What are some good, educational activities for homeschooled teens?

Question

I homeschool my two teens, ages 12 and 14, one boy and one girl. What are some good educational activities that I can do for them? TV shows, sites, things to do, all are welcome.

Thanks

My daughter plans to attend Veternary School. She is 15.

My son, who is 13, wants to go to college and "wants to learn everything" but he is currently leaning toward computer programming and software development, perhaps even video games. This is what he tells me anyway, He is extremely intelligent and is my "million question guy."

My oldest son is 17 and is asking me to homeschool him. He is a little behind, but it very bright. He has a passion for welding and building things so he is planning to attend a vocational college. He is recognizing now, though, that the public school that he attends is sorely lacking in preparing him to this type of school. He has told me that his public school really lacks the mathematical portion, especially, of his education. He is afraid that if he does not withdraw and let me homeschool him for at least a year, he will be lost when he gets to voc school.

Answer 1

http://www.webmonkey.com/
http://www.w3schools.com/html/

check PBS, Discovery and the History Channel, they have some good educational programming.

Also, check out Good Eats on the food channel. Alton Brown, the host, is very entertaining, but also explains the chemistry behind cooking and nutrition. cooking's also involves math if you have the kids calculate the calories and nutrients in each ingredient and divide by the number of servings to determine the nutritional breakdown for the recipe.

Answer 2

Wow, for the ages you mentioned, the possibilities are limitless. They are old enough to understand and be involved in things on a much deeper level. I would check into volunteer opportunities. Esepcially for your child that is interested in being a vet. You might look into what the local zoo or science center offers in terms of volunteer opportunities.

Also, at that age, well, 14 give or take, I started to take community college classes. Typically, as long as you can pass their required tests for English or, if you sign a waiver, for music classes, etc. the child can attend at ages as young as 13.

Something we're also trying out for size are rocketry clubs, science clubs, r/c clubs, robotics clubs, etc. A lot of these fun-science clubs are multi-age and multi-skill level and could put your kids in touch with a very diverse group of people.

Plus, you might check with the local library system and/or community center. Sometimes they offer workshops, etc. that include teenagers.

Good luck! That's a fun age to work with :-)

Answer 3

Check into the colleges around you. There are many activities that you can be involved in with out being a student there. Have you check with your local homeschooling group? Volunteer work with the local museums, culture events, plays, etc. Also you can look into some of the local churches, there are always doing activies.

Answer 4

It partially depends on what your plans are for your children after high school. If they are planning to attend college, these are the years to get them ready, so most of their spare time may be spend developing activities that will help them either get admitted to the college of their choice or to excel once they are there. I recommend getting the application from the college they plan to attend and specifically working from that and your children's interests and abilities. My son is 14 and in 9th grade; we have pretty much decided that he will try to attend Patrick Henry College in Purcelllville, VA, which costs approximately $21,000 per year to attend (this includes room and board). We do not have this much money, so he is focusing on developing skills that will help increase his attractiveness to this college in terms of both admission and scholarships.

Academically, we are working on math and verbal skills for a high performance on the PSAT (for National Merit Scholarships) and either the SAT or ACT tests (high scores get full tuition). Also, there is a scholarship for Classical Languages, so he will be taking Latin online next year.

During the summer, we plan on sending our son to a two week debate camp this summer at PHC for two weeks (to learn more about debate, but also for the folks at PHC to get to know him), and we plan for him to become involved in a local debate team for homeschoolers (PHC also highly favors high achievement in debate for scholarships). He is the president of his 4-H group (it wasn't that hard to get elected, but it gives him an opportunity to lead a group), and has given a workshop for the other children on photography (he was asked because his entries have done well). He has in the past been on a local swim team, and we are still considering having him take lifeguard classes for a potential part-time job and to evidence leadership and responsibility. He has participated intensively in the homeschool, county, and national spelling bees (children are eligible through the end of 8th grade).

If your child is not planning on attending college after high school, you have slightly more leeway in the activities they choose to pursue, although the high school years might well be spent preparing for the skills they will need after school (such as evidence of responsibility and leadship skills for a competetive edge in interviewing and living skills).

In either case, church activities can be good, if you know what's going on, who's there, and what they're doing. Our son has a 4 year old sister, so he has worked in the nursery checking children in. Your local homeschool support group can direct you to many activities availably locally.

Additionally, if you do home school through high school, and if you possibly can afford it (they're about $500 each per year), I recommend a Christian on-line class or two. These have been a real blessing for our family, not because I am so terribly lazy, but because it gives the student an opportunity to get the best benefits of a good parochial-type school while still home schooling. It also helps foster friendships with students from all over the globe who are linked through the miracle of the internet.


In conclusion, it seems to me that the high school years are the time to begin to focus on the future, and begin to prayerfully build toward it.

Answer 5

Teach them computer programming.

If you do it right, it's fun. And it's very, very educational.

Website design is good too.

Television shows...aren't really the best thing for education. They involve too little interaction.