As high school students transition to independent learners and earnestly prepare for adulthood, they must learn self-discipline in addition to a greater volume of information. Their interaction with peers is more direct and ongoing than in their previous school experience as they gather together to research for debate and other large project studies. Students possess the skills, maturity, and ability to advance quickly in academics during these important years.
For parents, the shift in these years can be both freeing and bewildering. At this level, the Challenge seminars direct the full scope of day-to-day activities through tutor assignments and review, but parents remain their students’ primary teachers. Parental involvement continues at the high school level and includes: being familiar with the material being studied, noticing and encouraging good study habits, holding students accountable to complete assignments on time, and reviewing papers for content and grammar. Parents need to keep up with progress in areas that need work and should ask engaging questions of their student. Finally, parents are responsible for assigning grades for all completed assignments. Tutors can make grade suggestions based on their homeschool experience, but as the student’s primary teacher, parents are ultimately responsible for grading their student’s work.
Parents also have the responsibility, beginning in ninth grade, to develop a permanent transcript of their student’s grades that will eventually be the basis for a high school diploma and college entrance requirements. Classical Conversations provides a transcript service for a nominal subscription fee. For more information, please visit www.AcademicRecords.net.
Families with college-bound students must navigate through the requirements of college entrance exams (including the SAT or ACT), scholarship applications and college funding options, and ultimately finding the college that fits their student. Again, being in community with tutors who have “been there, done that” is an invaluable resource in Challenge communities.
