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MarilynW
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Has anyone successfully homeschooled through middle and high school using CM/ methods.
Thank you.
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Marilyn
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mariB
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I second the motion. This would be a great thread! I've been thinking about these very questions. I have one 9th grader enrolled in Seton. I know that Seton would not work for all of my children.
Thanks,
marianne
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Erin
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Marilyn,
My dd13 is eight grade this year and I've decided to continue doing what we do which is real learning via a literature based approach. I have however made a resolution from now on to record keep as I go throughout the year. I always seem to fail at this however  so this year I am starting to blog what we do, this could work easily as well in word documents. The blog will be for my use so I can write the good, and the bad. Really the purpose of better record keeping is for when I have to write up what we have done when uni approaches. Just covering bases.
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Erin
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Joann in AL
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Yes, we have. We have two dd's in college and two currently in high school, one is 9th-ish grade and the other is 11/12 grade.
Our method of learning is rather Charlotte Mason/Lissa Peterson/unschooling. Our high schoolers read copiously. Lots of classics, lots of living books, lots of non-fiction of their own choosing (One dd loved to read Stephen Hawking and othr physicists), saints lives, Church history, Church documents. They wrote about or discussed what they read. In all subjects. They did/do much more reading about science then actual experimentation - we just don't have the financial resources for a lot of that. But we live on a farm and are provided with ample nature study opportunities. One dd used Saxon Math, one used Jacobs and a little Saxon and two are now using Life of Fred and Singapore. Our history "spines" have been the Anne Carroll books and those work well for the facts, but for the actual study of "people" they just read and read and read.
We do a semester of Warriners Grammar and a semester of "literature" for a more formal study of genre, literary terms,etc. We use these little workbooks about Figurative Language, Literary Genres. They are like playtime, but I cannot find one to give the information. Sorry. lol
As a "guide" I used High School Subjects Self-Taught which I acquired very reasonably from another parent on Cathswap. We have the 4 volume set. I got an older version which is not as politically correct as the later editions.
Our oldest scored a 31 on the ACT and the second one scored 23. DD3 is planning to take the test this summer. And DD4 has a couple years. We did use a prep guide for the ACT and would also use one if they were taking the SAT. Both older girls are attending college. DD1 spent a year and a half at the local community college - pretty much her senior year although we "graduated" her because financial aid is not available to dual-enrolled hs'ers in our area. She had plenty of credits for an Alabama diploma (I believe 22 credits are required in AL.) and our cover school admin was happy to sign her diploma. DD2 went from here to college. She is doing a lot better than she feared she would. She was a little worried that we hadn't covered what she thought she would need, but she's discovered that she had a pretty decent high school education after all. Not as stellar in some aspects, but quite superior in reading content. This has really compensated for the lack of lab time and even in some regard for her math reluctance. She can learn things she thought would be too hard because there is good foundation and lots of connections to be made.
Putting transcripts together was not that difficult. But I would STRONGLY suggest that if your child desires to go to a specific college or you have a school picked out  to check the requirements of that school. Places like Notre Dame that are not as homeschool friendly as say, Franciscan U, have different requirements and may want to see more in depth descriptions. We knew we needed/wanted 3 or 4 sciences, 4 language arts, at least 2 foreign language credits, at least 3 maths, 4 history and some electives. It does require translating the way we live into school-speak, but CM hs'ers certainly read enough to easily encompass 4 years of literature. They learn an awful lot about the physical world through their reading, enough for a geography credit, etc.
Colleges generally don't get course descriptions from their applicants' high schools. They get a list of subjects with corresponding grades, a cummulative GPA and some test scores. Have descriptions, reading lists, projects etc ready if the school your child is interested in requests/requires them, but our experience has been that presenting a college with what looks like a regular transcript, has been sufficient. DD1 was accepted at several public and private institutions.
I'll be glad to answer any questions that I can. And I would also recommend - for those who are homeschooling college bound students - a yahoo! group Conservative Homeschool to College - for parents preparing their children for college.
Hope this encourages you to continue on the path that you are happy on.
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Elizabeth
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Marilyn,
My nightmare could have easily been avoided. I had a computer crash last summer leaving the data irretrievable. A backup disk with all our booklists and plans would have been a beautiful thing. I just didn't do it  . Lesson learned. The other thing that has really complicated our college search is the soccer component. It's irrelevant to most people and so I haven't really explained HOW it's confounded the process. I absolutely would look at schools in the summer before sophomore year and just do some clicking and calling to find out what they want from homeschoolers.Then, you have plenty of time to prepare and tailor to where your dc might go. We did all our applying in a three week window during December because Michael had been promised a spot on a team in the summer and he thought that it was all a done deal--that fell through and we were scrambling very late in the game, no pun intended. I also had a newborn. Timing was just not good. I learned a lot though. 
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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)
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Leonie
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We have used Real Learning through high school - but we are in Australia and the kids haven't needed a transcript. We've used booklists and made portfolios.
All the older ones have managed well at university and work.
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Leonie in Sydney
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Elizabeth
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Leonie wrote:
We have used Real Learning through high school - but we are in Australia and the kids haven't needed a transcript. We've used booklists and made portfolios.
All the older ones have managed well at university and work. |
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Leonie is the epitome of understatement here. I met her oldest ds. He has done beautifully, incredibly, wonderfully at university and work. This Australian is better versed in American government and history than most Americans. I can only imagine what he knows about Australian government.NOt only that, he's charming and well spoken and great with kids.
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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)
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MarilynW
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Joann in AL wrote:
Putting transcripts together was not that difficult. But I would STRONGLY suggest that if your child desires to go to a specific college or you have a school picked out to check the requirements of that school. Places like Notre Dame that are not as homeschool friendly as say, Franciscan U, have different requirements and may want to see more in depth descriptions. We knew we needed/wanted 3 or 4 sciences, 4 language arts, at least 2 foreign language credits, at least 3 maths, 4 history and some electives. It does require translating the way we live into school-speak, but CM hs'ers certainly read enough to easily encompass 4 years of literature. I'll be glad to answer any questions that I can.
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Thanks Joann for a very useful reply. I still need to inform myself on all the different tests, how to prepare a transcript etc ( I still have lots of time though) - I went to college in England and France - and so lots of the terminology is foreign to me.
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Marilyn
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MarilynW
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Dear all
Thanks for taking the time to reply - I have been wanting to post for days, but hyperemesis continues....
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Marilyn
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MarilynW
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My question about following my own program of study is how to show that you have completed the necessary entry requirements. eg looking at the requirements of Thomas Aquinas college a student has to have 4 years/credits (40 units) of English, 2 years/credits of Algebra (20 units), 3 years/credits (30 units) of social studies etc etc for a total of 16 credits and 160 units.
How do your record all this and prove to the college that you have done x number of units? Is there some guide to understanding all this. Sorry for my ignorance :when I entered university - the primary requirement was examination grades and then interview - and sometimes writing samples.
Thank you all for your help.
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Marilyn
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Willa
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Marilyn,
When my son applied to TAC he simply sent in his transcript, his SAT scores, and the required essay and application form. He also had to send in two recommendations from people who knew him. The transcript was just a one page affair with titles of the classes he did at home, and the grades I gave him for them, and then brief listings of his various extracurricular activities (like participation in the church youth group, etc) I can upload it if it would be useful and if it wasn't on our computer than just died recently : ). There was no independent verification asked or received. He had not taken a single high school course outside of our homeschool. We did every bit of it at home.
The college did not ask to see any details of textbooks or course materials. If they HAD asked, I had kept records during his high school years of his readings, writings, math and science work, and so on. I am not a super-organized person and the records would have taken some work to pull together, but it was all there and it looked good; I wouldn't have been embarrased to show them. I think if anything I graded and valued his work too low compared to normal high school courses. My husband said I did and since then all the conversations I've had with parents of public high schoolers has affirmed what he said!
This was the only college he applied to and my other children have not gone through the college application process yet so I have only that experience.
With my daughter who wants to go to TAC I will have a looser collection of work to pull together. My son looked for structured sequential curriculum in science and math and foreign languages, so it was all there in easily accessible form. Clare has done a lot of work but it is more eclectic and it will be interesting to see how we move through the application process with her. I think TAC's primary concern is to ensure the entering students can do the college-level work. No doubt other colleges are less sympathetic to homeschool and alternative education backgrounds but for me it's DEFINITELY not worth giving up the richness of "real learning" in high school just to jump through secular university requirement hoops.
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Willa
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Willa
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Alison McKee's book called From Homeschool to College and Work has some practical ideas for turning eclectic learning experiences into a good transcript and/or portfolio.
I also used Homeschool, High School and Beyond by a Catholic author -- for my own organizational work. It has a structured feel to it and is meant to be a study skills manual for the highschooler (I had my oldest read through it but didn't do the exercises). But it includes ideas for how to compile materials into a transcript or course outline. That helped me with that question: "Are we REALLY doing anything?"
I hope the emesis thing gets better soon  What a blessing that we can talk about high schoolers and pregnancy hyperemesis in the same post and not get a single raised eyebrow! 
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AMDG
Willa
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Take Up and Read
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MarilynW
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WJFR wrote:
| No doubt other colleges are less sympathetic to homeschool and alternative education backgrounds but for me it's DEFINITELY not worth giving up the richness of "real learning" in high school just to jump through secular university requirement hoops. |
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Dear Willa - thanks so much for all the information
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Marilyn
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guitarnan
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Marilyn,
We are in our first year of high school. I really fretted over this last year (esp. the university admissions thing). I used CHC's High School of Your Dreams as a springboard. Then I analyzed college entrance requirements, as you obviously have already done. My son and I talked about what science, language and history he wanted to study. We are using Carnegie Units (in MD that is one of the ways you can record time and make the state folks happy), and it works out that 120 hours is one 1-year credit in a subject. Half years are possible, and you can add up hours over more than one year. (This includes field trips, watching DVDs, outside reading, studying, written work...everything.)
This is working OK for core subjects, but we are having trouble fitting in electives. I hope as the weather improves we can get more PE time in, and/or computer time.
The main thing I discovered was that both ds and I really, really wanted him to be home, and so we've both tried to make this work. He does the "desk" work (algebra) with much less complaining than I'd expected, because he knows there will be fun history (his favorite), field trips and other real learning experiences, and literature tied into his history studies.
I keep a daily log of his work, the things he reads and how much time he spends. He is not consistent about tracking his own time (although he figured out he could use the stopwatch feature on his watch to help with this), so I do monitor this myself.
I'd say that it's worth the work and effort. He's really improved in writing this year , for example, and I know this is what he really wants to do. You can read Elizabeth son Mike's blog and some of the other things moms have shared and know that the real learning experience is a positive, successful approach.
There is so much great help and support here...if you and your family want to be home together through high school, this is the place to be!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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LH
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Joann in AL wrote:
| Our high schoolers read copiously. Lots of classics, lots of living books, lots of non-fiction of their own choosing ,,,,saints lives, Church history, Church documents. They wrote about or discussed what they read. In all subjects. They did/do much more reading about science then actual experimentation ..... One dd used Saxon Math, one used Jacobs and a little Saxon and two are now using Life of Fred and Singapore. Our history "spines" have been the Anne Carroll books and those work well for the facts, but for the actual study of "people" they just read and read and read. |
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This has been our plan - sounds like of like www.RobinsonCurriculum.com Read, write about it, do your math and vocabulary. Of course RC is nothing new under the sone, it's the basic 3 R's.
Thanks for posting it!
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MarilynW
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Just resurrecting this thread three years later in case anyone wants to add?!!
(odd to think that since I originally posted I do actually have a high schooler and that I have had 2 more children since then!!!!)
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Marilyn
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mariB
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Wow! Amazing how life flies by! I was reading this thread and thinking how much things have changed in our family in three years time. We really have made the switch in our style of education since three years ago to a more relaxed and real learning style. We now have a 12th grader and an 11th grader plus an 8th, 5th , Kindergartener.
Three years ago, we were aiming for college with our oldest that has always been the plan with all of our children...2 years of online latin, lots of literature and writing. He has yet to take the SAT. He actually has a job in the music business which he secured this past November along with his two brothers ...so no college yet.
I guess I'm just saying this to point out that no matter how much you plan, God's plan always trumps everything!
Our 12th grader will take the SAT this March and probably again in May. He did very well on the PSAT.
I am so glad we switched our style to a more Real Learning method and will continue to do so with all of our children.
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marib-Mother to 22ds,21ds,18ds,15dd,11dd and wife to an amazing man for 23 years
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: Middle and High School
