Anyone with High Schoolers would you mind recounting your years

[ShangriLewis]

I bet alot of us here would love to hear about what you did through the years or what you wouldn't do again. Some of your favorite learning moments when those children were younger. How you saw their particular gifts arise and form through the years.

Heather

[Sandy]

I didn't start homeschooling full time until my kids were in upper elementary and high school so...

The thing I regret most about my dd's hs education is waiting too long to invest in a good video math program. I tried several texts but I just didn't have time to sit and do it all over again and she had trouble figuring it out...Anyway, if I had things to do over, I would have spent the money earlier to get good instruction in math. As it is, she's had to play catch up and really didn't get good Geometry (though she spend hours working on it!)

As an aside, I recently purchased Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 and 2 for my kids and I'm really pleased with it. The lessons are on CD for the computer and EVERY problem in the book has a complete step-by-step solution on CD. If the student gets a practice problem wrong, he/she can put in the CD and look up the specific problem and get a complete explantion of the answer. This company is coming out with Geometry in time for my ds and should have pre-Calc/Trig in time... and it's much less than Chalkdust or Videotext. (My ad for the day!! :) )

The other area I would have worked on more is writing...I didn't make her write much this last year and I"m concerned that she'll have trouble getting started in college. I think this will naturally be less problematic for my other kids since the new SAT requires writing...and I'm just more aware of the need.

And last but not least, I would have put more effort into community service. This is so important on college and scholarship applications. (As well as a life lesson...)

We did lots of things right, and as I've posted, my graduating dd received a wonderful academic scholarship. I just think these are areas where I can improve as the director of their education.

[Leslie]

If I could do it over, I would have gone with my first choice--to use a Charlotte Mason approach and find a few of the very best books. But I let fear get the best of me, and, at the last minute, on impulse, I bought a complete boxed curriculum that became a straight jacket for us.

My oldest son (9th grade now) loved science and always said he wanted to be a scientist. We did a boxed curriculum for his first three years, and it wasn't any good for him at all. In fourth grade, the boxed curriculum had him start a book about Latin nomenclature for biology. It was very dry, and after one week, he announced that he didn't like science anymore. :( I also felt like most of the books they had him reading were a waste of time for him, a couple years later, he couldn't even remember them. I think we just did too many, too fast. He was a great reader and we did all the books. What ended up really being best for him was less books, but better, more literary ones. That seemed to stretch him more. It took me a year and a half to slowly wean myself and get back to doing what I had wanted to do in the first place. As it turns out, language seems to be his gift, not science, and a challenging literary curriculum is what helped him most. So I guess what I learned was not to be afraid to trust my first instincts.

[Chris3jam]

I homeschooled a highschooler. Let me just say that I wish I had known then what I know now. :( When I schooled him, we used BJ curriculum. Nothing wrong with that, but I should have seen that he had much more potential. I was too focused on the curriculum, and trying to "get everything done and stay caught up". I was still trying to push him into a box. I needed to have focused more on him. I am doing something radically different with the 3 I have at home now. (Hopefully I've learned) So radically different, that I wonder about my sanity!

[lotsomama]

I totally agree with the previous posters about not falling into the "curriculum trap." One of my favorite parts of hs'ing is watching what kids figure out when they get to make choices about what they study (or at least how they study it ;)) With my older ones, my biggest "mistake" was leaving them in ps for so long :sa. Outside that, I will say that finding creative ways to bring their "weaknesses" up to par is something I could work on. Poor spelling and a trite writing style get "ignored" for fear of my too sharp tongue.
Favorite learning moments though:
Anytime Jaz (oldest - 15) looks at her math book after asking for help and goes "Oh - I get it now. That was easy."
The time all the kids ducked under the table because I added too much yeast to the peroxide and they thought the baloon was going to explode everywhere because it was getting bigger VERY FAST.
When they went outside the assigned experiment to find out which household cleaners actually killed the bacteria they were looking at under the microscope.
When Sean (12) was reading Autherian legends and recognised names in the LOTR, she started keeping a list just for fun.
When we watched a video at a national park that was heavy into evolution/old earth and they started commenting about how misinformed and unscientific it was and kept asking in their sarcastic preadolescent way how they could say such stupid things without citing research to back it up. :lol :blush :clap
When we watch movies and the girls point out historical inaccuracies
My second favorite thing at this point is that I can leave a list of things they need to get done for "school," go run errands and come home to find all that and the dishes done. :wow
The one that really blows me away though is how independent they are in their Bible studies. I don't have to put that on the list because they do it before they are even out of bed! :dance
Dh and I wonder quite often why God has chosen to bless us with the world's coolest kids, so maybe that has been the best part of hs.
Thanks for giving me an excuse to brag about my kids!

[ShangriLewis]

The one that really blows me away though is how independent they are in their Bible studies. I don't have to put that on the list because they do it before they are even out of bed! :dance


How did you handle bible studies when they were younger? Did you do a daily devotion or are you just a good example?

Heather

[lotsomama]

LOL - me a good example? I still consider myself a "baby Christian" in so many ways...and we haven't been really consistant in family devotions - we just keep trying different things hoping that one will "click." I know the kids have seen the fluxuation in me since I go through times when my Bible stays in the car to wait for church :td and times when I use my Bible case as my purse so that I can read all the time :tu.
If there is anything I (?) have managed to "do right," it has been to be honest and sincere with them about my faith. When I am struggling with something, I often ask them to pray with me about it (and they can see the results because He is so faithful). When God has done something awesome, I tell them. They see dh & I go to the word and pray when we disagree and get to hear the debate and eventual agreement that follows :heart. Just about everything we do in school involves a discussion about Christ eventually, if not right from the start. They know I feel free to disagree with the pastor (and give poor dh an earful) when I feel the Bible backs me up. When they are having a hard time, we stop, invite God into our/their situation & pray it out. We have had a few major family issues that He has totally resolved and our kids have played a part in it by praying with us.
Ummm, I don't know if that really answered your question. Part of the reason the whole thing blows me away is that I really believe God is honoring my intent and just loves my family, so even though I have screwed it up more often than not - He is going to be gracious to me & faithful to my kiddos.
??? - Don't know what else to say, except that He deserves all the credit since my kids see something worth persuing in a relationship with Him - and don't expect to get fed from flakey mom.
HTH