Sophomores

As I keep saying, I have Many Thoughts about education in the current situation – not surprising, since I normally have Many Thoughts about education, period – but they are all over the place (again, not surprising). Perhaps setting down our “plans” for this year of high school will help me focus.

Those of you who’ve been around for a while know that the two last kids “at home” are a college sophomore and a high school sophomore. College Guy heads back next week, hopefully for a complete semester on-campus this time.

High school sophomore continues with homeschooling. If we lived in another public school district around here, he might go to one of the big, almost community-college type high schools in the suburbs, but we don’t, and the public high school for which we are zoned is no good, tragically for all the students. The private options are not great – they are either elitist and striving, Serious and Protestant, or simply mediocre, and none of that is worth the money they cost.

Kid is very smart, mostly self-directed, has interests, and so traditional sit-your-butts-in-the-seats-for-seven-hours high school, given the options, would be a waste of time. And now, in this present moment with “wear masks at all times” and “walk in single file down the hall” and “an hour study hall every day so we can space out lunches more – even more than ever.

I’m not saying that there aren’t brick-and-mortar schools that wouldn’t be a good fit for him – I know they exist, because I have friends who send their kids to them. Just not here, right now, where we live.

General plan? Continue what we’re doing this year, hoping to transition next year (junior year) to mostly college classes, which is not going to be difficult, considering the explosion of options on that score. We might even start with the University of Alabama’s Early College program, perhaps after Christmas. 

Not much stress about college. He thinks he knows where he wants to go, will do a summer program sponsored by them next year to make sure, and will have no problem getting in.

So all of that means, this year is basically about three things: 1) wrapping up high school math 2) Solidifying language work  3) digging into his interests

Let’s bullet point.

Oh, for the new people: we don’t “plan” that much. My emphasis has always been on recording rather than planning. Alabama has very loose homeschool rules – doesn’t require anything except for reporting attendance – so that works for us.

• Math   Algebra 2, with a tutor, who was his Algebra teacher in brick-and-mortar school for 8th grade. We have met three times since June, will move to weekly in the beginning of September.
• Chemistry  Through our local Catholic homeschool co-op, taught by a Ph.D. from a local university who, coincidentally, was also one of his teachers in that brick-and-mortar school for 8th grade. Once a week, starting early September, two semester chunks.
• Latin Latin 2, using Latin for the New Millenium, meetings with a tutor every couple of weeks or so. The National Latin Exam is his “testing” for this – and he made a gold last year. Only missed one question on the test.
• Spanish He’s going to finish up this Great Courses Spanish 2 course, and then see where he goes from there. We are really hoping that travel opens up by November, so we can do another language-instruction trip, as we did last year to Honduras.My eye is either on Antigua, Guatemala or somewhere in Mexico. As I said, hopefully by November, it will be possible. But if not, we can just go back to South Florida!
• Religion Last year we did Old Testament. This year, I think I’m going to break out one of the old, vintage high school religion texts I have and make that the core, along with daily Mass readings, and attendance when we can get there, and saints-of-the day.  He also does Fraternus weekly, which is very substantive.
• English  Literature  facilitated by me, but I’ve not sat down and thought about what/how for this coming year. I generally have liked to, for example, focus on some Shakespeare every year by organizing it around what performances will be happening at local colleges as well as at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern, but….will those be happening at all this year? I’m not sure. Probably not until 2021, I’m thinking. Anyway, that is something I’ll be thinking about over the next couple of weeks. College Kid had to buy an enormous 3-volume Norton Anthology of American literature for a class last year, and we kept it, expecting that t would be useful. I think that might be the center of what we do.
• Writing He’s a good, natural writer, very mature in expression. I am considering couple of 6-week short courses in creative writing for him. Not taught by me, I hasten to say.
• History  Will be led by him. In essence, what I told him is that all I ask is that at all times he be digging into some topic that interests him in a serious way.
• Government/Economics Required, of course, for HS graduation in this state. I was thinking we could knock those off this year.
• Music Weekly piano lessons, some competitions, hopefully, as life opens back up, some performances as well. Weekly playing, as an employed church organist.
• Testing  Have contacted the local Catholic HS to have him take the PSAT in October (they have sophomores take it and welcome homeschoolers to do so) and registered for a December administration of the ACT, just to see where we’re at, especially with math. Word to the wise: if you have a kid who wants/needs to take the ACT or SAT, get busy. December was the earliest we could get in around here, and that was two days ago. I suppose I should have him take the CLT,but, in the words of Scarlett O’Hara….I’ll think about that tomorrow….

Extras, summed up: Almost daily biking with neighborhood friends; maybe getting back into boxing; music – keyboard and both electric and acoustic guitar; Fraternus; volunteer work with local ministry to developmentally disabled youth.