High School???????? post 1

I am less than one year away from having a high schooler in my home.  Oh boy!!

I've been homeschooling since he was in kindergarten, so I'm not threatened by designing or buying curriculum for high school.  I know many people are intimidated by math or science; I say Bring It On!!

I've been stalking websites, reading books, and looking at whatever information I can get my hands on to determine how to keep the records and make transcripts from all that information.

The best book I've found is Setting the Records Straight by Lee Binz.  She has  broken down the information into manageable bits and with humor that makes it an enjoyable read.  I loved looking not only at her transcripts, but the other examples that she has listed in the back of the book.

One thing that I knew that I needed to do, was to lay out a plan of course of study for the next four years.  I know that things will change as TL firms up his interests, but I wanted to have a set course of action.  The first thing I did was lay out the possible classes and credits that he would earn.  Then I compared my list to the list in her book and it was right on.  I took a college-prep program in high school so I designed my plan according to that.  I also added in computer science, because let's face it, I'm old.  We chiseled our papers into stone.  My one semester class in high school consisted of our teacher boring us to death with information about DOS systems (yeah, I went there).  If it wasn't for Pong that was uploaded to our computers (which probably weighed 100 pounds each) we would have drifted off to sleep.  And yeah, I went there with Pong.  If the kids today could only see what we considered fun and enjoyed hours of entertainment with!

Back to credits.  Most high schools require 19-22 credits to graduate.  WA needs 22.  I looked up CA, since we live here now, and they only need 13!!  Are you kidding me?  Nothing like setting the bar really high!!  And they wonder why CA is in the toilet.  I did call the school liason here on the base and she told me that to graduate to go to college, you needed 9-11 more credits........still not required just to graduate though.

The credits that your child needs to graduate is determined BY YOU as the homeschool parent.  Whether it be 18 or 40, its up to you.  I only compared my plan to the state's because I wanted to see how it compared.  Like I said, its up to you to determine how many credits your child needs to graduate from your school. 

I will be discussing this topic on length, in case anyone cares, and hopefully post information on grading, transcripts, course descriptions, CLEP and honors classes, etc.   If there's anything that you want to discuss, let me know and I'll talk about what I've learned.

Tasty Tuesday

Two new recipes for today!!

Harvest Apple Dip
8 oz softened cream cheese
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix together and beat until smooth.  Slice apples and splash with 7up or lemon juice to keep from browing.

Egg Casserole
1 lb sausage, browned and drained
6 slices bread-cubed
2 cups milk
4-6 eggs
1tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz cheddar cheese
1 small onion, chopped
ham-optional-1/3 lb thinly sliced and chopped

Spray 9x13 pan.  Mix all together and put into pan.  Refrigerate overnight or 8 hours.  Bake uncovered for 50 minutes to one hour.

School is going well!

Our second term has just started.  I split our school year up into five terms, anywhere from 6-8 weeks long with a week off in between.  Of course, we do field trips then so we try to keep it educational somewhat....shhhhhh!! Don't tell the kids that!

I also decided to alternate weeks with history and science.  We just weren't focusing enough time on each subject.  I didn't enjoy breezing through the material to move onto the next subject.  I'm also hoping this will give us more time for projects.

TL's Oregon Trail class (from Currclick) is going really well.  He wrote his first journal entry and did really well with it.  This week, they're working on their supply lists.  I remember when we had the Oregon Trail game for the computer....Kevin and I couldn't get out of Independence because our wagon's were too heavy and TL was already in OR.  I think we lost if several moves ago....I'll have to see if I can refind it somewhere.

This past week we ended up taking Wednesday off.  Our time limit for the Navy storing our household goods was up and we had to put it into our own storage.  I'm glad because I was dying to get my bread machine and sewing machine back.  Those movers were fantastic!!  They fit 12,000 pounds of stuff into a 10x30 foot storage space.  Things are stacked up to the ceiling!!  But, I was able to put aside the school books boxes and put them in the front so that I have access to them.  I'm sure I missed a few boxes, but at least they'll be closer to get in to!

The three big kids started the bowling league two weeks ago.  TL did great the first week and not great this past week.  Kevin tried to show him how to put a spin on the ball and it didn't work for him.  Princess improved her average score by 20 points this week.  Bug-a-bug is working hers.  She's used to the bumpers so it will take her a bit.  If she takes her time, she does really well.

That's all on the homefront here.  I have photos to post from when mom was here, but my computer's been so sluggish that I don't want to put them on.  I'm posting to Kevin's external hard drive tonight and I'm also getting a thumb drive!

Take care and have a wonderful week!

All Aboard the Oregon Trail!

TL's taking a class through Currclick.com about the Oregon Trail.  The class started next week and runs for six weeks.  

Each student is assigned a pseudoname with their family and cattle information.  For their first assignment, they had to write about why the joined the trail, describe their family, and tell what they expect along the way. 

Kevin and I decided to do that class because we thought the exposure to another "teacher" would benefit him.  I've talked lately, about his poor attitude doing his schoolwork, and today I saw alot of improvement.  He was excited to write his journal entry and finished not only that but half of his work by lunchtime.  I'm anxious to read his teacher's comments about his journal entry.  He hates to write, especially creative writing so I was happy that he came up with some really good ideas for his entry.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!  I'll get updated later this week.  I got behind with my mom here!