What My Teens are Doing this School Year
I'm not ready for school to start, but 2 out of 3 local school districts began yesterday, and my teens are feeling anxious about getting started, too.
An appointment that was supposed to take up most of my day yesterday was canceled, so I headed downstairs to the teen lair (which is where we keep our home library) and passed out books and supplies.
Here's the basic list--always subject to change as the year progresses.
Everyone will participate in Morning Meeting--details on that in another post . . . probably. Morning Meeting is our family devotional time.
Symposium will happen 3 times each week and will loop through:
Mystery of History III
English on a Roll
The Easy Spanish
Music and Art Appreciation--using various library and internet resources as they strike our fancy
Geography--map studies Charlotte Mason style
Geography Through Art (we'll focus on Asia)
A Case of Red Herrings A1
All 4 teen girls will participate in Symposium.
Rose Red: 12th grade
She's still in Florida surfing her days away, so she's not hitting the books yet, but I had to scramble for a plan for her when the two dual enrollment classes she registered for were canceled due to lack of enrollment.
Such a bummer! That was a loss of 2 high school credits and 6 college credits.
She's only 3 credits away from being eligible to graduate, and as she's refused to give me any feedback about what she'd like to study, I've been totally free to ask myself what I care about sharing with her in these final months of her childhood. I care about her nurturing her testimony of Christ and His restored gospel, communicating well, examining the messages with which she's bombarded with a critical eye for light and truth, understanding the principles of freedom and agency, and stewardship skills.
This means she's studying:
*Movies as Literature (with an eye toward communication skills and critical analysis)
*Constitutional Literacy (principles of freedom and agency)
*Saxon math
*Various classic books--both fiction and non-fiction. She'll read and keep a journal about each one.
*She'll also attend her final year of early morning seminary.
*She'll keep working part time.
*I hope to have her complete Math-U-See's Stewardship course . . . but we'll see.
*Religious Studies: Jesus The Christ by James E Talmage and The Great Divorce by CS Lewis
Pixie: 10th grade
She continues to be super-ambitious, and she's on track for early graduation.
*Keep working part-time
*Early morning seminary
*Dance Internship (She'll use Apologia's Internship for High School Credit to track her work)
*Dance classes--ballet and hip-hop
*Oak Meadow Literature and Composition II
*Saxon Algebra 2 with Geometry
*Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology
*Sequential Spelling 1 (she started it last year and needs to finish it!)
*Geography--The Travels of Marco Polo
*ASL--using various library and internet resources
*Fix-It Grammar 2
*Personal Devotional Studies--The Book of Mormon
Super Star: 9th grade
She came to me and said, "N-- (a friend in CA) told me what he's studying, and it doesn't sound like nearly as much as I'm studying."
"You're right," I answered. "He's planning to graduate in 4 years, but you want to graduate in 3, like your sister, so you're doing a lot more than he is. Do you want to take it down a notch? I'm fine with that. There's no hurry."
"No . . . I want to get done. I want to graduate early and go to the community college before going to a 4 year school."
*First Start French I
*Saxon Math 8/7 (complete it and then start Algebra 1/2)
*Annie Dillard--a compilation of essays--she'll read and narrate this over the course of the year
*Creative Freewriting Adventure
*Vocabulary From Classical Roots A
*Literature--she'll read and narrate various classic literature selections
*Marine Biology
*LifePac Science Grade 9 (her elective!)
*Piano lessons
*Early morning seminary
*Personal Devotional Studies--The Book of Mormon
Belle: 8th grade
My darling Belle continues to be her quiet, unassuming self. She's quietly glad she's not quite in high school yet.
*Literature--she'll read and narrate various classic literature selections
*Saxon Algebra 1/2
*Spelling Wisdom
*Rod and Staff English 7
*Apologia Exploring Creation with General Science
*Second Form Latin
*Personal Devotional Studies--The Old Testament
It all looks like a lot to me . . . and it is. My attitude is that I'm willing to support them in their ambitions, but I'm happy to put some of the work away if it is too much.
Here's to hard-working teens!
An appointment that was supposed to take up most of my day yesterday was canceled, so I headed downstairs to the teen lair (which is where we keep our home library) and passed out books and supplies.
Here's the basic list--always subject to change as the year progresses.
Everyone will participate in Morning Meeting--details on that in another post . . . probably. Morning Meeting is our family devotional time.
Symposium will happen 3 times each week and will loop through:
Mystery of History III
English on a Roll
The Easy Spanish
Music and Art Appreciation--using various library and internet resources as they strike our fancy
Geography--map studies Charlotte Mason style
Geography Through Art (we'll focus on Asia)
A Case of Red Herrings A1
All 4 teen girls will participate in Symposium.
Rose Red: 12th grade
She's still in Florida surfing her days away, so she's not hitting the books yet, but I had to scramble for a plan for her when the two dual enrollment classes she registered for were canceled due to lack of enrollment.
Such a bummer! That was a loss of 2 high school credits and 6 college credits.
She's only 3 credits away from being eligible to graduate, and as she's refused to give me any feedback about what she'd like to study, I've been totally free to ask myself what I care about sharing with her in these final months of her childhood. I care about her nurturing her testimony of Christ and His restored gospel, communicating well, examining the messages with which she's bombarded with a critical eye for light and truth, understanding the principles of freedom and agency, and stewardship skills.
This means she's studying:
*Movies as Literature (with an eye toward communication skills and critical analysis)
*Constitutional Literacy (principles of freedom and agency)
*Saxon math
*Various classic books--both fiction and non-fiction. She'll read and keep a journal about each one.
*She'll also attend her final year of early morning seminary.
*She'll keep working part time.
*I hope to have her complete Math-U-See's Stewardship course . . . but we'll see.
*Religious Studies: Jesus The Christ by James E Talmage and The Great Divorce by CS Lewis
Pixie: 10th grade
She continues to be super-ambitious, and she's on track for early graduation.
*Keep working part-time
*Early morning seminary
*Dance Internship (She'll use Apologia's Internship for High School Credit to track her work)
*Dance classes--ballet and hip-hop
*Oak Meadow Literature and Composition II
*Saxon Algebra 2 with Geometry
*Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology
*Sequential Spelling 1 (she started it last year and needs to finish it!)
*Geography--The Travels of Marco Polo
*ASL--using various library and internet resources
*Fix-It Grammar 2
*Personal Devotional Studies--The Book of Mormon
Super Star: 9th grade
She came to me and said, "N-- (a friend in CA) told me what he's studying, and it doesn't sound like nearly as much as I'm studying."
"You're right," I answered. "He's planning to graduate in 4 years, but you want to graduate in 3, like your sister, so you're doing a lot more than he is. Do you want to take it down a notch? I'm fine with that. There's no hurry."
"No . . . I want to get done. I want to graduate early and go to the community college before going to a 4 year school."
*First Start French I
*Saxon Math 8/7 (complete it and then start Algebra 1/2)
*Annie Dillard--a compilation of essays--she'll read and narrate this over the course of the year
*Creative Freewriting Adventure
*Vocabulary From Classical Roots A
*Literature--she'll read and narrate various classic literature selections
*Marine Biology
*LifePac Science Grade 9 (her elective!)
*Piano lessons
*Early morning seminary
*Personal Devotional Studies--The Book of Mormon
Belle: 8th grade
My darling Belle continues to be her quiet, unassuming self. She's quietly glad she's not quite in high school yet.
*Literature--she'll read and narrate various classic literature selections
*Saxon Algebra 1/2
*Spelling Wisdom
*Rod and Staff English 7
*Apologia Exploring Creation with General Science
*Second Form Latin
*Personal Devotional Studies--The Old Testament
It all looks like a lot to me . . . and it is. My attitude is that I'm willing to support them in their ambitions, but I'm happy to put some of the work away if it is too much.
Here's to hard-working teens!
"...I've been totally free to ask myself what I care about sharing with her in these final months of her childhood"... These words resonate with me because I've come to sort of the same way of thinking with regard to choosing to be in stronger relationship with my children/grandchildren. I would change the words to "...I've been totally free to ask myself what I care about sharing with [them] in [this, the last chapter of my life]."
ReplyDeleteSounds like the girls are going to be very well educated!
ReplyDeleteLooks like all the teens have got a great year ahead. I love how you decided what to assign Rose Red and will be interested to hear how she finds Movies as Literature. We just finished it a few weeks back. I think I'll try a morning meeting next year (if we are still homeschooling that is). I see it could be a great way to fit in stuff that would be good to do but won't necessarily be part of an official course.
ReplyDeleteIt's so refreshing to hear from other homeschooling moms of teens. I'm not ready for a new school year to begin either. Summer was so busy with appointments for us! Here the public schools start tomorrow which means seminary starts tomorrow. My son, who is my baby is starting his 9th grade year. His online classes start on the 31st. I asked about early morning seminary, but was told it is only reserved for seniors and juniors. I'm taking him in tomorrow to a class further away that promised he could do home study, which would work much better with our lifestyle anyway. Hoping it works out because at our seminary building they were not friendly towards homeschoolers. I'd love to hear how you do your morning meetings.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so overwhelming (but great, of course!). It's awesome that they are so ambitious and self-directed, and you seem so calm about it all! I am still terrified by the idea of homeschooling high schoolers! Trying to just take it one step at a time. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was great to read what your teens are studying! My four oldest have always done online high school, either a virtual academy or a distance ed program through the local school district. Well, the distance ed program got a new director and it's not looking good. I researched a bunch, looked at requirements for college applications and realized we could do it all ourselves and not rely on "accredited" programs. SO! Debbie, who is starting 10th grade gets to be the guinea pig. She's totally on board and we are excited to start!
ReplyDeleteOh! And the movies as literature looks like it would be a great course!
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