Symposium 2019-2020

I think Symposium is over forever.

At least in our homeschool.

This year Super Star and Belle were my only Symposium students.

Oddly, the drop from 4 to 3 wasn't much when Rose Red withdrew from Symposium, but the drop from 3 to 2 when Pixie graduated was hugely significant.

Pixie left us in September!

The whole flavor of the meetings changed from "We're all in this together" to "Let's just get it done."

Next year Belle will be my only high school student, and even though we'll work together on a few subjects, the meetings will certainly not have the group feeling that Symposium has had for so many years.

I've forgotten whose pictures are whose--both girls did their own versions of each picture included. :)

 Just as with Colloquium and Academy, we started with big plans and high ideals; then we moved to Plan B in order to cope with the reality of almost constant 911 calls, too many hospitalizations, and too many psych appointments for Brother.

Then there was the trauma of Super Star's own mental health crisis.

Finding a reason to laugh when it was dangerously easier to cry

Our goals:
     1.  Omnibus I--reading, discussing, writing--we planned to do it all.
     2.  Apologia American Literature
     3.  The Good and the Beautiful High School 2

The reality:
     1.  We stopped trying to work all three subjects and worked only on The Good and the Beautiful until it was finished.
     2.  We dumped the Omnibus I text and focused on the literature, our own discussions, and our own writing assignments.  We made it through 1/2 of the reading list before realizing we'd completed a full credit of Ancient Literature and Cultures.
     3.  Super Star finished American Lit on her own--simply reading and narrating the entire text and some supplemental full novels.
     4.  Belle will finish the American Lit text on her own next school year.

So Symposium was a small affair--earning each of my high schoolers 3 credits.

The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts = 1
Ancient Literature and Cultures = 1
The Good and the Beautiful Art = .5
The Good and the Beautiful Geography = .5 (.25 last year and .25 this year to get .5 credit this year)

I will miss it.

The next chance I have at having a passel of teens in high school is in about 7 years . . . but they may be so far apart academically that I won't be able to combine them in a Symposium-like manner.

How grateful I am for the Symposiums we have had!