Unschooling - How to get in college requirements

OK unschooling is not really for lazy people. Both of my kids were college-bound so I knew that they would need certain things to prepare. There are three major components for college prep.
English - both reading and writing
Math - Math is a tough one for some people but you MUST get the algebra in!
Science - Colleges are looking for at least two lab sciences

How to get this in while still unschooling? I always had some idea about the school year. There were no lesson plans or plans of any particular sort but I knew what had to be done. The one area that we did NOT particularly unschool was math. Neither of my kids were into math having come from the "speed drills" of Catholic school. To them math was something to be dreaded and difficult to figure out. How sad, really, when math really can be so easy if done properly from the beginning. I am also a math-phobe and majored in English in college. Back in the dark ages when I went to college an English major did not even have to take a math class! In the state of Florida every student is required to have at least two college level math classes usually starting with College Algebra, MAC 1105. My kids HAD to learn at least algebra before taking the usual tests such as SAT and ACT and before applying to college. My son used a math text we had for algebra but just never "got it" until he took the Algebra I class through the Florida Virtual School. He got an A and then took College Algebra right afterwards. My daughter took what was lovingly called "retard math" at FSU and discovered she actually LOVED it! Many math classes later she had a BS in finance and one also in real estate. Unschooling works.

English should be about the easiest thing on earth for American kids to learn. I mean really, we speak the language! Speaking properly at home is the ONLY way to really ensure that your child will know grammar. I don't care how many grammar workbooks are used, if you do not speak properly at home, your kids won't either. End of story. Reading should be something that your child wants to do. How do you promote this? Well, read books yourself! If your child sees that reading is important to Mom and Dad, then he will see reading as important. Let him read anything he wants! My son started out with a lot of Garfield comics. Then he moved on to the Animorphs series of books. I believe he read at least 60 of them by the time he was tired of the series. Writing can be difficult for the unschooling family if the child does not want to do it. My son did not write much until I finally told him that the evaluator will NOT sign if she does not see some sort of writing sample. Enter the writing sample. It was really good! Not only that but he was writing it while talking to me and not even looking at the keyboard. Talk about multi-tasking! Come to find out, he is a really, REALLY good writer! Who knew? Well, he read a lot and we spoke properly at home! I believe that his writing and my daughter's writing abilities come from these two things alone! In hindsight I believe I would have instituted some sort of writing "challenge" or something that would be fun for them. My son was 15 when I received that writing sample. He should have been writing before that although maybe not. It all worked out and he has always had A's in college where writing is the main focus.

Science is fairly easy to get in. There are so many DVDs out there having to do with science that you can do an entire unit on Earth Science through DVDs alone! (The Library should be your best friend) I looked up a "scope and sequence" (education speak for what we cover in this class) for Earth Science and followed that fairly loosely. Earth Science is basically, volcanoes, earthquakes, plate techtonics, rocks, minerals and weather. Easy as pie. Look up some interesting labs for erosion or weather and you've got yourself an Earth Science course. I'm sure Biology can also be found this way. Another great way to get the lab sciences in would be through Dual Enrollment. Your child can take the course at the community college for college credit, and the tuition is free. (there are requirements so check with your local community college)

Next up: Dual Enrollment, Florida style!