Sweetness and Light

Highschool and Homeschool - End of Year Update

It's hard to believe that our school year is almost finished for 2012-2013. Violet is completing her Junior year and Matthias is wrapping up his 9th/10th grade year. Whew!

I thought I would post what worked really well for the highschoolers and include some of their thoughts on why they love to homeschool for the highschool years.

Let's start with Math :: Violet and Matthias negotiated their way through the Math-U-See Algebra II program with flying colors. They weren't sure if they would like it in the beginning, but got their rhythm down on how to best accomplish each lesson and test and have both earned an A grade**!!

Another combined class they took was the Archaelogical Survey of the Old and New Testaments at Homeschool Connections. Super class and very interesting for them both. The final assignment consists of a research paper based on a topic of their choice. I am looking forward to reading them at the end of this week.

Violet also took advantage of the SAT prep classes through Homeschool Connections as well as the Punctuation and Grammar for Highschool. She was pleased to take the SAT two weeks ago and was grinning widely as she emerged from the testing place :)))

When inquirying which subjects or classes were favorites of Matthias, he emphatically said that his Computer technology and science courses ranked at the top, then Math, and the rest sort of equated to his "other stuff" ;) I am really pleased with how well he stayed motivated throughout his days to accomplish his goals with school as I know he really wanted to just be designing and building computers. Microsoft, look out!!

Violet really wanted to embark on a Great Books study this year (Epic of Gilgamesh, The Illiad, Antigone, The Republic and Les Miserables). And even though they were among her most challenging reading to date, she thought the were totally worthwhile and enjoyable, especially as it led us through some really good discussions together. We followed the model set forth in the Well-Trained Mind and it proved to be very straight forward. She is pleased to have completed most of her highschool work up to this point and will be able to focus on independent learning with a few core subjects left for her Senior year. (Wow, did I just type SENIOR year, yikes!!)

Here are some of Violet's thoughts on why she loves to homeschool for highschool ::

• Loves the independence
• Freedom to learn what and how any particular subject
• Enjoys the flexibilty of our schedule
• She is free to pursue other things of interest (like ballet & performing) because of our flexible schedule
• She doesn't have to worry about missing out on *school* if we take a break or vacation as it's all part of our learning lifestyle 

Matthias will echo much of this, but in his own words ::  

• 'Cause I get to sleep in (Really??)
• I love that I can be ahead in lots of stuff and it's cool
• Because I get to pursue my interests in computers and "all things techy"
• Everyone's on my team and my goals are supported

Wow, couldn't have said it better myself ;) Here's wishing you a great opportunity homeschooling your highschoolers!!

If you all are interested to know what resources we used for any of the highschool subjects, please don't hesitate to inquire :) Hope you are all enjoying the end of your school year and some chill time with your families. 

**Side note about grades in our homeschool. We do not emphasize grades at all in the elementary years, but for transcripts sake we do apply a letter grade for the highschoolers.

End of Term Exams :: Charlotte Mason Style

Having just completed our first term of 12 weeks, I decided to give end of term examinations this year vis-a-vis Charlotte Mason's methods. I have always wanted to do this, but just never seemed to manage it in practice. The theoretical is always much easier than the application, but alas we managed it and it was a delightful way to finish up our first term. The kids loved it and did very well, after all, the idea behind end of term examinations is not to find out what a child doesn't know, but exactly what they do know, it's a WIN WIN all around :)

"We will now pass to a week before the end of term. One morning an envelope marked "House of Education, Ambleside," arrives. It contains the examination questions. As soon as the day you have fixed on comes round you open the envelope and the examinations begin. They last for one week, and the subjects are not all done in one lump three hours arithmetic, two, history, or whatever it is, but in the usual time set for that subject on the time-table. Thus you might have forty-five minutes history on Wednesday and forty on Friday. 

You are given one question at a time and when that is finished you are given the next. This method avoids the fatigue caused particularly in the case of younger children when the whole of the time allowed for one subject is taken at once. The examinations are not to be a burden to the children, but a pleasure. If one subject is finished before its allotted time is up then the remainder of the time may be used for another subject which the children have not had time to finish, but any questions for which there has not been time during the week may be omitted. Examinations conducted on this method cause no strain to the children. In the case of little children who cannot write, they dictate their answers, which are written down for them.

 

Songs and repetitions are heard, and exercise books, paintings, handwork and drill are inspected by the father or outside friend, sewing by the mother, and a report of these with marks given by the parent is then sent up to Ambleside with the written examination papers." PNEU

 

Here is a sampling of some of our exam questions ~

 

Highschool 11th grade

 

Art History :: Share your favorite art history work from your Khan Academy lectures. Please explain in detail what you especially enjoyed about this art and why giving the time period and other pertinent information.

                

Literature & Poetry :: Please narrate your favorite Eqyptian novel you read this term giving as much detail as possible. Did the story give you an accurate description of Egyptian life and culture. What was the main thing you took away from this book.   

Discuss your favorite poem from this term and share your analysis.

Great Books :: Finish the Iliad & Discuss General ?'s 1) When was the Iliad written/transcribed 2) What was going on elsewhere in the world at this time? 3) Who were some key people or rulers? 4) What was the geography like? (reference Iliad discussion site for each book based on Fagles translation)

Highschool 9th grade

 

History Exam :: Tell me all you know about the Early colonization of America. Include prominent people and any dates that come to mind. What was the Catholic role in colonization?                                         

Pretend you are a young Catholic priest, just landing on American soil, what would be your first mission and why? Please write a few paragraphs up to one page explaining your mission.

   

Oral & Written Religion Exam :: Do Religion Exam & Discuss.

Write about the life of a Saint that inspires you (a page or less).

Year 5 - 5th grade

 

Latin Exam :: Vocabulary & Latina Christiana Test 1

Recite the Confeitior and the Table Blessing

 

Astronomy Exam :: Share your Astronomy Notebook and give a detailed narration of one of the planets you have studied thus far.

Oral Natural History Exam :: Tell me what you know of Coral Reefs, where are some located, and name as many animals and types of coral you can remember. 

What do you know about Blue Whales, share some facts.

Turn in your Coral Reef art work.

 

Year 2 - 2nd grade

 

Oral Geography & Natural History :: Tell me the names of the Continents & the 2 largest oceans.

Color & label your Continents map

Tell me something about Coral & Tropical Seas, where is one reef that we studied?

What are some birds we see everyday in our yard?

Can you tell of some of their habits?

 

Fine Arts ::

Tell me about your favorite Vermeer Painting and why you like it. Can you paint your own version of this painting?

What was your favorite Haydn piece and why?

Turn in one of your pieces of artwork from this term.

 

Language Arts :: 

Recite The Turtle and turn in your copied poem, illustrate it. 

Read aloud one of your Little Stories for Little Folks Pink books 

Turn in one of your copywork pages, your best work from this term          Spell some of your green list words with the moveable alphabet.

Math exams were conducted about four of the five days and were a representation of the terms work thus far. For the highschoolers it was a Unit exam of completed chapters for Math-U-See Algebra II. The 5th grader did a fractions, decimals and a geometry exam from his cumulative work in Mammoth Math. The 2nd grader did various activities each day showing his ability to count to 100 by 1's, 10's and to 20 by 2's; showed me the decimal system and how to make numbers into the thousands using the "stamp game"; Addition using fact families, Subtraction with an abacus; and how to make tens playing the Snake game. 

We really enjoyed this process together and are now relishing in an extra long week's break for the Thanksgiving holiday. If you have any questions on how I administered the exams or need more information on how I go about creating the questions, please don't hesitate to email me :) We are looking forward to a nice week of relaxation and LOTS of reading and playing.

*Site note: there is some wierd formatting going on here with this post that I can't seem to fix, so sorry if it seems choppy and messy. Typepad may be upgrading or something, or I just seem to have some computer issues going on, anyhoo, hope it's readable for you all!!

Homeschool Highschool Carnival 2nd Edition :: Writing & Composition

It's time for the 2nd Homeschool Highschool Carnival, hosted this month by Willa and Chari at Take up and Read. This month's subject is :: Writing and Composition in High School

The questions we are pondering are:

What place do you see writing have in your high schoolers education?   Do you use a writing program? What approach do you use? Which ‘tools’ did you use in the younger years that helped prepare your high schooler to write and prepare them to join "the Great Conversation"?

Speaking of The Great Conversation:

The tradition of the West is embodied in the Great Conversation that began in the dawn of history and that continues to the present day. Whatever the merits of other civilizations in other respects, no civilization is like that of the West in this respect. No other civilization can claim that its defining characteristic is a dialogue of this sort. No dialogue in any other civilization can compare with that of the West in the number of great works of the mind that have contributed to this dialogue. The goal toward which Western society moves is the Civilization of the Dialogue. The spirit of Western civilization is the spirit of inquiry. Its dominant element is the Logos. Nothing is to remain undiscussed. Everybody is to speak his mind. No proposition is to be left unexamined. The exchange of ideas is held to be the path to the realization of the potentialities of the race. (exerpted from 'The Great Conversation', by Hutchins)

What place do you see writing have in your high schoolers education?

Writing definately plays a large role in our homeschool in the highschool years. We write in pretty much every subject in some form or another. Not all assignments or projects are lengthy compositions, but a few meaty writing assignments each term set the groundwork for better writing style and ease of mastery in this essential part of learning and self-education. Another form of writing or composition is oral narration which we use regularly in conjunction with written work.

Do you use a writing program?

For highschool we have relied heavily on The Little Brown Handbook, this is a very nice volume of writing instruction and information for a highschooler (or anyone for that matter). We have not used the workbook, but it could be useful for someone I am sure :) We have also used Element's of Style.  Another resource that I had forgotten about, but which I was recently reminded by Charlotte Mason Help  is the Guide to Grammar and Writing  site, very helpful! 

What approach do you use?

Forms V and VI. (High School) "In these Forms some definite teaching in the art of composition is advisable, but not too much, lest the young scholars be saddled with a stilted style which may encumber them for life.” (CM Vol. 6, p. 193)

Our approach is relaxed and somewhat flexible. I have not held to any hard and fast requirements for our writing projects as I believe that if a child is willing to write and has a desire to write, they will write much and write well. Especially with my first highschooler, Violet, this has been the case. She enjoys writing and the process of it, so it comes more naturally to her than say her brother, who is an excellent writer when he puts his mind to it, it just doesn't come as naturally to him as his sister. It could also be a case of 'what's the point' for particular assignments for him. He would rather make up a comic strip or a poem about something he has read or learned about rather than write an essay. So, this is where the flexibility comes in for us, I let him, and he has produced some delightful poetry, comics and whatnot for some of his writing assignments! C'est la vie, dit moi!! And we most clearly used a Charlotte Mason approach to writing and composition which leads to the next question...

Which ‘tools’ did you use in the younger years that helped prepare your high schooler to write and prepare them to join "the Great Conversation"?

In terms of 'tools' we used lots and lots of reading good literature, reading aloud good literature, listening to good literature (you get the point) then narrating these gems orally at first, then beginning to write narrations around 9-11 depending on the child, and finally full blown essays, compositions and critical papers. Grammar forms and all areas of language arts can be learned within this framework of reading, narrating and writing. Good spelling is attained by constantly seeing correctly spelled words within literature, and Copywork and Dictation lend very well to learning proper punctuation and correct grammar use. This has been a good model for us and has carried us well into the highschool years for Writing and Composition work. We are always learning though and can't wait to see what others have to share in this realm.

Thanks for stopping by today, enjoy the rest of the carnival, there are sure to be some great posts!!

Homeschool Highschool Carnival!!

 This post is part of a link-up for the Homeschool High School Carnival, hosted the first Monday of September by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting.
                                                                                           

I was thrilled to be included in the first Homeschool Highschool Carnival. I haven't participated in a carnival for such a long time, this just seemed a perfect one to join as we are in the thick of homeschool highschool, with not one, but two highschoolers this year, WOW!!

The request for this kick-off carnival starts with some questions:

 

The Wide View....  How does your family’s ‘big picture’/goals/educational philosophy affect/guide your planning and translate into what your highschoolers do on a daily/weekly basis?  Do you generalise or specialise?

 

Well....our wide view has always included the backbone of a Charlotte Mason education. So this also correlates with our educational philosophy and definately guides us as we plan and organize for any given school year. With highschool, this big picture view plays out perfectly as we are finding much joy in Charlotte Mason's methods. My planning has been made much simpler as I tend to plan off of delicious booklists, rather than curriculum guides and textbooks. The living books are truly the best part of homeschooling at any age, but for highschool, they reign supreme. I have chosen to share part of our highschooler's booklists to give you an idea of some of the living books we are using this year.

 

Here is a look at some of Violet's books for this year 11th grade (focus on Ancients)~

• Epic of Gilgamesh (Great Books Study)
• Mara, Daughter of the Nile
• God King
• The Illiad & Odyssey (Great Books Study)
• Sophocles and the Tragedy (Homeschool Connections Online class)
• Ancient Men of Greece & Rome
• Thucydides A History of the Pelopnesian War (Great Books Study)
• On Poetics by Aristotle (Great Books Study)
• On the Incarnation by Anthanasius (Great Books Study)
• Lives (Plutarch)
• Nourishing Traditions...

 As you can see, we are focusing heavily on some Great Books selections this year. Violet has wanted to do this for a few years, and now is the time to indulge her :) I am following the suggestions by Susan Wise Bauer from The Well-Trained Mind. She lays out a very doable great books program for highschoolers and would be very beneficial preparation for any student interested in pursuing a Liberal Arts education such as offered at Thomas Aquinas College. We are not neccesarily leaning in that direction, yet, but it's nice to have some options.

 

For my second and newest highschooler, Matthias, and yes he is truly only an 8th grader age-wise (shh, don't tell him that), he's been doing highschool work for the past 3 years in Math.  So we're calling this school year his 9th/10th grade school year :)

A brief look at his books and work for this year (American History focus) ~

• American's Last Best Hope (Vol. I & II) by William Bennett
• The World's Great Speeches
• America As Seen By It's First Explorers
• Captured by the Mohawks
• Cartier Sails the St. Lawrence
• Madeliene Takes Command (audio book)
• Moccasin Trail
• The American Revolutionaries...

These are just a smattering of his first quarter books, his list is pretty extensive for this year as there is so much good reading for this time period. He keeps saying history isn't his favorite subject, but every morning I see him with his William Bennett book looking pretty into it   ;-)

 

As to the question of whether we generalize or specialize, I would say that we do both! For my oldest highschooler and my only girl, we are gearing her studies towards the literary and exploring different writing styles. Poetry analysis and a study of many Great Books this year will enable her to delve into some living works that have tested time eternal. She's very pleased with her workload thus far, I am too :)

 

In regards to Matthias and our approach to his highschool years, it is very geared towards the practical and his intention to immerse himself into anything and everything computer technology! Aside from his extensive reading list for the year he will be applying himself to four courses at an online technology school learning advanced skills in engineering design, digital arts, and 3-D art modeling, all on the computer. I can't wait to learn right along with him!!

 

Because we generalize and specialize it's gives us flexibility in our year to tweak and hone subjects as we need to. Sometimes with a big picture view it's hard to know just how it will all play out with a particular student/child, so by keeping things a little more general we are able to figure out which parts of our schedule we can truly specialize. It also gives them more ownership of the materials they really want to delve into deeper and cover subjects to suit their style and learning ability. Love that!

 

I hope this gives you all a lovely snapshot view into our plans for homeschooling highschool. We are very happy with our decision to continue home educating through the highschool years and can't wait to see what others will share in this great Carnival of Homeschooling Highschool!

 

Many blessings in your year ahead!!

 

**Just a note to add here that if anyone is interested in seeing Violet's or Matthias' complete booklists for the year, I'll be happy to send you a pdf copy to see how I plan out their year :) Many thanks to Jen @ Wildflowers and Marbles for her booklist planning sheets, they are indispensible to my planning for highschool!!

 

Homeschooling Highschool :: In the Midst

Never thought we'd get this far. Wanted to think it was going to be great. And guess what? IT IS great! We absolutely LOVE homeschooling highschool and I have a Junior to be and a Freshman/Sophomore this next year who can say they love it too.

There's not alot of great information out there about homeschooling for highschool unless you are using a planned curriculum or if you're doing all of your classes online from another institution. But we have found a really great balance of some online coursework, some independent work and tons of great discussion/dialectic studies to carry us on our journey through the high school years thus far, all in a very Charlotte Masony kind of way.

I have been enjoying a nice homeschooling highschool series that Karen Edmisten has been writing. You can view Parts I - IV here. I too have recieved random questions about how things are working for us and how we chose to go about homeschooling highschool, so this may morph into multiple posts....we'll see how it goes :)

The main question that keeps popping up in my email is "What are some of the things that worked for you in your highschool at home?"

So what worked for us (keeping the disclaimer in mind that this may or may not work for you or your potential highschoolers...)

1) Stick to a regular schedule, ie. breakfast at roughly the same time each morning, begin studies, work to lunch, eat lunch, complete chores and finish up any school work or projects/labs not completed in the early part of the day

Now in reality this worked really well for my highschoolers as they were efficient enough to finish most of their work before we broke for lunch. There was usually always some stuff to finish up after lunch like Biology labs for Violet and some computer tech projects for Matthias, but most days they were done by lunch.

2) Have a set of yearly goals mapped out with flexibilty built in for adding classes mid-year if desired.

This was especially helpful for us to have the year pretty well mapped out ahead of time, but as our year progressed we decided we wanted to tweak and add in a few extra classes for Violet. She really appreciated being able to work them in to her schedule and they filled in some gaps that we thought were missing for her in the literature and history department.

3) Leave enough time in your day to have discussion time with your highschoolers.

This is HUGE!! These are some of the best years to have really good discussions with your teens. I may have whined about driving to and from Violet's ballet classes everyday, but boy were they a haven for great discussions. We both really appreciated this time together and I know it not only enhanced her learning and understanding of certain aspects of her studies, but it was so beneficial for me to see where she was heading with her thinking and how she totally absorbed certain material, and of course the work that was drudgery. We brainstormed during this time alot as well as to how we could make certain work a little more tolerable :) Ditto with Matthias, I have learned so much from him about computers and tech-y stuff just by chatting with him about it everyday. And of course having him show me all the really cool stuff he can create on his computer - WOW!!!

4) Books, books and more books, more specifically Living Books!!

We really wanted to avoid textbooks for highschool if we could help it and so far we have been very lucky to have scored on some really great living books. I purchased very few texts and if I did it was for Math (Algebra & Geometry) and for Biology, but even then we really only referenced the text occaisionally. We found most of what we needed online or in the library.

I am so grateful to the many highschool and planning oriented posts up at Wildflowers and Marbles. Jen has done a great job of putting together some incredible ideas for planning and scheduling books, etc for highschool (and the lower grades too). If you have an interest in how to schedule books for highschool, check out this pdf here Wildflowers and Marbles  (link to scheduling books pdf) or her new site called The Paper Stuff - it's all available for your perusal, and thanks for sharing it all Jen, it's awesome!!

I have also benefitted greatly from the many posts at Harmony Art Mom  regarding what has worked for her highschoolers. Do check out her site, not only for great highschool posts, but her art ideas art top notch!!

Well, this did get a teensy bit long-winded. I'll pop up some more ideas and perhaps list a few ideas of what we're planning for this next year (starting up in just a month or so). Thanks for stopping in and please leave a comment or question that you may have or that you'd like to know more about homeschooling highschool! God Bless!