composing high school

 

 

As I sit here and ponder our strategy for homeschooling through high school I am serenaded by such wonderful composers at Boccherini, whose Cello Concerto No. 9 is colorful and alive, and Rachmaninov, one of my personal favorites for the depth and passion in his pieces.  And I all at once wonder, is it in us to achieve this lofty goal of graduating highschoolers?  We who were public schooled.  We who were not acquainted with the homeschool way.

Our firstborn went straight into kindergarten in a public school.  I joined the PTA.  I assisted in his class every Friday, with my little three year old in tow.  We had playdates at the park with the other moms and their kindergartners.  In February of that school year I pulled him out of the system and began homeschooling.  Meager attempts at times, failures, hiccups, and victories.  I had no idea what I was doing.

Yet here we are, that five year old mister and his three year old brother are in the 9th and 7th grades.  And we are still chugging along with this homeschooling thing.  And now looking at transcripts, graduation requirements, credits, electives.  I know others have navigated this course before us, but we never have. I never have.  I'm thankful for good resources I've found on the internet (my form of support group).

We've gone the way of support groups.  I always felt "sized up".  And I always came away feeling like a failure.  Mostly this was of my own insecurities.  After all, that homeschooling family has 8 children and all their kids excel at foreign language, chemistry, and chess club whilst keeping a farm with chickens, a mule, and goats (whose milk is inevitably turned to cheese by the 6 year old).  And my children, well, they didn't eat glue this week.  The best support we had was at our church years back.  We had co-op classes, field trips, parties.  It was great fun and I certainly miss it. 

So anyway, the internet (my support group) has provided great resources to push me on my way.  Great ideas for electives, forms for transcripts, etc...  A guideline I'm going to use (guideline only) will be our high school's credit requirements.  They are:

• Credits. . . Subject
• .50. . . . . . Pacific NW History
• .50. . . . . . American Government
• .50. . . . . . Modern World Problems
• 1.0. . . . . . U.S. History
• 1.0. . . . . . World History
• 4.0. . . . . . English
• 3.0. . . . . . Math
• 2.0. . . . . . Science
• 1.5. . . . . . Fitness
• .50. . . . . . Health
• 1.0. . . . . . Career/Technical
• 1.0. . . . . . Fine Arts
• 6.5/7.0 . . . Electives
• 23.0 Credits Total 

The school also requires a Senior Presentation as well as a High School and Beyond Plan, and proficiency and course exams.  Our state doesn't have set graduation requirements for homeschoolers written into our law so their is a lot of freedom. I will be taking into account the local school requirements, state law, and guides I have found along the way to piece together a working, flexible plan for us.