Any highschool hs on this board?

[zonapellucida]

I posted in the pen pal exchange but eveyone is so young! What is your typical highschool day??? OUrs is very unschool wiht a college course here aned there

[Dar]

Rain is 14, so in any normal city she'd be in high school in the fall... but our weird town has middle school as grades 7-9.

She's also unschooled and will be taking a college course in the fall... her typical day involved much dancing, some hanging with friends, some reading, some IMing, stuff like that, with various bits and pieces of other stuff.

We used to have a thread for teen homeschoolers... maybe we need a new one.

dar

[moominmamma]

Erin is 13 but has been at a high school level for a while. Her days are very laid-back right now, as she's just been through a bunch of music performances and thrust into a transition in that her violin teacher retired suddenly and we don't have another qualified teacher within 4 hours to turn to.

She usually sleeps until noon. : She has her own little cabin that functions as a bedroom, so she can keep her own hours without being disruptive to the rest of the family. She eats something, she reads, she'll go for a bike ride. She'll practice piano for 45 minutes or so, might get her violin out for a similar session, or might not. Two days a week she has a quartet rehearsal with a semi-professional quartet with three adults. She's part of an environmental/gardening club with our family and a bunch of other home-learning families and two or three times a week she'll head to the garden to do a little digging in the dirt. She has soccer three times a week. In the evening she usually does some Algebra and music harmony work, possibly some Latin work, and then reverts to reading and creative writing, which will consume her until 3 or 4 a.m..

Miranda

[UnschoolnMa]

I have two teens who would be wrapping up grades 7 and 10 (I think...lol) if they were in school. Dd is 13.5 and Ds will be turning 16 this summer. Dd usually wakes up the earliest, and Ds sleeps until around noon give or take.

Their days involve a lot of reading. They are usually involved in a few books each. Dd likes to read about girls her age, both fictional and non. Ds likes sci-fi and fantasy/myth books. We all use the internet a lot, and Ds has a connection in his room which has made it easier. Both kids belong to a message board they are active on, and Ds writes in text based role playing games just about every day.

Dd is crocheting a blanket right now, and she's frustrated with how long it's taking. She keeps at it though. She's been furthering her explorations of religions and practicing math. Ds has decided to get his G.E.D. and he's studying for that a lot lately. He plans to get a job this summer, and Dd plans not to. She babysat all last summer, and although she said she will miss the money, she wants to have more free time.

[HilMama]

Ours are preteens. We have a pretty structured day (at ds2's request and they both do better with it), so perhaps we're in the minority here.

I'd love a teen thread, moderators.

[alima]

My ds is almost 14, we're very unschooly, getting much more for the summer when I work less. Over the winter ds was doing a Math-U-See course, at his request, and I experimented with a little more structured curriculum, but we both are feeling like doing some serious nothing for a while

Ds usually goes to sleep around 3 or 4 in the morning, gets up, if I'm lucky, by 2 pm. We got a new computer this Xmas, after going without for a long time, so ds has been spending an enormous amount of time playing internet video games, and when that gets boring, playing pc video games, and just to break up the monotony, playing platform games. When he can't move his thumbs anymore, he'll play chess or go.

When not playing video games, watching tv or plotting world domination (just a hobby... I hope), ds does a lot of reading, he was in a kind of low ebb of reading for a whlie, no fiction and mostly magazines, atlases, almanacs and the sort, but he's rediscovered a few of his favorite writers, recently, and has gone back to his old habit of reading a novel a night, staying up till he finishes.

He goes out for a walk or bike ride at 3 or so every day, with a group of friends, and they all wind up going to a local coffeeshop/bookstore and take turns buying each other coffee, italian soda or mochi.

A homeschooling teen thread would be cool. Since ds is now quite fully a teen, physically, emotionally and aromatically, I'm feeling a bit... lost, in terms of my role as an unschooling parent. It was all great when he was 8 and we would go tramping down by the river for hours, then snuggle up and read books together. I'd love to hear about what unschooling teens and parents do together.

[UUMom]

My teen hser dd would be a HS freshman in Sept

[SagMom]

Ds has been doing some construction jobs with relatives lately, and he's working with a friend on making a movie--they're currently choreographing a sword battle scene which is pretty elaborate. He reads a lot, plays video games, goes to archery practice, likes building things (currently working on a ballista) and loves to spend time in the woods hiking, building shelters and learning survivalist-type skills.

Dd does a lot of reading also, and writes (books, essays, e-mails, IM's) for hours every day. She loves to cook, though doesn't do that as much since her writing has picked up. She also volunteers at an animal shelter and will soon start taking a shelter dog through behavior classes.

We go to lots of museums and some shows/lectures and they get together with friends regularly.

Ds is planning on entering a carpenter's apprentice program when he's 18. Ds wants to go to community college when she's 16 and then to culinary school.

[panamama]

Originally Posted by zonapellucida

I posted in the pen pal exchange but eveyone is so young! What is your typical highschool day??? OUrs is very unschool wiht a college course here aned there

i'll let you know in a few months. DS is a HS freshman right now, and we are just counting down the days to the end of this school year! i have noticed there's considerably less info out there for HS/teen home/unschooling thatn there is for the younger set.

for those of you already doing it and whose DC take the occasional college course, what do you have to do to get exceptions to the general 18/GED/HS diploma requirement? i'm looking into that now...just curious what has been other's experience.

[UnschoolnMa]

Originally Posted by panamama

for those of you already doing it and whose DC take the occasional college course, what do you have to do to get exceptions to the general 18/GED/HS diploma requirement? i'm looking into that now...just curious what has been other's experience.

Ds is studying for the GED now actually. He plans to go take the exams as soon as he's 16. I am not totally sure what the process entails just yet, but I think we just have to get a form from the local ESD, and then have a brief orientation at the college testing center. Sounds easy enough. I have a GED as well, but that was several years ago and I wasn't a homeschooler when I did it.

[UnschoolnMa]

Originally Posted by alima

Ds usually goes to sleep around 3 or 4 in the morning, gets up, if I'm lucky, by 2 pm. We got a new computer this Xmas, after going without for a long time, so ds has been spending an enormous amount of time playing internet video games, and when that gets boring, playing pc video games, and just to break up the monotony, playing platform games.

This sounds a bit like my Ds. He loves video games and his computer.

plotting world domination (just a hobby... I hope)

What is it with teen boys and plans for world domination? LOL Ds often prefaces statements with "When I rule the world...."

I'm feeling a bit... lost, in terms of my role as an unschooling parent. It was all great when he was 8 and we would go tramping down by the river for hours, then snuggle up and read books together. I'd love to hear about what unschooling teens and parents do together.

Yeah, it changes a bit doesn't it? It's good though I think. My teens and I mostly just talk, and debate (all friendly like) things. We watch movies and TV together and get all wrapped up in character and plot. We go places together, and the summer is shaping up to be busy.

[nomadmom]

My ds is an unschooling 15 y.o. He plays guitar in a band, so that takes up a lot of his time. He plays on and off all day long in addition to having a weekly lesson and practicing w/ the band at least a couple times a week.

He spends time on the pc throughout the day, either im'ing friends or downloading music. He also searches random topics to get ideas for lyrics. He doesn't watch much tv -- maybe an occasional cartoon or music channel.

He's interested in photography, and I'm looking for a course for him to take an an adult learning center -- some of them are o.k. w/ younger teens. We're also waiting for a climbing course to become available. Ds has been on climbing walls in the past and wants to take the course (4 weeks) so he can climb unsupervised.

We regularly read together. We finished Of Mice and Men last month. We talk a lot.

Ds takes our dog outside every day, and meets up w/ friends at a local skate park. He hangs out w/ a group of older public-schooled teens who are great kids and really good to him, and regularly visits with another homeschooled teen boy who shares his interest in music. We used to go to a group that has lots of teens, but we got too busy w/ other things. We all keep in touch, but don't see each other so often any more.

Ds is a fun-loving, easy-going kid who is generally a pleasure to be around.