I need help... unschoolers...

[zebra15]

Hey unschoolers I need some help here..
Ds is 9 (amost 10) and basically unschooled. He is gifted and enrolled at CTY-JHU (Johns Hopkins University) so there is some structured learning via online classes. He is going thru a 12 week class in about 6 weeks so I can get 2 classes out of a tuition payment. He also takes classes at our local state university when something is offered at the kids gifted program.

Anyway with unschooling I have little to no 'work' to show and he is wanting more of these 'classes and programs'. Plus we are lacking in history. So I was thinking of trying to cover American History this fall. Hoping to keep unschooling but letting DS doing 'something' that I can use to show for scholarships and progress other than CTY and our local university work. Kinda like, yes we are homeschooling and here is xyz that we actually did.

Is there ANYONE out there with a gifted older unschooler who has some type of 'work' that they use to submit for scholarships and such? This is one area that I feel so lost in and I really need the scholarship $$ for him.

*the university programs only have math and science -sometimes literature(hes not interested in that) so I can't get history covered there anyway.

DS would say, mom feels like an asteroid floating in space on this one

[Dar]

What specific scholarships are you thinking of? I guess I'm not aware of any scholarships that would require anything like that... especially not from a child that young. I know that more selestive 4 year universities often want some sort of external validation of academic achievement, like college classes or APs or SAT subject tests, but he's got a few years to go before that will be an issue...

Rain has gotten a few scholarships for stuff like camps and most recently for her study abroad year in Russia. The Russia one was the only one that asked for a transcript, and I just made my own and submitted it... well, I think I attached her college class transcripts, but I don't think they mattered much. It was much more about the essays and interviews... and her other scholarships had also been primarily based on essays she wrote, about her interesting life.

[zebra15]

The local univeristy is being a UAV about not having 'work' to show, along with test scores.

Plus DS isn't in 4th grade he is moving along rapidly and should be done with jr high soon so I'm looking forward with this as well. With CTY he is eligible to start Algebra anytime and that can get him High school credit if I so choose.

[Piglet68]

Does he have any projects he's worked on? I am thinking of a portfolio of his work: artwork, science projects, etc. I keep samples of some of the cool things my kids do. Could you collect some stuff and show that to them?

[Dar]

Originally Posted by zebra15

The local univeristy is being a UAV about not having 'work' to show, along with test scores.

What kind of work? Like a transcript? Most (all, as far as I know) universities will want a high school transcript, but that's generally something parents will write up. Most will include descriptions of classes taken and how the subject was studied, but again, they don't expect necessarily formal classes from homeschoolers. If your local university does I'd be surprised...

Plus DS isn't in 4th grade he is moving along rapidly and should be done with jr high soon so I'm looking forward with this as well. With CTY he is eligible to start Algebra anytime and that can get him High school credit if I so choose.

I haven't found the idea of grades very relevant to unschooling... even Rain's high school transcript is subject-based rather than year-based, and that hasn't been an issue. And as a homeschooler, you can give him high school credit for anything you decide is worthy of such a designation - you don't need CTY to do that.

I guess I'm still unclear about what you need this formal evidence for, since so many unschoolers have been quite successful without it, especially before high school.

If he likes online classes though, there are many out there. MIT, Tufts, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Oxford, and a slew of others offer courses free online....

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by Piglet68

Does he have any projects he's worked on? I am thinking of a portfolio of his work: artwork, science projects, etc. I keep samples of some of the cool things my s do. Could you collect some stuff and show that to them?

This is exactly what I need to do... however right now his passion is LEGO's.... maybe I need to start making a portfolio of all his massive lego creations.

[EllyMayMomma]

Originally Posted by Dar

If he likes online classes though, there are many out there. MIT, Tufts, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Oxford, and a slew of others offer courses free online....

I had no idea. We just found a Tuffs college class on Zoological Medicine and includes a section on rabbit medicine - dd's passion!!!!

[Thystle]

Originally Posted by zebra15

This is exactly what I need to do... however right now his passion is LEGO's.... maybe I need to start making a portfolio of all his massive lego creations.

He needs to use legos to build various math and physics based objects (Tessellations anyone? That's our word of the month ) and you can submit pictures. Seriously though... can you work up a photo portfolio of him doing certain things and going places?


Ok off subject... OT testing of my then 4 yo (at the time) wrote him down as "Unable to complete objectives" because she kept asking him to stack 10 blocks ontop of each other in a single file... and he kept building a platform and stacking in a different pattern because it was structurally more sound. She only wrote down he was unable to stack 10 blocks.