2015-2016 Curriculum choices

July 15th was the start of our official beginning of a new school year!  I can't believe I have been homeschooling for over 6 years!  It has been an interesting ride and every year I ask the kids if they wish to return to school and every year they say NO!  

My daughter, Firedrake is entering 8th grade!
My son, MarioFan is entering 6th grade!

In the past I have pretty much done school with both kids sitting around a table for most of the school subjects.  I set assignments and always expected a little more from my oldest and for the most part that worked out great!  Starting a little last year I have been separating some subjects out and while we had a few growing pains it worked out and I saw some tremendous leaps in my daughters abilities.  This year we are going to push the independent work a little more and up the expectations of school work as my daughter wishes to go to college and she has already chosen William and Mary as her college destination!  My husband is thrilled as that is his alma mater!

8th grade curriculum

Pre-Algebra/Algebra:  Math U See we are a little behind due to it taking a while to find a math program that works for us but hope to catch up this year

Language Arts:  My daughter will be participating in a coop class using Hewitt and Packard lightning literature curriculum.  I have heard amazing things about this teacher and think having a new person teaching this subject will really benefit Firedrake.  I am told this class requires a lot of homework which will be an entirely new experience for her.  This class will include grammar, reading, and writing assignments

Spanish:  This class will count as a credit for high school, class will be held at coop

Drawing 2:  this class is held at coop and will be the same teacher she had last year and she has been taking summer tutoring sessions with him as well.  We have seen tremendous progress with her drawing and this is a skill she wants to learn

Piano:  Continuing to take Piano lessons privately along with music theory

History:  This is really the only class she will continue to do with me and her brother we are working on history from the Civil War until the 1st World War.   I feel I go quite in depth in our history lessons and she will be expected to do extra assignments and produce higher quality of work than her brother!

Science:  Biology by E.O. Wilson which is a high school book which is free on apple apps.  My husband is going to take over this subject but most of the work will be done independently by FireDrake--this will be hard for me to let go because I love teaching science to the kids!  We are going to take two years to complete this book and it will count as a high school science credit

Geography:  we will continue with country studies as time permits 

Drama:  taken at coop

Fencing:  taking a fencing class though the Parks and Rec which will count toward her PE for the 1st semester, she may choose something different for the 2 semester or stay with this if she likes it

6th grade curriculum:

Math:  Math U See Fractions

IEW: we will continue to use this program to improve writing skills

Grammar:  Growing with Grammar book 6

Spelling:  Complete AAS book 5 and possible begin book 6

Spanish:  beginner's intermediate class taken at coop

Art:  taken at coop 

Computer class:  taken at coop

Drama:  taken at coop

Piano:  private lesson along with music theory

Geography:  we will continue to do country studies throughout the year

PE:  MarioFan will be taking weekly gym class at the local TASK center

Reading:  assigned reading chosen by me will be given out throughout the year along with required book reports, comprehension questions and other projects

History:  we are continuing with American history starting from the Civil War until WWI

Science:  We will be working thru Prentice Hall Science Explorer book Cells and Heredity and Chemical building blocks and looking at the Periodic table.  I am still working on putting this together since I usually create my own science curriculum.  It is possible we will veer away from this depending on MarioFan's interests

We will be attending coop twice a week in order to attend those classes selected by the children.  Wealso continue to participate in a Field trip coop and I hope we can attend at least 1 field trip a month just to get us outside the house!

While it looks like MarioFan has more on his plate, most of his work can be done quickly and only takes 15 or 20 minutes to complete.  I am expecting Firedrake to have to study harder for the higher level classes she is taking this year, so while she has fewer classes she will have to spend more time on each of her subjects!

We have already started a reduced school schedule 4 days a week for the rest of July and August until coop begins Sept 8 and that is when we really have to buckle down with our work!