Archive by Author | Lisa McAfee

Ohio High School Graduation Requirements

Jun30

It’s always good to begin planning high school early (no, not 2nd grade) since some classes can count toward high school during junior high. Listed below are the minimum requirements for students enrolled in public schools and graduating in 2014 and beyond that the Ohio State Board of Education has set forth.

Tips: I made a spread sheet for all 4 years of high school and used the graduation requirements as a framework. I adjusted as needed each year and added classes that I thought were necessary for my scholars’ education. We also planned some classes that were fun and of interest to the guys. It was easy to design and relieved me of the stress I had wondering if we completed the needed courses. Plan  your student’s courses as though they are going to college since it is much easier for them to complete the work and requirements when they are in high school as opposed to doing it at a later date. I have had several parents tell me that their child changed their mind and decided to go to college a few years after graduating. They were so glad they had them follow a college prep schedule.

Are you not sure which college your academian would like to attend? Check several college websites to see what the requirements are for entrants. Educationbug has a listing of colleges categorized by state.  Note: although foreign language is listed as an elective in the requirements below, most college require a minimum of two years.  Check to see if the colleges you are interested in have that listed as a requirement. Also be aware that each college is a bit different in handling admissions for home educated students. This is important to know as well so be sure and see what these requirements are so you are ensured that the required classes/credits have been fulfilled. This is not legal advice. Please contact a local or state home school organization for further details concerning requirements.  

Curriculum Requirements Class of 2014 and beyond

CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS -MINIMUM

English language arts 4 units
Health 1/2 unit
Mathematics 4 units (See 1 below)
Physical education 1/2unit (See 2 below)
Science 3 units (See 3 below)
Social studies 3 units (See 4 below)
Electives 5 units (See 5 below)
Other requirements (See 6 below)
Economics and financial literacy (See 6 below)
Fine arts (See 6 below)

1 Mathematics units must include 1 unit of algebra II or the equivalent of algebra II.

2 The Ohio Core allows school districts to adopt a policy that would exempt students who participate in interscholastic athletics, band or cheerleading for two full seasons from the physical education requirement. Students must take another course of at least 60 contact hours in its place.

3 Science units must include 1 unit of physical sciences, 1 unit of life sciences and 1 unit advanced study in one or more of the following sciences: chemistry, physics, or other physical science; advanced biology or other life science; astronomy, physical geology, or other earth or space science.

4 Social studies units must include 1/2 unit of American history and 1/2 unit of American government.

5 Electives units must include one or any combination of foreign language, fine arts, business, career-technical education, family and consumer sciences, technology, agricultural education or English language arts, mathematics, science or social studies courses not otherwise required.

6 All students must receive instruction in economics and financial literacy during grades 9-12 and must complete at least two semesters of fine arts taken any time in grades 7-12. Students following a career-technical pathway are exempted from the fine arts requirement.

** Graduation requirements for the classes through 2013 can be viewed by going to the Ohio Department of Education. Note: Home schooled students are not required to take the OGT since they have been excused from compulsory attendance and are not enrolled as public school students. This is not legal advice. Please contact a local or state home school organization for further details concerning requirements.  

Mind Your Manners!

Jun27

Dale and I loved watching Disney’s animated version of Robin Hood with the kids. There is a scene where the little sister bunnies say to the older brother, “Mind your manners.” Here are some resources that you can use to reinforce loving your neighbor as yourself (in word and deed).

Everyday Graces: A Child’s Book of Good Manners by Karen Santorum

365 Manners Kids Should Know: Cames, Activities, and other fun ways Children Can Learn about Etiquette Sheryl Eberly

Dude, That’s Rude! Pamela Espeland

Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Tedd Tripp

Bringing Up Boys, James Dobson

Extreme Pursuit: Winning the Race for the Heart of Your Son, John Davis

Bringing Up Girls, James Dobson This comes highly recommended by my family who have girls.

Raising Children Without Going Insane, Jane Evans I haven’t read the book, but I liked the title and read the first several pages online; it looks like a good book.

The Five Love Languages of Children, Gary Chapman, Ross Campbell

Are you addressing character issues with your children and would like some stories to read that address some of these? Need a book that will give guidance about dealing with “heart” issues? Here are some books to help. No, I don’t have all the answers, but I know it helped to read books that encouraged me to keep on going.

The Book of Virtues, The Moral Compass, William J. Bennett

Books that Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values through Stories, William Kirkpatrick While I haven’t used this myself, it has been favorably reviewed and I plan on reading it.

Do you have a recommendation for a book or audio series? Please share what has helped you.

Extra Curricular and Service Activities

Jun23

Extra curricular and service activities are an essential component of your high school student’s education for several reasons. First, colleges are not only looking at grades, ACT and SAT scores, but also the types of activities your student has participated in throughout high school. Second, for a student who is not going to college this is a great opportunity for them to participate in a variety of activities that could help them with a career choice. But, what I feel is the most important thing about these activities is, it helps teens to see beyond themselves and serve others. Here are some tips and ideas to consider:

Be purposeful in the types of activities that your student chooses to do. Look for places and programs that would benefit them as a perspective applicant for a college or a career choice. For instance, if you have a student who is interested in being a vet tech, find an animal shelter or a veterinary clinic at which to volunteer. One of the families that I do narratives for has a daughter who volunteers at a veterinary clinic, helps the vet by taking care of the animals, and has been invited to attend surgeries. The thing I find most interesting is she is only going to be a 6th grader! I can only imagine what she will be doing when she is a senior in high school.

Select a variety of activities if possible. I was sometimes able to incorporate my sons’ extra curricular activities as part of our homeschooling. For instance, we were able to volunteer to be MOPS childcare workers one school year, we sorted clothes for a battered children’s shelter, served the poor, helped with church programs and attended volunteer training and seminars. Some of these activities required us to rearrange our homeschool schedule, but it was done easily and I am glad we had an opportunity to serve. You don’t have to go through an organization. You can visit nursing homes, help with the cleanup of your neighborhood,the possibilities are only limited to what you can imagine.  I counted some of these activities toward criteria I had established for a careers class. When Malcolm was a senior we designed an elective class that incorporated writing, photography, friends, and coffee shops. He and three of his friends met weekly to critique various coffee shops throughout the city. They interviewed owners and staff, took pictures, drank lots of coffee, and posted their reviews on a blog they created.

Tailor activities to suit your student’s interests. What is it that your teen is interested in or possibly considering as a career choice for college or life? Is there a way to volunteer or get paid to help further this interest? Ian was interested in radio so he volunteered one spring at one of our local radio stations. Malcolm was interested in opening a coffee shop and worked with a local owner for six weeks learning about different roasting techniques, how to make various coffe drinks, and talking to him about the business side of the coffee shop.

Work! I know this is obvious, but admissions counselors look to see if a student has been able to work while also attending school. One of my sons worked at a restaurant that says, “My pleasure” and several of the counselors who spoke with him commented about his employment there in a positive manner. Working also helps our children with time management, responsibility, working with others, and possible recommendations for college applications or full time employment. 🙂 It can also confirm whether to pursue the college major that is being contemplated and help eliminate uncertainty.

Start a business. Does your entrepreneur have an idea that they would like to try? In this day and age it is a lot easier to connect people to your business through the internet. I have a friend who is a CPA and has some great tips and resources on helping teens start a business.

Possible volunteer opportunities that are limited only to what I could think of at the present time.

Church Childcare, puppet ministry, youth group, missions trips, audiovisual team, summer bible school programs,etc. (Find a need- fill it!)

Health care industry Candy stripers, visiting people in the hospital, get on the schedule for meals to the Ronald McDonald House, visit nursing homes

Social Work After school tutoring, serve food at homeless shelters, group homes, food pantries, organize a day to help neighbors (yard work, garage sale. a get together with activities for the children, etc.)

Run/Walks There are a variety of walks that you can do throughout the year. You can either participate or be a volunteer at the event. This is a great way for the whole family to be involved. I like to give, but I have also enjoy participating in the events. I just did a 5k Hunger Walk here in Cincinnati and plan on doing a 10k walk that raises money for the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to give school backpacks to children living there.

Volunteer Opportunities  Find an area that interests your scholar and brainstorm together about possibilities. Is there a place that doesn’t currently have a volunteer program? Maybe you can create a volunteer position! Why not contact the places that you are interested in with a proposal for volunteering? I always have told my kids that it doesn’t hurt to ask.  Still need some ideas? Click here to find a list of volunteer positions in your area.

Free Math Assessment

Jun20

“How can I find out what in what areas my student is lacking and where are his weaknesses in math?” was something I was asked recently when doing narrative reviews. Good question! If you are using a textbook, see if the publisher offers an assessment test. If not, I found a  free online math assessment (preschool – adult) that can be taken multiple times. You can use this tool  to help you plan the upcoming year as it shows you areas where your child missed questions.

While you are looking at the site, be sure to find the section that says Free Assessment Test. This can be retaken, which I think is a nice feature. If your student needs additional help you can subscribe to their tutoring service.

I took the 2nd grade test ( I passed!) and found it to be informative and helpful. Be sure to allow enough time for your student to complete the test. It may take 30-60 minutes depending upon your student.

So Many Curriculums,How do I Choose?

Jun16

Whether you have been home schooling for a long time or this is just the beginning of your journey, you may have realized that many home school families have a large number of children. I don’t; I only have two sons. At times I wish I had more, but my two sons were a whirlwind of non-stop activity and I really couldn’t see myself chasing more little ones. Call me a whimp, that’s okay; I probably am. With all that said, I only got two shots at trying out all the amazing curriculum that I saw at the home school convention and in the catalogs that I received.

“Where do I begin?” was my first thought and may be yours as well. First of all, decide what philosophy of education best meets what you want to accomplish with your family and best matches your ideals. Not sure of your philosophy? A great resource to help you decide what books and ideas you would like to pursue with your children is a website called Home School Curriculum Advisor and you can read the article entitled, Creating a Home Schooling Philosophy of Education Simply and Easily. Be aware that if this is the first time you are considering what your home education philosophy, it may take more time than you originally thought. It is well worth it though, and will save you countless hours of looking at curriculum and spending hard-earned cash needlessly.

Another component that is worth investigating is what type of learning style best fits your child(ren) and you. There are a variety of ways in which people learn: audio, visual, kinesthetic, or a combination of the aforementioned. Let’s face it, no two people are alike and some curriculum works better than others depending upon each individual. Here are some resources on learning styles to help you determine your scholar’s style: They Way They Learn, by Cynthia Tobias and The Big What Now Book of Learning, by Carol Barnier.

Will you be able to tailor each individual subject to meet each of your children’s needs? Probably not unless you have one student (obviously!), but you can be aware of the type of learners your children are and pay attention to the style of learning that best fits you too since you are teaching. You can love a program that uses workbooks as its mode of teaching and be enthusiastic about it, but if you have a kinesthetic learner who needs to be involved in projects and being able to move, your best laid plans will be hard to implement and will not be all that successful. I have found that unit studies and lap books provide a great balance for those who need hands-on activities and those who excel with workbooks and worksheets.

After you have decided what type of philosophy of education and the types of learners you have in your school, THEN begin to look at curriculum. 🙂 Even within the area of curriculum for a certain type of philosophy you will find different approaches and products. For instance, if you like Unit Studies you have a choice of making your own or using one already prepared. You can choose to do something general as in the history of Ohio or be specific and choose to concentrate just on local history. Be a little bit of detective and a little bit of hound dog. There are a wide variety of choices and products to choose from and if you hear or see something that no one else has tried, don’t be afraid to investigate, dig in, and go down a different path than everyone else if that is what you need to do for your family. I did and I was happy with the choices I made.

I have listed two resources to help you with curriculum choices. Take your time in reading through these.

Choosing a Home Schooling Method: Which One is Right for You? I like how the author has given you a brief overview of a particular philosophy of education and characteristics of the various programs.

Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks for Home School Curriculum is a great resource book to purchase. She gives you a short inventory of the style of learners too and curriculum that would fit with your scholar’s style.

You have chosen a curriculum that you would like to order? Great! Here are some of my recommendations for home schooling products; they have a wide variety of books and also fun activities to enhance your curriculum.

Catalogs for Home Schooling Curriculum and Products You can request a catalog, but I have links to the websites listed below. Personally, I prefer a paper catalog,

“Why a paper catalog instead of the online version?” you may ask. Here are some of the reasons I like a paper catalog, although I do refer to the online versions too. You can mark in it with notes (if it can be found at the library, or be borrowed, etc.), you can take it anywhere, (even the bathroom while relaxing in the tub),sometimes you don’t always have internet connections (good reading while waiting out a storm in your basement 🙂 ), it is easily navigable-I can turn the pages, sticky note particular pages, etc.,and you can show other enthusiastic home school friends and ask veterans their opinions about products. I also keep catalogs close by my couch so when home school moms come to see me we can look at several curriculum options and products while they are meeting with me.

I just received my Rainbow Resource catalog in the mail and I love pouring over it. Oh Happy Day! There is just something about picking up that big catalog and holding it in my hands that makes me feel happy. (Be honest, many of you feel the same way when looking at home school products!) Beware! If you are new to home schooling, then do not let the size of the catalog deter you. It is easily 6 inches thick, but remember that it would be like putting all the products AND reviews of a small store into print.

Christian Book Distributors is another great resource, especially if you are looking for specific Christian titles.

Sonlight catalog has lists of books that are tried and true. I have used a large majority of the library books (also known as “living books”) they recommend in their programs as they can stand alone without using their particular program if you choose.

Veritas Press A classical education products catalog

Beautiful Feet Books I love the book selections and the literature guides,especially for middle schol students and older.

I hope that this helps you clarify your vision for your family and their education and helps eliminate the stress that you may feel in picking curriculum.