Some thoughts from a high school seminar

We ended a very busy week with a full day yesterday attending a homeschooling-high-school seminar put on by our state organization.  I'm a semester late on it, but c'est la vie.  Better late than never!

Thankfully, I'm not too far off track in what I've been doing for record-keeping, grades, etc.  However, we got a lot of new information about after-high-school options, testing, etc.  Right now I'm overload about all the stuff you have to do for a college degree, but at least we have a lot of choices now as to how to get that done.  I'll cross that bridge a bit later.

In no particular order, these were some of the points about high school I thought noteworthy:

• All the same reasons you chose to homeschool for the elementary years still apply.  Don't give in to fear.
• Don't let 'college' drive your life or your homeschool.
• Don't be driven by the calendar--consider a 'gap' year after high school.
• At Ivy league schools, 1% identify themselves as born-again Christians.  If you send your children to Rome, don't be surprised if they come back Romans.
• Character is pre-eminent!
• Whatever character flaws your child has will come out even more in high school.
• Any tendency to laziness and other character flaws in your child really show up in math.  (Good heads-up.)
• Education is discipleship and all of life is education.  Do as many field trips as you can.
• Don't spoon-feed them.  Make them take responsibility for their own education, help make them to be a self-motivated problem solver.
• In public schools, they cover only about 80% of the math textbooks--so don't feel you have to complete a book in a year.
• There's a huge dearth in America of students headed for STEM--S=sciences, T=technology, E=engineering, and M=mathematics.
• Enrollment of students in military service academies who were homeschooled is 5-10%.
• Attach the Word of God to everything we teach.
• To quote Vodie Baucham, "If you need to go to college, do it fast, cheap, and close to home."
• We need to teach our children how work; we need to change our definition.  When you work, you bless someone and bring glory to God.
• CLEP test scores are good for 20 years.
• Kids will rise to high standards if you set them high.
• Colleges look for students to have had American, British, and World Literature.  Always teach literature in the context of history.
• Outlining, timed essays, and research papers are important to learn.  Homeschooled students are typically not good at taking notes--make 'em learn!
• Engross your children in the book of Proverbs.
• In a study, millionaires said their reasons for success were 1.) honesty, 2.) supportive spouse, 3.) self-control, 4.) hard-working, and 5.) gets along with people.  Having a college degree was #16 on the list.

Well, there was lots more.  I came away filled with thankfulness once again that we have had the privilege of homeschooling, and with a renewed sense of 'God is with us'!  I don't have to do this in my own wisdom.

Onward and upward!