I know I provide endless entertainment to experienced homeschoolers.  I’m here to serve…

I still have not managed to review any of these goals… like… ever.  I’m not sure why I bother with them.  Seriously.  So I’m just going to jot down what’s actually getting done at the moment.

Worthy of note that I just had an interaction with someone today where I mentioned that my 7yo isn’t as strong of a reader as the other person’s 7yo seemed to be.  Their response was “Well, she’s homeschooled”.  I was taken slightly aback at this but then said “You know, homeschooled kids seem to be behind their age peers until about 3rd grade.  Then they often take off and leap ahead of their age peers.  So…”  And that’s true, but I was initially offended at the idea that my 7yo was potentially getting substandard education because she was being homeschooled.  Harrumph….

October 2016 – Girly – 2nd grade

Character Education:  Oooooohhhhh we will SOOOOOO be working on this because full-on mean girl politics have hit my block in full friggin force.  Girly is almost 8 and there are 3 girls a year older than her and one a year younger than her.  And apparently, “it’s on”.  I will need to figure something out to help her navigate it because it’s not going well.

Social Studies:  Screw it.  Seriously.  I have no idea what we will do for social studies this year.  Oh wait… see above.  Let’s call it psychology and sociology.  Bam!

Language Arts:   Her goal is to “read harder books”.  At the moment, she is loving the Judy Moody series.  We also started hosting an IEW-SWI-A coop at our house.  I’m not sure why I thought this was pegged for 2nd grade and up.  She’s not doing great with it.

Math:  We started using Math Mammoth.  It moves kind of slow for her and it’s kind of workbook-y.  She does it intermittently through the week.

Science:  I am running a Science & Nature class (90mins biweekly) and she’s doing that.  She is also doing Cooking and Weather and then Zoology as 6-week classes through a co-op.  Cooking will actually be running through both 6-week sessions.

Fine Arts:  She is still die-hard into choir, and takes an art class offered by a local homeschooled college fine arts major.

Physical Education:  She just quit soccer.  I’m at a complete loss but looking at swimming.

Foreign Language:  Spanish!!!  Currently we are working on DVDs called “Hola, Amigos!” but she is embracing it.  FINALLY!!!

October 2016 – BigGuy -7th grade but doing 9th grade

Character Education:  I have no idea if and what we’ll do here but I’m kind of thinking of going back to some of our former ethics for kids books each morning.

Math:   Finished Algebra 1 with the online school.  We will now look at doing the Art of Problem Solving – Intro to Algebra, The Basics, and Beyond and then HOPEFULLY move over to their online courses for the rest of his math.  We’ll see how that plays out.  For now, he’s learning a ton about metrics by way of boot camp for the science team.

Science:   I will be coaching Science Olympiad again this year.  Last year, we advanced to State again and this time–we placed 5th in our division.  I’m wondering if we can manage to do that again this year.  He has an 8-week online microbiology class  and then we’ll have to see what events he gets through Science Olympiad.  In the meantime, our co-op is giving him 6 weeks of chemistry and then another 6 weeks of electricity.  Not sure what else.  This is the one core where he is not undeniably high school level because he didn’t take lab science as planned (because he got into an incredibly boys program–see below in Language Arts) and there was only enough money for one or the other.

Language Arts:   He was recommended to the local IEW Elegant Essay class by the woman that led last year’s coop and we started that, but we’re going to quit and do that alone in the spring.  For the fall, he is taking a Dystopian Literature course through OnlineG3 which he loves.  He’s already read “1984” and “Fahrenheit 451”.  Although not required, he also read “Slaughterhouse Five”.  Both courses are high school level.  He also got into Riverside‘s Tutorial program for boys which is literature, nature and just some really good experiences to help him find himself.  It’s once/week for 3 hours and while he really likes it–it’s definitely challenging his ideas of who he is and where he fits in the world.  Hopefully in a good way.

Social Studies:  We’re doing psychology and sociology–the latter being more about helping him figure out how to manage in the world around him and how people’s minds work so he can function better.  I’m currently looking for psychology curriculum.  In the meantime, he’s taking an 8-week course on Electoral Process through Athena’s Advanced Academy and loves it.  We dropped our Tapestry of Grace coop for the year.

Fine Arts:  BigGuy was invited back to boys choir this year.  Nothing else at the moment.

Physical Education:   Completely at a loss here.  Hoping to get them into swimming.

Foreign Language:  Spanish and French… still.. using Rosetta Stone but not regularly yet.