It has finally arrived – the year that public school families call High School. My children are the age of a typical High School Freshman. I guess this is a big milestone. I remember when we just began our homeschool journey – the first question I was asked was (of course) about socialization. The second was what I would do about High School. There seemed to be a common belief that I could not possibly teach my children the courses they would need to earn a diploma.
Most of the time I did not waver. Of course I could teach my children what they needed to learn. The curriculum is very parent friendly. I was a member of the Honor Society after all, and my college entrance exam scores were rather impressive! Then I thought about a few of the teachers I had endured as a teen and felt fairly certain I could do a better job than they had.
After a year or two of teaching at home I found that my kids consumed curriculum like termites with wet wood. They were doing “High School” courses in their favorite subjects when they were eleven. This is probably one of the most wonderful benefits of teaching my boys at home. We learn at their pace. We learn some topics at the expected pace, but when they love something they get as much of it as they want.
The thing that is consistent in every subject is mastery. We do not move forward until they understand what we have covered. We can do this because we are not bound to the needs of 25 to 35 other students. For the same reason, we do not spend days and weeks going over things that they clearly understand.
If we come to a subject that I have forgotten or am not familiar with, I learn along side of them. There are so many resources available to us via the internet and the companies that produce the coursework that I can easily come up with answers.
Best of all, I can choose curriculum that suits my sons’ learning style. I find they do best with a multi-sensory experience so we incorporate video and hands on learning into our day. Rather than textbook and lecture study, we employ a Socratic method of discussion and critical thinking.
Can we homeschool through High School? Absolutely! I am looking forward to it!
