Help! Looking for a high school program

[GidgetB]

Hi There,
I am looking for a high school program for my son who will be starting 8th grade in the fall. I know it is early but I need time to search I wish T4L offered Highschool, but as of now their not. My son has Aspergers, and T4L is great for him. Is their an online program that anyone knows of that would be great for him? I have read all the reviews about the credited schools and looks like that is not for us. Has anyone used Switched on Schoolhouse, and is it any good?
Thank you in advance fro your help.

[hearthstone_academy]

Three of my six kids have graduated from our homeschool high school, and a fourth is just about to complete her freshman year. I have never used just "one" program for high school. I pick and choose from among a lot of things.

I have used Time4Learning algebra, which is actually meant for advanced middle schoolers, for all of my children as their freshman algebra course. They have all done fine on the math portion of their college entrance exams.

I love Time4Writing courses. There are four high school level courses, and they are very affordable ($99 for each eight-week course). I'd have him do Writing Mechanics as a freshman, Writing Paragraphs and Writing Essays as a sophomore or junior, and Writing for the SAT as a junior or senior. The certificate you get at the end shows how many high school credits these courses should be worth and, since they're taught by certified teachers, they are usually accepted if you ever decide to put your child in a more traditional school setting. You can explain about your son's special needs when you enroll him.

I like Thinkwell video courses and Plato science. We've used Standard Deviants videos and The Great Courses videos.

We didn't like SOS. It's sort of like an online textbook, with a very few pathetic attempts to make it more interactive, like having a postage-stamp-sized instructor read a few lines of the text, or a pointless animation, such as clicking on the moon and watching it change. They do have the game-like spelling lessons with EVERY subject, but that one game gets old pretty fast. I was disappointed in SOS.

A Beka will sell some of their high school video courses individually. They are expensive, but it was nice to do the biology course, because the lab is right there on video, and you don't have to actually dissect the pig yourself!

Don't overlook Brainpop videos for high school! They are an engaging and concise way to learn, and there's a little test at the end of each movie.

I hope this gives you some ideas. In my opinion, high school studies should be geared toward the individual students' interests, so I like to get the courses a la carte.

[gardensparrow]

Hi, I just caught your post and wanted to hop on here. I know it's not always easy to know the best choice for curriculum when homeschooling a highschooler. But, sounds like you've got some good suggestions already. I also wanted to mention that I've heard from other parents during my time at Focus on the Family that the book, Homeschooling High School by Jeanne Gowen Dennis was a good resource to have on hand during this stage. Maybe you could find it online or at the library? I also came across this article that I thought had some good ideas on how to choose a curriculum and homeschool highschoolers in particular. This section also talked about homeschooling kids with special needs. So, just FYI! Well, I hope you're able to find the information you're looking for!

[fairylover]

Thanks for jumping in on this Kelly and gardensparrow. I have not gotten to the place of worrying about high school yet. Personally I am hoping that time4learning will offer high school classes by the time my nine year old is ready for them.

[flyinglow]

I just figured I would jump in here and say what I'm using for my 9th grade son. Since he works very independently, we have found some of his subjects on video. He's a slow learner, and it helps that he can review the lesson again if he doesn't get it. These are the video curriculum he uses: math Teaching Textbook and Student Writing Intensive for writing. My friend also uses Teaching Textbooks for her son that has a mild case of Aspergers too and she says it has been very effective in teaching him. We also use Apologia for science, it has their text on audio too...less reading for my son is a bonus...haha. History has been a tough one for us though...we use My Father's World and it is a lot of reading but very good. I hope this helps you and if you have questions, I'm happy to help too.

[fairylover]

Those are great ideas Arlene.

[jpenn]

Mandy in TN once posted this info about High School:

*High School Info*

Khan Academy (for maths alongside a text, economics)
CK12.ORG - FlexBooks (for science- biology, chemistry, physics)
HippoCampus - Homework and Study Help - Free help with your algebra,
biology, environmental science, American government, US history, physics
and religion homework (for environmental science, US History, American
Government)

Daily Grammar Archive - Comprehensive Archive of Grammar Lessons (grammar)
High School English (for Language Arts support- daily grammar is actually
linked on this page)

Annenberg Learner High School Level video learning

9th grade
Language Arts 1 (start with Daily Grammar, CK12.org's Composition
Commonsense, and suggestions from High School Engish)
Algebra (of course T4L offers Algebra, but I would still use the Khan
Academy Exercise Dashboard for drill and after that I would move on to Khan
Academy and use CK12.org texts if I needed more)
Environmental Science (HippoCampus Environmental Science)
World Geography (This one I would put together myself starting with
Annenberg Learner videos)
World Religion (HippoCampus Religions of the World)

10th grade
Language Arts 2 (finish Daily Grammar and CK12.org's Composition
Commonsense, and suggestions from High School Engish)
Geometry (I would use the Khan Academy Exercise Dashboard for drill and
Khan Academy and use CK12.org texts if I needed more)
Biology (CK12.org Biology with videos from HowStuffWorks)
World History: Western Civilization (I would start with these videos and
add library material.)
Art History (I would start with Art of the Western World at Annenberg
Learner and inlcude stuff from Art History Spot. Art History Spot is nice,
because it has easy categories to navigate.)

11th grade
Language Arts 3 (American Passages from Annenberg Learner with library
books)
Algebra 2 (I would use the Khan Academy Exercise Dashboard for drill and
Khan Academy and use CK12.org texts if I needed more)
Chemistry (CK12.org and Khan Academy lectures)
American History (CK12.org and Annenberg Videos)
Foriegn Language 1 (for this I would get a tutor, but there are online
resources for the highly motivated)

12th grade
Language Arts 4 (British Literature, I can't find something online that I
like in a quick search, but Luminarium comes close.)
Pre-calculus/ Trig (I would use the Khan Academy Exercise Dashboard for
drill and Khan Academy and use CK12.org texts if I needed more)
Physics (CK12.org People's Physics with videos)
US Govt: 1 semester (HippoCampus US Govt, lightly in order to finish in 1
semester)
Economics: 1 semester (hmm, there is CK12.org project based economics and
Khan Academy has quite a few lectures that fall in this category)
Foriegn Language 2 (for this I would get a tutor, but there are online
resources for the highly motivated)

For example, if you have a child that had Algebra 1 in 8th grade or is
ready in 9th grade to hit the ground running with essays and research
papers, you may want to condense those four years into 3. Then, the child
can dual enroll for his senior year. Of course, some children can condense
some subjects, but not others. So, a child may dual enroll math his senior
year, but really need high school English over four years.

9th grade- 5 1/3 credits
LA1- World Lit with a focus on Eastern Hemisphere cultures (Invitation to
World Lit)
World History 1 w/ a 1/3 credit in Eastern Hemisphere geography
Biology
Geometry
Art or Music (start at Annenberg and go from there.)

10th grade- 5 1/3 credits
LA2- English Lit
World History 2 w/ a 1/3 credit in European geography
Chemistry
Algebra 2
Foreign Language 1

11th grade- 5 1/3 credits
LA3- American Lit
Govt/ Econ w/ a 1/3 credit in American geography
Physics
Trigonometry
Foreign Language 2

My oldest also did philosophy in 9th, logic in 10th, and rhetoric in 11th.
For philosphy, he used Sophie's World with the online notes from St John's
College High School. We just bought texts for logic and rhetoric.
My second son did studio art as a 9th grader and art history in 10th and
11th. There are a ton of free materials for this. Now as a senior he is
taking Humanities 1 (arts and culture from prehistory through the
Renaissance) through dual enrollment.

If you had a child who was interested in computers, there are a ton a free
resources for this.

My oldest son did not take physics. He took physical science as a 9th
grader and marine biology as an 11th grader with a textbooks. The colleges
he looked at wanted 3 sciences and specifically wanted to see biology and
chemistry. Even as a senior, he had to claw his way through chemistry.
My second has taken a ton of science, because it is no big deal for him.
OTOH, he hasn't read nearly as much as my oldest. It just isn't his thing.
Planning high school is a lot of fun. If your child is planning on going to
college, look at the requirements for the colleges to which he will likely
apply. As long as you cover the entrance requirements, everything else is
fair game to be tailored to your child. You can really play to your child's
interests!

[fairylover]

Thanks Jackie. I tried to find that post yesterday and couldn't.

[GidgetB]

Wow! Thank you so much for all the great advice that you have given to me. I will definetly research them, and hopefully find somethings we can use. I really appreciate you all helping me.

[jpenn]

You are most welcome!