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.

Curriculum Review: Math

Hopefully this will be a series were I look back at our previous curriculum choices and see how we got to where we are. Starting with Mathematics since for Merry it’s been a constant.

We first started Life of Fred in September of 2011, in fact I even made a blog post about it. (https://caytw.blogspot.com/2011/09/happiness-is-new-math-book.html?m=0)

In the beginning we supplemented with a lot of math practice tools, like flash cards, dollar store workbooks, and various math games.  Now that she is in high school math it is much harder to find extras that we can add on and it is less of a necessity. Math starts with a lot of facts to memorize, addition tables, multiplication tables, and orders of operation being prime examples. But in higher levels it is less about memorizing and more about a way of thinking, the logic behind it.

Life of Fred emphasizes that way of thinking even in the lower level book, which since I love mathematics appealed to me. Merry also would rather think about one problem for ten minutes than do ten problems in one minute, so the curriculum has been a good fit.

That’s not to say that we don’t supplement a little, even now. I discovered math vocabulary posters from Virginia’s state government page. (https://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/vocab_cards/index.shtml) And we have been using these as part of our “morning time” for the past 4 years. Math can be like a foreign language, so knowing how to express yourself and what you are thinking is important.

This next year we will also be using YouTube, https://youtube.com/user/numberphile, and learning about various American mathematicians using Wikipedia and Google. 

While I’m excited for Merry to move forward with Trigonometry, I also want her to have a better understanding of math in the real world and how mathematicians have made impacts.

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!

Transitions

So it’s been a year since I last blogged, but today seemed like a good day for an update.

In long term planning I had hoped Charry would be ready for college this year but she is too sensible for that. She was content to spend another year as a high schooler and enjoy having a small load of only electives. Of corse her electives are Speech, Computer Science, Geography, Economics, and Calculus so not exactly easy classes.  Then she got inspired. She decided she wanted to learn sign language. At first it was simply a next year plan. But then we heard about a homeschool to college program at our local community college. The program allows homeschooler to take one class at a discounted rate. So she applied, but unfortunately missed the deadline by a single day. We discussed it and decided to continue the application process for next term. Then the timeline was shifted. She got a call Friday from the college that if she could get the placement testing done by Monday she could still start this term.

So here we are on her birthday, she’s taking a 3 hour test and I’m writing a blog post.  Depending on how she does we may still need to wait until winter. Still seeing Charry taking the initiative and working towards a goal makes me proud as a mom.  And having her decide what to work towards on her own makes me proud as her teacher.

 Fingers crossed I’ll have a good update soon.

And school is a go

It’s mid September and I, like most homeschool parents, am counting down to the first break which cannot come soon enough.

Our schedule is exhausting right now, although I know we just need to get into the swing of things.

We’ve been doing stretches and strengthening in the mornings before breakfast. A good start for our days and a way to wake ourselves up.

Merry likes to do school with me so most of her subjects include reading out loud (and showing me the pictures.)

Charry prefers to work alone but to make sure she is staying on track we have a review/summarize time after each lesson.

Latin is my favorite but not my kid’s. Merry is doing alright but it is taking longer than I had hoped to get through each lesson.

We are making an effort to do every experiment this year, I bought the kits so there would be no excuse not to do them, and they are the girls’ favorite part of science.

Charry is hard to get a picture of. She enjoys finding cozy places to hunker down and do her school.

After school activities have started. Clogging is the only one I have a picture of. Unfortunately dance goes until 9 most nights, which is our main reason for being tired. But we’ll adjust soon.

And three weeks in, we are staying on schedule in all the classes. So I’m happy. (I’m also happy we have a mini vacation next week, yay school break!)

Curriculum choices for 2019-2020 school year

It’s that time again, I finally have all the materials I need to start the school year! And since we got our last package less than a week before we are planning to start, I may have cut it a bit close this year. But huzzah, the carts are all loaded up and we are ready!

Now I am sure you are all very curious about our plans for the year.  Here is a basic break down of each girls class load:

Merry will be in eighth grade and has three classes which will give her highschool credit.  

Math, Life of Fred Advanced Algebra 

Latin, Latin Alive Book 2

Science, Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Physical Science (this year I bought lab kits to insure we are able to do all the labs)

Her other three subjects will be at grade level

History, Oregon History (most area school teach state history in elementary but I think waiting gives a chance for her to understand some of the political aspects of our history, and the only text book I could find was for middle school so I waited to use that.)

English, which will include both Lightning Literature grade 8 as well as Life of Fred’s Language Arts series. 

Health, this is our first year doing a formal health class and Merry’s will be a hodgepodge. We will start with “Girling Up” then go through Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology, and finish using the FDA’s “my plate” unit from online.

Charry’s curriculum is a mix of old favorites and new adventures.

Three of her classes will just be the next level up from last year.

Math, Life of Fred Trigonometry 

Science, Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Physics

History, Notgrass’ Exploring America 

The other four will be new although I’m familiar with most of the publishers.

Health, Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Health and Nutrition 

Literature, Lightning Literature American Literature Early-Mid 19th Century and Lightning Literature American Literature Mid-Late 19th Century

Writing, the One Year Adventure Novel (both girls have done the one year magazine and Charry picked this as one of her two electives this year)

Economics, (Charry’s second elective) this class will be a bit of a hodgepodge. We will start with Money Matters for Teen which should give basics life writing checks and balancing a budget, then Economic Comics, finishing the year with Life of Fred Financial Choices.

Besides their individual classes we will be doing morning time again this year. I really enjoyed daily picture books last year so those will be back, although this year the girls will be reading out loud as well. Morning time will also be including math vocabulary, work roots, maps, sentence diagraming, and flash cards, but not all on the same day.

So there you have it a quick look at our plans for next year. I’m excited!

“Insta”-replay; summer time fun

I’ve felt rather lazy this summer so in an effort to remind myself of how busy we have actually been, here is a look back at our summer... so far.

We went camping with the Woodburn Church family. It was a great time spent with friends!

Afterwards we stumbled on a kite festival! The kites were huge! And some of them did stunts, although not the big ones.

We went to see Toy Story 4.

And we went to see Spiderman Far from Home.

We got our free slurpees during 7/11.

Monday’s lunch with Aunt Coral was a fun summer schedule change.

We had family time, putting together a puzzle one weekend.

Charry got her hair cut, although that she did on her own.  I didn’t even walk to the hair cutting shop with her. 

So I haven’t been completely lazy, I’ve just been very relaxed despite keeping myself somewhat busy. I’m sure things will get even busier as we try to cram as much vacationing as possible into the final weeks before school starts (completely).