Preparing for High School

[ElisabethGrace]

I'm sure this has been asked many times, but in my searching I didn't find what I was looking for.

What would you recommend to prepare oneself for teaching/facilitating high school. Also, what might be helpful for my ds to prepare himself?

I guess I'm hoping you will share what has worked for you & what you wished you had done or had done differently.

I feel so nervous, but excited entering this new stage with my firstborn!

Thanks for any advice you choose to share.:001_smile:

Angela

[newbie]

I am no high school expert. But have made many mistakes. My first is thinking I should ease dd into high school, instead of doing full course load.

Therefore by 11 grade we are having to make up for 16 credits, only completed 7 first two yrs. Big mistake on my part.

I guess my advice would be make sure you check state req. for grad and make sure you have enough credits each yr. for grad.

Hope helps,
Jet

[periwinkle]

There was a recent thread with some help here:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43270

[Gwen in VA]

Before 9th grade I would definitely have a VAGUE plan of action for all four years --

Any state requirements
Look at college applicant requirements (if relevant) for a few possible schools
How many credits per year
What level math each year
Vague history/English course ideas
Science (labs? which courses)
Foreign language (which one? how approach?)
Some ideas on possible electives

Once you feel like you have planned enough that you can't go TOO far wrong during freshman year :) then you can start to adjust.

We adjusted a LOT -- Latin didn't work out, so ds switched to Greek. Ds wanted to do economics not history. We obliged him junior and senior year. Dd wanted an additional writing course her sophomore year. Ds's planned elective senior year fell through so we went scrambling to find another area he was interested in. We abandoned the WTM history cycle to do various AP's. But since we had a plan (of sorts), we knew that we were on target even though we changed lots of things throughout high school.

If you have a VAGUE overall plan, you will avoid waking up seomtime during your child's junior year realizing that you missed something huge.

[ElisabethGrace]

newbie & Gwen in VA, thank you for your replies! Hearing from those who have BTDT is so helpful.

periwinkle, thank you so much for the link to the previous thread! I just knew there had to be one that I was not seeing!:glare:

If anyone else would like to add to this thread or the other thread, please do!:D

Thanks again!

[Kareni]

Hello ElisabethGrace/Angela,

I'd recommend reading widely (as much as time permits) all you can find pertaining to homeschooling high school and to getting into college (if that is your plan for your child). This board is a fine resource!

A favorite book is Homeschooling High School: Planning Ahead for College Admission (New and Updated) by Jeanne Gowen Dennis

Here is the Amazon link: Homeschooling High School (http://www.amazon.com/Homeschooling-High-School-Planning-Admission/dp/1883002699)

I'm also fond of this thread:
Whine!! I didn't sign up to be guidance counselor! (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28074&highlight=gowen)
in which many other great resources are suggested.

Regards,
Kareni

[ElisabethGrace]

Kareni,
Thank you for posting! I've added the book suggestion to my cart at Amazon & have bookmarked the thread.

:001_smile:Angela

[Kris in Wis]

I'm sure this has been asked many times, but in my searching I didn't find what I was looking for.

What would you recommend to prepare oneself for teaching/facilitating high school. Also, what might be helpful for my ds to prepare himself?

Angela

First, read Cafi Cohen's books: Homeschooling the Teen Years; And What About College?; Homeschooler's College Admissions Handbook

Ms. Cohen was an ecclectic homeschooler, at times unschooler, but her advice is timeless to anyone homeschooling high school.

Also, there are several Yahoo groups out there for homeschooling high school. I belong to two, and they have been invaluable to me.

Get ahold of your state's graduation requirements. They can be found on the DPI website. Use it as a guideline when planning your course of study. In our state, the grad. requirements are the bare minimum, so maybe check out a few other sources (local parochial high school, area school district) and compare.

Document everything. Portfolios are good, as are logs. Start the transcript right away, too.

Be willing to outsource, if needed. One of our children took a class at a local parochial high school, as well as dual enrollment at our state U. Other son took several dual enrollment courses at college. Maybe you have co-op classes through a local homeschool support group that you can take advantage of.

Consider part-time employment, volunteer work, apprenticeships, and/or one or two extracurricular activities. But don't overdo it. We have found a few things done very thoroughly are better than lots of superficial activities, at least according to the college admissions people we talked to.

Oh, and let your son begin to take responsibility for his own work and accomplishments (if you haven't already). Help him to set up a schedule, set goals, and see them through. We found high school to be a great way to "hand-off" to our children responsibility for their own lives.

Hope this gives you some things to consider! Blessings,

[ElisabethGrace]

Kris, thanks so much for leaving such an informative reply! I have been keeping notes of the ideas & recommended books to mull them over.:)

I'll be searching for the homeschooloing highschool Yahoo groups.

Angela