Revival to Revolution and high school...
Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 5:35 am
Hi. I live in Guam and there are no home school conventions here. I wish we had one, I'd love to come talk to you personally! I realize this time of year is busy with conventions so I'll be patient in waiting for an answer... and happy for any other seasoned home school mom who has graduated, or will soon graduate, a high school student, to chime in with an opinion.
I've been reading posts from 2008-2011 about high school and also beefing up current guides. I have a couple questions:
1. One post I read here in the forums stood out from 2008 where you were considering Cornerstone Curriculum and other Worldview courses. Is Cornerstone Curriculum still an option or in your high school plan? I'd love to have a 'peek' inside your head to see what books/courses you are thinking of for the last 2 high school guides (American History to 1900 and American History 1900 to present). I must admit I am a curriculum junkie and would feel more at ease knowing what sort of direction the next 2 years might take with literature, worldview, history, science, etc. I'd like my children to get 4 credits on their high school transcript in all the main academic subjects along with studying bible, music, art, foreign language, and of course, government and economics. They may not need all that for whatever God calls them too but I want them to be prepared.
2) My second question is what to do with my 10th grade daughter. Here's a little back ground information... I have 3 children going into grades 3, 7, and 10. We've all studied the same year in history for the past 2 years using Biblioplan (Creation last year and finishing up Renaissance and Reformation this year). But the time has come to purchase a 'box' curriculum with everything we need arriving at once and ready to go! I can't wait!!! It's definitely time to put them in their own guides and I've been 'eyeing' HoD for 3 years now and really like what I'm seeing! So we'd be starting with Revival to Revolution for my 7th grade daughter. It will be just perfect for her.
Since the high school plan is a work in progress I'm not sure what to do with my 10th grade daughter. I have 3 years left with her and don't want to jump around to other programs so whatever I choose this year will be what we use until she graduates (and then the younger kids can use it too). She is a voracious reader, does really well in school, and loves to be challenged. I haven't spend much time on teaching writing so that is one subject I'm concerned with. I do consider her written narrations quite good though. So I'm wondering, can you help me turn Revival to Revolution into a high school credit worthy challenging year? Or would you suggest we do World History or World Geography and then do the American History for grades 11 and 12? We did Sonlight's Easter Hemisphere's about 3 years ago (which might be similar to World Geography? Can anyone comment on that?). My only concern with World History is that it might be too repetitive on the Creation, Ancient History, Rome, Rennaissance, etc.parts since we've studied them pretty in-depth for the past 2 years. But then again - maybe it would be wonderful!
I must admit I've enjoyed having all the kids in one time period for history - it's nice when everyone can relate to what we're talking about in history and leads to some interesting discussions at lunch time.
3. Do your high school guides use books that can be assigned grades for history or literature? I was thinking I might need actual grades for her high school transcript. Plus, she likes being tested and recieving a grade. We never used to do that - but with Biblioplan we've had the opportunity to. It also makes my husband happy to have a 'test' and 'grade.' Any thoughts on that, or do I just need to concentrate on credits? I understand the concept behind credits based on hours completed OR quality of work plus hours spent.
4. When studying classics literature do you have literature guide type questions and assignments built into your guides or do you consider them unnecessary? My main concern here is comprehension and vocabulary for the SAT test.
5. Would you consider the science you have in the high school programs AP worthy? I know Apologia science is a popular home school science and I've noticed it hasn't made it into your guide for high school yet. I'm not criticizing though - just curious. While using Biblioplan for the past couple years for history and literature, we've used your science suggestions and loved them! My oldest is just finishing up Integrated Physics and Chemistry. I just want to know what to expect for high school science.
5. In your opinion, would adding in a program like One Year Adventure Novel Writing Curriculum be too much to add on to Revival to Revolution? Schooling for 6 or so hours a day is perfectly fine, but after that we're done. We like having time for sports and church activities as well.
Whew! I think that's it.
Thanks for listening...
Cheryl in Guam
I've been reading posts from 2008-2011 about high school and also beefing up current guides. I have a couple questions:
1. One post I read here in the forums stood out from 2008 where you were considering Cornerstone Curriculum and other Worldview courses. Is Cornerstone Curriculum still an option or in your high school plan? I'd love to have a 'peek' inside your head to see what books/courses you are thinking of for the last 2 high school guides (American History to 1900 and American History 1900 to present). I must admit I am a curriculum junkie and would feel more at ease knowing what sort of direction the next 2 years might take with literature, worldview, history, science, etc. I'd like my children to get 4 credits on their high school transcript in all the main academic subjects along with studying bible, music, art, foreign language, and of course, government and economics. They may not need all that for whatever God calls them too but I want them to be prepared.
2) My second question is what to do with my 10th grade daughter. Here's a little back ground information... I have 3 children going into grades 3, 7, and 10. We've all studied the same year in history for the past 2 years using Biblioplan (Creation last year and finishing up Renaissance and Reformation this year). But the time has come to purchase a 'box' curriculum with everything we need arriving at once and ready to go! I can't wait!!! It's definitely time to put them in their own guides and I've been 'eyeing' HoD for 3 years now and really like what I'm seeing! So we'd be starting with Revival to Revolution for my 7th grade daughter. It will be just perfect for her.
Since the high school plan is a work in progress I'm not sure what to do with my 10th grade daughter. I have 3 years left with her and don't want to jump around to other programs so whatever I choose this year will be what we use until she graduates (and then the younger kids can use it too). She is a voracious reader, does really well in school, and loves to be challenged. I haven't spend much time on teaching writing so that is one subject I'm concerned with. I do consider her written narrations quite good though. So I'm wondering, can you help me turn Revival to Revolution into a high school credit worthy challenging year? Or would you suggest we do World History or World Geography and then do the American History for grades 11 and 12? We did Sonlight's Easter Hemisphere's about 3 years ago (which might be similar to World Geography? Can anyone comment on that?). My only concern with World History is that it might be too repetitive on the Creation, Ancient History, Rome, Rennaissance, etc.parts since we've studied them pretty in-depth for the past 2 years. But then again - maybe it would be wonderful!
I must admit I've enjoyed having all the kids in one time period for history - it's nice when everyone can relate to what we're talking about in history and leads to some interesting discussions at lunch time.
3. Do your high school guides use books that can be assigned grades for history or literature? I was thinking I might need actual grades for her high school transcript. Plus, she likes being tested and recieving a grade. We never used to do that - but with Biblioplan we've had the opportunity to. It also makes my husband happy to have a 'test' and 'grade.' Any thoughts on that, or do I just need to concentrate on credits? I understand the concept behind credits based on hours completed OR quality of work plus hours spent.
4. When studying classics literature do you have literature guide type questions and assignments built into your guides or do you consider them unnecessary? My main concern here is comprehension and vocabulary for the SAT test.
5. Would you consider the science you have in the high school programs AP worthy? I know Apologia science is a popular home school science and I've noticed it hasn't made it into your guide for high school yet. I'm not criticizing though - just curious. While using Biblioplan for the past couple years for history and literature, we've used your science suggestions and loved them! My oldest is just finishing up Integrated Physics and Chemistry. I just want to know what to expect for high school science.
5. In your opinion, would adding in a program like One Year Adventure Novel Writing Curriculum be too much to add on to Revival to Revolution? Schooling for 6 or so hours a day is perfectly fine, but after that we're done. We like having time for sports and church activities as well.
Whew! I think that's it.
Thanks for listening...
Cheryl in Guam