high school Archives - Page 2 of 3

Paradigm Accelerated: Principles & Precepts of Economics Review

March 20, 2017 by Susan Leave a Comment

I have always said that one of the very best things about homeschooling is that you can do what works for you and your kids. One thing I’ve learned in teaching two boys who learn differently than I do: It’s my job to find what works for them.

That’s what we do as homeschool parents. We think about how our kids learn, try different things, and soon we start to see a pattern of what works and what doesn’t.

With that in mind, I’d like to tell you about an economics curriculum that I’ve had the pleasure to review and help you determine if it would be a good fit for your family.

Free Videos for Your Homeschool

May 19, 2016 by Susan 2 Comments

One of the best things about homeschooling is that you can use a wide variety of resources. It’s also the ideal in that you’re able to cater curriculum to the learning style of your student.

I am a self-declared curriculum junkie and find myself often talking about things we’ve used. I wrote recently about a resource we used for spelling/vocabulary that we really loved, as well as a human development course that I would recommend, and a number of resources that we’ve used to prepare for credit by exam (CLEP/DSST tests).

I really like telling people about what has worked for us. Because not everything has. And I especially like talking about free resources!

We’ve used these free videos in a variety of subjects.

Homeschooling High School: Curriculum That Works

May 3, 2016 by Susan 16 Comments

This series is getting down to the real nitty-gritty of how we homeschool high school. I promised that for this third post, I’d tell you about curriculum we’ve used specifically in some of our courses to prepare for credit by exam.

I’m going to cover these courses: World Religions, Psychology, Environmental Science, Economics, Government, Human Development, Analyzing Literature, and U.S. History I & II.

If you haven’t read the first two posts in the series, I encourage you to go back and do that.

The first post tells about how we are homeschooling high school by working towards college credits for free or cheap, and gives some detail about the huge financial savings of this method.

The next post laid out step by step how we prepare for CLEP/DSST tests. There are loads of links there, be sure to Pin it or bookmark it for future reference. If you’re looking for links to practice tests or how to register for the exams, it’s all there…and a lot more!

One of the resources I cover in detail is the Instantcert website. With every subject, we use the flashcards at Instantcert heavily, as well as the discussion boards (to see what topics others have noticed on their tests). If you register through my link, you can save 25% off your first month by using the discount code 100109.

Curriculum We’ve Used

*Note to Parents*

As with any curriculum that is secular in nature, we encountered information presented at times that was contrary to our worldview. Be sure to use those opportunities to have some discussion with your student. It’s always a good reminder to us that we’re glad our kids are learning these topics with us instead of on a college campus.

A Class for Pre-School and High School?!

April 29, 2016 by Susan 2 Comments

Whether you have preschoolers in your life or you are planning a Child Development class for older students, this is for you.

Every Tuesday morning, my 15 year old son and I lead a small Nursery School at our church for 2-4 year olds. I structured it as part of a Human Development course he’s taking. It’s just a couple of hours, but it gives him lots of hands on experience, and we hope to be a blessing to the families as well. You can read more about his curriculum below.

But first I want to share some activities and songs we’ve done this year that have been an especially big hit with the Littles we work with at Pre-School. If you have Littles in your life, give these a try!

Homeschooling High School: Planning a Course for Both High School & College Credit

April 25, 2016 by Susan 4 Comments

Welcome to the second chapter in my series on how we are Homeschooling High School. My first post in this series introduced you to the method that we are following. I encourage you to go back and read it if you haven’t. In a nutshell, we are utilizing all available resources to accrue college credit inexpensively or free. This means that we will take advantage of our state’s dual enrollment program during Junior and Senior years. It also means that as we study various subjects, we pursue college credit through CLEP and DSST testing. If you’d like to read more about fully utilizing credit by exam check out this website. It’s a gem, and my best source!

This method has not changed what we study so much as it has changed how we study.

I’m going to walk you through a subject so you can see what it looks like as we look toward testing.

Let’s look at Economics.

Homeschooling High School: 2 Things You Might Be Missing

April 13, 2016 by Susan 1 Comment

Homeschooling through high school can feel intimidating. I am a teacher by trade, and I am constantly second guessing myself and checking to be sure that I have not left my children with a gaping hole in their education.

We tell our kids that they can do anything they want, but am I stealing part of that future from them if I don’t aptly prepare them to meet it?