I have lots of ideas, but wanted to see what ideas you have.
Thank you
HOD for High School
HOD for High School
What would need to be added to CTC and the Middle Ages set to make it worthy of High School.
I have lots of ideas, but wanted to see what ideas you have.
Thank you
I have lots of ideas, but wanted to see what ideas you have.
Thank you
Miranda 15 on July 4th
Cassandra 12
Jonathan 10
Sarah 8
Hannah 6
Rachel 4
Abigail 2
Rebecca born in Sept.
Cassandra 12
Jonathan 10
Sarah 8
Hannah 6
Rachel 4
Abigail 2
Rebecca born in Sept.
Re: HOD for High School
Marsha,
That is an interesting question and much will depend upon what your state requirements are for high school (and also what type of higher education plans you have for your child as to whether that child is college bound, etc).
For a distinguished track high school education, most states are moving toward a 4 x 4 requirement for serious college-bound students who wish to compete for scholarships. This includes requiring 4 years of science (with 3 of the years being a lab science and typically including Biology and Chemistry at a minimum), 4 years of literature study/grammar/composition combo. (with American lit. being a requirement for sure and some leeway in the other literature areas), 4 years of history (typically covering geography a year or at least a semester, world history a year, American history a year, and Economics or Finance/Government each for a semester - although you can do various combinations to reach these requirements), and 3-4 years of math (with a bare minimum of algebra and geometry). There are other additional areas that are typically required as well like speech, fine arts, physcical education, computer, 2 consecutive years of a foreign language, etc. however the 4 x 4 requirements will take the bulk of the time.
If your student is not college-bound or is headed toward community college, you would have more leeway in the requirements and would instead focus on the basic requirements of the state and on fine-tuning a course of study that will guide your child in training for his/her future goals.
As far as CTC goes, in order to count it for high school credit, you'd need to up the level of reading material for history by adding more high-school worthy reading. You could add something like Unwrapping the Pharaohs for the first section of study for Egypt, and look for some upper level materials for Greece and Rome as well. This is a tough time period to find God-honoring content though, even in upper level material. We have some pretty major problems with much of the material out there for this time period. Another thought would be to do a geography year or semester course (depending on whether your state requires a semester or a year of geography) using Ellen McHenry's Mapping the World by Art for geography credit, and then not worrying about the history credit for this year. You could add this daily to CTC and get through the study in a year. Yesterday's Classics has a book by Synge that will pair well with the Mapping the World by Art to add more content reading for geography. We are looking at doing this with our own son in grade 9 and moving toward possibly writing a geography guide someday for grade 9 utilizing these resources among others.
If you went the history credit route instead (upping the history readings), the geography within CTC alone would likely be 1/4 credit of your total geography needed for high school, as you'd be doing some geography each year to add together for your geography credit by the time your child is a senior. In that respect, the geography would likely be fine from CTC. The geography portion in our upcoming RTR will be strong too, so you'd likely be alright if you kept on this same path of upping each level of HOD for your high school child.
You'd also want to make sure your child is reading higher level literature, doing this either through choosing higher level books that match the time period (or any books you choose) to add to DITHR or by utitlizing a different literature program instead. DITHR is worthy of high school credit in lit. for grade 9, depending on which books you select for use along with it. Since we've used DITHR for years for my oldest son, we're moving into something else in high school for lit. study. We have looked long and hard for one that we like for our own son next year and have been having a tough time finding one that meets all of our goals. We are leaning toward doing much of Smarr's Intro. to Lit. course at this point, however we prefer Write with the Best Vol. II to use with it for grade 9 comp., rather than Smarr's writing lessons (at the 9th grade level anyway).
If your oldest child has not done Write with the Best Vol. I, then you could begin by doing that for high school comp. for a semester first in grade 9 (or as its scheduled within CTC instead if you want a slower pace) and moving toward Write with the Best Vol. II the second semester of grade 9 or the next year. Write with the Best I is on the easy side for high school but is a good intro. for students who have had little writing practice. Write with the Best II is fine for grade 9 writing. Both could be 9th grade worthy composition programs when combined with literature study and grammar instruction. Or, you could just add your own program for comp. that fits your child best.
For grammar, we are leaning toward continuing with Rod and Staff for high school, doing English 7 during grades 9-10 (half each year) and doing English 8 in grade 11-12 (half each year). These two levels are definitely high school worthy in their Table of Contents and in their coverage. You could use any grammar option with which you feel comfortable, although I'd lean toward doing some grammar every year as many sections of the SAT/ACT are a reflection of what is covered under the "English" umbrella.
You would definitely need to add or use something else for science in looking for biology credit and lab credit. However, whatever you use for biology would dovetail nicely with the Life Science/ Biology focus in CTC. If you were looking for a lighter science approach you could consider adding the Biology 101 DVD and its outlined requirements for biology credit. Otherwise, you could use any of the other standard biology offerings (i.e. Apologia, BJU, CLP, etc.). We are leaning toward PAC-works Biology and Anatomy and Physiology doing a lesson a day 4 days a week with a lab on Fridays. We're thinking of using some of Castle Heights Biology labs for our own son next year at this point.
For Bible credit, you could add something like Balancing the Sword to the Bible Quiet Time readings within CTC. This would add time to that component to make it credit worthy and raise the level of the material, while giving some good thought-provoking questions to go with the Bible reading. We are planning to use this with our own son for high school Bible study.
I have to run for now, but this will get the ball rolling on some thinking of what you could do for high school with CTC.
Blessings,
Carrie
That is an interesting question and much will depend upon what your state requirements are for high school (and also what type of higher education plans you have for your child as to whether that child is college bound, etc).
For a distinguished track high school education, most states are moving toward a 4 x 4 requirement for serious college-bound students who wish to compete for scholarships. This includes requiring 4 years of science (with 3 of the years being a lab science and typically including Biology and Chemistry at a minimum), 4 years of literature study/grammar/composition combo. (with American lit. being a requirement for sure and some leeway in the other literature areas), 4 years of history (typically covering geography a year or at least a semester, world history a year, American history a year, and Economics or Finance/Government each for a semester - although you can do various combinations to reach these requirements), and 3-4 years of math (with a bare minimum of algebra and geometry). There are other additional areas that are typically required as well like speech, fine arts, physcical education, computer, 2 consecutive years of a foreign language, etc. however the 4 x 4 requirements will take the bulk of the time.
If your student is not college-bound or is headed toward community college, you would have more leeway in the requirements and would instead focus on the basic requirements of the state and on fine-tuning a course of study that will guide your child in training for his/her future goals.
As far as CTC goes, in order to count it for high school credit, you'd need to up the level of reading material for history by adding more high-school worthy reading. You could add something like Unwrapping the Pharaohs for the first section of study for Egypt, and look for some upper level materials for Greece and Rome as well. This is a tough time period to find God-honoring content though, even in upper level material. We have some pretty major problems with much of the material out there for this time period.
Another thought would be to do a geography year or semester course (depending on whether your state requires a semester or a year of geography) using Ellen McHenry's Mapping the World by Art for geography credit, and then not worrying about the history credit for this year. You could add this daily to CTC and get through the study in a year. Yesterday's Classics has a book by Synge that will pair well with the Mapping the World by Art to add more content reading for geography. We are looking at doing this with our own son in grade 9 and moving toward possibly writing a geography guide someday for grade 9 utilizing these resources among others. If you went the history credit route instead (upping the history readings), the geography within CTC alone would likely be 1/4 credit of your total geography needed for high school, as you'd be doing some geography each year to add together for your geography credit by the time your child is a senior. In that respect, the geography would likely be fine from CTC. The geography portion in our upcoming RTR will be strong too, so you'd likely be alright if you kept on this same path of upping each level of HOD for your high school child.
You'd also want to make sure your child is reading higher level literature, doing this either through choosing higher level books that match the time period (or any books you choose) to add to DITHR or by utitlizing a different literature program instead. DITHR is worthy of high school credit in lit. for grade 9, depending on which books you select for use along with it. Since we've used DITHR for years for my oldest son, we're moving into something else in high school for lit. study. We have looked long and hard for one that we like for our own son next year and have been having a tough time finding one that meets all of our goals. We are leaning toward doing much of Smarr's Intro. to Lit. course at this point, however we prefer Write with the Best Vol. II to use with it for grade 9 comp., rather than Smarr's writing lessons (at the 9th grade level anyway).
If your oldest child has not done Write with the Best Vol. I, then you could begin by doing that for high school comp. for a semester first in grade 9 (or as its scheduled within CTC instead if you want a slower pace) and moving toward Write with the Best Vol. II the second semester of grade 9 or the next year. Write with the Best I is on the easy side for high school but is a good intro. for students who have had little writing practice. Write with the Best II is fine for grade 9 writing. Both could be 9th grade worthy composition programs when combined with literature study and grammar instruction. Or, you could just add your own program for comp. that fits your child best.
For grammar, we are leaning toward continuing with Rod and Staff for high school, doing English 7 during grades 9-10 (half each year) and doing English 8 in grade 11-12 (half each year). These two levels are definitely high school worthy in their Table of Contents and in their coverage. You could use any grammar option with which you feel comfortable, although I'd lean toward doing some grammar every year as many sections of the SAT/ACT are a reflection of what is covered under the "English" umbrella.
You would definitely need to add or use something else for science in looking for biology credit and lab credit. However, whatever you use for biology would dovetail nicely with the Life Science/ Biology focus in CTC.
If you were looking for a lighter science approach you could consider adding the Biology 101 DVD and its outlined requirements for biology credit. Otherwise, you could use any of the other standard biology offerings (i.e. Apologia, BJU, CLP, etc.). We are leaning toward PAC-works Biology and Anatomy and Physiology doing a lesson a day 4 days a week with a lab on Fridays. We're thinking of using some of Castle Heights Biology labs for our own son next year at this point. For Bible credit, you could add something like Balancing the Sword to the Bible Quiet Time readings within CTC. This would add time to that component to make it credit worthy and raise the level of the material, while giving some good thought-provoking questions to go with the Bible reading.
We are planning to use this with our own son for high school Bible study.I have to run for now, but this will get the ball rolling on some thinking of what you could do for high school with CTC.
Blessings,
Carrie
Re: HOD for High School
My high schoolers are using the Pharoah's book and Balancing the Sword that Carrie mentioned. Both have been great and God-honoring, interesting too!
Melissa, wife to Jim for 28 years
3 graduated, 2 using US 2, 8th grade dd using Missions to Marvels
Isaiah 40:11 ...He gently leads those that have young.
3 graduated, 2 using US 2, 8th grade dd using Missions to Marvels
Isaiah 40:11 ...He gently leads those that have young.
Re: HOD for High School
Marsha,
I've also discovered that Masterbooks is coming out with a new book titled The Archaeology Book by David Down, which looks to me like it would go very well with the beginning of CTC. I do not have the book in hand yet, but this is a new one in a series that reads in a very interesting way and has beautiful pictures.
Another thought I had that you could consider is using Our Young Folks' Josephus by William Shephard (available at Paidea Classics). It pairs well for content with The Story of the Ancient World by Guerber but goes farther than Guerber into the history of the Jewish people, until the fall of the Temple. Since Josephus was Jewish it does not have stories about Christ, but the history of the Jewish people is well-told. You could use any of the Josephus versions to "up" the level. The Young Folks' Josephus would be the easiest verison of Josephus. Josephus is definitely a high-school worthy undertaking, and even the younger versions contain much content when coupled with that found in CTC.
One other thing to add would be a version of Plutarch's Lives. You could read the actual Plutarch, or depending on how well your kiddos read you could use an easier version like Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls by W. H. Weston. This particular version contains the "lives" of 6 Greeks and 6 Romans and is available from Yesterday's Classics. Plutarch is another high school worthy undertaking.
Caesar's Gallic Wars by Olivia Coolidge is a bit easier version of Caesar's actual account of the Gallic Wars. This is a good option for upping the level of reading in CTC and is actually very readable. Caesar wrote like he lived life... excitingly!
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar would definitely be something high school worthy to add for literature study or history study. It can be used with Leithert's guide to Shakespeare's plays titled Brightest Heaven of Invention to more fully understand and discuss the play from a Christian perspective.
Just another thought for your high schooler in beefing up the history.
Blessings,
Carrie
I've also discovered that Masterbooks is coming out with a new book titled The Archaeology Book by David Down, which looks to me like it would go very well with the beginning of CTC. I do not have the book in hand yet, but this is a new one in a series that reads in a very interesting way and has beautiful pictures.
Another thought I had that you could consider is using Our Young Folks' Josephus by William Shephard (available at Paidea Classics). It pairs well for content with The Story of the Ancient World by Guerber but goes farther than Guerber into the history of the Jewish people, until the fall of the Temple. Since Josephus was Jewish it does not have stories about Christ, but the history of the Jewish people is well-told. You could use any of the Josephus versions to "up" the level. The Young Folks' Josephus would be the easiest verison of Josephus. Josephus is definitely a high-school worthy undertaking, and even the younger versions contain much content when coupled with that found in CTC.
One other thing to add would be a version of Plutarch's Lives. You could read the actual Plutarch, or depending on how well your kiddos read you could use an easier version like Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls by W. H. Weston. This particular version contains the "lives" of 6 Greeks and 6 Romans and is available from Yesterday's Classics. Plutarch is another high school worthy undertaking.
Caesar's Gallic Wars by Olivia Coolidge is a bit easier version of Caesar's actual account of the Gallic Wars. This is a good option for upping the level of reading in CTC and is actually very readable. Caesar wrote like he lived life... excitingly!
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar would definitely be something high school worthy to add for literature study or history study. It can be used with Leithert's guide to Shakespeare's plays titled Brightest Heaven of Invention to more fully understand and discuss the play from a Christian perspective.
Just another thought for your high schooler in beefing up the history.
Blessings,
Carrie
Re: HOD for High School
These are all good suggestions.
What would you add to history to get a credit?
Also, which of these do you think would make a Literature credit?
Marsha
What would you add to history to get a credit?
Also, which of these do you think would make a Literature credit?
Marsha
Miranda 15 on July 4th
Cassandra 12
Jonathan 10
Sarah 8
Hannah 6
Rachel 4
Abigail 2
Rebecca born in Sept.
Cassandra 12
Jonathan 10
Sarah 8
Hannah 6
Rachel 4
Abigail 2
Rebecca born in Sept.
Re: HOD for High School
Marsha,
Typically one credit in high school is equal to 120 hours of work. This equals out to 160 forty-five minute class periods. So, I'd use that as a guideline when choosing which resources to add to CTC. Typically, it's a good idea to include things like mapwork, research, timeline entries, notebooking, outlining or note-taking, and written summaries or narrations as part of your history credit. These things are already scheduled in some form within CTC (with the exception being outlining, which is covered in Rod and Staff English).
By simply raising the level of what is already required in CTC, and adding some of the additional reading options I've already mentioned, you could count one credit for history as long as 120 hours or more are used to complete the coursework. It would likely be a good idea to add a monthly writing assignment to be done in final typed form for the additional history readings. This could be done by using your writing program to produce such a product. I'd also lean toward adding more written narrations to be done from the extra readings. There are suggestions within the Extension Pack readings to guide you in this area.
As far as literature goes, in order for to give a credit in this area, the advice on what to do will vary widely. This is because the English credit actually is a combination of grammar, composition, and literature. So, different people will emphasize different areas.
I lean toward a balanced approach, doing grammar twice weekly, composition for approximately 90 days (or half of the school days within a year), and reading 9 or so more classic works of literature (at a pacing of one book per month). Bearing that in mind, you could do Julius Caesar for one of the months (with discussion through Leithert's guide). Then, you'd need 8 additional titles or so to round out the literature portion.
I find the ancient time period to be difficult in choosing history-related material that I personally feel is worth spending time studying with my kiddos, as much of it is very pagan. Your thoughts may differ. But, with that in mind, I lean toward studying literature that is not related to the historical time period and rather choosing books that are worth spending time reading and discussing based on your family's goals for literature study.
Just some thoughts.
Blessings,
Carrie
Typically one credit in high school is equal to 120 hours of work. This equals out to 160 forty-five minute class periods. So, I'd use that as a guideline when choosing which resources to add to CTC. Typically, it's a good idea to include things like mapwork, research, timeline entries, notebooking, outlining or note-taking, and written summaries or narrations as part of your history credit. These things are already scheduled in some form within CTC (with the exception being outlining, which is covered in Rod and Staff English).
By simply raising the level of what is already required in CTC, and adding some of the additional reading options I've already mentioned, you could count one credit for history as long as 120 hours or more are used to complete the coursework. It would likely be a good idea to add a monthly writing assignment to be done in final typed form for the additional history readings. This could be done by using your writing program to produce such a product. I'd also lean toward adding more written narrations to be done from the extra readings. There are suggestions within the Extension Pack readings to guide you in this area.
As far as literature goes, in order for to give a credit in this area, the advice on what to do will vary widely. This is because the English credit actually is a combination of grammar, composition, and literature. So, different people will emphasize different areas.
I lean toward a balanced approach, doing grammar twice weekly, composition for approximately 90 days (or half of the school days within a year), and reading 9 or so more classic works of literature (at a pacing of one book per month). Bearing that in mind, you could do Julius Caesar for one of the months (with discussion through Leithert's guide). Then, you'd need 8 additional titles or so to round out the literature portion.
I find the ancient time period to be difficult in choosing history-related material that I personally feel is worth spending time studying with my kiddos, as much of it is very pagan. Your thoughts may differ. But, with that in mind, I lean toward studying literature that is not related to the historical time period and rather choosing books that are worth spending time reading and discussing based on your family's goals for literature study.
Just some thoughts.
Blessings,
Carrie
Re: HOD for High School
Carrie,
I think you told me that you were using Math Essentials for your son. What level is that and is it working out for him? I was thinking of using that for pre-algebra and for high school, but I am weighing it against systematic math and others. Have you got any suggestions? Also what about geometry?
Blessings,
Diane
I think you told me that you were using Math Essentials for your son. What level is that and is it working out for him? I was thinking of using that for pre-algebra and for high school, but I am weighing it against systematic math and others. Have you got any suggestions? Also what about geometry?
Blessings,
Diane
Blessings,
Diane
Began HOD in 8/2008
Joel -18 US2 History
Diane
Began HOD in 8/2008
Joel -18 US2 History
Re: HOD for High School
Diane,
My oldest son moved very quickly through the Math Essentials book as a review of all areas before heading into the Pre-Algebra Math Essentials. We simply set the timer for 50 min. each day and he watched the lessons and completed all the problems in each lesson, getting as much done in 50 min. each day as he could. I was amazed that he went through the entire Math Essentials course in about 9 weeks. He then moved into the Pre-Algebra couse and will soon be heading into VideoText Algebra.
While the Math Essentials course was terrific for review and for cementing all concepts prior to heading into Algebra, we did find that there were quite a few mistakes in the answer key and there were no step-by-step solutions. This is fine at the level that Math Essentials is currently written to cover, however we feel step-by-step solutions and accuracy in the key will be VERY important in Algebra I on up.
We loved Math Essentials for the hole it helped fill within our older son's skills in math, due to too much math program switching on my part.
However, for our recommednations for HOD, we feel more confident and comfortable using VideoText Algebra for Algebra I on up, as the program was designed to be complete with all of its solutions and has been tested repeatedly through the years and has excellent reviews. We also are thrilled to see the Geometry and Pre-Calc portions of VideoText are almost complete and are receiving excellent reviews too.
VideoText is also coming out with an online version of their Classic Program for $299, which makes it a much more cost effective option. They are currently in Beta Testing for that version.
We are also looking to schedule the Singapore Discovering Mathematics Series, after completion of Primary Mathematics 6A/6B, for those who wish to stay the Singapore course instead. We will likely take this route with our second son, who has only done Singapore Math and is in 6th grade this year.
Blessings,
Carrie
My oldest son moved very quickly through the Math Essentials book as a review of all areas before heading into the Pre-Algebra Math Essentials. We simply set the timer for 50 min. each day and he watched the lessons and completed all the problems in each lesson, getting as much done in 50 min. each day as he could. I was amazed that he went through the entire Math Essentials course in about 9 weeks. He then moved into the Pre-Algebra couse and will soon be heading into VideoText Algebra.
While the Math Essentials course was terrific for review and for cementing all concepts prior to heading into Algebra, we did find that there were quite a few mistakes in the answer key and there were no step-by-step solutions. This is fine at the level that Math Essentials is currently written to cover, however we feel step-by-step solutions and accuracy in the key will be VERY important in Algebra I on up.
We loved Math Essentials for the hole it helped fill within our older son's skills in math, due to too much math program switching on my part.
However, for our recommednations for HOD, we feel more confident and comfortable using VideoText Algebra for Algebra I on up, as the program was designed to be complete with all of its solutions and has been tested repeatedly through the years and has excellent reviews. We also are thrilled to see the Geometry and Pre-Calc portions of VideoText are almost complete and are receiving excellent reviews too. VideoText is also coming out with an online version of their Classic Program for $299, which makes it a much more cost effective option. They are currently in Beta Testing for that version.
We are also looking to schedule the Singapore Discovering Mathematics Series, after completion of Primary Mathematics 6A/6B, for those who wish to stay the Singapore course instead. We will likely take this route with our second son, who has only done Singapore Math and is in 6th grade this year.
Blessings,
Carrie
Re: HOD for High School
thank you. very good information.
very good information.grace & peace,
Teena
mom to 1/2 doz & DIL
using BHFHG & MTMM (in the fall 2012)
Teena
mom to 1/2 doz & DIL
using BHFHG & MTMM (in the fall 2012)