Circling Through This Life

Perhaps it would be better to list it as English Resources or Resources for Teaching Literature and Composition.  As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew I’ve had the opportunity to use several different programs including those focused more on literature, those focused more on writing skills, and those that strive to teach one through the other. These are my most favorite resources for teaching Language Arts or English at the high school level.  They are listed in no particular order. Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) I fell in love with IEW’s approach to teaching writing about 5 years ago when I first reviewed Teaching Writing Structure and Style and Student Writing Intensive C . This is a high school level writing program that teaches parents and teachers how to teach writing. The program can be adapted to add grammar and literature for a full English course. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to review the revised brand new updated Teaching Writing Str...

Each month I’ve been writing a blog post about Homeschooling High School and participating the Blog Hop.  This month I want to share about the Math and Science resources that we have used. It is overwhelming to think about teaching subjects like Math and Science. Thankfully there are many resources and curriculum choices for parents to consider. Some require more prep work and knowledge of the parent and others essentially teach the material, leaving mom to just facilitate learning and record grades. Math My absolute favorite program for teaching Algebra from Pre-Algebra concepts all the way through Algebra II is VideoText Algebra .  We were blessed to review this through the Schoolhouse Review Crew and we are still using it. Yes, sometimes I have to watch a lesson a time or two and check the solution guide in order to help Tailorbear but essentially it is a program that teaches her and I am only there to administer quizzes and tests, encourage her to complete her work daily...

When thinking about and planning out the high school years it is easy to get caught up in the core subjects like math, English, science, and social studies. Many colleges and universities have specific requirements for certain number of credits in each of those core subjects and electives may get pushed aside. High school is a great time to explore interests. Do you really like art? Maybe you like science?  Is there a particular field of science that you really love? Are you gifted with languages? Are you fascinated by another culture and want to study about Russia or China in-depth and learn the language too? Most colleges and university consider the type of electives studied. They are interested in what classes and subjects a student pursues beyond the basics. This information gives more of a picture of the student. Parents and students should choose electives carefully based on the interests and talents of the students as well as keeping in mind the requirements of potential ...

Some of my fellow Schoolhouse Review Crew friends are participating in a monthly blog hop blogging on topics related to home schooling high school.  This month we’ll be talking about planning. The thought of home schooling through high school overwhelmed me. What should I teach? How was I going to teach courses for subjects like Biology and Chemistry? What about a diploma?  What about college? There are even more resources and helps available today than there were seven years ago as I contemplated starting high school with Boo Bear. One resource that I did not have then that I have now is High School Prep Genius . This is a book that I recommend for both parents and students to read and discuss together. So how exactly do I plan high school?   First I started by researching the requirements for high school graduation in my state. I needed answers to such questions as “am I required to follow the public school requirements for graduation?” “Can I issue a diploma?” I al...

Several of us on the Schoolhouse Review Crew will be participating in a brand new blog hop:  Homeschool High School Blog Hop. Each month we’ll be blogging about a topic related to Homeschooling High School. I am excited to participate in this new adventure. Now that I’ve been homeschooling some high school age children for several years I feel a bit more comfortable with what I am doing so I hope that I have something of value to share.  Homeschooling through the high school years can seem daunting or overwhelming when you first start. For me it is a very different mind set with new challenges. We will be covering the following topics: June 24 - Planning for High School July 29 - Electives August 26 - Math, Science, Biology September 30 - Language Arts October 28 - "How am I going to teach High School ...?" November 25 -   How do you fit it all in? December 30 - Graduation The following is a list of participants.  Be sure to visit their blogs and rea...