High School Begins

Jonathan is an insatiable learner. That's good news and bad news. Some people assume that it's easy to homeschool a student with a voracious appetite for learning, and in many ways, I am blessed as his teacher. I don't have to motivate him to crack the books. He never runs out of subjects he wants to study. His reading list is challenging and always growing.

However, I will be the first to confess that there are challenges. We are constantly trying to figure out how much is too much. For example, he wanted to take three math classes this year. His idea, not mine. He took a class in Discrete Math (which he declares is his favorite branch of math so far) over the summer and began Algebra 3 in the fall. He also wants to take Precalculus, which begins next week. This means he will have an overlap between two math classes for a couple of months. I am not sure I want him to carry this heavy a load, because our spring schedule gets increasingly busier than the fall. We settled on a tentative plan: he will try both classes for a couple of weeks, and if it becomes overwhelming, he will reschedule Precalculus.

Another challenge is learning time management skills and the art of saying "no." He is reluctantly coming to grips with the reality that he, like other mere mortals, only has 24 hours in a day. He's learning that he cannot spend 6 hours on one beloved subject because it causes him stress over other objects and also results in a cross-eyed mama.

I think the hardest challenge for me has been running to keep a step or two ahead of him. I am constantly asking God to lead us to the right resources. I spend hours on researching curriculum and resources, which I enjoy because there are so many interesting options out there. The trickiest part is waiting on the Lord to discern which are the best choices. God has been faithful to lead us, step by step. 

Jonathan is studying Chemistry this year. I'm really glad he can study this subject somewhat independently. I just correct his homework and tests and make sure he doesn't blow up the house. I had a horrendous experience with chemistry in public high school. My crazy chem teacher got fired for telling war stories instead of teaching chemistry. I am not kidding. We returned from winter break to find that he was gone and a bewildered new teacher had taken his place. She couldn't believe that we had to start from the beginning of the textbook.

For English, Jonathan is writing essays and speeches, doing grammar exercises, and reading and analyzing literature. He is studying Japanese for his foreign language credit.

But his passion? Computer Science. (It's somewhat tiring to hear that word "passion" overused in academic circles. In this case, it really does describe his obsession deep interest in all things tech.) This year, he's learning C++, his third programming language after Python and Java. This past semester, he was thrilled to put his CS skills to practical use. His professor appointed him as the lead man for a team of programmers who are overhauling a non-profit organization's website. He enjoys working on it so much that sometimes I actually have to remind him to eat. 

(On a side note, Jonathan likes to discuss CS and math on his blog. Embrace geek, all ye who enter there.)

We are focusing on the ancient period for history this year. I front loaded his history reading to be heavier during the first semester so that he can take a slightly lighter load in the spring. This will give him flexibility to take on the additional math class, compete in speech tournaments, and work on some of his programming projects. I'm grateful for the flexibility of homeschooling.

1st Semester History:


Job & Isaiah, Old Testament
The Iliad, Homer
The Odyssey, Homer
Mythology, Edith Hamilton
The Book of Ancient Greeks, Dorothy Mills
The Last Days of Socrates, Plato
The Oedipus Trilogy, Sophocles
Selected plays by Aristophanes

1st Semester Literature:

Watership Down, Richard Adams
Farmer Giles of Ham, J.R.R. Tolkien
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
Captains Courageous, Rudyard Kipling
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis
Twelfth Night, Shakespeare



His favorites from 1st semester: The Iliad, Watership Down, and Fahrenheit 451.

I am still amazed that I have a high schooler. It seems just like yesterday when we were reading Five in a Row books and going on field trips to the zoo. The thought of homeschooling through high school seemed somewhat daunting at that time, but over each season our lifestyle of learning continued to grow and blossom. I can finally see the promise of an upcoming harvest. 

It's been a tremendous privilege to watch that hyperactive little boy slowly morph into a thoughtful young man. I won't pretend that we don't have our teenage challenges, but I wouldn't trade this season for anything else in the world. These final years with him at home are pressing upon me, and I am pouring everything I have into making them count.

I love to encourage younger homeschool moms, because I owe a debt of gratitude to the moms who encouraged me. I let them in on a not-so-secret: it's all about dependence on God. I had to depend on Him when this boy was in kindergarten, and I'm still depending on Him as we begin high school. There is no other way to persevere and count it all joy.

"All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children." Isaiah 54:13