How Our High School Goals Have Changed, and Why That’s Okay

One thing about having a blog is that you have record of all the goals and dreams you had for your kids’ education documented. When things go astray, it’s all recorded for everyone to see. You may remember from our 8th grade curriculum plan that we started with a very classical approach homeschool. In our 9th grade curriculum, we focused on credit-by-exam very heavily. Now in 10th grade? Things have calmed down a bit.

What we’ve learned

Kira has big goals. She likes to think big, and I love that she whole heartedly believes she can achieve big things. What we’ve started to learn is that there is a limited amount of time Kira wants to spend on school work, and a limited amount of effort she wants to put forth on academics, and that is totally normal. It’s few and far between where a teen wants to spend extra hours on school work, or to jump from middle school to college level work for all subjects.

Where we are

Kira’s still a grade ahead, and she is still aiming for starting community college next year through the post-secondary high school option, in sha Allah. Given she’s a grade ahead, it might present a hurdle for her acceptance, but we won’t know until we try! We have not given up the main goal of getting through a bachelor’s degree with no debt, so the post secondary option is still high up on our priority list, and CLEP/DSST tests are not out of the equation either.

Moving forward

Alhamdulilah, I think through this time exploring credit by exam Kira has learned where her interests lie. She wants to spend more time with fencing and reading novels. I want her to learn what reasonable goals are, and how to manage her time. There are only 24 hours in the day, and that means that you can’t do everything you want. I know that she is more aware of options for gaining college credit, and that I am ready and willing to help her in studying for exams.

We’ve made a lot of changes in both curriculum and expectations over the last few years, and I could be frustrated, but instead of creating a rift between us, I’d rather choose to work with her interests and motivation level. Alhamdulilah, she’s still moving forward toward high school graduation, so I am thankful. In sha Allah we’ll also keep working toward a debt-free bachelor’s degree, but ultimately it’s her decision to put in the work for it.