What don't I want to miss out on for Highschool?

[Baseballmom]

Although I know that no program has everything, I recently found several programs for elementary school, that I wish I had used from the beginning. My oldest son is in 6th grade and I feel he missed out on some great things. So, I want to get ahead start on Highschool classes. Please share with me what you feel is the best in each of the following areas and how your family/child has benefited from it. All suggestions are welcome!
Bible Study/Character Developement
Life skills
Math
English
History
Science
Latin
Modern Language
Logic/Rhetoric
Art
Anything else I have missed
Thank you,
Ok, I know the title has grammatical problems, but I can't edit it.

[Nan in Mass]

I wouldn't want my children to have missed out on (in no particular order here):

Artistic Pursuits - really easy to do, works, and good solid art instruction
NEM math - makes them think
TWEM literature/history with Spielvogel's Western Civ.
Conceptual Physics (a more whole, practical version of physics)
Natural History (a more whole, practical version of biology)
some sort of reading based Latin, in our case Ecce Romani but there are others - much more fun this way
Fallacy Detective (despite the conservative Christian political issues that crop up from time to time - easy to pick out and avoid)
Some sort of proof-based geometry instead of logic (same sort of thinking but more practical for my give-me-a-diagram-any-day family)
Some Teaching Company lectures - we've done the anthropolgy one (very adult - beware) and Power Over People (the government one - mixes literature, history, and government in a very great books way), some of The Illiad (first part was great but when she began to go chapter by chapter through the book, I realized that we were already discussing the same things as we read it and didn't need the lectures)

And the biggest don't-miss: projects that your children want to do, teaching them things they themselves want to learn. These probably won't be completely academic. I'm not talking about buying a chemistry book but buying a chemistry kit, or traveling in Europe, or redesigning and rebuilding the town playground, or working for a senator, or starting their own business, or working at a museum, or playing fife in the local Revolutionary War troop, or working in the local orchestra, or something. One of the greatest things about homeschooling high school is that you can reduce the academics to the minimum and leave time, lots of time, for your child to do something interesting and actually turn into an interesting person instead of the typical, apathetically waiting for his life to begin teenager.

The other not-to-be-missed is all the talking you get to do, all the input you get into their thinking. Talk and talk and talk. And enjoy the family closeness. Treasure it. Make it more important than anything but math.

-Nan

-Nan

[Krista in LA]

Nan,
This is another great post I have to keep. You are such a big help to those of us approaching high school.
Thank you.

[Sharon in MD]

My ds is almost 17, a jr this year. I've been generally pretty happy with the way we've done things. But I haven't really pursued a classical model because that just wasn't working for us. Some things that I've been really glad we did are:

Bible
Summit Ministry's Understanding the Times Homeschool Version. This was relatively expensive, about $125.00, but I will use it as 1/2 credit for each of two years. We love it and are learning so much about the way we Should view the world as Christians and the way others view it. You can do it in one year, but it would be more than I want to spend on Bible everyday.

The other two years we did two Bible studies yearly, using Kay Arthur's New Inductive Study Series. We picked an old and a new testament book to cover each year. Again for 1/2 credit each year. These were really good for helping ds learn how to study the scriptures deeply on his own.

History
The Teaching Co. The History of the United States 2nd Ed. We are using this, this year, along with Notgrass American History. It lines up nicely with Notgrass (we aren't using the Bible study or Lit in Notgrass because of the World View course and ds is taking Am. Lit at our high school oversight academy.

Science
Lab science...ds is a sciencey kid and I'm glad we've taken the time to do the labs for Apologia as we've gone through.

math
Jacobs and Foerster's math courses. I'm the only person in my circle of homeschooling friends who doesn't use Saxon. I never did use Saxon because it didn't appeal to me when we first started out. I feel like Foerster has been an excellent, advanced level course for ds and that Jacobs lead us nicely into it.

lit
Up till this year, when ds took the Am. Lit course at our oversight, we used BJUP for lit. It was easy to use for me and he liked the material they picked. I especially think that the first two high school courses, Fundamentals and Elements are really good for those of us who may not have a strong personal background in lit analysis. They teach all the proper terms and walk you through the how to analyze lit stuff.

Art
taking a couple of art classes with an artist/instructor along the way. I'm definitely out of my depth here...ds has really enjoyed learning some drawing and watercolor techniques from others.

ds has been involved in our academies high school play for the last two years and absolutely loved it.

Thats about it for materials....which is what I think you were really after.

HTH

[FloridaLisa]

Debate, debate, debate (and speech). :) I'm a huge fan. Truly, I think whatever course our dc pursue, they will use speech and debate skills. My oldest is science-minded, and yet, there are any number of instances in the science field when logical thinking and presentation skills would be needed. Debate teaches so many skills -- thinking on feet, gracefully winning and losing, working on a team, writing, persuasion, research, logic as well as the content areas of domestic and international policy, history, geography, economics, government and various industries. In the past 4 years, my dc have studied in-depth medical malpractice (hospitals, insurance, tort system, various state laws), domestic energy policies, NATO and illegal immigration. And most kids I've seen have been so excited about debate (and speech) that you have to kick them off the computer!

If you want your kids to participate in debate or competetive speech, you need to carve out time for it before-hand. It's very time-consuming. In fact, this is probably my 10th grader's last year, because his courseload will be too much next year. It's an enormous amount of research as well as classes, practices and out-of-town tournaments. The kids that scheduledebate/speech as a class, rather than another extracurricular, tend to have the best rate of finishing out the year, without dropping out. For us, it's been well worth the effort.

HTH,
Lisa

[Jane in NC]

whose post says it all...

On one of her themes, though, I can be more specific with something that has been great for us: 4-H.

4-H has given my son the opportunity to learn more about life skills as well as "practical science". For example, my son may never be a forester, but he has been introduced to how one goes on to forested acreage to evaluate the health of the trees and recognize their aesthetic and economic value. That is, he has seen how time and man change the forest, how insects contribute beneficially and destroy the vegetation within, how to use old fashioned tools (the Biltmore stick) and modern ones (hypsometer) to measure the height of trees, how to estimate the amount of lumber available and determine which trees should be kept to encourage wildlife in the area. None of this stuff is on a high school test. But I think that it has helped his cognitive processes to see how the dots are connected in a real world situation. Text books often put things in their slots and fail to show relationships between the disciplines.

I'm not suggesting that forestry or 4-H is the answer. I mention this as an example of something that we have been able to do because homeschooling has provided us with flexibility.

My own challenge concerns finding the time to take advantage of all of life's interesting opportunities while satisfactorily covering the academic bases at a fairly rigorous level. There are never enough hours in a day!

One of the greatest surprises of homeschooling high school has been how the discussions (the talk, talk, talk mentioned by Nan) have brought the family together. We talk science, literature, current events, history, pop culture, you name it. I find that my son is truly curious about why something becomes a headline one day, never to be mentioned again. He loves editorial comics in the newspaper but often needs some political or historical background to understand what is happening. If he was dashing off in the morning to catch the bus, we wouldn't be able to talk about these things. It is very cool and fun..

Good luck.
Jane

[periwinkle]

because what floats someone's boat may sink yours;)

For example, I stayed away from Winston Grammar for years because I read so many negative reviews on homeschool boards. Out of desperation, I finally gave it a go and found out that we love it here (it is the first grammar program to click with youngest ds).

So much is going to depend on learning styles of your dc and your own teaching style. For high school (and middle school), I try to have my kids CHOOSE, if at all possible, what they are using. It gives them ownership of their education. Check the book out from the library, or visit a homeschool conference together, or buy two programs and resell the one you don't use.

All that said, we have liked:

Lit: free online guides (sparknotes, glencoe, and others), Hewitt's Lightning Literature and LL from LOTR (if this appeals to your dc)

Writing: Wordsmith Craftsman, Strunk and White's Elements of Style, Teaching the Essay from AG people (literary essay), Writing a Research Paper (Sadlier-Oxford)

Bible: Oldest ds has been on a bible quiz team--not sure what to do with other kiddos; watched Francis Sheaffer's videos, read Lewis's Mere Christianity, Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth, and Kreeft's Apologetics book for a Worldview and Apologetics course

Math: Jacobs and/or Lial for Alg and Geometry, have not had as much success with upper levels

Foreign Language: Henle for Latin; SOS Spanish if dc can work independently

Science: Apologia; younger ds has used CyberEd courses, so these might be good at upper levels as well , but they are secular (evolution)

History: we have used a standard Prentice Hall text and added in Teaching Company videos and other living books; Abeka courses for Geography and Economics

Art (no music for my boys, unfortunately): Artistic Pursuits, Keys to Drawing, Practical Graphic Design, Annotated Mona Lisa and Sister Wendy videos for a half credit in Art History; I would think Teaching Company videos would work well here, too (the music one is fabulous)

HomeEc: AO Lifepacs (pick and choose for 0.5 credit)

[Anne in Hawaii]

Debate, debate, debate (and speech). :)

I agree! This is ds's first year in debate, and he did NOT want to participate. But now that we're entering the tournament phase, he told me he actually enjoys it. :) I think these thinking-on-his-feet skills are going to help him the rest of his life. Lisa's right -- it takes a LOT of time, but it's worth it.

HISTORY/LIT/THEOLOGY
Also, I wouldn't have wanted to have my children miss out on Omnibus. It's given us such rich discussion and exposure to many, many good books. And I love having our history, lit, and theology combined.

LATIN:
Latin (Henle) is what we start off our days with, and I love, love, love watching my children perform the mental gymnastics it takes to translate.

MATH:
Videotext is working well in our family.

SCIENCE:
Ditto the comments on Apologia. We're liking it here.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
Ds wanted to learn Italian, so he's doing it on his own with the help of a tutor once a week. I gave him the option of dropping it earlier in the year because it was really tough, and Latin will fill his language requirement, but he said NO! He didn't want to quit.

ART:
Free DVDs from the National Gallery of Art (http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/loanfinder/index.mhtm) have been helpful here.

LOGIC/RHETORIC:
We've used Memoria Press's materials. Next year, though, ds is going to take online rhetoric through Veritas Press.

HTH,
Anne

[JennW in SoCal]

I just want to add a small cautionary note here that the 6th grader you have now will be an entirely different person when he is in 10th grade, and it isn't simply because he will be taller than you with big feet and a deep voice and yearning for a driver's license! Looking ahead and learning about all the options out there is the smart thing to do, just don't carve your plans in stone because teens become independent thinkers and can really surprise you with their plans and dreams.

The thing you don't want to miss having in high school: flexibiltiy and a sense of humor!

In no particular order, these are the things that I'm glad I have on the shelf:

The Well Trained Mind just for ideas and book lists, and The Well Educated Mind for tackling literature.

Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox, just because they are pleasant to read with worthwhile lessons

Jacobs Geometry -- like Nan said, it is proof based and has those diagrams. Such a relief for ds after Algebra!

Teaching Company DVDs, on most any subject-- good lectures, a chance to practise note taking skills

We still read aloud together, still have to turn NPR down in the car after a good story because we get caught up in discussions. I'm glad my ds has had the time to pursue his own unique interests in a nurturing environment with good, caring mentors.

My youngest is in 7th grade, and I'm revising my old list of high school resourses in order to be ready for his high school years.

[Lori D.]

With a 9th and an 8th grade boy we're just getting started on the high school years of homeschooling. But so far, I'd say: don't miss the opportunity to do some of your literature *together*! Pick a few books for the year (3-6) and read them aloud together as a family; discuss and enjoy together either as you read, or with a lit. guide 1-2 a week.

We've been using the Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings for this, plus we're doing a few of the ancient epics this way this year -- incredible experience! A family "bonding" experience; a real opportunity to discuss current events; discussion of family values; bringing up comparisons/contrasts between other books/movies/life choices of people around us; seeing morals/themes and consequences of actions, etc. -- and yes, all of that comes up in these informal literature discussions! It's been the best year of our homeschooling so far! : ) We did the Lightning Literature 7 and 8 last year aloud together, and it had a very similar experience -- looking forward to using other of the LL programs throughout high school.

Looking forward to the rest of homeschooling through high school! And hope you'll enjoy your homeschool journey as well. Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Sharon in MD]

ART:
Free DVDs from the National Gallery of Art (http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/loanfinder/index.mhtm) have been helpful here.
[B]
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the link! Sorry I messed up the quote thingy.:o

[Maxine in WA]

Although I know that no program has everything, I recently found several programs for elementary school, that I wish I had used from the beginning. My oldest son is in 6th grade and I feel he missed out on some great things. So, I want to get ahead start on Highschool classes. Please share with me what you feel is the best in each of the following areas and how your family/child has benefited from it. All suggestions are welcome!
Bible Study/Character Developement
Life skills
Math
English
History
Science
Latin
Modern Language
Logic/Rhetoric
Art
Anything else I have missed
Thank you,
Ok, I know the title has grammatical problems, but I can't edit it.

You've received some excellent feedback already. I just want to reiterate what Nan said about letting the kids choose something they are interested in and allowing them time/opportunities to pursue those interests.

Also, I would help provide them lots of public speaking opportunities. The ability to speak in front of a group of people comfortably is invaluable, IMHO.
My 14yodd is taking a Speech class through our co-op and is slowly getting more comfortable with speaking on her feet (ie not reading her speech and not uhmmming when asked questions). This skill is something I lacked and needed during college and even in my career as a computer programmer.

[MelodyInTx]

You have received some great info. I would second the idea of flexibility and sense of humor. I would also encourage you to consider allowing your ds or dd some input into the selection of the materials. I do that with my twins and it cut out any conflict.