Blogging is a great way to encourage writing skills, turn social skills into academic courses, and guide techie kids into using their computer skills while doing some writing. Any skills kids use while blogging can be used for academics.
Blogging can be an English course, or you can have them blog about something they love, to provide written material based on delight-directed learning. That may help you document the love of science or history with some writings. They don’t have to write a “paper” on a topic. They can blog on it, and then save their blog posts as samples of their work for that class. Blogging is great for kids who love being on the computers, because as they learn how to blog they get the very beginning concepts of computers and coding.
Do you have any suggestions how to help your student create a blog? I see many web sites, but am skeptical to follow unknown advice. Thanks for any tips.
~ Pam in Georgia
My sons recommend using one of the most popular: www.blogger.com or www.blogspot.com or www.wordpress.com. My son Kevin says, “Blogger is mainstream and self-explanatory. Just google it, go to the site, create an account and the instructions are provided onboard. Pretty easy.” My son Alex says “Either one is very reputable, and helps you through the process of starting a blog.” Both were able to quickly get a blog going. The hard part is finding the time to continue writing! It’s been difficult for my college students to keep up with their blogs.
Big warnings about Fosamax, the drug used to treat osteoporosis. Like many medications, apparently there can be too much of a good thing. As a nurse, I know that all medical intervention has side effects. But this news about Fosamax has a homeschool lesson for all parents.
In a nutshell, osteoporosis is a disease causing holes in the bones that make them easy to break. Often the first symptom is a broken hip. If recognized early, the treatment may include medications that make the bones stronger and fill in those holes with healthy bone tissue. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, after using that bone-strengthening medication for four years, they have identified that the bones become TOO strong. Filling all these porous spots has caused the bones to become rigid and inflexible. Unable to bend slightly with movement, these overly rigid bones can break suddenly. Often the first symptom of this condition is a broken thigh bone.
Too many holes and you break. Too rigid and you break. What a great analogy for homeschooling! For homeschool parents, it’s important to remember that we have to be both strong AND flexible. We have to fill wholes and gaps in education, but without filling every moment of time with inflexible schedules and rigid timeliness. We need to seek flexibility and strength.
One of the best ways to accomplish that is not through self-medicating, LOL! Instead, make sure that you have filled holes by covering core classes every year; reading, writing, math, science, social studies. Then make sure you provide additional opportunities like foreign language, fine arts, and PE while at the same time proving free time. Check your schedule and count the number of hours of schoolwork you require. Is it too much? Not a sustainable amount?
To find the balance, remember that there really CAN be too much of a good thing. As homeschooling becomes more popular, there are more and more wonderful opportunities. The wise parent will recognize there are too many wonderful opportunities to do them all. Limit your activities, and keep some time free to allow for delight directed learning. That’s the best way to avoid broken bones – or in homeschool terms, “Burn out!”
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.“
Shannon wrote to thank me, and she gave me permission to share her feelings…
Lee,
I just had to write and thank you for everything! Well, for the everything consuming my life right now! LOL!
I have had an epiphany lately. Why it took so long I’m not sure. I have been so focused on my 16 year old and making sure he was ready for graduating high school and set up well to go to the college he wants to go to that I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t putting as much focus on my 13 year old. I think I’ve finally discovered why I’ve had such frustration with my 13 year old and schooling. We decided to go back to homeschooling because of issues with him in Middle School and have experienced a lot of those issues since bringing him home. It is getting him to do the daily work. He fights me tooth and nail! He doesn’t want to sit and do any of the assignments I give, yet he can spout off information about so many things. I’m always asking him where he heard that or read that piece of knowledge. I’m now starting to get a clue!
When he was in school the teachers commented on how he passes the tests with A’s and sometimes B’s but his grades were not as good because he wouldn’t do the daily work. I’ve had those same issues as well. *I knew he was very intelligent I just never put the pieces together * to see he was gifted!! How can one be so blind? I realize now, it isn’t necessary to do busy work if you already know it!! I’m not challenging him enough because I’m not giving him material more to his level. Ughhh! All this time I’ve been wasting. Thank you for showing me the light. I kept thinking that your gifted information really didn’t apply to us because I kept focusing on my oldest. But it does apply to us! So, I have ordered your CD about teaching gifted children and look forward to receiving it soon.
By the way, thank you for your assistance with my college fair questions. Anything you could suggest so I could put the word out about you at the college fair would be good. I definitely want other homeschoolers here in South Carolina to find out about your services!!
Thanks Again!
Shannon in South Carolina
Later, after listening to the Gifted Education at Home audio course…..
I received your gifted CD. I am working on my second listen through. I’m trying to wrap my head around how best to school him now. I’m going to look into the Sonlight Curriculum you talk so highly about. I feel a little lost in this unfamiliar territory. I made the mistake of trying to teach him the way my oldest son and I learn best and that’s by being interactive with projects and worksheets with the material. I realize that is misery for Patrick. No wonder why he dreads schoolwork. I’m going to have to look at things in a whole different way!! I’m trying to learn, though. Thank you for all your wonderful help and advice.
~ Shannon in South Carolina
Remember, God made each of your children unique and what works on one may not work with the other. Be open to trying new strategies for each child.
The HomeScholar Gold Care Club will give you the comprehensive help you need tohomeschool high school. Remember, the price is increasing on April 4 to $47/month. You can lock in now at the current price of $27/month. Don’t delay!
Nancy is a real homeschool parent, and she wrote me such a compelling, heart-warming story that I just had to share!
Dear Lee,
I had not intended to homeschool high school (or homeschool at all!). I hadn’t thought about high school last year (7th grade!) until my daughter was approached by a soccer coach last winter…she received a verbal offer to attend a private high school, 1 year early for 9th grade with a special math program designed for her, a full 4-year scholarship plus a 4-year scholarship to a college of her choice…by the soccer coach/math teacher. He wanted her to play soccer. Wow! High school and college solved.
But, after thinking about it for 2 weeks, she said, “no thank you.” She didn’t want the structure, didn’t want to live away from home (yet) and couldn’t play soccer at her level ALL YEAR LONG. LOL.
So, all of a sudden, homeschooling her throughout high school was looming ahead for me. It is working out so far. Another soccer coach, from another private high school, approached her 2 weeks ago. There are 3 girls on her soccer team who are homeschooled. I love it, she loves it.
I just signed her up for 2 AP tests. There is no way I could teach her Calculus and I absolutely hate science. She has always taught herself the material. I especially love “not teaching.” (Why You SHOULDN’T Teach Your Homeschoolers! )
I have tried teaching her brother when he was having trouble with math tables when we first started homeschooling in 5th grade. I couldn’t take it, so to avoid the constant battles, I found him an on-line program that held him accountable and I backed it up with rewards (or not)…I later found out he is a “visual-spatial learner” and that was why he could not learn at school or from me. He is 12, just completed high school Algebra and is half way through high school geometry that he started 2 weeks ago! And, he will still tell you that he does not like math! And, I will tell you, he is NOT motivated. But, he is thriving at home. What a difference from when he was asked not to return to Catholic school 3 years ago because he was “annoying every single day, at best.” He is now excelling and learning. He loves it, I love it.
My 2 kids were adopted from Russia 7 years ago having lived in an orphanage for 3 years, they had no formal schooling and did not speak English! They were 5 and almot 7 coming here. We tried public, Catholic and private schools…none worked for them. What joy they have brought us. And, the best is since they are now homeschooled, not only do I get to spend more time with them, but I don’t get those annoying phone calls from school every week, and they get to have their family at the apex of their world rather than an institution.
I read your blog this morning about analyzing literature, or not! (Do Great Homeschools Really Need Socratic Dialog?) HaHaHa, all I remember from middle/high school are my teachers ruining every book we read by analyzing them to death. And, I was feeling badly about not having my kids analyze each book, too…I will feel badly no more. My son loves to read, and read and read! And, I will enjoy that he does. Because I am very sneaky, I have found ways to test his knowledge of the books he reads that don’t interfere with his enjoyment.
You have given me the courage to homeschool high school and know that my kids will be able to attend college and be way ahead of their peers. Keep up your good work. I am already adapting a transcript (Total Transcript Solution) for my son’s Sea Cadet program that wants a report card for him. His CO is encouraging him to go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis.
~ Nancy in Connecticut
The HomeScholar Gold Care Club will give you the comprehensive help you need homeschooling high school.
Lee, do you have any advice for a public-schooled high school junior considering homeschooling for her senior year? She lacks only 3 classes and doesn’t want to waste a year on busywork classes.
~ Mary Jo
My best advice is this; “Know your child and trust yourself.” If you know that homeschooling is the best for your child, then trust yourself and do it. Don’t avoid homeschooling because of fear.
To homeschool high school for only senior year, record keeping is very important. Make a homeschool transcript that will reflect all classes from 9th through 12th grades, both at home and at school. Write course descriptions of all courses taught at home, so colleges are convinced there was no couch-potato academy. They are aware that seniors tend to slack off some, so you want to avoid the appearance of senioritis.
In the application to colleges, the parent may want to write a homeschool statement that explains why they made the decision to homeschool, and describe the positive results. Finally, when communicating with colleges, be very clear about your intent to homeschool and explain your reasons in a positive light.
I hope that helps!
The HomeScholar Gold Care Club will give you the comprehensive help you need tohomeschool high school.
I was consulting with a homeschool parent about the age-old question, “How do you know it’s high school level?” She asked me how to tell whether “Movies as Literature” was a high school course. The more we talked about it, the more confident she became. Meanwhile, I was getting more and more excited about the curriculum she was asking about. Learning literature through watching movies??? How cool is that!
When I was looking it up online, I noticed that the description of the curriculum answered her question with ease. It says, “This complete, one-year high school English course uses classic movies on video to introduce and study the elements of literary analysis.”
That’s the easy way to tell if it is high school level – it tells you! And that’s the easy way to tell if it is a whole credit (whole year) course – it tells you!
I haven’t seen this product with my own eyes, but it looks like fun to me! If you haven’t seen it before, check it out!
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.
Today is my birthday, and I’m turning 49 – for the FIRST time!
I’m sure that it will become easier and easier each time I turn 49. In four years, I’ll probably be thinking, “49? What a breeze! Such a great age!” And at some point I’ll long for the “good old days” of being 49 again. I’ll remember how young and spry I felt, LOL!
Homeschooling high school is the same. You may be homeschooling high school – for the FIRST time. But each year it will get easier. By the time you’ve finished your first four years of high school it will feel like old hat. You’ll remember how fun freshman year was. You’ll remember the freedom. You may even remember how sweet and compliant your children were! Ha! You probably won’t remember too many of the struggles. Four years from now is a long time away, and those memories do fade, you know.
You’re homeschooling high school for the first time. I’m turning 49 for the first time. Years from now we’ll both be old pros!
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