High School Guides - for Average Students?

[sarah_smile07]

Hi there!

My kids are still little, so we won't be using the high school guides for quite some time yet, but I had a question. I know that placement in the guides is based upon skill level, progress through prior guides, etc. If you are using the high school guides for your family, would you consider them to be for 'average' students, or are there parts that would be a higher level of thinking? My family is a first-generation homeschooling family. I graduated from a public high school & attended a local community college before starting my family. I've been flipping through the catalog & have been looking at the higher level guides & realized that there are some topics & books that my education never covered. Some of the subjects can seem a little intimidating! Then again, I am looking forward at everything as the mom of a sixth grader... so I'm sure we will work our way toward where we'll need to be. My kids are doing great where they are at this year!

What do you think, high school guide parents? Are the upcoming guides for average students too? Has anyone felt the older guides were too hard for your child? If my children can complete and progress through lower level guides, will they transition nicely into each upcoming guide?

Right now, we are definitely enjoying Beyond & RtR! I already plan to move forward to Bigger & Rev to Rev next year! My question might seem a little silly, but I had been feeling compelled to ask!

[Jennymommy]

With a 6yo in Beyond, and a 10yo in RtR, I wouldn't consider your dc "average". If they continue to do well, completing all the activities as written in the guides, they should be fine in the highschool guides. The time commitment has been our biggest challenge this year in WG, and my ds hs really stretched himself trying to juggle a job, athletics, and CAP involvement. I do agree though, I feel I am finally receiving an education myself

[Nealewill]

I do think HOD is a very academically robust program. They do a wonderful job of education kids. They build skills each year and they build independence as well. I don't have kids in high school but I have researched each level of HOD thoroughly. I can say with confidence that each guide completed prepares kids for the next guide. That isn't to say that your kids might have to go half speed for a few weeks to get used the new guide when they start but they are usually ready for it. That being said, I think if your kids continue to progress each year through each guide, then by high school they are ready for it and they should be fine.

I also say this because I look at how much my kids cover now and I am amazed. When I look at the lower programs and compare them with other homeschooling programs out there, there really aren't any that cover nearly this information in a year and they don't cover it nearly as well! Each year that I have my homeschool assessment done, my assessor just sits there and looks at my kids stuff in awe. She is absolutely amazed at the volume we get through and all the extras included (hands on projects and stuff) that HOD schedules. I think HOD in general is a program of excellent academics they do all this making God the focus. I am so thankful for Carrie writing this program! I could never have coordinated something like this, have had it be so interesting, and have had my kids build skills each year like the guides have them do.

As for being intimidated by high school classes, I think there are several things I am still learning now. With being the homeschool mom, the answer keys are great. There are also several things that I have never learned as well. What I am finding is that I like to do one subjects with each child and plan to do this with them as they grow older. So for example, when my middle child gets to CTC, I will probably do that Jashub's journal with him. When my oldest gets into some of the Bible Study books for high school, I may do them with her. The same goes for some of the Bible study books the kids do know. I like to be involved and do things with them. As your kids move up, maybe you could do a subject or two along side them. Let them take more of the "lead" but you are with them. For example, in the Chemistry class for the AH guide coming up, there is lots of cooking. Maybe you can just spend time in the kids with your child while they do it. They can be the chef and you are the helper. I have done that now with my dd in CTC. I let her tell me what she wants me to do I don't want to take her independence away but I might want to just spend time with her. So I have her lead the activity. I think if you can find a way to connect with your kids while they are working through their assignments, then those assignments won't seem so intimidating. Also, even if you didn't use HOD, the intimidation factor probably won't go away. It is still material that is challenging that we haven't see for years and didn't necessarily master the first time we saw it. But all in all, I think HOD does a wonderful job with parents and their kids. The resources they use are top notch and I think they are good for both parents and kids.

[Motherjoy]

My oldest has used HOD since 4th grade, he is now finishing up the WH guide. He is absolutely average. He has excelled in history because of HOD. He is average or below in math, and doesn't score well on tests. However, his history and literature knowledge and experience is vast. Quite much more than my husband or I had from PS. So, yes, I think any student can do the hOD guides.

[LynnH]

I would also say that with a 10 year old doing RTR your children are not average. That is pretty advanced. My son was 12 when he did RTR. My son is very average and has dysgraphia and short term memory issues and he has done fine in the high school WG guide. I think part of that is because he has come up through the guides since Preparing and as others have said each guide, if done as written, prepares them well for the next guide. When I say done as written I mean that they are reading the things themselves they are supposed to read, doing all the follow up activities and doing the independent boxes independently.
The high school guides are challenging, but very doable for an average student. It helps if they are strong readers, but my son doesn't like to read in his spare time and he tests average in reading comprehension, but he has manged to do the WG guide with just a few tweaks. I did cut out a few lit books and I have read the Living Library out loud, but that is more because he enjoys that time with me. He could read it on his own and has at times.

[sarah_smile07]

Thank you for your replies! I feel much better having read what each of you wrote.

Our family has an odd school year - we school year round, 3-4 days/wk, from spring to spring. So technically, my son will be 11 yrs old during most of RtR, & my daughter will soon be 7 while in Beyond. Both kids have strengths & weaknesses, but they are doing well overall & enjoying their guides.

Our family has an activity & interest focused approach to our children's lives, so working straight from guides that lay everything out for me has taken a lot of planning time out of my hands & has lessened my worry that I might be missing something. I can work with the kids from the guides when its time for schoolwork, & then we have more than enough time to spend in other areas of interest once their boxes have been done. The past couple of months have been such a nice change in pace. I think that I had been overscheduling my kids with unnecessary work in the past with our textbook/workbook approach, because I wanted to be sure that I covered all of my bases. Sometimes I would be so worn out from struggling through long school days that I didn't have it in me to snuggle up & read a good book with my kids - & now that's part of our school day! Heart of Dakota is like a breath of fresh air. It has been so nice to rely on how the days are balanced to include what the children need in a reasonable amount of time.

I'd like to stick with Heart of Dakota through my children's high school years. That's what had me looking so far ahead, & I just wanted to get a feel as to whether or not this path was the one that I had been hoping it was. My public education definitely lacked in history, geography, bible, & science - by no one's fault, it was what it was - so I can't help but feel excited to learn right along side my children. Right now, I'm in 6th grade again too so the high school guides are a little intimidating, but I'm hoping we are ready together as a family when the time comes.

[Carrie]

Sarah,

The ladies are doing a terrific job of sharing their thoughts with you. I am blessed by this board again and again, as it so helpful to hear from families who are using the guides in their own homes.

I just wanted to encourage you as well not to get intimidated as you look ahead. I promise that the view will look different when you actually arrive at the high school guides. This is because each year kiddos mature so much more than we think. They gain needed skills, confidence, depth of faith, responsibility, independence, maturity, and stamina. Over time, they are slowly growing in all areas needed to become mature young men and women. They rise to the challenge in surprising ways, making things that seemed overwhelming before actually doable now.

This is why it is a blessing for me to write the guides one year at a time, so I can make sure to write in a progression that helps kiddos be prepared in each area for what the next guide will be asking of them. It also enables me to work back from graduation and break skills into incremental chunks throughout the high school years instead of dumping the child into the skills as graduation looms.

I remember being in your shoes, and looking at high school level materials and being overwhelmed because they looked so formal and different and huge! But as my oldest two sons, who are very different from one another in strengths and weaknesses, have each arrived at the high school years they have been prepared for what is required of them. So, be encouraged that your kiddos will be too! Enjoy each year that passes on the road to high school, because each has its joys (and its frustrations) that will not come again. Remember too that God will equip your kiddos for what He desires of them, and He can use all things for His glory. So, we just need to be mindful as His servants to provide our children with an education which honors our Lord.

Blessings,
Carrie

[sarah_smile07]

Thank you, Carrie, your note is very reassuring!