High School 2014-15

I hesitate to put a grade level on this but ds is 16 now (Yikes!) and isn't on a specific grade level in anything.  We just keep plugging away and moving forward bit by bit.  But here is what I have put together for this fall's curriculum.

We follow AO/HEO basically but of course we change it up to meet our needs.  I use the "lite" versions and even then we don't get it all done.  There is so much!  Here's what we have planned.

We are just about in Term 2 of Year 8 at Ambleside Online.

DS has some LD (no labels, we just know this after 16 years ;)) and so we make adjustments to just about everything.  We buddy read, use audible, I read aloud, we work on the white board etc to get it all done.  He's very intelligent and a very deep thinker.  His reading comprehension is wonderful but he just doesn't read fast enough to read all the AO books!  He also has trouble with the act of handwriting so we need to work on that this year as well.  It's painful and we need to build up those muscles.  Copywork is perfect for that and his composition can be done on the computer.

As we finish each book or text, we will insert the next one on the list.

Here's what we are using besides the AO titles right now:
Bible - Hebrews. We are starting a new series at our church and ds will be working on his daily reading and "homework" every day
Science - Apologia Biology (we are more than 2/3 of the way through this)
Latin - Latina Christiana.  It is for younger students but I think it will work for us right now. It'll be his first dive into another language
Math - Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra.  We were into Alg 1, but struggling so we went back for a bit.  He's picking up faster now and we'll be back in Alg 1 soon!
Shakespeare - Hamlet
Plutarch - Crassus
Artist Study - Fra Angelico
Composer Study -Hildegard von Bingen

I will let him choose a book from the earlier years of AO to read on his own just for the purpose of reading fluency, and comprehension building and just plain old reading for enjoyment.  He's never enjoyed reading and hopefully this will help!

We will be starting drivers ed soon as well and I have plenty of other books waiting in the wings.

I also work out of the house two days a week so he works mostly independently on those two days and we do as much together as possible the first two days.  I really hope to get it all done in four days.  We are very busy with other things like our puppet team and other ministries at church so "book work" is only part of our education. Plus some time or other we need to clean, do chores and cook as well as just have some down time. :)

I have so many projects I'd like to do and I just never seem to get around to doing them! Some day!

Four Year High School Plan

This is our basic four year plan.  It will vary some I'm sure and we won't get all credits in these exact years but he will have them all by the time he graduates.  That is the plan anyway. ;)

This is based on the graduation requirements for Texas.

School Year Plans 2013-14

We're starting back to school on the 12th. Ack!  I've still got TONS of planning to do!  I have the preliminary outline but still so much detail left to figure out.

Overview For 10th grade:

• Math: Finish Algebra I and begin Geometry (Probably in December)
• English:  DS. has some LD in the language arts so we'll be working on writing narrations, sentence structure and paragraph structure along with spelling, reading and listening. I have several sources to pull from that I've had FORever! We'll also be reading some literature from the historical time period being studied.
• History: Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, Exploration.  Whew!  A lot to cover!  We'll see how far we get.  We are doing our own thing most likely, following a pattern of Charlotte Mason style learning.
• Science: Almost finished with Physical Science and in September we will begin Biology.  We're doing a co-op this year and I'm leading the Biography class!  Talk about out of my comfort zone!!! We will be mostly doing the experiments and lab books.  I think I can handle it.  Pray for me. :)
• We'll be adding in speech, foreign language (Spanish or Latin), technology as well as fine arts.

It's going to be a full year but I am actually excited.  DS is maturing so much and things are getting easier.  I pray constantly for his increase in wisdom and stature with God and others.

Wrapping up 9th Grade

We always tend to school year round with no particular "off/on" days.  We just do school when we can and don't when we can't.  And typically we end up finishing in the winter rather than the summer.  But I thought I would record some things from this year up to now.

C.J. has grown TALL this year.  He is just a smidgen taller than me and I am 5'10"!  His voice has changed and many times when I don't see him but only hear him he sounds so manly.  It's still a shock sometimes.

C.J. walking like his dad.

C.J. has a challenging time with book learning because of some LDs but it's no sign of his intelligence and understanding which are off the charts sometimes. One thing he's done this year is a daily quiet time on his own.  Nothing fancy, just reading the Bible every day and hearing what God has to say.  C.J. learns some profound things sometimes.  In our youth group at church he is often the only one who knows the story or event in the Bible.  The other kids are "church kids" too but maybe they don't spend consistent time in the word like him, especially the Old Testament. I also see spiritual growth and understanding as he applies God's word to situations.

C.J. reading on his Bible app

C.J. LOVES the History Channel and any type of war documentaries.  He records them on his own and I don't have to make him watch them.  It's quite the other way around. He is quite obsessed with military weapons and warfare.

C.J. trying out his new Air Soft Gun

We went to our local library sale this year.  There are tons of books they are selling.  We snagged this one for $2 and it has become his favorite book this year. He wants Volume II.

Favorite book of 2013

C.J. is showing signs of becoming a gentleman.  Just when you think a teenage boy can't get any more irritating, he opens a door for others, he does chores without being asked, he notices something out of place and picks it up and returns it.  Wow!  These small moments make a mother's heart melt. :)

C.J. will not smile in pictures.  He has braces but I don't think that's the reason.  I think it's called B-O-Y.  Boys!

C.J. and his sister S.

C.J. is a very talented puppeteer.  We travel with the PIT Crew puppet team to do shows and to conferences with others to learn more about this ministry.

He smiled! Sort of. ;)

C.J. and friends at a Puppet/Creative Ministry Conference

C.J. started working in the tech booth at our church. He's learning so much from this experience. I've been told he's a fast learner.

He also loves to make stop motion videos.  Here's a sample of one he made about a year ago.  I have to say he did a good job considering we had no special equipment and in fact he had a poor camera.  He tells me that the camera is shaky because he didn't have a stand, he was just putting the camera on the floor.

Warning - subject matter is "war".  What else?

I see my son growing into a young man.  He's my baby but he's not a baby anymore.

Look out 10th grade here we come!!!

Melt down today, Happy dance tomorrow

Life is always moving.  So just earlier this week I was having doubts in my homeschooling but then today the mailman once again made me happy.

We received our Apologia Science kit!  One decision I made this week was to stop trying to do so much myself and take some help where it is given.  So I ordered a science program rather than trying to piece something together myself.

I decided to go with Apologia Physical Science.  DS has plenty of time to get to the other sciences before graduation so starting with something a little easier would be good for both of us.

So I ordered this


and this 


and this 



all from www.homesciencetools.com


My DD used Apologia, so I knew it was challenging and wasn't sure DS was up to it.  But I think we now have a good plan and the audio mp3 should help us.  I'm thinking we can listen to it in the car and at other places when we can't sit in front of the computer.  I'm not planning to use it in place of the book, but as a repeat as needed kind of thing.

When we got home this morning (I'll have another post about where we went) the box was on the porch and I made DS carry it in and he said, "You're making me carry my own box of doom?" LOL Dramatic maybe?  But then he opened it and was oooing and aahhing over all the stuff.  So maybe not so bad after all huh?

We'll see!

Community College

I called our local community college today to get the scoop on dual credit for my 15 yo.

I found out that they require the THEA test for entry.

We also need to complete at least 1/2 year of geometry since it is on the test. I'm thinking we may try this next year. We need to pray more about it.

I was a little curious about it all, we don't test much at least not in the standardized way. I know that at PS they test constantly which is one thing I love about homeschool. We can get on with REAL learning instead of just practicing tests, learning about tests, being fed information that will be on a test. We can learn what God wants us to learn and not what the State wants us to learn. I know that schools are moving millions of children through the system and they need a system to do that. I'm not moving millions of children through my home; just two.

My prayer is that I would give my children the foundation to meet the challenges God sets before them. That they would be able to take a test if need be, but not to get wrapped up in the scores and numbers that tests give. They were created by HIM for a purpose not a number.

Lord, help me to rely on Your leading for our learning! Help us to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, and You will add all the other things (even test scores)!
AMEN

Highschool

I'm beginning to relax more now that we're actually DOING high school. In fact when I get overwhelmed one thing I do is pull out the Texas Education Agency's list of graduation requirements. There just isn't that much to it!
Using AO and CM methods goes far beyond that list. I also know that academics are really the easy part of homeschooling. A book and a curious child take care of that. It's all the character building and relationship building in between that shapes our children into adults who serve well the kingdom.