SallyT
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Joined: Aug 08 2007
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| Posted: Dec 16 2014 at 1:20pm | IP Logged
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Heh. Well, "be flexible" and "roll with a lot" are two things that come to mind right now . . .
Seriously, keeping at least a rough booklist -- not just of assigned reading but of reading your child does on his own -- is very helpful. My current high-schooler has done basically the equivalent of a "20th-Century Novels" course on his own, over the last few years, for example. Doesn't matter that he didn't read them all concurrently, or even in the same year -- I would group them under "20th-Century Literature" on a transcript, regardless.
I have also counted hands-on, experiential, non-academic pursuits as "internships" and other categories of learning, and included them on transcripts.
I have learned that checklists are my best friend -- basically, to plan a high-school year, I first create/borrow my booklists (this year I used a lot of Ambleside Online in my planning), schedule them out over the year, and make up a binder with every. single. day's. reading listed, with a place to check it off.
Outsourcing some coursework has been a Godsend for us -- while we're primarily a very CM-oriented family, one thing I've found is that many high-schoolers do thrive on at least some group interaction in a class (or book club, or something . . . ). My current high-schooler does well with a good bit of external structure, and having some classes -- science, math, and German this year -- in a group setting not taught by me has helped him to keep things in the road. This isn't a prescription for everyone by any means, but it's worked for us. And it has helped to fill some very real social needs.
Mostly . . . "be flexible." Our 11th grader just, like overnight, became a 12th grader -- he's been after us to let him apply to the college of his choice this year, instead of waiting, and when I counted up his credits and realized that he already had more than enough to graduate, even if he wanted to graduate tomorrow . . . well, it's hard to argue. So suddenly I have a child graduating from high school -- in addition to the one graduating from college -- and, if his chosen school gives him enough money, leaving home next fall instead of the next year . . . well, you learn to roll with life! And suddenly I am very glad that I've kept booklists! And kept decent, if not always terribly detailed, records via Homeschool Reporting -- the best $20/year I spend.
On many levels this seems the right thing, but I'm kind of in shock about it all. Someday I will learn not to say things like, "Nobody else in this house graduates at 17!" (yeah, because the next one will want to leave at 16 . . . I can see which way the wind is blowing here).
So much of having teenagers, especially older ones, is realizing that they are becoming adults, and that they are the people they are. That's the best thing about it all, because they can be so much fun. But it's also hard, because sometimes what you *wish* they would do or not do doesn't correspond at all with what they really need to do. So for me, anyway, there's a continual balance between my philosophy of education, and the actual people in my house. When in doubt, I tend to come down on the side of the people.
You can do this! In most ways, it's no more complicated than any other level of school, except that keeping a record of what you've done becomes more important. In fact, I'd urge you not to overthink it, or over-Pinterest it. The most useful thing you can do is to have a rough outline of high-school graduation requirements, like this chart here. . Then you just figure out how to connect what you're doing via your CM plan to those requirements (don't stress over how they describe their courses; a CM education will be far richer). At the end of the day, you just want to be able to say, "Yes, we did *at least* that much history/social studies. Yes, we did *at least* that much literature," &c. Doesn't matter how exactly you do it -- you can break whatever you do into intelligible categories on a transcript.
Which . . . I've got to get back to doing. :) Never the dull moment.
Sally
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: Planning for this new chapter. . .
