Stacy's page

Aug. 3, 2009 - Annie Kate's info

Annie Kate has posted another outstanding thread on homeschooling through high school. Please stop by and visit her. It promise it is worth your time!

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Jul. 20, 2009 - Rubrics

Posted in High School Stuff

My friend Annie Kate posted some very helpful information on her blog, so my tip today is head on over to her place.

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May. 25, 2009 - Sociology

Posted in High School Stuff

I posted a while back about mapping out high school courses. When I was straightening up some home school things today, I came across one book I forgot to mention.

I will title this course "Sociology." The books we will use are:

Communication Plus (This is the book I forgot to mention in my earlier post.)
The Five Love Languages
Wired That Way

I also have another book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Since I want the sociology course to be one semester, I am trying to come up with another one-semester course to use with this book. I have no idea what to title the course. I would also need to add another book to make it a full semester. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them!

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Apr. 27, 2009 - Free lectures

Posted in High School Stuff

Here are some free lectures:

http://academicearth.org/

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Apr. 20, 2009 - Mapping out high school courses

Posted in High School Stuff

I have been mapping out a plan for high school in hopes that we will be able to continue to home school in spite of the difficulties economically. In our area, the students are required to earn 40 credits to graduate. That is one credit per semester, with 5 courses each semester. I am using the requirements from our state DOE as a guideline.

Here is what I have so far:

English (8 credits)

Freshman year:

Easy Grammar Plus (Mine is the older version, but I am linking you to the current version) and Easy Writing (found at a home school sale for $2 each)
Wordly Wise (I am linking you to the cheapest place I found it.)
Fallacy Detective
Writing Strands
For literature: Use Total Language Plus study guides. DD has picked these books to read: The Hiding Place, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Anne of Green Gables, and The Incredible Journey (We are using Total Language Plus because they have these books marked as for middle school through 9th grade. If Progeny Press had them, they were listed for only middle school.)

Sophomore year:

Writing Strands, Wordly Wise
Movies as Literature (The local library has all but one of the movies required for this course.)

Junior and Senior years:

Continue with more literature and composition classes. I may incorporate the literature section from the Notgrass American History for the sophomore year and save the Movies as Literature course until the junior year.

Speech

Math (6 credits)

Freshman year:

Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1

Sophomore year:

Math U See Geometry

Junior year:

Either Algebra II or Business Math

Senior year: Not sure

Science (6 credits)

Freshman year:

Biology 101 (I am linking you to a site that offers free shipping on this.)

Sophomore year:

Apologia Physical Science

You might have noticed that I put biology before physical science when that is not the usual progression for science. Apologia is a bit advanced. I also discovered that School of Tomorrow does the courses in the order I listed. I asked about this on a home school board and the consensus was that it doesn't matter which comes first.

Junior year:

?? (I'm hoping Jesus comes back before we have to tackle this one!)

History (6 credits)

Freshman year:

I plan to use a hodge-podge of stuff for this course.

Around the World in 180 Days
Challenging World Geography
World History paces from School of Tomorrow (I am linking you to the cheapest place I found them online.)

Sophomore year:

Exploring America by Notgrass This course includes enough for 3 credits: history, literature, and Bible. I emailed Mr. Notgrass to ask if it was possible to use this course but skip the books needed for the literature portion. His answer was yes.

Junior year:

Government by Notgrass

Economics - I will likely go with School of Tomorrow for this course.

Directed electives (Requires 5 credits in foreign language, fine arts, or career/technical)

Freshman year:

Clogging (fine arts - 2 credits) Along with attending her clogging practice and performances, my daughter will have to write a composition on the history of clogging, as well as watch one performance by River Dance.

Spanish - This will link you to several foreign language courses that are 50% off through April 27. My daughter can earn 8 credits with this course if she desires to study it every year.

American Sign Language (I bought this course for only $10 at a used curriculum sale.) I may end up offering to teach this course to a group.

Health (one credit)

A Beka

PE (two credits - requires 4 semesters)

We will either use the Y if we keep our membership there or we will do different things here (walking, playing basketball at the park across the street, riding bikes, exercise DVDs, use Pilate ball, etc.)

Electives (6 credits)

Computer Science Pure & Simple (2 credits)

Home Ec

Interpersonal Relationships: This is a course I designed myself, using books that I felt are a must-read by everyone. This will be a one-semester course unless I find a fourth book to use, then it will be a 2-semester course.
The books include the following:

The Five Love Languages

Wired That Way (includes a book, workbook, and personality profile)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens (includes a book and workbook)

Life Prep for Teens and Get a Grip on Your Money (This link will show you the student and teacher books on the same page; just tab down a bit for the teacher's book.)

At some point, we will probably include accounting, as well as a few other courses that we still need to determine, based on what my daughter chooses as her future career.

Come see my Ebay stuff! I have middle school stuff listed: Apologia and A Beka. http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/proverbsmama

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Mar. 2, 2009 - High school websites

Posted in High School Stuff

Courses to introduce your high school student to careers such as archeology, computers, business, and journalism:

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/curriculum.asp

Career interest test:

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/testing.asp#persaptcareer

Researching careers:

Exploring Careers: A Young Person's Guide to 1000 Jobs

Guide to Your Career

Bureau of Labor Statistics

God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life

Creating Resumes:

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/beyondacademics.asp#resume

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/high-school/36957.html

Here are some more resources:

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Jan. 19, 2009 - High school and college info

Posted in High School Stuff

Paul's Top Ten College Application Tips

Transcript help

More transcript help:

http://www.homeschooltranscripts.com/

http://www.chasesc.com/transcripts.html#10

http://donnayoung.org/forms/high-school.htm

High school and college helps:

College Board - lots of helpful info

Transcript Pro - computerized transcript help

The Homeschool High School Journal - journal to log classes, hours, etc.

Homeschool Tracker - computerized

My research led me to three schools that allow you to choose your own curriculum: Homelife Academy, Crossroads Christian School, and NARHS (North Atlantic Regional High School).

TOS: College Directory PDF file

From BOB JONES UNIVERSITY:

What a good transcript should have:

1. A history of the subjects studied
Use titles that are clearly understood.

2. The level of subjects studied (by grade, if possible) Example: English 9, English 10, etc.

3. Unit assignments for each subject studied
A unit is defined as five 45 minute periods each week for 36 weeks. Usually academic subjects such as English, math, science, etc. are assigned one unit per year, while non-academic subjects such as home economics, physical education, music, etc. will be assigned either one/fourth or one-half unit.

4. An assignment of level of quality
Most will use a grading scale of A, B, C, D and F
If another scale is used, include an explanation of the grading scale. Example: A=94-100; B=87-93, etc.

We do not recommend the use of a pass/fail system.

5. Clear explanations of any special considerations or variations
if ACE or AO use Pace or LifePac numbers.

6. An identification of all extracurricular activities.

7. The results of all standardized testings
We ask all students to take the American College Test (ACT).

8. A graduation date

Neat article on homeschooling: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85408

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Jan. 5, 2009 - SAT & ACT help

Posted in High School Stuff

For SAT & ACT help, you can visit this website:

http://www.testprepreview.com/

Just an FYI for you -- I may not be able to continue doing my Monday meme because I am now needing to diligently look for a job. I can't share details right now, but any prayers would be appreciated. We need a miracle.

~~ Stacy ~~

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Dec. 8, 2008 - Homeschool Spotlight - High School Info

Posted in High School Stuff

Here is some information I shared at a Mom's Night Out regarding teaching through high school:

Please understand that I am not speaking as a voice of authority on this. My daughter hasn't even started high school, so I am in no way claiming to be an expert on the topic. Rather, I am wanting to share information I have researched over the last several months, in hopes of helping others who are also on this journey.

Realize that while you are a super mom, you are not going to be "Super Mom" when it comes to teaching high school. You will not be able to teach them everything they need to study in the high school years.

Do you remember everything you ever studied in high school? Me either. So, that being said, realize that there will likely be some gaps in your student's education. This will be true whether they are home schooled, public schooled, private schooled, or even tutored by someone. So what do you do when you need to know something you haven't learned? You look it up! In other words, equip your students to know where to look for things which they don't know. Cover basic knowledge. Teach the basic tools of learning. Start with establishing educational goals which will include the basic foundational knowledge you want to cover in those high school years.

I found some great books to use in preparing for this stage:

Transcripts Made Easy by Janice Campbell

Get a Jump Start on College also by Janice Campbell

The High School Handbook by Mary Schofield (This book was recommended at one of the KASH opening night sessions from a couple of years ago.)

Homeschool High School and Beyond by Beverly Adams Gordon

Successfully Homeschooling the High School Student (e-book)

There is a wealth of information in these books! A couple of them even show you how to write up a course description. Homeschooling the High Schooler is a fantastic resource for un-schoolers or those who use unit studies. Transcripts Made Easy has a section on how to deal with transcripts for a special needs child.

For those of you in Indiana, get a copy of the Indiana Core 40 requirements:

http://www.doe.in.gov/core40/welcome.html.

This is recommended by the IAHE because of how lax the laws are in Indiana. One of the rules is to provide an "equivalent" education of the public schools. So, by using the Indiana Core 40 as a guide, it will help to ensure that you cover what should be covered.

Find a home school board online which you can join. Home school moms have a heart to help others in the journey. It is a great way to meet other moms and learn from their experiences.

Join the Homeschool Buyers Co-op: http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/ . It is free, and is a fantastic way to save some BIG bucks on curriculum. I bought a $250 Spanish program, designed just for home schooling, and I got it half price. It has more than enough teaching on it to cover 4 years of Spanish. I also recently purchased a cd-rom on anatomy and physiology that normally runs $250. I got it for less than $30, including the shipping!

Do some of your high school courses in 8th grade, but count them for 9th grade. This saves you time and money. Plus, as your student approaches their junior and senior years, because they've completed some classes early, they can start taking some classes at a local college and count as dual credit (counting as a high school credit and a college credit).

Some colleges want detailed records. It is a good idea to type up a course description just in case the college wants more information than what you have on a transcript. They may want to see what was required to earn the credit on the transcript. For course descriptions, sometimes you can use what is on the back of the book, modifying it for a home school setting. Another way to do it is by using the information posted on the Internet. For instance, you might be able to find enough information for the course in the description found on www.cbd.com or www.rainbowresource.com, etc.

Copy the table of contents from every course you use!

Here is a free GPA calculator:

http://www.everyday-education.com/gpacalc/index.shtml

Though Indiana is very lax on keeping track of hours, some colleges are not! An easy way to do this is by allowing 50 minutes per day, per semester to earn a credit. A one year course is roughly 150 hours, thus a semester course should run about 75 hours. 75 hours for 18 weeks = about 4 hours a week, which = 240 minutes. 240 minutes divided by 5 days a week averages 50 minutes per day on that subject. If your student is able to get done before the 50 minutes allotted every day, still count it as the full 50 minutes because they did complete all of the work for that day.

Literature options:

I am looking at using Progeny Press and Total Language Plus for literature. The reason for using both is because while some books in the Progeny Press catalog are for grades 6-8, in the Total Language Plus, the same books can count for high school literature. A couple of examples are The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Hiding Place.

www.progenypress.com

www.totallanguageplus.com/

FYI -- Reading 4 books and doing 4 study guides counts as 2 credits by Indiana standards. (2 semesters)

Writing:

This seems to be a course where most moms struggle. I am planning to have my daughter take a writing class taught by a local, former home school mom. She has some curriculum published by Apologia. It is called Jump-In. I am sure that she could do a more effective job on this subject, and this is an important one for your student to learn! Every person needs to learn to communicate effectively, and by learning to write well, your student will be well-equipped for the future.

Math:

Some of the most popular math curriculum are Math U See and Teaching Textbooks. While they are a bit pricey, the resale value on Ebay is fantastic! You can sell them for nearly what you paid for them. Also, some parents find their student is able to handle doing Algebra I in 8th grade, so there is one more course you can finish early.

PE - It is a little different from other courses. Whereas, a semester of geography will earn you one credit, a semester in PE earns 1/2 credit. Also, though you post it on your transcript that you completed the PE requirements, you do not count it toward your GPA. (Grade point average)

Be sure to keep track of when your student can take the PSAT (which helps them earn scholarship money), and the SAT. It is a good idea to allow them to take the SAT at least twice, if not three times. Each time they improve their scores, it helps them to earn more in scholarship money.

There are also CLEP test and AP tests. If your student passes the AP test, they don't have to take that particular course in college, thus saving you more money.

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/

http://barbarafrankonline.com/the-imperfect-homeschooler-newsletter.php

http://www.everydayeducation.com/home/index.shtml

Another tip I read recently is to find a homeschool mom who has gone through the whole high school thing. Take her out to lunch so you can "pick her brain." That is a very inexpensive way to get some priceless information!

And remember, you can make it through the high school years!

Come back tomorrow for the recipe to the cookies I'm taking for the Mom's Night Out Christmas Cookie Exchange.

~~ Stacy ~~

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Nov. 17, 2008 - Homeschool Spotlight - Unschooling websites for high school

Posted in High School Stuff

FREE HOME SCHOOL CURRICULUM:
http://www.booksamaritan.com/

Home/unschooling -- home/unschooling high school and college.
http://www.nheri.org/
http://www.hslda.org/
http://ulfaq.home.comcast.net/~ulfaq/ULfaq.html
http://info.nbtsc.org/schoolfree/
http://www.homeschool.com/advisors/McKee/default.asp
http://homeschool.lifetips.com/
http://sandradodd.com/tv
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/
http://www.youcanhomeschool.org/starthere/default.asp?bhcp=1

Home school curriculum companies and discount suppliers:
http://www.angelfire.com/or/mtdewbydo/secularcurric.html

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Nov. 10, 2008 - Homeschool Spotlight - High school helps

Posted in High School Stuff

HIGH SCHOOL HELPS

Free transcript:

http://teascript.com/

Free SAT help:

http://www.proprofs.com/sat/

Online SAT study guides:

http://www.sparknotes.com/

Diplomas online:

http://www.narsonline.com/

CLEP:

http://www.narsonline.com/

Free periodic table software:

http://www.qualitysciencelabs.com/estore/product.php?productid=10&cat=6&page=1

Homeschooling through high school kit from HSLDA:

http://www.hslda.org/highschool/before.asp - You can also sign up for their email newsletter on homeschooling through high school

Free help with algebra, American government, biology, calculus, physics, etc:

http://www.hippocampus.org/

http://www.in.gov/ssaci/programs/21st/21cs_how.html

Helpful ideas

For a health credit, you could do the following:

1 - Complete a scholarly research paper on a health topic
2 - Developed a brochure and flyer on "Bird Flu Prevention"
3 - Take a Red Cross CPR class.

A few ideas for fine arts credits:

graphics/visual arts, photography, film, crafts, music, dance, drama, theater, clogging

Algebra acronym:

To remember the order of operations in algebra:

Please

Excuse

My Dear

Aunt Sally

(Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply and Divide, then Add and Subtract.)

http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html

http://www.collegeanswer.com/index.jsp

http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/cprep.html

http://www.ribghe.org/choosing.htm

http://www.globallearningstrategies.org/default.php

http://www.studentloanfunding.com/index.html

Algebra and geometry

http://www.algebasics.com/index.html

http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/beg_algebra/index.htm

http://www.mathleague.com/help/algebra/algebra.htm

http://www.purplemath.com/internet.htm

http://www.algebrahelp.com/index.jsp

http://www.math.com/practice/algebra.html

http://math.usask.ca/emr/menu_alg1.html

http://hotmath.com/index.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/J002441F/index.htm?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0217

http://www.saab.org/mathdrills/md.cgi

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/p_test/pro_test.html

http://www.freemathhelp.com/geometry.html

Driver's Ed:

http://www.dmv.org/drivers-ed.php

http://calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_extend.jsp?cid=10581&id=2174

http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/claim_center/auto/ins_claims_auto_afteraccident.asp

http://golocalnet.net/drive/

http://www.quia.com/de/

http://www.dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/Teen_Life/Driver%27s_Education/Manuals/

http://drivehomesafe.com/

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Nov. 3, 2008 - High School Grammar & Composition Courses

Posted in High School Stuff

Grammar and Composition Courses for high school:

Daily Grammar Lessons

Free Spelling Course
Guide to Grammar and Writing (includes practice work, tests, etc)
A Guide to Writing Research Papers

Strategies to Succeed in Writing

One thing I noticed as I researched literature courses for high school is that some books are listed for different grades, depending on what curriculum you are viewing. For instance, I was looking at purchasing The Hiding Place study guide to use for high school through Progeny Press. However, it is listed as middle school level. Yet, when I went to Total Language Plus, their catalog had the book and study guide listed as 5th grade through 11th grade. Since I have a struggling reader, I chose the TLP version. Another example of this same scenario is the book Island of the Blue Dolphins.

~~ Stacy ~~

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Oct. 27, 2008 - High School - Online courses & Literature courses

Posted in High School Stuff

For the high school student:

The Jubilee Academy: http://www.thejubileeacademy.org/
CompuHigh Online Courses: http://www.compuhigh.com/
WorldWideLearn: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/
Independent Study Courses:
http://www.learningsprings.com/?wcw=google
CalCampus High School Courses: http://www.calcampus.com/
Distance Learning Resource Network (the MEGA list of online schools
and courses) http://www.kimsoft.com/dista.htm
Class.com http://www.class.com/
Best of the Humanities on the WEB http://edsitement.neh.gov/
Eclectic Homeschool Online: http://eho.org/

Literature - Online courses:

Shakespeare Online
Great Expectations
The Arthurian Legend
The Canterbury Tales
Online Classics
Free Online Classics with Study guides
Christian Classics Online
A Guide to Christian Literature on the Internet
Spark Notes

** Please note -- I did not research to see what kinds of fees are involved in these websites. Some may be free, but I know that several do have fees.

~~~ FREE LECTURE from The Teaching Company! ~~~

Voting: Determining the Will of the People

~~ Stacy ~~

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Oct. 20, 2008 - Homeschool Spotlight - Personality & Job Skills Tests

Posted in High School Stuff

Organizational Diagnostics Online
Advisor Team
Personality Testing
Career and Personality Testing

Some are free, some have a fee.

~~ Stacy ~~

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Oct. 13, 2008 - Homeschool Spotlight - The Scientific Method

Posted in High School Stuff

I am speaking tonight at our local Mom's Night Out meeting on preparing for high school. I will be focusing on that for the next few weeks on Homeschool Spotlight.

Today, our focus will be on how to format the scientific method for science labs. Thank you to Dr. Larry, who shared this valuable information with me. Though my daughter is currently in 7th grade, we have already implemented this formula so that it will be second nature to her when she reaches high school. Here is the scientific method:

There is a reason for using this particular format -- in fact, several. Young people looking forward to a career in the sciences need to learn the "scientific method." The theory behind the scientific method is that scientific discoveries will be "reproducible." The only way to be able to reproduce a scientific finding is to clearly communicate with the rest of the world what was done and how it was done and what the results and analysis of those results showed.

This is the method used universally with minor variations at all levels of education and research in the sciences:

1. Purpose - what one theorizes should happen or be observed in the course of the experiment,

2. Materials - what one used to do the experiment,

3. Procedure - what one did to conduct the experiment,

4. Results - what one found to be the outcome of the experiment, that is the "raw data,"

5. Analysis - any calculations and statistical analysis of the data. (If there isn't an analysis, I have my daughter write, "There were no calculations or statistical analysis for this experiment.")

6. Conclusions - whether the initial theory was supported or refuted along with any other findings that came out of the experiment.

Pick up most medical journals of repute (Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, for example) and you will find this same pattern is followed in all of the original research articles.

High school is the time to learn these things. Even if portions of the outline are not relevant, that item should be included with a notation, "Not Relevant because ..." to demonstrate that one KNOWS the correct way to prepare a scientific report for publication.

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