General CM High School questions

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  • kurtjenvb
    Participant

    Hello Moms,  I am researching all things High School, as my oldest will be starting 9th grade this fall.  We have loosely followed a CM approach to school to date, and I would love to continue, but I’ve got some things I can’t figure out, and so I’m tempted to go with some type of pre-packaged curriculum so I can feel like I know what I’m doing 🙂

    I’ve perused some of the high school posts on here, and would love to get some answers and advice from you moms who have done this already!

    So,  here goes:

    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.??

    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.

    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??

    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.

    Jennifer

    Rachel White
    Participant

    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

    Tristan
    Participant

    Ahh, the “what am I going to do for high school?” question!  I understand just how you feel as my oldest is now 9th grade.  A few ideas:

    1. Get really comfortable with homeschooling high school basic info.  Browse through the ebooks and website by Lee Binz, she does a great job of breaking it down.  Or if you are a member of HSLDA they have some ebooks free that overview some of high school planning, etc.

    2. Consider what you feel is ‘enough’ for a high school class.  The general recommendation is 120 hours of work for non-lab courses for 1 credit.  You can judge a credit by actually tracking the hours spent OR you can judge a credit by completion of a curriculum no matter how quickly or slowly your student goes through it (finishing the Apologia Biology textbook, for example, or SCM’s Module 4 history using the high school book recommendations).  Once you have an idea of what feels right to you, then you can plan your own to fit or you can find an existing curriculum that fits.

    3. Look at samples from high school curricula in areas you are curious about.  If you see what books are used and the sort of assignments in a government or English course by checking out several homeschool courses on the market that can give you an idea of what you may want to cover in a year and give you a jumping off point for planning.  Or you may look at five or six and find one that you like more than all the others.

    I don’t know how helpful that is!  Yes, you can totally plan your own course.  No, you may not want to spend that much time doing so, and there is nothing wrong with spending money for a course – or with spending time creating your own.

    Melanie32
    Participant

    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.

    Melanie32
    Participant

    Here’s a link to a CM website that offers more information on CM high school composition.

     

    http://www.charlottemasonhelp.com/2009/08/formal-composition-in-high-school.html

    retrofam
    Participant

    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.

    kurtjenvb
    Participant

    Thank you all so much – I appreciate your advice.  Retrofam, I think your idea of making a list of questions regarding learning decisions is a great one!

     

    missceegee
    Participant

    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
    Participant

    Thanks Christie – I’d love to hear what you end up using for high school sometime!

    missceegee
    Participant

    @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.

    my3boys
    Participant

    Our son’s 9th grade plans were similar to Christie’s but we added in Health as a subject and Typing.

    Now that he’s going into 11th grade, his plans are a bit the same, and by that I mean, the subjects are the same.

    Math: MUS Alg. 2

    Science: Chemistry (Apologia/Great Courses dvds/ living books/bios/15 lab classes)

    History: US history (SCM Early and Modern combined, along with just a book or two I’ve added in)

    Geo: SCM visits to, just because

    PE: Sports

    Bible: Jesus is Better with family

    Lit. Analysis: Windows to the World (I’m really loving this)

    Composition: Narrations + The Power in Your Hands (haven’t figured out how we’ll be using this yet)

    Spelling: SW 5

    He’ll be doing all of the enrichment subjects with the family, I think.  I have a Shakespeare and Plutarch plan, pic/hymn/composer/nature study/poetry but I just haven’t narrowed down the days/times we’ll be doing them.  My dc usually study their own poets throughout the year, but I’m thinking of combining them this coming year.

    My ds has been learning Swedish on his own and I may have him continue in some Latin but haven’t quite settled that yet. I think those are all the subjects we’ll be covering. He’s been reading an Uncle Eric book each year and I do have Evaluating Books, What Would Thomas Jefferson Think About This? but I’m not sure how we’ll fit that in.  He has a list of literature titles and some bios from history/science so I’m working on a plan for him, with his input, of course.

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