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In my last post, I went over some of the ways we began preparing and thinking about high school in our oldest son's middle school years. Rob and I also prayed and talked to Nathan about his interests and abilities to see what kinds of careers he might be interested in and seek God's direction for His plan for Nathan's life (this is ongoing, of course). As Nathan will likely attend college, I did some research on our state's graduation requirements, CLEP testing and dual enrollment, and looked over some popular college's admission recommendations.

As stated in my first post, our current research for our oldest son is based on a college prep course because we are not yet sure what God has called him to do. We are not planning on locking ourselves into a rigid and traditional college prep course. We plan to remain flexible if the Lord opens up other opportunities.

Researching Graduation and College Admission Recommendations

I would like to stress here that it is important to find out your state's graduation requirements for home schools. In Michigan, home schooled students are required to complete one semester of Civics/Government - that's it. Try doing a Google search for "your state's home school graduation requirements" and "your state's graduation requirements," comparing them. It is really up to you, your student and your student's future goals as to how strictly you adhere to state public school graduation requirements if they vary from home school graduation requirements.

I downloaded Michigan's public school graduation requirements, put them in chart format by main subject area (English, Mathematics, Science, History/Social Science, Foreign Language, Fine Arts, Physical Education and Miscellaneous), and noted the number of credits needed to graduate. I will come back to this chart later.

I also bookmarked or downloaded the content expectations for each major subject, available at the Michigan Department of Education high school website. You could try doing a Google search for this information, or check your state's department of education website. I believe that most states make this information available to everyone. I may or may not use this information, but I know where to find it if I need it.

The next step for me was to compare the high school course recommendations of some major colleges with the state of Michigan's requirements. Since Nathan does not yet know exactly what career he would like to pursue, I chose to look at three popular colleges that vary in the rigidity of their admission requirements. I started at each college's "admissions" page to find this information. Many colleges offer helpful pamphlets with high school course recommendations. I added the requirements for each college to the chart I mentioned above, giving me a quick visual of what colleges look for compared to our state's graduation requirements. We will continue to look at other college's recommendations as we prayerfully narrow down Nathan's career aspirations. I just started with this last year so that I would have a basic idea of what to look for in high school curricula.

CLEP Testing

I found a series of posts by Jeannie Fulbright about CLEP testing that piqued my interest (links to these posts are below). I had heard of CLEP testing and dual enrollment, but really had not done much research about either of these options. Again, you should check your state requirements for home schoolers to see if there are any restrictions. I posted links to some helpful articles below; you can also do a Google search and find tons of information. You might want to do a general search for CLEP testing and dual enrollment and then do a search for more state-specific information.

I have read enough to know that I am interested in CLEP testing, so I went to the same three college websites that I listed in my chart and checked their CLEP policies. I found this information at the admissions sections of the college websites. I was able to download files listing the CLEP tests that each college accepts, minimum scores, and the equivalent college course. If we decide to pursue CLEP testing, I will download the latest CLEP policies from college(s) of interest, compare them and decide which ones are worth taking. We may plan some science and math courses around CLEP tests, as these scores may also be used on our student's high school transcript.

I did everything that I outlined in these first two posts over Nathan's 7th and 8th grade school years. If it seems like it took a lot of time, be assured that it did not. A few strategic searches and a few minutes putting a chart together gave me a quick overview of our state's public school graduation requirements and a few college's high school recommendations. A little searching at the same colleges' websites furnished CLEP test information, which I downloaded and bookmarked for future reference. The real work will be planning Nathan's course of study and possibly some customized courses.

Over the last month or two, I have been doing more research and reading, and we are currently in the process of preparing a course of study for Nathan's high school years. The next post will give our current progress in creating this course of study. I have been reading an invaluable book called Homeschooling: The Teen Years, by Cafi Cohen, that is helping me put high school into perspective. I was able to obtain this at my library, and I highly recommend it.

CLEP Testing and Dual Enrollment Articles

Articles by Jeannie Fulbright

College Without Compromise book review

CLEP v. Dual Enrollment

CLEP for College

CLEP Tests

Articles by The HomeScholar

Search results for CLEP at The HomeScholar's blog

How to Homeschool College

College at 14: spin-off comments 2 at The Mom with Brownies - Shelly uses dual enrollment and explains it quite thoroughly here (hat tip to Kristie, who linked to this post quite a while ago - I can't find her post now)

* Update: Kristie noted in the comments that The Mom with Brownies does not do dual enrollment. However, her son did start college courses at 14, and her post would be helpful to those considering beginning college early or dual enrollment if your state allows it. Thanks for the clarification, Kristie!

~Andrea

Nathan is going to be entering ninth grade this fall, and for the last year or two Rob and I have been trying to prepare ourselves and Nathan for high school. It has always sounded so scary to me. I find myself second-guessing the way we have handled his education so far and laboring over a high school plan. Should we follow Tapestry of Grace strictly? This would be easiest for me, but possibly not best for our son. How far should he go in science and math, and where should we begin in these subjects? How will we schedule time for him to pursue his main interest, music? How will we determine grades? Should he go to college, and, if so, should we pursue dual enrollment, CLEP testing or AP courses?

I am sure that most homeschoolers are faced with at least some of these questions, and I also realize that there is no one answer for any one student or family. That being said, I have decided to share some of the resources and ideas that I have found to be helpful, as well as what we have decided so far. These are just my thoughts and experiences. I do not believe that there is any one "right way" to homeschool; we are all too diverse for that. Nathan is our oldest, so he will be our first child in high school. In other words, we still have a lot to learn!

As Nathan still is not sure what type of career he would like to pursue, we are beginning with a college prep type high school course. However, we also want to give him plenty of time to pursue his interests and passions; we do not want to lock him into a college prep course if the Lord has something else for him. We are still in the process of preparing a course of study, so we do not have all of this hammered out yet.

Additionally, all of these plans are being bathed in prayer. We believe that God has a purpose for each of our children and we have the opportunity to help ease or direct them into that purpose. Because of this, our journey towards high school and life after secondary education will most likely look very different for each child. Please do not take my experiences as firm advice; I am really just sharing what we have done so far. If any of you who are experienced at homeschooling high schoolers have input, please feel free to share it.

Our Preparation in Organization and Grading

Once Nathan began "seventh grade," I decided that we should be a little bit more organized in keeping track of his assignments, developing good habits that would make writing his transcript less difficult when the time comes. Michigan does not require testing or submission of portfolios at this time, although I have always kept samples of work that could be organized into a portfolio if necessary. We began putting completed work in binders organized by subject and I began using Homeschool Tracker Plus to record everyone's progress. I did not keep up with Homeschool Tracker very well at that time, probably because I was trying to enter each and every assignment for all four children. As a full-time wife, mother, homeschooler and homemaker, as well as a part-time medical transcriptionist and part-time church worker, trying to keep up with entering assignments became overwhelming. However, we did have at least some of Nathan's work in one binder that was fairly well organized, which was a beginning. It was really a trial run anyway.

Last summer, before Nathan's eighth grade year, I decided to use the lesson plan and course tools of Homeschool Tracker Plus, setting up courses and entering lesson plans for Unit 1 of Tapestry of Grace. I did well with Unit 1, but fell behind for Unit 2. At the end of November, I quit doing medical transcription and was able to enter all of the Unit 3 information. At that time, I decided that I would only enter assignments for Nathan and Jordan, as they are doing the dialectic level of TOG. Of course, I also entered information for other academics, but I focused primarily on entering courses for Tapestry of Grace because it covers several subjects and I wanted "practice" keeping track of them. I find that other subjects, like math, are much easier to keep track of if you are using a textbook. We will be finishing Tapestry of Grace Year 3 this summer, and I have not yet entered the Unit 4 information. If I can get to it, then I will enter it. Otherwise, I am not going to stress over it. Nathan and I will have to work on a feasible plan for keeping up with his work; I will post about that after we have done it. All in all, trying various organizational methods has helped me to see what will and will not work for us, so I do not think it has been a total waste of time.

Nathan had also asked for grades at the end of seventh grade, so I set up a grading system for Tapestry of Grace based on points. If you are interested, you will find it here. We have not followed it strictly; I just wanted to have written guidelines for myself. I recently discovered that Michigan's new high school graduation requirements focus on "proficiency in expectations, not seat time." (Michigan Merit Curriculum High School Graduation Requirements) Many homeschoolers seem to focus on mastery for "grading" or passing our students. I was very encouraged when I saw that the public schools in Michigan are now doing the same thing. I am reevaluating evaluation strategies for unit study type subjects based on my research. Most states, including Michigan, make downloads of course expectations available. They are boring to read (imo), but would make good checklists for those interested in putting together their own courses.

Evaluating High School Readiness

In addition to "practicing" organizing and grading Nathan's work, we sat down together last September (the beginning of his eighth grade year) and evaluated his readiness for high school subject matter. Math and writing were the weak points.

I love the "Living Math" approach, but I have never been successful in implementing it (sigh). We put together an eclectic plan for math using living math books, a video tutoring program that my husband won at an HSB contest a couple of years ago and some Key to... Series materials. He made quite a bit of progress using the Key to... books, but other than that there was not much progress. After some research and discussion with Rob and Nathan, and evaluation of Nathan's math progress, we decided to order Teaching Textbooks Math 7 in March. Nathan is halfway through the program right now and is doing well. Jordan (finishing seventh grade) is also doing the program. It looks like TT Math 7 will be enough to prepare them for Algebra I, but I will know more once Nathan completes the program. The question at that time will be which Algebra program to use. That, however, will be a topic for another post.

Now for writing.... This has always been a struggle with the boys. The girls write voluntarily and often, but the boys hate writing. The plan was to stick with the Tapestry of Grace writing assignments, which are excellent. However, as usual, I had difficulty keeping up with the evaluation and Nathan fell "behind." As I look back, though, his writing has improved and he did quite a bit more than I realized. I highly recommend downloading and reading the free copy of Teaching Your Children to Write, available at Cardamom Publishers. This is an encouraging 4-page article that has helped me keep my focus and not stress out about writing. I have it printed out and available for when I need to get back on track with this subject.

This post is longer than I thought it would be, so I will turn it into a series. This sums up some of the organization and evaluation strategies we pursued during Nathan's middle school years. In the next post, I will detail some of what we have discussed and planned over the last couple of months, eventually followed by a post covering our plan of action for ninth grade.

Helpful Related Websites and Internet Articles

Google "your state's graduation requirements" to find all kinds of helpful information

The HomeScholar Helper (a very encouraging and helpful website - sign up for her newsletter here)

Planning High School Courses (a Heart of the Matter article written by the HomeScholar Helper - see a list of her HOTM articles here)

Answers: High School Homeschooling, by Dr. Ruth Beechick

Homeschooling Thru High School (HSLDA - tons of info, including developing a plan, evaluating credits, and much more)

High School Resources (at about.com - quite an eclectic mix of articles)

Older Kids at A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling (another great list of articles)

~Andrea

This week Heart of the Matter wants us to share our Most Exciting Homeschool Moment.

My most exciting homeschooling moment(s) was watching my children unlock the secret of those magical letters called the alphabet and open the door into a whole new world of enjoyment and learning. I will always treasure the moment when reading "clicked" for each child, and I am so grateful that I was there for it.

If you would like to participate in this week's HOTM meme, go here.

~Andrea

Ellen from Fun Learning is hosting a meme called Homeschool Hi-Lights. To participate, write a post about a highlight from your past week of home learning, then go to Fun Learning's Homeschool Hi-Lights post for the week and add your post's permalink to Mr. Linky.

Our highlight last week was a fishing trip to northern Michigan with my family. We went up Friday and came home Monday (the reason for the lateness of this post). Nathan is the only one who caught a fish other than my sister's boyfriend, but it was a great time nonetheless; the weather was beautiful and it was so nice to enjoy the outdoors together. The pics of the kids are a bit blurry because Rob took them from across the pond, but I decided to share them anyway.

We had some great nature study opportunities while there. As soon as we arrived at the pond, the kids found a turtle's egg in the side of a huge pile of sand. We also saw and identified a couple of green frogs, a painted turtle, and a lot of beautiful red-winged blackbirds. All of our nature study pictures will be on my next Green Hour Challenge post.

I enjoyed a personal highlight too: I checked out Anne of Green Gables from the library in audio book format, as that is our current family read-aloud and I thought it would be fun to finish it on the trip. After listening for a couple of minutes, everyone said that they like the way I read it better. I thought it was well done personally, but it was a nice, unlooked-for compliment. We did finish the audio book and everyone enjoyed it.

Have a wonderful and adventurous week of learning!

~Andrea

This topic for this week's Heart of the Matter Online Meme is The Great Outdoors as a Classroom.

Before I began writing this post, the only "outdoor classroom" activities my unimaginative mind could think of were our Green Hour Challenges. However, once I began going through a few pictures, I realized that we have had several outdoor learning experiences.

Click on the thumbnail images if you would like to view larger pictures.

We viewed the lunar eclipse together in February; it was absolutely breathtaking and well worth tolerating the freezing temperatures outside.

I finally bought the boys Backyard Ballistics, and they made a paper match rocket and attempted to set it off outside. Unfortunately (did I say that?), it was too cold to light it.

For our more recent earthworm study, we collected different types of dirt, layered it in a plastic pop bottle, and added some leaves and worms so that we could observe soil mixing in action. That project is still on my kitchen counter (covered with a towel, of course; the worms like it dark). It apparently takes some time for the worms to mix all of the soil up.

We set up an "outdoor classroom" for our very first dissection - right in our driveway. The kids begged me not to do it in the kitchen. :-) I set up a couple of tables and taped dissection diagrams to them so the kids could use them as guides. It was quite an interesting experience; we will be dissecting grasshoppers next.

The girls love to do their schoolwork outside when the weather permits. They have a little area on the side of the house set up with chairs, a couple of outdoor decorations, and even a birdhfeeder-turned-mailbox that they use to exchange notes and drawings with some neighborhood friends.

Gardening is full of potential learning experiences. We sometimes will discuss the history of a plant, or even plant something after reading about its history. Math is important for planning our garden beds and properly spacing plants. Gardening is a natural way of incorporating life science or nature study into the curriculum. One of the best aspects of gardening is that the lessons do not necessarily have to be planned or contrived; they happen naturally in the actual process of planning and caring for the garden. I wrote a post listing quite a few gardening links last month in anticipation of the upcoming gardening season; we are now awaiting some consistently warm weather to begin planting.

We have also gone outside to do math activites. Once we had a contest to see who could draw the most lines on a square of sidewalk with chalk; then we did some related activities from a book by Marilyn Burns. We studied a sunflower to try to identify the Fibonacci pattern last summer, one of the most amazing instances of God's orderly and artistic Hand in nature, in my opinion.

We often do our read-alouds on the front porch in the spring and fall, when it is just too beautiful outside to be indoors.

I love being outdoors just to marvel at the majesty of our Creator. There are so many lessons to be learned, and seeing His hand in nature never ceases to fill me with awe.

The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters. Psalm 24:1-2

If you wold like to participate in this week's HOTM meme, go here; I'm looking forward to reading everyone's posts.

~Andrea

Ellen from Fun Learning is hosting a meme called Homeschool Hi-Lights. To participate, write a post about a highlight from your past week of home learning, then go to Fun Learning's Homeschool Hi-Lights post for the week and add your post's permalink to Mr. Linky.

We finished up our early colonial times studies last week. Our unit celebration will coincide with a birthday party in early June, so that post will have to wait.

The highlights of last week revolved around extracurricular activities. Allyson and Kathryn had their spring piano recital on Friday, and Nathan and Jordan participated in a 6-hour mountain bike endurance race on Saturday.

This was Kathryn's first big recital. She played three pieces from her lesson book and did a wonderful job.

Allyson performed two pieces from her lesson book and In Dreams from The Fellowship of the Rings movie. She played beautifully.

Nathan and Jordan got quite a workout on Saturday. They raced for 6 hours as a 2-boy team against adults. The race producer suggested that they race in the Advanced Open class as there was no one else in that class when they signed up. This was their first cross-country race, but they signed up for the advanced open class anyway. Nathan rode four and Jordan rode three 7-mile laps.

The boys took third place in the advanced open class (out of three teams). However, they would have also taken third in the sport class (where they would have raced), so they deserved it. :-) They each won a vest. This is a picture of the boys with their spoils.

Have a wonderful and adventurous week of learning!

~Andrea

This topic for this week's Heart of the Matter Online Meme is recent field trips. We had a really fun and informative day at a dog show in March.

The terrier races were extremely amusing.

The obstacle course was amazing!

I was quite impressed with some of the creative and educational displays.

The kids loved petting the dogs...

and meeting a star! This is St. Bernie from Snow Buddies:

My favorite part was the duck herding!

If you would like to participate in this meme, go to the HOTM Field Trip Friday post.

~Andrea

Ellen from Fun Learning is hosting a meme called Homeschool Hi-Lights. To participate, write a post about a highlight from your past week of home learning, then go to Fun Learning's Homeschool Hi-Lights post for the week and add your post's permalink to Mr. Linky.

Our big highlight of the week was helping sort food that our church's food bank receives from the annual Stamp Out Food Hunger Food Drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers. I was not going to post about this here since it is not technically school-related, but, on second thought, maybe it is! Here are the subjects we covered:

• Physical Education: We did quite a bit of unloading, carrying and unpacking of food.
• Math: Everyone worked hard at sorting all of the food into the appropriately-labeled bins.
• Language Arts: Everyone had to be able to read the food item labels and the labels on the bins. Comprehension was also important.
• Community Service: This is the most important of all to me.
• Socialization: Several neighborhood children who attend our weekly children's ministry stopped by to see what was going on and stayed to help. The kids worked together and played outside together while waiting for the next truckloads of food. (I just had to add this one!)

I forgot my camera, but my friend, Kristie, posted some pictures on her blog if you are interested in viewing them.

Much of the food we received is set aside for an annual community outreach that we hold at the end of June. Most of the members of our church volunteer for this event, where people in the community can come to hear the Gospel and receive free groceries and clothing. We serve a free lunch outside (Kristie and her husband, Rich, run the lunch tent) and provide a moonwalk and an inflatable "hoops" game for children. We usually have a very large turnout (almost 1000 people last year). All prayers are appreciated, as we are currently in the planning stages of this event.

Have a wonderful and adventurous week of learning!

~Andrea

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