This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Career Exploration for Teens Who Don’t Have a Clue- Special Replay.

Career Exploration for Teens Who Don’t Have a Clue

“SO, what are you going to do after graduation?”

That’s the dreaded question for many teens. They simply don’t have a clue what they want to do.

How do you help a teen find direction in life? How do you help them get to know themselves or get to know God’s leading?

For teens who know they do not want to go to college but do not have a clue what they want to do

Many teens do not have any idea what they want to do after graduation. That is okay. They do not need to know everything about the future during high school. However, it is wise to help them explore. Here are some ideas:

• Give them rich experiences
  • Many times teens do not know what they want to do because they have not experienced it yet. One kind of rich experience is field trips. Hey, the good thing about homeschooling is that we homeschool moms tend to value field trips (although sometimes at high school level, it is harder to squeeze them in to our teens’ busy schedules).
  • However, if you create a Career Exploration elective credit for their transcript, you can log many field trips towards that credit. That is because, any trip gives a little more life experience. Any life experience helps build the ability to make decisions- especially career decisions.
  • For instance: ranger-led nature walks at state parks, cooking demonstrations at special events, car shows or museum exhibits. Sometimes, a teen will get inspired by a watching the person in charge of whatever event they are experiencing. They think: “Hmmm, this might be a cool job!” Or, on the other hand, they might think, “Ugh, I would NEVER want to do that!” Either way is valuable career exploration.
• Show them role models
  • Movies based on careers
  • Biographies of interesting jobs
  • FB Watches or YouTubes about interesting jobs
• Volunteer work
  • Teens need to do volunteer work. It is good for transcript and the soul. Service work is SO important for personal knowledge and development, as well as making the world a better place.
  • Some volunteer opportunities our teens have done:
    • Church (worship, set up, digital team, nursery, office)
    • Digital volunteer opportunities
    • Food bank
    • State park volunteer events
    • Library volunteers

For teens, whether they have a clue about career or not, try a career exploration course

A good career exploration course is very helpful. For non-college-bound teens, 7SistersHomeschool has a simple Career Exploration Textbook. Even if you choose something else, think about looking for curriculum that includes (like our workbook):

• What is God’s will?
  • Teens who are believers sometimes feel anxious about choosing a career that will please God. A good curriculum helps them trust God to direct their paths.
• Past experiences
  • What have teens already done that help them find strengths or interests
• What other people see in them
  • Get some feedback from people who know them
• Can they identify interests?
  • IF the power went out for the day, what would you do for fun? If you had a day to yourself with no chores or schoolwork, what would you do?
• Define career values
  • Career values help teens choose a career field by defining what is important to them: Work hours, desire for involvement in things after work, level of income desired, etc. (Rabbit trail, all teens will benefit from taking a Financial Literacy course that helps them understand and plan for financial responsibilities coming their way in adulthood.)

Explore careers

Check out career descriptions and information at CareerOneStop.org.

Join a club or interest group

Sometimes a group experience will help them explore an interest or strength, network or lead to the next interesting experience. Even if it does not turn out to be fun, no experience is wasted. All experiences are growth, one way or the other.

Try some apprenticeships

We cannot recommend this enough. See if you can help your teen find something that can count as apprenticeship.

Be sure to log everything!

Those Career Exploration electives are SO valuable and look great on the transcript!

For more on this topic

• Check out this interview with our friend, Angela O’Shaughnessy about her non-college-bound sons’ career exploration experiences:
  • Helping Non-college-bound Teens Find Success
  • Why Trade School?
• AND check out Susan Stewarts suggestions of Careers that Don’t Require College.
• If you are just starting out, here is information on how to get teens interested in career exploration.

Join Vicki for a quick discussion to help non-college-bound teens get their career exploration underway!

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Sabrina, Vicki, and Kym have been mentoring, coaching, and teaching homeschool high schoolers about Career Exploration for decades.

Join them for an expert discussion on helping teens who don’t have a clue.

Resources:

Case Study: Teen Doesn’t Have a Clue

HSHSP Ep 23: Career Exploration for Homeschool Highschoolers

My Next Move Career Interest Survey

Career One Stop (US Dept of Labor)

The post Career Exploration for Teens Who Don’t Have a Clue- Special Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Working Moms: Homeschooling Your High Schoolers.

an episode from Homeschool High School Podcast

Working Moms: Homeschooling Your High Schoolers

Every single homeschool mom is a working mom!

If we are homeschooling, we are working at it, juggling our kids’ needs, growing, and managing households. Many of us also hold jobs outside the home (or inside the home) to bring in extra income for the family.

As most of our podcast listeners know, Vicki worked as a licensed professional counselor while homeschooling her kids through graduation. It helped pay the homeschool bills, and besides, it was her calling.

If you’ve ever felt unqualified, this encouragement on how to homeschool high school when you don’t know everything may help.

Encouragement for being a homeschool working mom with teens

It can feel intimidating and tiring to hold a job and homeschool high school. Vicki wants to encourage you that you can do this. Remember: There’s not ONE right way to homeschool. Homeschooling for working Moms can look many different ways! You can do this and your teens can do this!

Include your teens in the planning and process

When you are facing high school with your teens, sit down with them. Talk about your priorities (yours and theirs). What are the most important things that you need from them? What do your teens need out of their high school experience?

Remember: you are homeschooling high school in the way that is right for your family. There’s no right or wrong set of priorities.

Some priorities will include:

• Meeting their graduation requirements
• Completing high school in four years (for most teens, although some graduate early and others need extra time due to illness or other complications)
• Doing some career exploration
• Clarifying or discovering what their gifts, interests, or their talents
  • Building their transcript with lots of electives in their interest area
• Being prepared for college, for a vocation, or the military
• Discovering the best-fit resources for curriculum, courses, electives, and extracurriculars
  • For asynchronous (self-paced) courses, check out 7SistersHomeschool
  • Live courses are offered at FundaFunda Academy (the online school sponsored by our fellow podcasters at Homeschooling with Technology)
• Looking for good-fit service and volunteer activities
• Learning self-directed study skills like using a syllabus

Think about your career and personal needs

Make sure you define your own career priorities and goals. Do you:

• Need to advance up the career ladder?
• Want to maintain the status quo in your career?
• Pay off some bills?
• Are you caregiving for an aging relative or for a member of the family who has a chronic illness?
• Do you homeschool multiple children?

Remember: there’s no such thing as a Pinterest-perfect homeschool

Perfection is only in Pinterest photos. In real life, you are a real human, and your whole family is full of real humans. Real humans are messy, busy, and complicated! So, do what you can with the best heart you can.

Let go of “perfect”.

You may feel like your teens are not receiving the world’s most amazing homeschool education. However, if you all stay aligned, if you stay together on this, they will get the education they need. And you will get through it.

And, you may be tired, but motherhood’s all about tired.

Someday, they will be all grown up and out of the house.  You can sleep in on those days.

Don’t forget to pray

Remember to pray because we need God in on this. (That’s not cheesy.) 7Sisters Kym always says,

“Pray first, last, and always.”

Then you start planning. Check out 7SistersHomeschool’s useful blog post: Authoritative Guide to Planning Homeschool High School.

Find your community

We homeschool working moms need community as much as anybody:

• Church community
• Family community
• Homeschool community (digital and/or in person)
  • Join Facebook groups like our friends at Simply Homeschool or Homeschool Mama Self-Care

Don’t forget to join 7SistersHomeschool Facebook Group. Ask questions. You matter! We will get this done.

You may need to be working to bring in some income. That’s not a bad thing. If this is what God has given you to do, then it’s the right thing. You can work the process in the way that works for your family. Community can happen in the homeschool world, in digital forums or in person. You can communicate with your teens. They will get educated and be well-prepared well for the next phase of life.

Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing. Hey, would you go to your podcast network and leave us some stars and/or a review? THANKS!!

Keep Listening

• How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything
• GPA on the Homeschool Transcript
• 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School
• Homeschooling College-Bound Teens
• First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job
• Character Development in Homeschool High School
• How to Start the Homeschool High School Year

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our iTunes page.
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

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The post Working Moms: Homeschooling Your High Schoolers appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschooler Becomes a Veterinarian, with Dr. Sarah Varnell, Special Replay.

Homeschooler Becomes a Veterinarian, with Dr. Sarah Varnell

Dr. Sarah Varnell is a veterinarian near Cincinnati, OH. Homeschooled through high school, Sarah studies zoology at the undergraduate level, went to veterinarian school, and now specializes in equine medicine: a homeschooler becomes a veterinarian!

How did Sarah handle her time in high school so that she was college-ready for a science like zoology?

Academics for Sarah were heavy in the maths and sciences, both textbook-wise but also hands-on!

Dr. Sarah Varnell. Photo used with permission.

Heavy Sciences on the transcript, completed at honors level:

• Biology in 8th grade
• Zoology
• Chemistry
• Advanced Chemistry
• Physics

Volunteering, MANY hours:

• Horse rescue
• Brandywine Zoo (snake handler who walked around the zoo carrying a snake for visitors to meet)
• Teaching at a Christian summer camp that specializes in horses (she was also a camper there when she was a child)

Shadowing, MANY hours:

• Small animal veterinarian (this steered her away from small animals because Sarah likes being out and about, not stuck inside)

Noticing and developing interests and loves:

• Being in the outdoors
• Being around large animals

Through college, her networking and shadowing helped guide her in her studies but it took time to clarify that she wanted to be a field veterinarian.

• She connected to an equine vet (through a homeschool family that she babysat for- nothing like networking!) and spend many hour shadowing

For college success, Sarah learned to:

• Look forward to necessary courses and kept in touch with college advisor for advice on specialized and extra courses she needed to take. (Sarah needed some specialized courses that most zoology undergraduates did not need.)
• Visit her professors often during office hours.

Sarah chose a small, Christian college (Malone College) for her undergraduate degree. When choosing her college, she made these a priority:

• Small college, so she could know her professors and advisor well
• Good college advisors that are interested in the success of their advisees
• Opportunities for networking and exploration/volunteering/shadowing

Of all the vet schools in the nation, Sarah applied to the best vet school in the nation: University of California. She chose her graduate program by applying to the average number of programs, not choosing University of Delaware (her local college) since it had no vet program and few opportunities with their reciprocal programs at other schools. Rather, she chose to other nearby colleges and the vet school that her veterinarian of her childhood cats.

After applying, she flew to California for interviews and tours of campus. She liked the way their program was organized. AND it was December with NO snow! She rocked her interviews. How did she do that?

Beginning in 8th grade and all through high school, she was a member of the homeschool rhetoric team, so was comfortable speaking.

This is the curriculum that Sarah’s rhetoric league used.

She was also involved in her college forensics team (public speaking), where she specialized in 5-minute impromptu speeches.

At UC, the interviews were MMI format (Multiple Mini Interviews), which are 5-minute impromptu speeches in a sort of speed dating format. She did so well that she was accepted into the program.

Sarah’s advice for homeschoolers thinking about college?

• Make sure you avail yourself of advisors and professors. Network, network, network!
• Keep a class listing of what you will need. Keep an eye on when courses are offered (some courses are only offered periodically).

At the University of California, Sarah learned:

At the end of every lead rope there is a human.

So soft skills and speaking skills are important. Sarah began her skills in her homeschooling high school years. Today, Dr. Varnell is treating horses out on the road and in the clinic where she works. Just like James Herriot of All Creatures Great and Small, she’s out in the field with people and horses.

Here’s a free resource for helping teens choose a college major. Join Vicki and Dr. Sarah Varnell to find out how a homeschooler becomes a veterinarian.

Keep Listening

• How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything
• GPA on the Homeschool Transcript
• 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School
• Homeschooling College-Bound Teens
• First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job
• Character Development in Homeschool High School
• How to Start the Homeschool High School Year

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our iTunes page.
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

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Homeschooler Becomes a Veterinarian, with Dr. Sarah Varnell

The post Homeschooler Becomes a Veterinarian with Dr. Sarah Varnell, Special Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool High School Podcast: First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job.

First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job

Many teens look for a first job sometime during their homeschool high school years. I have found that a good way to get the job-hunt process started is to help them develop their first resume.

When I tell teens that we are starting with developing their first resume, they sometimes reply, “How can I have a resume? I’ve never had a job?”

It is hard to have a resume showing your jobs if you have never had a job, and that is very true. However, our teens, by and large, have lots of resume-worthy experiences. Our high schoolers generally have:

• done volunteer work
• been involved in community organizations
• participated in sports and/or the arts
• served at church and the homeschool community

All of those things are experiences that demonstrate that they can do things that are attractive to an employer, such as:

• teamwork
• responsibility
• drive.

We can help our teens capture these activities on an experiential resume. This is not a job resume because they have not had a job. However, an experiential resume us useful and valid to show what kind of person your teen is.

An experiential resume

Let’s take a look at an experiential resume sample. (BTW- You can download a guide to help your teen develop their own experiential resume at 7SistersHomeschool.com)

The experiential resume captures your teen’s experiences rather than jobs. Remember, these experiences tell potential employers about your teen’s work ethic and character.

The resume includes:

• Student’s name
• Contact information (address, phone number, email)
• Skills section
  • emphasize
    • teamwork
    • computer skills
    • speaking and writing skills
    • time management skills
    • second languages spoken (check out our interviews with Karim Morato for ideas for learning Spanish, such as 5 Tips for Making Learning Spanish Fun)
• Experiences
  • Use a bullet-point format and list
    • The experience, contact or location information
    • “Job title”/what they did
    • Dates (nice but not 100% necessary)
    • List of tasks, accomplishments, or interesting experiences
• Education
  • List the homeschool or umbrella school’s name or simply write “homeschool” and projected graduation year
• Achievements and awards
  • This section is optional
• References
  • List two people as references
  • Give their job title or connection to you
  • Add their email and phone number
  • You can decide to simply write, “References provided upon request”
  • Have your teen ask the potential reference if they would be able to be called upon by the “powers that be”
  • Teens should ask permission before listing a person as a reference. Be sure your teen alerts the references to expect a call from the interviewers.
• Tips:
  • Keep experiential resumes to one page
  • Avoid using the word “I”
  • Use bullet points

BTW- 7Sisters Career Exploration textbook contains (note that it includes Successful Experiential Resume Writing):

• Step by Step Through Career Exploration (providing a basic checklist of steps for you to follow)
• Career Exploration Questionnaire
• Career Exploration Workbook (31 pages)
• Successful Experiential Resume Writing (to create a resume that captures worthwhile experiences BEFORE that first paying job)
• Successful Cover Letters (a first impression is SO important)
• Introductory Interview Skills for Teens (a practical and empowering 9-page resource)
• Writing Your Personal Mission Statement (14 page workbook)
• Career Exploration in the Bible (a fun look at David, Joseph, Mary…and yourself!)
• Collected Posts on Career Exploration from 7Sisters’ extensive blog post archive
• Collected Posts on Financial Literacy (an important part of preparation for adulthood)

Click image for full description.

For more help with the job hunt, check out this episode of Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Job Hunting Skills for Homeschool High Schoolers.

Fun tips about experiential resumes

Your teen’s experiential resume is good for more than just a job application!

Keep a copy for their portfolio (count it as a writing assignment).

Include it as part of your teen’s Career Exploration course (In fact, the Experiential Resume Guide is included in 7Sisters Career Exploration download. For those in states that reimburse for curriculum, 7Sisters has a version of Career Exploration that meets the requirements for reimbursement.)

Get your teen busy working on an experiential resume as their first resume for their first job!

Note: We could sure use some new reviews on your podcast platform. Please leave stars and a review to help others find us!

Also, thanks to Seth Tillman for editing, and thanks to everybody for being here with us!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our iTunes page.
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

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6. Please tap *Ratings and Review* and give us some stars and a comment to help others find us more easily.
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The post First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Three Ways to Teach Health in Homeschool High School.

Three Ways to Teach Health in Homeschool High School

Do you remember Health class when you were in high school? Lots of us had forgettable classes and remembered little once we graduated. However, Health can be a meaningful course for our teens. As homeschooling parents, we can choose the way to teach Health that best fits our teens’ interests and needs…and helps prepare them for healthy adulthood!

As you know, most states require one-half or a full credit of Health for high school graduation requirements. There’s not ONE right way to earn that credit!

Let’s talk about three ways to teach Health

The beauty of homeschooling is that we can pick the right kind of learning process for our teens’ learning styles.

Log hours with useful life and health experiences

For some teens, the idea of doing Health in a textbook is going make their hair curl. Other teens are so busy with other academics that working in an intense Health credit will be difficult. Hands-on, practical learning might be the best way to earn a Health credit for these high schoolers.

Earning the Health credit by logging hours requires a little more work on mom pulling resources together. A few of our 7Sisters’ homeschool high schoolers earned their Health credits in this way. Some activities they logged hours for included:

• CPR classes
• Red Cross First Aid classes
• Co-op cooking and nutrition classes
• Mindfulness activities at our local umbrella school
• Videos and YouTubes on the human body and healthy lifestyle

Our teens needed a full credit of Health for their homeschool transcript. In our area, a full credit required 180 hours of educational experiences. This number varies by state. You can check HSLDA or your local department of education for your state’s credit requirements.

If your teen is earning the credit by logging hours, remember the adage:

If it isn’t written down on the log, it didn’t happen!

Use a textbook (there are good ones out there!)

There are lots of publishers that offer homeschool health curricula. However, when our teens were in high school, those who wanted to use a textbook insisted on a text with no busy work. That’s how 7Sisters’ High School Health for the Whole Person was created.

It is a downloadable PDF textbook in a no busy work format. While the textbook covers the scope and sequence for a good Health credit, each chapter is a few pages long. It covers only the material that needs to be covered for that topic:

• What they need to know
• How to recognize some issues if there are issues
• Some ways to take care of their body and mind

Interestingly, our teens wanted us to also include more on personal development in their textbook. Thus, the 7Sisters High School Health for the Whole Person has two sections.

• The first section is the physiological health
• Then, in the second part of the textbook, we covered mental, emotional, and social health
  • recognizing mood
  • how to live a healthy thought style
  • gratitude
  • self-awareness
  • depression and anxiety
  • ways to, to get help for that or to live a healthy lifestyle to help that feel better
  • friendship skills
  • helping a friend if they are concerned about a friend
  • drugs and alcohol

Homeschool high schoolers gain experience as a whole, healthy person: physical, emotional, and social. The text is not

Because we are all people of faith, the textbook is written through a Christian worldview. However, it’s not preachy.

Also, there are many states that will reimburse for curriculum. If you live in a state that reimburses and want to avail yourself of that, you must follow its guidelines for curriculum. Your curriculum must be non-religious.  That’s why 7Sisters also offers a version of the text that fits the reimbursement requirements: High School Health for the Whole Person (suitable for states that reimburse).

Courses for visual learners

Many homeschool high schoolers prefer to learn with the help of an online course. You can find live courses at online schools like our friends at FundaFunda Academy (who also bring us the Homeschooling with Technology podcast).

7Sisters offers an asynchronous (self-paced) online course that accompanies the High School Health for the Whole Person textbook.

The authors of High School Health for the Whole Person

The first part of the book covering the physiological parts of health was created by 7Sister Marilyn Groop, who is a physical therapist. Then, the second half of the text is taught by Vicki Tillman, who is a licensed professional counselor.

Remember

We are all in this homeschooling thing together. So, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us [email protected], and even better, go to 7SistersHomeschool Facebook Group and share a question with the group. Many of the 7th Sisters (that’s everyone, because YOU are our 7th Sister) will share wisdom and experiences to help.

Also, don’t forget our 7 Sisters Homeschool YouTube channel!

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing.

Hey, would you leave us some stars and a review to help new homeschool high schooling parents find us? Thanks!

Keep Listening

• How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything
• GPA on the Homeschool Transcript
• 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School
• Homeschooling College-Bound Teens
• First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job
• Character Development in Homeschool High School
• How to Start the Homeschool High School Year

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our iTunes page.
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

1. Tap the purple Podcast icon on your phone
2. Tap the search icon on the bottom-right of your screen
3. In the search bar type: Homeschool Highschool Podcast
4. Tap the Homeschool Highschool Podcast icon
5. Tap *Subscribe*
6. Please tap *Ratings and Review* and give us some stars and a comment to help others find us more easily.
7. Thanks!

The post Three Ways to Teach Health in Homeschool High School appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything.

How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything

No homeschool mom wants to leave holes in their teens’ education.

EVERYONE has holes in their education. No matter where you were educated or how much you are educated you have holes somewhere in what you know.

Holes are everywhere! Even the most expert professionals in long careers still have holes somewhere in their knowledge base. But don’t worry, your teens are learning to explore interests and become independent learners. Many teens will let you know what holes are important to them and help you explore how to fill those holes.

Know that some holes don’t matter! These holes are information your teen will never need in their future careers. (For example, a teen who will become a hair stylist or a Communications major don’t really need Calculus in homeschool high school.)

Our homeschool highschoolers learn to be lifelong learners. Homeschool highschool is a foundation of their life-learning. It is just a start. You can’t handle everything in the world in 4 years.

Sciences often make moms nervous. Who remembers their last Science course? It was a LONG time ago! But there are LOTS of ways to solve the problem of teaching the required Sciences to homeschool highschoolers.

Remember: There’s not ONE right way to tackle topics you don’t know. Look into one or more of these:

• Pray
• Co-ops and group classes
• Swap courses with a mom-friend
• Community college
• Video courses and online courses (Here’s an episode on digital learning.)

You might enjoy these episodes on labs and ideas for non-science learners.

Higher Maths often intimidate homeschool moms. Here are some tips:

The tips listed for Sciences also apply to higher Maths. Also, try:

• Working with a tutor
• Find a homeschool highschool study-buddy

Language Arts/Writing is intimidating to many homeschool moms (especially grading writing):

• Make peace with the subjective parts of writing…really mom, you can handle subjectiveness
• Use a rubric (that’s why 7Sisters’ writing curriculum includes rubrics)
• Have a friend of friends grade papers
• Send your homeschool highschooler to co-op, group classes or online classes (This often includes the important experience: peer review.)

Language Arts/Literature can be frustrated to some homeschool teens:

• Try Book clubs in person
• Try Instagram book clubs (supervise)
• Use Literature Study Guides (7SistersHomeschool.com are no-busywork, level-able guides that help teens build inferential-thinking skills…not just comprehension skills.)
• Use online books and literary analysis/guides
• Co-ops and group classes are great for discussion
• Try  Readers Theatre to read some plays. Here’s an episode to explain.

World Languages are so intimidating for homeschool moms. Here are some workable ideas:

• Co-ops and group classes are wonderful so that teens get the discussion portion of Languages
• Form a language club
• Use apps for supplementing texts.
• Online courses are often good
• Listen to this episode on handling World Languages.

History is so much fun to teach in homeschool highschool! You and your teen can learn together or they can usually easily handle independent learning.

• Often, if a textbook is engaging, teens can do the text independently. (Independent learning is a goal for 7Sisters’ Psychology and Human Development courses.)
• Group classes and co-ops are marvelous for discussions.
• Online courses
• Video courses

Phys Ed sometimes takes some creativity!

• Remember to keep logs!
• Listen to this episode on Phys Ed.

Fine Arts is intimidating to moms who aren’t artsy. Remember this:

• Lot those hours
• Think Arts Appreciation (Here’s a link to a good how-to do Arts Appreciation freebie.)

Join Sabrina and Kym for TONS of ideas on homeschooling highschool when you don’t know everything!

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Special Thanks to Our Network Sponsor – Well Planned Gal

Rebecca from the Well Planned Gal understands the challenges of working within a budget, managing multiple children, and trying to keep up with a variety of information. That is why she created popular planner bundles!

Click Here to Go to Well Planned Gal

How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything

The post How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything- Special Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: GPA on the Homeschool Transcript.

GPA on the Homeschool Transcript

Creating your homeschool high schoolers’ transcripts is one of our most stressful but important tasks. That’s why our 7th Sisters often ask about how to handle GPAs on the homeschool transcript. (BTW- There are six of us 7Sisters: Vicki, Kym, Marilyn, Sara, Allison, and Sabrina. So WHO’s the 7th Sister? YOU are!)

So let’s lower the stress levels and talk about how to handle the GPA on the homeschool transcript!

What is the GPA?

The GPA stands for the “grade point average“. It includes the average of your teen’s grades for their credits. Most homeschool transcripts will need to show a GPA at least at the end of senior year. (The GPA may need to be included starting in ninth grade, updating it yearly until the completion of senior year. Many college-bound or military-bound teens will need to include a first-semester senior year GPA on their transcript.)

By the way, 7SistersHomeschool has an editable transcript form along with a how-to guide. It coaches you all the way through the transcript process, including how to determine the GPA.

There’s not ONE right way to handle the GPA

Like all our homeschool high school experiences, there’s not ONE right way to handle the GPA for your teen’s transcript.

To determine the GPA, you will need to give some thought to your teen’s goals based on whether they are college-bound or career-bound. (It is a good idea to write these goals, so you do not forget.) When you know the goals, you can clarify the method of determining the GPA.

GPA for teens who are career-bound

Many of our teens are not college-bound. They might be entering the military, trade school, or the workforce. Calculating their GPA is not as stressful. The transcript will definitely need to be included on the transcript for our military-bound students, and most often, those who are trade-school-bound. However, compared to the intense pressure that teens applying to a competitive college are experiencing, the stress on GPA is reduced.

College-bound teens need to take the GPA seriously

Our college-bound teens need to have a GPA that shows their academic achievement. Many colleges include the GPA as part of their algorithm to determine who will be accepted, and sometimes who is eligible for some scholarships. There is a lot of pressure on us parents as the transcript creators to get the GPA right!

GPA: Weighted or Not?

Parents often ask us whether to have a weighted or a non-weighted GPA. There’s no unified code in the United States for weighting/not-weighting.

A weighted GPA assigns more GPA points to more rigorous courses. Homeschool families (like schools that weigh GPAs) will give more points to higher-level courses. For instance, if a teen is taking an Honors course and they received an A for the course, they might receive a GPA score of 4.5 for that course instead of the traditionally unweighted score of 4.0

So for us, when our teens did, uh, the highest level courses, those level five courses, we call them honors courses, they would have the most rigorous course, a weighted course if they got an A for one of those courses would be a 4.5.

When your teen applies to colleges, the admissions officers know how to compare apples and oranges of weighted vs non-weighted GPAs. Each college finds a way to standardize the GPAs themselves. Some of them simply unweight the weighted GPAs, some have more complicated algorithms.

How to determine GPA

Step 1: Determine which percentage points determine the letter grades

This is important because you need the letter grade to figure the GPA. (Also, college applications often ask this.)

You get to decide this; there is not a standard.

A simple method (This is the method used by the homeschool umbrella school that the 7Sisters’s homeschoolers have attended. It is based on several decades of observing student capabilities and college admissions.):

• Lowest B=  82
• Lowest C=  73
• Lowest A=  92

A more complex method could be:

• Lowest A=    93
• Lowest A= 97
• Lowest A-=  90
• Lowest B+= 87
• Lowest B=    83
• Lowest B-=  80
• Lowest C+= 77
• Lowest C=    73
• Lowest C-=  70
• Lowest D+= 67
• Lowest D=    63
• Lowest D-=  60

(I personally don’t recommend allowing a homeschool high schooler any credit for a grade lower than a C-.

There cannot be mastery of a subject with a low grade. I would have the student re-take the course. This, however, is a matter of opinion.)

Step 2: Assign a Grade Point to each course

Again, the simple method (used by the homeschool umbrella school that the 7Sisters’s homeschoolers have attended):

• Lowest A= 92= 4
• Lowest B= 82= 3
• Lowest C= 73= 2

Again, the more complex method could be. (These is no set standard for Grade Points, there are many variations.)

• Lowest A+= 97=4.0
• Lowest A=    93=3.8
• Lowest A-=  90=3.6
• Lowest B+= 87=3.4
• Lowest B=    83=3.2
• Lowest B-=  80=3.0
• Lowest C+= 77=2.8
• Lowest C=    73=2.4
• Lowest C-=  70=2.0
• Lowest D+= 67=1.8
• Lowest D=    63=1.4
• Lowest D-=  60=1.0

Step 3: Assign the amount of credit earned to each course on the transcript

Use this post to help you determine the number of credits.

Step 4: Figure the GPA

This is simple math. You are simply going to average of the Grade Points. Do this by:

1. Adding together all the Grade Points earned in a year.
2. Adding the number of credits earned in a year.
3. Dividing the Grade Points by the number of credits earned.

At our umbrella school, we only counted the core courses as part of the GPA. The course courses are:

• Language Arts
• Mathematics
• Social Studies/Histories
• Sciences
• World Languages

Here’s an example, Sally’s 9th grade core courses looked like this:

• American Literature 1 credit, A grade, 4 GP
• Algebra I                      1 credit, B grade, 3 GP
• American History      1 credit, A grade, 4 GP
• Physical Science         1 credit, A grade, 4 GP
• Spanish I                      1 credit, A grade, 4 GP
• Sally’s total GP was 19. She earned 5 credits.

19/5=3.8

For more on GPAs and transcripts check out our Authoritative Guide to Transcripts post and download our easy, editable transcript with how-tos. 

For more on GPA’s check out 3 things to know about GPAs post.

How we 7Sisters handled GPA

Between the six of us 7Sisters, we graduated a LOT of homeschoolers. Each of our kids had different goals for life after graduation. Although their goals were different, we found that the unweighted GPA worked well for them.

However, it was important for our college-bound teens’ transcripts to show the levels of rigor of their courses in their course titles. So, their transcripts include the level of rigor of each core course (and electives that earned credit at rigorous levels). Thus, our teens’ transcripts would show Level 3 (College-Prep), Level 4 (Advanced), or Level 5 (Honors) written along with the title of the course on the transcript.

Remember: There’s not one right way to homeschool high school…or to handle a transcript, or GPA. Handle it in the way that best fits your teens’ goals.

You can do this!

A word of advice

Make sure you save your portfolios or other records for each homeschool high schooler. Once in a while, a homeschool graduate has to prove what they did in high school. It’s rare, but occasionally your teen might need their records.

Have questions? Join our 7SistersHomeschool Facebook group. You can throw questions into the group and get lots of sage advice from all the 7th Sisters there!

Join Vicki for a discussion on how to handle GPA on the homeschool transcript.

Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

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2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

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The post GPA on the Homeschool Transcript appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Homeschooling Several Ages at Once with Natalie Burton.

Homeschooling Several Ages at Once with Natalie Burton

Many of us homeschool more than one young person at a time. It CAN be done! That’s why we were excited to talk with our friend, Natalie Burton, again. We had Natalie on the podcast earlier, talking about homeschool and life balance. She is always a giver of wisdom and encouragement!

Natalie Burton’s story

Natalie has four homeschoolers ranging in age from four to eleven. This year is her official first year homeschooling all four of them. However, even though her four-year-old is just starting his official education, he has always been with his sisters at the table when they are doing their lessons. He has always been in the mix of everything homeschool!

Natalie is married into a ministry family. Her husband is a worship leader at Macedonia Baptist Church in Southeast Washington DC. With the busy church life and homeschooling, Natalie has learned to be flexible and open to God’s leadings.

Year-round homeschooling

Natalie and her family homeschool year-round. She uses the summer to map out the upcoming school year. Year-round homeschooling works well for her family. One reason is that her oldest child is neurodivergent. For her, the timeline of a traditional school year felt like too much pressure. The year-round format helped her relax and opened up with her education.

Natalie found that the year-round format allowed for intermittent breaks, so that they never truly get to the place of burnout. Her homeschoolers are mostly always excited to do school.

The beautiful thing about homeschooling is that you can make it fit the rhythm of your family!

Natalie’s tips for homeschooling several ages

One thing Natalie has learned is to be adaptable and open to the Lord’s guidance throughout the year. Here are some of her tips:

One-on-ones and entertaining littles

Natalie has learned that her homeschoolers work much better when they have some time doing one-on-one core-subject lessons with her. The personal time gives her students focus and excitement. To pull this off, Natalie has special activities that her younger ones can do. The special activities generally keep the young ones’ attention until they arrive at lunch, recess, or a family/group activity.

Early rising

The Lord put on Natalie’s heart to get up early in the morning. She felt that God showed her that He blessed her with multiple children, and with that comes more responsibility. It helps her to get up forty-five minutes earlier than she did when the kids were younger. This gives her extra prep time and time to get centered and ready for the day.

Homeschool co-op

Natalie searched for two years to find the right homeschool co-op for her family. She loves this co-op because it is a dynamic, Christ-centered, and all of the moms there make it a safe place for all the homeschoolers to learn together. Her kids love it because they have a great time. The co-op families feel like family for Natalie and her kids.

All the homeschool moms help out at the co-op. For instance, Natalie serves as treasurer. When looking for a co-op, she highly suggests finding one where the moms are involved (as opposed to the ones where parents can drop kids off and leave). The relationships formed by serving together are important for homeschool-mom support and encouragement.

Immediate Breaks

There’s no such thing as an all-the-time, picture-perfect homeschool (or anything). Natalie has instituted “immediate breaks” for herself and her homeschoolers. When anyone is feeling their calm slip away, they are allowed an immediate break to stop, breathe, and self-regulate. After all, it’s hard for moms to teach or students to learn if they are too stressed. A little calm-down time helps everyone to get back on track.

Self-discipline

Natalie has found that God has used her prayer life and homeschooling her kids to develop the fruit of the spirit of self-discipline. This can look like taking an immediate break and breathing for a bit. It can also look like staying on task (and helping her kids learn to do so) when they need to complete their lessons.

Balanced with flexibility

Natalie’s oldest child has been a teacher of flexibility for her. When her daughter becomes overwhelmed, they have learned to take that immediate break. Natalie is naturally a Type A, so educating her daughter has helped her moderate that style and be more adaptable to the needs of her child in the moment.

Find role models

One of Natalie’s closest friends and role models is Anita Gibson. Our listeners know Anita through our interviews with her, including:

• No Second-class Homeschoolers
• You Are the Right Parent for Your Homeschooler
• And her work at National Homeschool Advocacy (Natalie works with Anita in this organization)

Anita and Natalie’s mother started homeschooling their kids when Natalie was a young child. They went to church together. Anita has served as a mentor and support to Natalie for her entire life.

Natalie also helps Anita with the Simply Homeschool Facebook group.

Let the process be the process

Homeschooling is a process for the whole family, so let the process be the process. Give yourself over to it. Learn with your children. Allow yourself to change as the years go by. Homeschooling is a growth process, a learning curve. You can do this!

Forget perfection!

Natalie has learned to remove the lens of trying to be perfect. When you let go of that, things get a lot easier, the pressure comes off, and you can actually inhale!

Remove the lens of trying to be perfect.

Read alouds

Natalie spends some family-learning time reading the Bible, literature, and poetry with her homeschoolers. This gives them shared experiences and builds their listening skills. This is one of her favorite times of the day!

The most important thing that Natalie wants you to know is that with God’s help, you can do this!

Join Vicki and Natalie Burton for tips for homeschooling several ages at once. Thanks to Seth Tillman for editing.

Keep Listening

• How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything
• GPA on the Homeschool Transcript
• 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School
• Homeschooling College-Bound Teens
• First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job
• Character Development in Homeschool High School
• How to Start the Homeschool High School Year

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our iTunes page.
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

1. Tap the purple Podcast icon on your phone
2. Tap the search icon on the bottom-right of your screen
3. In the search bar type: Homeschool Highschool Podcast
4. Tap the Homeschool Highschool Podcast icon
5. Tap *Subscribe*

The post Homeschooling Several Ages at Once with Natalie Burton appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Great Books and Literature Guides for Middle Schoolers.

Great Books and Literature Guides for Middle Schoolers

Our middle schoolers will be high schoolers before we know it. So, we want to invest well and make the most out of middle school.

One of the things we 7Sisters wanted to think about when we were homeschooling our tweens was: how do we make middle school useful, but  not take all the joy out of learning? Middle school years are the last years when kids can just have fun with education without having to earn credits. Therefore, we want to invest well, prepare them for high school, and have some fun.

The 7Sisters story

There is a group of six of us moms who homeschooled our 20-some-odd kids in co-ops for years. (That would be Sabrina, Kym, Vicki, Marilyn, Allison, and Sara.) After a few years, we started an umbrella school, as well. We enjoyed functioning together in educating our kids.

As we saw the end of our homeschooling with our own kids coming to an end, we decided to start sharing the curriculum that we created with other homeschool families. We wanted others to know that there is no-busywork curriculum out there!

We had created lots of no-busywork curriculum because our teens had told us that many textbooks are boring because each chapter has a uniform number of pages, whether there is anything to say necessary to say or not.

Our teens loved doing Language Arts and electives together. There were lots of kinds of learners so, we made sure the curriculum was adaptable to different levels of rigor. If they were interested in the topic or wanted to add rigor, there were meaningful activities to earn honors credits.

So, we started publishing the curriculum online. We like the name 7Sisters, because we realized that’s because we’re all in this homeschooling thing together. Everyone who was part of the homeschool community is our seventh sister, so, or a seventh sibling for all those dads out there.

Let’s talk about literature for middle schoolers

There are lots of wonderful books for middle schoolers to read! Remember: there’s not ONE right way to homeschool middle school, so choose books that fit your tween’s needs and interests, such as:

• Books for fun (lighthearted books with no need to do a study guide for them)
• Classic and excellent modern books at their age demographic
• We also suggest introducing literature study guides by doing four to nine guides per year

7Sisters literature study guides provide an introduction to literature analysis skills. These guides are not supposed to be exhaustive because that’s exhausting. Instead, the guides cover one or two literature analysis skills in each guide. Over the year, young people develop literature analysis skills, and still enjoy reading.

7Sisters Literature Study Guides for Middle School

We 7Sisters like to create no-busywork literature study guides that do not take the fun out of the book. Here are our favorites:

Esperanza Rising

Esperanza Rising is the story of a young girl who comes from Mexico and is working on a farm. It is a gentle, attention-catching, and precious book.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

This is an empowering, true story of a young man in Africa who builds a windmill for his village.

Misty of Chincoteague

This is one of 7Sister Vicki’s favorite stories of all time! It is a fabulous, classic book to cover if your middle schooler is learning American geography. Students learn about the wild pony roundups on the Outerbanks of North Carolina.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

This is a good read-aloud for the whole family! If you wish, your middle schooler can listen and then do the literature study guide.

The Boy on the Wooden Box

The true story of a Jewish boy and Oskar Schindler during World War II. It is compelling but not overwhelming for young people.

The Phantom Toll Booth

Isn’t this a wonderful story? This classic is another good read-aloud for the whole family. If you wish, your middle schooler can listen and then do the literature study guide.

The Watsons go to Birmingham

This is a very important book that is very gently and wisely presented. It is a great addition to American history studies.

Snow Treasure

This classic book is based on the true story of the Nazi occupation of Norway and the legends about the children saving the national gold.

Let’s talk about middle school writing guides

Every homeschooler is unique! We want to introduce writing skills that will prepare them for high school, but not take the joy out of learning. We 7Sisters created writing guides that give middle schoolers the basics without overwhelming them.

Essay writing

The Middle School Guide to Essay Writing covers the topic over a series of weeks: step by step. Middle schoolers learn the basics of writing the five-paragraph essay that they will be doing a lot of in high school. It is a gentle, user-friendly, success-oriented, but not cheesy guide.

Fairy tale writing

It is wise to make sure that every year, there are some fun writing assignments. In middle school, this is a great time to just have some fun writing a fairytale. This guide will take you step by step, week by week for several weeks, one little assignment at a time, to write an absolutely delightful fairytale.

Report writing, if you have a reluctant writer

This is a freebie for homeschool parents. If you have young people who have not written a report, this can get you started. It is instructions on working together as a parent and middle schooler on writing that first report, so that your young person feels encouraged.

Research Readiness

If your middle schooler likes to explore interests, they would like a step-by-step guide to help them understand the process of writing a research paper. This is a good guide to get them started on the research-paper writing adventure.

Homeschooling middle school is so rewarding! Enjoy these years.

Join Vicki for a discussion of good books and guides.

Keep Listening

• How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything
• GPA on the Homeschool Transcript
• 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School
• Homeschooling College-Bound Teens
• First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job
• Character Development in Homeschool High School
• How to Start the Homeschool High School Year

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our iTunes page.
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

1. Tap the purple Podcast icon on your phone
2. Tap the search icon on the bottom-right of your screen
3. In the search bar type: Homeschool Highschool Podcast
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5. Tap *Subscribe*
6. Please tap *Ratings and Review*

The post Great Books and Literature Guides for Middle Schoolers appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Movies for Educational Purposes in Homeschool High School- Special Replay.

Movies for Educational Purposes in Homeschool High School

Need some fun in your homeschool high school? Think: movies!

Can movies and reading books BOTH count as English/Language Arts assignments?

It’s complicated, but the answer is: Yes!

Movies alone cannot count as literature for teens’ ELA booklists, but they can be used to learn:

• themes
• plots
• characters and
• other tools of literary analysis

In fact, we 7Sisters have always allowed our teens to count some movies as books for their ELA booklist as long as they complete an accompanying study guide that emphasizes literature analysis skills. That’s why we have made sure they had good resources for studying movies as if they are books (like 7Sisters Cinema Studies for Literature Learning Study Guides).

Join Sabrina and Vicki for an enlightening discussion of movies for educational process.

Why learn literature analysis skills through watching movies?

There are lots of reasons to add some movies to homeschool high schoolers’ literature analysis lessons. Let’s start with another of Sabrina’s famous quotes:

Stories are stories.

So, a story in a movie is still a story.

Studying a movie can add some sparkle to a year that is getting bogged down in heavy literature books

Of course, teens need to read lots of good books during their homeschooling high school years. Some teens like to choose literature topics for a year, such as:

• American Literature
• British Literature
• World Literature
• Great Christian Writers
• CS Lewis
• Poetry

Other high schoolers prefer a mix of genres and authors (which is why 7Sisters offers the popular “One-Year” ELA series).

Either way, reading books, books, books can be cumbersome, so liven things up by learning literature analysis skills through movies!

Teens with learning difficulties will find analysis skills more accessible when they watch and discuss movies

Learning story analysis skills by watching movies is good for all teens, of course. However, learning some of these literature analysis skills while watching a movie simplifies the educational process and adds a layer of multi-sensory learning.

Studying movies for educational purposes is an inspiring activity for co-op

Teens love watching movies together and the literature analysis skills are great discussion material.

It’s fun!

Face it, it’s fun to watch movies! So why not have some educational fun!

So where do you start?

First off: We recommend that you do not overdo it! Just choose one or two aspects of the story to discuss and analyze, even if the movie has lots of outstanding features that could be explored. In other words, don’t kill the movie (or a book, for that matter) trying to analyze everything that could be analyzed! Instead, allow teens to concentrate on just a couple of outstanding facets to analyze! Then they can actually learn and hold onto their learning- and still have positive feelings and inspiration from the movie. We suggest 7Sisters Cinema Studies for Literature Learning Study Guides for this.

When teens learn some concepts from a film story, they can then find those concepts when they read books. Making these connections is a necessary facet of education (and an important life skill).

Watching movies as an educational tool, helps teens begin to think that any time they watch a movie

They can use their brains and think about what they are consuming. In other words, when given tools for analysis in a gentle way, most teens will have more critical thinking skills for watching movies any time.

All 7Sisters curriculum is level-able (adaptable for Average- through Honors-level studies.) Homeschool high schoolers who are college-bound Honors level cinema studies will find interesting and meaningful leveling-up activities in 7Sisters Cinema Studies for Literature Learning Study Guides.

The way the Cinema Studies guides work:

• Students watch the movie.
• They take notes as they watch the movie on anything that is interesting to them.
• They watch the movie again several days later.
• Then they complete the study guide (questions and a writing assignment).

As an aside, Vicki and Sabrina rabbit trailed onto the topic of audiobooks for books and poetry. They noted that Benedict Cumberbach is one of their favorite readers. Vicki has several pins on her Pinterest Poetry board with him reading a poem.

Join Sabrina and Vicki for a “moving” talk about movies!

For more creative Language Arts ideas, check out this episode!

Keep Listening

• How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything
• GPA on the Homeschool Transcript
• 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School
• Homeschooling College-Bound Teens
• First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job
• Character Development in Homeschool High School
• How to Start the Homeschool High School Year

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO HSHSP VIA COMPUTER

1. Follow this link to our iTunes page.
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Under our Homeschool Highschool Podcast logo, click on View in iTunes
3. This will take you to iTunes and our own podcast page.
4. Click SUBSCRIBE.
5. Click RATINGS AND REVIEW. (Please take a minute and do this. It helps others find us. Thanks!)
6. Thanks!

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE VIA iPHONE

1. Tap the purple Podcast icon on your phone
2. Tap the search icon on the bottom-right of your screen
3. In the search bar type: Homeschool Highschool Podcast
4. Tap the Homeschool Highschool Podcast icon
5. Tap *Subscribe*
6. Please tap *Ratings and Review* and give us some stars and a comment to help others find us more easily.
7. Thanks!

Movies for Educational Purposes in Homeschool High School

The post Movies for Educational Purposes in Homeschool High School- Special Replay appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Resources for Homeschoolers Who Learn Differently with Keisha Berry.

Resources for Homeschoolers Who Learn Differently with Keisha Berry

There’s not ONE right way to homeschool and there’s not ONE kind of homeschooler! That’s why Vicki was so excited to talk to our friend, Keisha Berry of Spectrum Education and Therapy Center, again about resources for homeschoolers who learn differently.

Vicki’s story about Keisha

This story highlights the respect that Vicki has for Keisha’s work:

“Keisha and I were both at the MACHE Convention in 2025. We both had tables next to each other in the vendor hall. It was early in the morning, and the doors had just opened for people to come into the building. Then a distraught grandmother who was homeschooling her grandchild entered the room. She was determined to find help for her grandson who was having learning problems. She couldn,’t figure out how to help him find the resources he needed. You could see desperation as she walked into the room, it was just radiating off of her. She started just talking to the room, “I’m homeschooling my grandson and I need help, and he needs help.”

Then Keisha just stood up and in this authoritative, calm voice, like the subject matter expert she is, “There’s help. We’ll get you help.” And I watched the calm descend on that grandmother from the top of her head down her face and her body relaxed.”

Both Keisha and Vicki have homeschooled their own kids who have some learning differences. Vicki’s kids have all made it to adulthood, thanks to I had access to resources to help my kids who needed help.

Keisha’s story

Keisha started to consider homeschooling when she began to get comments on her son’s report card in the first grade. The teacher said that although he made straight A’s, he was inattentive and hyperactive. Keisha was working in his school as a special education teacher at the time, and I knew at that point that he needed something that he was not getting in school.

Keisha’s sister, Dr. Rochelle Matthews-Somerville (who has also discussed learning differences on Homeschool Highschool Podcast before), was already homeschooling. She suggested homeschooling to Keisha. So, she decided to try homeschooling. Keisha thought it was going be a temporary situation, but the next thing she knew, it was sixteen years later.

Taking him out of school did not take away his inattentiveness or his hyperactivity. However, Keisha taught him how to manage himself through strategies for executive functioning, such as:

He was not required to sit at a desk

• They taught him how to take notes
• He learned how to use highlighters
• She taught him how to use his digital calendars
• He learned to use AI to help him use his syllabi

So, how did her son end up in Saudi Arabia

No matter how many skills you have, the ADHD-type inattentiveness does not really go away. Sometimes it pops up into real life. After high school, Keisha’s son was applying for jobs. He accidentally applied for a job in Saudi Arabia. When he interviewed with several people about the job, no one mentioned the location!

At the last interview, he was hired. That’s when he learned that he was going to Saudi Arabia!

It was two weeks between the time of the last interview and when he got on the plane!

A famous homeschool theory and globe-trotting son

There is a famous homeschool theory: We teach our children how to learn, not what to learn.

Using his skills on “how to learn”, Keisha’s son went online, and he figured out what he needed to do. He learned about the culture so that he was dressed appropriately and was respectful of their customs.

Now he is working in Saudi Arabia, living his best life! The inattentiveness has not prevented his success. In fact,  it is Keisha’s theory is that ADHD is just a different kind of way the brain works. It is a kind of neurodiversity that is a gift if you know how to:

• manage yourself
• learn
• be cautious when necessary
• understand how God has made you

In college, Keisha’s son majored in Cultural Anthropology. He loved his study-abroad programs, where he traveled to Greece and Senegal. His love of globe-trotting was a gift God gave him, so the trip to Saudi Arabia was not overwhelming to him at all.

Keisha’s training and homeschooling her son

Keisha had worked for years as a special educator. She holds a master’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders, which includes Speech and Language Pathology. Keisha had always worked in multidisciplinary settings, especially working closely with occupational therapists. She was able to use her training and experience to help her son maximize his gifts and manage his weaker areas.

As she started homeschooling her son, she used her skills to learn how he learned.

He did not always want to learn things that his parents thought he should learn about, so he had to learn to learn the required subjects. (They live in  Maryland, and we have seven subjects that they required to show that you’re doing regular and thorough instructions in.)

Along with this, he learned how to research and learn about things that interested him. For instance, during the pandemic, he was curious if there had been epidemics in the past. So he researched and learned about Ebola. For instance, he learned about what the government did to address the health crisis. He saw how politics affected addressing an epidemic. Then, he was able to draw comparisons, and he actually started to understand the current situation.

Investing in his interests

One of the greatest gifts a homeschooling parent can give their student who learns differently is to help them discover and invest in their interests.  Keisha had known that ever since he was a little boy, her son was a National Geographic magazine fanatic. So, she made sure that those subscriptions continued throughout his homeschooling. In the magazines, her son read and learned about other places in the world. By the time he went to college, he was ready to travel the world and see things for himself!

His desire for traveling sparked Keisha and her son with the opportunity to learn to manage his ADHD inattentiveness to details. With ADHD, some details will likely be missed (as in ending up with a job in Saudi Arabia). However, he learned to handle many of the details for his adventures.

One of his favorite tools

One of his favorite tools is a really cool feature on Google where you can tell Google to group the tabs that are open. Google will group them based on topic. So now, he can think about a million things at once, and he has Google to assist him by compartmentalizing them for him.

Many of the other tools that Keisha’s son learned to use came from her expertise in working with children who learn differently. These are the same tools that she used at Spectrum Education and Therapy Center.

Spectrum Education and Therapy Center

Spectrum Education and Therapy Center is a multidisciplinary practice. Keisha and her colleagues work with homeschoolers to build tools for success with their homeschoolers. Her staff includes:

• Speech language pathologists
• Occupational therapy
• Psychologists who can assist with those tri-annual evaluations that children and families need for the state of Maryland
• Social workers, social work, and mental health support are something that they added recently because she recognized that many families were starting to homeschool because their children were facing mental health challenges.
• Academic coaches and consultants for evaluations and selecting curriculum
• Special education tutors and educators
• Free 30 minute consultations for all new families

Not only in Maryland

While Spectrum Education and Therapy Center is located in Maryland, you do not have to be in Maryland to access it. Keisha and her staff have a selection of virtual programs and events. These include workshops for new homeschooling families and monthly support groups for homeschool families.

Check SETClearning’s monthly calendar for upcoming events, programs, and workshops.

Keisha says, “If you have something specific you’d like to talk about or you know, you’re just getting started or you’ve been homeschooling for a while and you just want to check in, you know, with a fellow homeschool mom, I am more than happy to to chat with you!”

Connect with Keisha Berry:

• Spectrum Education and Therapy Center
• SETCLearning Instagram (this is a marvelous account, check it out!)
• Spectrum_ETC Facebook

Join Vicki and Keisha Berry to learn about resources for homeschoolers who learn differently. Thank you to Seth Tillman for editing!

Keep Listening

• How to Homeschool High School When You Don’t Know Everything
• GPA on the Homeschool Transcript
• 5 Ways to Earn Credits in Homeschool High School
• Homeschooling College-Bound Teens
• First Resume for Your Teen’s First Job
• Character Development in Homeschool High School
• How to Start the Homeschool High School Year

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The post Resources for Homeschoolers Who Learn Differently with Keisha Berry appeared first on Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.