Trello & High School Planning

I recently had the satisfaction of beginning something that for almost the last decade has been at the back of my mind as both something to anticipate and something to fear. Planning for high school. Yes, high school!

Although I’ve watched many homeschoolers complete their high school careers and talked with many mothers who’ve gone through the process with them, there is still a cloud of mystery surrounding what high school is going to look like for your child. Ive even gone to a few meetings and conference sessions that pertain to homeschooling your high schooler. I’ve learned all about dual credit and AP classes and “CLEP-ing out” and what colleges are looking for and how to keep good transcripts and…

But then a few weeks ago I began what usually begins around this time of year: making curriculum decisions for the following fall. What worked, what didn’t, what needs to be ditched? For H, this is straight-forward: If what you’re using now isn’t a good fit, let’s switch to what your sister used and see if it works. But K is my guinea pig. She’s the one who gets to give things a test run. Everything is a first-time deal for her. I’ve not explored her options previously. So, when I set about looking into curriculum for her freshman year, I remembered that the daunting task of figuring out all four years was finally upon me.

Of course, the first thing I needed to do was figure out how I was going to keep track of everything. For four years, no less! If I put it into a spiral-bound notebook or typed it out in Excel, I’d most likely have to hunt for it each year or semester when I had to refer back to it. Not gonna lie!

Since I needed to list out the classes required for graduation, I thought Trello would be the perfect fit. I can make separate lists for each subject, pop in the classes, and add notes to the back of the “cards.”

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Once I listed out everything I could think of at the time, I made another list titled “Freshman Year.” Since you can easily move the cards from one list to another by dragging and dropping, I was able to move over all of the classes she’s going to take in 9th grade. Language arts is still kind of up in the air as far as what we’re going to be using, and I’m sure we’ll find more electives for her to take, but this is a fairly comprehensive overview of what K will be doing for her high school career.

On the backs of the cards, I noted cost and pasted a link of where to purchase the necessary items for each class.
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If I discover more information that I’d like to keep for future reference, I can always add more links and notes to the card at a later time, including dates and shipping information when I actually order the materials. I can also change my mind as to which year a certain class takes place and move the cards around. And I’m almost positive that with how much I love Trello, I’ll keep coming up with more and more ideas of how to use it in our homeschool!

So, while I’m still entering the realm of the unknown, I feel like mapping out four years of curriculum at one time was really not so bad. My next challenge: Getting my teenager to stop digging her heels in every day! (Any pointers in the comments are greatly appreciated!)

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