luni, 8 septembrie 2014

Liceu si mai departe

Un mesaj de pe forumul homeschoolerilor din San Diego, l-am gasit interesant pentru ca in mare, aceasta e si abordarea noastra. Il copiez aici, ca sa fie sursa de inspiratie pe mai incolo:

"I don't "school" my teens (on my 5th and last one now). I transition them into self-taught methods so they can learn to manage their time and be ready for independence and decision making. So instead I give them ideas of what kids their age are normally learning and what they would need to know for college. In some ways we feel it is better to do less, because for college I don't want them to be stale and burned out like I and many of my friends were. Their college teachers and classmates notice how willing they are to jump in, discuss, etc. because of this (all went or are going to college, first one is finally graduated!).
They do not need high school for Community College, so we just have them start taking CC classes when ready, usually grade 10 or before, a few classes at a time. One semester meets 2 years of high school credits in a language. One year of college English meets all 4 years of high school. So it is not necessary to repeat these things twice. 
My 17yo is enrolled in Japanese only. She completely manages her own time. At home she knows there are subjects she wants to prepare for in order to take a CC class and do well. 
Example high school focus over 4 years:
  • Study math and take practice tests in order to get a decent grade on entrance/placement test to qualify for whatever college math class she wants to start with (most started with refresher level college review math class just to get their feet wet in an easy class).

  • Basic ability to do cultural and survival math skills in her head or on paper (tips, credit, checking accounts, MPG, % and sale prices, tax, etc)

  • Make sure spelling and grammar is proficient and be able to structure an essay, short story, and other types of writing. Practice these things until comfortable but not overkill. Just write to express and organize thoughts or convince others.

  • Wants to be a writer, so read lots of books in various genres and watch lots of TV and movies that define certain genres, like superheroes and sci-fi and Anime (to analyze, not just entertainment). Write a ton, just write, don't finish, don't grade it. Watch a ton of online videos and study "How to be a Writer" books from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc (she chooses these and even puts them on her birthday lists!) Be familiar with some of the classic books and authors, but there are so many to choose from, so just a sampling.

  • Wants to do Anime and illustrations, so do lots of art, talk to artists at conventions, study art guides, watch online videos, etc. and practice practice practice. take classes from anyone you admire, college or community, short or long term.

  • computer skills - Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Graphics programs, etc.

  • Dance, music, and theater for fun and exercise and social skills and memorization and public speaking, etc

  • PE (group and individual sports) for basic rules and fun, exercise, social connection

  • Online role playing for typing, character development, story telling, and social skills.

  • Basic science and history knowledge through videos, worksheets, online, textbook, or whatever she chooses. Will take these in classroom format later, so needs just common knowledge and ability to communicate (people, events, places, timeline for history, cells, atoms, experiments, ecology, etc for science) plus a little extra exploration into things she is interested in at the time.

  • Life skills including cooking, handcrafts, animal care, relationships, and chores.

  • Work experience, various types of jobs.
Now if she were going to try to get into a university with our transcript and not CC, I would make sure there was a set course outline for each subject that covered the standard topics over 4 years. Approx 90 hours per subject per semester would be standard, and then adjusted up or down for an easy class or honors class, taking into account student ability. I feel that this method is more trying on both student and myself so we avoid it in favor of just doing Community College first. :)

My kids are always learning, but I would say they spend a few hours a day on core subjects and the rest of the day on elective choice (which might also be a core topic). That could mean 30 min of math, watch 2 hours of a movie or video, work an hour on a story that was inspired by that, and then go to rehearsal for 4 hours. Or it could mean draw all day today, read all day tomorrow. Or it could mean really dive into a history topic for a month and ignore everything else. Or focus on math skills a little at a time, watch a video about India, and cook something new and cool. The focus is on learning, not on external goals, with the exception of external goals that were chosen for a purpose such as "I choose to take this class in order to get into college even though I don't want to learn this subject."

That said, I can answer your question like this...
How many days a week:6-7
How long per day: 8-14 hours or more if you count everything they do as learning (which I do)!
How long on each subject: 30 min-10 hours depending on the day




From: "dcwallace@cox.net [SanDiegoHomeducation]" <SanDiegoHomeducation@yahoogroups.com>
To: SanDiegoHomeducation@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, September 8, 2014 9:14 AM
Subject: [SanDiegoHomeEd] High school subjects

Good morning, I would be very interested to hear how many days a week/how long on each topic you ladies school your teens in the below subjects, as I am beginning to think I have packed too much in for my teens... Sometimes I can lose prospective when I'm surrounded by a sea of books. LOL 

Literature
History
foreign language
Science
Thank you,

Cindy

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