Thursday, November 7, 2013

Homeschooling High School with The Schoolhouse Review Crew

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I know, now that I'm a Crew Leader and we're taking applications for the 2014 Crew through tomorrow, this is a bit of a self-serving post.  But I'm writing it anyway.  Because being on the Crew has radically changed our homeschool, and not just because of what I'm doing now.

Homeschooling doesn't have to be expensive, I know that.  When I joined the Crew, with kids in Junior High down to Preschool, I certainly could have gotten by on my budget of nearly zero.  But by agreeing to actually use products and to write up reviews about them, I had the opportunity to expand my children's horizons.

Now that I have two kids in high school, I'm even more grateful for the Crew.  There are some aspects of the Reviewer Lifestyle that really don't mesh well with having a high school student.  Especially with having an older high school student.  You know, he does need to finish some of these courses so he'll get the high school credits.

But if I pray about the opportunities that come along, and really think through how we'll incorporate things, it gives us opportunities we'd never be able to afford.  Connor's transcript looks amazing, and a huge part of that is our Crew reviews.

Just a few specifics, of high school level stuff:
  • Math:  Math U See, VideoText Interactive, Pearson's Algebra 2, ALEKS, Math Mammoth's Make It Real Learning.  We're paying for his math now, as there just aren't a lot of opportunities to review Calculus.  But up until that point, math is definitely covered.
  • Science: Supercharged Science, Science for High School. 
  • History: TruthQuest History, Heritage History, and a whole lot of supplemental things (like a fantastic timeline app).
  • Literature: Progeny Press, Classical Academic Press: The Art of Poetry, Lightning Literature, Essentials in Literature, Teaching the Classics.  We've received at least 4 credits of high school literature.
  • Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing, Essentials in Writing, Writing with Sharon Watson.  We've received lots of credits of high school writing too.
  • Computer Programming: he'll be getting his credits mostly through Homeschool Programming, but there have been other things we've used in bit and pieces for high school too, including the Computer Science course on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
  • Other stuff:  Artistic Pursuits, art games from Birdcage Press, Professor in a Box (financial accounting and marketing), Logic (Art of Argument, Discovery of Deduction), Health (Nutrition 101), Home Ec... and much, much more.
I asked Connor about being on the Crew for high school, and he told me that one of the biggest benefits to the Crew is learning to prioritize.  He also commented on how nice it is to be able to pursue things he is particularly interested in, as we are not having to spend that money on the basics.

His other comment was on how this stretches him. He is sometimes forced to study something he wouldn't choose to (like art history) only to find that it isn't really what he expected.

Applications are being taken through tomorrow for the 2014 Crew.  Go read about it at the Crew blog if you think you might be at all interested.


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