We've been back to school for about five weeks and so far, things are going pretty well for our large family. I'm using a combination of Bookshark and Memoria Press this year along with Math U See. I chose Bookshark (BKSK) for history and science because it is easy. There are four days of scheduled work. I've been using the format for years and years and have all the books and know what I like to skip. Easy peasy. I also like that the history covers the whole world and doesn't go very deep into details and adding hands on projects is easy. And the historical fiction if fantasic; I just hand them out for silent reading instead of literature study. Memoria Press is far superior when it comes to language arts, geography, and deep reading of literature, plus it has Latin (gasp). I've become quite fond of Latin. I've also moved all the kids completely over to Math U See simply because I don't have to teach a new concept to seven kids every day. MUS is mastery based and has a teaching DVD, so when the kids get to an A worksheet, they watch the DVD. I'm there to help if they don't understand (until we get to Algebra 2).
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| Lula, Heidi, and Jason: Mt Elinor |
Jason, who just turned five years old in July, is barely old enough for kindergarten through the public school and is very ready to learn at home. He is using MUS Primer for math and MP for his language arts. He and Heidi are combined using BKSK history and science Level A. He is basically doing the same levels Ian used for kindergarten, so if Jason complains, I just point out that Ian used it and look how smart he is!
Heidi is almost seven years old and would be in first grade. She is using MUS Alpha, MP Grade 1, and BKSK level A with Jason. She is following the artistic path and loves to draw pictures of what she learned.
Lula has just turned eight and she is quite the student! She learns fast and loves to learn! She reminds me of Ian and Shane combined; Ian's chatty happy method of learning and Shane's curiosity and ability to self teach. She is using Gamma in MUS, BKSK Science C, and the Grade 3 package from Memoria Press. This package is when things get serious with their educational philosophy. Lula is just so smart and cheerful that she makes homeschooling easy! She also likes to listen in to Heidi and Jason's history and science as well as Fiona and Daniel's history.
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| Fiona and Daniel: Boulder Ridge |
Daniel is 10/5th grade and Fiona is 12/7th grade. They are lined up together in every subject this year. They are both using MUS Epsilon, which is all fractions, although Fiona is about 20 lessons ahead of Daniel. He will pass her quickly though. Science is BKSK F: Human anatomy. History is BKSK F: Eastern Hemisphere. And they are also doing most of the Grade 5 subjects for Memoria Press. Which means more history!
In addition to all of the above, we are also doing a special elections unit and making the lapbook from Homeschool in the Woods. Even Jason and Heidi have their own lapbooks. Cutting, folding, and assembling paper things are skills we often overlook. Lapbooks are perfect for this.
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| Genna: Copper Mountain |
Genna is now in high school! She doesn't have a typical 9th grade experience though. Her school year has to fit around her vaulting life. At this age, I ask my student child for more input on their likes and dislikes when it comes to curriculum. And we need something that is already scheduled with check boxes that is easily open and go for tired teens. She is using Memoria Press for biology, geography, history, and literature. We are still using Bookshark for composition, but will switch over to Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW)when it finally comes off backorder.
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| Genna and Shane: Cameron Peak |
Shane was going to leave my homeschool and attend Running Start at Tacoma Community College. Because he has this late August birthday, we were going to enroll him in 11th grade so he could take advantage of a full two years of free college. But with all classes online and our internet not reliable, he decided to stay home for one last year. When I sat down and made a transcript for him with all his high school coursework matched up to Peninsula High School graduation requirements, he had about three classes left to graduate. So he decided to get a homeschool diploma and start community college next year as a regular college student. He is also working 25 hours a week at the same arena as Genna, so his schoolwork has to work around his work schedule. He is taking a chemistry class in person with other homeschoolers, socially distanced and masked of course. He did all the bookwork last year with me, so he is just doing the labs. Because he dropped all his classes when we went into shut down mode last spring, he has some catch up work to do in Algebra 2 before he starts precalculus and he is using Khan Academy for that. We are trying out Match Fishtank for literature so he can experience a public school type course for community college prep. And he is using IEW Elegant Essay and Essay Intensive for composition.
