high school – There's No Place Like Home

     This is the last part of this series, and I saved this topic as the last section for a reason. High school is approached differently, even more intentionally, than the younger years. There is a reason for this…
     We have decided to use a homeschool accreditation diploma program for high school diplomas versus me issuing one myself. From what I’ve found in my research, parent-issued diplomas can sometimes run into problems where lawyer-backing becomes necessary, so this is the most comfortable option for us.
     Since I wrote about Devin’s decision to approach school in a more textbook-driven way in an earlier post, today I’m going to focus on how we will fulfill the necessary requirements next year.
     Devin and Dillon will both be in ”high school” next year. It’s very important to me that their learning is self-directed, despite the fact that more structure will be necessary than for the younger kids. (I addressed the accreditation requirements right here.) Once again, thanks to Renee over at FIMBY, I was able to take what they’re interested in and create their entire curriculum around these subjects.

     Dillon loves Minecraft. There’s no getting around it. I fretted and fretted about the amount of time he spends on it and got sound advice from Renee. Can you incorporate this into his curriculum? After some research I discovered that yes I can! I stumbled across Minecraft Homeschool, an online (obviously) class that is sufficient to replace curriculum.
     I totally get how it covers math (to a point), history (the class involves researching ancient structures and replicating them), and a gaming elective. As of right now, they are planning to add science and language arts curriculum in the fall, so that would be perfect. We’re also looking into computer programming through Khan Academy but haven’t come to a definite decision, yet.
     If you’re wondering whether Dillon’s time is going to be completely consumed by the computer, trust me, it won’t be. Dillon loves the outdoors- catching slimy critters that disgust (and scare) me, wading through the creek, and skateboarding are some of his favorite pastimes.
     The only concern I really have right now is the fact that he has to read 25 books next year, including 3 classics. Sometimes it’s really hard finding books that he’ll actually finish.

Devin loves the PBS show Sherlock and the USA show Psych. She’s fascinated with body language (kinesics) and logic, so right there’s her perfect curriculum! She’ll be reading the classic Sherlock Holmes books and will possibly write her own private investigation short story (a requirement is that she must write three compositions of any length and one ten page composition). She’ll be studying Psychology with a textbook (I’ll post our curriculum choices in a future post. We’re not 100% on almost anything yet.) We were going to just utilize the library for this, but I want to make sure she learns psychology with a Christian-based curriculum versus new age ideologies. We’re going to cover kinesics through living books and logic through a Christian-based curriculum. She will also be taking geometry- a requirement through the state- and astronomy. (I know this has nothing to do with the curriculum, but this was her choice for science, so she’s doing it. Incidentally, I do know for a fact that we’re using Teaching Astronomy through Art because it combines two of her favorite things, so it’s a no-brainer)
So is this approach still considered unschooling? I guess it depends on who you ask. These curriculums have been created solely on their interests, so self-directed may be a better word. It honestly doesn’t matter to me, as long as they are learning and loving it!