World Geography Guide

[4Hispraise]

I have read that the WG guide takes approximately 6.5-7 hours. So, I am having these panic attacks. My son (grade 10) is going to be attending an Aviation school that does not cover general requirements for 3.5 hours daily. We will continue homeschooling all his general requirements for high school. I do not know how to make the WG guide work for us. I just do not see my son sitting through 7 additional hours of school after attending classes for 3.5 hours & having additional homework.

If you have used the WG guide, and could make any suggestions as to how to make this work for us (and I already purchased it, so I am confident we can somehow make it work). I did read that the living library is optional, so I am not planning on making him read those books. We use something different for science, mainly because he has already completed the recommended science, a biology class and will be taking a Chemistry I class. We also use something different for math - he is advanced and completing Algebra II. Other than that, we follow all of HOD recommendations.

Oh, and for literature, we will be completing the World History selections because we did the literature from the WG guide this year.

I am afraid that I have messed this up so badly that it can not be redeemed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Tidbits of Learning]

It sounds as if you will be doing what we are doing with WG which is not all of the guide. I have scheduled out for us 3 hours from the WG guide that includes Bible, WG, Geography Activities, World Religion/Devotional Reading, and Logic. So it is taking us only 3 hours from the WG guide, but our math science and language arts is scheduled for 3 hours as well not including foreign language. I don't think you have made a mistake but I am not sure how you can do all the core subjects for high school without taking at least 5-6 hours to complete them. Maybe you could spread your core subjects out over 5 days instead of 4 to make it more manageable?
That would probably be my suggestion. Try spreading it out over 5 or even 6 days including some Saturday schooling if Aviation school on top of regular school will be too much in a day.

[MelInKansas]

Just some thoughts

1) summer school

2) You say it does not cover core subjects, which makes sense, but would there not be anything out of that you could count as some H.S. credits? Surely mechanic work or something he could get a credit in. Then as Tidbits suggested, take out of WG (or WH) the credits he absolutely needs to get through with all his Math, English, Science credits that are needed. Maybe this could get it down to 4-5 hours?

3) Aviation school implies perhaps this child is not college bound. Now, I am sure you want to build a transcript that will allow him to go to college if he chooses to at any point in life. But it is obvious you and he feel this is a good move for his future career, so maybe more time needs to be focussed on that and less on rigourous H.S. academics.

[Nealewill]

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15114

The above link is a link for someone who was also worried about how long the WG would take. In there, many moms have replied and a few have posted how long some of the things will take. One thing I wonder though about your literature, are you completing the entire English course from WH or just the literature selections. If you are trying to substitute the entire book selection for WG and your are still planning to do the writing and Bob Jones course from WG, then I think you may be overwhelmed. If your son just needs additional books, there have been other threads with ideas for different books that would be high school level and I would pick from that. Or you son could read the off series - the girl selection if he would tolerate it.

But I do think spreading time over 5 days versus 4 would wise. Plus, with HOD there is never any "homework". And in the other thread they talked about what is necessarily for High School credit and what is not. I know in my state my kids only need 20 credit to graduate. But with HOD, if I follow their plan exclusively, my kids will end up with around 26 or 27 credits. So you can definitely cut things according to your states requirements. Also, with Aviation school, I would think some of that would count towards something as well.

[Tidbits of Learning]

Another thought, school year round. We do and it gives us 40 school weeks. We borrow New Zealand's school calendar and start mid-January do 9 weeks 1 week term break 9 weeks 4-5 weeks semester break 9 weeks 1 week term break 4-5 weeks semester break (end of year). This gives about a month in July and a month mid-Dec. to mid-January off, but gives more school days and more time to spread out things if needed.

[Nealewill]

I love that suggetstion Tidbits! We also school all year around We take off the month of December and usually the month of June or July. Then we take off one week per month August through November. And then we take off about 3 weeks somewhere between January and May. I don't normally need to take off in January because we just had a month off but by the end of February, I am ready. So I guess in summary:

Full on January
1 week off in February
1 week off in March
1 week off in April
Full on May
Off for June
Full on July
Full on August
1 week off September
1 week off October
1 week off November
Off for December

This gives you about 14 weeks off of school total. But then you have 52-14=38 weeks left to get the 34 units finished. We only school 4 days per week. But if you wanted more time off, do 5 days a week for few weeks and then you could take even more time off later. This works very well for us.

[4Hispraise]

Thanks for all the input, ladies. He is college bound, BUT wants to work in the airline industry. We, after much prayer and lots of deep breaths, decided that this option was the best for him. He will graduate hs four credit hours shy of his associates degree. The instructor that I met with recommended that I allow him to complete those four credit hours online during the summer between his junior and senior year. Then, he hopes to work in his chosen field and continue his education to earn his bachelor's degree.

All the classes he will be taking at the center are college classes...which is why I am so concerned about the rest of school. The link shared was quite helpful.

Just really, thank you!

[my3sons]

You have gotten some super ideas already! Schooling year round, schooling in the summer, schooling on the fifth day, schooling on Saturday - all good feasible ideas! Just thinking of using the fifth day - I'd say 6 1/2 hours would be enough each day without the Living Library. 6.5 divided over 5 days would be about 5 1/4 hours a day. If you wouldn't mind sharing - what hours of the day and months will he be attending aviation school? That may help us brainstorm even more!

In Christ,
Julie

[4Hispraise]

Thanks for chiming in, Julie.

The Aviation Center is from the last week of August through the first week of June. He will be attending classes from 12:00-2:45 daily with homework. It is a university offering classes at our local airport as part of the public school system (dual credit). He is super excited - they build a plane!

Anyway, if you have any ideas...and as I look at the guide and the way the credits are laid out, I may be able to figure out things we are not going to do because he won't need all the credits??

[Maadrose]

It sounds like he has an AMAZING opportunity! I want to take part in that! My kids too!

I have no wisdom to add except to say that if that is his focus is this extra aviation thing, then that should be a priority. I'm not saying the other stuff isn't important, maybe it should just be in the background. I think at this point you and your doc needs to decide what is most important and focus on those things. Don't discount all of the knowledge he will be gaining in the aviation program. And that May have been said before, I'm just mentioning it.

[MelInKansas]

Wow! That is an amazing opportunity. Especially if this is an area of interest for him, I would definitely want to take advantage of it. It would mean a lot of work, and you want to make it managable so he can accomplish his guide/credits and the homework for the Aviation school as well. Do you already know your state's requirements for H.S. graduation credits and some of the credits for college entrance? And again, if those are college credit classes, obviously they count something towards his H.S. requirements or college entrance credits, I would think. Like kids who are able to take college courses in H.S. and thereby receive credit for both.

[my3sons]

Thanks for chiming in, Julie.

The Aviation Center is from the last week of August through the first week of June. He will be attending classes from 12:00-2:45 daily with homework. It is a university offering classes at our local airport as part of the public school system (dual credit). He is super excited - they build a plane!

Anyway, if you have any ideas...and as I look at the guide and the way the credits are laid out, I may be able to figure out things we are not going to do because he won't need all the credits??

My ds, Wyatt, worked from around 2 to 4:30 or 5 PM Monday, Wed., and Friday and played with the cousins Tuesdays and Thursdays during that time. We did 5 days worth of plans in 5 days, as this fits the rest of the year well for both of us in regard to our work outside of school. He spread his school work out like this...
6 AM - 7:30 AM: Independent school work in room
7:30 - 9 AM: Non-school related things - getting ready/chores/breakfast, etc.
9 AM - 1:00 PM: School work (I did my midpoint teaching time in the middle of this block)
Either finish work after lunch and/or do some at night in room from 8:30 to 9:30 PM. I had him finish out independent things only.

This worked well for Wyatt! You could easily spread over to the fifth day too. I think something similar to what we did would probably work just fine, as Wyatt needed a similar amount of time off in the afternoons and evenings. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[StillJulie]

Thanks for chiming in, Julie.

The Aviation Center is from the last week of August through the first week of June. He will be attending classes from 12:00-2:45 daily with homework. It is a university offering classes at our local airport as part of the public school system (dual credit). He is super excited - they build a plane!

Anyway, if you have any ideas...and as I look at the guide and the way the credits are laid out, I may be able to figure out things we are not going to do because he won't need all the credits??

My ds, Wyatt, worked from around 2 to 4:30 or 5 PM Monday, Wed., and Friday and played with the cousins Tuesdays and Thursdays during that time. We did 5 days worth of plans in 5 days, as this fits the rest of the year well for both of us in regard to our work outside of school. He spread his school work out like this...
6 AM - 7:30 AM: Independent school work in room
7:30 - 9 AM: Non-school related things - getting ready/chores/breakfast, etc.
9 AM - 1:00 PM: School work (I did my midpoint teaching time in the middle of this block)
Either finish work after lunch and/or do some at night in room from 8:30 to 9:30 PM. I had him finish out independent things only.

This worked well for Wyatt! You could easily spread over to the fifth day too. I think something similar to what we did would probably work just fine, as Wyatt needed a similar amount of time off in the afternoons and evenings. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Did you mean four days of plans in five days?

[my3sons]

StillJulie - In answer to your question here - no, I did mean we did 5 days' worth of plans in 5 days, and we did not take a fifth day off - about 6 1/2 to 7 (longer at the start of the year) hours of work daily. This was due to my father's health that needed our attention, and I needed to 'make up time.' HTH!

In Christ,
Julie