Ep 70 The High School Years Roadmap for Science – Part 1: Goals

Here we are at the fourth and final stop on our roadmap to teaching science – the high school years! Today we will be chatting about your goals for science during these years.

Welcome to the Tips for Homeschool Science Show where we are breaking down the lofty ideals of teaching science into building blocks you can use in your homeschool. 

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The High School Years - Part 1: Goals Transcripts

We’ve made it to our final stop – the high school years! I remember when we first started our homeschooling journey. The high school years seemed so far off. Even so, I feared the time when we would have to navigate the waters of transcripts and plans for the future.

Homeschooling through high school seems daunting. But as I stand on the precipice of graduating our first student, I want you to know that it is possible. It may not look like what you envisioned way back when you started your homeschooling journey, but it is possible, and it is worth the effort.

High school in your homeschool can take on many different forms.

• It can be interest-led, creating courses around the interests and dreams of your student, plus adding in a few of the requirements.
• It can be book-driven, reading, learning, and discussing the things that the student needs to know before launching into the world.
• It can contain several outside courses sprinkled in to help you teach the more difficult subjects.
• It can mean enrollment in a full online, accredited school with you mentoring your student as they prepare for their goals.

The main point of homeschooling is that we create an environment in which our students learn, one that will prepare them to reach their goals. To do that, I highly recommend that you talk with people who are in the field that your student wants to go into.

In other words, if your student wants to pursue art, talk to artists about how they make a living. If your student wants to be an engineer, find people who have walked that path. If college or apprenticeship are in their future, have conversations with admissions directors, trainers, or business owners. In short, gather information about the best way to get your student from where they are now to where they want to be.

Okay, with that said, let’s take a look at how science can fit into the picture of your homeschool high school.

At this point in the journey, the students have already mastered the basic facts of science. They understand some of the reasoning behind the facts and they have had lots of hands-on opportunities to encounter science face-to-face. Students who have followed our roadmap to this stop will have a good grasp of science, so they can really focus on tackling the difficult concepts along with shoring up their knowledge of the scientific method.

In short, they are prepared to move onto the more complicated details of science.

High schoolers are also far more contemplative. When they ask questions, it is obvious that they have put some thought into the inquiry.  However, high school students are still working on knowing how and when to express themselves.  

The high school years technically begin when the student enters ninth grade and end when the student is ready to go to college or launch into pursuing their desired field. During these years the student is learning and applying the principles of science as well as learning how to articulate themselves intelligently.

Again, science during these years can seem daunting, but it is possible, and it is necessary. All the graduation requirements I know about include at least two science courses and most want those classes to include a lab.

I like to compare high school students to apprentices. They have access to a great deal of organized, filed away information, but they are still learning advanced techniques as well as learning when to use the material and how to apply it. So, when you teach science, you will be playing to their intellectual strengths while teaching them how to filter what they know and apply it to the current situation. You can also use science to work on the basic skills of research and note-taking.

We will chat more about the tools and methods you can use to do this in the next two episodes, for now, I want to share your goals. 

1. First, you need to meet your state’s (country’s) requirements for graduation. Whether your student is going on to college or not, they will most likely need a high school diploma for their next step. So, you want to make sure that you meet the requirements for science. These can vary from state to state or from country to country, so be sure to check with your oversight school or government representative.
2. Second, you want to share the key principles and laws at work in science. Just like at every stop along this roadmap, you want to share scientific information at the level of the student’s capacity for learning.
3. Third, you want to teach your students to think about the world around them. You want them to learn how to relate what they have learned to the things they see. In my humble opinion, the end goal of homeschooling is to produce an adult who can think for themselves, one who is a perpetual learner and science can help you do just that.

Wrapping it up

In a nutshell, your high school kiddos are prepared to move onto the more complicated details of science. Your goals for science during these years are to share the key principles and laws of science as well as helping your students to think about the things they are learning as you meet the requirements for graduation.

Next week, we are going to chat about some of the tools you can use to accomplish these three goals.

Until then…thanks for listening – I hope that you leave our time together encouraged in your homeschooling journey.

Let me know what you think by leaving a rating or review in iTunes or in the podcasting app you use to listen to the Tips for Homeschool Science Show. I would appreciate you taking the time to do so as it inspires those of us who work so hard to put this podcast together for you to enjoy and helps others to find this podcast.

I would love to also connect with you beyond the earbuds! You can find me on Instagram or drop me an email through the link below.

I can’t wait to share another piece of the roadmap in our next episode, but until then – I hope you have a great week playing with science!

See how we can help you teach science to your high school student!