Friday, June 22, 2012

Blogging High School

I admit that I hadn't noticed the dearth of personal information about homeschooling high school on the internet partly because I have the wonderful family support of two sisters in-law who have already crossed the high school bridge before me. Not to mention the fact that my own sweet husband was homeschooled for high school so he's got a good perspective on it too. I've also put out requests for information from a few online friends who have already crossed this particular finish line (or will soon) and can't wait to read what they have to say.

But it is true. Homeschooled high school isn't as glitzy (or glittery) as the younger grades. And I've heard from more than one mom recently that it's all too common for homeschoolers to stop homeschooling come the high school years.  Amy has started off the recent conversation about blogging high school and I'll be joining in when I can. The Professor is beginning his freshman year this year.

We live in a very homeschooling friendly state that allows us to keep our own transcripts and has minimal requirements for graduation. The only subjects required by homeschooling law are good citizenship (we consider our religion studies as lessons in good citizenship), math, reading, spelling and grammar. I don't HAVE to teach science! Hah!  We have no testing requirements, no mandatory contact with our school districts and even special protection from discrimination by Texas colleges:
Homeschool graduates are specifically protected by law from discrimination by Texas colleges: “Because the State of Texas considers successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education to be equivalent to graduation from a public high school, an institution of higher education must treat an applicant for admission to the institution as an undergraduate student who presents evidence that the person has successfully completed a nontraditional secondary education according to the same general standards as other applicants for undergraduate admission who have graduated from a public high school.” Tex. Educ. Code Ann. § 51.9241.
Now, all of this being said, since he is pursuing a college bound high school track, we have decided to enroll The Professor in Kolbe Academy for this year. They are incredibly respectful of the parents' responsibilities as primary educators and very flexible regarding curriculum choices. You are allowed to substitute any of their courses with something you deem more appropriate for your child and that child will still receive credit for the course provided it is a bonafide high school program. We are substituting his foreign language with an online Latin course, his science with a lecture series, his math with the Teaching Textbooks program that he has been using for the past few years (Algebra I) and his theology with Understanding the Scriptures from the Didache Series. We will be using Kolbe's history, literature and composition/rhetoric studies as a classical education and study of the ancient world is very appealing to him right now.  He just finished a voluntary four day workshop on The Iliad and Ancient Greek Warfare and loved it!

I can tell you though that a classical education will not appeal to my girls so we already plan to take a different path with them. I'm not sure what that will be yet. I've still got a couple years, right? And if we try Kolbe this first year and it's not for us, no harm done, we can continue to do our own thing for the next three. But right now, The Professor has looked over the requirements for a Magna Cum Laude diploma from Kolbe and is interested in pursuing it.

14 comments:

  1. May the good Lord bless you for persevering to continue homeschooling in high school.

    My daughter has used Kolbe for the past two years of high school. We both are very fond of the curriculum structure and aides.

    Ad Jesum per Mariam, Lena

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  2. Blessings in your new journey! We will be right behind you next year :)

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  3. I'm with you Charlotte. I've got a rising 12th grader and a rising 10th grader next year, we've home schooled all the way. And there isn't too much about homeschooling high school on the blogs. One reason I think is there just aren't as many as hs highschoolers. And I remember you asking on FB I think it was, about keeping their privacy too. Good comment because they don't want me telling everything we tried and failed at, or even succeeded with for that matter too. It's a balance because we want to support and encourage each other, but also not lose sight that it's about family and their best interests too! I'd like to try to write a bit more about high school. It's been a real ride, much more than just picking and choosing the best phonics program :)

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  4. I have been using Kolbe for the last 20 years and have 2 graduates:) We are have been so happy with them for all the reasons you stated and the help we have gotten over the years from advisors. My oldest did achieve the manga cum laude diploma, you may have to do the Kolbe Theology and Science to achieve that. My second is now on the deans list with a 4.0 at a private Catholic college, she hated doing the classical program, but now tells me how grateful she is, as she navigates college :)
    Good luck with high school, and God Bless!
    Julie

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  5. Welcome to the world of high school at home! Your program plans sound great, and I'm sure the Professor will eat it all up and have a grand time. I've graduated two, and currently have two high schoolers. We hope you truly appreciate your Texas freedom! We all read your post and our jaws dropped in amazement. It's crunch time here as we jump through our end of the year state requirement hoops, and we keep thinking of you and pining for Texas!

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    1. Git yourselves to Texas! Seriously, I love our homeschool freedom down here. When I hear stories about what you all have to put up with and the hoops you have to jump through, I am completely amazed. I feel spoiled.

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  6. Even though it is years away for us as my oldest is heading into first grade, I love the glimpses at other people's high school experiences just much as I loved reading about homeschooling elementary back when I was pregnant with her. I think I like having several years of ideas just sort of stewing in the back of my head, marinating so to speak. I won't necessarily remember any of the details when we finally get there but I think I will have a sense that we are not heading into uncharted territory but rather into a familiar realm whose geography I have long enjoyed as I peek over the shoulders of those who are going before me. (I hope that metaphor isn't too tortured.) In short, I very much appreciate reading these kinds of posts and am very grateful to you and others who are willing to dance that dance of protecting your children's privacy and sharing what details you can about this brave new world you are entering.

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  7. Congratulations on joining the homeschooling high school adventure. I have homeschooled 4 of my 5 all the way to college. Kid #5 is in 11th grade- homeschooled also. These have been the best years, in my opinion!

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  8. I was surprised to find high school easier for me (the teacher) because so much of the work was done independently by my daughter. I set up the lesson plans, and corrected papers. We discussed various history papers, and I helped out here and there with a math problem but for the most part I'd say highschool is MUCH easier on the parent than the lower grades.

    I encourage other homeschooling parents to have their children take the PSAT/NMQT and the ACT sometime during their junior year. Many colleges will waive their placement exams if the student scores well on these standardized tests.

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  9. We'll be doing this journey with you - just not starting for a few months. One in HS and 2 in middle school. Should be fun. You are right, though. High school seems to be when many transition to traditional school. I told Fritz about 6 months ago that if he wanted to be homeschooled for HS, he needed to prove his independence and ability to self-motivate. He did a pretty good job last year. I did choose to enroll him in one "learning support" class (Latin) which "meets" online twice per week, and 2 "teacher directed" classes (history/literature and science) where he communicates and is responsible to a teacher at least twice a month...those classes are where the bulk of his writing will be (science, believe it or not, has a lot of writing in the freshman year for MODG). I thought it would be good for both of us to have outside accountability for some of his work. I have a hard time being unbiased in grading papers...I just don't know what is good and what is not at the right grade level.

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  10. First off, because I am such a girl, I have to mention how much I like your new background! Very pretty!
    Now that is said, lol. Kolbe is fabulous for high school. My only qualm with them (and I never enrolled my kids) was that Rose was never interested in classical education. She saw no point in Latin and didn't really enjoy reading some of the ancient texts. I, like her, despised reading Herodotus, lol! I never thought a foregin language could be learned, truly well, unless you had interest in it, so I didn't push her to continue. Funny isn't it, but I can see where a classical high school education would appeal more to a boy than to a girl. The history is very mechanical and all about battles and dates, the readings about great warriors (which I like too!!), and then taking on the language of those you are reading about by studying Latin... it all makes sense.
    I love classical for my younger kiddos but my high schoolers and middle school kids (all girls) have no interest in the classical high school. Maybe that will change when Rogue gets old enough... but I am in no hurry!!
    Also, Kolbe high school is college level. I will not kid you. It is hard and very rewarding.

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    1. Those were exactly my thoughts and why I just know that my girls will probably not be using the Kolbe curriculum. I agree with you about languages. The Professor has been wanting to study Latin and preparing to study Latin for a couple of years now. He is super excited about it. The girls are definitely leaning more towards a modern language.

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  11. I'm loving these posts! We will be beginning our homeschool journey with our oldest boy this year, too. I'm so thankful this discussion is going on now. I'm so inspired! So much good food for thought. You're the second person I've heard from that has mentioned using Kolbe Academy for the high school years. And can I just compliment you on all that you have planned/thought out already, Charlotte. I'm very impressed. I'm just now really turning my thoughts towards this up-comming school year. I guess I'm a classic procrastinator….It's how I cope when I feel overwhelmed, lol. ;)
    Hopefully these posts will help me with that.

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  12. Oh, and thank you for the links!

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and yourself!