It's August! Either you are posed and chomping at the bit to officially open those new books you ordered in April, or you are wondering what happened to summer and wish you could live in ignorance. Truthfully, you're probably somewhere in between these two extremes. Before we dive into the implementation or curriculum it is imperative that we take a moment to remember our purpose. Casting a vision for your family homeschool is an essential part of leading your children. Check out some practical steps you can take to help your high school student and yourself in creating a vision:
Helping our high school students develop a plan can seem like a daunting task, but it has the potential to be a great shared experience. For ease, here are the five steps in creating a high school plan with your student.
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Homeschool vision
I've said this before and I'll say it again: You need a vision for your homeschool! When the days are long, you need to know why you're homeschooling. When your student struggles, you need to know why you're homeschooling. When you're in the middle of February, you need to know why you're homeschooling. So what's your vision? Why are you suffering through the work and dedication that a good education requires?
Register for our newsletter here: scioacademy.com/free to have the vision guide sent directly to your inbox.
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Assess your student's gifts and passions
You've all heard the classic Proverbs' verse all about training up a child in the way he should go, you've probably even heard complete sermons on this single verse. Have you ever stopped to talk to your child about his passions, gifts, and dreams? This second step takes time. It takes openness, vulnerability, and honesty with your child. If this type of conversation isn't already a part of your regular family conversations then this step will feel a little like pulling teeth. Please resist the urge to pull teeth. It is okay if your child doesn't know what his dreams are. With the caveat of moving slowly, here are some questions or prompts to help you with this step:
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- What do you love doing?
- If you were given an entire day to do anything you'd like, what would it be?
- How do you plan to earn money?
- When I was a kid, someone told me ______, and it showed me that I _______. Has that ever happened to you?
- Who do you look up to? Why?
- What do you wish you knew how to do?
- I've noticed that you're really good at________.
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Create a student roadmap
Here's where the rubber meets the road. Figuratively of course, although many students' roadmaps do include getting a license. This is where you plan your student's goals for education, work, apprenticeships, sports, extracurricular, etc. In short, this step is writing down the fruition from the previous step's conversation. Then modeling planning with your student. I bullet journal and have shown my high school students the benefits, but only one of them has really used it. It doesn't work for everyone. Our goal as a parent for this step is to show our children how to plan, and let them create their own.
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Check the state requirements regarding high school homeschoolers.
If you are under an umbrella school, then they are your authority on requirements, so check with them. If your child is college or military bound then check the requirements for the appropriate organization. This is a simple yet very essential step. This is where you learn that your child needs three years of science, but only two of foreign language. Without this simple checklist of requirements, you may not meet the requirements for a complete high school education.
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Implementation
Finally, we dive head first into implementation. This step is the combination of all of the previous steps. You find where your vision, your student's gifts, goals, and the state or school requirements complete your four year plan. It's fairly tricky, but completely worth the extra work to have a solid plan in place.
We have a tool for helping you implement this part of the process too! It's called the high school guide, and can be found in the toolbox for our math masters members! We strive to provide you with the tools that you and your family need to be the homeschool family you admire the most.