For the last three years I haven't managed to post our new school year plans until November. So, even though we've already been "back to school" for six weeks now, I guess I should give myself props for being ahead of my normal self, right?
We pretty much started our official home school year coinciding with our local school district's calendar, which meant the day after Labor Day. I'll be writing another post with more details about our first few weeks of school. This purpose of this post is more to sketch out our curriculum plans and choices for the year.
Aubree - 8th grade
This is crazy to consider, but Aubree is in her final year in our Homes United Middle School Co-op. As our co-op has proved itself over the last two years, we've reached a point where we have reached our full capacity and have a waiting list a few years out. We have twelve students ranging from 6th-8th grades (with an additional student who only attends for science). They're an excellent group of kids!
Our class line-up this year is really exciting. On Mondays/Wednesdays they have Physical Science, Cooking (this was a class the kids begged to have), Business, IEW writing (most of the kids are using level B, but Aubree has chosen to do many assignments from Level C), and World Cultures.
On Tuesdays/Thursdays they have US History/Government (they are using We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution as their spine), Math study hall (where they each bring in their personally chosen math curriculum and work individually, but with teacher support. Aubree is doing BYU Independent Study Algebra), Communications, and Outdoor Survival.
In a departure from the last two years, I am not teaching literature. Instead, I get to teach communications. I feel strongly about teaching Speech and Debate to our middle school students and it's part of our class line-up every year. This year's speech and debate class is a much more applied version. I want them to know how to use their speech and communication skills in the real world.
It's been a really fun class thus far. Six weeks in and we've covered introversion and extroversion, nonverbal communication (including body language, posture, facial expressions, hand shakes, tone of voice, and use of hand positions), sarcasm and verbal irony, and listening skills.
Another very applied class is our outdoors class. Twice a week, for an hour and a half each time, these kids get outside (no matter the weather) and learn great skills. So far they've covered shelter (tarps, tents, hammocks, etc), fire, and water (finding sources and filtering). Many days I've picked the kids up for carpool and they pile in smelling of woodsmoke, hotdogs, and marshmallows. I love it!
Outside of co-op, Aubree is continuing violin (that probably deserves it's own post someday soon) and still has a private lesson (1 hour) and a group lesson (1 hr. and 45 minutes) every week.
Bryce - 5th grade
This is a pivotal school year for our family. I already mentioned that Aubree is in her last year of middle school. Next year she plans to move on to public school for high school. Likewise, this is Bryce's last year of elementary school. As Aubree moves out of the co-op, Bryce will move in, so this is my last year with him home most of the time. That being said, we have so many outside-the-home activities this school year that I'm not sure if we're home or out more often!
For Language Arts, Bryce is doing level 5 of The Good and the Beautiful (TGTB). I've been quite pleased with the scope, sequence, and content of this program. He just finished TGTB level 5 handwriting and will start level 6 as soon as I get it bound.
For math, he is finishing up Math U See Epsilon and will start Math U See Zeta. The goal is to get him no further than halfway through Zeta by the end of school year. The research I did last year made it pretty clear that it's not beneficial for most students to be pushed further than Calculus their senior year. Backing up from that end goal, he should be doing pre-algebra as a 7th grader, and the path we'd been following had him beyond that point. So, we are slowing down, trying to play more math games, and making sure he has a super solid math foundation.
For History we are doing something (or many somethings!) quite different than we've ever done in the past (we've done Story of the World since Aubree was in 1st grade). I was impressed with Aubree's We The People book, so I ordered the elementary version to do with Bryce and Thane. This is a great curriculum for covering the foundation of the United States and the Constitution.
As a family, we are planning an epic road trip in May and June of 2019 (we plan to drive all around the country). In preparation, I chose to use a curriculum called Road Trip USA that systematically takes us through all 50 states. I've also made a master list of many of the specific places we plan to visit. Every two weeks, each kid chooses a place to research. They have two weeks to put together a maximum- two page report on that location. They give their report during FHE and their physical copy goes into a file folder from which I will eventually bind into a book that we take with us on our trip.
If that's not enough on the history/geography/social studies side of things, we also have a pretty good collection of related games and apps, we bought the Liberty's Kids DVDs and watch one episode a week, and our read alouds for the year will all be historical fiction relating to American History. Phew! That's a lot.
Oh year, one more thing...We are working on memorizing our state capitals and all the presidents by regularly watching Animaniacs videos on Youtube. They're great; if you haven't seen them before you're missing out (though I will warn you, the President's song can be an ear worm).
For Science, Bryce is again taking weekly classes at a local business that offers homeschool academy courses. He's a little bummed that they're not covering engineering and technology topics this year (instead they're doing units on light, chemistry, waves, and human anatomy), but still loves to go. He is especially enjoying being in the 10+ group and having his good friend Jordan in the class with him.
For the third year in a row, Bryce is taking Art classes once a week at our neighbor's home. She does a great job, and it's just soooo convenient.
For Music, Bryce is continuing piano lessons. He really enjoys playing, and his teacher is a perfect mix of praise and high expectations. It's a good fit.
I'm having him continue with the Computer course he started this summer. He flew through the first level, but is learning new things on level 2. It won't be long till he starts level 3 (I think he's already on "week 30").
Our plan for scripture study this school year is divided. This semester we read The Jesus Storybook Bible, and are now reading Saints, Volume 1. In January, we will study the New Testament using the Come Follow Me- For Individuals and Families curriculum as a spine.
A huge highlight of his school this year is a weekly robotics class his friend's dad offered to teach (with just two students, Bryce and Jordan). I believe they're learning to program an EV3 Mindstorm robot. Bryce looks forward to it all. week. long.
Finally, we started up a new co-op this year called FLEET. FLEET needs it's own post, but for now, suffice it to say that Bryce has two classes there: Lego Engineering and Oregon Trail.
Thane - 3rd grade
Thane has a lot of overlap in his curriculum with Bryce (otherwise I'd never survive). In summary, he is doing the same thing as Bryce for art, social studies, music, science, and scripture study. Unfortunately/fortunately, he is not in the same science class as Bryce (Thane's in the 7-9 year old class), but they are studying the same topics (unfortunately because it means an extra trip/outside activity for me, fortunately because it's good for Thane to have his own experiences).
Thane is also continuing The Good and the Beautiful for language arts, and is doing level 3 this year. He's using TGTB handwriting as well and he's on level 4 this year. Thane is not the world's best speller, so we're also continuing to use All About Spelling, level 4. I think his biggest problem is that he just tries to go too fast (what a shock, right?). He's excited that he gets to start typing this year. So far I've just had him using typing.com. It seems to be working well enough.
For math, he is finishing up Math U See Gamma and will work through half of Math U See Delta by the end of the year (actually, by the time we leave on our trip. We're front loading all of our school work to try to finish by the end of April).
At FLEET, Thane has a cooking class and a games/art class. Yes, those classes are pretty much his dream classes.
Graham - Kindergarten
While Graham is technically a kindergartner because of his September birthday, as homeschoolers we have the flexibility of tailoring curriculum to match the academic needs of our kids, so his coursework in many ways is more reflective of a 1st grade student. This is especially true in language arts since he is doing The Good and The Beautiful, Level 1. He's a seriously amazing little reader. I plan to finish up All About Spelling, Level 1 with him and start him with level 2. He's also using TGTB handwriting, level 2.
He also started taking a weekly art class at our neighbor's home, but he's in a different class than Bryce and Thane. He loves his art class. One day he told me, "Can I never stop art class? Never!" When he has spare time he's either reading or drawing.
For math, I took a risk and tried him out with the brand new TGTB kindergarten math. It's been fantastic and is a really good fit for my fun-loving boy. Most of the concepts are super easy for him, but it's laying an excellent and thorough foundation, so I'm not complaining.
Graham is continuing with year 2 of Let's Play Music. He has mixed feelings about this class. At home he claims he "hates it," but in class he's nothing but excited and involved. Also, when I tell him, "if you hate it, stay home. You don't have to go," he quickly back-peddles and explains why he really does want to go.
This year they start learning keyboard skills, so Graham has daily practice assignments. I think he likes having time on the keyboard like Bryce and Thane (even if he doesn't love being pulled from other tasks to complete said practice).
At FLEET, Graham has a Wild Kratts class and a yoga/art class. Graham loves, loves, loves learning about animals, so the Wild Kratts class is a good fit for him. When he talks about FLEET, he refers to it as "my kindergarten."
Nellie - Preschool
With my other kids, I organized a co-op preschool or regular playgroup when they turned three. Nellie has FLEET for her 3 year old preschool and she adores going and having time to play with friends, read books, have a snack, and sing.
I'm not doing any other official or structured learning with her, but she's quite the little sponge. When I'm working with Graham, especially on math, she's always sitting right next to me or on my lap. As soon as Graham finishes an activity, she thinks it's her turn... and she usually does a pretty solid job!
I think it's going to be a great year for learning!
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