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Help please for Highschool transcript
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We are late homeschoolers, and sadly, even later in finding SCM! We want to try to follow the curriculum guide SCM has to offer. Last year, we eased into the CM style for the first time (with lots of support from all of you, thank you again!) after our first year of HS with a boxed curricula that was not a good fit. I will try not to bother you all with all my questions at once… so if I could just start with English for now:) My ds will be going into 9th this fall. He and my oldest dd have many struggles (LD) , but I want to do everything I can on my part to give both the opportunity to apply to a college someday, should they decide to want to go. According to the curriculum guide, if we had used SCM from the beginning, the highschool years are to be used to complete Anaytical Grammar and expand on writing skills through written narrations. Since we came on board late, we never did get started with Analytical Grammar; we also only worked on developing oral narration skills since they (11 and 13) had never done this type of thing before. We finished up an Easy Grammar book today. Since the next 4 years will be most important as far as transcript purposes, (for him) what would you recommend from here (for their English). We have to have 4″units” of English for most Mississippi colleges; they do not specifically ask for literature or composition, just 4 units. Do most of you simply call your collective narrations over the high school years (from various subjects) your English Comp. 1&2? Or, do you use the SCM composition course mentioned in the guide? I know there is an official Literature module, but reading can be a slow process for these two as well. I wondered, rather than do a whole different “course” for each, could we count the many listed books in (for ex.) the various History modules (over a year or two) as a “Literature 1 and 2? Also, I saw the comment somewhere that formal writing courses were not CM; that the children who studied using this teaching style would naturally get “the hang of writing etc.” from what they absorb from all the great reading and narration practice. I wish we could start all over, but here we are in the soon to be 7th and 9th grades. Our kids do not have the benefits of these skills, as compared to those who have done this from the start. They are also slower learners, but each of my older special dc are willing to do their very best always. I want them to have the best shot to reach their full potential using your style and recommendations with the years we have left. I know we will be ok with your History, Math you See, and Apologia (but will take it slow!); just not sure about English and Literature. There are many good writing curricula options, my mind gets boggled looking at them! Then, I look at the simplicity of the SCM curriculum guide; I just wish we had started with you from K5 for these dc (we will however, with our 5 year old this fall!) Would value any opinions offered, thanks again! Marie
Hello Marie! Welcome to the journey of homeschooling! Our family has been homeschooling for 13 years and here I am, looking for different grammar options! So, rest assured, the questions and learning never cease!
I have a dozen or so of scribbled pieces of paper, mapping out all of my children’s scope and sequences using “X Curriculum”. If I use “this” for them this year, then in three years, they will be “here”. One thing I have learned, at least for this eclectic family, is that I can only give myself a vision for the future, not a plan set in stone. The Lord may put us on a different path from what I choose to use that year I sometimes need to switch things around mid-year to better meed a need. So don’t be hard on yourself to try to map it all out right away. Give yourself lots of grace as you begin this journey.
As far as Language Arts/English goes…if your children haven’t done narrating yet, CM would suggest that they begin with oral narrations (regardless of age) until they are doing it comfortably. Then begin adding in written. Queen Homeschool has nice language arts books that are not terribly heavy in grammar…more copywork, narrating about paintings, etc. They could do letters to family and friends. Discuss a particular passage in a book and what made it come across as written well (or not well). Copywork is something that I would strongly suggest to expose them to good literature examples. I would definitely suggest purchasing SCM’s Language Arts guidebook. There are wonderful suggestions in there.
And yes, for literature, I would definitely count all of the history books read to be part of their literature. For grammar, personally I am looking into Growing With Grammar. Hope this gives you a starting off point for some ideas! Enjoy your homeschooling!
Blessings,
Lisa
Thank you for your suggestions; from the looks of things on the forum, there are many other Grammar anxiety issues! At least I’m not the only one ha! Will read the others after school tomorrow, but I will deinately chek out the language arts guidebook, I must have overlooked that. I will be curious to see if there are any SCM Gov’t/Economics options as well, I think that was also a required thing along the way at many of our local colleges. Well, will let it rest for now. I do need to let go of the set in stone way of thinking, it gets too heavy!
Several of us plan to do government and civics in 11/12th grade. I have seen several recommendations of the Notgrass books for this.
Okay. That makes me feel better. Someone told me today that I was “supposed” to do that in 9th grade, and since she’s entering the 10th, I panicked….just a little. I am always so afraid of missing something. Not because I care what the school system is doing, but because she does want to go to college.
Thanks for the suggestion!!
Which level of EG was finished? If EG+, I’d say that you’ve covered grammar well enough to “count” it as complete. Move on to written narrations and begin to tackle the writing process. In our family, language arts has been a very individualized plan for each child, so we’ve used all sorts of tools. Oldest (21) used McGuffey’s, PLL, ILL, part of EG+ (boring to him,) and OMT for the grammar portion. His literature was covered by all sorts of living books. He chose to dive straight into research paper writing. It offered him the chance to “learn it all” at once. He put all the things he’d previously learned into practice this way. He studied poetry on his own, writing some as well.
The next (20) used McG, LLATL (original Red book,) PLL, EG+, and Essentials of the English Language for grammar studies. His literature credit was reading, usually accompanied by audiobooks. Reading was always a struggle for him, but the audiobooks kept him on track and helped build his skills. His writing instruction was individual instruction with me and also IEW.
The next (18 today!) used McG, PLL, EG+ (half before ditching in boredom,) EEL, and IEW theme based writing lessons and Advanced Communications courses. She devoured almsot all of Dickens and Austen, some of Twain, and a hodge podge of other authors. Some of these were accompanied by audiobooks.
These older three were familiar with oral narrations long before formal writing.
Our 13yos has used McG, PLL, DG (one level,) EEL and two IEW themes. He will continue EEL and writing with IEW lessons in TX history this year (mom written.) IEW is just a part of our family, so I don’t plan to change that aspect. Oral and written narrations for family read alouds are part of his day and I plan on utilizing a variety of book lists to cover his literature. I’m sure some audiobooks will be used at times.
Our youngest (almost 7) is using McG and PLL right now. 🙂
Your ficus should be to have them diligently pursue developing writing skills and a love for literature from a variety of authors. Depending on their learning styles/abilities, you may need to help that along with audio/visual helps. We’ve compared books and movies and used audiobooks as needed. They aren’t always necessary, so they aren’t always used. And, movies are viewed AFTER books are read. The book is always better! You might watch Shakespeare, or go to a play in your area.
As for Economics, our favorites have been Economics in One Lesson, by Hazlitt (book and audio CDs), Godonomics, Dave Ramsey’s FPU, and the Uncle Eric series. The UE series is much easier to complete if started early. Our 13yo will start it this year. Godonomics is an awesome introduction available for purchase and on YouTube.
Hth,
Becca<><
Wow! You have been a busy family through the years1 Thank you, I will check these options; the only one I have seen form the above is IEW. I really liked how it looked, and the Barton (dyslexia) Spelling people and others here highly recommended this. One last ?, is the “big kit” with teacher DVD’s etc., or, could we just get a Level B (for 7th through 9th graders) theme based. In other words, are there any major prerequisites? I will spend the extra money if have to for the teacher DVD, but I wondered if I got the combo theme book/techer ed. I culd study it this summer. I liked that the theme based could be used for both the older children, (teach together but help each individually)and some I downloaded even had some grammar and vocabulary extras to go with the lessons. Thanks again, love Dave Ramsey! I didn’t even think of him, we can take his class together, dh and I could use his tips too:) Thank you Sheraz for Notgrass recommendation. I have never seen their materials. If you all like it, I’m sure will be fine for us when we get to 11th.
If you go with a theme based writing lesson (IMO) you don’t need the TWSS program if you get both the teacher and student books…at least I’ve found that to be true of those written by Lori Verstegen. We’ve done the US history vol 1 and just finished the Medeival tbwl’s in April. Btw, it works extremely well with SCM module 4 middle ages, ren/ref time period.
If you’d like to learn the IEW method in order to use it with any topic on your own, the TWSS program is a must. It sat on my shelf for more than a year and a half before I was brace enough to tackle it. Worth every penny for me and our family.
PM me if you have any other Qs regarding IEW. It’s not on a CM purist’s list, but it has served our family very well and it is used with CM in mind…oral and written narrations are a prereq and gentle grammar instruction is learned along the way.
Blessings,
Becca<><
We really like Our Mother Tongue for grammar and have used Queen’s Language Lessons, which I tweek, for the writing. I may use Lightening Lit with my 16 yo next year, though. I need to compare Queen’s with LL before deciding. For poetry we really like Roar On The Other Side.
When we use Queen’s, I skip the picture study and much of the grammar review. The parts I keep are the ones focused on the compositions for that level, so this will not last the whole year through, but does last most of the way through. I do count it as a whole credit because my girls will often work on the writing portion every day, correcting, researching, or editing as they need to get their paper in order.
Our oldest enjoyed OMT. I like the sidebar information as it covers the history of the English language. It reminds me of the timeline side are in the SCM modules.
Check out http://www.TheHomeScholar.com for ideas and methods for a well-rounded home education program and how to translate that to a stunning transcript.
Thank you so much for all the recommendations! We are having our last day of “junior high” with ds today. I’m just a little nervous about the next 4 years. I feel like we have kind of “muddled along” these first 2 years at home, as we figure out what works and what doesn’t. The wisdom from the members here is such a blessing!
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