Web Sites for Free High School and College Level On-Line Learning

Dear friends,

These web sites are recommended by my second cousin Margaret, who is home schooling a high school student this year.   I haven't explored them thoroughly, but I'm sure you'll find something really interesting, either for you or your students!  Christian home educators should be aware that these are non-religious sites, so use at your own discretion.  

www.coursera.org -- free online college-level courses on all sorts of topics. 

www.hippocampus.org -- they have recently revamped the website and have incorporated a bunch of stuff from Khan Academy. 

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm MIT's Open Courseware  

Thanks for the info, Margaret!

What are your favorite web sites for this?  Leave a comment below!

Virginia

Ancient World History and Literature

Not long ago I was asked how I designed classes for our high school young adults. We have taken several approaches to formulating classes based on the strengths, interests, and future plans of the individual. Our oldest son had a great interest and gift for history. This was, by my understanding, his favorite subject in high school. He read constantly, checking out books of interest at the library.

With his interest in history, we divided American History into Early American (to 1850) and Modern (from 1850 to present), and World History into Ancient (to the Reformation) and Modern (from the Reformation) so that we could allow time for him to dig deeper into his interest. His self-motivation led to a much more comprehensive course.

For readers who are interested in more detail as to what we constituted Ancient Word History, here is our reading list for the course, for that student. Remember, he was a self-motivated reader and we simply allowed him to use a textbook as a framework and then dig deeper into areas of interest. By the end of the school year, he did less textbook reading and more primary source or living history reading.

*Please do not use this as a comparison for what your student should or should not be doing. Comparing ourselves or our children to others leads to discouragement and discontent. It is in no way valuable. These examples are only intended as an encouragement, encouragement to think outside the textbook when designing courses for your student. My student might be a reader, but your student may have an opportunity to intern with a local businessman. Use what God has provided and pray about how He would be preparing your young adult for the plans He has, not the ones we best intention.


Our textbook was World History and Cultures, George Thompson and Jerry Combee, Abeka Books. God provided an opportunity for this student to tour many sites in Rome, including a day inside the ancient city wall. Though I could be discouraged that my other children may not have the same opportunity, I await the provision He has for each of them as they walk through their lives.

• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
• Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
• Antigone, Sophocles
• Mysteries of Ancient China, Rawson
• Daily Life in Ancient Egypt, Sameh
• Mythology, Hamilton
• The Roman Way, Hamilton
• The Greek Way, Hamilton
• The Death of Socrates, Plato
• For the Temple, Henty
• The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone, Giblin
• The Great Wall, Fisher
• In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, Wood
• The Republic, Plato
• The Young Carthaginian, Henty
• The Eagle of the Ninth, Sutcliff
• Anna of Byzantium, Barrett
• City of God, Augustine
• I, Claudius, Graves
• Claudius the God, Graves
• Don Quixote, Cervantes
• Julius Caesar, Shakespeare

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.