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Homeschooling High School? Start Here!

Hi, I'm Lee Binz, The HomeScholar. This blog answers commonly asked questions about homeschooling high school.

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What about Teaching High School Science?

Have you wondered how parents can teach a subject they don't know? How will you teach high school sciences without having a background in science? Carol asked me about physics, and was resigned to studying physics herself over summer, so that she could teach it to her student. Here is my response:

Carol,
You can certainly study physics over the summer if you WANT to.... But I didn't want to! We used Apologia Physics, and it was wonderful. My younger son was taking pre-calculus at the same time as Apologia Physics, and my older son was taking Calculus. They both did VERY well in our homeschool, just learning it for themselves from the Apologia text. The next year they started dual enrollment at the community college, and took "engineering physics" - the next level in physics taken at college. They both got excellent grades so I know they really did know the material. My engineering son took the whole physics series in college, and I would frequently find his Apologia book open on the floor. I found out that he was referring to it with many of his college concepts, because he liked the way that it was explained better than the way his professor explained it. He also told me that most of his college lab assignments were experiments that he had done in high school. You don't have to learn physics in order for your student to learn physics unless you really want to!
Blessings,
Lee

You don't have to know it...
You don't have to study it...
You don't even have to teach it...
Just make sure THEY learn it!

It helps if you buy curriculum that is written specifically for homeschoolers. I believe that's why Apologia was so successful for us. In general, a homeschool curriculum doesn't assume that the teacher is familiar with the subject. That is one of the benefits of attending a curriculum fair, where you can compare products side by side.

Homeschoolers can be very successful in upper sciences. Here is an article about a homeschool graduate working on his doctoral thesis in chemistry. In his thesis work, Seth Anthony is focusing on chemistry education with the hope of someday developing more effective chemistry labs that allow students to see how chemistry fits into the big picture. Read the article about this homeschooler!
Homeschooler featured in Chemical & Engineering News

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