Christina M Ledford

Hi! I'm Christina. I'm homeschooling my 13-year-old son -- pulled him
out of school last year <whew!>. We live in Central Mass. I've been
"sitting in" for about a week now, trying to get a feel for the group,
and I'm having a great time listening to everyone. I'd like some
feedback on how to unschool during the high school years since my son
will be 9th grade this year. When I first pulled him out of school, I
played the good little teacher, sat him down, presented applicable
materials for his age, etc., etc. He did his work, albeit grudgingly
most of the time, but I didn't see any motivation kicking in (still
working on desensitizing him from his public school experience). I
didn't realize it until I started reading about unschooling and joined
your great group, but I think that I have been unschooling during the
last half of this school year, and we're both more relaxed about the
whole thing.

My concern now is how to unschool during high school, especially since
I'd like to see him in college (he doesn't want to see himself there -
"hates" school, but I think he'll come around when he sees how much fun
true learning really is). Don't I have to keep detailed records, assign
"credits", etc. in order to prepare transcripts to present to any
potential college? Ugghhh!

By the way, my "doable" has to be the co-star (I can't remember his
name), Sully, on "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." Ride 'em cowboy!!

Christina

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/4/03 8:38:49 AM, christina989@... writes:

<< Don't I have to keep detailed records, assign
"credits", etc. in order to prepare transcripts to present to any
potential college? >>

No. You can't give credit anyway. Credit, from 9th grade on, is a real
(within school-context) thing, only given by accredited schools. So don't worry
about it.

If you want to invest some time and money (not much) go to google and look up
Cafi Cohen college and you'll get info on a couple of books Cafi Cohen, a
homeschooling mom, has written on preparing applications for college.

But that's overkill, generally, unless HE wants college and you want to apply
for scholarships and such.

I'm guessing (and could be wrong) that your vision of college is a four year
block of life that needs to start when he's 17 or 18.

If you can just undo that vision, you'll both be vastly happier.

Maybe he'll want to take a college class when he's 14 or 16, just to see what
it's like. Maybe there are continuuing ed or community ed classes around
there that aren't "academic" (photography, local fauna, rock climbing) that he
might enjoy for meeting people and doing something different, or maybe he wants
to be away from schoolish stuff altogether for a while.

Try to chill for a year. Act like you're on vacation. Sometimes do a
touristy thing that you would do if you were visiting wherever you are (or had out
of town company) but that locals rarely do because it's expensive. In
Albuquerque, that would be have lunch on Sandid Crest, having ridden the Tram up.
Maybe do an overnight vacation to a play or musical or touring museum show in
another town. Stay in a motel, or with friends, or camp (or sleep in the van),
but make it an adventure. It doesn't have to cost a fortune to have an
adventure!

Sandra

Julie Bogart

--- In [email protected], Christina M
Ledford <christina989@j...> wrote:
> Hi! I'm Christina. I'm homeschooling my 13-year-old son --
pulled him
> out of school last year <whew!>.

Welcome Christina! I have a high school aged son and daughter
(as well as three littler ones).

> My concern now is how to unschool during high school,
especially since
> I'd like to see him in college (he doesn't want to see himself
there -
> "hates" school, but I think he'll come around when he sees
how much fun
> true learning really is).

Here's what I'm learning from my son, who will be a "junior" next
year according to the state. I don't have a clue what will be right
for him when he hits 18. I loved college. My husband loved
college. But we were products of 12 years of schooling. College
was the big reward for years of drudgery.

But my son doesn't know if it will be a fit for him. This terrified me
at first until I began really watching him. If I create a goal for him,
then I will work to enforce the requirements that goal demands.
Next thing you know, I'm back to organizing and controlling his
life. And he's back to putting his passions on hold for
requirements.

The biggest encouragement to me was the realization that
anyone can go to college... really. Colleges need students and
money. Anyone can register as a special student, bypassing the
admissions process, proving that he or she is capable of
college level work and then enrolling in a program. I'm about to
do this very thing to get a Master's!

Once I faced the fact that my son may not care about
scholarships or admissions requirements but might some day
choose to go to college, I relaxed. He'll figure it out with my help if
he wants it when he catches the vision of what college might
mean for his life. But right now, it's not in his line of sight as
clearly as it was in mine so I'm adjusting to that reality. He's got
more important things to do like:

mastering Rachmaninoff pieces, Vanessa Carlotn's pop music,
Mozart and Scott Joplin on the piano. He's transposing songs for
fun. He's created three games in Visual Baisc and hangs out
online with programmers. He reads voraciously and asked me
to buy "The Epic of Gilgamesh" on tape last night at a book sale.
He acts in a Shakespeare camp every summer. He plays
Lacrosse and watches MTV and taught himself guitar and
listens to heavy metal. He plays with his siblings and is kind to
them. He cleans up the dishes just because they're dirty. He
leaves his room a total mess all the time.

He's a great kid! And if college is something *he* wants, I have
no doubt he'll get there. And we'll do everything we can to help
him when he makes that choice.

I just had to let go of thinking I could manage that goal for him.
And I had to let go of meeting 'requuirements' in order to see him
blossom the way he has.

Julie B