Schooling Comes Home. Again.
Next year is going to be even more exciting than I anticipated.
Jewel will be five, and we will start doing more “schooling” with her. I’m not a believer in a bunch of “work” for the K set, but she is actually very enchanted with the idea of “doing school,” so who am I to argue? (We’re doing some now, of course).
But there’s a new dimension being added to the mix: Nick is coming home.
After two years in the magnet music program at a high school in the area, he has decided that public school really is not such a great idea after all. This dovetailes with our ideas about having the family accompany Wolf for his Air Force technical schools, so we’re all agreed.
Now… How?
I’ve never done High School, and diving into the Junior year is more than a little intimidating.
We used Sonlight for 8th Grade, and really enjoyed it, so that seems the likely choice for the main chunk of curriculum.
He did AP World History in 9th Grade, and is doing AP Psychology this year. The natural progresson would be for AP English Language and AP U.S. History next year, which he is interested in doing.
I’m thinking the most effective way to accomplish that is through Florida Virtual School. It’s free as Florida residents, which is a nice bonus.
Then there are just a couple of open questions: Algebra 2 and Chemistry.
He didn’t care for the math we used in 8th Grade (ALEKS), so we’re definately looking for a new option there.
- Teaching Textbooks is the recommendation from Sonlight. I’ve also heard good things about it from others. A little pricey?
- Math U See is something a lot of folks use, but I haven’t heard much about their High School levels.
- I know there are tons of others out there… an overwhelming number of choices…
And Chemistry?
Sonlight offers the Apologia program, which is also the only one I’ve heard other High School homeschoolers mention.
Obviouly, a web search turns up a ton of options, but who knows what’s any good?
And do we do any extras?
It seems like an awful lot of work we’re committed to already.
But what about all those extra things we’d like to do?
- Bible is included in the Sonlight, so we don’t need anything else formal in that area.
- I guess he’s done with music, so we won’t worry about that.
- A homeschool co-op I follow is offering a great buy on Dave Ramsey’s financial class for High Schoolers. I think this would be such a valuable thing for him…
- We may try Spanish, but language learning has not gone well for us in the past. Rather than presenting it to him as “his” class, I’m thinking I’ll just have him work along as I try to learn with Jewel.
I’m anxious to get everything nailed down, of course. Even though I’ll probably wait and have it shipped to our address at the training base, I don’t like the “up in the air” feeling.
Any comments, suggestions, recommendations?
That has to be a daunting task to home school for high school, but it sounds like you have done a ton of research!
.-= Felicia´s last blog … What’s Your Advice to a Mom with Almost 2 Kids? =-.
When you get to where you’re going you might look for other families homeschooling High schoolers. Here, in Central Indiana, groups of families work together to do the harder subjects like math and chemistry. One parent may work with 3-4 teens for their math, someone else the chemistry, because these are folks with a background in that area. Their kids may need someone to help with more advanced Literature so a swap is arranged. I’ve seen it work in several settings so there may be someone around you can team with.
Some type of co-op like that is a great idea, Jo.
I’m feeling a little handicapped in that area right now, since w will be moving back and forth, and not in either place for the full school year. Hardly long enough to meet new folks, and certainly not long enough to commit to doing something for them. *sigh*
My firstborn is graduating this year, so we’ve been through high school once! He did apologia chemistry, BUT he did it in a co-op. I think he would have done fine with it on his own at home. As for math, he did Saxon Algebra 2 through co-op and DID NOT feel like he learned everything that he needed to for the ACT. Talking to other parents, I’ve since learned that Teaching Textbooks appears to be a better preparation for the ACT. I will use that with my next kids. My son did the Dave Ramsey course primarily for his econ credit. He also did the Personal Management badge for Boy Scouts, which is pretty intense, and re-read Whatever Happened to Penny Candy.
He did take dual enrollment courses at our local community college if that is an option for your son. I’m really, really happy that we did that!
Best wishes as you bring him home!
.-= Sarah at SmallWorld´s last blog … Weekly Wrap-Up =-.