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


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This thread is giving me a serious headache.....from stress and anxiety, that is. I also have an ds going into hs next year. I'm very stressed about it. I feel unprepared and unqualified to make the decisions about curriculum. I've read HomeSchooling High School by Dennis and TWTM and STILL feel lost. I've decided that I will outsource for several classes. I'm researching local co-ops and some cc courses. I know NOTHING about when I should have him take SATs/ACTs. I know nothing about what is enough work and what is too much work? DS is college-bound. He wants to major in music. He's a slightly above average young man who could do so much better if he'd put forth some effort. He's not motivated and is very short sighted. His lack of motivation makes it hard for me to plan his high school years. I know that I want to give him a college prep hs education, but get stuck at the "which subjects" part. Anyway, I'm finding this thread quite helpful AND anxiety provoking. :willy_nilly: So for now, I'm going to keep reading, reseaching, and gleaning information from you wonderful ladies.

Val

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well I am just venturing forth into these new waters, but I'll share what I've done so far....

 

I made a 4 column by 7 rows chart

4 columns are 9th thru 12th grades

5 rows are math, science, history, english, other, other

 

Let's say you know that your dc needs to have completed 3 math credits, incl alg 1, geometry, alg 2.

well if you slot alg 2 for 11th grade, that means geometry for 10th, and alg 1 for 9th, so you know to go ahunting for alg 1 materials and to look up any tests that might be of interest (AP, SAT2, CLEP, whatever) and note deadlines for those.

 

repeat for other subjects.

 

the other rows are for electives or other mandatory subjects such as foreign language.

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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.

Not having the older sister to show the way, though, DS hasn't even thought about early college yet (as far as I know!)... so the subject hasn't really been raised here. I think at some point, though, it will be clear to everyone that he's ready, and it may well sneak up on me!!

 

So I'm taking a similar approach -- just doing my best to keep his options open!

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I made a 4 column by 7 rows chart

4 columns are 9th thru 12th grades

5 rows are math, science, history, english, other, other

I started one of these when we first started homeschooling (so it had 12 columns... LOL) and what I found was that it was really comforting to know that we had twelve whole years to get everything in. And then every year I've scootched the boxes around to reflect how things have actually gone.

 

Where it really came in handy was when DH and I were talking about some possible career changes, and I knew that given any particular timeline I could move my plans around to make sure I covered the things I really wanted to do myself (in case DS ended up at PS), and to adjust where I'd want him to be, academically, at the end of that timeline. It's the same kind of planning I'm doing for high school -- what is most important (to me) for him to get done at home, when would he be in a good position for college, and what does he need to get done before that point.

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I have a dd who will be in 8th grade next school year. She has dyslexia and dysgraphia and is receiving tutoring for them. I began planning her high school a few weeks ago when I realized I only had a year and a half to get her ready for high school level work! Having already been through high school once, I am not as stressed about it, but there are significant differences between her and my oldest. One is of course the learning disabilities, which will make her less independent in her schoolwork. My oldest was the type to just take the book and go read it and then take the tests and do fine. Two is that she has expressed interest in being a veterinarian (I always thought she would make a great doctor) so her math and science need to be stronger than my son's. Here is what I have so far:

 

Math: Math-U-See through Pre-Calc plus the honors supplements, then some sort of Calculus if she has time

 

English: Seton English 9-12 (as long as they will work with her accomodations, which I think they will)

 

Literature: full credit in British Lit, American Lit, and possibly World Lit. British and American lit is based on lists I created for my son

 

Science: most likely Apologia Biology and Chemistry, the Cornell Ornithology course, and hopefully volunteering at our vet's, some kind of Physics senior year

 

Art: I would like her to have some kind of art course and photography if possible.

 

History: most likely SWB's History of the Ancient World and the new one, also reading history from a Catholic perspective. I plan to do a Civics course based around the 2012 presidential election for both her and her sister, who will also be in high school by then.

 

Foreign Language: Spanish. I am a Spanish teacher, so I will work with her, but we will use the Destinos series and I plan if at all possible to send her to the Concordia Language Villages at least one summer.

 

PE- she will continue with ballet

 

Music - I hope to have her do choir or get some kind of training

 

Religion - Baltimore Catechism

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It looks like my 8th grader wishes to stay home for high school. So this semester he is doing this course by Sonlight:

 

http://www.sonlight.com/580-00.html

 

He is loving it and it is very good. Right now he is doing all of the aptitude tests in the booklet and finding out what careers might be good for him. After that you look at the homeschool college admission book and I've read it through and it has some GREAT information. My goal is for him to finish it by May. I went ahead and bought the schedule and everything because that way he has just been doing it independently and has been going at a pretty fast clip because he is enjoying it so much. He has completed 2 to 3 assignments a week not the 1 they recommend.

 

Then I plan to take June and for us to plan out his 4 year schedule and talk to the various colleges around about dual credit options and that sort of thing. We will plan out testing: practice PSAT 10th grade year, etc. But HE will have a big part in the planning. He is very much an introvert and I'm hoping this will help him see that he needs to have SOME kind of activities to put on his transcript as well as to prepare him for some kind of career. For example, so far it looks like research and investigation is one of his gifts. There is a lab here in town that has a VERY strong Christian owner. He goes to our church and sponsors a big concert for World Hunger every year. Perhaps he could so some kind of work there part time?? Anyway, we will brainstorm. But if HE wants to do something, then you cannot stop him and if he sees the need for something like writing. He will work on it even if he doesn't enjoy it. So in June we are going to be doing some major planning TOGETHER.

 

Christine

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  • 3 weeks later...

Which thread is this? This will be my first HS for HS experience and my head is spinning listening to this thread. breathe..... wow. We just left the PS last year and I'm planning to HS all the way through.

 

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.

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...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...

 

 

From age 14 to 16 you do two or three sciences (from chemistry, physics and bio) simultaneously over two years. I seem to remember that each one was about four periods a week (two doubles). I did physics and chemistry. At the end of that you take an exam which is roughly equivalent to a SAT subject test in each one.

 

Laura

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Which thread is this? This will be my first HS for HS experience and my head is spinning listening to this thread. breathe..... wow. We just left the PS last year and I'm planning to HS all the way through.

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83661&highlight=BASIS -- it's a charter school curriculum. We're not following it, but I find it intriguing!

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From age 14 to 16 you do two or three sciences (from chemistry, physics and bio) simultaneously over two years. I seem to remember that each one was about four periods a week (two doubles). I did physics and chemistry. At the end of that you take an exam which is roughly equivalent to a SAT subject test in each one.

 

Laura

And I agree about the SAT Subject test equivalence -- We're using the Singapore 9th-10th grade books, and I think the SATs are what we'll aim for ourselves. The charter school that we were discussing seems to do something like that for middle school too though (or maybe not -- it wasn't too clear) which was interesting... Our Singapore middle school science books alternate topics, so they're not really simultaneous in the same way.

 

We're actually going to run our sciences in the sort-of-traditional American sequence of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. He's had enough of each already that I don't think it's going to be a problem to discuss the chemistry in biology or the physics in everything, so I just picked the order I did them when I was in school! :) I need to fit in some earth science there too... Singapore does very little earth science...

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...is part of geography. It's known as 'physical geography'.

 

Laura

I was wondering where it went! LOL We've used Singaporean science books since the My Pals Are Here series, and there have been only very tiny references to anything of that sort. Unfortunately singaporemath.com doesn't seem to carry the physical geography books... but I've got a US earth science set from a friend that should fill in the gap reasonably well... It's not really a passion for us here, so it's more a matter of making sure we get a reasonable survey of the topics and then moving on. Unless it sparks an interest...

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I understood. When I was in high school, I think we did 4 singles and a double for lab each week, one subject/year, so that would come out to be about the same, except that if you made everyone do all three subjects every year it would have the distinct advantage of making them remember it. I took chem and then found I had to take the SAT2 in it the following fall and remembered so little of it that I opted to take it in physics (which I'd just started) instead.

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Ds14 is a math freak and wants to be a mathematician. He spent this last winter teaching himself calculus just for fun, not curriculum. He keeps the calculus text next to his bed, like where I keep my scifi and detective novels kwim? Sheesh. So I have the great advantage of knowing what his passion is :). It means we have to do the hard-core college-prep thing. Well, that gives me a structure to work within, so that's good for me, not necessarily so great for him.

 

He already started a C++ programming course I bought for his 9th-grade lineup, sigh. Electives are not going to be a problem, but keeping the interest in the cores might be (especially writing & lit).

 

Here's my plan for him at this point lol:

9th:

Advanced Alg. & Trig, mainly for the paper trail

AP Bio, at the public high school (if that doesn't work out, do it myself)

German, also at the public high school (if that doesn't work out, maybe Latin online or myself)

World History & Geography, Duiker & Spielvogel

English Grammar & Comp, Warriner

World Lit, coordinate with history, I'm already pre-reading

Health & Personal Finance, canned programs with supplements

PE, fencing lessons he is already taking & loving

Fine Arts, Geography Through Art & ???

 

May & Summer: AP Bio test, begin ACT, etc. trail, maybe CLEPs or SAT IIs to validate the home-taught courses. Begin networking with math profs, college students, a math guy we know who works for the NSA, etc.

 

10th:

Finish up Pre-Calculus topics, mainly for the paper trail

"Special Topics" in math, for love

AP Physics or Chem, public high school

German, public high school

American History & Geography, Bill Bennett's new curriculum

American Lit & Comp

PE, Fine Arts, electives ???

"Education Foundations", a course I'm making up to cover diverse materials on how people learn, the history of education in the US, etc. (stole the idea from Barb Shelton)

 

11th:

Calculus at local state college

Science, at local state college or public high school

German, local state college or public high school

American Govt. & Civics

Economics

British Lit & Comp

electives ???

 

12th:

Continue what works at state college or publich high school

20th Century History & Lit, I hope

electives ???

maybe a job ???

 

It seems so overwhelming, but I know he can do it if he really wants that math career.

Karen

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I have been doing extensive research on this and have decided to go the AP route since after speaking with several consultants for the Ivy League that IB is still not the preferred. There is a huge debate about IB going on in our highschool right now as well. I feel that I could give my daughter an AP education and have used the college board extensively to investigate this. I am only looking at the Ivy's as a guideline to what an outstanding high school student would do.

 

We are prepping for both the ACT and the SAT, since one school my daughter is looking at takes the ACT over the SAT. I would not worry about the SAT II's if your college doesn't require them.

 

I am doing one AP exam in 9th Grade with her and that will be Human Geography. Most kids say that this is the easier exam, although statistics don't prove that and I am an ex College Geo adjunct. So I better be able to get her through that.

 

You are in a different boat since you are looking at the engineering. No advice there-

 

Here is our line-up this far-

 

Saxon Math ( We are in Alg 1 right now in 8th) (so we will move to 2)

 

English- BYU Online High School

 

Literature List of Classical Reading

 

Science- Biology(Not sure what we are doing here yet.

 

Art-We will start the AP Studio Portfolio. She takes private through a museum. We will probably take all 3 years to complete this.

 

History- We will probably continue European History with the AP syllabus as a guideline. I have been using it roughly this year I would like her to take this test Sophomore year. I am undecided here, because I am not sure if her writing skills will be up to speed

 

I am hiring a tutor for writing- since it is just not up to speed and now becoming critical now.

 

Foreign Language- Japanese (taught by me)

Latin- BYU Online High School

 

Music- Harp and Piano Lessons- Private

 

Then all the extra enrichment classes she can squeeze in- in the mean time that keeps her balanced.

 

We will probably do concurrent enrollment with BYU for college credit in 11th grade. Our public schools have a free program- but I don't want to mess with their system.

 

As for the portfolio- everything counts now- But I hate to have them build a portfolio, and miss out on building a real life/character. So it is a delicate balance! I have written more on this at my blog today!

 

 

 

 

Travel? as a family- I do lots of trips and study on site

 

Sports? not organized

 

Major projects? Senior thesis & presentation required to graduate

 

Contribution to the world? http://www.colormyworldkids.org is our family foundation

 

Online school? Yes

 

Online classes? Maybe

 

Public high school? No

 

Charter school? No

 

Private high school? No

 

Online school? No

Edited by Lux Et Veritas Academy
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Ds14 is a math freak and wants to be a mathematician.

 

Karen,

 

Your math "freak" might enjoy some of the publications of the MAA, the Mathematical Association of America. In particular you might want to lead him to the Anneli Lax series, titles found here. These are monographs (not textbooks) that would serve your son in his quest for special projects.

 

Best,

Jane

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