Weekly Wrap Up 8-26-16 Curriculum choices

This year I am schooling a 9th grader and a 7th grader!  We are into our 8th year of homeschooling! All the local public school resumed the start of school last week.  Our coop classes do not begin until after labor day so we are still on our summer schedule for another two weeks;)

Firedrake working on her art project this summer

9th Grader (total 7.5 credits)

History:  She will be doing a history class at our coop focusing on early American history (we have already covered that in the past two years) and at home we will be focusing on the later part of history  1920's to modern day.  I create my own history program and will continue to do so for High school.  Doing it this way will allow me to make this a credit for American History for the year.

Literature:  Will be done at coop and will be focusing on American Literature.  The coop using Hewit and Packard Lighting as it base.  There is plenty of writing, grammar and reading in this class so I will not be adding any thing extra.

Spanish level 2:  Will also be done at coop

Japanese intro/level 1:  we have hired a private tutor as this is an interest my daughter has.  We will be counting this as an elective this year.

Math:  Algebra 1 using Math U see -- we have used this program from the beginning but I have heard it gets more difficult to follow in the higher levels so we shall see if it continues to work for us. I will admit this is the point where Math sort of kicks my butt and I freeze up.  So here is hoping I can relearn it enough to help my child, otherwise my husband will have to pitch in here as well.

Science:  Biology level 2 and we are using EO Wilson free online books from apple iBooks and we design our own curriculum. using these books.  My husband will continue to teach this subject this year! We have research these books and feel confident that they met a high standard and can be used for Bio 1 and Bio 2 -- we used the first three books last year and counted that as Bio 1, this year we will complete the last four books and count it as Bio 2.

Art:  Drawing 2 to be taken at coop this year

Music:  Continuing with private Piano tutor this year

PE:  Fencing club daughter wants to learn Saber fencing

MarioFan sitting at his brand new desk in his bedroom!  I am encouraging him to work more independently this year.

7th Grader

History: I provide our own resources for history and we will continue to work on history from 1920's onto the modern era.  I use books, videos, movies and text books to make this curriculum

Spanish:  Advance intermediate class taken at coop.

Math:  Math U see Zeta

Science:  I create my own science program.  This year my son ask for more science experiments so I will be pulling out every science kit I have on the shelf (and never used) and we will be completing many experiments and working on creating a science class of our own.   I will probably have him keep a science journal of our experiments but I am still working out the details. I also have several science field trips planned.  We will also be learning about simple machines using a K'nex kit I purchased last year.

Art:  done at coop

Music:  Private Piano lesson continuing

PE:  MarioFan attends different sport activities at a local club weekly

Computer skills:  We are continuing Kid Coder an online Homeschool computer class

Minecraft Classes:  we are doing several Minecraft courses throughout the year that are fun but also educational often focusing on geography, history, or science.

English includes the following:
Reading:  Lots of books to improve comprehension, vocabulary etc will be chosen this year, some related to our history lesson, others will just be books for fun. We will also be doing a mini book club with a friend while at coop in-between classes.  Never done this before so we shall see how it works out.

Grammar:  We are using Growing with Grammar and are on Book 7 this year

Writing:  We are continuing to use IEW and will begin their continuation course

Spelling:   All about Spelling book 6 this year

Geography:  We are working on map reading skills, and looking at various countries around the world.  I completely missed the mark last year on this so I am hoping I do a little better organizing something this year.  I am still working on a plan for this topic:)

This is our basic school plan for the year!  I am not one to have everything written down in a daily planner, I usually use this outline and just kind of wing it.  But we always seem to reach our basic goals and there is always one or two subjects I wished I covered a little better.   As for our weekly schedule the kids will be attending coop 2X a week.  We tend to take time off when we need it and just keep plowing forward, some days lots get done, others we only get the bare minimum done.  That is the beauty of Homeschooling in my mind:) Usually at the end of  January  I do a post recounting what has been accomplished and what we need to improve on:)

 Have a great homeschool year!!!!