High School Help Center
Last year, I graduated my second child from my homeschool and now, I find myself discussing high school with my third child. She starts 9th grade in the fall. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, anxiety, and other learning issues figured into my planning for the older two children. I adapted their high school programs to work with their challenges. For them, I used a lot of community programs, video, and project-based mastery to meet graduation requirements. They did a lot of passion projects. In fact, I strongly believe that all high schoolers should do coursework related to their interests and passions. After all, they are preparing for their future careers!
A Resource for Classes and More
But, this time around, I need to do things a bit differently. This child needs something more structured and I no longer have time to create my own classes or drive people around. I thought I’d take a look at SchoolhouseTeachers.com since I knew that they offered more than 400 classes, along with many other resources. My daughter took a few classes during middle school and really liked them. I started with the High School Help Center.
Job Trends
Many topics interested me, but I opened the College Help page first. My older two opted to take intensives and certificate classes rather than attend college for a degree program. The high schooler I am now planning for doesn’t know what she wants to do. She leans toward Forensic Science, but her skills lie in the arts. She also has an entrepreneurial bent. I scrolled down and found the link for Job Trends and Future Careers. A PDF course opened and as I scanned through the pages, I knew that I wanted to use the material. I wished I had had it for the older two children! This information would help my daughter narrow her choices.
Career Exploration and Entrepreneurship
After I explored the College Help area, I decided to check out the Career Exploration page which turned out to be a link to the course. You have to be a member to access this content, but anyone can view a sample lesson of this 8-week class. This course, plus the Starting a Microbusiness course, might also prove to be helpful to my daughter as she moves through high school. (And, help me plan her elective courses to launch her on her way!)
Record-Keeping
One of the aspects of high school that I dread is record-keeping. I tend to throw everything into a fat binder and that’s the extent of my organization. My state doesn’t require anything of me, but, you never know. Laws change. For the older two, I created my own records. Very tedious. But, no more! SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers free printables to help me plan and track my high schooler’s classes. Members have access to transcript creation tools, grade point average calculators, and more. I will definitely use what I discovered in the High School Help Center at SchoolhouseTeachers.com as I plan out my daughter’s high school years. This time, it will be so much easier.
And, as I plan for my youngest child (who starts 7th grade in the fall), I’m sure I’ll find something for him, too, among the 425+ courses offered on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
Julie Polanco is a 16+ years veteran homeschooling mom of four challenging, artsy kids. She is the author of two books for moms–God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn and 100 Ways to Motivate Kids–and the high school botany instructor for www.SchoolhouseTeachers.com. She teaches live middle school science workshops for her local homeschool co-op and is actively involved in her church’s women’s ministry. You can find her at www.julienaturally.com where she offers natural learning & living solutions for challenging kids and their families.
