CM and College

Melanie, that’s so funny.  I’m rarely on here anymore but had a few minutes and sat down to see what was new.  I clicked on your post!  😄

Do you have specific questions?  I’m afraid we did nothing earth shattering. Just mainly kept on doing what we always had…reading, discussing.  He had much more independence then, of course, especially his maths and sciences since he knew that was the area he wanted to go into.  (He’s a mechanical engineer now.). He used Apologia as his spine and always had stacks of other books going that expanded on his studies.  History we read and discussed.  Literature we read and discussed.  He wrote a little bit.   Written narrations.  His senior year, I took one of those and showed him how to turn it into a 5 paragraph essay.  We did very little formal grammar.

What am I missing?  It’s been a long time.  He’s 26 now.  ☺️  I’m getting ready do it all over again with my two 13yos.

Hi Melanie,

My daughter is wrapping up her Junior year. I am still learning as we go, but I can perhaps give you some insight on what I’ve learned so far!

My dd took the ACT in her sophomore year, and will take it again this year and, if needed, her Senior year. She did very well in her first outing, so we will see how she fares on this year’s exam and go from there. She will also take the SAT this Spring. She used the Chad Cargill ACT prep guide and found it very helpful. She is using Kahn Academy to prepare for the SAT. She also took the PSAT – this is necessary if you believe your child may be eligible for the National Merit Scholarship program. Students may take this in their freshman, sophomore, or junior years (and multiple times) but it is only their junior score that will count toward the competition.

I teach a high school literature class in our local coop that is based on Excellence in Literature by Janice Campbell. We have thoroughly enjoyed the program, and I feel that the discussion of literature has been of immense worth to my teens. We are working through American Literature this year, and will begin English Literature next year. If nothing else, the recommended books in this curriculum will offer you an excellent overview of each literary period, its history, important writers, themes, and ideas.

If you can start a high school literature class or book club, it would be very beneficial. There are some writing lessons included in the curriculum, but I supplement that for my class by teaching them essay writing skills (especially important as they prepare for their standardized testing). You can find many essay writing videos on youtube to help your student understand how a good essay is structured. We begin by really honing the introductory paragraph – from there the essay shapes itself. Here is an example of a video that will help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN6IOSMviS4

My teens have been writing narrations for accountability and practice in various subjects for many years. Generally, I require a written narration for each chapter that they read in History and Science.

Hope that helps a bit! Let me know if I’ve brought up any further questions!

Heather

Melanie,

All of my children had a high school education that would prepare them for college. My boys all completed math through pre-calculus, using Math-U-See. My daughter, who is a bit spatially challenged 🙂, completed math through Algebra 2. The boys studied biology, chemistry, and physics using Apologia. My daughter completed biology and chemistry with Apologia, then did her own study on insects. My youngest son completed Math-U-See’s calculus and Apologia’s Advanced Physics “just for fun.” Of course, they all had several books going at one time, covering history, science, and literature. Plus, we did all the “extras”  studying artists, composers, poets, etc.

My oldest son gained a bachelor’s degree in business management through distance learning. He took many CLEP and DANTES tests plus a couple classes through Thomas Edison College. He was delighted to discover that the reading with full attention he had been trained to do through his CM education was very helpful for reading the textbooks he used for preparing for tests and for his classes.

He currently works for us doing customer service, overseeing development of our CM Organizer, doing our video and audio production/editing, and managing the assembly of our products. He has a couple published books of his own and tries to remain active in a group of independent film makers and authors.

My other children chose not to follow the college route. In addition to working part time for us, my daughter is writing children’s nature stories and working to get them illustrated, which has proved to be a slow process. The first one is near completion! She also sews and crochets dolls, stuffed animals, quilts, and hats. She is hoping to sell patterns and/or completed works some day soon.

My second son also works part time for us. He is working on developing his own board games and computer/video games. He is very creative and is the child we always joke about never having found the box he’s supposed to be in.

My youngest son enrolled in an intensive training/apprenticeship academy for software development when he was 18. He completed the year-long training and was hired by the company that runs the academy. He is employed full time and loves what he is doing.

I hope some of that was helpful even though none of my children went traditional college route.

You are welcome, Melanie.

I neglected to add that my youngest son also found his CM education useful in his software development training. The students at the academy were not instructed by the traditional sense of long lectures and textbooks. They were given recommendations of several book titles with the pros and cons of each book, then told to choose a book or two and learn the material. They were expected to do the initial learning on their own. There was class time, but it was not the bulk of the learning process. Much of the learning was through reading books, then being paired with an experienced programmer to work on a project.