Earning College Credit While in High School- Biology

Alex passed the Biology CLEP Test. He earned 6 college credits!

Marie-Anne

High School- Scholarship and Contests

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of scholarships and contests that your student may qualify for. Ninth grade is a good time to start searching for ones that are a good fit. There are even scholarships and contests geared for high school freshmen and younger, as well as, college students.

I have used several free scholarship search engines like fastweb, unigo, .... Then I made a list by due date and grade level of the ones I thought might be a good fit. Later I did a more through search and weeded out the ones my kids won't qualify for.

So far, Alex has applied for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award and a history essay contest. There are several more community service based ones that we are researching. And our mayor has an award for students, (all grades) which includes their volunteer work. 

If you have high schoolers or soon to be high schoolers I would encourage you to do some research and let them enter a few. Even if they do not win, it is good practice that will benefit them when they are ready for the majority of scholarships that are only available to upperclassmen. And they may win. 

Marie-Anne 

Tracking Volunteer Hours

If your child needs to track hours for volunteering, sports, scholarships, or anything; find out what the organization’s system is and track as you go. Also don't wait to ask for letters of recommendation.

I just found out that the volunteer coordinator we have been working with for ten months is no longer there and since our off-site volunteer hours weren't properly tracked we won't get credit for them. I didn't know she was leaving so I never got a letter of recommendation from her. She was going to validate Alex's volunteer work for the Congressional Award. (Thankfully, Alex's adviser can validate his work for the Congressional Award.)

I thought that my records were enough, but I was wrong. I don't want that to happen to you.

Marie-Anne

Update:

I brought copies of my tracking of our volunteer hours and talked to the main Volunteer Coordinator. Thankfully she is able to use my records. So, we will still get credit! Going forward we will be using both my records and their tracking system. 

Logic Games

We have a large collection of single player logic games, mostly from ThinkFun. I have gotten out of the habit of assigning them as part of the kids' school. I want to make High School fun again so we will add these logic games back in.

Sabrina playing ShapeOmetry. 

Alex playing Cat Crimes.

Marie-Anne

Homeschool Group- First Day of Co-op

We had a successful first day of co-op!

Alex is in high school and taking Biology, Biology Lab, Study Skills, and Writing.

Sabrina is in fourth grade and taking Science, Writing, Latin, and art.

I am teaching Sabrina's writing class, doing puppet shows for the preschoolers, and helping in another writing class.

Marie-Anne

Homeschool- Children's Classics Course

One of the beauties of homeschooling is that I can take something the kids are already doing and make it into a class for them.

I got the idea for this class from Sabrina, who is devouring the Classic Starts books. She has read all of the ones laying on their side in the picture above. (Sabrina will take this course again using the unabridged versions as a freshman.)

Alex is also either reading or listening to the audio-books of the unabridged version of many of the Children's Classics. In the past few months he has listened to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Treasure Island, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He is currently reading Aesop's Fables. My goal is for him to do one or two books a month, since he is also reading other books he finds interesting.

Although our family doesn't watch many movies I decided to add in some movies based on the Children's Classic books. It is fun and we enjoy comparing them to the book, which we will have already read or listened to.

To make it into a class I found worksheets and quizzes for Classic Literature on-line. Throw in a few author bios, book reports, creative writing, vocabulary, and even an original puppet show or two and we have a course based on something the kids were doing for fun. To keep it fun, I am allowing the kids to choose which books they read or listen to from a long list.

Marie-Anne

P.E.

We decided to put the Board Game class on hold and replace it with P.E.

At first I wondered how I could do homeschool P.E. Then I thought back to my public school P.E. classes. One coach had us play volleyball every day, but didn't help those who needed it become better. Another coach had the girls sit in the bleachers while the boys played basketball every day- I got great at Rummy. And yet another coach had us doing the Sweating to the Oldies videos, which I enjoyed. I got credit under all three coaches.

I plan to have Alex do a combination of  HASfit videos, bike rides, hikes, Bocce Ball, archery, shooting, roller skating, rec center classes... He will also learn the rules and safety involved in the various activities.

Of course, I don't need to schedule the exercise part of P.E. for Sabrina. She does it naturally.

Marie-Anne

Homeschooling High School

We homeschool year round so, Alex is starting high school today! This Summer he is taking American History, Astronomy, German, Math, Home Economics, and The History and Play of Board Games. Some are half credit courses and others will continue in the Fall.

Alex had a say in several courses; he chose Astronomy and German. I chose Home Economics and the History and Play of Board Games. American History and Math are required for college.

We homeschool year round partly because of the brutal Summers and also for the flexibility it allows. When we have out of state guests we are able to take a break from school to enjoy them. So, even though Alex has a full schedule this Summer we will be doing 4 day weeks and taking time off when we are invited to do things with friends. We also have a vacation coming up.

Most of his courses are free online. Home Economics Kitchen Skills is from Plain and Not so Plain. High School Astronomy is from Muses of a Mom. Math is Khan Academy. German is also free online, but we have not yet decided which one we will use. I plan to supplement these courses. American History is a DVD set that includes reading and activities. The History and Play of Board Games is a course I am creating to be a fun elective.

Homeschooling High School is a bit daunting. I have done a lot of research. There are some tips I've learned to make the process easier. 1. Find out what your state requirements are and make a plan to achieve them. 2. It is much easier to keep good records from the beginning rather than trying to remember what has been done as a freshman when the student is a junior or senior. 3. When possible tailor the courses to the student's interests.

High School is going to be an exciting adventure.

Marie-Anne