2010-2011 Curriculum plan

~Erica

I've been meaning to do this for my own planning and the Not Back to School blog hop at Heart of the Matter has just given me the added motivation to get it done.

One thing I’ve found in the past 13 years of homeschooling is that every year looks different and no matter how you plan things happen to change the plan so I need to be flexible and allow the change to happen. This year both Ryan and I will be going to school- his classes are distance learning however I’m taking 2-3 classes each quarter on campus. My plan is to take early classes and be home before the kids are even up and going or better yet, they get up and get their day started so they have most of their lists done before I get home, in my dreams…

Rush is a 10th grader this year, he will be working at home and online through the private school we use to carry his transcripts. Because he’s in high school he counts credits rather than doing the 11 required subjects (watch for a post about these soon). His core texts will be A Beka Language C, Number Power 3 & 4, A Beka Biology, and Spanish 1 (online). For Bible he will be continuing the youth group challenge to read the Bible through in a year and he will be participating in a small group Bible Study. He has a lot of Scouts to finish up in order to complete his Eagle this year (by Dec. 2010) he has several merit badges; Family Life, Camping, Personal Fitness, Personal Management, and an Eagle project to plan and carry out. He’ll play baseball in the spring for a PE credit.

Arin will be in 8th Grade, again. We are calling this 8 Part B. He’s not quite ready to jump into high school courses and I’m not sure I’m ready for him to be done in 4 years. He can start some of the 9th grade texts and take 2 years to complete them (several Rush had a hard time completing in a year). He will be doing A Beka Language B, Math-U-See Delta, Total Health, and WA State History, I'm not starting the actual text until next year but he can start working on his notebook. He will also be reading the Bible through this year. For Scouts he needs to focus on merit badges starting with Family Life and Personal Fitness. He’ll run Middle School Track in the spring.

Isaac is in 7th Grade. He will be focusing on math and Scouts. He needs to complete the work for his 2nd and 1st Class Scout badges and also work on Family Life and Personal Fitness merit badges. He will be doing the Pathways text and work book Seeking True Values, Number Power 2, reading through the Bible in the year, and WA State History, Isaac has 2 years to work on his notebook before doing the textbook in 9th grade. He participates in Chess Club and wants to compete in a couple of tournaments this winter.

Jonah is in 5th grade and Tovah is in 2nd grade. They do a lot of the same work, they will be doing Pathways readers, Math-U-See, and Breakout Bible Study which is our Wednesday night curriculum at church. Jonah will be doing Apples Daily Spelling Drills and Webelos. Tovah is reading the Bible like the big boys (and Grandma will buy her ticket to Wild Waves next summer). She and I will be reading the Little House books and doing some activities from Prairie Primer. We will get together with friends to do God's Design for Life: The World of Animals from Answers in Genesis.

I've used Math-U-See for many years and really like it but have found that it moves too slowly at the upper levels; a year on fractions and then a year on decimals puts the kids behind for starting high school level math. Arin will probably stay with MUS since he struggles with math and is a VERY visual learner. Rush moved to Number Power last year and liked the pace, however, we may move him to an online math course that is offered through the private school we use for his transcript.

The Washington homeschool law allows us to teach subjects without using a formal curriculum or book so we do lots of activities that count as PE, art & music appreciation, language, spelling, reading, and science. I keep copies of their weekly schedules, a book and video log, and our calendar and at the end of the year go through and categorize everything we've done. I'm always very surprised by how much we've done without really trying.