homeschooling high school
Here’s the long and the short of it.
One of the most important foundations we can give our kids is the relationships we have with them. Most importantly, our relationship is a foundation for their relationship with God. But here’s the reality. It just makes it way easier to discipline or guide or homeschool your kids when you have a good relationship. Avoid headbutting. It’s not worth it. We want many things for our kids, but we really need to consider how we treat them first and foremost. Are we kind, do we listen? Do we let them vent? Do we allow them room to grow and allow their conscience to work, or do we jump all over them when they sin or make mistakes?
It’s this simple: Do we treat them as we would like to be treated?
Because that is, in fact, what we must do as Christians. We must strive, daily, to treat each other with the dignity we all possess innately.
Please note these scriptural passages. We are missionaries to them, first and foremost.
Note who “the other are” ~ your closest “other” is your spouse and children:
Colossians 3:12-14. As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Ephesians 4: 1-3. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:32. and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
John 14:12. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Romans 12:10. Love one another with mutual affection. Outdo one another in showing honour
John 14:12. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
We have to be Christians, people. It’s hard. It’s hard for me and I mess up every day. But I gotta get up and start again. If we want them to consider our guidance and share in the things we have learned, we must work towards the kind of relationships that create a desire for our adult children to choose to remain within our sphere of influence. If really, we want them to choose to be part of our life, we must choose dignity.
Nuff said on that for now.
Because I’ve given my own kids a lot of latitude about what they choose as high school courses, it has not required planning to the degree most people would think it does. I’ll include some excellent high school resources in the next post.
The work involved I would say, on my part, has been primarily two-fold.
Showing your young adult what really needs to be accomplished in a course of study for high school in order to keep the door open for them to apply to college or university, trade or vocational program. This information is going to vary a little from state to state, province to province, country to country and from one post secondary institution to another. If a young adult knows with certainty where they want to go and what they want to do, it’s important to dial in to what the institution wants. If they don’t know (and they usually don’t) - it’s best to keep their homeschool transcript looking pretty similar to what people are expected to accomplish to graduate in your area. I’ll create another post on the what, where and when of choosing high school courses.
Supporting them wherever they need support. Choosing courses, seeking help when our ability to help has reached capacity. Writing an essay, choosing a topic, studying for a quiz, filling out job applications, college applications, finding out where they can get guidance for their particular path. Developing themselves personally through faith, friendships, good mentors. Basically, whatever they need to slide into adulthood with their dignity intact. And, my friends, as anxiety can be brutal during these years, supporting them through that, too. Some kids are really independent. Some need help with everything. They still need us, if only as a sounding board. I’ll create another post this week on what support might look like.
You will be so grateful to me that I may not be able to stand it. Print it off, write everything they do, all year round, for the next three or four years. The idea is that you print off a copy of these pages, one set for grade 9, 10, 11 and 12. Put them all in a duotang or binder. KEEP THEM HANDY. Write everything down, all the time.
All the things.
You have no idea what could be come a course, or part of a course.
So, this will get you started, and over the next week or so, I’ll address these things in greater degree. Here are the worksheet pages, linked to a facebook group because that is the only way I can think of. Let me know if you aren’t on facebook, so that I can email the pdf to you.
HERE IT IS - homeschool transcript planning worksheets for high school. And a few other free resources for planning HERE.
AN HLSDA ARTICLE ON HIGH SCHOOL CREDITS
A HUGE RESOURCE LIST FOR ELECTIVES
EDITABLE HIGH SCHOOL TRANSCRIPT (from an etsy shop, there are several, I just wanted to provide an example)