We have four children: three sons and a daughter and they are all individuals and are all different. What works for one child doesn't always work for another child. Or even sometimes, what works one year for one child doesn't work the following year.
Our oldest son is 18. This son has had numerous health issues for the past 9 years. It affected every area of his life and especially his ability to complete schoolwork. So this summer we evaluated where he was and where he wanted to go. We agreed that it was best for him to complete another year of homeschool. So this year all of his curriculum is online. He is the only child that is using one curriculum for all subjects. For him, we are using Alpha Omega's Monarch Online curriculum. I love the flexibility of this program in scheduling assignments. Also, it is almost completely self grading. It calculates grades, keep track of days school is completed and such. While no curriculum is perfect, it does work well at the point we are right now.
Our second son would be considered 10th grade if he was in public school. This year, he is doing Bible, Math, English, Science, History, Latin and electives.
Our third son would be considered 9th grade in public school. He does Bible, Math, English, Science, History, Latin and Electives.
Our daughter would be considered a 7th grader by public school standards. She is doing Bible, English, Math, Science, History, and Electives.
So now to get into more specifics starting with our 2nd son:
Bible: He uses a variety of items including some of his Dad's resources from his Ministry.
English: 180 Daily Grammar Lessons by Easy Grammar, IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course; Excellence in Literature's Introduction to Literature; English from the Roots Up; Phonetic Zoo for Spelling
History: He began the year doing Notgrass' Exploring Government and has now competed that and moved into HSLDA's Generation Joshua's ICitizen course for Civics
Science: Friendly Chemistry
First Form Latin
Music activities - he pretty much works on what he chooses for this including practicing singing, practicing instruments and working on music theory
Introduction to Criminal Justice
Forensic Science course with Lab
and some electives on Monarch
Son numer 3:
Bible: He is basically expected to keep up with daily Bible reading. We are getting ready to jump back into our Advanced Training Institute Wisdom Books, which will help give this more structure. And the whole family does this.
Math: Videotext Interactive Online for Algebra
History: Completed Mystery of History Volume I and now is getting ready to probably start Mystery of History Volume III, but I have to decide what I want him to do.
Science: Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology
English: Daily Grams by Easy Grammar, IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course; Excellence in Literature's Introduction to Literature; English from the Roots Up; Phonetic Zoo for Spelling
Practices keyboard
Does Electives through Monarch Online. He is doing 2 now and will do 2 more in the spring.
Daughter:
Bible: Does daily Bible reading and will be resuming the ATI Wisdom Books
Math: Life of Fred: Currently has completed Pre-Algebra I and is working on Pre-Algebra II and then will move into Beginning Algebra
English: Daily Grams, IEW's Student Writing Intensive Continuation Course; English from the Roots Up; Phonetic Zoo for Spelling
Science: Doing Science on Monarch Online
Latin: Latina Christiana
Electives: On Monarch including American Literature and a couple of others.
All of the children are expected to do some activities related to art throughout the year.
So that is what we are using this year. If you homeschool, let us know what you are using this year. We welcome your comments.
Wow, Patti, you're so organized - and I can't believe the variety of subjects you're including! That's awesome.
ReplyDeleteI taught grade 8 for three years at a Christian school in Africa, and we had to stick to the American curriculum. That was good because most of the kids went to universities in North America after graduating - they needed to be on the same track as the other students. But I'd be much more interested in teaching the range of subjects you are!
In peace and passion,
Laurie
Thanks Laurie. That is one of the things I love most about homeschooling is the variety we can include. With my youngest getting ready to turn 12, they are pretty independent about getting their work done. Of course, there are some subjects that are non-negotiable (beyond the curriculum selected once in a while). But when it comes to electives, they get to pick what interests them. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteWhat is interesting now is how so much is either online or computer oriented. My son (who is grown now) was more of a hands on learner. What worked for him included educational games like Rummy Roots, historical board games and the TOPS Science program (lots of hands on experiments). Alana
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. What I included here is the actual book work. We do hands on activities that are more individual based on the child. We also have a curriculum that we do as a family that includes a variety of hands-on activities. The computer-based curriculum is working well for our family for the subjects we use it for. If I know a child does not do well with working on the computer, I adjust - like I had to do for our 3rd son. Even the computer based subjects have projects and hands on activities that are built in. So there is a lot of flexibility.
DeleteI have to admit that I am glad that I went to school and wasn't home schooled!
ReplyDelete-Phew!
Thanks for stopping by. You have to realize they don't do every one of these subjects every day. Also, some of the assignments do not take a really long time to complete. So while it looks and sounds like a lot, depending on their motivation and the actual assignments, they finish in a reasonable amount of time. Then they have the flexibility to complete things that interest them.
DeleteThis is quite interesting. I know several people who homeschool or who did so in the past. One lady that I know homeschooled her son and her daughter. Her son always loved research and he is very smart and probably would have been bored in public school. He is now in college. His sister is 16 and she likes ballet and is hoping to have a career as a ballet dancer. Her mom encourages her to follow her dreams, as she encourages her brother. For other friends, the homeschooling was not as successful. They were not organized or patient enough to do the homeschooling successfully. It looks like you have both the organizational skills and the patience needed to homeschool four kids. Wow. Congratulations!
ReplyDelete