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Autodidact - High School

An article about unschooling high school written by Katriona Skye

Note (Feb. 2008)

I've has requests that I republish article on my site, so here it is.

As part of my continuing autodidactism I'm currently upgrading my site. I've had a couple years hiatus from the net on my tertunr I have found my skills/site in need of upgrating to the new gadgetry available. If you navigate elsewhere on this site please excuse any mess and/or errors that might occur, they should clear up soon, then you can look for more actual content to come.

In the meantime, for those who requested and those have stumbled upon it, enjoy!

Foreword (Feb. 2008)

I wrote this in high school to answer the many people who had questions about unschooling through high school.. I have left it intact, as it was originally written for all those who still have questions or need help answering those who are questioning them.

If you would like to link to this, please feel free. (The following url will not change, please use it to link to:
<--! http://katslair.com/skye-academy/autodidact-high-school -->
Thanks!

If you would like to republish it on your site, please contact me about doing so. Thanks!

I hope you enjoy!

Katriona

First off let's get a few things out of the way.

I "homeschool". Which means I don't go to public school.
I'm not a dropout and homeschooling is perfectly legal.
Homeschooling where I live (Alabama (help!!)) means being enrolled in a church cover school. Technically there are no "homeschoolers" in Alabama. We're all church school satellites, or some such. Blah, whatever... I could never keep track of all the legal mumbo-jumbo. Anyways, I am enrolled in Dayspring Academy as my cover school.

Right then, now that that's out of the way... On to that "Autodidact" thing.

Basically, what it means is, and it's a shocker...

I don't use curriculum.

Breathe, it's alright, I warned you...

Okay now? Ready to go on? Kay...

Now, when I say I don't use curriculum, I don't mean I'm not doing schoolwork. I am. Although most people probably wouldn't recognize it, I am.

I use the "real world" to learn. In other words, whatever I'm interested in I dive into; I read all the books I can find, spend hours online researching (webpages, email lists, etc...), if there's something in the area going on about whatever it is, I investigate that. After all that I've gotten everything I "need".

What do you "need"? Well, if you listen to public school you "need": math, english, social studies, science, and a foreign language. Along with electives.

Okay, so take this webpage for example. I'm writing this, right? (If not, we've got problems. Cause, I'd really like to know who is...) Is the spelling right? The grammar? (I'm hoping it is. If not, let me know.) Alright, that's English. I'm working also working on the computer (HTML tags, graphics, FTP servers, etc.). That's Computer Sciences. Right?

All that making sense? See how even though I'm not doing a set curriculum I can still learn? Maybe? ... Not really? Here, let me break it down a little more:

Math

Cooking
Shopping
Textbook (Yes, I do use a textbook for math, but it is my choice to do so.)

English

Writing: webpages, book reviews, originl stories, fan fiction, essays
- grammar
- spelling
- writing
Reading: classics, non-fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, horror
- reading comprehension
- literature

Social Studies

Reading: non-fiction, historical fiction
- history
- cultures
Internet: e-mail, webpages, chats
- cultures

Science

Internet: e-mail, webpages, chats
- computer science
- HTML
Computer
- computer sciences
Reading: non-fiction, science fiction
- physics
- biology
- Chemistry
- astronomy
- need I go on?
Cooking
- chemistry