Last week I got a lot of phone calls from parents thinking about beginning to homeschool for the first time. Last week in particular I spoke with two parents from different states who were dealing with chronic illnesses. They each planned to begin homeschooling as a way to educate their child through cycles of illness and hospitalization.
If you have had your children in a public or private school, and plan to homeschool for the first time during high school, it can be a bit intimidating! It helps to focus on what your child needs, and do keep other concerns at a distance. If you know your child and trust yourself, you will be happy with your decision to homeschool. It can be a perfect fit for your family! Here are the resources that I thought would be a perfect fit beginners:
Gifted Education at Home: the general strategies would be great because of the stop-and-start nature of chronic illnesses, but it’s even more of a fit because you mentioned she was in the honors program before.
Here is the article called “What IF?” about homeschooling through trauma.
And this is the “where do I begin” curriculum I usually recommend. It’s a literature based Christian curriculum with lots of “hand-holding” for parents, and it comes with a daily schedule so you can tell your child what you expect each day. It’s best for bright children, so I think it will be an excellent fit. Since it’s literature based, much of it you can take to the hospital with you, if need be.
The “Convention at Home Kit” as an option to learning more about homeschooling, including how we got in to our first choice university, and how we achieved the full tuition scholarships.
When you have digested some information, or when you need support, you might want to consider joining the Gold Care Club so that we can talk each week, and I can support you through the process.
I look forward to talking to you! Have fun homeschooling – you’ll LOVE it!
There are many options for lab sciences, and you are not limited to the common three choices of biology, chemistry, and physics. While those are probably helpful for students going into highly competitive schools, or going into science and engineering schools, you don’t have to be limited by those standard three. There are other options. Students who will not have the math required for physics, and students who love math and science so much they would love to branch out have something in common. They both have limitless options!
Would a Nature Study count as a lab science? My girls are neither one interested in science – one is going into music, the other film production. We’re doing biology now, and I suspect we’ll either do chemistry or physics, but the thought of doing both is a little…exhausting to think of to my two non-science-centered girls.
And another question…would earth science count as a lab science? We covered astronomy, weather, etc., oceanography, etc. and built lots of weather forecasting items and built a telescope to study the stars.
Thanks!
Sharon
When faced with a non-math person, skipping physics may be a good idea, because it’s highly math-based. If you decide to branch out into nature study, you can do your labs as field study. There is no definition of lab science, although it does imply hands-on learning and writing a description of what was accomplished. There are public schools that teach botany and ecology classes that may just fit the bill. Earth sciences may also be a lab science, provided you do some experiments. Again, since there is no definition of what a lab science is, you can make almost ANY science into a hands-on experience.
There are books that study ecology, botany, and other outdoor earth sciences. You can also piece something together using a unit study approach. You can find science experiment materials at www.HomeTrainingTools.com.
If you are curious about providing a great homeschool education for your gifted child, check out my audio training, “Gifted Education at Home.“
I’m working my way through Luke, and I was struck by the comment made by guards beating Jesus.
Luke 22:64
They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?”
I was thinking about what Jesus would have said about those guards, if he had chosen to speak. What would Jesus say about a person? Any person? If Jesus would describe someone, what would he say?
Maybe he would describe the guards physical features, “The tall one” or “The short one” but it’s certainly not all that he knew. He knew every last detail about them. He knew what regrets they had, who their parents were. He knew their hurts, and what a good day looked like for them. He knew every moment of each life. He knew everything that got them there.
Jesus knows our teenagers, too. He knows every detail. Everything we have done right or wrong for them. Every hurt and joy. If the Lord were to prophesy about our children, he could describe them in more detail that we could!
That’s a good thing. Because sometimes we have a hard time knowing our children. They can change and mature so fast, it’s difficult to keep up. But God knows who they are, what they are capable of, where they are going, how fast they will get there, and any detours along the way.
This Easter season, remember…the Lord sees our children much more clearly that we do. That’s why he tells us to never give up. He sees the end result, and we can only see the now.
The College Level Exam Program is a great way to earn college credit while still homeschooling. Make sure your child can pass the test before you take it. Then use study tools to get the best score they can.
I was wondering if you had your boys do any of the study tools before they took their CLEP tests. Josh just took the practice test and only got a 70 percent on History of the United States part I. So I think we will purchase one of the study tools. If you did use a tool which one did the boys use? Thanks for your help again.
If you use the CLEP study guides, getting 70% usually corresponds to “roughly” a score of 70 on the test. A score of 50 is average, and the level that most kids receive college credit, so a score of 70 would be FANTASTIC. Still, that is just a rough estimate. So take the knowledge that he will probably pass with what he already knows, and then have him study with the REA guides to improve the score before he takes it for real.
I did regular homeschooling 4 days a week. The 5th day was for delight directed learning, and my children did things for fun. It kept us focused, and helped us all enjoy homeschooling. But what does that look like in real life?
Lee
My boys have suggested to do core subjects 4 days a week and one day for what I believe you would call “Delight directed learning”. I was wondering what did your boys do on that day. I want to make sure it is not just a free for all because I know that my younger boy would play games on the computer all day.
~ Karen
Hi Karen,
First they did their school work, before anything else
Usually the day was completely filled with activities. That was the day I planned all of our out-of-the-home fun things. It wasn’t really an empty day, it was almost a “too full” day, because it included all our actiivities. Piano lessons, art lessons, field trips, skating and PE, perhaps a community class on history. Everything had to fit into that “free day” or we didn’t do it (with very few exceptions.) Because the day was filled with running around and stuff, there wasn’t much down time. I did make sure to have interesting things for them to do while we were running around. Alex brought economics or music courses from the Teaching Company with us while we waiting at Starbuck’s for Kevin to teach chess. Kevin brought courses on Russian History or read books about chess while I was driving to the different events and opportunities.
To prevent a wasted day, we had some fairly strict guidelines: no computer at all, not TV at all (unless it was a video lesson.)
This policy of one day out of the house was part of why we could accomplish so much in a year. When you spend a lot of time coordinating and going to activities, it’s difficult to actually spend time homeschooling. By combining all our activities into one day only, the other four days were actually devoted to JUST doing school each day. On those “school days” we almost never left until school was done for the day – again, with very few exceptions.
When Alex started working at the Think Tank, he had to leave for work at about 9:00am and got home about 5:00pm on Wednesdays. I didn’t have him do math or foreign language at that point – I didn’t even have him work on anything in the car! We just talked about what he had done during the day while we were driving. When Kevin started driving himself to his chess teaching jobs, he still had time to get his math done before he left.
One of the reasons we decided to homeschool our children was to avoid the
“one size fits all” education available in our school district. Both of our
boys didn’t fit neatly into the mold and would not have achieved what they
have if we had force fit them in. One of the strengths of homeschooling is
exactly what you describe as the cultivation of “a diversity of talents and
develops ‘unique niche talents.’” They were able to identify and pursue
their passionate interests at an early age and that allowed them to go much
further than they ever could have in a classroom setting.
We did the standardized tests only because they were required by law. We
“studied” for them only to the extent that we studied reading, writing, math
and science. In order to play the game demanded by the universities, we
also made sure our kids were very comfortable in pressurized test
situations. These two steps allowed them to score very well on the SAT
without it becoming a dominant component of their education. Testing was a
necessary evil that contributed nothing to their actual education.
Should you always take a CLEP test after every class your child gets an “A” in? Not necessarily. It depends on if the CLEP will help your child get into college – but there is one very important factor to consider! Here is what one mother asked:
I read on your website that your son passed the CLEP test for Biology after taking the Apologia course. My son just finished taking that class from a lady in our community and got an A. Should I be having him take that test???
~ Kitty in Washington
My husband read that question and said, “Hey Lee! I actually KNOW the answer to this one!” LOL! He’s so cute. Anyway, you can give him a CLEP test if you think a CLEP score may help him, but you want to make SURE that he can pass the test first. Give him a sample test, make sure he can get 50% or better on it. If so, then you can consider giving him the test for real. Some colleges don’t accept CLEP, but I still find it a useful tool for some outside documentation for classes taught at home. Here is the website I have about using CLEP to homeschool college.
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Is it reasonable to think I can completely school my high schooler doing online college courses for dual credit? I figure that way all his work is documented. We have always used Abeka, he will be a freshman in the fall and he tests very well each year on the CAT despite the fact that he spends half of the school year traveling and working with his truck driver dad. (I need to find the most efficient way to do high school as we are schooling 5/6 children, the 6th having special needs.)
~ Dorie
Hi Dorie,
It’s certainly possible to homeschool high school with online college courses. The only problem with that is making sure that your child is ready for COLLEGE courses. Many times homeschoolers are so well educated at home, they are capable of homeschooling college courses toward the end of high school. That gives you a great advantage, by the way, because college will cost less in the long run!
Read it through, and see if it’s a good fit for you. My own children did have a year of college that they completed at home. I know many people are successful with CollegePlus. Here is the link CollegePlus.
So I guess the answer is YES! It’s possible! But it’s not right for everyone, and it depends a lot on your student.
Have you seem my New Homeschool Special Report: “7 Secrets for Homeschooling Through a Financial Storm”? It is available now for free!
Did you get any college credit from CLEP exams? When? Senior year? Did you do it on your own or use that CollegePlus! website you have to pay for their services?
Dear Susan,
Thank you for asking this question at my “Preparing to Homeschool High School” seminar last weekend!
We did do college credit by exam, and our college allows each student to earn up to one year of college credit through CLEP exams. One son had many more CLEP exams than they accepted, and he ended up with one year of credit. My other son didn’t have quite a whole year of credit, but he was still given college credit for the 7 exams he passed. Of course, college credit is completely at the discretion of the college, and policies will vary widely. Our exams were accepted by 3 of the 4 colleges we applied to. The fourth college didn’t give us college credit, but it did help us with our application and admission to that college.
Here’s a link to the College Board’s College Search Engine. You can use this to locate information about tests and scores accepted by colleges of your choice. However, you should always verify this with the institution directly.
We took the exams over the summer before senior year, so that I could include them on their transcript when they applied to college. I did it myself using the techniques in these two books: Accelerated Distance Learning and Bears’ Guide.
CollegePlus! is an organization that will help you through the process of coordinating exams. If you are just taking a few course, you may not need it. If you have a complicated situation, or you want to obtain a degree with distance learning, then you may decide it’s worth it to get their help.
I just published a 5 part mini-course about “The 5 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make When Homeschooling High School.” It captures some of the most important lessons I’ve learned in homeschooling my own children through high school and helping other parents succeed as well. These five short lessons will provide an overview to help you stay on track as you think through high school issues with your student. Whether you are already into the high school years, or just wondering whether homeschooling high school is a possibility, this is the course for you.
When you sign up, please make sure you fill out the question “What is your BIGGEST question about homeschooling high school.” Your answers will help me know the best issues to address in my blog, newsletter, Dig Deeper pages and my Products and Services. Thanks!
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