Revival to Revolution and high school...

[CherylB]

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

[Tidbits of Learning]

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.

Following

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.

This is just me personally, but if your 10th grade dd is working on high school level then I would choose to go with World History or World Geography to start HOD high school. I wouldn't compare a Sonlight non-high school core to a high school HOD program and 3 years is a long time. I would look at whether Geography is a required credit needed for your dd and go from there. The World Religions and Cultures should make it a very different program as well. I wouldn't start a 10th grader in the lower guides b/c you will have so much to beef up and add in to get your required high school credits. I looked into that route as my current almost 8th grader is doing Rev2Rev and I entertained the idea of having them both do it and beef up for high school. It became evident to me after only a week that it was too easy for my high school student and I was spending a lot of time beefing up to get the other high school credits she needed.
I guess the question about whether it might be too repetitive would be better answered by asking what credits did she attain in 9th grade and how will they be labelled on her transcript? Anything prior to 9th grade won't be on her transcript.

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.

There is a grading scale in the introduction and you can see it if you pull up the sample introduction pages under the WG guide on the site. Grading is explained in detail there.

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.

It is a CM style literature study for the novels although I am adding in this Any Novel Study pdf that I found for our novels. In WG, BJU Lit is used and goes in depth in literature study. Vocabulary in respect to the SAT type test is not studied. We are using the crack the PSAT book this year for 9th and then will be using crack the SAT and crack the ACT.

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.

Since all the guides aren't out yet, I can't speak to all of the science for high school. We are choosing to use Apologia's science as we had already begun it before HOD. You can easily plug in a different science if you already have the credit needed in the guide or prefer a different text.

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.

Since HOD has writing curriculum in the higher guides, I wouldn't add more writing. I don't know how long it takes to do the One Year Adventure Novel, but HOD spreads out language arts through the week so that it isn't overwhelming. For us, I am looking at filling all of our credit requirements and letting dd explore her interests after school is over for the day.

Whew! I think that's it.

Thanks for listening...
Cheryl in Guam

For us, I found the requirements needed for a diploma in our current state, my home state, and the colleges that dd is interested in applying. It really is all about credits in high school. You need a grade and a credit for each required course. There was not any type of testing requirements for each course. That was subjective and left up to us. Personally, I did a 4 year plan plugging in the estimated future courses of the other guides. If I had a 10th grader coming into HOD, I would probably choose either World Geography or World History depending on the credits we needed and then do the 2 remaining Am. History guides.

[8arrows]

Are you counting what you did this year as a world history credit? If so, I would do the geography guide. Carrie is putting out a guide each year, so you will have your bases covered. I believe the next two are the first half of American history and government and then the 2nd half and economics. You could order just the world history guide for literature, writing, and science (Biology, ACE curriculum) or you could do the literature from the WG guide. My daughter is looking forward to the fine arts credit in the world literature guide.

[CherylB]

Thanks Tidbits and Melissa! It's helpful to have to type out my thoughts and questions and bounce them off another home school mom.

I've been so focused on the 4 year history cycle that I haven't been able to 'see' WH or Geography as an option. But now I will prayerfully consider it.

Tidbits - great advice on not beefing up the middle school guide. You've freed my brain from all the thinking and planning that would be required.

Since we don't know what my oldest will do after high school I'll make a chart to plan out credits and see what we have/need to get all the bases covered. She thinks she might want to be a pilot and fly in Alaska, for missions, over the Pacific ocean, or bush fly in the Rocky Mountains! YIKES!! My husband is a pilot so I'm not really surprised... just the thought of my sweet daughter on such grand adventures makes my heart beat really fast! LOL!

I will read and re-read your responses and keep looking through the guides.

I still hope to hear what is in the high school plan and what it includes for world view...

THANK YOU both!
Cheryl

[8arrows]

Look up at the sneak peeks at the top of this board. You will be able to see the books and choices for the world history and the world geography guides. The worldview credit is in the world geography guide.