Who else has an 8th grader and is making a high school plan?...

[Nan in Mass]

Just looking for company GRIN. I've done this once for my older one, now I have to do it for the younger one, and trying to be fair to him, I'm starting from scratch again and rethinking all our decisions. My general educational goals remain the same because they are general enough to cover both children, but I still need to pick a focus or two or three and decide how we're going to accomplish everything and even more worrisome, fit everything in. I know it will change, but I need a starting place, especially if this one is headed for engineering school. I can see an advantage to focusing on engineering for high school, and for not focusing on engineering and doing the things he won't get in college. This whole part of homeschooling is SO scary.

 

Lots of APs?

Lots of SAT2s?

IB?

TWTM with what purpose? Good engineer? Good scientist? Good math? Political power (for an activist - lots of rhetoric and history)? Music? Foreign languages? Art? (all a possibility for this child)

Half unschooling, half TWTM?

Cover school?

Foreign exchange program?

CC associates degree?

CC classes but not degree?

Travel?

Sports?

Major projects?

Contribution to the world?

Online school?

Online classes?

Public high school?

Charter school?

Private high school?

Online school?

 

What other choices do we have to make? What sorts are you making and why?

 

-Nan

[BritAnnia]

I wish I were planning my 8th grader's homeschool years, I miss homeschooling! My ds is now back in the regular ps system which isn't the worst but it's not challenging him either.

We're in the process of applying for ds to attend the new(ish) early college at the local technical college campus. Due to the structure of the classes and workload, there is an application process where the student must show capability and desire to attend. The early college offers 5 years of high school(4yrs) and college classes combined, all taken on college campus, graduate with high school diploma and an associates degree. Class sizes are small, only 80 places open for rising 9th graders, and the first year of 9th graders currently attending has just 64 students. Also heard mention of a scholarship to any public NC university for next two years if the student keeps a decent grade average during high school, but I don't have full details on that yet.

[EKS]

I have a 7th grader and am making high school plans! Does that count? This child has LDs that complicate the process. He is also headed for an engineering degree. These are some of the things I want for him to get out of his high school education, but I am still struggling with how to get there:

 

I want him to be a competent writer. His LDs make this difficult. He is currently doing extremely well with K12 English, so we may opt to go with them for high school too.

 

I want him to have a solid background in literature through the ages. Again, his LDs mean that I may have to read the more difficult works aloud to him (or listen to CD). This will likely end up being part of his history credits, rather than English, and will be done at home with me.

 

I want him to have a solid understanding of history in a big picture sort of way as well as a good understanding of current events. This will need to be done at home with me. I would like history/literature to be the focus of our homeschool because I doubt he will ever get this again.

 

I want him to have a solid foundation in science, possibly augmented by using college level texts throughout. This could be done online, in a high school classroom, or at home with me.

 

Math is pretty straightforward, with the slight exception that I am not the most qualified math instructor at the high school level. At some point he will need a real class (online, high school, or cc) or a tutor.

 

His LDs make foreign language a problem. So far we're doing ok with Latin and if this continues he will end up with three years of Latin. I would like for him to have a modern language as well so he has been using Rosetta Stone Spanish to prepare. He might have to take a class at the high school for this, or have a tutor.

 

I would also like for him to have enough time to explore his own interests, such as robotics and sustainable energy. Again, his LDs make *everything* for school take much longer than it should, so it is going to be difficult to balance schoolwork and outside interests.

 

Everything I've been doing schoolwise in grades 6 and 7, and most especially everything next year in 8th, is intended to support these goals.

 

This whole high school thing is freaking me out.

[Sarah CB]

I have a 7th grader and am beginning to make high school plans. She works ahead in a couple of areas so I've had to think flexibly.

 

I want to stick with TWTM plan for history and literature. I want to make sure we get as much depth and breadth as possible in these areas. I would like to see if there are any Honours or AP correlations to what we'll already be studying as we go through our history cycles.

 

Writing will be Classical Writing all the way through.

 

I plan to oursource science with online classes. I'll probably start this in the fall with Science 9 online.

 

She's already working with a tutor for math and so far is on track to write her grade 10 math provincial exam in June. If we can continue on with our tutor for grade 11 then she'll do that in the fall, if not then she'll do math 11 online. Then math 12 online and then I don't even know where to go from there...

 

 

I'd like to look into second language APs.

 

She is pretty self-motivated and is a self-starter when it comes to projects and passions. I want to make sure I don't kill her with academic workload. She needs time to pursue her own things, too. I'd like to see her spend some time working in her area of interest so that she has a realistic view of what the job actually entails before spending years of her life learning about it.

[Ria]

I had to go back to work last Feb, so my then 8th-grader went into the public schools. Actually, for him public high school has been the best choice, and probably would be even if homeschooling was still an option. He's tested as highly gifted, and like your child is considering engineering (biomedical engineering is his current interest). At the public school he's able to take all honors and AP classes. Our district is one of the best in our state, and offers many higher-level courses. I simply couldn't offer him AP classes here at home, and I much prefer him to take an AP class in a classroom than via the internet. So, he's thriving academically, and I'm confident we made the right choice.

 

Ria

[KAR120C]

But I make for kind of weird company on this topic... LOL

 

DS is approaching a fairly solid high school level (except I'm not entirely impressed with his writing fluency yet..... it's getting within range though, and improving fast). On the other hand, he's young. So we don't have the time pressure yet...

 

My general thought is to go very writing-and-project-heavy for history and literature, and very competition-and-testing-heavy for math and science, and then throwing in as much language, music and art as will fit.

 

I'm intrigued by the other post about the school that follows each year of science with a year of AP on the same topic, but since we've got more time I think we'll go through the regular Biology/Chemistry/Physics sequence at the pre-AP level (maybe with SAT2s), followed by the sequence again for APs... at which point I think we'll need some kind of association with a school, at least part-time. We'll see how it goes -- next year is Biology.

 

So for us... Lots of SAT2s, and lots of APs, possible part-time enrollment somewhere (private or CC -- local public schools aren't interested), but probably no CC degree... probably. Possibly early admission to university though. Lots of math and science competition... math exams, science fair, maybe Lego team... Definitely yes to major projects, and hoping to get some internship opportunities, especially for science lab work... Travel or foreign exchange sounds lovely, but I don't know that I put it at a very high priority myself -- we'll see how he feels about it when opportunities arise. My contribution will be to make sure his language skills are up to it if he wants to!

[Murphy101]

It is scary and rather over-whelming at times.

 

We are pretty dead-set to homeschool through highschool, but plan on him taking at least some CC classes for credit. Possibly enough to get or be very close to an associates degree by highschool graduation.

 

I figure we'll start with some online CC courses to slowly get his feet wet, then move on to in person classes at the local colleges.

 

I don't know about all the testing yet. I think much of the AP/SAT2 questions will be answered as we go b/c I don't plan on having him take such tests unless he feels confident he can do well on them. Sometimes you just don't know that until you get into the subject some, kwim? I'm hoping he'll have at least 2 AP and 1 SAT2

 

I do plan on him taking a lot of ACT and SAT, hopefully getting a better score each time.

 

He really wants to travel and do foreign languages, thus that is what our focus will be to start. But I'm not banking on that staying his interest, so he'll still have to complete strong english, math, and sciences for highschool graduation.

 

Other things I'm working on offering that I think are important are mechanical skills of various sorts. CLE has some wonderful electives, residential wiring and small engines and a couple others that I will let him choose from. He likes working with his hands and with people, so I think he might like those areas and it might make math and sciences more interesting to him.

 

9th grade will be:

Kolbe greek history (at his request)

Kolbe physical science

jacobs geometry & Life of Fred

seton or Kolbe english/lit (I still can't decide which. This is the subject he hates the most, so altho I still want it to be a good program, I also want it to make it as easy on his as possible - opinions?)

catholic studies

seriously considering Spanish Luna over Rosetta Stone.

memoria press material logic

1 elective from CLE of his choice or another option if he thinks of an interest to pursue

 

I plan for him to take at least 1 if not 2 ACTs by the end of 9th grade, but that's it for major testing. I'll see how he doing by the middle of the courses to determine how well I think he'd do on an AP/SAT2/CLEP test in the subject. Wait.. can I do that? How far in advance does one need to know they are taking those tests?

 

I had started looking at the end goal, but it was just too much to take in at once.

 

For now, I have a high school overview plan of action with subjects that need to be covered and a general idea of focus but am taking it one year at a time. Is that a huge mistake? Will he miss opportunities if we don't plan the details of the years further in advance?

[Heather in VA]

That would be me. I have some general ideas and some more specific curriculum choices.

 

Math - we will continue with VideoText. It's going well and she is understanding very well. We'll have to choose something else for Calculus when the time comes because VT doesn't have Calculus

 

Writing - Classical Writing all the way through. She'll be in Herodotus next year

 

History/Lit - Great books study with a history text. 9th grade will be Ancients- Greece and Rome focus using SWB's history text as the history portion. The primary focus will be the Great books though.

 

Latin - She's finishing Henle First Year this year. Our goal is to progress to the point of reading The Vulgate and other classics.

 

Science - We'll be doing Biology, Chem, Physics then an AP science. Which text depends on the subject. Next year will probably be Campbell's Exploring Life.

 

Thinking about starting Greek. - Still thinking LOL

 

Logic - She's finishing Intermediate Logic now. Still choosing a path for this.

 

She is a competitive gymnast which even in the public schools is enough for PE credit so I won't need to do that (unless she retires).

 

I'm planning at least one elective type class each year but I want to hammer out more of the core classes before I choose that. In other words - I haven't had time to finalize that yet :-).

 

Heather

[Brenda in MA]

What other choices do we have to make? What sorts are you making and why?

 

-Nan

Nan,

 

I'm kind of in the same boat with you -- one finishing high school, and next one getting ready to start. I've been really unsettled the last few months thinking about high school for this next one. He's currently a 7th grader, but a young one (summer bday). He's doing well academically, but he works very slowly. We're seriously considering giving him one more year in middle school, but not definitely sure on that. That decision will make a big difference from my perspective on how to plan late middle school & high school course work for him.

 

Up to now, I had always assumed that he would do the same courses/sequence as his brother, but now I'm having serious doubts about that. I'm happy with what his brother did, but I'm not sure it's best for him because he has different strengths and different interests.

 

I'm also really unsure about whether or not to go the AP route. His brother did not take any APs, but did take some SAT2 tests and cc, and he's been accepted into several good colleges for engineering. So while I don't see that the APs are necessary, they probably would have helped strengthen his record. However, at what cost?

 

His brother did several years of integrated literature/history/religion studies of a chronological nature, kind of like recommended in TWTM. I feel like there was a lot of value to these studies. I think he enjoyed them more than he would have if he had taken isolated courses, and I think studying the historical aspects related to the literature made the books more relevant for him. We were able to ramp up the level of literary analysis so that he got some good experience prior to college, but it wasn't so much early on that it made him hate literature.

 

I'd hate to sacrifice those courses and their benefits, but at the same time, the APs would probably improve the perceived rigor of his high school work and make him more of a candidate for merit scholarships. Decisions, decisions....

 

Thanks for starting this thread. It's helpful to read how others are planning to approach things. I feel like a lot is not settled yet, but I have pretty much decided that he will continue with Latin, at least for the next few years.

 

And so we plod on....

Brenda

[Tokyomarie]

Well, I have an 8th grader and SHOULD be making our high school plans but I've not gotten very far yet. This particular child shows no real bent yet- though I wouldn't be surprised if he leans toward something technical. He really could go any way at this point, though. He still struggles with writing, so I need to make that a huge focus for 9th grade but I haven't decided what to use yet. It's looking more likely that we'll use Tapestry of Grace as our humanities/social sciences anchor- still not 100% decided yet, though I own Year 1 and don't have another plan for Ancients if I don't use TOG. We've used Sonlight for him all the way through so far as his primary history/geography resource. I wish SL had a real high school level ancient history/lit course. I wouldn't necessarily be thinking about TOG if they did. He should be finished with Alg. I before fall and move on to geometry, and he'll maybe do chemistry though that's up in the air yet. Chemistry will be offered at our co-op and ds will have the math prerequisite but he hasn't done bio. That's truthfully as far as I've gotten in planning.

[Kareni]

 

I'm intrigued by the other post about the school that follows each year of science with a year of AP on the same topic, but since we've got more time I think we'll go through the regular Biology/Chemistry/Physics sequence at the pre-AP level (maybe with SAT2s), followed by the sequence again for APs...

 

If you know that your child is going to do an AP course for which there is a matching SAT subject test, you might wish to have your child wait and take both tests after the AP class is over. (In other words, your child will be competing with students who have already taken AP level work and could be at a disadvantage.)

 

I don't know about all the testing yet. .... I'm hoping he'll have at least 2 AP and 1 SAT2

 

I do plan on him taking a lot of ACT and SAT, hopefully getting a better score each time.

 

 

 

A few thoughts .... Some of the colleges that my daughter has applied to require two or three SAT subject test scores. Some colleges do accept AP scores in lieu of SAT subject test scores but by no means all.

 

Currently with the ACT test, one has score choice and can send a college the results from a given test date. SAT is now instituting the same policy; however, some colleges are still requiring that ALL scores be shown to them. In that case, having your child take the test multiple times may not be in his or her best interest. I'd recommend having your child take the test at home under test conditions and holding off on the real test until he or she feels prepared.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Nan in Mass]

I was intrigued by the overlapping science in that thread, too. Have you seen the corresponding middle school thread on the curriculum board?

[Nan in Mass]

In my experience, the plan changes so much as time goes along that you should be ok. Just be careful of the cummulative stuff. That has to be planned backwards.

[Nan in Mass]

Gymnastics is one of my problems. It takes such vast quantities of time. On the other hand, it builds strong children...

[Tiramisu]

9th grade will be:

Kolbe greek history (at his request)

Kolbe physical science

jacobs geometry & Life of Fred

seton or Kolbe english/lit (I still can't decide which. This is the subject he hates the most, so altho I still want it to be a good program, I also want it to make it as easy on his as possible - opinions?)

catholic studies

seriously considering Spanish Luna over Rosetta Stone.

memoria press material logic

1 elective from CLE of his choice or another option if he thinks of an interest to pursue

 

 

History is on-hold until we see what our coop is doing, probably MODG anicents

Kolbe Physical Science

Geometry-possibly Jacobs

Seton English (all reviews say it's excellent, btw)

Lingua Latina

Religion: modified Kolbe with coop apologetics class

Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary a la Kolbe

 

She also needs more grammar. She likes Easy Grammar Plus but their high school program would be a yearly expense, and I have Seton's 9th grade Grammar on my shelf courtesy of our local thrift shop.:)

[Laura K (NC)]

In some classes he's going to work along side his older brother, two years ahead of him (history, literature, religion). In other classes, he's going to work along side his younger brother, two years behind him (algebra 1, science). I was thinking about how to tailor this child's education for his talents, and how his transcript would look different from his older brother's. His will most likely have a little less math and science (my oldest will have at least 5 credits of each before he's done), though I'm not sure about that yet. He's better at writing, art, and music, so I will most likely add on to his courses there. The mistakes I made with the oldest (not enough logic or public speaking, for example) will not be repeated with this one, so that's a relief. I'm fitting math, science, literature, history, religion, and logic into his 9th grade year, and they're all following nicely with what we've done this year. It won't be until his 11th grade year, when he'll be eligible for some AP classes through the public school and community college classes, that I'll allow him some freedom to personalize his education. By then, hopefully, it will be a little more clear to him how he wants to direct his life. Until then, I'm just pushing him as far as he'll allow with a general course of study.

[Gwen in VA]

I have a 7th grader. Since she will be the fourth child I've homeschooled high school with, I though planning would be easy. She is bright, motivated, and interested, so this should be a piece of cake, right?

 

Well, complication time -- she is passionate about music and between piano and bells and fife and drum and choir she doesn't have the time to put into schoolwork that the other kids did.

 

She hopes to do AP music theory in 10th grade, so I am doing extensive planning of various theory classes so she will be thoroughly prepared for that course.

 

Otherwise we are just waiting and praying. She is very strong in math and writing. We'll see where she goes and how her interests develop.

 

And if she keeps on adding more practicing, she may not do the extensive array of AP courses that the other kids did.

[KAR120C]

If you know that your child is going to do an AP course for which there is a matching SAT subject test, you might wish to have your child wait and take both tests after the AP class is over. (In other words, your child will be competing with students who have already taken AP level work and could be at a disadvantage.)

I think you're absolutely right, if you're running them pretty close together, but because of our scheduling oddity (possibly doing "high school" for 6-8 years before we call it done) we might have 3 years in between the SAT2 and the AP... or he might graduate early with just the SAT2s (and needing them for substantiating grades). Or a third option I've not even considered yet... LOL But given his age I'm not sure they'll even keep the SAT2 scores (they won't keep the regular SAT scores yet), so we could get a do-over if we stick around long enough. ;)

[KAR120C]

I was intrigued by the overlapping science in that thread, too. Have you seen the corresponding middle school thread on the curriculum board?

I printed out both of them, but I wasn't as clear about how science was presented in the middle school curriculum... only that it was the three subjects and they call them both "independent" and "simultaneous"... so I don't know quite how that works in terms of scheduling...

 

We're currently using the second of the Singapore middle school science texts (the last version -- Interactive) which does cover quite a bit of biology, chemistry and physics, as well as some health topics, in a sort-of-simultaneous way... I'm not sure if it's equivalent/similar or not, but it's working out rather well so I won't worry too much. :) But generally speaking, our "middle school" has quite a bit in common with the BASIS curriculum, except the Saxon math part... we've used Singapore almost straight through.

[Tammyla]

Well, I'm in full planning mode here and it feels like walking a mine field. My plans are to go with an accredited private high school. The school is flexible and will allow us to use a number of local options like dual enrollment and cc.

 

Just looking for company GRIN. I've done this once for my older one, now I have to do it for the younger one, and trying to be fair to him, I'm starting from scratch again and rethinking all our decisions. My general educational goals remain the same because they are general enough to cover both children, but I still need to pick a focus or two or three and decide how we're going to accomplish everything and even more worrisome, fit everything in. I know it will change, but I need a starting place, especially if this one is headed for engineering school. I can see an advantage to focusing on engineering for high school, and for not focusing on engineering and doing the things he won't get in college. This whole part of homeschooling is SO scary.

 

Lots of APs?

Lots of SAT2s?

IB?

TWTM with what purpose? Good engineer? Good scientist? Good math? Political power (for an activist - lots of rhetoric and history)? Music? Foreign languages? Art? (all a possibility for this child)

Half unschooling, half TWTM?

Cover school?

Foreign exchange program?

CC associates degree?

CC classes but not degree?

Travel?

Sports?

Major projects?

Contribution to the world?

Online school?

Online classes?

Public high school?

Charter school?

Private high school?

Online school?

 

What other choices do we have to make? What sorts are you making and why?

 

-Nan

Edited February 24, 2009 by Tammyla

[Beth in Central TX]

My oldest son will be in 8th grade next year, and high school is looming on the horizon. I feel excited and overwhelmed at the same time. I think my oldest son will be a great engineer, scientist, etc. because of his strength in math and science, but right now his passion is carpentry. I know this can change, but he wants to have his own company, so business seems like a more prudent path to also plan for.

 

I've been pondering your questions this weekend, and here are my thoughts:

Disclaimer: This is my 1st attempt to plan for high school, and my only consolation is that my other 2 sons will benefit from this process.

 

Lots of APs? None

 

Lots of SAT2s? None

 

IB? No

 

TWTM with what purpose? Good engineer? Good scientist? Good math? Not quite sure what you mean here. I've moved away from TWTM approach for Great Books & History.

 

Political power (for an activist - lots of rhetoric and history)? I'm thinking I would like to put together a debate team; our local co-op has done this in the past.

 

ETA: I also want each son to attend the leadership camp through the Worldview Academy at least once before they leave home. Luckily, it's generally offered at a major university in the city we live in. It's expensive, but I'm making it part of our homeschool budget.

 

Music? No desire; he has the basics though.

 

Foreign languages? Latin & Koine Greek; He will probably need a modern language too, but I'll let them choose that as an elective and use SOS or Rosetta Stone.

 

Art? Not a fine arts program, but more along the lines of art history in conjunction with world history.

 

Half unschooling, half TWTM? Not for our core subjects, but I'll let this son unschool his carpentry projects.

 

Cover school? No

 

Foreign exchange program? NO

 

CC associates degree? Maybe, but probably not

 

CC classes but not degree? Maybe, but probably not

 

Travel? as a family

 

Sports? not organized

 

Major projects? Senior thesis & presentation required to graduate

 

Contribution to the world? Service & leadership roles at church

 

Online school? No

 

Online classes? No

 

Public high school? No

 

Charter school? No

 

Private high school? No

 

Online school? No

 

Some of these decisions are based on finances and some are based on my desire to home school through high school at home as the main teacher/mentor.

 

I'm I being naive? My DH supports this route, and I'm really excited about what I have planned, but of course, I want my son to get into college too. He took the ACT this month through the Duke TIP and made what I thought was a very good score (for 7th grader). I found out it was only 3 points away from qualifying for the Presidential Scholarship as our local community college. I have a definite high school vision, and I feel like I'm on the right track, but what if it turns out I'm on the wrong road?

 

Thanks for listening to my rambling thoughts this morning.

 

~Beth

Edited February 23, 2009 by Beth in Central TX

[Beth in Central TX]

I have a definite high school vision, and I feel like I'm on the right track, but what if it turns out I'm on the wrong road?

 

Here are my 8th grade plans:

 

Latin Alive! Book 2

New Testament Greek for Beginners by Machen

Classical Writing Diogenes Maxim & Intermediate Poetry

Modern Algebra Structure & Method Book 1

R&S Grammar 8 (M-Th)/ R&S Art 8 (F)

R&S Spelling 8

Omnibus III

Streams of Civilization Vol. II (M-W)/Intro to Logic (Th-F)

Natural History Syllabus using Fabre’s Book of Insects (M-W)/RS4K Chemistry Level II (Th-F)

[Nissi]

Ds. will be in 9nth grade next year and I am still in the planning stage. Here is what we have so far:

Lots of APs? Ds. wants to do lots of APs after hearing about a homeschooler in our area winning a full ride scholarship with 9 APs

 

Lots of SAT2s? Yes, at least 5

 

IB? No

 

TWTM with what purpose? Good engineer? Good scientist? Good math? We plan to follow TWTM to a certain extent. He will finish Omnibus II this year. Haven't decided on Omnibus III next year. I am looking for a good online or local writing class.

He is interested in Medicine and Political Science!

 

Political power (for an activist - lots of rhetoric and history)? Ds. began Team Policy Debate this year. He loves it. APs in US Govt., Comparitive Govt, and Economics is a possibility. Also, summer camps for Debate, Journalism etc.

 

Music? He has Piano lessons and has consistently had a superior rating at the Music Festivals but is not gifted at it.

 

Foreign languages? He will complete Greek II and Latin I this year. Next year he wants to continue with Latin II and begin Spanish.

 

Art? (all a possibility for this child) Not interested at this point. I would like to enroll him in a summer course

Half unschooling, half TWTM? No

Cover school?No

Foreign exchange program? No

CC associates degree? No

CC classes but not degree? Or classes from the local university

Travel? yes

Sports? Martial Arts

Major projects? Not thought about this

Contribution to the world? Leadership at Church and Debate Club. He said he would be willing to tutor kids.

Online school? Not decided

Online classes? Definitely for the APs

Public high school? No

Charter school? No

Private high school? Maybe

 

 

What other choices do we have to make? What sorts are you making and why?

Medical Missions, Drama Class? Speech and Worldview camp.

[SkateLeft]

My oldest and I met with the director of our charter school's high school program last week, for the second time. :) We also met with some of the kids in the program, and my dd thinks it'll be a really good fit for her so we're excited about it. (We do not have a local homeschool group anywhere nearby that fits us, so we've been involved in this charter community for 8 years.)

 

Our charter has two high school programs, in addition to the classical K-8 homeschool support program we're in. One is the site based performing and fine arts school, and one is an independent study program.

 

My dd chose the independent study high school for several reasons. The courses are UC-approved and WASC accredited, both of which were important to us. They have a flexible course sequence, and offer dual enrollment with the community college. They also have experience with younger-than-average students. She can take a variety of small seminar type classes.

 

The student body is close knit, and they offer a bunch of extra things that she'd love to be involved in- literary magazine, programming club, etc. The program requires a considerable amount of self-discipline and motivation, and that's the kind of environment my dd really thrives in. It's basically a college-style high school, if that makes sense. :)

 

I'm a little bummed about handing off the process of choosing curriculum and establishing goals, but I think this is a logical progression for my dd. I've spent the past two years as more of a facilitator anyway, as she's taken more and more control over her education. We're both excited about this decision and I think it'll be a great fit for her.

 

I keep telling myself that I still get to curriculum shop for the younger three! :D

[Murphy101]

what is IB?

 

also for those of you that do many APs and SAT2s, how do you choose curriculum that helps with that? Or do you out-source thoseto a coop, online, CC?

[Gwen in VA]

We do lots of AP's and SAT2's.

 

We have outsourced ALL of the AP courses, and we intend to continue to do so. Somehow facing the challenge of organizing an AP course has always been in the realm of the unimaginable for me.

 

My kids have taken SAT2's after taking AP courses, after taking outsourced courses, and even after doing courses at home.

 

For the home-brewed courses that are geared towards an SAT2, I just try to use a rigorous curriculum (what I'm doing in biology this year) OR do my own thing but use plenty of SAT2 review books (what we did for US History a few years ago).

[Murphy101]

We do lots of AP's and SAT2's.

 

We have outsourced ALL of the AP courses, and we intend to continue to do so. Somehow facing the challenge of organizing an AP course has always been in the realm of the unimaginable for me.

 

My kids have taken SAT2's after taking AP courses, after taking outsourced courses, and even after doing courses at home.

 

For the home-brewed courses that are geared towards an SAT2, I just try to use a rigorous curriculum (what I'm doing in biology this year) OR do my own thing but use plenty of SAT2 review books (what we did for US History a few years ago).

 

ah-ha! thanks. so if you do a rigorous curriculum and review, then based on how well they did with it - you have them take the SAT2?

 

has anyone NOT outsourced for AP tests? (we simply cannot afford much outsourcing this/next year!) If so, how did you gear curriculum towards that goal?

 

ETA: seriously someone tell me what IB is.. all I can think is the poor kids/moms are getting Irritable Bowels....

[Elm in NJ]

I have a 7th grader. I plan on outsourcing a lot of his high school classes, do lots of SAT II, and AP classes(at least 5 for both), and do CC classes.

[Jane in NC]

 

ETA: seriously someone tell me what IB is.. all I can think is the poor kids/moms are getting Irritable Bowels....

 

IB = International Baccalaureate

[Melissa in Australia]

the school year here in Australia starts in Feb. so we have started our new year. my son is doing 9th grade this year.

this is what he is doing.

math Saxon algebra 2

grammar- Abeka grammar and composition 4

logic- traditional logic. we are up to chapter 6 and are hoping it gets better soon. it is incredibly boring.

reading the great book list in WTM

Science- apologia biology

history. spielvogel western civ. with history of the ancient world.

Rosetta stone- German. we had been doing Latin, but he has decided to have a break form Latin this year.

aeroplane designing and building. he is right into this and makes great planes. they have a motor in them and fly. he might join the model plane club. it is over 100km away thought and not that easy to get to.

he will be learning a bit about lath (metal) work this year as well.

basketball. he is big on basketball, plays in 2 different age groups and is in the squad teem for this area. also does a bit of windsurfing.

 

I think I might be missing writing something down. but that about sums it up. I hope I am doing enough.

Edited February 24, 2009 by melissaL

[Cathy in SoCal]

Just finished the plan, but it looks much shorter than everyone's lists...(yikes?) :confused:

 

Saxon Geometry

Great Books/History--TWEM/TWTM

Rhetoric--A Rulebook for Argument

Vocab--Classical Roots

Writing--Put That In Writing

Latin

Philosophy--Thinking About God: First Steps To Philosophy

Biology--Apologia

Boy Scouts--working toward Eagle

 

It looks much more daunting on my Homeschool Tracker agenda grid. :001_smile:

[KAR120C]

Just finished the plan, but it looks much shorter than everyone's lists...(yikes?) :confused:

I like to think of it as "concise" ;)

 

Science - Biology Matters (Singapore) and a science fair project, consider SAT2 prep for biology

Math - Geometry parts of NEM 1 & 2 and Mathematical Logic. Mathcounts and AMC-8 prep with a group

History - topical projects

Literature - okay this needs fleshing out some... but whole books and heavy on writing.

Lingua Latina, Pimsleur Spanish and Penguin Russian, all continued from this year

 

I'm sure there will be other stuff.. there always is! But my standard plan is science, math, history, literature and language... and I figure everything else is pretty flexible.

[Jackie in AR]

In planning mode here for my rising 9th grade twin boys. Here are some of my current rambling thoughts.

 

I'm trying to decide how we'll tackle Great Books. Online tutorial? Omnibus? WTM described method? Or should we just use TOG's literature? I don't yet know. I did order Teaching Co.'s Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition last week. (They were on sale.) And about a month ago I bought their separate DVD sets for the Iliad and the Odyssey.

 

For history, we'll likely continue with TOG, which I like very much. We'll be out of order with lit for 9th grade, though, since next year we'll be on modern history while covering year 1 of great books. I want to do great books in order since they really build on one another; my boys want to cover modern history since we've never done an in-depth study of the world wars. If we do Great Books Tutorial with Escondido, they'll be back in sync for history/lit for 10th grade since Escondido covers ancient Greek books in GB I and ancient Roman books in GB II.

 

We'll work through Classical Writing - Herodotus. They've done Maxim and Chreia this year in the online class. Right now I'm leaning towards not using the online class for next year, but that decision isn't yet final.

 

We'll work through Traditional Logic I and II since CW - Herodotus schedules this. And if we go with Escondido Tutorials, Euclidean geometry is required to be taken with them along with GB II, so that will be more logic.

 

For Latin, we've found a wonderful home at Lone Pine Classical School with Mrs. Karppinen. They'll continue with Latin 200 next year.

 

Escondido Tutorials offers classical Greek *free* for students enrolled in the GB II class. If we go with Escondido, will we partake of this offering?? Mr. Hinrichs says that it is relatively easy to move to Koine after learning classical.

 

Are we ever going to do a modern foreign language??

 

In math, they'll finish NEM 2 in 9th and likely move into NEM 3. I want to make sure they finish Algebra II by the end of 10th so they'll be ready for the PSAT in the fall of 11th grade.

 

What are we going to do for science?? I'm e-mailing with a guy I know who is about to graduate from college this spring with a major in Physics and a minor in Math. He was homeschooled through high school, and I'm picking his brain about curriculum.

 

I told you they were rambling. :D

[Nan in Mass]

Please let us know what your science student says!

[Nan in Mass]

Part of what my husband does for a living is schedule large projects with lots of little pieces that are contingent upon each other. He suggested that I put each book (or project or whatever) I'm considering on an index card so I can lay them out like the periodic table and play with them until I get the books ordered into threads (like first finish this, then do this), and tentatively put into years. He suggested that I could use colour to help me see what is going on. He also said that if I had some of it typed into the computer, I could enlarge the font size, print it out, snip it up, and tape it down to cards. He says this is sometimes faster than transfering the information to the cards by hand.

 

If I were starting from scratch, I don't think I'd need the cards, but I have multiple book lists from my older son that I want to consider for my second one and I've been feeling rather overwhelmed at the quantity of material to be organized. I need some way of seeing it all at once so I can reduce it to a doable amount of material. And it needs to be rearrangable because I know it will change. It has already, since I began to look at it a month ago LOL.

 

HTH somebody

-Nan

[Jenny in Florida]

But I make for kind of weird company on this topic... LOL

 

DS is approaching a fairly solid high school level (except I'm not entirely impressed with his writing fluency yet..... it's getting within range though, and improving fast). On the other hand, he's young. So we don't have the time pressure yet...

 

I was hesitating about whether to respond on this thread. But I'm in the same boat. So, I guess we can keep each other company, right?

 

We're mostly tipping over to high school work next year. He'll take high school science and math courese online, and I'm bumping the challenge level of most of his other subjects at home. I'm planning to start keeping transcripts next year, too.

 

In terms of generalities, this one wants to be an engineer. However, he's always had a very strong artsy bent, too. His current dream is to do set design and special effects and so on for stage shows. So, academically, we need to think in terms of giving him a solid, rigorous background in math and science so that he's prepared to succeed in an engineering program at a good college.

 

I have some concerns about how we're going to work the math, because it's not my area of expertise. We're covered for next year, but after that things get a little hazy. I'm not crazy about the FLVS Algebra II course, and I really think that he'd do better with a live, in-person teacher for the upper levels. But we'll figure it out.

 

I'm assuming he'll have at least a couple of APs in both math and science on his transcript by the time he's done.

 

He's also a big reader and is interested in history. So, I'm planning to continue a literature-heavy approach in those areas.

 

His writing needs work, and I'm going to start requiring a lot more of that next year. All the pieces are there. He just has to get used to the process.

 

The big question with this one is how much time we'll actually have to do high school. He changes his mind weekly about how long he wants to stay home before starting college. I suspect that, rather than jumping into full time right away, he'll likely start with just a class or two locally. (Which might be the solution to my math dilemma.) But I don't have a clear picture of what path he'll take. So, I'm just trying to make sure he's ready for whatever he decides to do.

[Nan in Mass]

Just when I thought I could safely eliminate peacewalking from my youngest's plan, and was thinking how much it would be easier it would be to educate him if he didn't vanish for months at a time, guiltily feeling happy that I wouldn't have to miss him, and admiring his older brother and wondering what on earth we could do to give our youngest his global outlook, community-mindedness, and moral strength... my youngest said he was about ready to go hiking and where were the monks. Two days later they showed up, and a few days after that, he is gone. I dropped him off last night to try walking for a week. Obviously, one has to be careful what one wishes for!!! I guess I'll have more time to work on the planning this week, but I sort of have to wait until he gets back until I can plan what he is going to do... and planning a rigorous engineering-prep that allows him time to play and time to peacewalk and time to do gymnastics isn't going to be easy... I'd happily scrap the gymnastics except I know that is why my children have the strength to walk. I don't know whether to rejoice or worry...

-Nan

[Cathy in SoCal]

Part of what my husband does for a living is schedule large projects with lots of little pieces that are contingent upon each other. He suggested that I put each book (or project or whatever) I'm considering on an index card so I can lay them out like the periodic table and play with them until I get the books ordered into threads (like first finish this, then do this), and tentatively put into years. He suggested that I could use colour to help me see what is going on. He also said that if I had some of it typed into the computer, I could enlarge the font size, print it out, snip it up, and tape it down to cards. He says this is sometimes faster than transfering the information to the cards by hand.

 

If I were starting from scratch, I don't think I'd need the cards, but I have multiple book lists from my older son that I want to consider for my second one and I've been feeling rather overwhelmed at the quantity of material to be organized. I need some way of seeing it all at once so I can reduce it to a doable amount of material. And it needs to be rearrangable because I know it will change. It has already, since I began to look at it a month ago LOL.

 

HTH somebody

-Nan

 

I like this idea and might try it with all the Great Books/possible Great Books/need-to-look-at Great Books/need-to-look at Sparknotes for this Great Book/what project--composition--discussion ?s ideas for particular Great Books....you understand....:D

 

That way I can whittle down my 15 lists and notes in spirals-that-I-can't-find lists about possible Great Books. :001_smile:

[Brenda in MA]

Nan,

 

Your post about your youngest wanting to go peacewalking got me thinking. With a younger child, how do you make sure that they are following their passions and not just doing something because it's what big brother did?

 

I'm struggling with this issue with my 12 yo. He's interested in lots of areas and generally agreeable. I'm starting to see that he's thinking he should pursue science/engineering just because "that's what we do in our family". Inside, I'm not sure that's the right course for this son, but I'm not sure how to guide him to find the right course. I also suspect that he thinks we expect him to pursue a technical field, but that's not the case -- unless that's what is really best for him.

 

Anyone else facing this situation?

 

Brenda

[Nan in Mass]

The server just ate my reply, but I'll try to remember what I said.

 

I'm glad you posted. A bunch of us are trying to flex the education system to fit our particular children, and seeing how other people are flexing, even if for different reasons and in different ways, helps me to see how I might be more creative. Besides, it is less scary if you have company GRIN.

 

If you read my hitting-a-moving-target post, you'll see that although my son is leaving in a different way, for different reasons, I'm dealing with the leaving problem, too. And I don't know how long I'll have him for high school, either. He has a summer birthday, so we have his official grade (8th) set on the low side. He is working a bit ahead of that in some things, and his friends are all older, so he might not want to stay home until he is done with his official senior year. He might outgrow our school capabilities, despite CC. Or he might get involved in peacewalking or in some other project and want to stretch it out even longer. Or something. That is part of why I am trying to make a plan. I know full well that the plan will change drastically (LOL - I haven't even made it and he's changed it already) but making it will require me to look at all the booklists and possibilities and decide on what I consider essential and what I want to give him, and that will make me more willing and able to flex.

 

Anyway, keep posting.

-Nan

[Kathy in Richmond]

About outsourcing for AP courses:

 

Yes, sure you can tackle AP successfully at home without outsourcing. We have chosen that route for a variety of reasons: we have the money issue, too, I love researching and planning courses, and my kids do well at and enjoy self-study. My son took eleven AP classes before he graduated and my daughter so far has taken nine (some are in progress). Of those, only three have been outsourced (with PA Homeschoolers). This might not be right for every kid, but it has paid off well here!

 

To find curricula, I tend to look at websites of top high schools and I also google for sample AP syllabi online. You can get a pretty good idea of what texts are commonly used. Check the College Board site for their course descriptions and recommendations, get a good review guide for each class, and practice with one of College Board's released exams before the real thing.

 

I've done this long enough that it's second nature to me now, but I'd recommend starting slowly. The first year my son took one AP at home (in a area I felt competent in) and one online. As we gained experience and felt more confident in the process, we were able to do more.

 

I just wanted to encourage you that with a self-motivated student and some legwork on mom's part, this can be done!

 

Kathy

Edited February 24, 2009 by Kathy in Richmond
grammar

[Cathy in SoCal]

About outsourcing for AP courses:

 

Yes, sure you can tackle AP successfully at home without outsourcing. We have chosen that route for a variety of reasons: we have the money issue, too, I love researching and planning courses, and my kids do well at and enjoy self-study. My son took eleven AP classes before he graduated and my daughter so far has taken nine (some are in progress). Of those, only three have been outsourced (with PA Homeschoolers). This might not be right for every kid, but it has paid off well here!

 

To find curricula, I tend to look at websites of top high schools and I also google for sample AP syllabi online. You can get a pretty good idea of what texts are commonly used. Check the College Board site for their course descriptions and recommendations, get a good review guide for each class, and practice with one of College Board's released exams before the real thing.

 

I've done this long enough that its second nature to me now, but I'd recommend starting slowly. The first year my son took one AP at home (in a area I felt competent in) and one online. As we gained experience and felt more confident in the process, we were able to do more.

 

I just wanted to encourage you that with a self-motivated student and some legwork on mom's part, this can be done!

 

Kathy

 

 

This is great to know.

[Zoraida]

Seton Courses

Religion 9

English 9

Grammar and Composition 9

Algebra 1

Physical Science

 

Mother of Divine Grace

World Geography

 

Memoria Press

Traditional Logic II

Classical Rhetoric

Henle Latin II

 

I am debating on whether to use El Espanol-The Easy Spanish for Spanish. One minute I think this program looks good - the next minute I am not so sure.

 

Electives

Artistic Pursuits Senior Level

Continue Private Piano Lessons

Continue with Homeschool Band and Drama

Possibly sign up for Homeschool Debate

 

Blessings

 

Zoraida

[Nissi]

Kathy in Richmond, do you submit syllabi to the College Board for approval for the APs your child is self studying for at home?

[Murphy101]

Kathy in Richmond, do you submit syllabi to the College Board for approval for the APs your child is self studying for at home?

 

I 2nd that question.

 

I thought you coudl just take the test?

[Nan in Mass]

In the case of the peacewalking, I don't care if it is a passion or not, or why it is done, just so long as it is done. It isn't something someone can do if it they don't want to because it is extremely demanding, so I certainly can't make it a requirement. I don't even say much beyond, "Are you interested?" I truly sympathized and agreed with my youngest when he said he couldn't do it. It is the sort of thing where if they didn't want to do it and did it anyway, it would defeat the purpose. On the other hand, doing it because their brother did and they admire their brother is an acceptable reason, in this case. Admiration requires that they agree with what they are admiring, at least in some aspect, and is the reason many of us stretch to do many things and grow. He has done a little walking with me in the past so he knew what he was deciding to do. But that isn't what you were asking about. The problem with choosing to go into a technical career because your family does it is different because you suspect your son doesn't know what he is deciding to do. So I guess the answer would be to show him, somehow, what is involved with a technical career. Can he shadow some family as they go about their work?

 

My children knew what was involved with an engineering degree because their father works at home sometimes. In fact, this is what discouraged my oldest. He had said he wanted to be an engineer, and we had said he would be an engineer or in the trades since he was born, since it was obvious by the time he was two that he was technically inclined. However, what he saw his father doing was working at the computer or on the phone, and he wanted to do more hands-on things. So he announced he was not going to engineering school, but going to be a plumber instead. Because we thought he could do it well, support a family, and be challenged intellectually (lots of puzzles in plumbing GRIN), we agreed. The second one knew that his older brother was able to do things that he couldn't, and didn't think that he was cut out for engineering. We told him he could probably do it if he had to, but we didn't think he was either, and he probably should be something else. Then we spent many years worrying because he didn't appear to be talented at anything we making-type people could recognize. Ha. Fortunately, he himself pointed out that we were all shockingly inept at people, and after the umpteenth time, we realized that he, on the other hand, was good at people. Aha! Now we had someplace to start. Even so, at first he was mostly sure of the things he didn't want to do, rather than those he did. He could tell us his reasons, so that helped us to eliminate things. When he picked something we weren't sure he could do, we went to some effort to figure out discretely whether it was possible. We also talked to him, saying something along the lines of, "Are you sure you want to? You would have to do a lot of such and such." Meanwhile, numerous people he had met on the walks had offered to teach him their job, so he was in no danger of feeling inadequate. The youngest was born an engineer-type person, but has other talents, too.

 

Your son is still young. At 12, I listened to whatever my children said they wanted to be, said "Cool!" and left it at that. With my youngest, I'm listening and making sure he has the math and science he needs, just in case, but I'm also making sure he doesn't close other doors yet. He is only 14. I will continue to say Cool! until it is time for him to pick a college. At that point, I'll do what I did with the others: tell him that I understand that he has thought about doing this as a child, but now that he is older, he needs to remake the decision in a more informed, adult way, not taking anyone but himself and a possible future family into account. I'll encourage him to look at his other options, and talk to people about their career choices.

 

I don't feel like we are a very independent-minded family and we've tried hard to teach our children to take other people's wishes into consideration with their decisions. We have also, though, tried to make it ok for our children to disagree (respectfully) with other people, or to say what they really think. I do this partly by giving two choices when I ask a question. For an example, after my children come back from someplace, I will say, "Did you have a nice time or was it boring (or worrisome or whatever)?" This lets them give the boring answer without worrying that it will upset me. Somehow. I'm not exactly sure why but it seems to work. I've tried to do the same thing with bigger issues, too. "Do you still want to be an engineer or have you decided that you might prefer to try something else?" This seems rather counter-intuitive, since usually you will get a fuller answer with an open-ended question like, "What do you want to be?" or "How was your day?" but some children will just give you the answer they think you want. We've sort of assumed ours were all the same and what was good for one was good for them all. We've been happy when they all wanted to do gymnastics because it made our lives easier and gymnastics was good for them, for example. But we have tried hard to acknowledge that they each had different talents. Even in gymnastics, we told them that one was more coordinated, one worked harder, one was braver, one had the body build. We don't do it if it isn't obvious, but we've picked examples that were obvious to the children themselves. I think they all are relieved that we don't expect perfection, and it helps them to admire each other, too. Again, it seems counter-intuitive to critisize one child to the others, but if it is done as a praise of one and not a criticism of the other, and the other is invited to participate in it and has his strengths commented on in the same conversation, it seems to work fine and make everyone feel like their own selves. They each have had their own hobbies on top of the family ones. Does your 12yo have an activity that he does and is good at that his brother doesn't? Technical people often are handicapped in the realm of literature or whatever. Does your 12yo have something he's good at, since he might not have inherited the family engineering trait? That is how my sister's family has been dealing with the problem. I really sympathize, though, because I was at a total loss figuring out who my middle one was. It wasn't until he was 12 and started peacewalking that he became anyone other than our sweet, sweet, a bit more physically coordinated, a bit more daring, son.

 

You know, now that I think about it, we started the gymnastics for him, and then his older brother wanted to join in. I had my doubts but the coach said it would be fine and he was right. The middle one was happy to have his brother there. LOL ok - this is sounding like the discussion about brothers going to the same college...

 

Hopefully other people will answer you, too.

-Nan

[Kathy in Richmond]

No, I didn't see any need to submit an AP syllabus to the College Board for the kids' self-studied coursework. The admissions officers I spoke with didn't seem to care, and my son was admitted to every school he applied to without this. You just need to make arrangements with a local high school that is willing to administer the exams to your child.

 

What did matter I think were excellent test scores and also the course descriptions I sent in with his transcripts (a simple paragraph for each outlining the class and texts/materials used).

 

Remember that it helps to outsource a few courses, though, in order to get needed letters of recommendation!

 

Kathy

[Brenda in MA]

Does your 12yo have an activity that he does and is good at that his brother doesn't? Technical people often are handicapped in the realm of literature or whatever. Does your 12yo have something he's good at, since he might not have inherited the family engineering trait?

-Nan

 

My 12 yo is an all-around better student than his older brother, so that isn't an issue. He really is pretty strong in most academic areas, so it's hard to pinpoint what he might enjoy. He would probably do fine in college in a technical field, but I'm not sure he'd be happy working in that field because he is more of a people person and would rather be a participant than a leader. At least that's how he seems now at 12 yo.

 

I guess we'll keep going and just see what happens. I did offer him the option of several different one week summer day camps, telling him that even though I knew he would enjoy them all, we could only afford one. I was hoping to hear from him which he would prefer, but all he can say is he doesn't know. Well, I guess time will tell. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Nan.

 

Brenda

[DarlaS]

So far, for 9th grade, we're planning on:

 

Geometry or Algebra 2 (his choice). He'll be doing Algebra 1 in 8th. He'll be a 13 yo 9th grader, so I'm open to continuing Algebra 1 if necessary.

Biology - Apologia

History, Geography and Lit - Sonlight Core 7

Language arts - IEW highschool (level C)/History based writing lessons.

English - this is undecided. I really doubt he'll need it, but if he does we'll review bits and pieces using Hake's gr 8 or a handbook of some kind.

[JennW in SoCal]

I keep sitting down to write when I don't have much time to sift through all my thoughts and write anything coherent. Perhaps it is a good thing because I can get really long-winded!

 

My 13yo started last fall as an 8th grader, but his teacher at the umbrella charter school said early on that it seemed a shame that he wasn't getting high school level credit when he was clearly doing high school level work. So we talked it over and in November officially bumped him up to 9th grade. (The charter is one of those California public schools that supports homeschoolers -- a Faustian bargain that I won't go into at the moment.)

 

The biggest shock in doing this was that my relaxed high school planning mode had to immediately shift into an active plan. I had to bump up the content in a couple of courses, and had to start thinking in concrete terms about SATs and the like. I don't think we will do any APs.

 

Like you, Nan, I've been through high school already with my oldest, who graduates in June. But that child is quite different, and not necessarily college bound but knows exactly what he wants to do with his life. My 13yo is a focused student but not focused on any life or career plan. At one point he wanted to study Greek and Latin, now it is the sciences that he is convinced he wants to study. He does know for certain that he wants to go away to a small 4 year college to some place that has 4 seasons and get away from Southern California's brush fire season!

 

So. We're using the UC system's entrance requirements as a guideline, but tailoring each course to his interests. He will take the PSAT and the SAT and/or the ACT. He will also take some classes at the community college -- Spanish, Chemistry and probably high maths as well. And he is hoping to do some interesting volunteer work or internships, especially something at the San Diego Zoo or the local Natural History museum.

 

I'm daunted, but confident in what we're doing, but there are plenty of days when I panic and think it isn't enough. Today, at least, is one of those days when I'm full of confidence!