Welcome to High School

I’m only two years behind in posting this one. But it seems that it was just yesterday that Firelizard just started his freshman year. In the spring of his 8th grade year, I spent so much time researching what they needed for high school and my entire philosophy of education went out the window.

I sat down with him and the graduation requirements from our high school. Gone were the carefree days of elementary school where what we did really didn’t matter. Now things were serious, and everything that Firelizard studied would follow him for the rest of his life. Grades now became extremely important, and his transcript was now the most important piece of paper in our homeschool.

High school is a whole new monster…

I went all out and bought the curriculum that I thought I needed. I found an awesome history curriculum that combined history with literature, Bible, and geography. It gave precise lesson plans and tests after every chapter. I loved it! The stories in the actual textbook were interesting to me, and I loved how it was all put together.

The only wrench thrown in my plans – Firelizard and Bear Bear hated it. We slogged through one year and the beginning of this year in this curriculum. I finally got to the point where we seemed to be just wasting our time. The kids weren’t learning anything, and we were just crossing off boxes. All of our homeschooling up to high school has been focused on what the kids absolutely needed and what they enjoyed.

So I knew that I needed to get back to what I truly believed about homeschooling. I fell under the requirements of the public school without taking into consideration my kid’s passions and what they liked. Throughout my years of teaching in school, I had seen too much of just following the curriculum and checking off boxes.

Notebooking

One method of learning that I have always loved and never quite figured out how to do is notebooking. Maybe when I tried it before the kids weren’t quite old enough and I didn’t know how to handle it. Whatever the case, I decided to try it out again this year.

So I took a weekend and I dove into notebooking again. I found my favorite website, notebookingpages.com, and I reread all of the articles that I read so many years ago. I actually printed out some of them so I could have them at hand when I instituted my plan.

The next Monday morning, I told the kids that we were going to do something different. I showed them how to do notebooking, and I set them loose. Firelizard loves dinosaurs, and you could get him talking for hours on different dinosaurs, their characteristics, and the differences between Jurassic Park and real life. Bear Bear has a passion for Asia, and she is in the process of learning Korean, so I let both kids follow their passion. I just require that they spend 30 minutes each day learning, and that they fill out 3 notebook entries each week.

So far it has been wonderful. Each of them is actually learning, and they are enjoying what they are learning. The only downside to this arrangement is mine. I work hard to remind myself that learning is more than earning a grade…how I love straightforward question and answer assignments!

Firelizard is at the end of his sophomore year. I am positively terrified that I am going to completely mess up his chances because I am new at this and don’t know how to figure things out. Right now we are exploring dual credit and creating transcripts. The constant questions going through my mind – the fear of the ACT/SAT – is he really learning enough? what if he’s not ready for college? There are some days, like today, when I get so overwhelmed with what I believe needs to be done that my brain just shuts down.

No answers forthcoming…

I have no answer to my questions or no solution to any of my problems. I just keep coming back to the knowledge that I need to entrust my beautiful boy into the hands of the Lord. He will guide my son into the path that He wants him to go. And, to be honest, since every day I pray that God will guide my steps, I have to trust that He is guiding me in this area as well. Maybe this is where He wants me to be…at my end and completely trusting in Him.

Talk to you next time…

P.S. I do have to admit, I am a little relieved because Bear Bear is approaching high school next year so I can do better with her.