The Calm...

Our summer was busy….lots of travel, camps, friends, visits, and music. Due to all the travel, I worked long hours every day I was not traveling and unpacked/re-packed when home. Right before we left for Ireland, I had one full day at home…my first since the middle of June.

The past three days, however, we spent all our time at home. I cleaned, organized, weeded in the garden, went school shopping for Dylan, prepared for Haley's upcoming school year, and yesterday we jumped back into school. Haley and I started a new exercise program (while we were gone, Dylan found a great weight machine for really cheap). She spent a lot of time practicing by herself and with her brother for their many upcoming gigs and had a Skype fiddle lesson with Brian to get the "new year" going. (Today she has a special violin lesson with her teacher's daughter.) The weather was perfect so we opened the windows and enjoyed the "almost" fall weather.

Fall has always been my favorite time of year! This year is a little different for us and we are getting used to the changes.

Newt went off to college while we were in Ireland. He was working, going to wrestling practice, and hanging out with friends a lot before he went. Things are quiet without him here and I miss him but at the same time I am excited for him in this new chapter of his life. Either Ritch or I talk or text him every day. He sounds like he is having a good time, working hard at his classes, and happy to be there. Can't wait to visit him!

Dylan started working this summer. He wanted a job at the local grocery store so he filled out a resume then called and called the manager until he was hired. He went to Swannanoa with us and took his first solo flight to Florida to spend a week with a friend but otherwise has been working all summer. He starts 11th grade in a week and will have his driver's license in two months.

I post Haley's "proposed" school program each year so here it goes…

Math
Haley began Geometry in February and will continue. Not quite sure whether she will do Algebra 2 after or Counting and Probability. I'll figure that out when we get there.

Language Arts
Windows to the World
One Year Adventure Novel
Lightning Literature 8 (I have this so figured we might as well use it.)


Languages
Almost finished First Form Latin then will begin Second Form Latin.
Rosetta Stone French along with French in Action (learner.org)
Maybe a little Sign Language??

History
Haley asked to do American History this year. I have a middle school level syllabus to go with History of US (Joy Hakim) that includes ideas for research reports and projects. Also, Thinking Through the Past by John Hollitz and a large number of supplemental readings/projects (I have an entire bin of books on different periods of American History). The problem with having so many books is we've never made it past the Civil War due to many bunny trails. I hope to keep it a bit more concise this year and get through the whole series.

Science
We are going to continue with Biology…there are so many topics to cover. Last year we spent a lot of time doing things on a "micro" level studying cells and chemistry of life (cellular respiration, etc…), and studying genetics and evolution theories. This year we will hit different topics.

Music
She will continue studying music theory and taking lessons.

Art
Leaving this subject to Daddy since he's the artist in the family.

I think that should get us going for the year. I am trying to use less "teacher intensive" material with her so she can be more independent especially when she is home with her daddy on the days I work and provide her with the many projects she likes to do.

Looking forward to a fun fall!

Homeschooling 2013-2014....

Well, summer has been exhausting!

We kept up with Algebra and reading through the summer until the last month then last week we started schooling-lite. Now it is time to get back into the swing of schooling even with the music stuff not slowing down much on the weekends. Orchestra starts back up next Friday and the Irish music festivals for fall are filling up most weekend days for the next six weeks.

But back to school we go....here's the plan for the next year for Haley.


Math:
Finish up Saxon Algebra 1 and Life of Fred Algebra

Language Arts: (I am piecing this together for my girl who likes to write and some review work on poetry now that she's older. Will work our way through all these through the year.)
Seize the Story by Victoria Hanley
Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine
Wordsmith by Pamela Arlov
Best Poems
Building Poems by Michael Clay Thompson
Editor in Chief
Vocabulary from Classical Roots

History: (My history plans got interrupted last year when Haley started a Civil War unit study in December so we are back to Ancients...will review what we started last year and then keep going.)
World History the Human Odyssey by Jackson Spielvogel
The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer
World Literature text
History Portfolio: Ancients

Science: Biology (A homeschooling mother on the WTM boards has a syllabus for biology we will be following somewhat but we are using Thinkwell as our spine.)
Thinkwell Biology
Exploring the Way Life Work: The Science of Biology
Biology Inquiries by Martin Shields
Biology Coloring Workbook
The Nature of Life: Readings in Biology
Sciencewise: Critical Thinking Books

Music:
Besides violin lessons, fiddle lessons, practice, gigs, and orchestra (which is probably enough music for anyone)....
The Great Courses: Understanding the Fundamentals of Music
The Language and Materials of Music
Bach, Beethoven, and the Boys by David Barber

Art:
Artistic Pursuits (We've tried this before but never finished the whole book.)
Discovering Great Artists by Kohl and Solga
Cave Paintings to Picasso by Sayre
Masterpieces Coloring Book

Languages:
Rosetta Stone Spanish (possibly some Gaelic) and Haley has shown some interest in French as well after our weekend in Quebec.
First Form Latin

Other:
Critical Thinking books like similar to Cranium Crackers and Case of Red Herring.

New School Year 2012-13

I have been meaning to write this post for the past week or so. I keep putting it off but now I have a few minutes so thought I'd bite the bullet and get it done. My boys started school on Thursday. Both boys are now in high school. Newt is a junior and Dylan a freshman. Dylan decided to play football this year for the high school and spent the summer getting up and out the door for early morning workouts to get ready. He is enjoying the practices and the scrimmages. Tomorrow is the first real game for the varsity but Dylan will not play until the JV game on Monday.

Haley started back to regular violin lessons last weekend. The summer was crazy for both her teacher and us and I think she had only 3 lessons from mid-June until now. She is back in full swing with scales, etudes, and beginning Bach Partita in E Major and Mozart Concerto no. 3. She is very excited about her new repertoire and practicing a lot. On Tuesday we drove to New York for a fiddle lesson and a rare Tuesday night session. (They are usually on Wednesday nights and conflict with my work schedule.) Her buddy John Whelan was there so she was even more excited to go.

Haley started school slowly over the last week or so. I changed my mind on a couple things and reworked some others to make life a little easier for me as far as planning goes. Here is what we have planned for now. I guess we can call this Haley's 5th grade year since she'd be in 5th grade if in public school though her work is hardly what the average 5th grader is doing...

Math: Saxon Algebra 1 (I had struggled with whether or not to complete AoPS Pre-Algebra then decided against it with Haley's input. It did not have enough practice of problems for my taste and she much prefers a straightforward approach to math. Saxon has worked well in the past so we're giving it a go.)

English: K12 Literature Analysis and Composition (This has always been my most difficult subject planning-wise because I had to take from so many resources and combine. I thought we'd try this internet based option. The readings are at the appropriate level for Haley and vocabulary, spelling, composition, and literature are all included in one program.)

Science: Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level II, Essential Chemistry for Gifted Students by Sganga, The Elements and Carbon Chemistry by McHenry, various labs resources like Adventures with Atoms and Molecules and Chemistry experiment kits, and additional resources like Eyewitness Book's Chemistry, The Rainbow science curriculum, and Thinkwell Chemistry. (If we make it through most of that she'll have a wonderful understanding of chemistry basics.) I also have a few other books for us to read like The Disappearing Spoon, Napoleon's Buttons, and From Caveman to Chemist.

History: Our spine is World History: The Human Odyssey. We are back at the Ancients this year. Also using The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer, History Portfolios Ancients (for Haley's creative side), and various other ancient history resources I have laying around.

Languages: Rosetta Stone Gaelic and Spanish. May start Latin in a month or so once I see how much work the other subjects take for her.

Music: Taken care of with violin and fiddle lessons. Theory with The Language and Materials of Music by Briggs.

Art: Not sure if we will do anything formal here but have a few ideas I need to work on to see what sticks. Haley is always creating artistic/craft type things. I think she'd enjoy some type of art study or at least some regular time to create with different medium.

I think that's it for now.

School plans...curriculum.

Here are our plans for the school year, after many adjustments. The activity schedule is still in limbo as Haley's group Suzuki may not work out. One child as of now, quit violin and another is having surgery that will leave her out for 3 months. So, that leaves Haley and a little girl who is a book behind her and that's not exactly a group. I was so happy to have group and individual lessons on the same day to keep from doing more driving than needed. Oh, well!

Math:

Newt- Currently working through Thinkwell College Algebra (a computer based curriculum) then will start Saxon Alg 2.
Dylan- Saxon 87...alg is next on his horizon.
Haley-Midway through Saxon 3.

Language Arts:

Newt- Lightning Literature, Vocabulary, Spelling Power, writing assignments
Dylan- Wordly Wise, Spelling Power, tutor for reading and comprehension skills (both of us trying hard to get him to like reading), writing assignments
Haley- Spelling Power, reading and writing, Laura Ingalls Wilder unit study

Science:

Boys- High school chemistry with Thinkwell
All kids- RS4K Level 1 and 2 Chemistry, Elements, and various experiment books

History:

Boys- World History the Human Odyssey, Teaching Co. DVD Italian Renaissance, History Portfolio Renaissance, various readings from other sources
Haley- Kingfisher History, Usbourne History, Story of the World 1, History Portfolio (Ancients), various readings from other sources

Spanish:
Rosetta Stone

Arts:

Everyone has their music lessons and daily practices alone and together.
Artist of the month and musician of the month reports
"Cave Paintings to Picasso"
Usbourne Book of Art
CDs on various classical musicians

Fun:

Analogies workbook
Snibbles--thinking skills

Summer schedule...

Yes, I am one of those mean moms who have their child do school all summer long. We do slow down a bit for the summer with fewer subjects and days (usually 3 days a week). Now that the weather is nice and we have finished their current math books, a year of spelling lessons, and history and science are winding down, it seems like a great time to begin a summer schedule.

Math:
Everyone will be starting their new math books.
Newt- Gelfand's Algebra (as a review/more thinking involved summer supplement to Algebra
1) one day week and Basic Geometry by Birkhoff and Beatley two-three days a week.
Dylan- Saxon 76 (started last week)
Haley- Saxon 1 (I am not sure about this one. She started it a year ago then I switched to
Singapore for more practice and more colorful pages because she was so young. We will
try starting where we left off before and work from there, maybe skipping a bit if the
review is too much.)

English:
Writing assignment weekly with drafts and revisions before final drafts. Reading daily. Journals daily (every other day nature/writing journal). Vocabulary lessons to take the place of spelling for the summer. We will work on their spelling and grammar through their writing assignments.

History:
We are finishing up with the Greeks and have the Romans to get through before fall. I like to include mythology with history as we go along so it takes awhile to get through some of these eras.

Science:
Finish up our unit on plant science. This has worked nicely with planting herbs and some vegetable plants in pots around the yard.

Languages: Spanish/Japanese


I am planning to teach Haley music reading this summer because she will have a few weeks without violin lessons due to our vacation and her teacher's vacation so I need to keep giving her something new to learn.

I think that's it.

Our Curriculum...

Our curriculum can best be described as eclectic. I would consider myself more of a classical homeschooler. I love The Well Trained Mind though I do modify it here and there.

My 5th Grader's workload includes:

Saxon Algebra 1 (we are halfway through then will be doing Algebra 2 and Geometry together)
Gelfand's Algebra (we do this once and awhile for a change of pace)
Analogies Book D by Scott Greenwood (for critical thinking)
500 Key Words for the SAT by Charles Gulotta
Wordsmith by Janie B. Cheaney

My 3rd Grader:

Saxon 65 (3/4 through the book then will start Saxon 76)
Wordsmith Apprentice by Janie B. Cheaney

They both are doing:

Language Arts with Guiding Reader's and Writers by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell and also Writing Power.

Science: Biology- Human Body right now using various books as references including Real
Science 4 Kids, Rainbow Science, Usbourne Human Body, and others too numerous
too mention.

History: World History-The Human Odyssey by Jackson Spielvogel (used as a spine with
various other books as references)
Mythology edited by C.Scott Littleton

Languages: Spanish and Japanese (my worst subject because I can't pick one and stick with it)

Spelling Power



Haley's "curriculum:" (4 yo)

Singapore 1A math
Adventures in Phonics
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization by Andrew Pudewa (her favorite subject)
A handwriting book- she is almost finished and doing great writing on the lines now so will start
to do copywork with quotes from good literature.
Listening in on her brother's science, history, and languages work.
Lots and lots of reading- her reading and being read to. (I am amazed with the speed at which
her reading has improved the past few weeks)

All 3 kids keep a journal and a nature journal that we take on trips to sit and draw from.


This spring I am hoping to plant a garden and begin our study of plants, do experiments from "How Nature Works" by David Burnie

My ultimate goal is to be able to take a month to travel and go to Wyoming. If that happens in the near future, this summer or next, we will study some earth science (rocks and minerals) to go along with that.