Need Help!

[kzacarkim]

Hello ladies,
I need some help. I have a niece (16 year old) who came to live with us from Brazil. She is learning English, but still has quite a way to go. She went to public school here for the last 2 months and I had to help her a lot with her schooling due to limited English. She is on 10th grade, and she is a really smart girl. She is on level with her school work and got decent grades despite the language problems. Since I've had to help her a lot a home with her school projects, I've entertained the idea of homeschooling her. The problem is I don't know if that is possible with the HOD curriculum. The history, the readings, just seem too over the top for her right now. I like the idea of working with her one to one, and of course the Bible portion of the curriculum. Has anybody encountered a situation like this? I'm also totally clueless about how to count the credits for high school. Where should I start? Help please!
Thanks!
Karla

[8arrows]

I don't have any advice, but I just wanted to say thank you for caring for her and pouring into her life. I am sure some of the other ladies will have words of wisdom.

[kzacarkim]

Thank you Melissa! I feel a little overwhelmed by the desire to help her and at the same time feeling inadequate. Thank you for the encouragement!
Karla

[Nealewill]

I am sure other moms will have excellent wisdom here but I do know so moms who homeschool kids who come from another country and who are older. So I just have a few questions about her. Is she planning to stay in the US for the rest of her schooling time? Do you care if she graduates in 3 years? And is she college bound? I only asked all of these questions because I think they would dictate how I handed her schooling if I wanted to bring her home (which I know would probably choose to do ). If she is planning to stay in the US and she is planning to go to college, I might not have her graduate in 3 years. I would want to her to develop her language skills some what before letting her graduate. This would give her time for her English to catch up. Also, I am not sure where she is with her English skills. Can she read in English? And I am guessing that the placement chart is going to be bit out of whack when you check her skills. She obviously very smart but just would have hard time with some things because of her language. So here would be my plan if it were me:

Next year (10th grade year) - I would place her in Rev 2 Rev. I would do this level because it would be easy to modify it for a 10th grader. And I think it would be a great starting point for her if she is challenged with reading a lot in English. The science would be great because you could choose to do the advanced versus the intermediate science. This would give her the credits she needs for high school science. In addition, the science would introduce her to several famous Americans and may culturally be of benefit. For the history, I would do it as is and I would buy the extension pack but do that as a read aloud instead of having her read it to herself at this point. And since you are reading the extension pack to her out loud, I probably wouldn't buy the read aloud books and I would skip those for the year. And I love that Rev to Rev has a lot of CDs that she could listen to rather than her reading a ton. For her English credit, I would use the grammar resources recommended by HOD for Rev to Rev as well. However, when doing DITHOR, I would pick books for each genre in Spanish. This way, she has something that isn't so stressful since it is in her native tongue. And there have been many people who have posted about book selections for older children. Someone else on here may have some great ideas for books that would be at her level. For grammar, I would have her do the R&S level that she places at. For the writing, I would have her use the writing book recommend. It is written for grades 7-9 but could definitely be used for a 10th grader. In addition, for this book, I would allow her to complete the writing assignments in Spanish if she wants. Is she mathy? If she is really good at math and she already had Algebra 1, I would look to move her to Algebra 2 next year. I know with public school and HOD both, that they would recommend doing Geometry after Algebra 1. However, with her not speaking English well, I think Algebra 2 would be easier on her than doing Geometry. Geometry is going to be very wordy and she will have a difficult time with that text next year. If she is really good at math, and you don't mind having her do some review, I would probably look at doing the VideoText series. You would have to be involved with her. And you would have to start at the beginning. But there would be a lot of review in the beginning and she could take the algebra course and probably finish it in 1.5 years by having her work over the summers on it if you want her to finish it quickly. However, if she isn't going to graduate in 3 years, then I would slow her down and take 2 years to do the Algebra. And then move her to the next set of videos for geometry, trig and pre-cal for the next 2 years after that. The videos would probably be great for her because she can see how things are worked while someone is speaking to her. Plus, when she starts out, the first year should be a lot of review so it may help her to strengthen her English by hearing them talk about something she already knows. If you don't want to do any review or move to a high level math, then I would look at Foerster's Algebra 2 or Saxon. Finally - for spelling, there is a lot of copy work in this guide which will be great for her. I would also start studied dictation for her. I would take it slow. And I might do two passages a day at a lower level to get her up to speed.

For 11th grade - I would have her do MTMM. Again, I would skip the read aloud books and read the extension pack out loud to her. In addition, for the history portion of MTMM, they use Story of the World. HOD doesn't sell the book on CD but SOW does sell that same book on CD. So if she is still struggling a little bit with language and reading in English, you could buy SOW on CD for her. For Science, I would do everything listed and add in the Chemistry 101 DVDs. This would give you high school Chemistry and she could put that on her transcript. For English, I would use DITHOR books in Spanish again. I would use the writing program recommended by HOD and have her complete her papers in Spanish. But, another thought might be to compare the Write with the Best books 1 and 2. I would look through them both and try and decide which would be a better fit for her because of the language. The first book has a lot of grammar in it and that might serve a better purpose for her. If you did book 1, I would have her do the writing in English instead of Spanish. If she is not already in R&S 7, I would try and do the next level up for a full year to increase her level in R&S. I would continue on with the math program and series you selected. If you are ready for Geometry because you did not choose Video Text, then I would look at the Geometry picked by HOD which is listed in the WH guide. For spelling, you will still have lots of copy work and I would continue on with dictation but may slow it down to 1 passage a day. I would also probably reassess her level each year to see which dictation level she should be doing.

For 12th grade - she will now be in the WG guide. I am not sure if you will plan to graduate her after this year or not. For history, I would do everything as is for history. But I might consider reading aloud the Living Library to her if she still struggles a little bit with English. However, this is 2 years later so her English is going to be much improved at this point. So she may be able to read it on her own just fine by now. For science - if you plan to graduate her at the end of this year, then I would look to do the Biology from WH guide that is coming out. This way you have 4 years of high school science and 2 of them are Biology and Chemistry. Even if she is going to do future guides, I would still probably pick the Biology because she could then do Physics for her last year. By this time, all of the HOD guides will be out and you could look and see what science is in the last guide. I would follow their plans for English but have her do all of the readings and writings in English this year. Since she already speaks another language, I don't think in Ohio she would need to take another language. I know that in Ohio, we are required to get 2 full credits of foreign language. But she would be exempt. She would take the logic from the WG guide this year. And you would continue with dictation for spelling.

If you graduate her at the of the 12th grade year, at some point you will probably need to add in a couple of things. In Ohio, I am required to have .5 credits of government. I showed my certified teacher who reviews my stuff the HOD catalog and asked if MTMM or Rev to Rev had enough for that she said no. But you could probably find something to add in that would put you up to par on the time requirement and you wouldn't have to add much at all. My certified teach said both had great stuff but it just wouldn't meet he time requirement. Other moms may have good suggests but I just don't. I also know that in Ohio, we are required to have .5 credits of economics and .5 credits in finance. In other posts on this forum, people have mentioned using the Notgrass Economics and the Dave Ramsey finance videos. You could just pick a year to add these in. Since MTMM has the Penny Candy book, I would probably add in the Notgrass Econ book that year. You could also add in the government .5 credits that year too. For her last year of school is when I would add in the Finance video. And finally, in Ohio, I am required to have 1.0 credits of fine art. So if she only going to complete school for the next 3 years, then I would pick one of the years to do the art from the WH guide. Maybe having her do that next year would be great because it may be something that she enjoys and it she can do it even though she is still learning English.

However, if you are going to have her keep going with school for another year or two, I would just continue on with each next guide. I think for easiness sake and if it were me, even though she is sounds very bright, I would probably have her do the WH guide as well regardless. This would make getting all of your credits easier to do. And she would graduate at 19 instead of 18. You would still need to add the government piece, the econ piece and the finance piece. But the art would end up in this guide easily and since you aren't doing Spanish here, the finance would just substitute for the time slot. Plus, this gives her a solid 4 years of school giving her 4 years to get her English up to speed. And by adding in this last year, it would give her a rich foundation in how American's see the world preparing her even more for her life here. It would also make getting all the credits you need a little bit less stressful and less rushed. Plus, if she is college bound, then it she can increase her language skill tremendously by adding in this one extra year. And finally, by adding in the WH guide, you could then do the last science giving her an advanced science for High School. This would also give her 4 years to complete math. But again, you would need to decide what the right decision is for you and her about whether or not add in that last guide.

Hopefully someone on the forum has been there and done that and they can offer great advice. But in reading what you have shared, this would probably be my approach.

[kzacarkim]

Wow! Danaele,
Thank you so much for the detailed response! I will be referring to it often.
My niece is planning on staying with us and we are getting her legal custody, so she plans on attending college here as well. I like your idea of extending high school a little bit so she can solidify her English skills for college. As far as her English levels, she still uses the Google translator a lot to help her with her instructions for her school assignments. Sometimes I have her write her answers in Portuguese and then I translate it in English for her to submit, so it is still her own work, but translated. Plus, I think it helps her English too. It is a lot of work for me, but I have seen great improvement since she got here, especially with a house full of kids talking all day long!
Again, thank you so much! I will certainly be using a lot of your suggestions! I will still need a lot of help, and will have to research what Florida requires for high school graduation and the necessary credits, but that gives me a great start!
Blessings to you and your family!
Karla

[my3sons]

Awesome, well-thought-out advice by Nealewill already! I'm just seconding it and praying for you to have a wonderful year with your 3 littles and your new older addition to the family (as well as your little bundle of joy expected in Nov.)! Oh, and I would have your niece help you out with the littles each day! She could take a turn playing with each of your littles and maybe even assist you with some of the homeschooling, as that is what being a part of the family is all about anyway. God bless!

In Christ,
Julie

[kzacarkim]

Julie,
That's a wonderful idea! She sure can be a lot of help. I'm struggling with her mom who does not want her to be home schooled I really think she would do much better at home without the crazy requirements of public school. Please pray for us to choose the best option for her, and for her parents to be in agreement!
Thank you so much for all the support. I am very blessed to have found HOD! I pray that God will bless your family, Carrie's, and all the moms that take a special time to help each other!
Blessings!!!
Karla