Update on our High School

Wow, I have not posted in ages and was gone for a while. However, wanted to update on how our high school is going. We have found that in our home, the best way forward for us, was to utilize CM for some things and textbooks for others. It is working very well. We follow Apologia science and go by the book, experiments, tests and all – I also want the girls to know what to expect in college and want them familiar with tests and texts, so it is not a big shock later on. We do math the same way textbooks and video lessons, with the tests and anything else that helps the math stick. For literature, we did a short literary analysis course from IEW and now read, discuss, narrate and write essays on what we have read. Some books we just read for pleasure, and some for analysis/narration. We did use Winston Grammar for a quick refresher, but that was all that was necessary with the copywork doing the rest. For history, we are using a text as an outline, and then reading fiction, non fiction and articles, writing essays and lots of discussion. We also watch documentaries and appropriate movies. They do a lot of writing and I have given them both a writer’s handbook to help them with some things that might confuse them. For Bible, we use the Bible and read, then discuss what we have read. One daughter wanted to do some AOP LiFepacs on “The Life of Christ” so we got those for her, she enjoyed them very much. We are learning German through “Tell Me More” and it has been successful, helped by the fact I speak almost fluent German. We learn Geography with our history and through games and reading.

Is this pure CM, of course not – but both daughters want to go to college and both actually like textbooks, so I decided to incorporate both – it has been interesting to see how well they are accomplishing their work and I am pleased with the result. I just thought I would put this out there and let people know, that the high school has not been as scary as I thought and using both methods has worked very well in our home. It may not work for everyone, but has for us. Hope it encourages those who are also uncertain of high school a little bit. Don’t be afraid, do what works and read loads of different things, and talk, talk and talk. It really has been and is a joy.