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High School Curriculum
We're
not big fans of online high schools, especially public ones, but we do
use some courses from online correspondence schools. The private schools,
Universities and the ones that specialize in dealing with homeschoolers
present the most interesting coursework. Below is a table that has the
links to descriptions of what we did.
Our
Course Surveys
and Resource lists for High School |
*
I am adding these resources we are using as we progress through
high school.
What's
a course survey? |
Other
Topics on this Page
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A Word about Textbooks:
A
Consumer's Guide to High School History Textbooks
February 26, 2004, by Diane Ravitch
A Consumer's Guide to High School History Textbooks is a summary review
of 12 widely used U.S. and world history textbooks. Download a hardcopy[pdf]
of the 94 page report click here
Completing High
School - Are We There Yet?
It's really up to your student when he's "done" in my opinion.
But there are ways and methods you can use to tell when you're there,
if letting Junior decide doesn't sit right woth you. Most states list
graduation requirements in their compulsory education laws so that is
one place you can look. You can also look to the Univeristy where your
student wants to attend, to determine what is required of entering Freshman
if that's the goal.
For
a student in a "College Prep" type course, completing
high school generally means that a student has 19-25 Carnegie
credits. Below is a chart I compiled that shows what a high school
program might look like if you are considering some sort of college career
for your student. The x's mark the subjects in each kind of "program"
colleges look at. Different Universities expect different subjects on
a transcript. Schools like MIT and Stanford most likely will look for
a transcript that shows a "strong program", where Carnegie Mellon
and Brown University are looking for a "solid program". Generally
25-30 credit hours are considered extraordinary. I don't think you can
have "too many" credit hours, especially if you have a student
that schools all year around. The best bet is to be in contact with the
University of choice as early as possible and describe anything out of
the "ordinary" in your counselor's letter or school profile
packet.
|
BASIC
PROGRAM |
SOLID
PROGRAM |
STRONG
PROGRAM |
MATH |
|
|
|
Algebra |
X |
X |
X |
Algebra
II/Trig |
X |
X |
X |
Geometry |
X |
X |
X |
PreCalculus |
|
X |
X |
SCIENCE |
|
|
|
Biology |
X |
X |
X |
Chemistry |
X |
X |
X |
Physics |
|
X |
X |
AP
Science |
|
X |
X |
SOCIAL
STUDIES |
|
|
|
World
History |
X |
X |
X |
U.S.
Government |
X |
X |
X |
Sociology |
X |
X |
X |
Psychology |
|
|
X |
Political
Science |
|
|
X |
ENGLISH |
|
|
|
ENGLISH
IX |
X |
X |
X |
ENGLISH
X |
X |
X |
X |
ENGLISH
XI |
X |
X |
X |
ENGLISHXII |
X |
X |
X |
FOREIGN
LANGUAGE |
|
|
|
Language
Level I |
X |
X |
X |
Language
Level II |
X |
X |
X |
Language
Level III |
|
|
X |
Language
Level IV |
|
|
X |
ELECTIVES |
|
|
|
Year
9 |
X |
X |
X |
Year
10 |
X |
X |
X |
Year
11 |
X |
X |
X |
Year
12 |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
19
Credit Hours |
21
Credit Hours |
25
Credit Hours |
|
|
Regular High School
In homeschooling a gifted student, you get into that asynchronous learning
stuff pretty quick at the high school level. Your student may want regular
old high school English, but college level Physics, which was my experience.
So I Split up the resources we used into two areas, regular and accelerated.
Academic
Resources We Have Used:
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"Principles
of Alchemy" is a self-paced, self-learning program
specifically designed to teach Chemistry on your computer. Students
may range from the bright child demanding an accelerated program
to someone seeking his/her own self-fulfillment by learning Chemistry.
Alchemy is for everyone and Alchemy is specifically designed with
the needs of home schoolers in mind. |
|
The
Teaching Company
brings engaging professors from the Ivy League, Stanford, Georgetown,
and other leading colleges and universities into your home or car
through courses on DVD, audio CD, and other formats. |
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The
Future Channels - Movies and Activities Deliver Hands-On,
Real World Math and Science Lessons To Your Classroom - Free! |
|
TED
Talks - TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design.
It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people
from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. |
|
Caveman
Chemistry - an experiential exploration of chemical
technology from the campfires of the stone age to the plastic soft-drink
bottle. |
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Keystone
High School
- Keystone offers year-round enrollment and the flexibility of
at-home, self-paced study. |
|
The
Physics Education Technology (PhET) project is an ongoing
effort to provide an extensive suite of simulations for teaching and
learning physics and chemistry and to make these resources both freely
available from University of Colorado at Boulder. |
|
ALEKS
Math - ALEKS Corporation is a leader in the creation
of web-based, artificially intelligent educational software. ALEKS
assessment and learning technologies were originally developed by
a team of cognitive scientists and software engineers at the University
of California, Irvine, with major funding from the National Science
Foundation. |
Resources
We Know About:
|
|
The
American School - a pioneer in Distance Education.
Students may enroll at any time during the year. The American School
neither requires nor gives entrance examinations for admission to
its courses. |
|
|
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Laurel
Springs offers a premier distance learning educational
experience. |
|
Languages
Abroad - We are an International organization that
specializes in sending thousands of students, of all ages and from
around the world, to study abroad in a language school of their
choice. We offer total language and cultural immersion programs
in over 50 countries and in 30 different languages. |
Accelerated
High School
If
you want something more interesting than "high school", many
Universities are offering OpenCourseWare these days. OpenCourseWare is
a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and
self-learners around the world. They are college level courses, often
with MP3 lectures, readings text lists and sometimes quizzes, if that
suits your fancy.
Academic
Resources We Have Used:
|
|
MIT's
OpenCourseWare
- Massachusettes Institute of Technology offers a free and open
educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around
the world. |
|
The
Teaching Company
brings engaging professors from the Ivy League, Stanford, Georgetown,
and other leading colleges and universities into your home or car
through courses on DVD, audio CD, and other formats. |
|
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Open
Yale - Courses provides free and open access to a selection
of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars
at Yale University. |
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The
Monterey Institute for Technology and Education (MITE)
is an educational non-profit committed to improving access to education.
This library of open educational resources features course materials
for seven Advanced Placement courses from MITE. These high school
level materials are available for free download. |
|
French
in Action - A video instructional series in French
for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 52 half-hour
video programs, audiocassettes, coordinated books, and Web site
from the Annenberg
Foundation |
|
University
of California College Prep - UCCP Open Access, University
of California college prep courses freely available for students
and educators to use as supplemental or complementary material.
UC Regents |
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Essaywritinghelp.com |
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Wheelock's
Latin When Wheelock’s Latin first appeared in
1956, the reviews extolled its thoroughness, organization, and conciseness;
at least one reviewer predicted that the book “might well
become the standard text” for introducing students to Latin.
Now, five decades later, that prediction has proved accurate. |
Resources
We Know About: |
|
Gifted
Online Accelerated Learning From the University of
Missouri Center for Distance and Independent Study. Our gifted
courses permit academically talented students to work online,
at their own pace, on a challenging array of subjects, including
mathematics, science, language arts, foreign languages, and social
studies.
A
List of High School Math Texts
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University
Level Open Courseware:
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The
United Kingdom's Open University From the United Kingdom |
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Open
Course Ware consortium for worldwide (Australia) |
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