High School Planning

I’m having a hard time believing it, but my daughter will be high school age next fall.  EEK!  I started thinking about it and planning last fall, but it didn’t seem real at the time.  Now it’s coming closer, and I’m starting to hyperventilate.  (But, as my hubby says, hyperventilating is better than hypoventilating.)

The thing is that I’m quite confident in my ability to make sure my children learn what they need to be successful in the world.  After all, Mr. Math Tutor and I managed to potty train the children and teach them to read (OK, we’re still working on that with Wild Man, but it’s happening).  I figure those are two of the hardest skills to learn.  If you can teach a kid to use the toilet, surely you can teach them algebra.  After all, algebra is just manipulating numbers.

No, my insecurity is making sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed for the colleges.  I’m sure the information and skills will be there – it’s just a matter of documenting it in a form that colleges will be happy about.  I do have a little concern about some of the silly details that colleges want to see that people never seem to use in later life.  For example, I remember stressing about verb tenses in high school, but have never been asked to actually identify verb tenses since then.  Of course, I have to USE them correctly all the time, but never actually identify them.  My goal is for my kids to be able to read, write, and use the English language with dexterity.  But, since I also want them to be ready for college, if they choose that route, I also need to make sure they can perform the additional details that colleges require.

I made up a tentative high school plan for Ga’hoole Girl last night:

9^th Grade – 2009-2010

American History – Sonlight Core

English – Sonlight Core

Bible – Sonlight Core

Biology

Latin - PowerSpeak

Physical Education – Dance, daily exercise

Algebra 1 – ALEKS

Elective – at the high school

Music – Piano

Marine Biology (1/2 credit) – Fort Wilderness (possibly in 10^th grade)

 

10^th Grade – 2010-2011

 

World History – Sonlight Core

English – Sonlight Core

Bible – Sonlight Core

Science (probably Chemistry)

Latin – PowerSpeak

Physical Education – Dance, daily exercise

Geometry – ALEKS

Elective – probably at the high school

Music – Piano

Other electives

 

11^th Grade – 2011-2012

 

20^th Century History – Sonlight Core

English – Sonlight Core

Bible – Sonlight Core

Science

Physical Education

Algebra 2 – ALEKS

Music – Piano

Drivers Education (1/2 credit)

Electives

 

12^th Grade – 2012-2013

 

American Government – Sonlight Core

English – Sonlight Core

Bible – Sonlight Core

Science

Physical Education

Trigonometry - ALEKS

Music – Piano

Understanding the Times Worldview Course (1/2 credit)

Ga’hoole Girl is pretty blase about the whole thing right now.  If and when she decides she wants more control over her high school schedule, I’m happy to give it to her.  She is quite clear, though, that she wants me to take care of the record keeping.  She knows that organization is NOT one of her strengths, so she wants me to be the one who keeps the records straight for her.  Sounds good to me.

I’ll be posting more on this topic in the next few weeks and months, I’m sure.  Next time, I’ll be writing about high school resources that I’ve found helpful.  In the meantime, what are you doing about high school for your kids?  What has worked?  What didn’t work?  What resources would you recommend?