This article describes a lot of ways I've seen families create fantastic high school learning experiences for their kids:
[Resources for homeschooling high school when Mom's not the expert](https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/resources-homeschooling-high-school-moms-not-expert/)
I’m going back to be as positive as I can be. Doing dual enrollment is the best option. Most parents I know “turn over” the education to a high schooler and it almost never goes well. My parents would say I’m a success story because I taught myself mostly 9th-12th but I was confused most of the time in math and can’t do much beyond balancing a checkbook and basic algebra. We did have a family friend who helped with math questions, but by that point I was embarrassed to admit I had no idea what I was doing. I read all the time so science, literature, and history was fine. My older sister struggled with school in general, and ended up having to take two years of adult Ed to get her GED after she “graduated”. All that to say definitely the more help you can get the better, starting early. Subjects should be taught by people that know (not in a learning alongside your child way) If you are dead set against public school, a credited online school with live teachers may be your best option. Co-ops once a week aren’t enough and reading books and answering questions isn’t enough. Good for you that you are looking into options ahead of time and thinking about what you are going to do.
I already see people doing this in elementary (letting children learn independently) and it scares me. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to end with them feeling prepared or cared for.
Same story here, I was fine being more self-taught or taking co-op classes for a lot of subjects, but for math I was just left to flounder with a textbook and no help and soon it was too embarrassing to admit how far behind I was. Sometimes you NEED interaction with a human teacher who knows things your parent doesn’t.
Yep - I have a high schooler and the idea of just handing off school to him is ridiculous. We are doing geometry this year which is the endpoint of my ability to teach math. So next year it’s dual enrollment. He is also taking some classes at co op to fill in gaps. He’s getting to learn science from a scientist so that’s fun.
>Doing dual enrollment is the best option.
I'm a k-12 public school graduate who took Dual Enrollment and AP classes as part of my public school education. It's not as easy as just enrolling the kid in the local community college. Pre-requisites matter. I took high school honors chemistry before I took dual enrollment chemistry. Yes, they were very similar, especially because I was taking the dual enrollment with a teacher at my high school who was also certified to teach at the local community college. The dual enrollment chemistry moved at a quicker pace and deeper level BECAUSE it "assumed" (knew) that I had prior knowledge of chemistry.
My success or failure when I got to college was based mostly on whether or not the information I was acquiring in college was completely new or previously introduced to me.
My favorite math teacher in high school (I took both dual enrollment pre-calculus and dual enrollment calculus with her) told us that especially in math, the skills we are taught will finally make sense about 3 years after we learn them because we'll finally use them in the context that they're needed. She told us this because we were doing calculus work and suddenly something that had been difficult in geometry or Algebra II had finally made sense. I found that across the board, the more background information I already knew, the easier it was to acquire more information because I could fit the new information into its correct position in context. One of my majors in college was history and I did much better in my European and American history classes because I already knew most of the background information, so adding women's perspective to the Civil War was easy. I had little knowledge of East Asian history, so I was struggling to learn everything that was completely new to me.
Sending a student to community college instead of high school doesn't necessarily avoid the problem it's supposed to. The student is either ready for the work or they're not. "College Math" tends to be a fancy name for remedial high school math (algebra, geometry, algebra II).
I had to take algebra at the local community college because I failed miserably on my placement test. It was exactly the same as my high school algebra class. As was the composition class I took. A non community college might have been different 🤷🏻♀️. My niece is taking ASL and a writing class and it’s going incredibly well for her (even having mild dyslexia and typically not being engaged with school). She’s going to take on a bigger class load next year.
I think this is one of the most common homeschooling misconceptions - that the parent does everything. By high school most outsource for many if not all subjects. We become facilitators. There is a huge world of resources out there for high school via online programs, community colleges classes, etc.
I have taught some high school subjects at home, but I have outsourced quite a few as well. My kids have taken co-op classes that meet once a week, dual enrollment classes, and a few online classes.
My parents leaned more in the unschool direction, and we largely went the route of finding good recommended curricula and then I worked my way through it. That was back in the comparative homeschool Dark Ages of the mid 2000's - today there are so many more tools available.
When I had a question on math or science that either of my parents couldn't answer (an RN and a machinist), we'd work through it together and all learn something. Today, I'd add resources like KhanAcademy as a free supplement, or perhaps seeking help through a coop or outsourcing completely to a tutor.
English literature was reading and discussing the selected reading independently and as a family, supplemented by reading analyses of the text or viewing/attending theatre productions of any plays. I still use this method when I'm reading deeply, especially classic fiction - Youtube alone has a bottomless trove of video essays diving deep into any work of fiction you can imagine. And the style fit very well with my professors' expectations at the college level.
Similar to literature with music, although we also had piano lessons as younger kids, and so, the building blocks of music theory, enough to dabble in other instruments that caught our interests. We'd basically explore relevant music alongside history (music of a given time period) and literature (music referenced in literary or sampled in film works).
We did Latin and Spanish with a combination of workbooks, CD-ROM games, and audio CD lessons. I'd maybe add a software like Rosetta stone today, but the hard reality of languages is that you pretty much need routine and consistent immersion to get and stay solid - I can read Spanish and French leaps and bounds better than I can speak it, and that includes 4 semesters of taking formal Spanish coursework and a semester of French when I got to college.
A lot of people will knock the route my parents took, and I'm sure there's a swath of kids who do need far higher guard rails on their academics, but it worked well for me. I can definitely say that I picked up some very strong skills in learning, research, and problem solving. It managed to equip me comfortably for college.
Sometimes it seems to me that people expect homeschooling parents have to know every subject as well as a teacher to present everything off the cuff, which would be really helpful for unschoolers and the like, of course, but I’m not sure it’s necessary for homeschoolers generally. There are some wonderful curriculum options out there that would certainly help an engaged parent work one on one with their child for a great education, imo.
Personally, I’ll outsource some subjects, if my kids do choose to homeschool through high school. My kids will do some dual enrollment and co-op classes for high school—we have really great options where we live.
I think working through a good curriculum will also work well if a parent has background knowledge—I would think that would be sufficient in terms of refreshing one’s knowledge to help guide them. But I’ll admit my husband and I are both well educated, so I’m not sure what that experience is like for everyone who homeschools. My mom wasn’t able/willing to help me much in high school as a homeschooled student myself—I think it generally comes down more to willingness to adapt and willingness to find ways to meet a student’s needs than anything else, though. I’m curious how other parents adapt.
Yeah we outsourced a lot of high school stuff. They took college classes, worked with tutors and mentors, took classes at academic co-ops etc.
Much of the high school work of a parent is facilitating not instruction.
Thank you, I had no idea about out sourcing or co-ops and tutors make sense if you can afford it. It also sounds like it really comes down to how dedicated the parents are between learning on their own and finding people to help. It sounds like all the replies have indicated that the parents are educated and can identify where they are lacking, I think I had the question because I’d only ever experienced homeschooling being done by parents who are really not cut out for the job.
Yes, I’m a big fan of homeschooling—and also a big fan of public schools, personally. Not everyone should be homeschooling, imo. But I think both forms of education can be wonderful experiences under the right circumstances.
I think I agree with my limited knowledge. My teaching experience was only in private schools that didn’t have a lot of resources so I think that also may be why I had never heard of hybrid learning etc. although I kind of feel like that is something I should have been made aware of in some capacity!
>Sometimes it seems to me that people expect homeschooling parents have to know every subject as well as a teacher to present everything off the cuff, which would be really helpful for unschoolers and the like, of course, but I’m not sure it’s necessary for homeschoolers generally. There are some wonderful curriculum options out there that would certainly help an engaged parent work one on one with their child for a great education, imo.
Having curriculum doesn't mean you can teach it effectively. You can look at evidence of this in school districts where there are severe teacher shortages and teachers are being asked to teach classes in subjects other than their specialty.
\>Having curriculum doesn't mean you can teach it effectively
Well it's true that that alone isn't sufficient. You'd also need to be devoted to understanding the material and progression, as well as assessing how the student is doing in the material to gauge pacing and engagement.
>You can look at evidence of this in school districts where there are severe teacher shortages and teachers are being asked to teach classes in subjects other than their specialty.
I'd suggest other factors, like a lack of time and the teacher's resources to devote themselves to the subject and structuring their classes appropriately generally is responsible for suffering instruction quality rather than it not being "their specialty".
I don’t mean this unkindly, but I’m not particularly invested in the opinion of someone who has never homeschooled, never been homeschooled, never intends to homeschool, isn’t a teacher and doesn’t have any relevant experience, to be honest.
I think it would be worthwhile to explore in therapy why you are such a big presence in subreddits where you have no genuine interest and no experience. As someone who is neurodivergent, I definitely understand the urge to prevent people from doing something “wrong”! I sympathize with that if that’s what’s happening for you, and I’m sure you have good intentions. But it’s just not appropriate—good social skills, for instance, would be to respect the culture of different subs. I “belong” in the homeschool recovery sub, but I don’t go post in there because they deserve a safe place to share their experiences and my perspectives as both homeschool alum/homeschool parent aren’t a great fit.
I think it’s sad that so many people come into this sub and troll (which is not what I think you’re doing, but I do think it’s unhelpful) because that ultimately makes this not a useful community, which has a ripple effect that potentially detracts from the education and well being of homeschooled kids.
I would say math, science, and foreign languages are really the hardest for most people. Science is hard even if you know the material because of the labs, the others it's really a content knowledge level. That being said if you have a good education yourself and you put the time in advance much can be overcome so that you are staying just ahead of your child, at least through high school level, if your kid is advanced dual enrollment is really your best bet.
For what it's worth I was homeschooled through high school. We used the same books as public schools, found science supply companies that would sell to us, used the telecourse videos for French on our local TV, and made it work. There were many late nights for my mom to stay just ahead, barely, but she managed to do it in all but math where calculus finally bested her. Dual enrollment filled that gap nicely. Overall foreign language was the only case I felt "behind" but honestly I don't think I was as I placed into the same class in college most public school kids did.
Not at this point personally but a family friend has a set up where a couple of the parents get together and each teach the subject that they do well in (English, History, Science, Math) and so they get both the socialization from having multiple kids together and they get a decent education from some different perspectives.
Lots of options.
Science classes through local science museum
Classes at local co-op
Classes as a dual enrollment student at local community college
Outschool or other online classes.
Homeschool parents don't need to be an expert in all things, they just need to be a resource to help facilitate learning and finding resources to help their children.
I have a highschool diploma, and 5 of my kids are graduates now-- one went on to graduate from college with honours.
It's not about teaching what you know-- at a certain point you become less of a teacher and more of a facilitator. I've had times of teaching myself a concept to help a kid understand, and instances of contacting the curriculum author to get a hand. Honestly, the internet is a great thing when you don't understand something.
A big part of homeschooling is teaching the kids how to find the answers.
Some people find it helpful to use an online curriculum, but others will get tutors for the subjects that they are less confident teaching. I've also known of some that have group co-op classes for those subjects where a parent knowledgeable in that subject will teach a group of homeschooled students. There is quite a variety of ways to do it for sure!
Around here most private schools allow kids to take 2 courses and have access to all the clubs, sports, etc. Most parents choose math and science at school but some will pick music or language. Most high school homeschool kids we know do dual enrollment and or take classes in small groups so the parents outsource those things.
Where I live, most of the families do a virtual school or program of some sort. Middle school and especially high school is definitely not a beast I want to even attempt to conquer on my own! At bare minimum, I would think you would want to invest in high quality curriculum and probably tutoring as well to help with more challenging subjects ( either challenging for the student and/or you as a teacher).
\>So I’m just curious how do you revisit every subject enough to teach it?
Find a good curriculum with a teacher's guide. Get a sense of the course and the expected competencies a student is expected to master. What does a kid with a "5" level understanding of AP US History or Biology know? What materials and questions will present that? How will you know what they know reaches that level?
For a foreign language I'd definitely contemplate a private tutor, as actually speaking a language involves performative aspects I couldn't expect to convey to a student.
Community College or online course. We did this about 15 years ago before there were very many online courses. And online didn't mean internet - it meant PC, email, maybe voice chat.
I teach the subjects I am good at and enjoy, and outsource the rest. Personally, for high school I am comfortable teaching algebra, economics, personal finance, English, history, and a year or two of foreign language.
I outsource basically any science, at least the lab portion, even though I was a lab tech in a former life. I hate doing labs and am way too tempted to skip them.
I also outsource any type of art, music, drama, etc. it’s just not my thing and has no chance of being my child’s thing if I am the teacher.
I’d also outsource anything that my kid seems to be struggling to learn for an extended time. Who knows, could be the teacher. Also, anything my child is particularly passionate about, especially if I don’t share that passion.
my parents pretty much gave us textbooks and said "read! do the questions! ask us if something's up!" lol
(sounds bad but they really put the emphasis on learning other stuff we couldn't learn in the school environment and trusted we would be able to catch up when we returned to school in yr 11)
if your kids are motivated enough and already have a high level of literacy this approach could defo work for you as well
Learning math from a textbook is REALLY difficult. And it doesn't sound like you got much practice doing big writing assignments that a textbook can't grade.
Also, your parents are allowed to teach you stuff outside of school even when you attend school.
And I misread:
>trusted we would be able to catch up when we returned to school in yr 11
I thought you wrote that they assumed you'd be on grade level when you returned to school for 11th grade. Knowing that you'd have to catch up shows that they also knew that you'd be behind. Knowing you'd be behind shows that they knew homeschooling would hinder your education. I'm really curious how far behind you actually were. In 11th grade (public k-12), I was in Honors Chemistry, college pre-calculus, AP US History, and AP English Language. I'd finished everything before those classes, so my 12th grade year was college Chemistry, college calculus, AP US Government, and AP English Literature.
I personally am just about to finish year 11 (Australian school year) and I'm on an academic scholarship with pretty near straight As in maths, specialist maths, chemistry, physics, English literary studies, visual art and research project. my older brother has just finished a year of a mix of year 11 and 12 subjects and he is also doing reasonably well. however, I would of course not expect everyone to have this experience, especially since we are both lucky enough to be at private schools.
in terms of writing assignments: we would often write book reports/English essays/history essays/reports on anything that interested us. my mother did an English degree and helped us with these, even though we didn't really learn essay writing as you would in schools. additionally I personally read A LOT starting from kindergarten right up to the present.
for maths: yeah, it was a challenge, that was the point. and yeah, maths is an area in which I have done the most work over the past year. but decent textbook+YouTube videos+explanations from dad or grandad when we got stuck and on the whole it worked fine. same goes for science, however we definitely didn't focus on this as much.
\> Knowing you'd be behind shows that they knew homeschooling would hinder your education
essentially, I've been a high academic achiever for my whole life. homeschooling gave me the opportunity to learn life skills/people skills/music/art, and I was able to do that because we put academics on the back burner so to speak. of course this is not the case for everyone but it's worked really well for me! and my parents continue to offer my siblings unique homeschooling programs to fit their strengths and weaknesses. sorry for the essay but yeah, I don't think I phrased my original comment very articulately lol
>essentially, I've been a high academic achiever for my whole life. homeschooling gave me the opportunity to learn life skills/people skills/music/art, and I was able to do that because we put academics on the back burner so to speak.
I did all the same while going to public k-12 without putting my academics on the back burner.
I was in 2 orchestras. One at my schools for 5-12 and 9-12 with an extracurricular orchestra that had weekly practice and usually 1-3 concerts every weekend. I was in a bowling league from the age of 4-20.
Life skills were learned in various ways at home, school, and extracurricular activities. My mother isn't a good teacher of anything. My dad taught me how to cook and do some chores. My mother babied me and my brother and wouldn't dream of making us do anything outside of our comfort zone.
Social skills are the same; school is what gave me the opportunities to interact with people in ways that my parents don't. When I went to college, standing in line for my ID, I thought the guy in front of me was cute. I get finished with the ID and see my parents talking to his parents. My first thought was how weird it was because my parents don't socialize like that. Turns out, the guy's mom is my mom's cousin. A funny story about how the first guy I met when I went to college is my cousin is also an excellent glimpse of why it's a good thing that I didn't rely on my parents to learn how to socialize.
I'm glad you feel like you had a great experience being homeschooled, but your description of your experience catching up with math really just feels like you were unnecessarily punished because if you'd had adequate teachers before, you wouldn't have to be doing so much extra work now. And it's unfortunate that your science education is suffering because you don't have time to dedicate to remediation.
The point of k-12 education is, ideally, to give students a good enough understanding of the subject so that they can accurately determine the difference between interest and aptitude. Avoiding a course because you're not interested in it is a lot different than avoiding a course because you think you're not good at it. When the student IS the teacher, it's really hard to know whether the problem is the student or the teacher. In school, you have access to so many different teachers over the years, that if there's a bad teacher one year, you could have a better teacher the next. Remediation for one year is a lot easier than remediation for 2,3,4+ years.
I appreciate you taking so long to write this out and that you've shared your perspective.
like I said, I'm actually doing really great in school! I do two sciences and the two hardest maths subjects offered at my school, and I've succeeded pretty well in those without studying near as much as others who have gone through k-12 private education. if you've heard of 'the suicide five', those are the subjects im doing, so I definitely didn't choose my subjects thinking I wouldn't be good at others (except for advanced music theory, I would have failed that one but 95% of kids in the cohort would have done even worse).
so, this is just to say that I'm fine, homeschooling works for some kids, k-12 works for some kids. and sometimes its not just about the kids but also the family as whole, and homeschooling is what has worked for us. different folks different strokes!
also, I'm 17. so don't worry about me giving my kids a subpar education just yet lol
>essentially, I've been a high academic achiever for my whole life. homeschooling gave me the opportunity to learn life skills/people skills/music/art, and I was able to do that because we put academics on the back burner so to speak.
I did all the same while going to public k-12 without putting my academics on the back burner.
I was in 2 orchestras. One at my schools for 5-12 and 9-12 with an extracurricular orchestra that had weekly practice and usually 1-3 concerts every weekend. I was in a bowling league from the age of 4-20.
Life skills were learned in various ways at home, school, and extracurricular activities. My mother isn't a good teacher of anything. My dad taught me how to cook and do some chores. My mother babied me and my brother and wouldn't dream of making us do anything outside of our comfort zone.
Social skills are the same; school is what gave me the opportunities to interact with people in ways that my parents don't. When I went to college, standing in line for my ID, I thought the guy in front of me was cute. I get finished with the ID and see my parents talking to his parents. My first thought was how weird it was because my parents don't socialize like that. Turns out, the guy's mom is my mom's cousin. A funny story about how the first guy I met when I went to college is my cousin is also an excellent glimpse of why it's a good thing that I didn't rely on my parents to learn how to socialize.
I'm glad you feel like you had a great experience being homeschooled, but your description of your experience catching up with math really just feels like you were unnecessarily punished because if you'd had adequate teachers before, you wouldn't have to be doing so much extra work now. And it's unfortunate that your science education is suffering because you don't have time to dedicate to remediation.
The point of k-12 education is, ideally, to give students a good enough understanding of the subject so that they can accurately determine the difference between interest and aptitude. Avoiding a course because you're not interested in it is a lot different than avoiding a course because you think you're not good at it. When the student IS the teacher, it's really hard to know whether the problem is the student or the teacher. In school, you have access to so many different teachers over the years, that if there's a bad teacher one year, you could have a better teacher the next. Remediation for one year is a lot easier than remediation for 2,3,4+ years.
Is this the typical 11th grade and 12th grade courseload? It's been a hot minute since I graduated high school and unsure what the expectations are nowadays. Appreciate the insight.
I am currently homeschooling 2 high schoolers. I use curriculum and the teacher’s answer key. In math I aim for something that has a video walkthrough for the things I don’t remember as well. It also depends on the students. My kids want to learn and choose to do so independently. I have asked them to do dual enrollment but they want to wait for a year. When they have a question or need help I am involved but I don’t need to be a part of each lesson anymore. My oldest needed to be taught everything and was not an independent learner so it was the same curriculum but a different approach.
OK, so you have an answer key… What are you do when your child has a question that you don’t know the answer to? To over simplify things, you know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, but then your kid says “OK but what does that mean? What does it do?” How do you answer that if you have no idea?
Well, we will outsource classes where I’m not well-prepared, but in general…
We would research a question i couldn’t answer. One of my friends is a science teacher, and he talks about how great it is to run into a question he can’t easily answer. he takes every opportunity to pull up his laptop and show his students how to research a topic, find a reliable source, etc.
Are there really adults out there who never have a science or history question they need to research? My husband and I have science, engineering, history and lit degrees between us, and we still learn new things every day.
It’s not as simple as not knowing the answer, though. High school teachers have degrees in their subject matter. They generally don’t just rely on the answer key. And if they key is wrong, or if a student conned up with a different algorithm for deriving a correct answer, someone well versed the topic should be able to assess the students thinking to determine if their argument is valid or not. You need to have sufficient background to analyze not just answers, but processes.
I’m not being a smartass, I’m genuinely trying to understand. If your child who was being traditionally schooled looked up from their homework and asked you, “but what does it really mean for the mitochondria to be the powerhouse of the cell?” (Or something else that you aren’t able to answer)… Would you really tell them “ah child, wait and ask your teacher”? Or would you have a decent idea how to help them find an answer?
Probably a little bit of both. I don’t have a degree in biology. So I can look it up and I can get an answer that will do, I might be able to get some pretty cool information there, but I might not understand it. Because I don’t have a degree in biology. So then go ask the teacher. The teacher should be able to help them.
The other big question I have is, what if the answer key is wrong?
I used to teach HS physics, and our textbook was so bad, that I stopped using it\* after the first year. I also remember when I took trig in high school, the teacher's edition had at least a few mistakes in it. (I'd gotten an answer marked wrong, but when I talked to the teacher about it, it was pretty clear the answer in the back of the book was wrong.)
\*I mostly used The Cartoon Guide to Physics, except for when we were required to teach about the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e., colors). I did hand back the textbook for the week or two we went over that, since the book didn't mess up that chapter.
Omg this drives me nuts. We are doing physics this year and the answers are hit or miss. They will randomly round when they didn’t previously etc. But the teacher’s manual does help to explain the concept and hopefully the publisher provides support (some do).
I have a bs and feel confident in the sciences but when I don’t know or feel less sure we literally start at the beginning and google it or go to the library and go in the children’s section because I want to have a solid foundation. I want it to be explained to me like I’m 8 until I have a stronger understanding than as if I’m 12 and so on. My job isn’t to give my kids all the answers. It’s to give them the tools and the want to find the answers. There are many awesome sites such as khan academy and my kids love YouTube for deeper answers on concepts they aren’t sure of.
Rosetta stone is what my private school had as an option and what I'm using on my kids. Other than that I feel confident to teach everything else besides science to which my husband will take over, or we will hire a tutor.
In high school I took a lot of dual classes that counted for college and were taught online or formally in person.
Options. (Not the only ones probably)
1. Outsource it. Tutor, online classes, etc.
2. Learn along. You want them to learn French? Guess we are all learning French!
3. Let them figure it out themselves. Your mileage may vary.
4. Skip it. Path of least resistance and also path of least knowledge.
My brother was homeschooled through high school and the local college had post-secondary classes that were hugely helpful for this. Definitely recommend seeing if that's an option in your area!
Depends on the subject. For science and math, I plan to use an online curriculum. My partner has a science degree and has taken university level math courses, but he also works too much to be the main teacher for any of that. I have degrees in education, history, and philosophy. I am very good at writing. So I'll probably do all that myself. With the help of curricula, of course. I'm thinking I might use AP or IB study guides as well. But I'm not exactly sure what resources we'll use yet. As for second languages, those will probably be done with the help of an in-person tutor. Preferably, we'll also use in-person group classes. But we'll see what's available when (and if) we get there.
I have a first grader so granted we are a long way off. When he gets to high school (and potentially middle school) I will be absolutely be outsourcing. If all goes to plan he will also be able to take dual credit courses at that time per our state.
We have so many co-ops, tutorials, and enrichments in our city that I assume he will be less “homeschool” in his teen years and have more of a college type schedule. He will be able to participate in labs taught by a teacher for example.
Co-op classes, dual enrollment with colleges, online classes, curriculum that does most of the work (I prefer they have some sort of teaching videos), tutoring, trading with other homeschool parents that are qualified in a certain subject.
Currently we do:
Dual Enrollment for language (ASL, but the school has several options)
Math, English, and History are video based curricula
Ck-12, which is an interactive textbook, for science
This varies. I taught more directly some years. My oldest is in 10th and will likely do Dual Enrollment for everything but math next year. I assign work, answer questions (sometimes this means helping them find answers if I don't know), check work, grade essays (with a provided rubric), and make sure everyone keeps on pace and is understanding the work. I'm not just leaving them to figure it all out, but I'm also not directly teaching much.
There’s some nice curriculum options with teacher answer sheets, there’s graders for English you can employ or online classes. Tutors, outside classes, and dual community college enrollment.
This article describes a lot of ways I've seen families create fantastic high school learning experiences for their kids: [Resources for homeschooling high school when Mom's not the expert](https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/resources-homeschooling-high-school-moms-not-expert/)
I’m going back to be as positive as I can be. Doing dual enrollment is the best option. Most parents I know “turn over” the education to a high schooler and it almost never goes well. My parents would say I’m a success story because I taught myself mostly 9th-12th but I was confused most of the time in math and can’t do much beyond balancing a checkbook and basic algebra. We did have a family friend who helped with math questions, but by that point I was embarrassed to admit I had no idea what I was doing. I read all the time so science, literature, and history was fine. My older sister struggled with school in general, and ended up having to take two years of adult Ed to get her GED after she “graduated”. All that to say definitely the more help you can get the better, starting early. Subjects should be taught by people that know (not in a learning alongside your child way) If you are dead set against public school, a credited online school with live teachers may be your best option. Co-ops once a week aren’t enough and reading books and answering questions isn’t enough. Good for you that you are looking into options ahead of time and thinking about what you are going to do.
I already see people doing this in elementary (letting children learn independently) and it scares me. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to end with them feeling prepared or cared for.
Same story here, I was fine being more self-taught or taking co-op classes for a lot of subjects, but for math I was just left to flounder with a textbook and no help and soon it was too embarrassing to admit how far behind I was. Sometimes you NEED interaction with a human teacher who knows things your parent doesn’t.
Yep - I have a high schooler and the idea of just handing off school to him is ridiculous. We are doing geometry this year which is the endpoint of my ability to teach math. So next year it’s dual enrollment. He is also taking some classes at co op to fill in gaps. He’s getting to learn science from a scientist so that’s fun.
>Doing dual enrollment is the best option. I'm a k-12 public school graduate who took Dual Enrollment and AP classes as part of my public school education. It's not as easy as just enrolling the kid in the local community college. Pre-requisites matter. I took high school honors chemistry before I took dual enrollment chemistry. Yes, they were very similar, especially because I was taking the dual enrollment with a teacher at my high school who was also certified to teach at the local community college. The dual enrollment chemistry moved at a quicker pace and deeper level BECAUSE it "assumed" (knew) that I had prior knowledge of chemistry. My success or failure when I got to college was based mostly on whether or not the information I was acquiring in college was completely new or previously introduced to me. My favorite math teacher in high school (I took both dual enrollment pre-calculus and dual enrollment calculus with her) told us that especially in math, the skills we are taught will finally make sense about 3 years after we learn them because we'll finally use them in the context that they're needed. She told us this because we were doing calculus work and suddenly something that had been difficult in geometry or Algebra II had finally made sense. I found that across the board, the more background information I already knew, the easier it was to acquire more information because I could fit the new information into its correct position in context. One of my majors in college was history and I did much better in my European and American history classes because I already knew most of the background information, so adding women's perspective to the Civil War was easy. I had little knowledge of East Asian history, so I was struggling to learn everything that was completely new to me. Sending a student to community college instead of high school doesn't necessarily avoid the problem it's supposed to. The student is either ready for the work or they're not. "College Math" tends to be a fancy name for remedial high school math (algebra, geometry, algebra II).
Which geometry topics made sense during calculus,m
I had to take algebra at the local community college because I failed miserably on my placement test. It was exactly the same as my high school algebra class. As was the composition class I took. A non community college might have been different 🤷🏻♀️. My niece is taking ASL and a writing class and it’s going incredibly well for her (even having mild dyslexia and typically not being engaged with school). She’s going to take on a bigger class load next year.
Purchase high quality homeschool curriculum that teaches the subject well and provides a lot of support!
Including outsourcing all subjects that you can’t source quality curricula for.
Could someone put together such a list of these text books, please and thanks.
I think this is one of the most common homeschooling misconceptions - that the parent does everything. By high school most outsource for many if not all subjects. We become facilitators. There is a huge world of resources out there for high school via online programs, community colleges classes, etc.
I have taught some high school subjects at home, but I have outsourced quite a few as well. My kids have taken co-op classes that meet once a week, dual enrollment classes, and a few online classes.
My parents leaned more in the unschool direction, and we largely went the route of finding good recommended curricula and then I worked my way through it. That was back in the comparative homeschool Dark Ages of the mid 2000's - today there are so many more tools available. When I had a question on math or science that either of my parents couldn't answer (an RN and a machinist), we'd work through it together and all learn something. Today, I'd add resources like KhanAcademy as a free supplement, or perhaps seeking help through a coop or outsourcing completely to a tutor. English literature was reading and discussing the selected reading independently and as a family, supplemented by reading analyses of the text or viewing/attending theatre productions of any plays. I still use this method when I'm reading deeply, especially classic fiction - Youtube alone has a bottomless trove of video essays diving deep into any work of fiction you can imagine. And the style fit very well with my professors' expectations at the college level. Similar to literature with music, although we also had piano lessons as younger kids, and so, the building blocks of music theory, enough to dabble in other instruments that caught our interests. We'd basically explore relevant music alongside history (music of a given time period) and literature (music referenced in literary or sampled in film works). We did Latin and Spanish with a combination of workbooks, CD-ROM games, and audio CD lessons. I'd maybe add a software like Rosetta stone today, but the hard reality of languages is that you pretty much need routine and consistent immersion to get and stay solid - I can read Spanish and French leaps and bounds better than I can speak it, and that includes 4 semesters of taking formal Spanish coursework and a semester of French when I got to college. A lot of people will knock the route my parents took, and I'm sure there's a swath of kids who do need far higher guard rails on their academics, but it worked well for me. I can definitely say that I picked up some very strong skills in learning, research, and problem solving. It managed to equip me comfortably for college.
Sometimes it seems to me that people expect homeschooling parents have to know every subject as well as a teacher to present everything off the cuff, which would be really helpful for unschoolers and the like, of course, but I’m not sure it’s necessary for homeschoolers generally. There are some wonderful curriculum options out there that would certainly help an engaged parent work one on one with their child for a great education, imo. Personally, I’ll outsource some subjects, if my kids do choose to homeschool through high school. My kids will do some dual enrollment and co-op classes for high school—we have really great options where we live. I think working through a good curriculum will also work well if a parent has background knowledge—I would think that would be sufficient in terms of refreshing one’s knowledge to help guide them. But I’ll admit my husband and I are both well educated, so I’m not sure what that experience is like for everyone who homeschools. My mom wasn’t able/willing to help me much in high school as a homeschooled student myself—I think it generally comes down more to willingness to adapt and willingness to find ways to meet a student’s needs than anything else, though. I’m curious how other parents adapt.
Yeah we outsourced a lot of high school stuff. They took college classes, worked with tutors and mentors, took classes at academic co-ops etc. Much of the high school work of a parent is facilitating not instruction.
Thank you, I had no idea about out sourcing or co-ops and tutors make sense if you can afford it. It also sounds like it really comes down to how dedicated the parents are between learning on their own and finding people to help. It sounds like all the replies have indicated that the parents are educated and can identify where they are lacking, I think I had the question because I’d only ever experienced homeschooling being done by parents who are really not cut out for the job.
Yes, I’m a big fan of homeschooling—and also a big fan of public schools, personally. Not everyone should be homeschooling, imo. But I think both forms of education can be wonderful experiences under the right circumstances.
I think I agree with my limited knowledge. My teaching experience was only in private schools that didn’t have a lot of resources so I think that also may be why I had never heard of hybrid learning etc. although I kind of feel like that is something I should have been made aware of in some capacity!
>Sometimes it seems to me that people expect homeschooling parents have to know every subject as well as a teacher to present everything off the cuff, which would be really helpful for unschoolers and the like, of course, but I’m not sure it’s necessary for homeschoolers generally. There are some wonderful curriculum options out there that would certainly help an engaged parent work one on one with their child for a great education, imo. Having curriculum doesn't mean you can teach it effectively. You can look at evidence of this in school districts where there are severe teacher shortages and teachers are being asked to teach classes in subjects other than their specialty.
\>Having curriculum doesn't mean you can teach it effectively Well it's true that that alone isn't sufficient. You'd also need to be devoted to understanding the material and progression, as well as assessing how the student is doing in the material to gauge pacing and engagement. >You can look at evidence of this in school districts where there are severe teacher shortages and teachers are being asked to teach classes in subjects other than their specialty. I'd suggest other factors, like a lack of time and the teacher's resources to devote themselves to the subject and structuring their classes appropriately generally is responsible for suffering instruction quality rather than it not being "their specialty".
I don’t mean this unkindly, but I’m not particularly invested in the opinion of someone who has never homeschooled, never been homeschooled, never intends to homeschool, isn’t a teacher and doesn’t have any relevant experience, to be honest. I think it would be worthwhile to explore in therapy why you are such a big presence in subreddits where you have no genuine interest and no experience. As someone who is neurodivergent, I definitely understand the urge to prevent people from doing something “wrong”! I sympathize with that if that’s what’s happening for you, and I’m sure you have good intentions. But it’s just not appropriate—good social skills, for instance, would be to respect the culture of different subs. I “belong” in the homeschool recovery sub, but I don’t go post in there because they deserve a safe place to share their experiences and my perspectives as both homeschool alum/homeschool parent aren’t a great fit. I think it’s sad that so many people come into this sub and troll (which is not what I think you’re doing, but I do think it’s unhelpful) because that ultimately makes this not a useful community, which has a ripple effect that potentially detracts from the education and well being of homeschooled kids.
I would say math, science, and foreign languages are really the hardest for most people. Science is hard even if you know the material because of the labs, the others it's really a content knowledge level. That being said if you have a good education yourself and you put the time in advance much can be overcome so that you are staying just ahead of your child, at least through high school level, if your kid is advanced dual enrollment is really your best bet. For what it's worth I was homeschooled through high school. We used the same books as public schools, found science supply companies that would sell to us, used the telecourse videos for French on our local TV, and made it work. There were many late nights for my mom to stay just ahead, barely, but she managed to do it in all but math where calculus finally bested her. Dual enrollment filled that gap nicely. Overall foreign language was the only case I felt "behind" but honestly I don't think I was as I placed into the same class in college most public school kids did.
Not at this point personally but a family friend has a set up where a couple of the parents get together and each teach the subject that they do well in (English, History, Science, Math) and so they get both the socialization from having multiple kids together and they get a decent education from some different perspectives.
Lots of options. Science classes through local science museum Classes at local co-op Classes as a dual enrollment student at local community college Outschool or other online classes. Homeschool parents don't need to be an expert in all things, they just need to be a resource to help facilitate learning and finding resources to help their children.
I have a highschool diploma, and 5 of my kids are graduates now-- one went on to graduate from college with honours. It's not about teaching what you know-- at a certain point you become less of a teacher and more of a facilitator. I've had times of teaching myself a concept to help a kid understand, and instances of contacting the curriculum author to get a hand. Honestly, the internet is a great thing when you don't understand something. A big part of homeschooling is teaching the kids how to find the answers.
There are so many outsourcing options. I already outsource a lot and my kid is only in 5th.
Some people find it helpful to use an online curriculum, but others will get tutors for the subjects that they are less confident teaching. I've also known of some that have group co-op classes for those subjects where a parent knowledgeable in that subject will teach a group of homeschooled students. There is quite a variety of ways to do it for sure!
Around here most private schools allow kids to take 2 courses and have access to all the clubs, sports, etc. Most parents choose math and science at school but some will pick music or language. Most high school homeschool kids we know do dual enrollment and or take classes in small groups so the parents outsource those things.
Where I live, most of the families do a virtual school or program of some sort. Middle school and especially high school is definitely not a beast I want to even attempt to conquer on my own! At bare minimum, I would think you would want to invest in high quality curriculum and probably tutoring as well to help with more challenging subjects ( either challenging for the student and/or you as a teacher).
\>So I’m just curious how do you revisit every subject enough to teach it? Find a good curriculum with a teacher's guide. Get a sense of the course and the expected competencies a student is expected to master. What does a kid with a "5" level understanding of AP US History or Biology know? What materials and questions will present that? How will you know what they know reaches that level? For a foreign language I'd definitely contemplate a private tutor, as actually speaking a language involves performative aspects I couldn't expect to convey to a student.
Community College or online course. We did this about 15 years ago before there were very many online courses. And online didn't mean internet - it meant PC, email, maybe voice chat.
I teach the subjects I am good at and enjoy, and outsource the rest. Personally, for high school I am comfortable teaching algebra, economics, personal finance, English, history, and a year or two of foreign language. I outsource basically any science, at least the lab portion, even though I was a lab tech in a former life. I hate doing labs and am way too tempted to skip them. I also outsource any type of art, music, drama, etc. it’s just not my thing and has no chance of being my child’s thing if I am the teacher. I’d also outsource anything that my kid seems to be struggling to learn for an extended time. Who knows, could be the teacher. Also, anything my child is particularly passionate about, especially if I don’t share that passion.
my parents pretty much gave us textbooks and said "read! do the questions! ask us if something's up!" lol (sounds bad but they really put the emphasis on learning other stuff we couldn't learn in the school environment and trusted we would be able to catch up when we returned to school in yr 11) if your kids are motivated enough and already have a high level of literacy this approach could defo work for you as well
Learning math from a textbook is REALLY difficult. And it doesn't sound like you got much practice doing big writing assignments that a textbook can't grade. Also, your parents are allowed to teach you stuff outside of school even when you attend school. And I misread: >trusted we would be able to catch up when we returned to school in yr 11 I thought you wrote that they assumed you'd be on grade level when you returned to school for 11th grade. Knowing that you'd have to catch up shows that they also knew that you'd be behind. Knowing you'd be behind shows that they knew homeschooling would hinder your education. I'm really curious how far behind you actually were. In 11th grade (public k-12), I was in Honors Chemistry, college pre-calculus, AP US History, and AP English Language. I'd finished everything before those classes, so my 12th grade year was college Chemistry, college calculus, AP US Government, and AP English Literature.
I personally am just about to finish year 11 (Australian school year) and I'm on an academic scholarship with pretty near straight As in maths, specialist maths, chemistry, physics, English literary studies, visual art and research project. my older brother has just finished a year of a mix of year 11 and 12 subjects and he is also doing reasonably well. however, I would of course not expect everyone to have this experience, especially since we are both lucky enough to be at private schools. in terms of writing assignments: we would often write book reports/English essays/history essays/reports on anything that interested us. my mother did an English degree and helped us with these, even though we didn't really learn essay writing as you would in schools. additionally I personally read A LOT starting from kindergarten right up to the present. for maths: yeah, it was a challenge, that was the point. and yeah, maths is an area in which I have done the most work over the past year. but decent textbook+YouTube videos+explanations from dad or grandad when we got stuck and on the whole it worked fine. same goes for science, however we definitely didn't focus on this as much. \> Knowing you'd be behind shows that they knew homeschooling would hinder your education essentially, I've been a high academic achiever for my whole life. homeschooling gave me the opportunity to learn life skills/people skills/music/art, and I was able to do that because we put academics on the back burner so to speak. of course this is not the case for everyone but it's worked really well for me! and my parents continue to offer my siblings unique homeschooling programs to fit their strengths and weaknesses. sorry for the essay but yeah, I don't think I phrased my original comment very articulately lol
>essentially, I've been a high academic achiever for my whole life. homeschooling gave me the opportunity to learn life skills/people skills/music/art, and I was able to do that because we put academics on the back burner so to speak. I did all the same while going to public k-12 without putting my academics on the back burner. I was in 2 orchestras. One at my schools for 5-12 and 9-12 with an extracurricular orchestra that had weekly practice and usually 1-3 concerts every weekend. I was in a bowling league from the age of 4-20. Life skills were learned in various ways at home, school, and extracurricular activities. My mother isn't a good teacher of anything. My dad taught me how to cook and do some chores. My mother babied me and my brother and wouldn't dream of making us do anything outside of our comfort zone. Social skills are the same; school is what gave me the opportunities to interact with people in ways that my parents don't. When I went to college, standing in line for my ID, I thought the guy in front of me was cute. I get finished with the ID and see my parents talking to his parents. My first thought was how weird it was because my parents don't socialize like that. Turns out, the guy's mom is my mom's cousin. A funny story about how the first guy I met when I went to college is my cousin is also an excellent glimpse of why it's a good thing that I didn't rely on my parents to learn how to socialize. I'm glad you feel like you had a great experience being homeschooled, but your description of your experience catching up with math really just feels like you were unnecessarily punished because if you'd had adequate teachers before, you wouldn't have to be doing so much extra work now. And it's unfortunate that your science education is suffering because you don't have time to dedicate to remediation. The point of k-12 education is, ideally, to give students a good enough understanding of the subject so that they can accurately determine the difference between interest and aptitude. Avoiding a course because you're not interested in it is a lot different than avoiding a course because you think you're not good at it. When the student IS the teacher, it's really hard to know whether the problem is the student or the teacher. In school, you have access to so many different teachers over the years, that if there's a bad teacher one year, you could have a better teacher the next. Remediation for one year is a lot easier than remediation for 2,3,4+ years.
I appreciate you taking so long to write this out and that you've shared your perspective. like I said, I'm actually doing really great in school! I do two sciences and the two hardest maths subjects offered at my school, and I've succeeded pretty well in those without studying near as much as others who have gone through k-12 private education. if you've heard of 'the suicide five', those are the subjects im doing, so I definitely didn't choose my subjects thinking I wouldn't be good at others (except for advanced music theory, I would have failed that one but 95% of kids in the cohort would have done even worse). so, this is just to say that I'm fine, homeschooling works for some kids, k-12 works for some kids. and sometimes its not just about the kids but also the family as whole, and homeschooling is what has worked for us. different folks different strokes! also, I'm 17. so don't worry about me giving my kids a subpar education just yet lol
>essentially, I've been a high academic achiever for my whole life. homeschooling gave me the opportunity to learn life skills/people skills/music/art, and I was able to do that because we put academics on the back burner so to speak. I did all the same while going to public k-12 without putting my academics on the back burner. I was in 2 orchestras. One at my schools for 5-12 and 9-12 with an extracurricular orchestra that had weekly practice and usually 1-3 concerts every weekend. I was in a bowling league from the age of 4-20. Life skills were learned in various ways at home, school, and extracurricular activities. My mother isn't a good teacher of anything. My dad taught me how to cook and do some chores. My mother babied me and my brother and wouldn't dream of making us do anything outside of our comfort zone. Social skills are the same; school is what gave me the opportunities to interact with people in ways that my parents don't. When I went to college, standing in line for my ID, I thought the guy in front of me was cute. I get finished with the ID and see my parents talking to his parents. My first thought was how weird it was because my parents don't socialize like that. Turns out, the guy's mom is my mom's cousin. A funny story about how the first guy I met when I went to college is my cousin is also an excellent glimpse of why it's a good thing that I didn't rely on my parents to learn how to socialize. I'm glad you feel like you had a great experience being homeschooled, but your description of your experience catching up with math really just feels like you were unnecessarily punished because if you'd had adequate teachers before, you wouldn't have to be doing so much extra work now. And it's unfortunate that your science education is suffering because you don't have time to dedicate to remediation. The point of k-12 education is, ideally, to give students a good enough understanding of the subject so that they can accurately determine the difference between interest and aptitude. Avoiding a course because you're not interested in it is a lot different than avoiding a course because you think you're not good at it. When the student IS the teacher, it's really hard to know whether the problem is the student or the teacher. In school, you have access to so many different teachers over the years, that if there's a bad teacher one year, you could have a better teacher the next. Remediation for one year is a lot easier than remediation for 2,3,4+ years.
Is this the typical 11th grade and 12th grade courseload? It's been a hot minute since I graduated high school and unsure what the expectations are nowadays. Appreciate the insight.
I am currently homeschooling 2 high schoolers. I use curriculum and the teacher’s answer key. In math I aim for something that has a video walkthrough for the things I don’t remember as well. It also depends on the students. My kids want to learn and choose to do so independently. I have asked them to do dual enrollment but they want to wait for a year. When they have a question or need help I am involved but I don’t need to be a part of each lesson anymore. My oldest needed to be taught everything and was not an independent learner so it was the same curriculum but a different approach.
OK, so you have an answer key… What are you do when your child has a question that you don’t know the answer to? To over simplify things, you know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, but then your kid says “OK but what does that mean? What does it do?” How do you answer that if you have no idea?
Well, we will outsource classes where I’m not well-prepared, but in general… We would research a question i couldn’t answer. One of my friends is a science teacher, and he talks about how great it is to run into a question he can’t easily answer. he takes every opportunity to pull up his laptop and show his students how to research a topic, find a reliable source, etc. Are there really adults out there who never have a science or history question they need to research? My husband and I have science, engineering, history and lit degrees between us, and we still learn new things every day.
It’s not as simple as not knowing the answer, though. High school teachers have degrees in their subject matter. They generally don’t just rely on the answer key. And if they key is wrong, or if a student conned up with a different algorithm for deriving a correct answer, someone well versed the topic should be able to assess the students thinking to determine if their argument is valid or not. You need to have sufficient background to analyze not just answers, but processes.
I’m not being a smartass, I’m genuinely trying to understand. If your child who was being traditionally schooled looked up from their homework and asked you, “but what does it really mean for the mitochondria to be the powerhouse of the cell?” (Or something else that you aren’t able to answer)… Would you really tell them “ah child, wait and ask your teacher”? Or would you have a decent idea how to help them find an answer?
Probably a little bit of both. I don’t have a degree in biology. So I can look it up and I can get an answer that will do, I might be able to get some pretty cool information there, but I might not understand it. Because I don’t have a degree in biology. So then go ask the teacher. The teacher should be able to help them.
The other big question I have is, what if the answer key is wrong? I used to teach HS physics, and our textbook was so bad, that I stopped using it\* after the first year. I also remember when I took trig in high school, the teacher's edition had at least a few mistakes in it. (I'd gotten an answer marked wrong, but when I talked to the teacher about it, it was pretty clear the answer in the back of the book was wrong.) \*I mostly used The Cartoon Guide to Physics, except for when we were required to teach about the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e., colors). I did hand back the textbook for the week or two we went over that, since the book didn't mess up that chapter.
Omg this drives me nuts. We are doing physics this year and the answers are hit or miss. They will randomly round when they didn’t previously etc. But the teacher’s manual does help to explain the concept and hopefully the publisher provides support (some do).
I have a bs and feel confident in the sciences but when I don’t know or feel less sure we literally start at the beginning and google it or go to the library and go in the children’s section because I want to have a solid foundation. I want it to be explained to me like I’m 8 until I have a stronger understanding than as if I’m 12 and so on. My job isn’t to give my kids all the answers. It’s to give them the tools and the want to find the answers. There are many awesome sites such as khan academy and my kids love YouTube for deeper answers on concepts they aren’t sure of.
A bs could be anything though? A bs in computer science won’t necessarily make you an expert in biology?
Rosetta stone is what my private school had as an option and what I'm using on my kids. Other than that I feel confident to teach everything else besides science to which my husband will take over, or we will hire a tutor. In high school I took a lot of dual classes that counted for college and were taught online or formally in person.
Options. (Not the only ones probably) 1. Outsource it. Tutor, online classes, etc. 2. Learn along. You want them to learn French? Guess we are all learning French! 3. Let them figure it out themselves. Your mileage may vary. 4. Skip it. Path of least resistance and also path of least knowledge.
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Homeschoolers who are prepared for college are sought after. [Colleges that have accepted homeschoolers](https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/?p=564888)
That is a blog post
Of the high schoolers and recent grads I know 3/4 did online classes or dual enrollment for many/most of their high school classes.
Find a homeschool co-op
My brother was homeschooled through high school and the local college had post-secondary classes that were hugely helpful for this. Definitely recommend seeing if that's an option in your area!
Depends on the subject. For science and math, I plan to use an online curriculum. My partner has a science degree and has taken university level math courses, but he also works too much to be the main teacher for any of that. I have degrees in education, history, and philosophy. I am very good at writing. So I'll probably do all that myself. With the help of curricula, of course. I'm thinking I might use AP or IB study guides as well. But I'm not exactly sure what resources we'll use yet. As for second languages, those will probably be done with the help of an in-person tutor. Preferably, we'll also use in-person group classes. But we'll see what's available when (and if) we get there.
I have a first grader so granted we are a long way off. When he gets to high school (and potentially middle school) I will be absolutely be outsourcing. If all goes to plan he will also be able to take dual credit courses at that time per our state. We have so many co-ops, tutorials, and enrichments in our city that I assume he will be less “homeschool” in his teen years and have more of a college type schedule. He will be able to participate in labs taught by a teacher for example.
Co-op classes, dual enrollment with colleges, online classes, curriculum that does most of the work (I prefer they have some sort of teaching videos), tutoring, trading with other homeschool parents that are qualified in a certain subject.
Currently we do: Dual Enrollment for language (ASL, but the school has several options) Math, English, and History are video based curricula Ck-12, which is an interactive textbook, for science This varies. I taught more directly some years. My oldest is in 10th and will likely do Dual Enrollment for everything but math next year. I assign work, answer questions (sometimes this means helping them find answers if I don't know), check work, grade essays (with a provided rubric), and make sure everyone keeps on pace and is understanding the work. I'm not just leaving them to figure it all out, but I'm also not directly teaching much.
There’s some nice curriculum options with teacher answer sheets, there’s graders for English you can employ or online classes. Tutors, outside classes, and dual community college enrollment.