Friday, April 1, 2011

Thomas Jefferson and high school planning

I was planning on doing half days this week because its spring break for the public schools, but we've gotten very little schoolwork done.  One day, I will not live two feet from my neighbors and have kids running up and down the street.  I can't very well force mine inside while their friends are out playing.

I did take this week to do some reading, my own homework, and some cleaning.  I spent about six hours cleaning out the garage.  yes, it was THAT bad.  I also finished the closets upstairs.  We've been blessed with boxes and boxes of hand me downs that were just getting ridiculous to keep.  I also decided that I don't have the room to hold onto clothes from Bug a Bug to Little Miss Trouble.  Its four years difference adn way too many clothes.  This house is too small and without adequate storage.  So, I sorted through everything and even went through all of our coats and sweatshirts (really my kids have way too many) and got rid of eight bags of clothes!!  My next step is to go through their dressers again and weed through the clothes there.  The girls probably have at least 15 short and 15 long sleeved shirts.  Way too many!  Even with putting some in the camper, its still too many.  I'm blessed with all the hand me downs, but its time to bless someone else!

TL's in 7th grade this year.  Soon, too very soon, we'll be approaching high school.  I need to start planning out our high school years, doing some planning, organizing, and researching on keeping records, making transcripts, etc.  I got the book College prep Homeschooling that I've started reading.  HSLDA also has a bunch of information on their website about homeschooling high school.  I'm a planner, so its good to know what I need to start doing or looking at.

Meanwhile, I've also been reading about Thomas Jefferson education.  If you are not familiar with it, I highly recommend reading A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille.  The Thomas Jefferson "theory" states that our country does not produce leaders because we don't have children read quality books and we only teach them to "take the test".  The quality books are classics.  They encourage you and your child to read alot of them and to discuss them so that your child can critically and analytically discuss a book.  By mentoring your child, you will help produce leaders.  Through away the workbook method of reading a book, with its grammer, vocabulary, and discussion questions.  There are several stages of learning and at the highest level, the kids help take ownership for their education.  They help decide and plan what they will study.  Yes, they'll still do math no matter how much they hate it, but as they get older they will be able to focus their learning on what interests them and towards their career and college goals.  I'm going to a seminar next weekend, so I'm looking forward to finding out more.

Well, I'm off.  The homeschooling teens are coming tonight to watch Lord of the Rings.  I need to de-fur the house before they get here.  Shadow sheds about a dog's worth of hair a day!!  lol

5 comments :

  1. De-fur the house!! LOL!!

    The TJ book sounds interesting - I'll have to check it out. It sounds like it goes hand-in-hand with Classical Ed (Well-Trained Mind).

    What have you been using for your 7th grade for literature/English? Do you use a set curriculum, or do you just choose books for reading and discussion?

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  2. Our old dog used to shed so bad it looked like a small dog had exploded on our porch :)

    I'll have to read the Jefferson book. I have also just discovered CollegePlus for planning out high school and esp. for doing CLEP tests and dual enrollments. More bang for the buck. I sat down and did a basic plan for hight school the other day and feel so much better. Still have lots of choices to make and he can pick out his electives, his technology study, etc.

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  3. That's my job for the weekend - weeding out the clothes before the move. I saved way to many things from Alaska, which we will not be wearing anytime soon - and by the time we need them again, they probably won't fit anyway!

    I am right where you are too - starting to read about the high school years since they're coming on quickly and I feel like I definitely need a solid plan! I haven't read College Prep Homeschooling yet. I just finished "The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens". Ellie is (thankfully) starting to warm up to the idea of continuing homeschooling through high school. I think she's beginning to see the benefits. :)
    I have read the Thomas Jefferson books and think they are wonderful inspiration!

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  4. We are preparing to plunge into the world of homeschooling through high school. In fact, we'll be attending a curriculum fair next week in order to make decisions on what we will purchase, and how we will structure our lessons. I cannot make these choices out of a catalogue. I like the Jefferson idea. It's a good thing we require lots of reading!

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