I don’t know about you but I can easily become intimidated when I don’t feel like I know how to do something especially if it seems that everyone else in the room has got it together. For example, I just started taking a Zumba class this year and I can’t tell you how many times I have run into the person next to me because I always seem to be going the wrong way. Sometimes that other person gives me that exasperated look (you know the one) – but mostly they just smile and point me in the right direction.
Planning is an essential part of the high school puzzle!
It seems like when we get to the high school level as homeschooling parents we begin to panic. Suddenly there are credits and grade point averages and taking the right courses to get into college and rapidly, it becomes so very intimidating.
Well, let’s start with the basics. First – homeschooling (and homeschooling in high school) is the best educational opportunity there is for your student. God created each of your children as unique individuals and the more you can tailor their education to their uniqueness, the better equipped they will be. High school is the time in your student’s life where you as the parent are putting the finishing touches on that adult-life preparation, so the more time that you have with them – the greater opportunity you have to finish molding their hearts and minds.
You just need a plan. You can choose to follow a standardized set of plans or you can write your own roadmap. If you are college bound, you will need to meet the specific entrance requirements of the colleges to which you will be applying. If you want to play sports in college, you may want to align with the requirements of the NCAA. If you want to enter the military, or go to the mission field, or enter a technical school… you get the picture.
Or, maybe you don’t know where your student is heading and you just need a general plan. You can opt to parallel the path of public school students. (In fact, if your student goes back into the public school system to graduate – they will be required to follow their requirements.) Or, you can even go the unschooling route in high school.
Once you have a plan (and by the way, write your plan in pencil – it will change as you go along), break it down into pieces. Determine what you need to do each year in order to meet your final goal, then break that down to what you need to do each month, each week, etc. Be sure to allow some extra space for when life happens and school just doesn’t get done.
Find resources (books, classes, tutors, etc.) that contain the information you want to cover, that teach from your worldview and that work with your student’s learning style. One of your best resources will be other homeschooling parents – talk to them, find out what works for their student.
By taking the overall picture and pulling out all the individual pieces, you will be able to work on them one at a time and before you know it, you will have completed the final picture.
~to your success!
Joanne
(Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
