Pre-calculus May KILL Me!

This week has been extremely challenging for my senior concerning her pre-calculus course and the graphing of parabolas and ellipses. I totally understand that it is nearing the end of third quarter (the hardest 9weeks of most classes) and she is learning a new concept just about every day. When you are barely "getting it" and new concepts are being introduced, it can become a recipe for disaster.

This is what I am dealing with-

Chapter 12 homework section 12.4 states:

"Graph the vertex, focus, and endpoints of the latus rectum; then draw the parabola for each equation in problem one."

Now, add on the fact that I am completely confused also (it has been a million years since my trigonometry/pre calculus days) and it doesn't matter that I have the homework answer key in front of me.

Anyone else ever have this experience?

You child needs help with math homework. You march in there to assist your student with that giant solution/answer key-knowing that you hold the answers to everything. There is nothing you can't "help" him/her with. Your child gives you the page and problem number. You've used this teacher manual for so many years you flip right to the correct page. Your child says, "I can't figure #7 out", and you respond proudly with, "Let me give you a hint". You begin to stare at the answer. You wonder to yourself-"How in the heck did they get this answer?" None of it looks familiar, so it must be some new method that they didn't use back in the dark ages when you were in school.

Trying your best not to show panic, you buy some time by asking, "Was that #7 or #8?" The solution typed right there in front of you begins to look like chicken scratch and you realize you can't help at all-even with the answer in bold print. You begin to regret purchasing this solution/answer key for $65, but you swallow your pride and say: "I have no idea how they got this answer, but here it is....let's try to figure out how they got it-together."

Knowing she is a senior and knowing the countdown to "THE END" is 42 days, she isn't as motivated as my freshmen who must learn their Algebraic concepts in order to progress in high school mathematics. As I review all of the steps in the solution, she reminds me that she will be majoring in Philosophy or Psychology. In other words, "Does any of this really matter, Mom?"

I try hard to remember what I did two years ago when I had a senior homeschool student. Pre- calculus didn't seem to be as hard to figure out. Was it that I was smarter at 39 than 41? Maybe my past senior "got it" more that my current one does. That must be it. I vaguely remember being 8 months pregnant during this section of pre-calculus, so it may be that I fell asleep every time my past senior asked for help.

I've come to the conclusion of this basic statement concerning Boys vs. Girls in mathematics. My boys are better at it. (sorry, my girls)

Hopefully, these 42 remaining days will pass as quickly for me as for my senior!

I can't take too many more assignments with "latus rectum" in the instructions.

Happy Teaching,

Angelle

No Fears for Those Teenage Years

Before I had teens, I came to the realization that the majority of adults have a very negative opinion of teenagers.

People would say the craziest things to me like, "Do you realize how many teenagers you are going to have at once?" or "Enjoy life now, while your little ones have little problems-because the teen years are worse than the terrible twos!"

I started to wonder if I really was setting myself up for an awful dreaded part of my

parenting life. Thinking back on my own teen years and the "things" I did- I started to feel

sorry for my own parents and guilty of the stuff I put them through. I figured I'd just have to take my mom's approach and "pray them all through it"!

My big sis and I in 1982

But contrary to these thoughts and feelings, I was living something different from my experiences while helping alongside my husband in his job as a youth minister. These teens were spiritual and respectful and very giving. These surely weren't the awful teens I was hearing about.....from their very own parents who seemed to have been bitten by this "I hate teenagers" bug.

As my eldest was approaching his teenage years, I was holding my breath because I had such a great relationship with him it was upsetting to think of how it was all going to"end"as soon as he became a "teen".

Todd realized I was struggling with these worries and he made plenty of things clear to me. He reminded me that teens need our love and support just as much as they did as children/toddlers/babies. He also stated how he could see that many of the teens in his youth group felt as if the adults in their lives were very distanced from them. This was why they loved talking to us. Believe it or not, these teens in local high schools seemed so isolated because they were only around teens all day long. It caused them to become very self-centered because their needs weren't being met. For whatever reason, some parents were so fearful of the teenage years, they were basically giving up and allowing "others" to mold and shape their teens. (The only conclusion I could come up with was: maybe they felt societal pressures were too great to fight against.)

OOOOHHHHHHH, so

The teen years are when parents need to be the most involved and active.

Well, the light went on and I surely felt the advantage being a homeschooling family. I vowed that I would always be very involved and active in my teens' lives. I knew the outside pressures wouldn't be nearly as great because of the minimal time my teens spend

away from the family. How could you think only of yourself when you were changing your baby sister's diaper or sharing your room with a sibling much younger than yourself. It all started to make sense. The fears were erased.

Currently, I am great friends with my teens. I have four of them now and we really enjoy each other's company. They bring great joy to my life. Yes, we do have struggles as they begin "break free" from the flock-but nothing that we can't discuss and work through together. It does take both parents, as we've realized, being on the same page about discipline and spiritual matters. We are attempting to raise Saints! Why not aim high?

My advice to all of you pre-teen parents out there: talk to your spouse about your expectations for the teen years, your thoughts on dating, time spent away from home, mass attendance, spiritual needs, curfews, driver's licenses, cell phones, internet allowances, etc.

This will help make those teen years pass without the fears.

Happy TEEN Parenting!

Peace of Christ,

Angelle

Great News Magazine for Teens

Included within the home school curriculum I use is a requirement for endless "Current Event Reports". From 6th grade on up, my students are required to give current event reports every other week.

As a conservative, Catholic parent I was wary of the various news publications available to the general public. For a while, I would purchase a news magazine and only allow my teen students to look at the articles I felt were not extremely swayed to the "left". As you can imagine, it was nearly impossible to find world or national news reports that weren't from a perspective that was contrary to my moral beliefs. Even our local paper (as conservative as it claims to be) was not a reliable source to use.

I wondered if EWTN had any sort of new articles in print....but no such luck.

Then, as if those silent prayers in my head were being heard (yea, God!), H.S.L.D.A. send out an email offering a 15% discount on a brand new news magazine called WORLD.

The promotional material I read about it was music to my ears:

"family friendly, conservative, God' world news, etc."

I was so excited at the concept that there would actually be a news magazine written in a Christian perspective, I ordered it immediately. I think I originally ordered a two-year subscription. Suddenly, I panicked thinking, oh my, what if my kids hate this magazine or what if I find out that its goal is to prosthelytize its readers into some protestant teachings contrary to our Catholic faith.

Gulp! What have I done!

Well, all those fears were relieved once the first issue arrived many years ago. Honestly, this magazine is so wonderful, my husband and I can't wait for the kids to be done with it so we can get a peek.

One time, my teenage son was so impressed with an article about the upcoming election, he wrote to the editor and his comment was published! World magazine is one of those "things" that is longed for every time we get the mail. We wish that it came more than every other week.

I believe that H.S.L.D.A. is still offering the discount. Since all OLG members are also members of H.S.L.D.A, you can go to their website and search for it. So if you are looking for a source of world or national news that is christian and family friendly give WORLD magazine a try......your teens will love it......

and you may too.

Sincerely,

Angelle

Lent Disciplines for Teens

Lent is upon us and such a great time to challenge my teens (and myself) to grow in holiness.

If you haven't noticed already, teens struggle with a wider variety of sins than they did pre-puberty. My teens are really challenged when the hormones are raging. (and so am I) Through the Lenten sacrifices of denying themselves "things" they are learning to resist temptation to sin.

It is refreshing to move beyond the simplistic sacrifices of the preteen years. This year, one of my teens is giving up his favorite computer game which he pays for monthly, another is stopping all junk food and my eldest is starting Lent with a 40 hour fast.

On top of this all, we do certain disciplines altogether. As a family some things we are doing is: praying the rosary daily, drinking only water after breakfast, and studying three obscure saint's lives each week.

If you are wondering how to challenge your teen during this days of Lent, you shouldn't have to look much further than their electronics. Each of mine are limiting themselves to 30 minutes total per day. So all text messaging, computer time, video games, and television have to fit into a 30 minute limit.

Will my teens perfectly keep these disciplines until we celebrate Christ's Resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday? Of course not-we are all of a sinful nature and this is why Christ came and died for us. So each time you or your teen breaks your disciplines this Lent, remember your sinfulness and why we celebrate Christ's victory over it all!

Be merciful, oh Lord, for we have sinned!

Peace,

Angelle

One Great Solution for Teen Movie Nights-moving beyond Disney!

Do you teens ever ask to watch a movie? Mine do-and more than once a week-which puts me in an interesting parenting position of "What out there is appropriate for my teens?"

For quite a while, my husband and I suggested great older movies that we had seen. Once we worked our way through many of the classics and musicals, we decided to move into movies we had watched as teens.

Granted, we, both being products of the 1980's, have quite a repertoire of movies stored away in that 90% of the subconscious part of our brains. But somehow, those older 80's movies had a load of really inappropriate "stuff" in them-that we didn't remember! This fact would have been useful BEFORE renting the movies, which while viewing usually turned into a feat of unbelievable dexterity by myself or Todd to block the screen with our bodies while trying to turn it off!

Actually, one we were really disappointed in was "Back to the Future" and only made it through the first 13 minutes before my kids were all holding their ears because of the cursing and swearing.

Fortunately, after those trials, we were able to find quite a few different websites that gave parental advisories about movie content. The one we currently use is Internet Movie Data Base www.imdb.com After you type in the title of the movie you are searching for, you scroll down to "Additional Details" and then click on "View content advisory for parents" and it will list EVERYTHING from foul language to insinuated sex to extreme violence.

Now-where do you go from here? What if you know the movie has a really great message or historical significance but if it just left out "THAT SCENE"? This is where it gets really good. There is a DVD player out there made just for homeschool families-well, I am not sure it was made just for homeschool families but it was made just for my family. It is called ClearPlay and it is an answer to prayer because you can choose from a menu which "things" you want it to filter out. I usually put it on "filter all" and even the "Oh my God"s are left out.

It costs around $80.00 and you can check it out on line at www.clearplay.com

The Sylvester Teens use our ClearPlay to watch all of their movies now

(and so do the Sylvester parents)!

If you are wondering if it really works I'll tell you this little story. It was hysterical once when Todd and I rented the movie "Dodgeball". Because of the ClearPlay filtering, it was only 55 minutes long!

Happy movie watching! I hope all of this info helps.

Peace of Christ,

Angelle

A curriculum plan for parents of 8th graders (those almost-high-school students)

Hopefully, those of you who have 8th graders this year have been thinking about your curriculum plan for the upcoming HIGH SCHOOL YEARS.

The very basic thing that I enjoyed finding out first about high school curriculum was that my students needed only SIX, 1-credit classes each year in order to fulfill the 24-credit requirement for graduation! What a relief (I thought) to go from 7 to 10 subjects down to a mere 6! Happy days are here again.....????maybe we can continue with the 7-10 subjects and finish high school in three years??? What was I thinking!
Well, once I received the first of the 400+ page textbooks, I realized the quantity of information was greatly increased and I was thankful that I only had to complete 6 of those credits each year. Whew!
Thankfully, by the time my eldest entered high school, there were plenty of high school packaged curriculum programs available that covered the "basic four" yearly subjects with some "electives" to choose from. Hopefully you can use this list to get yourself thinking about what you need to accomplish by the end of your child's twelfth grade year.

Typical College Prep High School 4-Year Program


English

4 credits
Composition, American Lit, World Lit, British Lit, Rhetoric,
Creative Writing, Speech, Journalism, etc.

Math

4 credits
Algebra 1&2, Geometry, Trig, Pre-Calculus, Calculus

History

4 credits
Essentials: World History, American History, Am. Government
Consider: Economics, Geography, Constitutional Law, etc.

Science

4 credits
Physical Science, General Science, Earth Science, Biology,
Chemistry, Physics

Foreign
Language

2-4 credits
French, Spanish, Latin, German, Russian, etc. (at least two years
of the same language are required in AL)

P.E.

1-2 credits
Physical education—many options are available

Fine Arts

1-2 credits
Art, Music, Drama, Photography, etc.

Electives

4 credits
Practical Arts, Life Skills, Computer Skills (required 1/2 credit),
Religion, Church History, Logic, etc.

These subjects are some things I considered for my college bound kids. These "credits" are a guideline created by using the basic requirements for high school grads in Alabama public schools. There is a listing on the OLG website for further reference.

Let this be some "food for thought" as you begin your student's high school curriculum plan.
Enjoy,
Angelle

Transcripts-Yikes! Info from HSLDA

These winter months are good times to stay warm at home…and work on transcripts! Regardless of what your teen anticipates pursuing after graduation, it’s important for you to generate a high school transcript for him or her. So, there’s no better time to begin than now.

If your child has never attended a public or a private school, then it’s likely you’ve not seen a high school transcript in a while. To most homeschool parents, the word “transcript” elicits almost as much fear as the word “fire” in a crowded room! Some parents think that they cannot create such a document. We hope that reading this will allay your fears and give you confidence that you are capable of issuing a professional-looking document on your teen’s behalf.

Transcripts: What and Why?

Two questions we frequently encounter are: What is a transcript and why do I need one, especially if my teen is not pursuing college? Simply stated, a transcript is a concise and accurate record of your teen’s academic courses taken during the high school years. A transcript is not only necessary for college admission, but may be required for scholarships, Vo-tech and other post-high schools, apprenticeships, entry level employment to evidence completion of high school, and will definitely be required if enlisting in the military.

Now that we’ve established the necessity of a transcript, let’s look at the different sections of such a document. (It may be helpful for you to print off one or more of the sample transcripts, including a blank form, that are found on our website and refer to them as you read through the rest of the newsletter.)

Transcript Heading

You will want to begin by placing a title at the top of the document such as “Official High School Transcript.” Or, you may choose to use your school name, “Smith High School.” If you belong to an umbrella or oversight group, then that may be the school name you’ll use (please ask the group for permission to do so).

Following the title, provide the student’s personal information on one side and the school information on the opposite side (even though much of this information is identical). The student should list his full given name, address (including email address), phone number, birth date, and parents’ full names.

A Social Security number is not required on a transcript. It will be requested by the schools in the application in order to match up any financial aid or scholarship money that is received for your student. Once in the school’s database, most colleges issue a student ID number to the applicant, and that is the number to use for future correspondence with the school.

Transcript Academic Record

The major section of the transcript is the academic record (or body) section which is usually divided into four parts or years. Some families, however, create a transcript by semesters rather than years. This is strictly a personal choice, but listing courses by semester may make it more difficult to keep the transcript short and concise.

Each year will be labeled by grade such as “Grade 9,” and so forth. Under this heading, all the courses taken in the 9th grade will be listed followed by the credit earned and the grade awarded. When titling a course on the transcript, use a brief and clear title so that others will have an accurate idea of the course content.

College courses taken as dual enrollment should be starred and a note included at the bottom of the transcript that these are college-level courses, or simply list the name of the college. (Generally speaking, a one-semester college-level course is equivalent to one year of high school credit.)

Transcripts submitted with a college application should list the 12th grade courses even though these courses are not yet completed. Place an “IP” (in progress) in the grade column of the transcript until a grade is awarded at the end of the senior year.

Along with the course title and grade earned, also indicate the credit each course is awarded. There are several ways to evaluate credit. For additional information see “Evaluating Credits” on our high school website.

At the bottom of each year, total up all the credits and compute that year’s grade point average (GPA). You can find some good GPA calculators on line.

Transcript Academic Summary

At the bottom of the transcript, the total number of credits and the cumulative GPA will be listed. Be sure to also include the date of graduation and that a diploma was issued.

Some transcripts will include a grading scale or table. Providing such information can be helpful to someone reading your transcript in understanding your grades. However, if your teen has taken courses from other teachers or from outside sources, it will not be possible for you to provide a uniform grading scale. If this is the case, then it’s wise not to include the scale or table.

Signature and Date

The transcript should be typed and professional in appearance. Every time it is requested, provide an original, signed, and dated document. It is a good idea to have someone proofread your transcript for spelling and calculation errors before issuing it.

The Finished Product

The samples on HSLDA's website will give you the type of information that any transcript should include, but don’t think that you must duplicate the formats. You have the freedom to design your own transcript to fit your teen’s specific needs. Your transcript will be fine as long as it is clear and accurately reflects your teen’s high school academic courses.

Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Hopefully this information will give you the confidence that you, too, can produce a professional-looking transcript for your teen—one that you will look forward to providing to anyone who asks.

OLG Offers a very professional transcript

As your OLG student approaches his/her senior year, OLG offers to create for you a very professional transcript-signed and sealed by our administrator. All you have to do is provide all the information and it will be created for you for a fee. Check out the OLG website for more information.
I have used these transcripts for both of my seniors, and they have always been accepted by all colleges and universities to which we have sought admission.

Sincerely,
Angelle