomore year at Washington & Lee and doing well. She is still planning on going into art conservation, so she is double-majoring in chemistry and art history and minoring in museum studies. (The advantage of entering with a bunch of credits -- she can actually do all this and graduate in four years!) She's made the honor roll every semester and she won an award for being the top freshman chemistry student -- proud mama here!

 

Last summer she had an internship in Amsterdam studying the effect of dust on art. (I told her that she should come home and study dust....we have plenty of it!)

 

This summer she will hopefully be interning at the Smithsonian Conservation Institute (the name is something like that) in D.C. If minor details like funding don't work out for that, she will do curatorial work at W&L's on-campus museum.

Edited March 4, 2009 by Gwen in VA

[Jane in NC]

 

Last summer she had an internship in Amsterdam studying the effect of dust on art. (I told her that she should come home and study dust....we have plenty of it!)

 

 

 

Gwen,

 

If your daughter needs more dust, I will be happy to offer yet another environment for her studies!! :lol: In fact, I think we could orchestrate a Well Trained Dust Tour for her!

 

Jane

[Nan in Mass]

Oh definately! Lion-sized dust bunnies here, our bedroom looks like a haunted house with cobwebs covering all the corners, and the screens would make a fantastic study with their years and years of layers of pollen and dust.

[Nan in Mass]

How did Amsterdam go? I remember you were worried about housing and all...

[Nan in Mass]

How cool!

[tajott]

our dd had a recital that showcased all the instruments she plays in addition to singing. I had wanted her to write a song, and then to make a CD of herself accompnying herself singing, but well, that didn't interest her.

[Gwen in VA]

My dd's experience in Amsterdam was totally amazing.

 

Positives --

1) GREAT internship experience. She was involved in the "dust collection" which involved trips to numerous museums and also with the dust analysis, which involved using lots of high-tech lab equipment to analyze the stuff. She stumbled, had questions, and had lots of issues with the computer program (which was in Dutch), but she learned a LOT about lab work, the research process, and working with people.

 

2) A great opportunity to visit Europe, and especially the museums. She saw 55 museums while she was there, not counting innumerable churches and cathedrals, town squares, etc. etc. etc.

 

3) A real confidence builder. She became an expert on how to get around not only Holland but also the neighboring countries by train. She figured out how to feed herself for about 4 Euros a day while not starving or being able to read any of the labels in the stores!

 

4) She came home after her summer alone valuing friends and family much more -- not that she didn't value them before, but being without close connections for 8 weeks makes you realize how important they are!

 

Negatives --

1) The only real negative was that she was ALONE. The guy she was working for never even gave her his home phone number or took hers, so she had absolutely NOBODY in the whole city to talk with or even to call in case of an emergency. We have close friends who live two hours away, and she did stay several weekends with them and they came and drove her to the airport at the end, but really she was alone pretty much the whole summer.

 

My professor friend was convinced that Lauren would make friends with the grad students working with the professor, but the particular area she worked in had no other students -- just three other researchers all over 40 who never opened up to her.

 

If we had realized how alone she would be, I'm not sure that we would have let her go. But it worked out well. And now we say that she did a great job breaking us (her parents) in -- after letting her go to Amsterdam it's hard to imagine what crazy project her younger siblings could come up with that we would say no to! :D

[Nan in Mass]

Wow! I'm glad it worked out. And I'm glad she survived the aloneness. I guess that is something we all fear will happen when we go to a new place. Well, it happened to her and she survived. What a confidence builder! My sister always has fun telling people that she spent a summer shooting leaves out of trees with a bow and arrow in Costa Rica. Your daughter can now tell people she spent a summer analysing museum dust! That equipment must have been very cool.

[Jane in NC]

This thread was inspirational for me last August and at the February update. I wanted to bring it back for those who are seeking senior projects. Further updates from participants would be fun, too.

 

My son, future archaeologist, is volunteering with a college field school. This is his second dig within two months. His contacts can perhaps lead him to some ideas for a senior project--or so we hope.

[Cornflower]

Thanks for all this interesting information ladies. My son is going in to 9th grade this coming fall and it gives me (and him) something to think about in advance. I'd like to really be able to put together a complete portfolio for college.

 

Thanks again,

 

Cornflower

[Nan in Mass]

This is what I wrote about him at the beginning of this post:

I don't know yet what the youngest will do for a project. It isn't something you can choose for the child' date=' I think; you can just help make their dreams happen with money, time, ideas, and discipline, and help add in an academic componant if you are going to count it for school. My youngest dreams of getting his own boat and living on it. He is heavily involved with gymnastics, but doesn't want to do it single-minded-ly enough to aim for the Olympics or something (phew!), and he invents things all the time. We'll look at robotics club for him next year, keep him supplied with building materials, get him some education in electronics and computers somehow, and we're looking for a small sailboat for him. We'll see what emerges there. Or maybe he'll do something having to do with the D+D and strategy games he is so wrapped up in at the moment. I wish we could manage a bit of riding and fencing. He'd love it. It conflicts with gymnastics, though. Or maybe he'll compose lots of piano music and make a CD. Anyway, we're sort of waiting and seeing.[/quote']

 

This year (he is 14) was obviously a blossoming year. Some years seem to be like that. He began by arranging with his friends to go to some realms events. These are long D+D live action games. It took a bit of guts on our part to drop him off to spend the weekend with a mixed group of young people (mostly over 18) all dressed in medieval style to spend the weekend smiting each other. The organizers were very reassuring, however, and he came back talking a mile a minute about how they had managed to save this person and how they had managed to cross this creek despite the band of brigands guarding it and ... Next, he surprised us by announcing that he was now old enough to go peacewalking. Within a week he was gone. He walked from RI to DC, then came home two weeks, and then flew off to walk in Europe for a month. Meanwhile, we found a small sailboat for him. It was delivered yesterday. He is one excited child. He has tons to learn and do this summer. He also has some school work to finish. It has been a wild spring, with our youngest starting off and the older one finishing. Our heads are still whirling. Hang on to your hat when they do wake up and start projectizing. It is a wild ride.

-Nan