Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+u+la, Updated

Practical and full of the encouragement any high school homeschool mom needs, Barbara Shelton's High School Form+u+la contains advice and reproducible forms to guide you through credits, hours, extra curricular activities, graduation, applying for college, grading techniques, teaching guides and much more.

The thought of homeschooling through the high school years can put one in a tizzy. When the time drew near to teach high school, there were days when my heart beat faster. However, after spending some quiet time reading Senior High, I felt my heart rate return to normal. I am not an organized person by nature so I knew I needed this book. The first chapter is "Reinforcement for the Fainthearted," which helps the parent establish goals and find fortitude in Jesus. Another chapter reviews requirements and guidelines for graduation. The parent may choose from many kinds of reproducible planning and record-keeping sheets. Samples provided on grading criteria and course descriptions are what I value most in the book. The grading method is a meaningful one. Because we use lots of "living" (real) books, freestyle essay writing, and life experiences in our home school with fewer textbooks and workbooks, I needed a way to both personalize and document our work. This book showed me how. It supplied me with both tools and spiritual encouragement. I may never feel 100 percent confidant at the task of teaching high school. Nevertheless, I will venture forward much more knowledgeable and equipped than I was before.

-Karen

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8 of 16 Reviews Showing:(View All Reviews)

Reviewed by Rosalie Salensky (Alpharetta, GA), July 06, 2008

A friend suggested I get this book because I was planning to pull my daughter out of public school and home school high school. I was a bit unsure if it was worth the money or if I would find any value in this book. But, I am so happy I bought it. I have read and reread parts of this book over and over. I have taken notes and looked up other books that were mentioned in this book as well. The most valuable aspect of this book is the organization it brings. I now feel I have a handle on how to home school high school, as well as keep records and follow a plan to stay on track. I have confidence in myself as a mother and as a teacher. It has made me rethink the values I want in my children when they leave the home and I have been reevaluating the importance of just book education vs. learning the basic life skills needed to survive and well as a trade. I love how all aspects of education is brought up in this book and they all have their place in education.

Reviewed by Ronnie (Kansas), October 11, 2000

I have not finished the book, yet... it isn't a quick-read, but I am loving every minute!! I am getting excited about homeschooling again! We have homeschooled for 4 years now and I was getting a little sick of things as they were. God has led us on our own path towards a Lifestyle of Learning-type lifestyle and then we received Marilyn's books ~ and I've visited Barb's website OFTEN! www.homeschooloasis.com In soooo many ways, this is not JUST a high school book. I have been able to see the big picture and am excited about finding God's long-term plans for all of our children. Being able to see the vision of high school in a relaxing atmosphere has put even grade school into a better perspective. There is no great rush to get the right amount of info into their little heads before they enter high school. Being able to see the Graduation results we want can be broken down into bite-sized pieces, not just for the preceding 4 years before Graduation, but all the way down to where each child is right now. I can see now where I want some foundations for the future studies in high school. My recommendation would be to read this book along with any other homeschooling info books. The basics and the long-term vision are both described with much needed realistic perspective. I want to thank Barb for the effort she has put into making this book a picture of a wonderful family life - and for keeping the focus on Jesus and how much God is just waiting to lavish us with His blessings!! I'm thankful for her giving so much time and effort to put sooooo much info into one place! WOW! She said somewhere in her book that books are just tools in our hands and that she has given a sort of smorgasbord for us to glean from. I'm glad she has given us the credit to sift through and let the Holy Spirit do His thing in our homes!

Reviewed by Terri (Pensacola, FL), October 06, 2000

I just wanted to say that I find this book to be extremely helpful and enjoyable. I don't find Barb's style to be preachy or pushy at all!!! On the contrary, by her being so REAL, she is extremely helpful and I believe the love and life of the Lord is being seen through her writings. I am glad for every tidbit Barb put into this book. It is loaded with very practical help, as well as spiritual and scriptural guidance. But she is not at all overbearing with it. She is very loving and full of GRACE. She is not flashy or showy, but just "herself". I didn't feel at all "pressured" to have to do everything in the book. But it has given me some great ideas that I can use as a framework to work around. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Reviewed by Tammy (McKenna, WA), October 04, 2000

Wow! Double Wow!! Triple Wow!!! What a sanity saver Barb's book has been in this homeschooling family. We've graduated one using *many* of Barb's ideas, and are now working on graduating the next utilizing even more of the plans, forms, and hints presented in this book. Reading this book is like sitting down with a very good friend and being led down a path to freedom in Jesus Christ. Knowing that Jesus walks with us each step of the way and is in actuality the "principal" of our homeschool, has been a breath of fresh air. I thank Barb from the bottom of my heart, for sharing her heart so freely with others through this book. Senior High FormULa is a **MUST** read (and buy!! because you will USE it, I promise!) on any homeschooler's list. Get it while your children are young so you won't burn out on homeschooling!! Thanks again, Barb!! and thank you CBD for carrying it.

Reviewed by Martha (in NE Texas), October 04, 2000

When my son was about to start highschool, I was desperate to find something that he could do on his own, because I also have another child who needed a lot of my attention. We went to the video school route and ended up doing schoolwork from about 9 until almost 5, four days a week. And we only finished the first semester in 12 months time. He wanted to go to school and was ready to quit homeschooling, and I was ready to give up myself. But the Lord had spoken to my heart while my son was still in the womb about keeping him at home and teaching him what He wanted him to learn. I was in despair because I KNEW this was not God's will for my son. Someone told me about Form+U+la. I couldn't WAIT to get my hands on it. I bought the book and my son and I read the book together. The weight lifted off of my shoulders and onto Jesus', literally. My heart had been so heavy before I read the book, and afterwards, I was singing! Barb's book saved the relationship that I had with my son and gave me clear direction about how to handle the rest of his High School experience. I am encouraged by how well my son has been doing since we switched to Barb's method. Please, please, if you have not read Barb's book, get it out (or buy it here if you don't have it yet) and read it right now! I've read parts of it many times and I learn something new from it every time!

Reviewed by Charisse (Puyallup, WA), October 03, 2000

Wow! I was reading through these reviews and saw a review by a woman with a name similar to mine. But I assure you, our viewpoints and comments concerning this book are as different as night and day! The very thing that attracted me to this book and this author was the fact that I had heard from another reader that Barb Shelton was a godly woman that lives the life she speaks of. I am enjoying this book soooooo much! I never really dreaded teaching high school, but wondered if I could keep the excitement and create a love of learning for each one of them ~ before I hit BURN-OUT. That's what I feared most because I battled "BURN OUT" for two years before this last year. I am SO PUMPED on the wisdom, the hands on "practical-ness," and the encouragement I receive from Barb's book that I bought it for my friend whose oldest is just turning 12. She is now having her old ideas challenged and homeschooling is fitting into their family's life style. She told me recently she is getting hope stirred up in her heart and assurance that they are going in the direction God has for them. This book gives you a vision or hunger or both for seeking God, stirring up those embers in our hearts, not just for "academics" but what do we really want to impart or plant in the hearts of our children. Barb's book reminds me of a scripture in Malachi 4:6 "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers." It's our hearts that God is after. And for me, this book has just been another part of what God has used to direct my heart back to Him and His wisdom!!! If I am happy, content, and blessed serving this great and wonderful King who sets me free even daily from fears and the cares of this world...well, my children will be excited to get to know that God! Barb's encouragement filled me with hope. I hope you get it and enjoy it as I have and do.

Reviewed by Shar Boerema (White Lake, MI), October 02, 2000

Wow! I wish I had Form+U+la before my first went through High School, I could have saved myself so much trouble and WORRY! It's laid out beautifully. My second high schooler is in sophomore year... all at home ... and I've got tons of credits already and am feeling SOOOOOOOOO relieved and SOOOO excited about the future, as compared to dreading the next high school years!! She loves it too! I have the vision back and am so grateful. I've got 12 years ahead of me with the youngest children! This past year I didn't know if I could make it through that 14th year, and now feel energized for the next dozen, should I live so long!

Reviewed by Donna Heck (Gresham, OR), October 02, 2000

I have heard many homeschool moms say something like "This is a book I have on my list to buy" or "when my kids get to high school I'll read this book." I feel that Form+U+la is the FOUNDATION book for homeschooling through high school, and NOT just one nice option among many! Every homeschooler should read this one first - years before high school - in order to be prepared; to have time to go through the season of reeducation; to get out of that "school at home" mentality and past the curriculum craze that we all go through. This book has all the "how-to's" of high school but beyond that it will minister to your spirit! Barb's loving, spirit-filled life is evident on every page! It is not a book you will buy ~ read ~ and resell. It should be on your shelf for reference all through your years of homeschooling as well as a balm for those tension filled days when you just need a friend to invite you over for tea and a chat! I recommend it highly! Barb has now come out with a Personal Guided Tour Through Form+U+la for Pre-Highschoolers especially for those with very young children; however if they're getting to be 11 or 12, you'll just want to read the whole thing!

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Write a review of Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+u+la, Updated

Author: Barbara Edtl Shelton
Located in: Longview, WA
Submitted: October 14, 2000

    Tell us a little about yourself.  I along with my wonderful husband, Dave, operate a ministry to homeschoolers out of our home in Longview, WA. Dave is the "back (and funny) bone" of our family and of our business/ministry; one could call me the "heart" of it. But that analogy is pretty limited, as God is the LIFE behind and through it all! My books and seminars ~ and that fact that almost NO one else was homeschooling when we began (we knew of two other families in our entire city) ~ resulted in my inadvertently becoming a "homeeschool pioneer." I have written 8 books for homeschoolers thus far (and am working on others), but that’s the easy part; Dave does all the producing of these books, as well as all the processing of orders, and all wholesale distribution. He is truly the "wind beneath my wings," my prayer support, our business manager, and an awesome Dad! We were married 25 years ago as of last summer (of 2000), and we've been homeschooling since 1982 – 18 years as of fall of 2000. Our three precious children are Sharnessa, 23; Tory (male), 21; and Carlianne, 14. As of this last August (2000), we are also the delighted parents-in-law of not one, but TWO more "children"! One is a dear man named Samuel Sandén who Sharnessa married on August 19th, and the other is Chrissy, Tory's delightful wife as of one week later!

    What was your motivation behind this project?  I was ~ and AM ~ especially excited about helping those trying to recover from ~ or wanting avoid ~ the pitfalls of listening to the loud and numerous voices of the world, and hear the voice of the Lord for their own unique children. I want to be used of the Lord to refresh and equip the brethren (or "sisteren") and help them discern and grasp God's vision for the education ~ the *true* education ~ of their children. My book, "Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+U+la," presents several flexible frameworks for doing high school on an independent basis. There are 160 duplicable forms to use in organizing and documenting your student's high school experience, for them to use in the learning process, and to help explain concepts in the book. But it's much more than just forms and frameworks! I share insights from the Word that the Lord has opened to me that have helped free me up to hear and follow HIS voice, and not feel compelled to be bound to the world's priorities. In it I also open up my ~ and my family's ~ lives and experiences in hopes that they may be of use to others. I am careful all through the book to make it clear that this is just what *we* did and is *not* what I am suggesting for anyone else. I have made my life an open book ~ literally! ~ to give them real-life examples of how to implement the concepts, and to show how they look in real life. My heart is simply to try to free people up to follow the leading of the Lord in their own lives ~ which looks different from family to family ~ and not copy *anyone* else's experiences ~ including mine! Also, being that I am a strong (-only-in-Jesus) Christian, everything in the book is non-apologetically from that perspective. If that is not the reader's bent, there is still PLENTY that they will get out of it.

    What do you hope folks will gain from this project?  When people read my book(s), my hope is that they'll be challenged, and moved to think and re- think their views about education, and best of all, get set free (or freer) in Jesus!  To that end, my writing is very conversational, as if we were having a good, heart-to-heart talk over a cup of [choose favorite beverage], grappling over some hard ~ and heart ~ issues. I have heavily sprinkled the pages with humor, girded them with scriptural truth, and loaded them with practical forms, ideas, and encouragement. If the reader is closer to Jesus by the end, my mission is accomplished, because HE is the Author and Finisher of your faith-walk through education, and will take you far past the pages in my book to His perfect will for your family!

    Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists?  The major influence on my thinking in the areas of education and relationship with God has undoubtedly been Marilyn Howshall, the developer of the Lifestyle of Learning message. She has opened my eyes to so much, including the fact that true education has very little to do with academics, and mostly to do with the parents' own walk with God, and educating themselves and their children as part of that process ~ not something separate, or apart from our "real life." I have also learned and gleaned much from Gregg Harris, Dr. Raymond Moore, John Taylor Gatto. As for my favorite artist? Mmmm, that's easy! The new Christian pop band called V*Enna! Our oldest daughter, Sharnessa, homeschooled from start to finish, is one half of it! (Visit them at www.v-enna.com.)

    Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know:  All of my speaking and writing reflect my "lite" approach to homeschooling that is based on the verse in Matt. 28:11 in which Jesus says "My yoke is easy, my burden light." Using a combination of vulnerability, humor, and God's Word, my heart is to inspire parents to pursue God's unique plan for the education of their children, and I offer much practical help in doing so. Those wanting to find out if they connect with my message can start at out website at www.homeschooloasis.com. In particular, check out the Article Chart (which has a high school section) and the "Season of Re- education and Renewing of the Mind." These will give you a good glimpse into the heart of my message.

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