I'm Back to Homeschooling High School!

My goodness! It's been nearly seven years since I posted on this blog! Back then in the 2013-2014 school year, I was teaching at a homeschool hybrid program across town. One of my sons was enrolled there for his freshman year. My other kids had been transitioning into public school and I wasn't homeschooling any of them for high school from Fall 2014 until just a year ago.   

But I'm back! My youngest daughter, who is starting 10th grade, is still homeschooled and will continue with me until graduation. Not only that, I will teach high school and middle school language arts in a different homeschool hybrid program this school year. I am very excited about that!

Last year, homeschooling was admittedly a difficult one for so many of us, due to COVID and whatever other issues life threw our way. (I'm a single mom who works part-time at a crisis hotline, and I just graduated from seminary. Full plate!) We did find our groove somewhere in there, and next month we will pick up where we left off.

So here are two resources that we have really liked for high school so far:

No-Nonsense Algebra: It's an inexpensive workbook on Amazon. The lessons are very straightforward, not overwhelming. The book comes with a code for free pre-recorded video sessions online, one for each workbook lesson. Each of these videos is less than 10 minutes. We watch the video. She does the lessons with me so I know she's understanding it as she works. It's virtually painless, unlike anything else we have tried. We will finish this up next year and then alternate the lessons in the related Algebra Word Problems Made Simple book partway through the year. 

Friendly Biology: This program redeemed Biology for us. I had pulled my daughter out of a weekly class that was using the Apologia Biology book. Neither of us could understand it at all. Then I found Friendly Biology at our local used bookstore. We tried it out, and now we are both understanding, and even enjoying, Biology. It is for the student who needs to take Biology but isn't able to follow anything that's overly technical. It is written in a conversational approach by homeschool parents of 10. The dad has a doctorate in veterinary medicine and a masters in curriculum and instruction. The mom also has a master's in curriculum and instruction and is working on a doctorate in education. The book comes in either a secular or Christian edition. We have the secular one because that's what was in the store. There are some typos in the accompanying workbook, but that doesn't detract from the program. There is also a test book. You can also purchase access to video lessons online but we haven't done that yet. 

In addition to this biology text, my daughter reads a lot of books and articles and watches a lot of videos related to anatomy and physiology. This is one of her key interests. When she watches a video or reads an article online, she sends the link to the email account we have set up specifically for her school stuff. Along with a workbook on Medical Investigation and some first aid and CPR classes later on, we're turning all of this into a class on Medical Skills, which is a legitimate high school course in the state of Florida. 

We also take a lot of field trips. In the spring we spent two days in St. Petersburg, Florida visiting the Imagine modern glass arts museum, the Chihuly glass art museum (see photo at top of post), a glassblowing exhibition, a botanical garden, and more. Over the summer, she visited the Ford's Theatre Museum (where Lincoln was assassinated), the Lincoln Memorial, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. We also visited Shenandoah National Park, Natural Chimneys, and Natural Bridge in rural Virginia -- all stunning for the geological formations. Then we toured a cathedral and a ship museum in Savannah, Georgia. 

Last spring, I took the time to plan out what classes my daughter needs to complete before she graduates. Since she's homeschooled, we have some flexibility in the number of credits and how they can be accomplished. For example, she is doing her World Geography a little each year, studying one continent per semester. She may do some of her classes with Florida Virtual School, or she may dual enroll in the local community college with online classes. She will take English (with me) and other classes at the homeschool program where I will be teaching. 

Pretty soon I'll write another post on what I'm teaching in my high school language arts class this year. 

Until then!

Virginia Knowles

It's SAT Time!

A new school year! Like me, you're probably working through your high school student's four-year plan. I noticed "Make a plan to take the SAT". Did you?

The day is upon us! It's time to make that plan as the deadline for regular registration for the first sitting of the test, nears. Here is a run through of what we need to do in the next week or so.

1. Go to www.collegeboard.com.
2. Click on "Register for the SAT" on the lower left-hand corner.
3. From the left sidebar, select "Test Dates and Fees".
4. Scroll down to "U.S. Registration Deadlines".
   
5. You will see that the deadline for regular registration for the first sitting, October 10, is September 9.
6. To register, click on "Registering" in the left side bar. Follow the instructions.
   
7. If you are not registering for the first test, glance through the other test dates and deadlines. Write these in dates in your calendar or on your digital reminder.

The site has many helps and tools. If this is new territory for you, spend some time reading and familiarizing yourself with the information. If it is too much to digest in one sitting, bookmark the site and return frequently.

Areas we have found helpful include:

• Registration
  
• Test Dates and Fees
• Test-taking Approaches
  
• SAT Test Question of the Day
• SAT Free Practice Test
  
• Subject Test Calendar (for the SAT Subject Tests)
• Scores
• AP Credit Policy

College entrance testing can be daunting, but with some planning and preparation, you can head off unnecessary anxiety. It truly does help to be prepared. Take those first steps this week.

High School 101: Plan Well to Finish Well (Part I)

Hello fellow high school travelers! I wanted to post my notes for the first session I presented at Finish Well. I will do this in two blogs, to aid the digestion process :)

Several travelers mentioned they wanted to get to more than one workshop in the first session (physically impossible) or that they could not attend, but wanted to. So, whatever circumstances kept you from attending my first workshop, here's the material we covered, though I go into more detail in my book Celebrate High School: Finish with Excellence.

Plan well to finish well! For those on the high school journey, that means sitting down while in eighth grade (ideally) and working with your student to develop a four-year plan for high school. During the session, I walked through this process with the attendees. We covered all the major points on page 5 of my book.

The next step in developing the four-year plan is to consider important factors:

• the student's career goals or plans after high school
  
• the educational or experiential requirements for those career goals (two-year or four-year school, vocational training, apprenticeship, internships, travel)
  
• the graduation requirements to meet the goals (selective college, highly selective college)
• NCAA Collegiate sports requirements (for college athletes)
  
• scholarship requirements (state merit, Presidential, private)

Once we considered the above factors, we compared the graduation requirements for each scenario, with the bottom line being to hone and to polish the student's talents and skills for use as God intends. The majority of students should consider taking (at a minimum):

• 4 credits in English
• 4 credits in Mathematics (generally Algebra I and higher)
• 4 credits in Social Studies (including American History, World History, American Government and Economics)*
• 3 credits in Science (two lab sciences)
• 2 credits in Foreign Language (two years of the same language)
• 1 credit in the Arts (Performing or Fine)
• 1 credit in Physical Education
• 1 credit in Computer Science/Business Education
• 5-8 credits in additional electives (based on intended career or parental preference)

*I mentioned that our students took two years of World History: Ancient World History and Modern World History so that we could dig deeper and add more literature and primary source documents.

With ALL this in mind, I had the attendees fill in what they could on one of the four-year plans printed on pages 7 and 10 of my book.

I then presented the basics for determining credits, mentioning that there is not a standard formula for determining how many hours equal one credit. I explained the Carnegie Unit. Basically, a student earns one credit for working 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 36 weeks for a total of 120 hours. By adding just 5 minutes a day, the total hours becomes 150 hours. For a half-credit, simply divide the required hours in half, hence 60-75 hours. I did mention that one of our students worked on a traditional schedule (45 minutes to 1 hour per subject per day) and the other student used a block schedule (2 days of Physics, 2 days of Math and the other day for Literature~ fitting in writing and electives all five days). I cautioned parents to realize home education is a tutorial method of education (more concentrated) and mastery is more important that the hours worked. Mastery is the goal. If that takes 115 hours, it is still worth the one credit.
All of this material is covered in detail on pages 12-14 in Celebrate High School.

During the last fifteen minutes of the workshop I discussed documenting hours and organizing the high school portfolio (a three-ring binder with dividers and labeled tabs). Both methods must be student-friendly to encourage the recording and filing of important information. I also mentioned the major similarities and differences of the most commonly used college entrance exams. I will save those topics for part two of this blog.