September 2017

My baby is growing up.

She's an incredible young lady and she amazes me everyday with her intelligence, determination, perseverance, hard work, and strong sense of who she is.  Haley started school a couple weeks ago. This year she is taking two classes online through the community college as a dual enrolled student. Online courses because we have some travel planned and cannot guarantee she would be able to attend classes in person at the college.

Haley decided she'd like to try some different courses this year and see if anything appeals to her (as much as music). This semester she chose Psychology and Art Appreciation and is enjoying both, though they are a lot of work. The first week was on the light side then, she received lists of work for week two. Like any perfectionist (ask me how I know), she felt like she needed to get everything done on Monday and was a bit overwhelmed. I sat with her and showed her how to go through the list and parse out the work in her planner so she was doing a bit every day, keeping track of deadlines, and not being overwhelmed every Monday when the lists arrive.

She's a quick learner and the next week set up her schedule on her own. She quickly got into a routine.

I am so proud of this girl. She is handling her college classes plus her regular schoolwork, practicing violin and fiddle, continuing to work on her novel, and doing most of the meal preparation in the home. Haley decided a couple months ago to try out the vegan lifestyle and is very dedicated to making it work plus loves to try new recipes so we are eating very well.

Here's a little video of her this summer strutting her stuff on stage this past July in the Studio2Stage production That's Dancing 2017...

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.

Back to school....

After the holidays and a quick trip to Texas, this week was our first full week back to homeschooling. We had managed to fit in some schooling the past few weeks but not a full week so it felt good to have a plan a get it all done this week.

Some changes in our school plan....

Our subscription to Thinkwell Pre-Algebra ran out so Haley started on Saxon 87 a few weeks ago because I am not ready to begin Algebra with her...yet. She likes Saxon. The review and extra topics not covered by Thinkwell will be good review/solidifying of material for her. I didn't feel like she got enough practice with Thinkwell.

She also finished up Best Poetry so I ordered Lightning Literature 7. I have been wanting to do that with her and she is now ready to read the selections and discuss them at the appropriate level to handle the program. Also, her output ability is at a level where she can get the most out of the program rather than just being able to superficially cover everything. She enjoyed the first story..."Rikki Tikki Tavi" (one of my favorite stories) and we are working through the workbook and student guide activities for the next couple weeks.

Haley is interested in doing more music theory so she is going to begin "The Language and Materials of Music" today. She also started piano lessons with a teacher at the music store where Dylan takes guitar. Hopefully a little knowledge of the piano will help her "see" the theory a little easier. She is doing the piano lessons on her own...meaning I am not going into the room with her. (Though I can hear everything that is going on from the waiting area.) I will help her with her practice when she asks but I would really like this to be "her thing."

We are continuing with PLATO Earth Science and other earth science resources and picking up the speed a bit with History of US and the other American Revolution resources so we can hopefully make it at least to the Civil War before the end of June. Other things on our plate include...

Wordly Wise
Rosetta Stone Gaelic and Spanish
Language Mechanics
Mapping the World with Art

Here is Haley's Mapping the World with Art project for the week. She really enjoyed making this huge cookie of Africa with it's sprinkly sandy deserts, chocolate chip mountains, and icing rivers. Crafts are right up her alley. With the rest of the cookie dough, she used her music cutters and made note and violin cookies. (see below)

Violin and fiddle are going really well. Haley is preparing Paganini's Moto Perpetuo for her teacher's studio concert that has been moved up to next Sunday (ah!). Her orchestra concert is the following weekend along with an Irish performance she and Dylan are doing at an area church's Celtic Spring Fling. She has been practicing a lot lately!

New School Year

Dylan's first day of school...ever! He was up early and very excited!


Newt's first day of high school. He woke up asking, "Where did my childhood go?" Funny thing is...I was asking the same question. Hmmmm.

Haley started doing Hands on Equations. She loves it and learned how to use the manipulatives very quickly. After a couple minutes she was solving equations like...X + 4= 2X + 3

We continued with our United States History studies. Our next subject is Colonial times using the resources above. Haley is really liking Hands On History- Colonial Times. We also started Hands On History Composers. Fun! Haley likes listening to the music selections and drawing how they make her feel.

Learning Withdrawal???

For the past week and a half I have, for the most part, given the kids off of school due to a very busy week prior to Christmas and this week, trying to dig out from under the Christmas mess and reorganize to start the new year fresh since the kids are moving on to new books in many subjects. Newt has been doing SAT test prep, Dylan has been continuing his reading, and we have done some catching up on science and history with all the kids. Our usual schedule of subjects has been on hold though.

Now tonight, at 9pm, my Haley comes up to sit in the chair with me carrying a pile of workbook including math, reading, and vocabulary. "I want to do schoolwork!"

She is working her way through a math lesson as I am typing. She really is a motivated kid. This is the second time in the last week and a half she has taken is upon herself to do schoolwork. She is my child for whom "child-led learning" works like a charm.

The Dubl Up...or The Double Up Salad

This weekend, Haley created her first recipe, wrote it down, went shopping with Daddy for the ingredients and prepared it herself (including using a knife though it did make me a bit nervous). Here is her recipe (in her own spelling because it's cute).

Th Dubl Up

Tamaytows
Brokley
Carots
Letus
Mexakin Cheez
Quwkumbers (my favorite because she knows U comes after Q)
Grapes
Ranch dressing

All Done

It actually made a very good salad that we all enjoyed.

This week Haley easily figured out how to add double digit numbers with carrying. I honestly never cease to be amazed with how easily she picks things up.

Almost Christmas

It is almost Christmas and I am ready to take the rest of the year off with school. We have been moving along beautifully but we all need a break. Everyday Haley asks "How many more days until Christmas?" Then she counts that many and gets really happy. This morning she said,"I know. It is only 10 more days until Christmas. And the next morning it will be 9."

I have finally completed all the Christmas shopping. I don't know why I start early every year. I think I end up spending three times as much as I would if I just went out once right before Christmas. I am so excited for the kids to see their presents.