Does this hard hat make me look smart?

So I used to have a fear of homeschooling.  Well, not a fear, exactly.  More like I thought that it involved me sitting at the kitchen table having to impart my knowledge about the academic subject matter at hand.  And as much as I love my child and I actually did manage to learn a few things at school, the idea was daunting. Plus it sounded like a sure way to make your child hate you pretty darn quick.

I was especially worried about high school.  That's when the subject matter gets, well, complicated.  Geometry!  Biology!  Algebra!  World History!  Plus, your high school records follow you a ways into your budding adult life, what with colleges being kind of pesky about wanting transcripts and test scores and all.

But the more C's experiences in school seemed to be grinding her into an increasingly smaller, sadder version of herself, the more I looked into homeschooling.  And I had a Major Revelation:

I wouldn't have to actually TEACH high school subjects.  Homeschooling high school is more like acting as the General Contractor** and hiring subcontractors to deliver each subject to your child.

I can't even TELL you how much that calmed me down and made it totally doable. And that has been my approach.  I, in consultation with my client, um, student, decide what the subjects are for the year.  I decide how many hours/credit equivalent time she needs.  I research what the subject delivery systems are, and there are plenty: online courses, videos, textbooks, tutors, etc.

So that's my approach to home schooling in high school.  And so far it's working great.  I'll write more about how I've organized things and the course options I've explored, and why I chose what I chose.  But if you're daunted by the high school (or even middle school) content for home schooling, just remember:  You can put on your general contractor hard hat and go hire some subs.


** If you happen to be writing a blog post about general and subcontractors, and you want to find a picture of a woman in a hard hat, don't go googling images of  "female in hard hat."  You wouldn't believe what comes up.  Then again, you probably would.  Just saying.