What We're Doing for High School This Year

What We're Doing for High School This Year

Dear friends,

On my other education blogs, I've been posting about what we're doing for elementary and middle school this year. We also have two high school students.

My son, a sophomore, is continuing with our home school co-op. He is taking/using:

• McDougal Littell Algebra II
• Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry – we also purchased the optional DVD but haven't used it much yet – it will be more vital as the work gets harder
• Notgrass Exploring World History for World History – I mostly like this publisher, which we also used for American History last year, but there are a few small things my son and I don't appreciate as much, such as the slightly condescending tone towards those with whom the author might disagree philosophically.
• Christianity, Cults and World Religions (DVD and workbook) and other resources for a half credit in World Religions
• Easy Grammar for English, along with a variety of literature, vocabulary, and writing assignments.  Many of the literature and writing assignments are associated with the Notgrass history curriculum.
• Year Book

Away from the co-op, he will be taking a half credit each in Health and Computing. I haven't yet written out the agenda for either course yet, but he has already finished a lot of computing hours with an on-line curriculum, and I'm going to find a first aid & CPR class for part of the Health hours.

I enjoy learning along with my son for history and English. He likes to read aloud to me, so we have a chance to discuss his lessons. This is fascinating for me and I appreciate the one-on-one time I get to spend with him. His English class is now studying C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, which I had not read in several years. It's been a wonderful refresher and quite inspiring and challenging for me. Lewis has such a way with words and ideas, and my son often pauses to comment what a good point the author has made. (What makes it extra interesting is that the 5th-6^th grade English class that I am teaching is reading Lewis's The Lion, theWitch, and the Wardrobe. I find many of the same themes there, just in fiction form.)

My husband tutors our son in Algebra 2 and Chemistry, and grades all of the assignments for those two subjects. This is a huge load off of my plate. I couldn't even imagine doing that right now, plus home schooling three of his four younger siblings.

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My daughter, a senior, was enrolled in public school for her sophomore and junior years, excelling as an AP and Honors student and active in theater cast and crew. This year, she wanted to dual enroll full time at one of the local colleges, but the public high school would have restricted the number of courses she could take. She decided to re-enroll in the home school enrollment program from which her four older sisters graduated. At the college, she is taking General Physics, Analytical Geometry & Calculus, Technical Writing (on-line) and Ceramics. The only classes she is taking besides the college ones are AP Government and Economics on-line with Florida Virtual School. These courses are free for Florida residents; she has taken Web Design, Latin 1 and Algebra 2 from FLVS before. I will probably not help her with any of her classes this year, as she is already far beyond me in all of those subjects. :-)  See: Making the Transition Into Public High School or College.

So that's what we're doing for high school next year!

Cheers!

Virginia Knowles
www.FinishWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com