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.

Sometimes, it takes awhile...

Funny story, funny to me anyway, it dawned on me just today as I was writing up assignment sheets for my son that I should add the days' events at the top and upcoming events on the bottom!  He has always wanted to know what we are doing tomorrow, where we are going tomorrow etc. He has been asking me those questions since he was old enough to talk! LOL He loves having his own calendar too.

I took a cue from the workbox lady a while back to write out a daily list for him with detailed instructions rather than a weekly chart on one page.  Although I prefer charts.  I love charts! But we have great success when I make the daily pages for my son.  The problem is it is time consuming and I have to use my brain A LOT!! LOL So that's why I slip and don't do it.  

But I really, really need to do it! It helps him so much.  I can't wait to see how he likes the "upcoming events" on his pages.  I'll let you know what he thought, although I can't let him know that I want to know what he thought because he's 14 and 14 year old boys don't like to let their mom know they like something about school. ;)

Things To Do:

I'm making a list of things to do in my "spare time" to keep from mindless munching and/or computer usage.  You all know what I'm talking about right?

Here's my list:
 
Manicure (trimming/filing/painting nails) 
Pedicure (trimming/painting nails) 
Take care of feet (moisturize dry heels) 

 
Plan lessons for our homeschool 
Research projects for our homeschool  
Read ahead for our homeschool 

• Remembering God's Awesome Acts
• Science/Biology units

 
Pre-prep food 
chop 
cook 
freeze 
roast 
etc. 

 
Sewing - 
cut out project 
do 1 step of a project 

 
Plan for our puppet team and children's ministry 
plan lessons 
work on a song 
design a puppet 
work on a skit 
etc. 

Working routines...where are they?

Remember flylady?

Some folks may have never heard of her at all.  I met her years ago and she quickly changed my life, but I outgrew her.  All those e-mails!  All those reminders! I just didn't need them anymore.  But I still revert back to her basic cleaning lists and the routine lists I created back then when I get overwhelmed.

Well, my weekly schedules and demands have changed and I finally realized that those old lists just don't fit anymore!  It's time to rethink my week and what I need to get done on each day of the week.

I was talking with a friend the other day and she said something similar about her routines too, or actually lack thereof.  She realized that certain routines saved her so much time, that she needed to establish some other routines in the day to save time as well.

There are certain days that we are home, and certain days we are not and I'm still not used to it after a year of this schedule!  It's time to do some serious thinking and planning and get some *working* routines in order!

So the problems are:

• having the school week planned out
• having all books/supplies ready 
• we need lunches ready ahead of time
• I need a healthy quick breakfast ready ahead of time for those days we are running late
• I am getting behind on household chores
• I need time for my creative outlets too
• Wednesday nights are so late and Thursday comes so early ;)
• fitting in exercise time
• having the exercise equipment, clothes, music etc ready to go
• meals planned
• grocery list done
• chores more evenly distributed between the family
• there is probably more but that's enough to start!

I'm going to work on this tonight!  I'm actually excited to get some things written down and put into use.
For instance I need to plan ahead and make Wednesday and Thursday as easy as possible.

I'll be back with my plan when I get it done!

Looking back, looking ahead

Have you ever had a homeschool year that just seemed like a blur?  This was that year for me.  I know that my son did some work, and I also know that we didn't finish everything we set out to do.  We had so many distractions this year and I hate to make excuses but stress got the better of me.  As I'm looking ahead for next year, I have to take a look back to see where we've come from.  It's a bit discouraging if I'm being honest, but then again, so many good things were learned this year that I just can't put down on a report card or grade book. Know what I mean?  In fact when I really think about it we really did so much this year!

My dh has been ill with an undiagnosed illness.  So far they have said "Fibromyalgia" but aren't sure.  All we know is that he is in pain almost constantly and for seemingly no reason.  He has been off work a lot with no pay and had test after test.  Thus I got a part time job, it was a Jesus deal and now I work 2-half days and 1-whole day at church as my pastor's administrative assistant.  My son can go with me and work in the office with me on school work. It works fine as long as there are no interruptions but believe me there are always interruptions!

One day he said to me, "I never realized there was so much that goes on at church. I always thought we just showed up." Ha ha!  He's learned a lot about this and I hope it's been a good experience.

I also make puppets for our church and to sell (sometimes) this is also time consuming.

There are so many, many other things going on that don't need to be aired out here, but just writing this post has helped me to feel better.  It's my report card of sorts, a record to help me remember what we went through this year.

Thanks for listening. ;)

Ack!

July is practically over, I'll be gone most of August.  Where has the summer gone?  I haven't posted in over a month!

I am working on some school plans but there are so many family things going on too.  My SIL has been living with us for a year and a half and she is moving this weekend.  For me that means moving furniture (mostly mine) vacuuming, rearranging, organizing, dusting, sneezing and doing it all over again until we get things situated.

I hope to get to Wal-Mart before the weekend's over and pick up some things that we need.

I also had a new granddaughter come into the world last weekend and am preparing for the trip to see her in August. Can't wait!

So much to do so little time!

Maybe I'll post some pics and plans soon.

I can't believe I did this...

I went to the bookfair yesterday, had a "10+" sticker on my name tag. Whoo Hoo!!!

And after 10+ years of going I can't believe that I bought....

a planner!!!!

All these years I've always made my own charts, lists and planners. No one else's "pre-made planner" has EVER had everything I needed.  But well, life has changed for me.  I have more outside responsibilities and time is of short supply lately.  I also have been forgetting things because my church job requires me to keep up with everybody's plans, and at home I have to keep up with everybody's plans, and I have my own plans too and well, this old brain ain't what she used to be!  I do use google calendar and all that e-stuff but sometimes you just need PAPER!

I'm really so excited about this planner/binder.  I can take it with me everywhere!  I will have a grocery list, menus, calendar, school plans, budget (if I choose to write that down) and more in this binder!

I already have visions of the days I forget to put something in the crock pot and it's too late, because I remember this about lunch time.  But now I will be able to look in my binder and see what else we have at home to eat, or have that list of a few groceries that I need to pick up between big shopping days and not waste brain power, energy and time!

So many other things too.  I'm sure I'll be talking more about this as I actually use it.

I got the planner book yesterday but have to wait a week or so for the binder to come.  It's sooooo pretty!

P.S. I know my dil will like this! ;)

Workboxes and Planning

I can't believe it's just about time to start a "new" year for us! DD is graduated and on her way to college classes and work. Now it'll just be DS and me. Bittersweet.

I'll be rounding up what he's going to do next year but right now we are actually doing a bit of school every day. He really needs to keep in the habit and we are trying some neurological exercises we learned from Little Giant Steps and they need to be done consistently.

We have also been doing something called workboxes. Let me tell you, we LOVE them! They make everything run so smoothly now. I could post all about them but just check out these places for the best info.

Joyful Mother of 6 workboxes - ours look just like this.

Heart of the Matter workboxes.

There are many more but you'll get the gist of it from these two.

Once more I will say we love it!

Checklist for Homeschool Tracker

We've been using Homeschool Tracker for our assignment sheets and record keeping. But there are so many things to remember to add to my children's assignment sheet each day I had to make myself a checklist. Here's what it looks like:(I've blacked out my dc's names)




The green one on the left is ds 4th grade, and the pink one on the right is dd 11th grade.
I guess this is sort of our schedule, but we don't necessarily follow this order. I just need to order the assignments so I won't forget anything!

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