Our high schoolers have amazingly complex lives.
Their brains, social lives, and daily needs are changing at break neck speed, it seems. Their thoughts, hopes, and dreams about the future often spur them on, or paralyze them with fear. Their course requirements make their parents' heads spin, because their future simply doesn't mimic the same path of promotion from 20 or 25 years ago. It's a different world, nay, universe!
So, beyond the basics, what should we choose for them?
Where do we push?
I can help - at least with our own standards. For our five homeschoolers, there were two nonnegotiable courses.
Every year, in some form or fashion, you MUST pursue:
1) Foreign Language
&
2)Communication Skills
Communication skills can be learned in many different formats. Students can grow through a book club, speech and debate, entrepreneur endeavors, or even helping with our own (parent's) jobs. Some of the apologetics, writing, history, or literature courses include discussion or presentations. Sometimes, that is enough!
As with everything in education, it depends on the student.
Before graduating, I required each child to read Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People." By the time our fourth child became a senior, I wasn't quite as good at the accountability for required reading, so I created a course. AND OH MY HEAD! It was AMAZING.
Then our family moved from central Texas to the west Texas Mountains, so our last senior didn't have the same in person course options, and I took the course to an online format. I was nervous about her experience, but IT WAS EVEN BETTER!
So, if you're looking for a solution to a communications course that is low stress, low time involvement, but high on effectiveness, here it is.
LEADERSHIP LAB PARENT REVIEW
How does it work? The students read a few assigned pages each week and complete journals. The next week, everyone returns for discussion, break out sessions, and note taking, Six times throughout the year, speeches and presentations are assigned, along with exercises in Leadership and Influence within their normal family week.
This is how it works!
Here's what the students have to say:
What about High School Foreign Language?
If you haven't checked it out yet, SpanishGeniuses.com has High School Spanish for Levels 1, 2 and 3 WITH a textbook and audio. The video lessons are just once a week, 20 minutes or so, and the bonus speaking sessions give you and your student(s) direct access to Sra. Gose every week. The family membership is only $35/month. CRAZY, I know! For your pre-teens or as an add-on for your teens, we have other options too, all included in the membership:
For your pre-teens or as an add-on for your teens, we have other options too, all included in the family membership:
🎓 High School Spanish Levels 1, 2, and 3
🎉 Middle School Thematic Conversational Spanish Lessons
🎨 Watercolor Spanish Vocab Practice
😆 Comic Strip Spanish (Speedy Spanish)
🦥 Lazy Spanish (Cognates in 5 minutes!)
🌎 Pasaportes - Country Culture Lessons with the Spanish
📚 Story Book Read Alouds in Spanish
...and they ALL follow the Charlotte Mason methods of learning a language!