Organization:
All Charry's books fit in a plastic file box from target's college dorm collection. Each subject has its own hanging file to keep things separate. This also helps to keep her many spiral notebooks with the correct texts.
She also has a weekly planner with the basic schedule for each day while I have a massive daily planner with lesson details.
Her desk is her own space and, as long as she has a clear spot to work, I've let her keep it as she wants. I only sometimes regret this or wish it wasn't in my living room.
Science:
We are still using Apologia, this year is Physical Science. I very strongly recommend using the notebook from Apologia. While it is not necessary, it is helpful. And at the beginning is a daily schedule where lessons are all broken down for you, this was a huge time saver for me.
The other time saver that I wish I would take advantage of is the list of supplies needed for each chapter's experiments. Getting those ahead of time would save me many last minute trips to the store, and we would probably complete more of the labs.
History:
History is a joint subject with little sister. We are using America the Beautiful by Nottgrass. The more we use it the better I like it. Now I don't use the Bible lesson, writing or extra literature portions. Instead I am supplementing with my own choices of period novels, mostly those I was forced to read in middle school.
Mathematics:
Life of Fred, Beginning Algebra. This is a big year for us. Algebra is the first highschool math course and an understanding of it is pretty vital to understanding the rest of mathematics. We are once again relying on Fred to explain the basics in a way that makes sense.
I bought the book of extra problems also but we haven't used it much yet. As the material gets more complicated I'm seeing where it will be useful.
Latin:
I just applied for the National Latin Exam! This will be her second year taking it and I'm excited to see how she does.
We are using Latin Alive book 2 this year. The biggest struggle is that she does much better when she worked with me rather than on her own. So on days we were pressed for time this was the subject that got neglected. As a result we were a bit behind when Christmas break started so she had school during the holiday. Now we are back on track and going at a slower pace again. And she is realizing that if she doesn't get things done during school she still has to do them.
English:
This subject is a bit of a hodgepodge for us. She is using Writing Strands for writing, I had planned on also doing poetry but that hasn't happened. She is also doing sentence diagramming from an online resource I found. Sentence diagramming really has helped with her grammar.
We aren't doing any formal literature, but as I mentioned above, she is reading classics from the library.
Grading:
A big change at the start of the year was grading. In the past when something was wrong she had to keep fixing it until it was correct. Last year I found out this was giving her the mistaken impression that she wasn't doing very well. So this year I am recording her grades before she fixes things (she still has to fix things) so she can tell how she is doing. I'm also keeping a grade book so she can see how doing weekly assignments can boost her grade even if she does poorly on a test. And I've given her a few opportunities for extra credit. This is helping me as a teacher and her as a student.
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