Great news is often followed by great confusion. When something wonderful happens, like becoming a National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist, what exactly do you DO with that information?
Hi Lee,
We just found out that Jacob is a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist! Should I put this information on his transcript we give to the schools we visit in colleges next week? Thanks for all your help the last few months!
~ Cassie in Ohio
Congratulations to all the homeschoolers who have been named National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists! After you have done the screaming and partying, and things are starting to settle down, remember that other homeschoolers have won the National Merit Scholarship before. You are not at a disadvantage, so don’t worry about that!
Yes, yes, YES! Put the words “National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist” on the transcript and hand it to them in person when you visit! It will really help validate the academics of your homeschool. If your child will look them in the eye and produce a firm handshake then VOILA! You have presented the whole package, academics AND socialization!
The National Merit application is pretty long and involved. Make sure you get your transcript up-to-date pronto, and then start to work on those forms right away. There isn’t much room for the information, so it takes a long time to figure out how best to complete it.
When you are applying for colleges, you will need a great homeschool transcript. The good news is you can “do-it-yourself” and save thousands. Discover the“Easy Truth About Homeschool Transcripts.”
It was such a thrill to see a raccoon family in my backyard! I had so much fun watching them! After a while, though, I realized that the raccoon and I had something in common. We both homeschool.
As I was watching, the raccoon mother was carefully explaining the ways of the world to her almost adult-sized child. She was teaching him to crawl up and down the fence, so he could run along the fence like you and I scurry along the highway. Without any government programs, she was managing to teach her young.
The raccoon son was not convinced that going up a fence was a good idea, and he was terrified of falling. She kept calling and calling, but he wouldn’t jump down from the 5 foot fence. Finally she picked him up by the teeth, and carried him down by the scruff of the neck. Immediately she jumped back up on the fence, calling him to climb up again. Over and over they practiced. Then she took him to the bush closer to my house, to practice climbing up and down from the fence using bush branches for a ladder. That’s when I heard the teenager complain. I have to tell you, that young raccoon was NOT happy with his mother! He was yelling at her. She was calmly chirping encouragement, trying to get him to climb down the branches. And he was barking at her loudly, his voice cracking like a teenage boys. He did NOT want to risk the fall. She finally convinced him to come down. I think he only agreed because he didn’t want to be left behind. The sauntered down the garden path, mom all quick and calm, with her son barking at her the whole way. I could hear him complaining all the way to the end of my driveway.
I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about my kids, but I could so completely relate to the mother raccoon! She taught her child an important skill (without being accredited, by the way.) He learned how to get up and down a fence. But it was a thankless task. Instead of being grateful, the child complained the whole time! I’m not mentioning any names, but it’s quite possible that some people in my family complained from time to time. But guess what? They are 19 and 21 years old now, and we ALL have some 20/20 hindsight (that could be why it it called “20/20 hindsight” – you need to be about 20 years old before you get it!) My children have both told me how incredibly thankful they are! They are thankful they homeschooled, and even thankful for the things I made them do, even when they complained.
Keep up the good work, parents. When your children get that 20/20 hindsight and say thanks, will you let me know? Other parents deserve to know that “thanks” are on the way.
Check out my new profile on The Old Schoolhouse’s Speakers Bureau, and then ask your conference coordinator to invite me to come speak to your conference in 2010!
Does your teen have a REALLY rotten attitude? I have seen this sort of thing before, and then PRESTO! The kid turns it around – usually when they find a thing that really floats their boat. Let me throw in a few ideas:
Do you remember when the kids were babies, and things would get really hard and miserable? One thing that helped me at THAT stage of life, was realizing that those things usually only lasted for a week or two. I was never sure whether it was me adapting to them, or them adapting to me, but after two weeks the thing that freaked me out wasn’t freaking me so much anymore.
It’s like that with high school, too. In two weeks, maybe this crisis will be over – or at least lessened. Somehow, someway, it will have gotten better (not perfect perhaps, but no longer a crisis.) So hang in there! Maybe in two weeks, you will have moved to the next crisis, LOL!
You can try letting the student have more control over school (not less control, like with an accredited, online or alternative education program.) Ask your child their preferences. What would they want to study? Be sure to cover the core subjects, but still provide a lot of free time when finished with the core. Have the student look at Robinson Curriculum, PACES, and Sonlight Curriculum to begin with, just as a starting point.
You may want to take your child to the doctor to see if they are depressed or have fallen into something serious. Don’t give meds unless necessary, because you don’t want meds to mask an underlying problem. Still, it’s important to keep our eyes open for serious problems.
Parenting is never easy, but sometimes it can be REALLY hard. I hope these ideas will help.
I was talking with a homeschool mom at the pool – “talking” is the very loosest sense of the word. I had just swam 20 minutes of crawl stroke, and I was incredibly short of breath. The other mom said that she avoids such fatigue by alternating crawl stroke and breast stroke. What a genius! Now to be truthful, the real reason I was short of breath is because I’m out of shape. But let’s put that aside for a moment and think about how this can apply to homeschooling.
First of all, you need to alternate the school year with regularly scheduled breaks. It doesn’t have to be in the summer, but it does have to be a break. In my homeschool, we did do some summer school. 15 minutes of math, and 15 minutes of foreign language, and some reading. The rest of their summer school I just “collected” from their activities and delight directed learning – that part wasn’t like school at all! Remember to take a break in the summer.
Secondly, it’s a good idea to alternate the hard subjects with easier subjects during the school day. Math – heavy! Then reading – fun! Alternating your easy and difficult subjects can help them learn more during the hard subjects, and learn more about their interests and passions when they identify the easier and more fun subjects.
I guess a third application would be to get more physically fit…… Ugh!
One way to spread the good news about homeschooling high school is to bookmark these posts on social bookmarking sites like delicious. You can do that by clicking on the little checkered flag icon on the bottom of this post or going here: http://budurl.com/deliciousblog. You will need an accounts (free). Thanks for your help!
Wow. I guess it worked. Fine Arts was my “great failing” in homeschool high school. I tried to expose my kids to some Fine Arts during high school but, honestly, it was a pretty pathetic effort. Fast forward two years. According to facebook, here is what my son did this weekend at college:
Alex loved “The Marriage of Figaro” yesterday, went to the Seattle Art Museum today, and is going to “Rhapsody in Blue” at the Seattle Symphony tonight. The pattern is starting to damage my street cred…
Amazing!
When the kids were in high school., one of the things I did was buy the “Composers” CD collection from Costco one year (I know, pretty lame). During quiet reading and lunch, I would turn on the classical musics. They were given a one page biography of the composer we were listening to, but mostly it was just about listening to the music, and trying to identify the title of the piece now and then. It was certainly an inexpensive way to learn about classical music.
For artists, I simply went to the library. I would check out one book a week, usually something written for young adults so we could avoid nudes. They were able to read the small book quickly, and look over all the pieces the artist was famous for. It was a brief introduction. Apparently it was successful.
I’m amazed that someone like me, who is “not gifted in fine arts” can raise someone who enjoys it so much! Woo Hoo!
Some people wonder if Christians should go to college. After all, college is filled with faulty humans. For many people and for many reasons, college is the next step after high school.
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”
1 Corinthians 13: 11
We spend much of our homeschool years explaining to people the reasons we keep our children safe at home. Those reasons don’t change when our children grow up – it’s our children that change. In fact, they become adults. Adults must interact with a fallen world on a regular basis. Firm in their faith, adult Christians need to negotiate the contrasting world views with their own beliefs intact. At some point, and you will know when it happens to you, your child will be ready to “become a man” (or woman) and move on into life – and that “life” may include college. So train up your child in the way they should go, and when they become adult, allow them to engage the culture and change the world.
Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15
It’s a command. Jesus said it. That verse just screams for our attention. He doesn’t say, “Go into all the world, but not college.” So if college is in your child’s future, prepare them to face it as a mature adult.
But of course, you don’t have to throw your children into the lion’s den either. Responsible Christians don’t generally choose to hang out in bars or clubs for fun. So with your students, choose your college carefully, weighing the options – just don’t be afraid of college in general.
If college is the next natural step after high school, then prepare your students to step boldly into adulthood. Allow them to engage the culture so that they may change the world.
Pondering why Jesus said “follow me,” instead of “follow me on Twitter.”
I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day! All homeschooling dads deserve a wonderful day filled with great surprises! Thank you fathers, for the care and commitment you have for your children.
My husband has written some great articles about homeschooling, and being a homeschooling father. You can read about Superheroes, watch “The Incredibles” and then tie on some capes and play superhero games with your younger children! What fun! Here are the links:
For our Father’s Day, my two boys are home from college. We are taking the boys and their girlfriends, plus my mother-in-law and father-in-law to see the movie “UP” and then have Pizza Hut. It doesn’t sound like much, I know, but we’re pretty tired after conventions for the last two weekends, so it’s a perfect fit for us.
If you have any questions about the Gold Care Club or today’s noon launch, go to the offer page and click on the “Live Human” button in the upper left corner. Matt and I will be available for the next 4 hours to answer your questions or just chat.
Filed under: 
Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
