High School - Part 1

Before we brought GW home, I hadn't worried much about homeschooling high school.  I know the thought of homeschooling high school scares many people, but I figured if I made it through college, I could get them through high school and with Robinson Curriculum, I wasn't really concerned at all.

At first, after bringing GW home, I wasn't thinking about high school.  It was only in the last few months (such forethought since he became a 9th grader in August!)  that I really started to think about how I was going to teach GW what he needed to know to graduate from high school.

At first, I wasn't worried.  My goal for GW is to be able to pass the entrance exam for our local community college.  I figured two more years at home and the nurturing environment would be best for him.    Then while looking at the requirements for entrance to the community college, I saw that a high school transcript would be required. 

I looked up the requirements for a high school diploma in the state of Florida and this is what I found: 

4 yrs of English
4 yrs of Math (including 1 yr of Algebra 1, 1 yr of Geometry, and 1 yr of Algebra 2)
3 yr of Science
1 yr of World History
1 yr of American History
1/2 yr of US Government
1/2 yr of Economics
2 yrs of a Foreign Language (DONE!)
2 yrs of Electives

That's when I started to panic.

HOW on God's green Earth was I supposed to get all of this information into this boy's head when he is reading English on about a 3rd grade level!?!??!?!  (Which, by the way, I'm QUITE proud of since he's only been home for 18 months!)

So I sent out a plea for help on our local Homeschool Teens yahoo group. 

God sent an Angel.  One of the folks that responded is an unschooling mom who just happens {wink, wink} to be the ESL teacher for the international students at our local community college!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet for about two weeks, but during that time, I kept digging and thinking and looking and I finally stumbled across (what I thought) was a genius idea

Documentary Movies

I had noticed that GW is understanding the TV shows (like Cosby and Little House on the Prarie) and movies we are watching.  What an easy way to get the information into his head!  But then my question was "How do I know the information is getting there and staying?"  This is where the ESL teacher provided an answer.

She told me to have him write about what he watched.  She said to have him start with just one sentence.  Do this for six to twelve weeks (we school year round - six weeks on; two weeks off), then for the next six to twelve weeks, have him write a sentence, but mark it up and have him make the corrections.  Then for the next six to twelve weeks, have him write a paragraph.  Keep this up until he is writing a full five paragraph paper. 

She also gave me some other terrific tips, but since this post is getting so long, I'll write about those next time.  I'll also post about a number of sources I've found for educational videos, and eventually I'll post about my plans for JA.