More School Planning

Ok, I'm probably going about this the wrong way, but I've decided to reorder all of TallBoy's schoolwork for the upcoming year. He only has one more year until he turns 18 and I can pretty much guarantee he will be moving out and not looking back. So, we have one year to work on maturity, responsibility, real-life living skills and whatever schoolwork I think he needs to survive in life. Oh, my!

For the past five years, he's done TOG with his sister and that took a huge weight off of my shoulders as far as planning went. When it came time for discussions, though, it was a nightmare. He simply does not care about doing the work or getting a decent grade or keeping my blood pressure in check.

For history I searched my shelves to see what I could come up with and found a ton of books and a DVD. Last year at some point I ordered (for FREE) America: The Story of Us, the 12-part DVD from the History Channel. I'm combining it with Joy Hakim's Freedom: A History of US and lesson plans from PBS. The PBS lesson plans coincide with a series they did on the book, but unfortunately their DVD is $200! I think I've spent four pretty solid days so far cutting and pasting text, questions and lesson activities into a Word document to use as a lesson plan. But, that covers roughly half the year, so I'm pretty happy. I have lesson plans starting with the Pilgrims and will eventually cover present-day. We should be able to accomplish this all in one year.

For science, I'm still debating. We have Physical Science (he's already attempted it twice) and Biology, both from Apologia. Physical Science bores him and Biology is over his head. I again headed to the internet to do some searching. I found some mapping lesson plans from USGS which will cover about 2-4 weeks. I haven't looked closely at them since printing them out to determine a time-frame. I was thinking, though, of ordering Nutrition 101: Choose Life. I can use this as science and health and was going to use it with HorseGirl next year anyway. It covers the brain and nervous system, digestion and elimination, respiration and olfactory, muscular and skeletal systems, cardiovascular and immune systems and the endocrine system and emotions. It has a ton of information in it, including recipes in each chapter to strengthen whichever system you've just studied.

I think it is very important for TallBoy to be knowledgeable about his body and how everything works. He has recently been putting nothing but junk into his body, sugared cereals, Toaster Strudels, cookies, ice cream, juice, soda, etc. I know, a lot of this is partly my fault for buying all of the junk, which is why I'm going to stop. My husband just gave me permission to stop buying all the sugared snacks. I've also been insisting TallBoy eat a fruit or vegetable as at least one of his snacks each day.

HorseGirl will be doing Latin in the Christian Trivium I next year, so I will have TallBoy do it as well. It won't hurt him to know the meanings of words and may actually benefit him at some point. If nothing else, it will serve to expand his vocabulary.

For math, well, that's something I haven't quite figured out yet. I bought VideoText Algebra for HorseGirl and was going to have him use it as well, but I think he may be better served by learning real-life math. He needs to know how to make and keep a budget, and how loans are structured and how to avoid being ripped off (ie. payday loans and Rent-A-Center). I'm sure there are other math skills he will need, such as measurements that we should cover. I posted a query on one of my Yahoo groups and got a couple of recommendations for curriculum. I don't want to spend a lot of money, though.

For writing, we will be using Paradigm Online Writing Assistant at the beginning of the year to work on writing in general and how to write different kinds of essays and then will start National Novel Writing Month. We will begin that in October in preparation for the actual writing in November. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. There are lesson plans in the Educators section that go over character, plot, setting, etc.

For literature, I'm planning to use Teaching the Classics by IEW and will choose literature based on what we're studying in history. I have several classics and other good books already chosen based on the time period. Even though we're studying American history I plan to include authors from all over the world.

School Planning & Summer Break

I am pretty much done with school planning for next year, but I still find myself drawn to the computer and curriculum books looking for ways to streamline and organize things for next year. Since we will be starting the bulk of our schooling mid-July, I want to make sure everything is as planned as possible. I typically plan things out and then find myself falling apart several weeks into the school year. My problem is that I like to research things to the extreme, but lack the follow through to put my plans and research into action. This year I'm going to try a few new ideas for staying organized.

1)I made a list of supplies for science labs and will purchase everything I need for the first quarter at one time and put it all in a bin. Lack of supplies will no longer be an excuse to get out doing labs. Luckily, physical science does not require things like bananas and lima beans.

2)I've already done through every course and made a syllabus, writing down every book to read, map to fill in, chart to complete, etc. I then entered everything into HST+ so I can quickly transfer it to assignment sheets. I also made sure to give a Points Possible value for all graded assignments so I will know at a glance what needs to be graded.

3)We use Tapestry of Grace for history, geography, and some literature and writing. I went through next year's curriculum and cut and pasted all of the General Information pages, Accountability and Thinking Questions for both history and geography and all the Reading Assignments I'm planning on having the kids read. Everything is gathered together in one Word document, ready to be printed out. In the next few weeks, I'm going to print the information out for each week and put it chronologically in a folder, ready to be pulled out each Monday.

4)I've gone through every book we own and have organized them according to subject. My shelves were already organized by subject, but I cleared out space on another shelf in order to organize specifically for next year. The kids and I should be able to see at a glance where each subject is and whether the required resource is available.

5)I have a used-book sale to attend this weekend where I hope to pick up a good quantity of my history and literature books. After that, I'm going to add a reminder to my Google calendar for each week that I need to reserve books from the library. This past year I was constantly forgetting to reserve books in time.

If you have any additional tips, I would greatly appreciate hearing about them.

Enjoy the Moment

A friend's husband passed away Friday morning after a long battle with cancer. He leaves behind a wife of 24 years and three sons, the youngest of whom just had his 14th birthday last week.

We never know what today or tomorrow will hold. Enjoy each and every moment with your spouse and kids. I don't want any regrets when Jesus calls us home.

Almost Done!

We are almost done with school for this school year! We have one more week of regular school and then two additional weeks of an essay course Horse Girl is taking to prepare her for the literature course she will be starting next term. I'm very excited about the closing of this current year, and the beginning of next year. We will be starting our next school year mid-July in order to give us time off whenever we end up moving.

Everything is still up in the air with the move. Dh will not be able to talk to the detailer until September and since jobs are in such short supply right now, we may end up leaving earlier or later than intended just to get something. I'm leaving it all up to God and trusting that He knows what's best for our family. I've learned over the years that my worrying does not benefit the situation and only causes me undue stress.

Just Discovered HST+

I kept hearing the ladies on one of my TOG Yahoo groups talking about this great home school planning software, but never checked it out. I thought I found what they were talking about several ago online, but it turns out I was looking at a completely different product. I did some research this weekend and finally found HST+.

I was looking for something that would be easy to track my lesson plans and organize my grading. I previously was just using an Excel document for my assignment sheet, Word documents for my syllabi's and another Excel document for grading.

So far, HST+ is amazing. I have managed to input all of history, science and part of English for next year. I have everything broken down into activities so I can assign a different weight for grading purposes. For instance, reading is not graded, geography is 20%, discussions and exams are 45%, charts are 15% and history writing is 20%.

Horse Girl can log in on her computer, see what she needs to accomplish on any given day or week and then check it as completed when she finishes. She can even go in and add notes if necessary or fill in the assignment if it was something that was open-ended. I then go in behind her and input the grade for anything she completed. If it's a multi-day assignment, such as reading, it will stay on her agenda until the due-date I assigned. The program tallies everything up on its own and even keeps track of attendance. I have it set up to count each day that we accomplish four hours or more of school as one school day. When you block out holidays and off-days it will not assign school work on those days.

Right now I'm just using the 30-day trial, but will more than likely purchase it when my 30 days are over. The program is only $49, and it's a one-time purchase. You then receive free updates whenever they come out. If you're interested in ordering, let me know and I will give you a code to use. My girlfriend receives $5 for every purchase made with her code. I will eventually sign up for my own code, though.

Conference Thoughts

We went to our local home school conference this past weekend and it was such a blessing. I came away feeling refreshed, invigorated, inspired and renewed. I learned so much from the wonderful array of speakers and vendors.

I went into the conference pretty much knowing which curriculum I want to use next year, so I didn't purchase too much that I hadn't planned for. Horse Girl was able to find a "Little House on the Prairie" book that she's been looking for. She wanted a specific cover to match the rest of the set she's accumulated and she found the exact one for $2!

I went to a workshop by Susan Wise Bauer on preparing for college that was wonderful. She spoke about academics, emotions and life-skills. I also went to a workshop by Barb Cash titled " She Senses the Worth of her Work...". She talked about discontentment and how it breeds resentment, finding joy in the simple things and remembering that my job is a privilege from God. Another workshop I really enjoyed was "Parenting the Strong-Willed Teenager" by John Rosemond. He spoke about the fact that mothers fail to move from season 1 in their child's life in which they orbit around the child and serve them and protect them, into season 2 in which they teach leadership and the respect of authority. They then have problems in the teen years, in which their children should be in season 3, but are in actuality still in season 1. He writes a book called "Teen-Proofing" and it was the only non-planned purchase I made.

Horse Girl already knows she wants to go to college and knows what she wants to do for a career (we still need to figure out exactly what major that equates to). Because of this, I have been able to go to the college's website and look at their admission requirements and home school course recommendations. I put together a four-year high school plan that also includes the 8th grade as dd will be taking some high school level courses next year. For next year, my plan is as follows:

Math: VideoText Algebra

English: Analytical Grammar & Teaching the Essay & Introduction to Literature I

Science: Apologia Physical Science

History: Tapestry of Grace Year 2

Latin: Latin in the Christian Trivium I

Bible/Character: books by Elizabeth George like "A Young Woman's Walk with God", etc.

Economics: Whatever Happened to Penny Candy & Economics: A Free Market Reader

PE: Horse Riding

Family Update

It was recommended by a friend (Thank you, Mindy, for the reminder) that it's time for a family update.

Jeremy and I have started exercising and watching our calories. We use My Fitness Pal online to keep track of what we eat each day and to log in our exercise. Jeremy has already lost 11 pounds and I have lost 4 pounds. I feel better during the day and find myself thinking about what I eat instead of just mindlessly eating. Jeremy has most of the guys in his office counting calories as well, LOL. I've been very busy trying to find low calorie meals and have had success with many of the ones I've found. We try to stay under 400 calories per meal.

We just lost our tenant in our Virginia rental and this is our first month without rental income. Let's just say we are feeling the pinch and I, personally am praying for God to see us through until we get another renter. It's complicated, though, as we are hoping to get back to Virginia next year and would like to be able to move right into our house. The longer it takes to get a renter the farther we will be pushed on the other end. This is definitely a test of my faith in God's provision.

We will be putting our South Carolina house on the market next month and that is causing a bit of stress. I want the house to look its best, but at the same time we need to live in it. The housing market is not as bad here as other places, but the average time on market right now is 4 months. If the house doesn't sell by October or November we will put it up for rent and go that route until the market picks up again. We would also do a lease-purchase option if necessary.

Horse Girl is doing well and growing up so fast. She is now riding at the barn three days per week and has just started some basic jumping. The horse she leases has arthritis in his right hock and cannot do too much. Her instructor makes sure to use the already broken cross beams so he won't break them if he forgets to lift his back legs. Otherwise he is fiesty thing and has already taught Horse Girl a ton.

Tall Boy is, well, Tall Boy. We have our ups and downs, but it seems to be getting more frustrating lately. He has never liked authority and has really been bucking us for the last two years. With his 17th birthday quickly approaching he is bucking even more so. In SC, parents can't do anything if their children "run away" at 17 except file a missing persons report. If the police find them they will bring them home, but no more. The exasperating part is that the parents are still financially responsible for anything their children do when they're gone!

Hopefully I will be able to get back on later, but we need to leave for a field trip. I am praying for a great day with friends and for sibling harmony.