This is year #8 of our homeschool journey. I can hardly believe at times that we started this when Keilee was barely 7. And now she is 15.
Time and time and time again the more we try to ‘check things off a list’ the unhappier she becomes. She has said to me so often lately, “Mom I have so much I want to do but I don’t have time to do it all because of school work.”
I have NEVER wanted our school to look like the school down the street or for her days to consists of checklists. But it’s a tricky thing. You see these ‘High School Requirements’ and think ‘We have to do all of these things!’
In Alabama high schoolers take 2 years of US History. 2 YEARS!! Keilee knows so much about US History. We have studied it about 3 different times. And she also retains almost everything she hears or reads (unless it’s Math). So really, what is the point of doing that just because the High School does it? She took Ancient History this year that turned into using “The History of the World in 100 Objects”. Neither of these are offered at the High School.
She did Southern Literature which also is not an option here. And has loved it so much. We have read so many amazing short stories by Southern Writers and watched plays and films. We did an entire study on Truman Capote.
Next year she wants to study the French Revolution and the Renaissance. She is obsessed with the French Revolution.
She wants to study Shakespeare, an entire year of Shakespeare.
Should I have told her no about all of these because they are not “High School Requirements”?
She is running her own business via Instagram, her Art Journal is filled with beautiful pages, and she is hard at work on a YouTube channel that combines her love of knowledge with her love of performing. She is on Chapter 29 of a novel she is writing and has written several short stories. She rehabilitated a squirrel who had his own Instagram. She has a massive notebook of serial killers because she is fascinated with Psychology and what makes people do the things they do. She has a notebook full of the events that are mentioned in Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Her Bible journal is lovely. And so much more.
Keilee is NOT the kind of kid who would ever just sit around on social media (although she does love Pinterest, she is the only person I know that actually does almost everything she pins!) or watch TV. She is always doing something.
So why shouldn’t she just do what she loves? Learning is as much a part of her as breathing. It is just what she does. Her ‘transcripts’ will never look like the kids who graduate from the High School she would have attended. But when it is all said and done her 4 years will consist of the things she loves, learning that she always remembers and experiences that could never be gotten by sitting in a classroom 7 hours a day.
And THAT, is what learning SHOULD be all about.
Our Week:
Mardi Gras Dog Parade, her first entry in her Learning Journal, painting a T shirt that she dyed and cut up, Mardi Gras breakfast and parade.
Learning Rocks!
Karen
“It is… nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreak and ruin. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty.” -Albert Einstein
And one of my all time favorite quotes:
“Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.” ~ Beatrix Potter
Linking with
Mary at “Collage Friday”
Sylvia at “Homeschool Blog Link Up”
Dawn at “Week in Review“
Hi I was just wondering where the “what I want to learn about” journal is from??? I need that for my boys
I often fall prey to the “High School Requirements” thing, but we are so much happier and better off when we just follow our own interests. Unfortunately, my girls ARE the type to text or FaceTime or Skype ALL DAY if I let them! And Piper is not a reader–that has been a big struggle for me since Allie and I are such readers. I am trying to balance my need for organization and my planning nature with going with the flow!! To be perfectly honest, that is why I stopped blogging and reading blogs–all of the ideas, all of the things people were doing overwhelmed me and made me wonder if we should do MORE. Now I just update the blog once in a while to keep Jason’s dad and stepmom and aunt and my mom’s cousin in VA informed, because they are interested in what we are doing. Your blog, however, has always been an inspiration because you don’t come across like you have all the answers and this is how everyone should do it, which I really appreciate! You come across like “this is how we do it and i pray we are doing a good job and have faith that God is leading us so we will be just fine”..and I hope that my blog comes across that way, too–when I bother to update it!
Once again I’m reminded to be grateful for the freedom we’ve got. No specific graduation requirements here and unviersity admission (at least the route we’ve taken) simply requires literacy and numeracy but nothing is defined – no required subjects or required areas within a broad subject. So my kids transcripts all look really different and I’ve been able to let them follow their interests without being constrained by the dictates of a system. Good luck juggling it all – I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to make it work for Keilee.
@ Jessica:
That’s how my older daughter ended up with a Shakespeare credsit on her transcript. She’d read and attended plays on an interest led basis, I think we formally studied one and then I realised if we added in a bit more she had a credit. Miss 14 could rack up several ornithology credits this way but I don’t want to flood her transcript with too many of them!
The credits are all in how you interpret the learning experience! If my kids studied a high school subject in 7th grade, I counted it as a high school credit! Chopping wood was PE, grocery shopping was math and practical arts, caring for little wild animals was science etc. etc! I have no doubt that Keilee knows much more than the average high school student and will continue to study on her own for the pure enjoyment of it!
You make everything so beautiful for Keilee. I know she knows it but she is very blessed to have a mummy like you. I am positive whatever you choose to do will be a success but my prayers are with you as you navigate your way through all the requirements.xxx
We too can make anything into a high school credit, it just needs to be 100 hours. Now whether or not those credits are acceptable to the colleges one might want to attend is the bigger question for homeschoolers here.
I love the notebook from the Billy Joel song. I remember being younger and looking up some of the events because I just didn’t know about them.
Have another spectacular week!
We are using the method Jessy described. I have my chart and I just keep marking things down. You can get many hours by attending free Shakespeare performances all summer. We were just talking about how with just a few more plays we can have a half credit in Shakespeare. We just have to do some biographical studies of William Shakespeare to round it out. I’d love to talk with you about this!
I don’t know about your state, but here you can turn anything into a credit with enough hours. (80-120 hours for 1 high school credit OR finish a high school level text) Shakespeare would be an English Credit. Her art journal another. Her business another. History of 100 Objects another…Here we can title the course, give a brief description and issue credit. Sounds to me like she’s got a “boat load” of credits going on! 😉 Another option is for her to take a CLEP in strong areas such as American History.
Your daughter is awesome. I am sure you all will find your way through the requirements. Some of it just takes creative recording. One thing I did with when my oldest was in homeschool high school was to write out all of the requirements over four years worth of lesson books. Then I recorded what ever he had learned in the right book. For instance, if he took a field trip to an American history site, I would record it even if he wasn’t “taking” that class until the next year.
Blessings, Dawn
This is one awesome daughter you have. All the things she is able to accomplish each day/week/month/year is quite amazing. By the time she is ready to go off to college (if that is what she wants) she will have so much knowledge stored in that brain of hers it won’t matter what her transcript says. Be sure to send out the information about her youtube channel when it is up and running.
Blessings
Diane