High School Homeschooling: Preparing for College

When it comes to college, it isn't usually just the child who is nervous. Parents are as well. In a homeschool environment, parents are more so because they are taking on a number of roles occupied by different people in a traditional school setting. Here is some advice to help you to prepare your homeschooler for admission to college.
Why College?
In this day and age, the more education you have, the better you will fair in the big wide world. A high school diploma hasn't been enough for a long time. Whether you choose a trade school, a four-year university or a specialized school that caters to fashion, art, theater or music, it is important to have a firm foundation in high school in order to gain successful admittance to these centers of higher learning.
You teenager may think they know what they want to do right now, but that can change. As a parent, it is your job to give them the broadest education possible so that even if they change their mind, they are still prepared for college and a career.
Tips for Parents to Prepare your Homeschooler for College
Below you will find some advice to help you make the most of those high school years. You don't have to be a scholar to manage your child's education, just persistent.

1. Begin early - We don't mean first grade, but begin planning their high school years during the eighth grade year. Research the state requirements for graduation. Kids in traditional school attend for 180 days or roughly 1,100 hours of instruction. For a homeschooled child, each credit hour for a subject is equivalent to 180 days. So, for instance in English, 4 credit hours means that they will have to study that subject each of the four years they are in high school homeschool.


2. Talk with your teen - Since they are the one who will enter college, find out about their interests. To make high school more interesting, choose subject matter and electives that cater to their choice of career. One advantage of homeschooling is that there is more flexibility and variety when it comes to including field trips and other activities as a part of the curriculum.


3. Choose electives carefully - Colleges are looking for well-rounded students. If a foreign language is required, you don't have to choose the traditional ones. Your teen might want to study Russian or Portuguese.


4. Keep complete records - This will make it easy when completing their high school transcript and resume. Pay attention to their extracurricular activities, electives, field trips and other activities.


5. Give them every opportunity to excel - The eBook The Teenage Homeschooling Success Manual by Sophia Harris provides parents with all they need to know to encourage, motivate and help their teens find success in high school and beyond. When it comes to standardized college entrance exams (SAT, ACT), practice makes perfect. Throughout their high school career, administer several practice tests so they become familiar with the material and how the test is designed to increase their confidence level.

Homeschooling classrooms have the advantage of preparing their teens for college without extraneous issues that can plague students in traditional school.

Carolann Henderson, homeschooling mom, website editor, researcher, student of graphic design, and musician in our family bluegrass gospel band, The Hendersons. You'll find some more homeschooling curriculum reviews, general homeschooling information, free resources, tips and encouragement on my website. I also have a free gift for you that you will find instrumental in getting and staying organized in homeschooling and all areas of your life along with a free ebook to help you homeschool holidays. You can claim your free gifts by visiting my website http://www.homeschooling-road-map.com and signing up for our free newsletter. We look forward to serving you.

Reading, Thinking, and Project Based Learning

With much of today's new tools and resources and teaching/learning techniques focusing on project based learning, one might be left to question where do books fit in? How do we take literature and textbooks and incorporate them into this new teaching modality.
Reading is the sister to thinking. But, as is often true, these sisters are very different. Reading is an active learning method, as opposed to listening, which is a passive learning method. (Extrovert/Introvert)
To enhance reading literacy, students should be encouraged to also be physically engaged. Reading sections out loud and gesturing are ways to engage physically. This creates an active component for the visual learner and an activity for the kinesthetic learner. The eye movement required by reading also creates subtle but active participation as you track words, turn the pages,or if you read digitally, click the mouse or flip the pages. Carrying a storyline in short-term memory is a part of the passive engagement of literacy learning.
Reading gets the creative learning juices flowing in a student's brain. While they read, it would be a missed integrated education opportunity not to take advantage of engaging in writing too. A simple strategy is to read with a pen in hand. As the student reads, he or she should make notes in the margins, underline, circle and highlight.
What? Write in the book? Well, we all probably remember purchasing used college textbooks that were highlighted and had notes in the margins. Often they actually helped us study, making writing in books a great idea! However, if you are a purist, get a notebook and write in that. E-book reading allows you to highlight text with a slide of the finger and make note of important concepts with just the tap of a finger!
However you choose take notes, and whatever tools and resources you choose to utilize, writing the key concepts and any questions, new words, supporting details, etc. creates another active literacy learning opportunity.
Learning to identify key concepts while they read is the number one literacy learning skill. Textbook authors tend to do that for us by providing topic headings and subheadings. However, much of literature doesn't give these clues and that is where the passive thinking brain comes in.
Have you heard of the term "residue of thinking?" According to a study done at the University of Virginia, the residue of thinking is memory. This study says that learning to activate memory with small clues is easier when we engage more of our senses; creating a very personal form of integrated learning! Studies have shown that chewing gum or nibbling on a snack, fragrances in the air, soft classical instrumental music in the background, and highlighters in a variety of colors -- key concepts would be one color, supporting concepts and new words would be other colors -- are all ways to enhance memory.
Along with reading for comprehension, learn to question what you are reading. Is it true or is it biased? What supporting documentation does it need? What else needs to be learned to determine the validity of the concept? Write these questions and thoughts down too. Some of them may be answered in the text, others might lead to your next book!
If you are teaching literacy learning make sure your students write a short descriptive paragraph or two about what was the main concept, whether or not they agree with the ideas, and what new ways of thinking did the text inspire. Vocabulary words should also be looked up and incorporated in to memory by using them at least 3 times each in daily speech.
The ability to use integrated education and project based teaching techniques that provide many of the tools and resources that made homeschooling a viable and successful education choice are being explored at an unprecedented rate. Regardless of your choice for your child's education, enhanced literacy learning should be a part of your tools and resources and their day.

A great segue to project based learning is to take the text and create a Mise-en Scene project. Instructions for this activity are included in the free E-book CrafternoonDelights.com is offering to the public.
By becoming a member, you will have access to the tools and resources of integrated learning lesson plans, teaching tips and techniques, community involvement projects and a healthy living segment that teaches good eating habits through healthy recipes. It is a fun and interactive site designed specifically for those who want to improve their child's education.

How Home Tuition Prevents Your Child From Falling Behind In School

If you are a parent, the term home tuition may not be new to you. Even though some might dismiss this as an excuse for tutors to make extra money, home coaching goes a long way in ensuring your child never falls behind in his or her school. If your kid is falling behind in school, you will most likely be the last person to know. The child might be too ashamed or embarrassed to talk about his or her struggles with studies. Nevertheless, if you observe several signs, your child will not need to ask for help because you will tell that there is a problem and take proper measures.
Signs your child is falling behind
· Increased neediness - If your child is normally independent and likes to do things on his or her own, you will know there is a problem in school if he or she suddenly starts to become overly needy and dependent on you.
· Avoiding the school topic - According to child psychologists, if something is going on at school, the child will run around, fidget or do anything just to avoid any conversation about school.
· Depressed or distant behavior - Yes, even children can become depressed. If you observe that the energy level of your child has gone down particularly during school time, this could be a sign of trouble.
· Getting heated over nothing - If your child suddenly becomes aggressive and gets heated over small things especially during school time, then something is wrong.
How home tuition helps
Staying on top of schoolwork - The first thing a home tutor will do is to ensure that your child does all his or her school assignments. The tutor will also provide assistance where the child does not understand during these assignments.
Preventing lax during the holidays - It is true that long holidays provide a needed break for children to relax their mind but if they are not careful, they could become lax in their studies. A home tutor helps keep the child active in studies ensuring they never fall behind.
Testing and improving cognitive skills - According to top experts in child education, one of the underlying reasons that cause learning struggles for children is poor cognitive skills. They are mental tools that make up the child's IQ, including things like attention, memory, reasoning and logic. A good home tutor will be able to detect the absence of these skills and nature them to improve the child's performance.

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Homeschool Curriculum Review: Pimsleur Foreign Language

Foreign language is required for high school graduates whether they are homeschooled or in a traditional setting. Within the homeschooling classroom you have more choices as far as the curriculum that you choose to use. One option for your students is the Pimsleur foreign language programs.
The Pimsleur method was developed by a linguist named Paul Pimsleur (1928-1976). His method is based on his research over his many years of teaching foreign language. He learned to organize foreign language materials so that they would be processed effectively through the language learning power of the human brain.
The key principles of his method of foreign language learning include: graduated interval recall, principle of anticipation, core vocabulary and organic learning. With Graduated Interval Recall, when learners are reminded of new words at certain intervals, it was more likely that the information would move from short-term to long-term memory (permanent memory).
The Principle of Anticipation deals with the fact that the brain hears what someone says and anticipates a response. This complex process within the brain creates new neural pathways of understanding. By using the same principle of asking for understanding, asking for a response and then reiterating what the correct response should be, this process can be duplicated with foreign language learning.
Core Vocabulary involves learning a few phrases and words at a time until the level of mastery and then moving on to add more. Using his framework, adding new vocabulary becomes easier to master.
With Organic Learning, each new item that is introduced is done so within a conversation or other type of exchange. Students learn the context in which this word will be used for greater understanding.
What is Offered
There are several options for purchasing foreign language materials using the Pimsleur method. At Pimsleur, shipping is free as well as the first lesson of any language. Your program options include: Quick and Simple, goPimsleur, Basic, Compact, Conversational, Pimsleur I, Pimsleur II, Pimsleur III and Pimsleur IV.
Quick and Simple is an introduction to any language and offers four hours of audio instruction on 4 CDs. Go Pimsleur offers four hours of audio instruction and three hours of reading instruction. Basic contains five hours of audio instruction in any language. All three include the first 10 lessons that you would encounter in Pimsleur I.
Compact includes five hours of audio instruction (broken down into ten 30-minute sessions) along with reading instruction and cultural notes. Conversational provides eight hours of audio instruction that include the first 16 lessons of the Comprehensive level. Comprehensive includes 16 hours of audio instruction on 16 CDs which equates to thirty 30-minute sessions. It comes with reading instruction and cultural notes.
Languages available for study include French and Spanish but also harder to find instruction for languages like Croatian and Arabic. The materials can get expensive so would suggest taking advantage of the free lesson offer to see if you like the material and the method.

Carolann Henderson, homeschooling mom, website editor, researcher, student of graphic design, and musician in our family bluegrass gospel band, The Hendersons. You'll find some more homeschooling curriculum reviews, general homeschooling information, free resources, tips and encouragement on my website. I also have a free gift for you that you will find instrumental in getting and staying organized in homeschooling and all areas of your life along with a free ebook to help you homeschool holidays. You can claim your free gifts by visiting my website http://www.homeschooling-road-map.com and signing up for our free newsletter. We look forward to serving you.