we did it on a year-to-year basis. This way, neither I nor our
extended family and friends were too overwhelmed with the
idea. Well, we got along just fine with that until I realized
that our oldest child would be entering that unexplored
territory we call high school. Up until then, we were
decidedly loose in our day-to-day home schooling. We
covered the basics, went on many fieldtrips, took lessons in
swimming, art and nature study, and spent hours reading
together on the couch. It worked for us; everyone was
learning and our days were full.
Now, though, High School seemed like an almost
insurmountable task. I began to read about things like
transcripts, grades, college applications and an alphabet
soup of tests that 'every' child needs to take. I could see
we were in trouble. At our house we didn't 'do' grades,
either by age or ability. Also, our only tests were infrequent
spelling tests. I figured that I only had 3 students, not thirty,
and could keep track of their progress just fine without
resorting to testing.
After surviving three very different high school students, I
have come away with a new attitude. High school/ teen
years can be so very rewarding both for the student and his
parents. It is not scary at all. I would not have missed this
stage of our children's lives. I hope that I can impart a few
ideas that might demystify the whole process for someone
else. The thing about high school is that it is just an
extension of what we had been doing, a broadening of our
scope, so to speak.
As our first child, Rachel, grew older, she seemed to
need something more than what we had been doing. We
had come far enough in home educating that we knew that
there must be options other than government school.
Rachel, and consequently her two brothers, wanted to try
their wings- to test themselves against other young people.
We began to look for educational opportunities outside our
family. We found many and I'd like to share them with you.
Use them as you will, they will probably spark more ideas
as your children are unique, with their own interests.
Finlandia University is very open to local home schooling
families. Many of you have enjoyed their pool and
swimming lessons over the years. They also have a
program for high school students who wish to take courses.
The student must be 14yrs old and pass a competency test
(or pass the SAT). They may enroll for one class a
semester and the cost is only $100 per credit, which is quite
a deal speaking as a Mom to two college students. The
classes are small, and the faculty is quite willing to work
with younger students. These young people are known as
dual enrollment students and may transfer these credits to
college, when the time comes. Our children took college
level English courses, computer courses, chemistry, and a
world-religions course. You can find out more at their
website- www.finlandia.edu
Gogebic Community College offers evening and online
courses. Our son, Sam, and I took Spanish I and II at one
of their off-campus sites. I am sure that they would be glad
to work with dual enrollment students in other areas. Their
website is www.gogebic.cc.mi.us
We have accessed MTU Summer Youth Program, which
our children have enjoyed. I know of other families who
have had students dual enroll in regular semester studies
and done well. You will find it at www.mtu.edu
Dollar Bay Public School has offered classes to
homeschoolers now for quite a few years. Our boys have
taken computer courses that served them well on through
college. Our contact there has been Bill O'Connor,
oconnorw@dollarbay.k12.mi.us.
There have been many times when my students needed
more help than I could give them. Besides enrolling them in
college courses, I found another wonderful resource called
a tutor! This has especially helped in the area of higher
math. I told our children early on- I can go with you through
first semester Algebra II but that's it! So we had to find
someone to help them. Again, we have MTU right here and
that's where I looked. The math dept. to be exact. There
are many young people there who would be glad to tutor
high school level math for cash. This worked wonderfully
for our boys. They met each week with their tutor, right on
campus in the library, with their homework done and
questions ready. I grabbed a cup of coffee or ran errands,
how easy is that?
There are certain requirements for graduating high
school, certain classes/credits a student must have on his
transcript. There are many ways to earn those credits; they
don't all have to be done in a classroom setting. One of our
sons completed his biology credit working on a wolf tracking
study his senior year of high school. Our daughter earned 2
years of foreign language credit while she was an exchange
student in Denmark. The boys both earned credit in auto
mechanics in our garage. Rachel did learn the basics but
wasn't interested in taking engines apart and rebuilding
them! All three earned credit in speech and American
history role playing in the Future Historians club based in
the Iron Industry Museum in Negaunee. Of course, there
was always lots of reading but more on an individual basis.
We did attend as many plays and concerts as we could.
So while our students were doing all these
different activities what was I doing? For the
most part, my job was finding resources,
setting up meetings, driving and keeping track
of the time and materials used. Each child
had a three-ring binder where I would pencil in
their week, their assignments and
appointments. Each day their job was to
check their list, accomplish the work and keep
track of the hours spent.
You see, it takes 180 hours of study to equal 1 Carnegie
credit of a course. (This is the unit of measurement that our
umbrella school, Clonlara, used.) One way to look at it is 1
hour a day for 180 days but it never worked out that way.
Our children tended to work in blocks of time – 6 hours
tracking one day with maybe no math but 3 hours of math
the next day. It doesn't matter, just keep track of
materials and resources used then add up the hours until
you have 180. Ta da – a credit. Of course, there would
usually be more hours tracking wolves than Sam needed
and just barely enough math hours, but it all worked out.
The last area that I would like to speak to is
standardized testing. As I mentioned before, we never
did much in the way of testing. Now here we were,
sending Rachel off to take the ACT and the SAT. Her
classes at Finlandia helped prepare her somewhat, and
we invested in those test-taking practice workbooks that
you can find at any bookstore.
The best word of advice that I can give in this area is
Preparation. Since our children were not used to taking
standard tests, they needed to learn how to take a test.
The workbooks were very helpful. Our two sons
eventually took the practice PSAT test as freshmen and
then took the PSAT as sophmores. This worked quite
well. Taking tests is a life skill that can be learned at any
time- our children didn't need to participate in tests all
through elementary school age to get the hang of it later.
There is a lot of info on the internet about these tests.
Here are a couple of good websites-
www.collegeboard.com for the SAT, and
www.actstudent.org for the ACT. Both sites offer general
information, dates of testing, practice tests, and costs.
The PSAT is given each year in October, whereas the
other tests are given many times through out the year.
The SAT and ACT may also be taken more than once,
the higher score being the one passed onto colleges of
the student's choice. The PSAT is taken once (except for
practice the year before). You will need to contact your
local high school to sign up your student. I would do this
in early September, with another call closer to the test
date, just to make sure everything is on track. I
understand that the Copper Country Christian School has
allowed homeschoolers to participate in their testing. Call
around to the different high schools and see which ones
are more flexible.
The high school years were sometimes difficult, more
often an adventure. My husband and I enjoyed watching
our children set and achieve goals, and to become young
people we can be proud of. Don't miss out on this
experience with your child!
