Curriculum 2

It's taken me a few days to get back to the blog; I'm actually in Florida babysitting for a family on vacation.  

For math, Sire Ethan and Bob will both use Saxon Algebra II.  They are in different grade levels (10th, and 11th, respectively), but Algebra II is next on Sire Ethan's schedule, and I sort of have to make up Bob's next one as he was in public school last year and they do this Math 1, 2, and 3 thing instead of regular math classes. I used the Saxon Algebra II the year I homeschooled (my tenth grade year... eleven years ago, I can hardly believe it!), and it worked very well for me.  If for some reason one or both of them don't do well with the Saxon, we also have Life of Fred Advanced Algebra on hand.  They have both used Life of Fred Beginning Algebra but want something a little more...  Saxon-ish!  

I'm still rather undecided about Picklehead as far as math goes.  I have several math workbooks purchased at bookstores that would be helpful, but I'm really tempted to go with Saxon 1 for him.  I think my mom is in agreement with that, so we will probably find the homeschool kit used or something.  

They'll all be using Apologia for science, but at 3 different levels.  Picklehead will do the first Exploring Creation With Zoology - I think it is Swimming Creatures?  I think this is probably geared toward a little older age group, but I want to read it with him anyway.  We will probably end up reading it again another year.  Sire Ethan will do Exploring Creation with Biology with the lab, and Bob will do Exploring Creation with Chemistry with the lab.  

Language Arts for Picklehead will be reading, writing, reading, writing, reading, and writing!  We have a 26 year accumulation of children's books around the house, and I am incessantly buying more from Goodwill or the bookstore.  He has learned a lot in kindergarten this past year and can sound out basic words, but he needs practice, practice, and more practice!  He enjoys sounding words out, but struggled  and was frustrated with the sight words he was required to do, so I think that we're going to pretty much drop the sight word thing and focus on phonics.  I don't want to make reading miserable for him; I want him to enjoy it.  

I have Handwriting Without Tears to try with him this year, as well as Copywork for Little Boys.  I also want him to work on writing stories, so he will do that even if it means him dictating to me.  I have a little journal for him with writing lines on the bottom half of the page and a drawing area on the top.

I also have journals with lined and blank pages for the older boys; I really want them writing something every day.  We have several journaling books with interesting starter questions and ideas.  I plan on them writing some essays; they hate this, but I feel like they need to learn how to do it, and do it well, for college purposes.  Besides that, as Calvin's dad says, "It builds character!"  I'm hoping to help them learn to enjoy it.  

Bob and Sire Ethan will be doing American Literature to go along with their American History.  I have a textbook they will use to some extent in addition to other pieces of classic American literature.  Shmoop is a wonderful resource for teaching/learning about literature.  

They will do Wordly Wise 3000's online vocabulary lists at the grade 11 level.  We have some grammar practice books, too.  

I think that might be about it for the main academic subjects...  I will make another post about the elective areas.  

Over and out!

Curriculum Part One

Picklehead will be in first grade this year and it will be his first year of homeschooling.  Sire Ethan is the homeschool veteran around here; Mom pulled him out in second grade after a social worker called the house questioning his absences from school (due to asthma problems).  He has been homeschooled every year since then with the exception of fifth grade, when he attended the public elementary school. That year, he was at the top of his class academically, chosen to go to the state Honor's Chorus, and nominated for Junior National Youth Leadership Conference.  He traveled by himself to Washington, D.C. that summer for the event.  Sire Ethan will be in tenth grade this year.  Bob was homeschooled the last part of his eighth grade year and all of his ninth.  He had a hard time with motivation, and since Mom had a job and I wasn't around, it was decided that he return to public school for tenth grade.  This year he will be in eleventh, and he has told me that he realizes he doesn't like public school, so he will do "anything you ask, plus"! 


We will be spending the first two hours of the morning Monday through Thursday all together.  During this time we will have Bible study, poetry, history, and geography.  This curriculum area is the least planned.  We will use the Bible for our studies, along with dictionaries and/or concordances as needed.  I would like to have them learn the books of the Bible - the older boys are well able, and I think Picklehead could do it, too.  We have a poem somewhere that tells a little about each book as you recite them in order.  


I have found a wonderful little book entitled 100 Great Poems for Boys, which we will read during our morning hours as well.  I am really excited about this part - I want them to memorize some of them to recite, and I want to spend time discussing the poems we read.  We won't necessarily limit our poetry time to this book; we may branch out as interest directs.


We are doubling up our social studies classes for high school planning purposes.  This past year has been rather unusual for us in general, and somehow Sire Ethan didn't get everything done that we had planned for him to do.  For this reason, we will be doing both US History and World Geography, each to count as one credit on the older boys' high school transcripts.  Picklehead will benefit from the exposure, even if he doesn't necessarily understand it all.  We will be using a lot of Shmoop for US History, and I plan to take advantage of the library.  I really want to do a lot of discussion with the boys for history - I think it will stick better that way than just reading it or even listening to it.  Our World Geography curriculum is still rather undecided.  I have several atlases, one of which is the National Geographic World Geography Atlas, and I hope to make use of those, but I am still considering some kind of text or guide as well. 


It is getting late and my cough syrup is taking effect, so I will call it a day before I fall asleep at the computer!  I will continue with the curriculum plans another time.  


Over and out!

Finally!

It has been ages since I last posted, but I will try to give a quick summary of life at the present!  Bob (16) has just finished 10th grade at the local public high school, and Picklehead (6), graduated from kindergarten at the elementary school down the road. Sire Ethan (14) has completed his 9th grade work at home.


We have decided that all three boys will stay home in the fall, and they and I are very excited about this!  I will direct the majority of their schooling during the day, and in the evening I will work on my own online classes through a local college.  I will probably take 3 classes, or about 9 credit hours this first semester.  


I want to get a teaching degree, but my goal is to work with homeschool families.  I am interested in doing that as early as August, and I have a site up and running with more details on that.  Check it out at turpinhomeacademy.webs.com.  


I have done a lot of planning as far as their curriculum, but I am glad we still have a couple months to get everything ready.  


I've got a schedule in mind, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men!  This is how we'll start, anyways.


Monday - Thursday


6:00am - Miss Penelope gets ready for the day


7:00am - Boys up and breakfast served


7:30am - Breakfast clean-up and morning duties (beds made, teeth brushed, 
              etc.)


8:00am - Group time, including Bible study, history, geography, poetry, etc.


10:00am - Picklehead's one-on-one (Math, Reading, Science, Writing, Spanish,                    
               Music, Art, etc); older boys work independently


12:00pm - lunch, clean-up, outside break


1:00pm - Bob's one-on-one; Sire Ethan to play with Picklehead


2:00pm - Sire Ethan's one-on-one; Bob to play with Picklehead


3:00pm - afternoon chores (dishes, laundry, etc) for boys; Miss Penelope 
              works on her own school
6/7 pm - supper


8:30pm - Picklehead to bed


9/10pm - older boys and Miss Penelope to bed!


Fridays will be "fieldtrip days".  


This gives Picklehead 4 solid hours of official school work 4 days per week, which is plenty for him.  I have in mind that they will play outside as much as possible during his time with his brothers.  


The older boys will have 5 hours of academic time M-Th, which should be ample time for them to complete the necessary tasks.  If neither Bob nor Sire Ethan need any individual help on any particular day, we can be done with "school" by noon, leaving time for other activities.  I hope to get in a lot of visits to our *new and improved* local library!


I guess I haven't even covered curriculum yet, but I will have to do that in another post, since this one is becoming quite the epistle as it is!


Over and out for now....