Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation

3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool

June 10, 2015 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

It’s easy enough to understand the importance of hands-on geography in the younger years, but it is equally important to understand why hands-on geography is important in middle and high school. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips. Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Having one child who rolls his eyes at the mere mention of hands-on and prefers taking a hands-off approach and another child who fails to comprehend anything unless it’s hands-on, I want to share tips on why it’s important to keep homeschool geography hands-on.

3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool @ Tiina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Hands-on geography requires participation or collaboration.

The tendency when teaching this age group is to assign a boring text, drill and kill and then move on.

Geography is a subject that is fascinating because it is not only about describing the earth, but it includes pictures, maps, diagrams and it includes a description of life here on earth.

It is a subject that is overflowing with possibilities because to some extent it also includes man’s interaction with the resources of the earth.

With all of these facets to study about geography, collaboration gives the middle and high school student the teaching reins.

Hands-on geography requires active and not passive participation or studying in isolation.

My sons have taken the teaching reins as we have studied North Star Geography. That is one reason too why we didn’t just crack open the curriculum and study the first page.

When my boys studied together, they skipped around to hone in on a part of geography that interested them first.

Guess what? You can do this when studying geography because geography covers so many topics. You can have several trails in geography and decide which topics interests you.

homeschool high schoolgeography north star geography @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Contrary to what some people may think, hands-on learning shifts the focus of learning to the responsibility of your child.

Middle and high school years are about teaching them more independence and project learning is one of the best ways to do that.

That is one reason we use North Star Geography because it has projects that foster independent learning skills.

I will continue to use North Star Geography, which is for middle and high school kids, with Tiny now that Mr. Awesome 2015 is about ready to graduate.

Our middle and high school students just don’t know geography.

Just because a child is in middle or high school doesn’t mean his learning style has changed. We are in a visual world and visual learners are valued now more than ever.

Too, the conventional method of throwing a map to outline at the student and a textbook to read is not working. More and more students, including homeschoolers are graduating with little to no knowledge of geography.

Visual learners who learn best through hands-on still need projects and activities at the high school level. Rote memorization does not work for all kids. We need to abandon the notion that hands-on geography is not for mature learners.

We want to avoid turning out middle and high school students who are geography illiterate and conventional methods are not working. Returning to what did work in the elementary grades which was hands-on learning without doing babyish projects is key to helping our upper grade kids make meaningful connections.

Hands-on geography instills a greater awareness and fellow feeling for other cultures and historical activities.

When we studied about the American Civil War, geography took on another whole meaning when we tied it to our family roots where our ancestors fought in the battles.

It is one thing to read about history and geography in a dry text book and another to visit the physical area and walk the grounds.

Connecting geography with a physical location helps a middle and high school student to develop higher critical thinking skills.

For example, after studying together and creating maps of the battlefields during the American Civil War it lead to discussions about whether or not man learned anything about history from that bloody war?

At the high school level, my boys have formed strong opinions about the war and I am able to pass on our family values. If they studied this in isolation, they might not have reached some of the same conclusions.

Middle and high school should be a time for activities and projects that are selective and purposeful.

It’s true that many times I didn’t insist that my son who preferred a hands-off approach to join us, however, many times I did insist and not give him a choice.

Our high school kids still need guidance, direction and interaction with us. They are preparing for adulthood, which means they are not ready yet.

I am so grateful that North Star Geography sees the value of hands-on learning in the upper grades and I will continue to use it with Tiny for the next couple of years.

When I asked both of my oldest sons what they remembered about geography, it never was about a book, but it is always about a hands-on project we worked on together.

Also, you may like to read:

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschool Grad 2015 – Proud Homeschool Momma

June 8, 2015 | 8 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

{Warning: Proud homeschool daddy and momma here with lots of happy tears. Viewing these pictures can be a bit icky to look over as all I have going through my mind is that this is the last time for Mr. Awesome’s “last day of school pictures”. See, I already have tears!}

Such a good looking homeschool graduate.

Forget my flat hair as Ecuadorean weather can’t be predicted and we had rain, but somehow that didn’t matter as we hired a professional photographer and went dashing all over Cuenca for photos.

And of course there is no shortage for beautiful places here to take memorable graduation pictures.

Too, somehow things turn out just like they should be despite all my worrying.

I always say this to you, which is that each kid is different, but somehow I forget my own advice.

Mr. Awesome didn’t want the official cap and gown photo. I had looked all over everywhere here to find one. But I forgot one simple thing, just ask him.

He didn’t want a cap and gown or photo like Mr. Senior 2013 did.

Like the rain that day (unplanned), it somehow fit perfectly with what happened in our homeschool journey as we had a day of reflecting.

Somehow things just turn out better and like they should even when unplanned things happen.

As a mom and especially at such a momentous time as graduation, you want it memorable for your child.

Where one kid may want to celebrate one way, the next kid wants to do certain other things like taking traditional pictures here in South America.

So he embraced the life that we are living right now.

And spent the day savoring the surroundings we do have which are truly unique.

And where Mr. Senior 2013 was a bit more traditional, Mr. Awesome 2015 is not.

As a mom I just embraced it for the day and it was his day.

This dad and grad picture is priceless because it’s one Mr. Awesome wanted.

And yes, he wanted this one too of proud mom and grad.

Despite the rain, bit of cold weather and wet, Mr. Awesome 2015 is just who he is, the sweet baby that didn’t worry about reading or all that academic stuff, but turned out embracing it all in his time.

Finding the right dose of humor and easygoingness was the key to homeschooling this son.

Congratulations Trever, mom loves you and we are all so proud of you!

Hope you enjoyed this special day of family photos and I can’t wait to share pictures of our party!

Hugs and love ya

If you want to see the pictures of my first homeschool graduate Mr. Senior 2013 look at my 10 Days of Planning a Homeschool High School Graduation.

Homeschool High School Transcripts – Anything But Typical

May 16, 2015 | 4 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Homeschool High School Transcripts @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

It’s that time of year again when graduation and high school transcripts can be on your mind.

Whether you have to carefully craft a homeschool transcript this year or need to prepare one soon, keep these tips in mind that will make preparing a homeschool transcript a cinch. Really!

Typical Homeschool High School Transcript?

When Mr. Senior 2013 entered the middle school years, I too started my search for typical samples of high school transcripts to use.

Soon, you realize that there are quite a few factors that make each homeschool transcript unique.

Homeschool transcripts are anything but typical. Each one reflects not only the values of each family, but the strengths of each child and the child’s future plans.

A homeschool transcript does not have to be complicated but it can be complex if you don’t have a direction in mind when preparing one.

From Complicated to Clear Homeschool High School Transcripts

Look at these 5 questions that will help you to determine what type of information (content) you want to keep up with during the high school years and how you want to present that information (form).

Do you want to use the standard 4 year approach? Instead of listing each year and the subjects covered, you may want to just list the subjects covered. This works well sometimes for a child that is done with high school in a few years or one that may have gotten behind because of sickness or just because they need to plod along at a different pace.
Do you have extra classes you want to list? To vary classes in high school because it really is the time to investigate strengths and weakness of your child, some kids will take one type of class for one semester and a different one for the second semester. They may have several ½ credit classes during the course of their high school. This takes room to describe the course. What this means is that you may have more classes to list than what some forms have allowed you space or lines to write on. If your child is taking several ½ credit classes, look for a form that gives you flexibility for adding more classes.
If your child will attend college, have you checked with the college to see what type of transcript is needed? Some college requirements may state they want a transcript from an accredited school. Though more and more colleges recognize the power of the momma transcript, some colleges are stickler for their policy. First, be sure you are not wasting record keeping for four years to only find out that the college your child wants to attend has a hard and fast rule about transcripts from an accredited school.
Do you want or need to include your grading system on your transcript? Most transcripts do but the system varies from family to family.
How will you keep a progressive transcript? When Mr. Senior 2013 started to drive, our insurance company needed his progressive transcript to that date. They ended up accepting a progress report which I was able to whip out in a minute because I had been keeping our information in a Word document. If you are an excel spreadsheet type of gal, you might like that method. I don’t care for spread sheets but preferred more of a diary entry journal method when tracking high school. So I just added entries in a Word document each week. Either way, you need to determine how you will track information informally and progressively so that at any time you can prepare a formal document. Do not wait until the end of 4 years or so and try to recall what your teen has accomplished at the end of high school.

Also, look at my YouTube video How to Easily Create the Homeschool High School Transcript to give you a great start.

Look at these samples and links for places to get started.

Homeschool Transcripts – There is a free version here that may suit your needs just fine.
How to Homeschool Today – Sweet! This is a free online transcript generator, which you save as a pdf.
Let’s Homeschool High School – Nice! Has some free editable templates.
Homeschool Curriculum Savings – If you love spreadsheets, then here is a free one in a spreadsheet.
HSLDA – Has free transcripts, detailed or simple in Word and Pdf.
Cindy Downes – More free forms here.
HSLDA – Free 30 day trial on software if you want to try it out.

How to Prepare THE Homeschool High School Transcript

Research is the foundation of a well-prepared transcript.

Be sure and check out my post about how to prepare your homeschool transcript Homeschool High School – How to Prepare THE Transcript (Editable). Also, I have an editable form that may be of help to you.

Preparing the homeschool high school transcript is anything but typical and normal because your journey was unique.

There are some things that I explain in my post Homeschool High School – How to Prepare THE Transcript that you want to keep streamlined to give your transcript some uniformity. However, there is much flexibility with each transcript too.

It is an art to both follow guidelines so that your transcript meets some of the norm, but so that it accurately reflects the unique goals of your family.

Do you have to prepare a homeschool high school transcript soon? Are you dreading it or dreaming about it? (or am I dreaming that you are dreaming about it,okay,okay)

Hugs and love ya,

Here are some more links to start your research. Don’t get overwhelmed, get informed.

10 Days of Planning a High School Homeschool Graduation
Creative Solution for High School When Life Happens
Accreditation Removing the Shroud of Mystery
Homeschool – How to Log Hours for High School

Also, listed below are resources that I have read and used

Should we Give Grades to Our Middle and High School Homeschooled Kids

May 12, 2015 | 8 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

It made perfect sense to me because I was modeling a public school by grading papers. I thought grades were needed then. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips

My thinking has changed and been tweaked quite a bit since my start up in homeschooling.

I had to rethink the whole purpose of grades and grading. Why was I just following what public school did?

Who were the grades for anyway?

Homeschool Grading versus Homeschool Grades.

Mr. Senior 2013 was wanting some way to measure his understanding of the papers and that is very normal.

Too, he wanted my approval and to know that he was doing things correct. Again, that makes sense and it is a natural way to make progress.

Taking a closer look at my feelings and experience so far, I understood then that there is a fine, but significant difference between grading and giving a grade. The two concepts have to be separated.

For example, in elementary grades, I would mark the papers with how many answers were correct.

If there were 20 math questions, and Mr. Senior 2013 got 3 wrong, I would mark 17/20. He would know he got 3 wrong and would look to correct those answers.

This method very much satisfied his need for wanting to be sure things were right and gave us an informal way of grading.

Too, it fit the purpose of what I think grading is all about in the early grades, which is making progress and having quality work.

When the boys started the middle school years, grades became more important.

They were interested in how they measured up against others who were doing the same thing.

As homeschool parents we know we are not comparing our kids to each other, but kids want to know how they would measure up in a formal setting to others their same age.

Realizing too that if I wanted to start seeing more independence at this age, my sons needed some way to chart what they knew versus what needed to be improved.

Should We Give Grades to our Middle and High School Homeschooled Kids @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I came up with yet another system during the middle school time.

I just graded math, quizzes, tests and essays.

This system was not only doable, but it gave my boys something to measure by so they could improve their skills. At this point, they wanted a letter grade.

Too, I realized there was no need to give grades daily because I expected them to check their work each day against the teacher’s manual.

The quizzes, tests, reviews and essays were all done without the answers keys or teacher’s manual. Too, I do oral evaluations with them and this is part of my grading system.

This is much like narration. If they can’t tell me back what they know without looking in the book did they really learn it?

As the high school years crept in, I had to think again about the importance of letter grades because high school is a time to prepare my kids for more formal learning.

After wrestling with many different systems, when the boys entered high school, grade keeping was easier but still needed to be finely tuned.

When Mr. Senior 2013 entered high school, I started off grading all assignments. It made me flash back to my early days of grading in elementary school.

Soon, I realized that there was no way I could keep this pace up as I had other children to teach and I realize it was my fear of homeschooling high school that made me go a bit overboard.

Again, I had to rethink why I was grading each day. I knew high school was the important stage to keep grades for his transcript, but again, I had to come up with another system.

I started grading weekly instead of daily for three reasons:

It saved time because there was no need to grade daily work that he was learning;
It gave me a better look at what he was doing for the week by glancing at it for a week because then I was able to judge mastery more critically; and
It was a much better and simpler way to record keep in high school when I only had 4 grades (4 weeks) to average and give him a grade for the month instead of 30 grades (30 days).

Pretty easy uh?

When homeschooling high school, you don’t want record keeping or grading to get away from you and I have learned it is much better to keep up with as you plod along.

I know some homeschoolers who scrambled for grades for their high schooler at the end of four years, but I can’t imagine that would be easier or even accurate.

The key is developing a system for the needs of your kids, your needs and what your children will need in the future.

How to Reassess A Homeschool Grading System EACH Year.

Look at these questions that will help you determine an easy system for charting progress at whatever level you are at in your homeschool journey.

At this time do I just need grading or grades?
After my child has had time to decompress from being at public school, is he the the type of child that needs some feedback? If he needs feedback, what form is best for him? According to his age, will a smiley face suffice? Will an E for Excellent, S for Satisfied and N for Needs improvement be sufficient? Does he need a letter grade for accurate measuring?
What is my reason for grades?
Do I want to reward for good grades or just expect my kids to do their best?
How do my children view grades? Do they stress out on a quiz or test knowing that I will grade it?
Do my kids understand that there is no way we can accurately gauge everything we know but that grades are measuring sticks only?

What do you give grades for in homeschool and in which grade do you start keeping grades?

Hugs and love ya,

6 Ways to Organize Your Homeschooled High School Teen

April 17, 2015 | 7 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Organization is not something we should just learn our self, but it’s a blessing we need to pass on to our homeschooled high school teen.

6 Ways to Organize Your Homeschooled High School Teen @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Look at these 6 ways to organize your homeschooled high school teen.

1. Dedicated space.

Source: PBteen

There is nothing more important to helping your teen stay organized than having a place for “it all”.

From the time they start learning to drive until the time they graduate, they have a mounting amount of things to take up their space.

Like you, they too need to know that when they put something away, somebody else will not move it.
Having both a dedicated space to store their items and to study at will help them to learn to manage their space.

2. Coloring is for High School.

If you have a teen that loves to organize, then something that makes a young organizer get giddy is a not only a new set of high lighters, but a color coordinating system.

I allow high lighting in books at any level if it will help my boys retain their information.
Yes, I know the book won’t have any resale value, but I am foremost concerned with teaching my boys a method to study.
They are all visual learners and so having an easy system for remembering new words and key points when studying is one I encourage.
Finding answers to questions happens when the answer is highlighted or underlined.
Too help them develop a code for each color.
For example, we used green for new words, then reviewing material becomes a snap.

3. Written or Digital Planner.

Though I love techie things, I found that having a paper planner or just even a daily checklist if a planner sounds cumbersome to a teen was a better fit for us than a digital device.

Student Planner 15 min increments editable 1

Student Planner 15 min increments editable 2

(2 Page View for the Student Planner – Tracking in 15 minute increments.)

I managed my boys’ time on line and because being on the internet was something they could not do in private, we found it easier to manage their time through easy paper checklists.

4. Subject Balance.

Taking their notebooks, planners or checklists with them in their bedrooms gave my kids time to look over what they actually did versus what we planned.
Like us, they can over plan.
Learning to balance the time they spend on each subject is critical to keeping the flow to their day balance.
High school is the time to learn to organize subjects differently.
For example, like a lot of college or upper level subjects, they may tackle one or two subjects intensely and then move on to others.
What matters is what is accomplished at the end of a semester or at the end of however your track a school term.
Let them try different approaches to organizing the approach they take to school subjects while they live with you.
That is the time to see whether a creative idea works or not.

5. Paper Management.

Mr. Senior 2013 came up with his own system of managing pages for assignments for the week.
Actually, it was a perfect example of how our children will model our behavior if we put forth a bit of effort.
He adopted a system I had used for years, which was pulling the pages out of a workbook or printing them off for the week from the internet and placing them in an organized bin.

Homeschool High School Student Organization @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

One of the reasons I fell in love with this system was that it showed my kids what was expected each week and they could get started quickly without waiting on me to present their work to them for the day.
Nowadays, they call it a workbox system, but I still love organized bins that hold weekly assignments.
They are super compact if you are short on space and everybody can access them and see what is expected each week.

6. Supplies Matter.

Get your teen excited about an organized lifestyle by providing them with cool supplies.

Whether you’re starting a new school year or want to get your teen excited about organizing, sleek and snazzy supplies can infuse a crush for organizing.
One or two snazzy pieces to organize their supplies will give them a kick start to organizing.
In a world that teaches that we constantly need more of everything to be happy, our teens will be faced with the same decisions about trying to keep their lives clutter free.
Organize your homeschooled high school student now because organizing chaos never worked.
Organization at the high school level is not only the beginning to successfully learning how to follow a workable schedule but to mastering the skills needed for savoring life.

What about you? How do you organize your teen for high school?

Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation

3 Reasons Hands-on Geography is Important in Middle and High School Homeschool

Homeschool Grad 2015 – Proud Homeschool Momma

Homeschool High School Transcripts – Anything But Typical

Typical Homeschool High School Transcript?

From Complicated to Clear Homeschool High School Transcripts

How to Prepare THE Homeschool High School Transcript

Also, listed below are resources that I have read and used

Should we Give Grades to Our Middle and High School Homeschooled Kids

Homeschool Grading versus Homeschool Grades.

How to Reassess A Homeschool Grading System EACH Year.

6 Ways to Organize Your Homeschooled High School Teen