I will have a 9th grader in the fall and have been struggling with the idea of how to continue to offer a rich variety of subjects to him AND achieve enough credit hours in all the required courses for college admissions, without spending a crazy amount of time with school each day. We have always done almost every subject every day, with the exception of the “extras” like picture study, nature study, composer study, etc. This is a tiresome way to do school, and I do try to change up the order of subjects, but I was hoping to find a way to only do certain subjects a few times a week. But how will I manage to make sure he gets enough credit hours and completes the curriculum each year for the “biggies” like English and Math???
We do math and at least some English activities every day; we do science every day as well. And foreign language. Then everything else we rotate through the week. We typically do two other items per day from my list of things I want them to do. My high schoolers are usually done with assigned school about 1pm; then they still have free reading to do later.
we tried something towards the end of the year. Block scheduling for the main courses. So monday and wednesday, my daughter does math and history and does 90 minutes or what ever it takes to finish, then she does electives andis done for the day. tuesday/thursday, it is science and english.and then electives I still have her do friday math most weeks, and SAT prep /voc. most days. it has worked out well and gives her a break for EVERYDAY of math, which she was getting kinda bored of. just an idea.
Pam, I love this idea. It is how college is anyway and I know some local public high schools in our area are doing the block schedules as well. Putting this in my list of “high school” notes for later. Thanks!
Bookworm, I like your “list of things I them to do”. I might borrow that for another list if that is OK!
I’m curious as to how many hours your highschool students are putting in and how many subjects they are covering/credits they are aiming for per year. Do any of your teens have jobs, and if so, how do they schedule their studies around them?
We try for 120 to 150 hours per subject per year for a one credit class. 22 credits are required to graduate in our state.
My oldest does math and composition daily and uses block scheduling for her other subjects. History and science usually average out at two 2-hour blocks per week.
Aaah! I am bringing home my 15 year old daughter from traditional school this coming year. She will be a sophomore and I can’t even figure out where to begin. I get knots in my stomach every time I think about whether I am actually going to be able to pull this off. I want her to have the three best years she has ever had in school but I am so confused with all the choices and then having to throw her 5 younger siblings into the mix is just completely overwhelming. Thanks for letting me release some of my worries on all of you. I keep telling myself that God is in control but I am so nervous.
This is the information I sent to a homeschool friend who was concerned about high school. It doesn’t address the day to day but it might help with the yearly.
Thank you! I have donnayoung site already on my desktop but haven’t really used it. I was going to call HSLDA to find out state laws. When I google search course req for my state it gives me courses required to graduate but when I go to HSLDA under state law it says courses required repealed in 19..(year) and there are none listed. Have any idea?