General CM High School questions

I don’t have time to go into depth other than a literature and history “curriculum” recommendation for you for high school that is CMish/Classical and very in depth:

Excellence in Literature by Janice Campbell: http://everyday-education.com/literature/

My understanding is that the Notgrass histories for hs are thorough when you do the extra original source and book readings, etc. It is CMish. http://www.notgrass.com/notgrass/high-school-homeschool-curriculum.html

I’m sure you’ll get some more advice per your questions.

Rachel

1.  How does one create a curriculum using living books on one’s own?  Making sure it meets typical graduation requirements and is equal to the rigor of a high school class, etc.??

I researched various high school curricula and my state requirements and came up with a comparable plan. A typical high school credit can be based on course work completed or time spent on a particular course. I believe 150 to 180 hours spent on a subject is the requirement to consider it a high school level course. I prefer designing or choosing a comparable course load and awarding a credit on completion. Counting minutes just doesn’t appeal to me but many moms find it very helpful.

2.  How does one create assignments worthy of a high school class on one’s own?  If I choose a book for my student to read, how can I facilitate proper discussion, assign appropriate essay questions/narration assignments, etc.??  Are there guides for such things??  This seems way out of my reach right now.

I hear you. My daughter is in 8th grade and writing 2 nice, page long narrations a week. I’m really not sure how I will raise the difficulty in high school. I know that I will require more written narrations and that I will eventually use a writing course of some sort. I just haven’t yet decided when. I’ve read a lot about beefing up high school narrations. Have you read the SCM high school blog series? It’s really helpful. I used a writing curriculum with my son when he was in high school. We used IEW but I don’t plan on going that route with my daughter. I feel that the approach is too formulaic and Charlotte cautions us against that kind of writing instruction.

I’m not a fan of too much literary analysis. Dissecting books can really ruin a child’s love of reading. I plan on doing a bit of this but not until the later high school years and only briefly. I have heard that some literature guides do provide valuable essay questions.

3.  What about evaluating and grading?  I can’t see myself making up my own rubrics for everything my child is assigned – I think I’d drown!!  Are there helps for this and for evaluating work??

Sonya gives some great advice concerning this on the Learning and Living DVD’s. I guess I’ve never struggled with giving grades. Homeschool moms tend to be pretty tough on their kids. If I feel that the work is not up to par, I require my kids to work on it until I find it satisfactory. I feel pretty confident in my ability to assess their work. I know good writing when I see it. The work is not completed until it is A or B level work.

4.  If the above project seems too large, are there any CM-oriented curriculums out there that people are really happy with?  (primarily for History/Literature)  I’ve looked at Veritas Press Omnibus – I know not CM, but classical – I like the depth of reading in that program, but wonder if it will be too much.  But then, I look at some other curriculums, like Notgrass, and others, and wonder if it is enough??

My primary goal for the next four years is to challenge my student to become a good thinker – one who can readily analyze ideas and worldviews, and can learn to evaluate ideas from a Biblical perspective.  I think a high school course should be challenging, too.  Any ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated!  Thank you.

I do find Ambleside Online to be very challenging and many of their books are wonderful. However, it’s not a program that I want to stick with as written. Have you looked it over? There’s a lot of information concerning high school on their website as well.

It depends on how close you want to get to ” typical high school classroom courses”, if the teen is college bound,  and what possible majors / interests and aptitudes they have. I am tutoring my teens,  so I do not make detailed grading rubics.  I get a good idea of what they know from our “tutoring sessions”. I design some of my own courses,  and use curricula for many others. The longer I homeschool, the more I realize that the most important thing is to study your child,  and get as much input from them as possible as far as curricula choices,  and their learning preferences. I would like to someday make lists of questions to ask children, to aid parents in getting the child’s input on learning decisions. Homeschool high school should be very much tailored to each individual.

I haven’t read the previous posts.

Some curriculum suggestions with high school level assignments and rubrics:

Excellence in Literature

Beautiful Feet

EpiKardia

We’re  entering high school here, too.  Trying to pull it all together in the next week or so.

Best wishes.

Christie

@kurtjenvb – I had much of dd14’s 9th grade planned, then I went to the CMI conference and decided I wanted to revisit the plan with her. The parts of the modified plan that I know are:

• Math – MUS Algebra I
• History – Beautiful Feet Early American & Modern History (Changed from EpiKardia’s American History I after discussing with dd. EK is great in many, many ways, but the majority of the books are quite heavy and though she is an excellent reader we wanted space to add in some things. I will be using ideas from EK.)
• Literature & Composition – Excellence in Literature 1
• Bible – Undecided, but leaning toward SCM’s Life in the Word
• Logic – Classical Academic Press’s The Art of Argument (w/ online class)
• Science – Apologia Biology w/ Labs @ co-op
• French I – via Skype with French friend, materials undecided, but will include Little House video series in French (change from Latin w/ online course bc she may spend 3-6 months next school year in Europe with friends)
• Photography 101 – 1/2 credit via co-op using Oak Meadow course as base
• Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew – w/ co-op
• Geography – Visits to Europe and all assoc. readings plus 1 or 2 other books

That’s what I know right now. I’m in the midst of planning.