2015-2016 Homeschool Plan: Everything Else

Whew. Okay, need to finish this up before our school year actually gets going, lol. Here's the rest of what we've got planned:

ART: I did better last year! We pretty regularly tackled lessons in You Can Draw in 30 Days and it went well, with Micah enjoying them more than Asher. Toward the end of the year, we added in Doodle Crates and love those. I'm going to try to just continue this...with monthly Doodle Crates and lessons in another book by the same author. (Micah has grander plans than this...) ;)

MUSIC: Sadly, none of the boys is taking a music class this coming year. I'm hoping they'll all continue to practice on their own...piano for Micah, piano and guitar for Noah and Asher.

PE: Both Asher and Micah have PE at Options (so one hour a week). They both also have karate classes twice a week plus one or two additional practices for demo team and other additional training. Micah and Noah will also have JOAD (archery tournament team) twice a week (once with the team and once on their own). Asher will also do gymnastics once a week, and Noah would like to point out that he walks to and from school daily. (It takes him seven minutes each way, so we're not talking about a major trek here, lol.) I've also been known to make the younger two drop and give me twenty or pull cards from this deck when attention is waning. All good.

CURSIVE/TYPING: This is a work in progress when time allows. We still use Type Fu to practice typing. I'm going to revisit cursive this year, again. As before, I'm not actually as concerned that they learn to write cursive (though that would be lovely) as that they know how to *read* cursive. 

CURRENT EVENTS: Still using an app called Student News Daily that does a nice job of selecting news to discuss with kids. Beyond my normal talking with boys throughout the week as things come up, I'm going to use this to more intentionally start discussions.

KOREAN: So, this is a new one. Micah requested that we attempt to learn Korean this year. I've purchased Korean From Zero and some flash cards and we'll see how this goes. ;) (I'm not looking for fluency or anything, lol. But I'm hoping that the process is fun and that maybe we can pick up at least the basics.)

Okey-dokey. That's pretty much our plan. Yay! (Will update my curriculum pages on the left soon...)

2015-2016 Homeschool Plan: Science, History & Geography

Powering through with science, history & geography... ;)

SCIENCE: Last year's unit study approach went okay. We definitely enjoyed our units on astronomy, lockpicking, physics and the like and I enjoyed that each topic only lasted the six week session. The "okay" part is because I feel like we just really didn't put much effort into it. It's difficult because the boys claim to already know most of the things we cover. (This has actually always been part of our problem, lol. And, honestly, they usually *do* already know.)

This year, I'm going to worry less about the actual science and more about using science to teach note-taking and study skills. I'm using CPO Science's middle school series. We'll tackle earth, life and physical science. We'll go through them fairly briskly. (I'm guessing they're intended to be broken out to cover each one for a year but I'm using them more as review and to make sure I'm not leaving gaps.) I know that the textbook-y approach isn't the most exciting but I think/hope it will make for a more straight-forward lesson in note-taking, etc.

ETA: We'll also enjoy our monthly Tinker Crates. :)

HISTORY: Last year I combined world and US history, tackling things in six sessions again. I took Reconstruction (1865) to 2000 and broke it into six chunks. Within each of those, I used Story of the World Volume 4 and The Story of Us (books 7-10) as the framework and added supplementary books. I really enjoyed how it worked and ended up reading a number of awesome books...some with the boys and some just on my own for fun. :) 

With history, I feel like we've really covered things pretty well. We've made it, twice, through the four year classical history rotation (ancients, medieval, early modern, modern). Given various circumstances, I'm now attempting to cover the four year rotation one last time and in just two years. So. This year I want to tackle both ancient and medieval history. Rather than read through the history, though, I'm going to take 2-3 of our sessions for each and have the boys work with me to make a general timeline...to pick out the most important events, people, battles, buildings, etc. As with science, I'm less concerned this year with the content being covered as with the process of teaching boys to sort out main points and make outlines and the like. 

GEOGRAPHY: Last year, for world geography, I tried to use Mapping the World With Art by Ellen McHenry but decided after a few lessons that it was too advanced for us at this point. So we didn't really cover world geography last year. For US geography, we used 50 States and Where to Find Them, and that went pretty well.

This year, I simply want to review both world and US geography. I don't have a curriculum in mind...just want to divide up the states and continents and cover a portion each session.

Wish us luck!

2015-2016 Homeschool Plan: Language Arts

Next up is language arts. Historically, this is the area I most struggle with. Not only do I have a hard time finding a curriculum we all like, but I have a hard time getting boys on board in the first place. ;)

So. Last year, we used this stuff:

• Jr. Analytical Grammar and Mechanics. I started with the grammar part with just Asher but used the mechanics part with both boys. They weren't huge fans. I still think highly of the curriculum...the boys simply don't like grammar. :) (I'll revisit this with the not-junior version of this curriculum in a year or so.)
• All About Spelling Level 7. We finished this curriculum and were quite happy with it.
• All About Homophones. We did grades 5-8. All good.
• Word Roots. Both boys completed level A2. Again, all good.
• Reading and writing. Asher read 50 books on his own throughout the year. Micah managed about half that. We did a variety of writing assignments, but nothing structured. We reviewed cursive but not strongly.

This year, I want to really focus on the writing. To that end, here's my plan:

• Write Like This. I want to pick and choose writing activities from each of these chapters (tackling a different chapter in each of our 6 week sessions). I like the real-world approach and am hoping that makes everything "stick" more.
• Middle School Writing Toolkit. Similarly, I'm planning to use the rubrics for different larger writing assignments from this book, in line with the chosen chapters from Write Like This. Note, I've already started discussions with the boys about our approach this year. Historically, we've had issues with them accepting criticism/editing. I've warned them that this year will be all about learning through revision or we'll switch back to using workbooks (which they've hated). So there, lol. 
• All About Spelling. The boys don't know this yet, but I'm planning to go back through and review all the levels of this program. (There are seven.) Just a level or two each session...just hitting on the key cards and rules. :)
• Sentence Composing for Middle School. I'm hoping to work through a lesson a week. I'm not sure how this will go but it seems a decent opportunity for some copywork and/or dictation.
• Reading. I feel like last year went pretty well with just asking boys to read at least 100 pages a week. I'll stick with that but am wanting to add a few assigned books. 

And that's language arts...Whew. Fingers crossed, pretty please!

2015-2016 Homeschool Plan: Math

I'll start with math. Look here for last year's information. 

I feel like I wasn't as rigorous in math this past year. We technically made it through the plan and covered all the material, but I just feel like I could have worked on it a bit more, kwim? Specifically, I really need to assign the boys different problems. Toward year's end, I assigned the same thing to both boys and let them work on it together. I'm not sure that was the best route, as each has different weaknesses and strengths and this allowed them to use each other as a crutch.

In any case. By "made it through the plan," I mean that we worked through Dimensions Math 7B, reviewed Dimensions Math 7A and used Key To Algebra books to review and reinforce. Also, at the end of the year, I added in these workbooks for additional review and had both boys work through them on their own. (I also used Hands on Equations' manipulatives for some of the equation work.)

The Dimensions Math books are very clear and easy to teach from...with plenty of sample problems, problems to assign and workbook reviews. We're still at the point where I work through the lessons with the boys, rather than leaving them to tackle it on their own. (But I can see that just handing these books to students to work through on their own would also work well, if that's what you're looking for.) 

That said, my plan for the coming year is to work through Dimensions Math 8A and 8B, supplementing with Beast Academy 3D-4D practice books for extra practice/review. 

So. That's math. ;)

2015-2016 Homeschool Plan: Overall

So. It's almost time to start the new school year.

Which means...it's time for my somewhat annual homeschool posts. :) 

I'll start with the basics. Once again, we'll be homeschooling two while Noah tackles his sophomore year at CEC. Here's more:

• We're going to continue with our roughly "6 weeks on, 1-2 weeks off" schedule. (Yes, this means that sometimes the younger two won't have school while Noah does, and sometimes Noah won't have school while the younger two do.) I continue to really appreciate taking things in chunks like this and find it works best for our family.
• Both Asher & Micah will still attend the Fort Collins Options program on Mondays. 
• Technically speaking, Asher will be in 7th grade and Micah will be in 5th. As usual, the schoolwork we do doesn't necessarily follow that; and, for purposes of Options, Asher is listed as 8th grade and Micah is listed as 6th.
• Given Asher and Micah's aptitudes and personalities, we'll continue to use a single lesson plan for both boys for most subjects this year.

Now, I'll continue by subject for the younger two. Feel free, though, to completely skip these upcoming posts. ;) (You can revisit past posts by using that "Homeschooling" category link over on the left...generally, curriculum reviews/plans are in June-Aug 2010, June 2011, August 2012, July 2013, and August 2014. I'll also be working on updating the boys' curriculum pages on the left.)