Curriculum Choices 2022-2022

I started planning for Merry’s junior year (grade 11) about Christmas of last year. I started by looking at what her sister had done. Then I looked at what Merry was currently doing. Made a list of what was going well, what was going poorly, and what we seemed to be doing just for the sake of doing. 

What was going poorly was easiest to identify. Last year we were doing too much. Her schedule was overwhelming. But I was unwilling to cut academic classes and she was unwilling to give up her electives. So we had settled with the block scheduling. I resolved to not give her such a heavy schedule this next year.

I also realized she was getting bored with her classes. They were requirements that she didn’t have much say in. So this year I gave her a say. Over spring break I made a list of possible classes. Some were required for graduation, so I italicized those. Some were my preference for teaching, I bolded those. And most were simply classes she could take, if she wanted. 

Next was the hard part, I gave her the list and let her choose. She only picked one of my bolded classes (Latin online), she only picked one of the graduation required classes (the other three will have to be done next year), and she definitely showed interests.

Do what does Merry’s junior year schedule look like? Much to my surprise she chose two science electives, marine biology and astronomy. We will be using Apologia for both of those. In that science vibe, she also chose Sci-Fi literature. I was unable to find a curriculum for that so I’ve spent my summer putting one together for her.  And she is taking computer programming again this year from CompuScholars. Along with her STEM heavy choices are her required classes, world history and foreign language. We will be using Notgrass for history again this year, and Latin will be with an online class again.

Notably lacking from her list is math. She had finished the required levels and I decided making her take calculus would not benefit either of us. Besides there is always next year.

We start next week! And I’m excited to see how the year turns out!

Block Scheduling for the Win

We’re coming to the end of our block schedule trial period, and I think it has worked well.  It’s always nice when ideas are in fact as good as you’d hoped.

So how does block scheduling working for us?  I divided 6 of her classes into categories; writing and literature are in language arts, math and science are in stem, art and computer programing are electives. That way she would have some variety to what she did each day, no one wants to spend hours just writing papers or solving equations. Then I looked closer at the workload of each class. Literature has more reading than writing and chemistry has more reading than math. So literature and math are on one day while chemistry and writing are on the other.  Art and computer are pretty equal so they were randomly assigned.

History is still an everyday subject. Latin class is two days a week and assignments are done the other three days. 

I had handwritten out my assignment book, so that is staying.  It’s too much work to rewrite. But I use different colored highlighters to mark what has been done each day. Merry’s assignment pages were typed so each week I am simply rearranging the classes and reprinting. 

It’s still early in the year, but it looks like we’ve found a solution that works.

Curriculum Review: Science

So while writing my math review last week I realized there was another subject which Merry has used one curriculum exclusively, science. 

Her older sister had used public school text books I had bought from a library sale for the first 3 years, but when Merry started first grade I wanted something they could use together. So began our journey with Apologia, the Exploring Creation series.

We started with Birds, which was by far our favorite, then Water Creatures followed by Land Creatures. While the main focus of each of those was exactly what you would expect, the different types of animals, I appreciated the amount of other science stuff they threw in. For example, while studying birds we also learned about aerodynamics and how planes get lift.  The curriculum also did a great job preparing students for the observation side of science class.

So even when I was back to one child in the elementary grades, we continued with the series; studying Astronomy, Physics, and Botany. Now these courses were very much designed for elementary, so while they were very well rounded, they were not intense or all inclusive.  To me elementary science was a subject that was meant to be fun, not meant to take a lot of time.

Middle school science is a different ball game. It was important to have a more structured class with experiments as well as textbook learning. Middle school is also when subjects like science and history start having the same value as math and writing. Apologia General Science was a great text for starting this more intensive class schedule. It even has a daily work schedule mapped out for students at the front of the notebook.

The Student notebooks that are a part of the upper level courses were easy to use and familiar to Merry since they were similar to the elementary version. And I still wanted science to be fun, so using a curriculum with easy to follow experiments was important too.

Now we haven’t been entirely successful with the curriculum. Biology in particular was rough because of the amount of microscopic things we were supposed to look at. With my older daughter we tried using a hobby grade microscope but we were unsuccessful and it was more frustrating than educational. With Merry we opted instead to YouTube videos of microscopic images. That was more successful but not a perfect solution.

That brings us to this year, we will be using Apologia Chemistry. From previous experience I know we will want to use the lab kit, just to make sure we have all the supplies on hand. And Merry will be using the notebook that goes with the textbook. So yep, we will keep on keeping on.

2021 School Year Here We Come

Nothing like a new school year to get you all excited about curriculum and learning goal!  I love planning so Merry’s cart has been prepped, restocked with supplies, and waiting for September since early July.

Despite it being a very full cart, there are some subjects that aren’t even on the cart, namely her computer programming course which will be completely online through “CompuScholars” (https://www.compuscholar.com/homeschool/). Her other elective will also be online. A digital art class though “school house teacher”, she’ll be learning how to use Inkscape (https://schoolhouseteachers.com/school-subjects/art/inkscape-online-adventure/).

She’ll still be doing her core subjects with me, and we’ve found our groove, so to speak, with those curriculums.

Math will once again be Life of Fred. She is now in Trigonometry. Science will be Apologia again, this year she is in Chemistry. And writing will be WriteShop, starting book 2 this year.

History, we took a break from last year but will be using Notgrass again. She’ll be doing American History. To go along with the history she’ll be studying American Literature as well. The curriculum for that will be Lightning Literature. While she’s used that curriculum before this will be her first time with the high school level.

Which just leaves one more subject, for her notably full load, Latin. She will be continuing to use Latin Alive, but since she is now beyond my level of Latin we have decided to put her in an online class. Unlike the other online classes, which are independent study, this will be a classroom setting with a teacher and other student for her to interact with. And since it is a completely new set up she will be retaking level 3. 

So there are the plans for next year. Always subject to change of course. We’ll see how much she is able to keep up without being overwhelmed by the amount of work. But I’m excited!

Sixth grade lesson plans

It is almost August, we are a month from the the next school year, yet I felt like I was trying to beat the clock finishing up my lesson plans!

The house we are living in is being sold so we thought it might be a good time to look at moving.  We'd been talking about buying a house for the past year and now it is time. So between shopping and cleaning, packing and touring next month promises to be a busy one. I didn't want to wake up on the first day of school and not be prepared so I preemptively got it all (mostly) ready now!

With the exception of a few workbooks I still need to purchase, all of the sixth grade curriculum is in this file box.

And I've made a checklist and lessons plans for each week!  While my plans are not yet final, at least one subject will be reevaluated after the first week, it's nice to have them done.

That's one less thing to worry about during our big move.  Now I just need to make sure I don't lose the crate!

Planning highschool

I'll be honest, the closer my kids get to highschool the more I think, "I should blog about their preschool days."  After all write what you know.  And I know they can both read and write now, so I must have done ok.

But highschool, I don't know how that will go yet.  I've started making plans, buying curriculum, and scheduling next year.  But will things go as planned?  Am I scheduling enough time?  Will this curriculum work for the year?  So many questions!

So I'm going to give myself a little advice, the same advice I would give someone starting homeschooling their kindergartener.

First: This isn't a one day process, just like you don't learn to read in a day, there is very little that is learned in just one day!  Highschool lasts 4 years, so don't cram everything into the first year! It's better to ease into somethings.

Second: You aren't starting from scratch. When I started homeschooling, I had already spent 5 years watching my daughter grow and play.  I already knew her personality.  So I was able to choose learning options that I knew she would enjoy, like worksheets with princesses and mermaids.  Now I've had 8 years lesson planning and used a variety of curriculums.  I know what has worked and what has not.  Just because now it's highschool level doesn't mean previous experience won't help.

Third: Breath!  As much as I would love for everything to go smoothly next year, it won't ruin my child if a subject doesn't work out.  After all I thought I had ruined her love of reading when she spent an afternoon crying under the kitchen table, cause "sounding out words was too hard." (After that we took some time off schooling, more coloring and watching PBS) But she reads for fun every chance she gets now!  So maybe being relaxed will help her, as well as me, next year!

So that's my advice, fingers crossed I'll follow it!

Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra review

Charry is finishing up her final lesson of Beginning Algebra today! So I thought now would be a good time to offer my humble opinion on the curriculum.

Charry started using Life of Fred, in 3rd grade, after a very bad 2nd grade year.  And to be honest the books aren't perfect.  But for all their faults the love of math that they inspire has made them totally worth it for us.

So how do they inspire a love of math?  The books tell a humorous tale of tiny 5 year old Fred Gauss and his adventures as a math teacher at Kittens University.  Charry is willing to work through the math in order to read about poor Fred and his misadventures.

How well do they teach math? Well, that depends on the student.  Fred books present math as puzzles for the reader to solve.  If a child loves working through puzzles these are excellent.  My child is not a lover of puzzles so she took some coaxing.  Since she is a lover of attention having math one on one with mom was a motivator.  And since I love puzzles I could walk her though things, asking the questions that helped her head in the right direction.

Is it really a complete curriculum? Yes, but that doesn't mean it never needs supplementing.  With the Beginning Algebra book I also bought the "additional problems."  Since I'm not great at making up problems this was helpful.  But we didn't use most of it. For most lessons what was in the book was enough for her to understand the concept.

Did she remember what she learned? Yes! Between the antidotal Fred stories (which all related back to the math) and the mom examples, she got a high A on her final test!  To be honest it surprised me how well she did.

So what are the faults? One is the time I had to spend with her. I don't consider this a fault really but many homeschoolers want their students able to work independently in highschool.  Honestly I don't think any math curriculum is very "independent" especially once you get to highschool.

Another fault that seems to be present in all of Dr Schmidt's books is an arrogance of the author.  He constantly seems to belittle other math books and other teacher.  I think it is all in jest but occasionally it will rub me the wrong way.

So all in all I love Fred! (In fact I'm coming very close to owning all of the Math books) And next year Charry is excited to be following his adventures once again!

The Homeschool Journal entry 1

I'm trying something new, The homeschool mom journal.  I'm having fun blogging and wanted to try one of those "link your blogs" things.  Th homeschool journal seems to be a good fit.  Since I blog to keep track more for myself than for others and this I hope will make a weekly appearance.  You should click the link and see what other homeschoolers are doing also.

In my life this week…

This has been a long week, filled with sickness.  Not the best.  

In our homeschool this week…
Merry worked on "Star Wars" preschool and finished her numbers workbook.
Charry worked on multiplication and reviewing Hebrew.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
Sometimes you need to take a step back, there is no harm in redoing an area your weak in.

I am inspired by…
I've been reading lots of blog and have been inspired by the great ideas I've been seeing.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
We've spent most of the time at home, although we had a lovely visit with my sister-in-law.

My favorite thing this week was…
Princess Bun-head headbands.  (as seen in my previous post) They were so much fun to make and I had come up with the idea myself.

What’s working/not working for us…
This week was half days because of sickness so we weren't able to do History or Science.  But Charry has been doing "Learning Wrap-ups" She is on day 9 of 10 of the multiplication I think it will take more practice for her to memorize but it has been a good start. I think we will use more of their products, I have the addition one ready for merry to start next week. 

Things I’m working on…
American Girl history, I'm less familiar with the girl we are working on right now so I have to do more work to prepare.

I’m grateful for…
Family and friends who have been very supportive during a very hard week.

I’m praying for…
My Uncles family, he past away this morning.  He was the one who taught me how to play chess.  He has two grown children, they had a hard life and haven't seen him for a while.  This will be hard for them.  My grandma is also having a hard time loosing her son.  So I pray for all of them. 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Baby James Oct 9, 2010-Oct 16, 2010