The Plan--2014/15--E14

This is a terrifying and huge plan for my girl.  Her work will run the gamut from building up remedial elementary skills to challenging college-level thinking.  She and I have spent a hundred or more hours working on it.

If she does not do it all this year, that's okay.  I know she's capable of the thinking and learning part, but the study skills and writing could do her in.  If so, we will slow down on the electives and allow her two years to complete them.

She has a couple of elective subjects that do not seem necessary, but I am assigning them to her because they will allow her to explore some strengths that I see in her but she does not see in herself.  I'm hoping she'll get an honest chance to develop a passion or two that could bring her a lifetime of joy.  If not . . . at least seeds will have been planted . . . to develop or die as her life plays out.

State Required Basics:

Reading:  read and journal daily from her choice of a list of "great books."

Language Arts:
Rod and Staff 7
This is recommended for 9th grade in The Well Trained Mind for kids with little to no prior formal grammar training.
Prose and Poetry for Appreciation
She'll choose 1 selection per week to read and answer the study questions offered as preliminary training for formal essay writing.  This is one book that we can drop should her work load prove too heavy.
Rod and Staff Spelling Grades 4 and 5
She'll work her way through 2 lessons per week so that she can complete both books in a single year.
Rod and Staff Handwriting Grade 4
She'll do one lesson per day which should get her through the book in a single semester. 
Copywork
Once she's done with the handwriting practice book she'll pick up with daily copywork from a favorite book of poetry (her choice--we have lots around the house)

History:
The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer
The History of the Ancient World Study Guide
We wanted to do Beautiful Feet Ancient History but decided that E14 will be doing enough reading and study of good books that what she really needed was a no-frills spine.  This will do nicely.

Math:
Math U See Epsilon
Math U See Zeta
Math U See Pre-Algebra
We worked on the skills in the Epsilon and Zeta books via Khan Academy and Developmental Mathematics, and it looks to me as if she's got them down.  She, however, has begged to be allowed to work her way through the Math U See books because she feels uncertain, and Math U See is her math comfort place.  After much discussion and budget re-working (thank goodness for used books), she's getting what she wants.  She feels good about it.  I feel good about it.  I'm confident she'll race through Epsilon and Zeta in a single semester and be ready for Pre-Algebra in January.  Her goal is to complete Pre-Algebra in a single semester and start Algebra next summer.  If not, she can take the summer to finish Pre-Algebra, and we'll re-work her graduation plan.

Science:
Alpha Omega LifePac High School Health--1 semester health class
Apologia Exploring Creation with Biology
We bought a used first edition of the biology book and teacher's guide for under $20, but the necessary supplies are too much for us right now, so she'll start her year with Alpha Omega's inexpensive and easy to implement health program.  We'll save over the semester and (hopefully) find a good used microscope and perhaps a sale on the lab supplies so she can start biology in January and complete it over the summer and/or following semester. 

Family Required Basics

Religion:
Seminary--This year's subject is Doctrine and Covenants and Church History
Personal Progress--she has a few spiritual goals left to complete, but mostly she has lots of homemaking/education skills to develop, including all 7 of her 10 hour projects. 

Citizenship:
For Such a Time as This by Lisa Ryan
The Book of Virtues
She'll start with the sweet study guide about Queen Esther from the Bible.  It has about 16 chapters that include projects and written responses for to help a young woman develop the virtues exhibited by Queen Esther.  Once she completes that she'll read and journal a personal response to her choice of selections from The Book of Virtues.

The Extras:

Western Civilization
The Mainspring of Human Progress by Henry Grady Weaver
The Roots of American Order by Russell Kirk
The Republic by Plato
She'll read and journal from these books.  This is one of the subjects that can be dropped and picked up later or take two years, if needed.

Nature Studies
Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Claire Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth
Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter
She'll read a little and explore a little each week.  She'll keep her own nature notebook, too (which will double as art lessons because that will be as much art as she can stand in a year).

Foreign Language
Visual Latin lessons 1-30
She made it through lesson 17 about two years ago.  It was very hard back then, and now she's forgotten all of it.  She needs a foreign language; we own the DVDs; I've reprinted the written lessons; she's ready to go for very little expense or trouble.  Once she completes this program she'll be free to choose another language to study. 

Music/Art
Piano--a weekly lesson from me, daily exploring/practicing on her part.
See Nature Studies

And on top of all this she'll continue to attend church on Sundays, participate in weekly church activities, go on whatever field trips we can afford with our homeschool association, dance and sing with American Rhythm, and play competitive soccer in the spring.  

Whew!

This is a huge plan.  

I stand firm in my willingness to drop whatever we must to keep my girl curious, thriving, and joyful.






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