Lots of people get scared when it comes to home schooling their High School level student. For many kids, this is a good time to transition to a more traditional schooling method. For some kids, it's the BEST time to be home schooling. Anyone who survived high school as a nerd has I'm sure spent at least of little bit of time imagining life without the pain of a traditional High School. I know I can.
So, next school year, I will have two kids in High School. B's been doing what she can the past couple of years, and I'm proud to say she has gotten some work done...four credits so far. So she's behind, but not as far behind as she might otherwise be. She's been very very sick. But I actually think she'll catch up.
Yesterday I decided to write out a high school transcript/list of courses my kids need to complete in order for them to graduate. It really is as simple as ticking off a check list. Most states require 22 credits for high school, a credit being a full year's course. I've seen some places on-line that mention that 120 hours dedicated to a certain subject of interest could also be counted towards high school credit.
So, without further ado, here's what my the transcript for my Home High School will look like:
Sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Chemistry 2 (or General/Science)
Mathematics: Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus,
History/Social Studies: American History, World History, Government, European History
Language Arts: One Year Adventure Novel, American Literature, British Literature, World Literature w/ an emphasis on writing in all the courses.
Other: Health/Nutrition, Home Economics and Personal Finance (I plan on having the kids familiar w/ all tasks pertaining to running a household, menus, shopping, cooking, laundry care, budeting, solid financial wisdom, basic sewing skills, small home repairs)
Foreign Language: German 1, 2, 3 optional
Other: Religion
Electives to choose from: Calculus, French 1, 2, 3, Computer Programming, Gardening/Horticulture/Botany, Any other subject they want to choose and delve into.
For English, I am working on compiling a master list of literature that I want them to have read, discussed and analyzed, that includes American, British and World literary classics. It will be a weighty pile of books, but once the work is done, it will count for all four levels of English.
In order to do this, I'm going to have to get cracking with reading the required list myself. When I've decided on what it will be, I'll post it here, along with some nifty resourcesby way of on-line links that I"m finding...Cliffs notes and such. I think I can do this. I really do. Especially since at the high school level, if they aren't doing the work themselves, it's too late to be spoon feeding them. My kids are well motivated.
Additionally, I think it's important to keep/create a portfolio at this time. Although the State of Kentucky doesn't require it, I'd like to have a body of work to point to for college application purposes.
So, next school year, I will have two kids in High School. B's been doing what she can the past couple of years, and I'm proud to say she has gotten some work done...four credits so far. So she's behind, but not as far behind as she might otherwise be. She's been very very sick. But I actually think she'll catch up.
Yesterday I decided to write out a high school transcript/list of courses my kids need to complete in order for them to graduate. It really is as simple as ticking off a check list. Most states require 22 credits for high school, a credit being a full year's course. I've seen some places on-line that mention that 120 hours dedicated to a certain subject of interest could also be counted towards high school credit.
So, without further ado, here's what my the transcript for my Home High School will look like:
Sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Chemistry 2 (or General/Science)
Mathematics: Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus,
History/Social Studies: American History, World History, Government, European History
Language Arts: One Year Adventure Novel, American Literature, British Literature, World Literature w/ an emphasis on writing in all the courses.
Other: Health/Nutrition, Home Economics and Personal Finance (I plan on having the kids familiar w/ all tasks pertaining to running a household, menus, shopping, cooking, laundry care, budeting, solid financial wisdom, basic sewing skills, small home repairs)
Foreign Language: German 1, 2, 3 optional
Other: Religion
Electives to choose from: Calculus, French 1, 2, 3, Computer Programming, Gardening/Horticulture/Botany, Any other subject they want to choose and delve into.
For English, I am working on compiling a master list of literature that I want them to have read, discussed and analyzed, that includes American, British and World literary classics. It will be a weighty pile of books, but once the work is done, it will count for all four levels of English.
In order to do this, I'm going to have to get cracking with reading the required list myself. When I've decided on what it will be, I'll post it here, along with some nifty resourcesby way of on-line links that I"m finding...Cliffs notes and such. I think I can do this. I really do. Especially since at the high school level, if they aren't doing the work themselves, it's too late to be spoon feeding them. My kids are well motivated.
Additionally, I think it's important to keep/create a portfolio at this time. Although the State of Kentucky doesn't require it, I'd like to have a body of work to point to for college application purposes.
Comments
In Ohio, we can either do yearly standardized testing or portfolio review. I always do the portfolio. It's actually a very fun experience. A good way to wrap up the year and see where we've been.
Many times US govt books are only 1/2 credit courses so you can add Economics to complete that year if you want a full credit.
Many colleges we looked at WANT a computer course - they could care less about keyboarding/typing.. they want a product course - ie: programming, web design, graphic design. If your teens like playing around with photos a great free program is GIMP and then I picked up a great book that lead to a 1/2 credit course.
If you are looking for guides for literature you can check out Progeny Press or these free guides:
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/