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High School Years and Beyond ( Forum Locked)
4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond

Topic: High School 101

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Natalia
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 10:15am \| IP Logged

Dear Ladies,
Could you walk me this homeschooling high school thing? My dd is going to be in 9th grade next year. We thought that we were going to put her in a "real" high school but after some agonizing weeks we decided to keep her home at least one more year. If by her sophomore year she is still expressing a desire to go to traditional school, we will let her go to our local Catholic High school.
So now I have to decide what to do for next year. I am not as ignorant as I was a month ago :-) We went through the application process at a public school and a private catholic school. So I am more familiar with the credit system, the elective system, how many credits does she needs to graduate. But I am not sure how does it work when you homeschool.How do you "count" credits?
So far I am planning to look into Seton and Kolbe academy. Is there any other options that I should consider? I guess that ideally I would like a school that would give me a transcript but that would let me, at least to a certain extent, use my own resources. Is there anything like that?

Thanks,

natalia

Cay Gibson
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 10:55am \| IP Logged

Natalia,
I owe you a PM, huh?

Sorry to leave you hanging.

We went with STAA but didn't stay with it. They said they'd work with us on our eclectic choices but they didn't.

Even a Geometry class my ds took through the hs co-op didn't work with them. The teacher had a sheet of what they covered in class and she signed it and I sent it in. It wasn't "good enough". This class was mainly hands-on and the teacher and I both agreed that Corey did better orally so, though he had a notebook of geometric drawings and lots of real life logic discussion, there wasn't anything else to really turn in to them. I could never understand what they wanted or why they didn't accept this class as a credit.

This aside, the proctor was extremely nice and helpful; it just didn't work out.

We used Kolbe our first year hsing and I found it too classical and rigid for this child so I never went back to it. Now, in hindsight, I can see that it's a great program for the high school years. Can be done completely at home with simple accountability. My friend used it with her son all the way through school and they were very pleased.

I'll try to answer your PM today...

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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks

Bridget
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 11:59am \| IP Logged

Natalia wrote:

But I am not sure how does it work when you homeschool.How do you "count" credits?
So far I am planning to look into Seton and Kolbe academy. Is there any other options that I should consider? I guess that ideally I would like a school that would give me a transcript but that would let me, at least to a certain extent, use my own resources. Is there anything like that?

Thanks,

natalia

Natalia, if you think you might be putting her in school eventually you probably need a program that is accredited or the school may not accept the transcript. At least check with the school before you make a decision.

I schooled my niece for ninth grade on an emergency basis a few years ago. I didn't know anything. And no one had money to enroll her in a program.

When she went back to school, I made a nice transcript and included papers and tests but they wouldn't accept any of it.

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extremeknitter
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 12:15pm \| IP Logged

My boys graduated from MODG with accredited diplomas and "real" transcripts. We leaned heavily toward classical anyway, so it was a good choice. We loved the copious amounts of literature "options" and suggestions they gave us.

During the years we were enrolled, our consultant was very helpful and very flexible. Wherever they could bend and tweak (and still maintain their accreditation) they did. There were some things they stood firm on, of course, but we accepted that as the price for having something that would be recognized by outside systems, and that was important to us. It was an excellent fit for my boys for those years. I am not sure it will be for my girls, but I am very happy we went that route when we did.

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Bookswithtea
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 8:53pm \| IP Logged

Natalia, NARS will let you choose all your own curriculum but still keep a legitimate and accredited transcript. That's who I am going with. They are offering a '4 years for the price of 2' deal until the end of March, so I sent my money in this week. I would call the Catholic high school and ask them what they would want to see.

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~Books

mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and

due 9/10

Elizabeth
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 9:26pm \| IP Logged

NARS?

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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)

Natalia
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 9:40pm \| IP Logged

Elizabeth wrote:

NARS?

Books is taking about this

Natalia

Bookswithtea
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Posted: March 22 2007 at 10:07pm \| IP Logged

Yup. I've talked with a mom online who has used it for a year with no problems, and a wiser hs mom than I recently signed up too. The current offer kind of tipped the scales for me, along with the realization after using 3 Seton courses that this is NOT for us.

I wanted a lot of freedom, but I wanted an accredited diploma because I'm not sure if ds might head to trade school or even the military and I've heard that they are sometimes less open to homemade diplomas than many colleges.

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Blessings,

~Books

mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and

due 9/10

Cathmomof8
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Posted: March 23 2007 at 12:57pm \| IP Logged

I'm for MODG too. I sent my eldest to PS his junior year and the MODG transcript was great for me. Also, some things I am making sure I cover in 9th gr with my son next year in case he goes to school the following years some time..

-Physed
-Health (no thank you to the 'health' classes being offered. I really like the Health book from Abeka so far)
-solid religion with some apologetics
-good history, incorporating the role of Catholicism

I really do like MODG, their Teacher assistance program and their flexibility.

Theresia

Cay Gibson
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Posted: March 23 2007 at 2:02pm \| IP Logged

Isn't NARS kind of pricey? perhaps I'm thinking of something else.

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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks

Bookswithtea
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Posted: March 23 2007 at 4:55pm \| IP Logged

Cay Gibson wrote:

Isn't NARS kind of pricey? perhaps I'm thinking of something else.

Clonlara is the one I'm familiar with as very expensive...over $1000 a year!

NARS's normal rate is $350 per year with the senior year being $450, for a total of $1500 for 4 years. Until the end of March, its $700 for the entire 4 yrs (up front). You either have to sign up with someone, or sign up 2 children, or if you call, they will pair you up with someone else so that you can still get the deal. They want $1400 per two children...something about a development drive?

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Blessings,

~Books

mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and

due 9/10

Natalia
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 9:41am \| IP Logged

Thanks to everybody that responded. Life got in the way and I couldn't get back here.

Knitter and Theresia, what makes MODG classical? Is it the subject or the method used? How do you like their materials? how flexible are they about letting you use different material? is there room for electives? would they give you credit for those electives? does your child send in papers to be graded by them?

Books, what made you go with NARS rather that MODG, Seton or Kolbe? Would NARS be an option even if I only homeschool for a year?

Does anybody use Kolbe? I thought that I would like Kolbe but when I went to find out information their website seems to me hard to navigate and not as explicit as the other ones. Can somebody share their experiences with Kolbe?

Thanks,

Natalia

helene
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 6:22pm \| IP Logged

I have the same questions Natalia has about MODG. How flexible are they? Knitter, would they let you use a saxon book for math that was one level lower than their recommendation for ninth grade, for example? What is an example of something they would not let you change? And why don't you think it would work for your girls?

Bookswithtea
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 6:50pm \| IP Logged

Natalia wrote:

Books, what made you go with NARS rather that MODG, Seton or Kolbe? Would NARS be an option even if I only homeschool for a year?

Does anybody use Kolbe?

If you run a search, Janet has talked extensively about Kolbe. She is really happy with it. :-)

I tried out Seton this year with three courses and...well, let's just say its not a fit for us. So that's why we are no longer considering them. I worked with MODG for a portion of a year and I had a hard time with the inability to make substitutions. Also, I am not a classically geared homeschooler. I really want ds to have a year of modern history and MODG studies Greece and Rome instead. I seriously considered Kolbe because they are easy to work with and will also allow you to choose whatever curriculum you want. But they do not allow ANY high school level courses to be counted towards graduation before the 9th grade. That bothered me since we were already knee deep in a 9th grade level science course.

NARS offers both full freedom and a diploma, and those were the most important things to me. BTW, while they are not a religious school, they will allow you to design 4 yrs of religion on your transcript.

Yes, you can use them for just one year. You can also use them for 9th, use a local school for a year, and then come back and they will honor any transcript from a regular day school without question. Their catalogue is full of information and free. It was really helpful for me.

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Blessings,

~Books

mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and

due 9/10

Willa
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 7:18pm \| IP Logged

Natalia, my family has been enrolled in Kolbe off and on almost since we started homeschooling -- about 11 cumulative years but not consecutive, if you see what I mean. I use the program very loosely. I like Kolbe simply because I have so much latitude with them and their general "vision" coincides with mine and my husband's. For those reasons I might not be the best person to answer nitty-gritty questions. We don't follow the text recommendations closely, and use the booklists much more than the structured part of it.

Still, I'll try to field any questions you have -- either on here, or you can PM me. I know their high school syllabi have gotten quite a bit more detailed and parent-friendly since I first started with them back in 1995.

Janet (Almom) uses the program a bit more closely than I do. Have you checked out Kolbe's forum? -- I just discovered it recently. She has several posts on there and like all her posts, they are detailed and informative.

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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
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Nina Murphy
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 7:41pm \| IP Logged

Unfortunately, we are not good witnesses for homeschooling through High School at this point. We are still trying to get my 19 year-old through Seton's Senior Year so she can "graduate" and move on. A dear friend offered to help us this year--- who has one child, a teenage son the age of my son, in facilitating things for my son this year... and she had him switch to MODG.

We had tried MODG the first two years with my oldest daughter and when I had complications with pregnancy #7, she got really overwhelmed being on her own. We ended up switching to Seton the next year. We have been back and forth, let me tell you. High risk pregnancies have made things challenging. All will work out, I pray, in God's good Will....

Blessings upon you in your discernment!!!

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~~Nina
mother of 9 on earth,
and 2 yet-to-be-met

guitarnan
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Posted: March 27 2007 at 9:37pm \| IP Logged

Here's the link to my accreditation dilemma from last year. I hope it's helpful.

For what it's worth, we did enroll with The Learning Community and so far, everything is going quite well. They use Carnegie units for high school credit (a one-year credit is equal to 120 clock hours of work in that subject area), so it's easy to figure out how you're doing. (I owe a big hat tip to Elizabeth for telling me about this group!)

We used Kolbe prior to high school, but I just could not see my son doing the work they prescribed; by the time I got done doctoring up their suggestions I was pretty much on my own anyway. I use CHC's High School of Your Dreams as a launch pad and tailor things to college entrance requirements in our area (Univ. of MD, Naval Academy, etc.). We all know my son is on track to apply to any school that appeals to him, for now. I hope he'll be up to the community college challenge by the time he's a junior or senior...we'll see!

Please PM me if you have questions...I love to talk about this topic!

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Cathmomof8
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Posted: March 28 2007 at 12:04pm \| IP Logged

Knitter and Theresia, what makes MODG classical? Is it the subject or the method used? How do you like their materials? how flexible are they about letting you use different material? is there room for electives? would they give you credit for those electives? does your child send in papers to be graded by them?

MODG is classical in both the materials used and more importantly HOW they are used. I really like their 9th grade syllibi and have used all of them at least twice now. I've found them to be as felxible as I have needed them to be. But I only wanted so much flexibility most of the time - meaning I wanted to use their syllibi so I didn't have to come up with all of that, and I wanted to use their Teacher assisted program for CERTAIN subjects that had a lot of writing like science, history and religion. I've added electives such as Health using Abeka Health, Standardized test prep, guitar, Life Skills, ?? I switched to world History this year for 10th gr instead of ancient history (they have a world history syllibus available). Since all of the syllibi are separate (for the most part-history and literature are together and count as two credits) you can choose which syllibi to use each year or, for instance, we dropped the MODG syllibus for religion this semester because ds just wasn't getting anything out of the Fr. Laux books and I wanted to hit some other areas with him before he goes to PS next year. Our consultant had no problem with that. We've used other materials for Spanish. They would have no problem with different levels of Saxon Math. And they have had no problems with us NOT using Saxon Math.

HTH Gotta move....

Theresia

gracie4309
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Posted: March 28 2007 at 3:28pm \| IP Logged

[QUOTE=guitarnan] I use CHC's High School of Your Dreams as a launch pad and tailor things to college entrance requirements in our area (Univ. of MD, Naval Academy, etc.).

How do you like High School of Your Dreams? I'm interested for my son who is a junior. He is enrolled with MODG this year, and it's not working for
us.

Thanks,
Grace

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Willa
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Posted: March 28 2007 at 3:35pm \| IP Logged

About credits, Natalia...

I have heard different things ...
A lot of homeschoolers use the Carnegie Unit which is 120 instruction hours counting for 1 credit. This is basically what I do, since it's the most helpful way to measure credit I've found yet.

Some subjects are textbook based, and the books are meant to cover 1 or 2 school years. In that case, I divide by "lessons" rather than hours. Let's say one of my high schoolers does an algebra lesson in 40 minutes, or in 90 minutes. I count it as an official "hour."

There is a thread on

making your own highschool transcript which discusses it a bit, too.

Kolbe publishes a booklet called "Parent as Counsellor" that talks about college bound high school curriculum, counting credits, getting ready for SATs and all that good stuff. Another book that has been helpful to me is
Homeschool High School and Beyond -- information about how to design your own courses and various other things, and it is written for the student so you can give it to them as a study skills/time management course if you want to.

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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read

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