HS homeschooling for a complete newbie
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Anonymous
| My son is miserable in high school -- he's academically advanced and loves learning but his spirit is being crushed by enormous amounts of homework (of sometimes questionable value) leaving no time to explore any of his other worthwhile interests. He is currently in FCPS. He's far beyond my math and science capabilities so I'm guessing we would need an online program. A google search yielded a huge number of pages! Can anyone share the basics with me or point me to a good site so I can educate myself? Thank you very much to anyone willing to help educate me. |
Anonymous
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OP, I did classical homeschooling with my similar child -- he is now at a private school for high school. Homeschooling brought back his joy and preserved his love of learning. It is the best decision I have ever made. (My other kids didn't want to homeschool and I would never force them. For the right child, it can be wonderful.)
I used Susan Wise Bauer's Well-Trained Mind: Guide to Classical Education at Home. I loved this book and all her resources. Her website has an active forum that has a section for parents who homeschool their highschoolers. These are very focused, driven students. You will get tons of ideas. By the time my son was in middle school, he started taking a few classes at the Well-Trained Mind Academy, which has live on-line classes. Every single one of his teachers was first-rate (most had PhDs) and in every way were better than the classes my other kids take and have taken in FCPS public/AAP... Very rigorous, very well-taught classes, and extremely bright and motivated kids. My son loved it and would have wanted to continue but, for different reasons, he switched back to brick and mortar. Most people I know homeschool until high school and then send their kids to school. I think you'll find that to be common. If I had stuck with homeschooling I would have continued to use the WTMA and possibly enrolled him in some community college classes? For math, if your child is very into math, I strongly recommend Art of Problem Solving material and classes. They actually have a school in Vienna -- all the classes are weekends and after school so we didn't use them. My son was able to take a math AOPS math classes at WTMA--very challenging classes and highly stimulating. Good luck on your journey! I wish you the best of luck! |
Anonymous
| There are listserves and Facebook groups that can be good resources. Some older HS homeschoolers take classes at community college. |
Anonymous
| I’d also check out Compass. |
Anonymous
Any specific ones you can share? |
Anonymous
Thank you; I’ll look into it. |
Anonymous
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14:04, thanks for sharing. It seems like we might have missed the boat.
I was also looking into online HS like Stanford and Davidson but all the Stanford info sessions are full! What is that? It’s an online session — how can it be full?! Also those will be so expensive. |
Anonymous
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High school is when children learn the most varied and demanding work (along with undergrad; grad school is often easier). It is normal and desirable to have lots of work, but of course, like you said, it needs to be on target.
My high schooler with inattentive ADHD is in a selective program in his public high school and takes several hours every day to do his homework. He rarely has time to do anything else, in fact. He has low processing speed associated with his ADHD and takes much longer than normal people to complete the same amount of work, even when optimally medicated and coached, but that doesn't mean he wants to downshift to easier courses. He has a high IQ. I say all this to warn you, OP. Parents often turn to homeschooling because they are not aware their child actually has treatable disorders that need to be addressed regardless of which education method is used. They think homeschooling will be the perfect solution, when in fact, there is nothing more challenging than to homeschool a child with undiagnosed issues. All that will happen is that the child will not learn anything like the quality and quantity of concepts he would have otherwise learned. I have sadly observed this with several families I know. Before you homeschool, please consider having your child evaluated. Then you will be ready to tailor his education to his individual needs, whether it's continuing at a school or learning at home. |
Anonymous
| Thank you, PP. It is possible that he has an undiagnosed attention issue that he’s been able to handle because he is bright. I don’t see many signs (I see more of executive function weakness) but I will consider this. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts in such a positive and encouraging way. |
Anonymous
The classes are limited because the professors really work with the kids/give homework feedback/have office hours, etc. The classes my son took were live where kids used chat to participate or microphones on the computer. One of his teachers last year used Blackboard to split a physics class into "small group discussions," then the kids would come back to the full class and present the conclusions of the small group. It takes a minute to get used to having to wait for people to type but the classes are truly interactive and feel like a seminar. It wouldn't work if they were huge. And again, at least my son's classes through Well Trained Mind Academy had a fair bit of homework, but the predictability of the structure really worked for my child. One possibility you may come across is that a lot of the classes will offer a "delayed" option where kids can watch a recording. These were not nearly as engaging for my son--being called on to participate definitely kept his focus. For what it's worth, my son has very slow processing speed and high IQ like PP's son. His homeschooling years were by far the highest level/most rigorous he has had (even compared to FFX Co AAP) but he was able to be successful because he had so much more time and also could work in long blocks, which really suits his personality. Even before he started taking classes on-line, it was very easy to accommodate his strengths and his weaknesses with homeschooling. I totally agree with PP that you have to put a lot of thought and attention into homeschooling as a parent/instructor (and I have a background in education myself, which helped) but if you have a motivated student, it is also very rewarding. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
08:36 again. Executive function issues are a broad set of problems which include ADHD. While executive function issues are not an official, defined disorder listed in the DSM-V (manual listing all psychiatric disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association), ADHD is. This means that your child could very well be diagnosed with ADHD, if he meets certain criteria, and more to the point, he could benefit from the same sort of coaching, behavioral training and possible medication offered to children with ADHD: help with task prioritization, time management and organization, for instance. |
Anonymous
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Thank you both again for your detailed responses. It's confusing because I can very well see both sides.
To 9:10, I wasn't questioning why enrollment in online courses would be capped. These were just info sessions for prospective students/parents for Stanford Online. |
Anonymous
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Just want to put in another vote for https://www.compassclasses.com in Vienna as well as https://chessclasses.org in Manassas
Both are geared toward high schoolers and very well established. We HS'd for a year and like a PP said, being in these environments really reminded the kids what they loved about learning. Stop by Compass on a Friday and just walk around, there are lots of parents, kids and directors who can offer some wisdom. |
Anonymous
I don't think you missed the boat. Getting messages for registrations for winter and spring classes at a lot of places. |