Dear Friends,

In our part of the country, the leaves are turning brilliant colors, the air is crisp, and plans for Thanksgiving are being made. Likewise, your family may be busy transforming your home to celebrate the splendor of autumn. In the midst of these preparations, we want to turn your minds to the subject of grading (and we don't mean FDA approved turkeys :)!

During the elementary years, many families do not grade their children's work but use other means of assessing their progress. However, once children begin taking high school level courses, it is important to reevaluate the necessity of grades. Even though grading is subjective, the grades your children earn provide necessary feedback for post-secondary school officials and employers to evaluate mastery in particular disciplines. These grades will not only help your son or daughter to assess the progress being made in learning the material assigned, but will also prepare your child for this method of evaluation as he or she takes advantage of different...

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! And welcome back from what we hope was a joyous and memorable Christmas break. Can you relate when we confide that it's a bit difficult for us to get re-engaged into the real world of responsibilities after the holidays? Or, are we the only two sluggards we know?

A new year always brings fresh resolutions and goals, so we want to suggest that you consider reviewing and reevaluating your goals for the rest of the school year. The overarching question to ask is: "Am I homeschooling responsibly?" We'd like to help you honestly assess how well you are managing your high school homeschooling responsibilities.

The word "responsibility" rightly carries with it the idea of being accountable to somebody or for something. Often accountability is viewed in a negative or discouraging way. But as we look at homeschooling responsibly, we want to emphasize the positives. You may discover ways you need to change or to do things differently, but if the end result improves your...

Dear Friends,

It's August! Summers go by quickly, don't they? We hope your summer has been a pleasant and relaxing respite from the busyness of the school year. While you are wading in the ocean, hiking in the mountains, or swinging in the hammock on your back porch, we pray that the Lord is using this downtime to prepare you for another school year.

Although we hate to interrupt your summer with thoughts of school (!), we'd like to use this month's newsletter to provide you with helpful information, websites, and resources to teach your teens research skills.

THE NECESSITY OF RESEARCH SKILLS

Research is the ability to investigate, discover, and explore a topic. Knowing where to locate information is important when writing a research paper, searching out answers of personal interest, investigating training needed for a specific occupation, finding a recipe, fixing a washing machine, or identifying birds in the back yard.

Academic research skills are essential no...

Dear Friends,

Now that September is past and you have settled into your school
routine, we thought it would be a good time to discuss electives and extracurricular activities. What are the differences between them? How do they benefit your teen? And, how do you best document them? Let's start by discussing electives.

ELECTIVES

Electives are considered part of the academic course load that makes up your teen's high school program. They are evaluated and awarded credit and then included on a high school transcript. An elective is a course that is not required, but a course that your teen opts to take.

Even though your plate may be really full with trying to teach the core courses such as English, history, science, math and foreign language, keep in mind that elective courses are important to include in your high school program. Choosing some courses of interest to your teen will motivate him and provide the needed panacea to complete those less interesting, but "required"...

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year 2009! The dawn of a new year is a wonderful opportunity to start afresh with a blank slate. If 2008 ended on a high note for you and your teen, praise the Lord. On the other hand, if 2008 was a year you would like to forget, we pray that the Lord helped you to grow in endurance, faith and hope. In either case, let's all launch into 2009 with great anticipation of seeing the Lord's hand in all we do.

January may be a good month for you to evaluate your progress for this school year. Adjustments may need to be made to your yearly plan--a course may have already been completed or is not coming along as anticipated. One of the benefits of homeschooling your teen is the opportunity to alter or re-customize not only your high school plan, but also to adjust the rate of speed with which you cover individual course material. Deciding the course of action you should pursue will depend on your teen's abilities and maturity level. Here are some items to keep in mind.

 ...

Dear Friends,

Are your teens being asked, "What do you want to do after high school?" That question either evokes a feeling of uncertainty in your teen, or he or she is ready with the answer. In any case, you can give your children valuable information and direction by offering a career development elective course during the high school years. As you think about planning this course, we'd like to suggest possible components to include.

Recognize Your Child's Talents and Interests

By the high school years, many parents can identify their children's talents and interests. The next step is to provide opportunities for your teens to hone these abilities by choosing some elective courses of interest through which they can acquire skills in a particular area. Additionally, these courses may introduce them to possible careers such as archeology, computers, business, and journalism, just to name a few. On our high school website we list...

Dear Friends,

Our Homeschooling Thru High School newsletter subscribers are a varied lot! Some of you have been teaching high school for many years; and as a veteran homeschooler in your circle of friends, many people come to you with questions. Or, you may be in the midst of homeschooling your first high schooler. Still others of you have yet to begin the high school adventure or you may have recently pulled a teen out of public or private school.

Regardless of your level of experience, we believe there is value for all of us to be reminded of the basics.

Prepare for Teaching High School

You'll want to prepare for the task of teaching high school by picking up at least one of these great resource books that lay a good foundation and provide many practical tips:

• "The High School Handbook: Junior and Senior High School at Home" by Mary Schofield
• "...

Dear Friends,

Time governs our days. The harder we try to hang on to it, the faster it seems to go! But, with careful planning, it is possible to use your time wisely during the high school years.

We suggest that you lay out a time line of important to-dos and major deadlines. You'll see the big picture, while at the same time you will be able to prioritize individual items. Your confidence will grow, and you'll see progress as items are checked off your list.

To help you get started, we've outlined a possible time line below Jump in at any point, but be sure to make up for any lost time by doing a quick review of prior years to check if any items were missed. For a more detailed look at what to include in your time line for high school, you may wish to download the HSLDA brochure "Keeping on Track: A Time Line for High School" along with the...

Dear Friends,

We hope this edition of the Homeschooling Thru High School newsletter finds you gearing up for a November filled with thanksgiving and joy. In the midst of homeschooling your high schooler and the busyness of your days, we encourage you to do a little extra math: count your many blessings! Remember that blessings come in the form of both joys and trials, but all are sent to increase our faith, boost our perseverance, and mold our character.

As you seek to provide a quality education to your teens, we suggest you include time to improve your teen's study skills. Many times, parents think that good study skills are naturally acquired, but that's often not the case. Study skills such as note-taking, outlining, pacing your time, organizing study materials and schoolwork, increasing reading speed, and maintaining motivation for studying are, for the majority of teens, learned skills that must be taught. The high school years--or earlier--provide an opportune time to polish up these areas of competency.

...

Dear Friends,

We are rooting for spring to come soon! How about all of you? Spring always seems to ignite desires to try something new. If that is the case for you, how about seeking out an opportunity for your teen to try a career and see whether it's a good fit?

Internships and job shadowing are two ways to explore a teen's interest and passion. By way of definition, internships are "opportunities for students to gain experience in their field, determine if they have an interest in a particular career, create a network of contacts, or gain school credit" (Wikipedia). These associations are temporary positions that may be structured to last approximately 6-12 weeks; however, the time period is often flexible. They can be paid or volunteer positions.

Job shadowing, on the other hand, is the term used when high school students observe the work that people in a career of choice perform. These opportunities are generally shorter in duration to internships--one day, a week, or so--and are unpaid.

Now...