What would you do differently knowing what you know now???

[ma23peas]

My son is in 7th grade and I have two daughters right behind him in 5th and 4th..we move up in grades in January rather than September. So, he's almost in 8th grade. We are plugging along and in my area there is a wonderful science teacher locally who does a commendable job on teaching various science courses....so I feel confident about the sciences but going into high schooling within the next 12-15 months I want to be as prepared as I can and start reviewing curricula now and have a timeline designed for when we should do testing and start looking for scholarships/grants...he's very active in extracurricular activities, but I feel I need to be 'on top of it' these next years...

 

I would just love to glean from the experienced families as I work through the next year....I'm not sure when everyone does their favorites lists but I'm also looking for just general guidance on would haves/should haves..

 

Thanks!!

[Laurie4b]

What I have changed since my oldest (aka the guinea pig) entered high school:

1) Have children take outside classes that are more "school like" starting in middle school. It was a shock to my oldest to get used to a test, typical tests, etc in 9th grade. (We do several outside classes in high school. That is something I find is a very good thing for many reasons.)

2) I would have started with practice in "fill in the bubble" standardized testing in 7th or 8th grade for a student likely to want to get into a selective college. There is a lot of pressure to do well on the ACT or SAT not to mention SAT II's and AP's for these schools, and I think practice helps. If your child turns out to have test anxiety, it gives you longer to get on top of that as well.

[Chris in VA]

Two things in particular

 

Write, write, write--take an outside class if writing is a hard thing for parent. Work hard on it so writing an essay is a piece of cake, writing a research paper is familiar and not intimidating, and defending a position (persuasive essay) like on the SAT comes easily.

 

Work thru test prep for SAT for a whole YEAR. Use something like Kaplan for content, and Princeton Review for strategies.

 

Can you tell we are focused on the SAT? :D

[Sandra in NC]

Writing --not only composition but the physical skill of handwriting-- is important as is the SAT. My older son refused to do SAT prep and he ended up with very average scores. My younger son worked on SAT prep daily (just an ave of 15 min a day) for a year and ended up with very high scores.

 

People say the SAT is becoming less relevant, but I don't think so. Big schools use it as an easy screening tool. My older son's good friend got an automatic scholarship based on her SAT and grades. There was no scholarship interview or any other "work" for her to do. My son didn't get that and as a consequence, we're paying $1000/month MORE than his friend who is going to the same school. Aack.

 

I should have insisted my older son do SAT prep.

 

The other thing I wish we had done is spent the summers preparing/taking CLEP exams. It's costing us about $1000/credit for my son (out-of-state tuition) and he could've earned many credits by doing CLEP. It would've been more productive than a summer job in terms of money saved.

 

CLEP wouldn't help my younger son, who will probably go to a school that doesn't accept CLEP credits, but my older son who is an average school, would have been bettter off.... (Why is he out of state? Because VCU has the best public-university art program in the country. It's cheaper than private art colleges.)

[cathmom]

The SAT is important, as is applying to schools where your scores are considered high. They want you to go there to boost their scores and will usually offer good scholarships. The college my son is attending made an offer he couldn't refuse, and he is getting incredible opportunities there that he wouldn't get if he were just "one of many" with great scores.

[Sandra in NC]

More thoughts on this subject....

 

Have your children attend academic summer camps at state universities (or other schools). This is a good way to visit colleges early and also to have your children build experience working with others, away from home.

 

Also, plan to have them take the SAT II subject tests throughout high school -- don't save them until senior year. (That is, unless you are 100% sure your child will go to a school that doesn't require them.)

 

Participate in math clubs, science olympiad, and other nationally recognized groups.

[Gwen in VA]

Definitely do prepare for high school ahead of time, thinking through curricula and how you will approach the different subjects. Plan what kind of courses you will do when. Think through your child's goals and dreams and how they can be achieved/prepared for.

 

Then, be flexible and willing to change your course midstream.

 

*Passions change.

*Curricula don't work out.

*Better options (academically or extracurricularly) become available.

*You have more (or less) time in the schedule than you expected.

*Finances change, so the unaffordable option becomes affordable (or vice versa).

[FloridaLisa]

What would you do differently knowing what you know now???

 

The first thing that comes to mind right now is that I would have started earlier trying to give my oldest a *vision* for college. You know, *I* read these boards and spend time contemplating scopes and sequences, and hover on College Confidential and talk with friends about their college application experiences. But, I think I missed getting that to my oldest earlier. Now, he knew he was college bound; and we talked about career hopes, college requirements and certainly about high school requirements. But I wish that we had attended a college fair and info sessions a bit earlier so that he had a definite picture of why mom was requiring all this rigorous stuff and could own it himself.

 

Other things I've learned or done along the way:

1) First and foremost, determine where you want to end up. What will be a likely career choice? Science oriented? Music lover? Find the end point and then (loosely) map out a high school course sequence. Then re-read Gwen's post about following the sequence loosely in light of other opportunities, challenges, changes that arise.

 

2) Research all of the available options for homeschooled high schoolers in your area. Co-ops or paid classes or community college or public school classes. My experience is that kids *want* outside classes at some point in high school and that parents *need* outside classes at some point in high school.

 

3) Research on-line classes. I really appreciate the excellent, solid courses available for homeschoolers on-line. There are so many available and more each year. Spend a few evenings searching these boards for reviews of many of the on-line venues. Also, http://www.hslda.org has a list in their high school section.

 

4) Spend as much time as needed in the 8th grade to shore up any weaknesses in foundational areas -- grammar, basic writing skills, foundational math. In the best of all worlds, you do not want to have to spend valuable high school time revisiting content that could have been covered in 8th. Gorgeous history timelines will matter little in high school if writing skills are not up to par.

 

5) Purposely and actively teach study skills: outlining from a text, notetaking from a lecture and text, general organization, how to follow a teacher's syllabus (tip to GVA who recently reminded me of this!), test taking skills, test studying skills. In school, students work on this year after year so that it's one step up by high school. For homeschoolers, used to non-traditional learning and evaluation, the structure of a text, teacher, deadlines and real tests can be completely new.

 

6) Find someone who has successfully home educated at least one child through high school into college in your local area. Take him/her to lunch and ask him/her all the questions that might be particular for your state or area.

 

7) Refer to these boards. Often. The folks here are the best virtual guidance counselors around.

 

HTH,

Lisa

[ma23peas]

The sage advice here is excellent! Thank you so much! Some additional requests since some of you have brought them up....

 

* I have never looked into ANY online programs (other than Rosetta Stone which is really just bought curricula) if there are any that you could have lived without or couldn't go without please share!

 

* How specific are you sticking to requirements in your state? One of the requirements here is that you have 4 years in the same foreign language. Well, we've taken 5 years of Latin, we'll have 3 years of German and 3 years of Spanish...we technically won't qualify for 4 years in the 9th-10th grade because it's split between Spanish/German.

 

* Great point on getting it weaker subjects shirred up during this last year before..my son detests writing, but debate club has really made him start researching and creating cases so he's finally got a purpose that makes writing worthwhile to him..but we're still far away from where I'd like him to be. Any advice on encouraging writing in a reluctant writer? I've considered IEW, just wondered if an online source might help him more.

 

Thanks so much for your help! This is a nugget of needed information!!

 

Tara

[danielle]

My best success in encouraging writing in our house has been--enter contests! Dd will happily write sci fi all day long, but essays, not! However, if there's the possibility of $$ or glory or publication, she's a lot more motivated. So far she's racked up 3 honorable mentions, maybe one of these days she'll win something.

Danielle

[Sandra in NC]

Specifically, Scholastics http://www.artandwriting.org/

 

There is no prize money, but it's a good way to start!

 

Have your students register (homeschool students register directly- parents DON'T register as teachers) and then click on the rules for your region. Our deadline is usually end of Nov./early Dec. for writing.

 

My son won a National Gold Key last year in the personal essay category!

 

Sandra

[Sandra in NC]

We have had good experience with PA Homeschool online AP classes http://www.pahomeschoolers.com/courses/index.html

 

WriteAtHome.com has good online writing courses -- encouraging coaches.

 

Stanford EPGY has excellent online English classes (for strong writers)

 

A couple years ago, my son started Chemistry with APEX Learning, but I asked for a refund - very disappointing class.

 

That's our experience!

[Anna]

Oh that's easy now that I have one in 3rd semester college and one in 2nd semester CC.

 

I wish I had:

 

1. Made them read more books in Jr. and Sr. High and write about them.

2. In upper elementary and middle school - Focused solely on short essay writing, using the 5-par essay model... no creative writing.

3. In grades 7-10 - Focused on short and long essays and introduced the writing of research papers.

3. In grades 11-12 - Focused mostly on long essays (longer than 5-par) and research papers with a sprinkling of 5-par essays in the mix.

4. Been more serious about teaching them modern foreign language. And I wish I had started them in junior year of high school taking foreign language at CC.

 

My oldest does excellent work writing essays and research papers in college. She spits them out and makes A's on them. Youngest dd who is LD works harder with these skills. I taught both girls how to study, outline and take notes, however, LD dd had a *memory relapse* with study skills in 1 of her 3 classes this semester, starting her off on the wrong foot. Fortunately, older sister and I caught it in time, we spent a couple weeks tutoring her and she's doing well now. I thank God that LD dd is living home while at CC and she will live home in 2 years when she finishes college at university.

 

Knowing what I know now, I would advise anyone with a LD child to keep them living home while in college and oversee their work if you want them to succeed. Some may disagree saying they have to learn on their own at some point. Yes, but not when starting college. My dd's academic advisor is very good and helpful, but as an example----

 

I met with dd and advisor a month ago to help dd decide which courses to take next semester and to get her registered for those courses. The advisor asked dd, "What would you like to take next semester?" Well, you don't ask a LD kid a question like that because they'll tell you exactly what they'd *like* to take, not what they should take.

 

Advisor was offering all sorts of ideas until I politely interrupted and told her and dd, "She's currently taking 'Spanish I' so she really needs to take Spanish II next semester so she doesn't forget what she's learning. And in her English Comp class last year they focused so much on personal writing <rolling eyes> that it was kind of useless for brushing up on essay/research paper skills which is covered in Eng Com II so she needs to take that because it will help her with writing assignments in all her classes." The advisor heard me out and agreed with me and so did dd. We signed her up for those 2 classes and 2 others as well. I walked away thinking, "What if I had not been there?"

 

Sorry this was so long. I got long-winded.:leaving:

[Laurie4b]

One other thing: plan for an increase in homeschool $$.

 

I found that I have needed to spend way more to homeschool in high school than in elementary or middle school. It's had quite a budget impact. The books cost more and the outside courses usually don't come cheap, either, unless they're at a CC.

[Anna]

OK, one more thing before I go---

 

My kids are pretty well read. But did you notice that most of my "wishes" had to do with wanting them to have read even more books and wishing we had been even more serious, more structured from middle school on up with writing for essays and research papers? The only other thing I mentioned was modern foreign language.

 

Not once have I felt that they should have learned more math, or science, or history or grammar, etc. Don't try to stuff their heads with everything there is to learn before they graduate. No matter how hard you try, you'll be leaving things out. Study skills and writing skills, on the other hand, are crucial for success for college and beyond.

[Anna]

The books cost more and the outside courses usually don't come cheap, either, unless they're at a CC.

 

Only if you view $100-150. per textbook cheap at CC; we didn't.:eek::ack2::cursing::banghead:

[Sandy in Indy]

I think it's really important for college-bound kids to have SOME classes outside of the home, whether at a co-op or cc. Getting a grade from another teacher (or several) validates the grades received at home. If you give all As, but your child earns only Cs from outside teachers, colleges are going to wonder why.

 

SAT prep is important, so begin early. We do vocab programs in middle school and stepped up to SAT prep books early in high school. I purchased the Chalkdust Math Review set (which helped dd nab a $26,000 scholarship) and I also invested in IEW's SAT writing prep program. Those dollars were more than well spent.

 

I think it's really important to understand that YOU can't do it all for high school and do it well. I'm an English person...I'm great with history and literature but don't go anywhere near anything resembling math and science. I know those are MY weak points, so I made sure to shore up those areas with outside classes or coop situations.

 

I went to the state education website and looked at what they required for an honors diploma...then I tailored our courses to fit that. We still had lots of time for electives...and the extra math and science that ds's intended major requires.

 

Do plan to spend more $$. It's still less expensive than the other alternatives!

[Beth in SW WA]

 

5) Purposely and actively teach study skills: outlining from a text, notetaking from a lecture and text, general organization, how to follow a teacher's syllabus (tip to GVA who recently reminded me of this!), test taking skills, test studying skills.

 

I just bought How To Be A Superstar Student and we start it today! I hope it helps accomplish what you just said. Study skills!

 

 

6) Find someone who has successfully home educated at least one child through high school into college in your local area. Take him/her to lunch and ask him/her all the questions that might be particular for your state or area.

Great idea!

 

7) Refer to these boards. Often. The folks here are the best virtual guidance counselors around.

Amen & Amen!!

 

HTH,

Lisa

 

In response to the initial question...

 

I wish I did not let my kids read as much twaddle. It is counter-productive. I am following someone's advice here who said they don't let their kids read books that aren't at least 50-100 years old.

[Storm Bay]

In response to the initial question...

 

I wish I did not let my kids read as much twaddle. It is counter-productive. I am following someone's advice here who said they don't let their kids read books that aren't at least 50-100 years old.

 

Interesting. I let my dd's read twaddle while we're at the library. What we take home isn't always 50-100 years old, though, but is either historical fiction or has some literary value. Of course, coming from a family with musicians & actors, I feel motivated to keep up with current decent stuff. And there is some (my dc are 8, 10 & 13, though.)

[MomsintheGarden]

What would I have done differently? I would have learned earlier about college options, and the alphabet soup that accompanies them: PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP, CLEP, DANTES, etc. Our son is now in college, and we didn't have him take the PSAT because we didn't know how important it could be for getting scholarship money. If we had him do it all over again, he would have taken that, and some more APs - starting earlier than January of his senior year of hs.

 

Also, we would have had him do a different chemistry course instead of the 2nd year of Apologia Chemistry. Those two years of Apologia chem + lots of study guide practice were not enough for him to get the AP score he needed to get credit for freshman chemistry. I have read the same on these boards about Apologia Biology and Physics NOT being adequate prep for APs, even using the basic and advanced courses.

 

In addition, we did not look at colleges for him until Christmas time of his senior year of high school! We assumed we would "find something online" that he could do at home to get a computer science degree. When we researched it, we found that almost all options for cs were IT-focused, but he was looking for a degree in scientific computing. Then we scrambled to apply to, um, one college. Fortunately he got accepted and is thriving there. But it was a little much to do all that with compressed schedule.

 

Finally, we let our son get away with not taking foreign language in high school. Now he must fulfull the fl requirement for his college, which he hopes to do by studying Rosetta Stone French over the summer and taking the CLEP for the 1st level French. I am secretly glad the college didn't let him get away with no fl, but wish we had made him do one in high school.

 

My daughter is in 11th grade. She studied for and took the PSAT, is using Zumdahl for her 2nd year of high school chemistry, will be taking 5 APs over this year and next, and WILL complete Rosetta Stone Spanish before she goes to college. We have also been to a couple of college fairs, have somewhat narrowed her choices of college and major, and have researched their AP/CLEP credit and scholarship options.

 

Yes, we can be taught!

 

Garden Mom

 

PS We were pretty good about keeping records, but if you aren't, you will have a hard time preparing a high school transcript. So be organized!

[periwinkle]

I think it's really important for college-bound kids to have SOME classes outside of the home, whether at a co-op or cc.

 

Yes, I think this is good advice. HOWEVER, I will point out that if for any reason(s) your dc does not have the opportunity to take outside classes, they can still be accepted at good colleges and do well once they are there. My oldest ds is an example of this scenario, as are two daughters of a homeschooling friend of mine.

[stripe]

There are a lot of excellent suggestions here that are certainly food for thought.

 

Interesting. I let my dd's read twaddle while we're at the library. What we take home isn't always 50-100 years old, though, but is either historical fiction or has some literary value.

 

I must say, I believe that not all old books are goodies, and that not all new books are twaddle. Twaddle is nothing new. There are a lot of old books that poke fun at the popular novels of the time, such as Jane Austen's satirical take on Gothic horror books.

 

I think a child who has had no experience with books from the past century, or has never read a book expressing the feelings of non-whites/non-Europeans, is not well-rounded. I feel personally motivated to have my (multiracial and bilingual) children read well-written literature with characters who are other than young white children from Victorian times. That does not mean a steady diet of Sweet Valley High.

[Storm Bay]

There are a lot of excellent suggestions here that are certainly food for thought.

 

 

 

I must say, I believe that not all old books are goodies, and that not all new books are twaddle. Twaddle is nothing new. There are a lot of old books that poke fun at the popular novels of the time, such as Jane Austen's satirical take on Gothic horror books.

 

I think a child who has had no experience with books from the past century, or has never read a book expressing the feelings of non-whites/non-Europeans, is not well-rounded. I feel personally motivated to have my (multiracial and bilingual) children read well-written literature with characters who are other than young white children from Victorian times. That does not mean a steady diet of Sweet Valley High.

 

:iagree: Thankfully, I have one who will happily read this. I have another, who reads it because I make her, unless I get it on CD (unabridged.) I've been reading Don Quixote, which definitely pokes fun at a lot of twaddle! Of course, if I were actually familiar with those old novels of "knights errant," I would probably enjoy Don Quixote more.

 

My eldest has picked up some good reads that deal with very modern issues of multiculturalism (some about biracial children learning to come to terms with who they and the 2 sides of their families are, etc.) They're not all what I'd call literature, but they're a far cry from Sweet Valley High (ick--my dd's don't read that, but they will find other twaddle at the library to read there sometimes, like Jedi books, graphic novels, that don't come home with us because to me it's like candy--a little bit once and a while so it's not the forbidden fruit.) But I've always made a point to have some multi racial/cultural books at home and from the library for the same reasons.

[Wendy in WI]

Thanks for posting this question! And thanks so much for all the responses. We are 3 months into high school with our first and all of your wise words and much appreciated.

 

Wendy

[Beth in SW WA]

and WILL complete Rosetta Stone Spanish before she goes to college.

 

How will you document RS Spanish on your transcript? Are you using a supplemental grammar book? We just started RS Spanish (in addition to Latin) and we love it! I am hoping to keep it going through high school but NOT add any grammar. I'm not sure if it would be a full foreign lingo credit.

 

Thanks for sharing your alphabet soup insight. :)

[Sandra in NC]

Rosetta Stone Level 1 is worth 2 high school credits. Level 2 is worth 2 more credits.

 

Without a grammar supplement, however, your students won't be able to pass any exams to test out of a foreign language requirement in college. But they'll have the high school credit, and that counts as far as your diploma requirements go.

 

If you want them to be able to test out of a foreign language, then I'd use a different program.

[Moni]

Only if you view $100-150. per textbook cheap at CC;

 

Yes, it can make one giddy to find a book cost in only Two Digits $ ;)

 

Not once have I felt that they should have learned more math, or science, or history or grammar, etc

 

We don't have any regrets because I've had the focus from our earliest days.

The list of regrets or would-have-done's I always read in topics such as these list what actually our focus has been all along.

So it is encouraging.

 

Read well-written books, write about them, compare, contrast, summary, etc.

Math, mastery, making all corrections, review concepts and terms (flashcards), and re-do weeks' work when necessary, which can be often for a season :) Math is the language of science. No Math, No Science.

Vocabulary - so the student can understand what he's reading, and thus reading comprehension and can do the Reading/Writing assignments. Require to actually state a definition, not just "familiar" with a word or knowing "about what: it means. Systematic review of vocab (keep flashcards). Roots programs. Latin study.

Composition - works its way into the Content areas (the subjects)

Grammar - yes, but not 30 mins daily for 5, 6, 7 years. Grammar is a set amount of knowledge. Learn it, be done with it. A few years later, review it. Done. Focused, short-n-sweet, time-effective.

 

:seeya:

Edited November 4, 2008 by Moni

[MomsintheGarden]

I will give her 2 credits for completing RS Spanish, just as Sandra in NC suggested. Thanks for the tip about needing a grammar book. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Garden Mom

[ereks mom]

I would take more time for just-for-the-fun-of-it field trips, crafts, movies based on books (instead of feeling the need to analyze everything we see or read), lunch dates with Dad, etc.