Emily is a senior this year. We've been doing this homeschooling thing since she was in kindergarten. I still remember sitting on our old green couch with her and the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book stretched across our laps. Most of our lessons were interrupted because of her hot feet or need for another drink of water or another trip to the bathroom or she wanted the curtains closed or she wanted a light on or, or, or, or. You get the picture?
With perseverance from both of us she learned to read and so much more. I often field questions about homeschooling and once they find out I have highschoolers the questions just pour in.
Is that legal?
Why yes it is.
Doesn't she want to be with her friends?
Absolutely, however, homeschooling has afforded her the opportunity to make friends in many ways, so most of her friends don't go to our district's high school. I'd also like to think that some of her best friends are her siblings.
How do you know all the material?
I don't. Homeschooling has taught Emily to be a self-directed learner. She knows how to read over the material and ask necessary questions as needed. We use the library and Google a lot.
What about MATH?
Yeah, what about it? She does it, I help her, sometimes we learn together. (I also love math)
Will she get a diploma?
She will get a diploma that I create. Her transcripts will also be created by me. Her grade point is calculated by me. With the growing number of kids graduating from homeschool, colleges have adapted their admission requirements to allow homeschoolers to apply without any troubles. Emily took the ACT, she has plenty of references, she can write a mean essay and her transcript is detailed.
Those are the biggies. If you have others, I'd love to answer them in the comments or on FB. Today I'd like to share the curriculum choices for Emily's senior year of homeschool.
This is what Emily's desk looked like on the first day of school this year. She really likes history and it looks like she's planning on accomplishing that first.
This year I made up a printable checklist in order to keep track of all her school work. She follows along day by day checking off each assignment as it's finished.
This crate on her desk holds all her materials.
RELIGION
She's teaching the 2nd grade First Communion Prep class at our parish.
MATH
Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2 - this is a computer based program with automatic correction. If she gets a problem wrong she can immediately watch the problem worked out by the teacher. The immediate feedback helps correct the student's thinking helping them to get the next problems correct. This has been a great program for Emily. The teaching is very thorough and the lecture portion can be viewed as many times as needed to learn the material. Emily has done Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 and Geometry
ENGLISH
Easy Grammar Ultimate Series: Grade 12 - Easy Grammar is an awesome series. It teaches prepositions first and instructs the student to always cross off prepositional phrases before looking for other parts of speech. Once the prepositional phrases are crossed off there are less choices for direct objects or subjective complements.
Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course Level C - Mr. Pudewa is the great teacher responsible for this writing course. The DVD's are interesting to watch and Mr. Pudewa's instruction makes the writing process simple.
SCIENCE
Barron's E-Z Anatomy and Physiology - I chose this for her because she's planning on studying Animal Science at the college level. However, I could not find a course specifically targeting animals, so I decided this was the next best option.
HISTORY
A Literature Approach to U.S. and World History: From the Civil War to Vietnam - this is a two-year course. It involves a ton of reading, includes suggested movies and study questions.
HEALTH
Starline Press Health - this program is a workbook style curriculum including 5 units, each one in a separate workbook. It's very straight forward: read, questions, review, test.
SPANISH 3 - She takes this at a nearby high school.
VIOLIN - She takes private lessons and plays in the orchestra at the high school.
So this is how it looks to homeschool a senior in high school. Fun. Lot's of fun. And hardwork.
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