A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

A quiet week. I wrote the rest of our end-of-year homeschool assessments. Kids played. On Wednesday we had breakfast at the park, and I taught the kids how to play Red Rover. We went to the park 3 times. Later that same day, we headed to the spray park to meet friends for a picnic dinner and play time. Sir Walter Scott laid and covered the last of the pipe for our septic system.  It is finished enough to call the city inspector.  However, there are a few tweaks left for us to truly call the project done. He and the kids (but mostly he) dug well over 200 feet of 4 foot deep trenches in clay-heavy soil, moved 21 tons of gravel, laid well over 200 feet of pipe, then replaced all of the dirt. By hand. It has been no small project. I include it in my homeschool report, because the kids did help!  Brother was Sir Walter Scott's especial partner through all of this, and I must give partial credit to his well-being to this "heavy work" therapy. We have...

This was Super Star's 11th/12th grade year.  She began the year with 17.5 credits.  As I've chosen to follow our state's Department of Education guidelines for high school graduation--at least as far as what constitutes a credit and how many credits are required for graduation, Super Star only needed 3.5 more credits to graduate with the state minimum.  (More being recommended for a college prep high school experience.) We started the year uncertain about what Super Star would want to do upon graduation, so we set her up for at least preparing to continue at the community college. That goal changed over the course of the year--partly due to how much Super Star struggles with math and partly due to the changes COVID-19 has wrought upon education. She did begin Saxon Algebra 1 .  She worked diligently at it, and she learned what she worked at.  However, she needed almost constant tutoring with me.  With interruptions several times a day to t...

This was Belle's 10th grade year. Belle with a puppy, not Theo Or second year of high school. She was so busy helping me with emergencies, that many of our plans for her were derailed.  She's one who struggles with time management, and she never really recovered good study habits once they were disrupted. That said, she still finished a full year of high school credit and some extra-curriculars! She continued volunteering at the farm 3 hours each week . She worked 1 shift each week at the amusement park until the end of October.  She attended seminary every morning until COVID-19 shut down the in-person program, and then she completed the home-study/Zoom meeting program that finished out the year.  Seminary covered the New Testament during Fall Semester and The Book of Mormon Spring Semester. She participated patiently in Morning Meetings .  Sometimes she actually led our meetings because I was busy with Brother or Ladybug or Beowulf. ...

It's hard to write about Nature Angel without gushing.  She's a child of so many talents and so much goodness! Colloquium , Morning Meeting , Elementary Read Alouds , American Rhythm , church activities, and our 52 Hikes comprised part of her schooling. She's diligent and careful--her work is always high quality. She will accept nothing less from herself. Her individual studies included: Language Arts:   Oak Meadow Grade 7 Language Arts --completed.  This was a rigorous program with lots of reading, lots of writing, and plenty of spelling and grammar.  It's also a program requiring lots of art, which is why it is a good fit for Nature Angel.  History:   Oak Meadow Grade 7 History --completed.  Same as above, only instead of spelling and grammar, this program included geography and research.  I think she was on the computer gathering information almost every school day. Greek:   Memoria Press Elementary Greek Year 1,...

Little Princess is a social learner, so independent learning is very boring for her. She's capable. She just doesn't like it. Colloquium , Morning Meeting , Elementary Read Alouds , American Rhythm , church activities, and our 52 Hikes are the times that she shines. She participated in all of them with enthusiasm and insight this year. She aches for more social events to open up. Her individual studies included: Language Arts:   The Good and the Beautiful Level 5 --completed with solid success.  The spelling errors that plague her writing seem to be due to haste rather than not knowing how to spell.  She does tend to run-on sentences, but I think that will resolve itself with time and experience.  She loves grammar, especially diagramming sentences! This program included several drawing and watercolor art lessons. It also included geography . Handwriting:   The Good and the Beautiful Level 5 --completed, but her handwriti...