A quick note on homeschooling

As the school year draws to an end, I'd like to write briefly about two things: the end of CZ's year, and our (very schematic) planning for next year.

On the convergence of projects at the end of this year:

I am really glad to see how hard CZ is working.  She is writing her first real research paper, and just finished the rough draft.  It's a good first draft.

The New York Public Library's hold system unfortunately can't even come close to keeping pace with a three-week research paper.  Most of the books she needs have now been stuck in limbo for two weeks between the Performing Arts branch and our local one. So she may end up having to do the entire paper from online material.  I have no idea whether it's now typical to write a high school research paper this way or not.  At any rate, it seems doable.

CZ keeps finding interesting side topic material, and actually seems eager to do more research even after the paper is finished, and perhaps organize her findings into other papers. She's found a mystery in her topic that's worthy of a novel--a lost symphony!

This eagerness to research and write is a big change from even a year ago.  It should be a sign of hope for other homeschooling moms whose children didn't enjoy writing when they were younger.  I didn't push structured writing (other than a few regrettable and short-lived episodes) when CZ was younger, so this is her first experience with it, at an age when she has more stamina.  We've led a family life full of discussion and ideas, however, so it hasn't been that hard to pick up an expository format now that she needs it.  

Also, since CZ also has four performances and several subjects that all need call for study right now, I told her she could put geometry on hold for two weeks.  We both want to finish math soon, but in homeschooling we do have the happy option of rearranging things when necessary. And she could do all the work, but it wouldn't be done as well and she wouldn't learn as much from it.  Putting math on hold allows for a better-written paper, SAT II study, attention to assigned reading from outside classes, and violin practice.  

I remember getting to college and thinking that the workload there was much more manageable than high school because I only had three classes to prepare for at any one time, rather than seven. I had more time to make connections in each class. This is multam non multa in action.

On planning for next year:

Now that CZ has proved she can do rigorous work and keep up the pace of outside classes, I'm willing, and in fact eager, to take a more creative approach next year.  I haven't figured out every detail, partly because I'm looking for other people to share classes with, but I'm generally willing to give CZ more leeway in the content of the coursework now that she knows what rigorous work looks like. It's not that she didn't approve of what she took this year (in fact, she did want to take every class), but next year we might be able to do more of the same kinds of work where she chooses the books and topics herself and does more of the work on her own. I hope we do this.

Also, I had a really helpful meeting yesterday with a local homeschooling mom whose son is a freshman in a very selective college this year.  We had never really talked in detail about homeschooling before, but she was quite gracious in sharing her experiences. She sat down at her computer and showed me how her son's transcript worked, what sort of portfolio and application package they had put together, and how she had collected letters of recommendation from various teachers and activity leaders he had worked with through high school.  She even lent me some college search books.

While I have no doubt that this young man's success in being admitted to ivy-league and similar level colleges was mostly due to his phenomenal test scores, coursework, and dedication to a few worthwhile activities, I was also pleased to see that the family was able to put together a package that allowed their son's creativity to shine through. The writing (for the course descriptions, much of it his own) was almost whimsical in places.  I have no idea what CZ will do for college yet, but I found this meeting to be very encouraging, and I'm thankful that there are moms out there who've been through this already and are willing to share their experiences in a relaxed, encouraging way.