I have been thinking that maybe I’d try to start doing the new Homeschool Memoirs. After all, this is homeschoolblogger, and I really ought to post about homeschooling every once in a while. Many of the HOTM memes interest me, but I never do seem to get around to doing them. Maybe because I so easily get “behind” in my blogging. Well, Homeschool Memoirs says it is OK to put up a late post, that I’d have a whole week to put up a post-- and that I could even catch up weeks later. That sounds like a rule made just for me, so I might actually be able to do this. Sometimes.
I missed the first week’s theme, which was to post all about myself, but that’s OK. I don’t like to write about myself. (That’s a joke, in case you wondered.) Besides, as I have mentioned before, if you found out what I am really like, I’d have to shoot you, and I’d rather not. So I’m just starting with the current theme, which is…
“Agenda”, hmmm. That could be a list or a plan or a goal or a theme…
If you want to see the "list", you're going to have to scroll a bit, because I'm going to yack first.
Some years I have sort of an underlying theme or motto to guide my curriculum choices & methods, and this is one of those years. Before I explain my theme for this year, I have to take you back three years to the first year that I had just my Little Ones at home. They were 7 & 10, and for the first time in a decade, I had only elementary kids at home with no middle-schoolers or pre-schoolers. And I wanted to have fun with them. So my motto for the year was, “Enjoy Learning Together”, equal emphasis on all three words. I wanted to be a little more CM-ish, maybe even a little bit delight-directed. We’d just spend our days doing things together and learning and enjoying it and la la la.
Fast forward three years to today. Spaz is now 13, and I am far less delusional than I once was. My underlying guiding principle for this year, at least for him, is “Do As Little As Possible Together So That We Can Get Through the Day Without Killing Each Other.”
OK, not quite. But continuing to work on his ability to work independently is one of my major themes for this year. Adolescent boys just are not wired to take orders from and be babysat by their moms all day long, nor should they be. Independence and self-management are the key to semi-peaceful co-existence. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that Spaz is highly ADHD-afflicted. Working independently has not been one of his strong points. But we made good progress in this last year, and I have high hopes for increased independence and self-management this year. This will be good for him and for me-- and for Fuzz.
Another theme jumbling around in my head for this year concerning Spaz is, “Stop CM-ing around and just do school.” Now don’t get your panties in a knot; I think Charlotte Mason methods are great. I’ve just come to realize that it isn’t quite our bent and that I need to get “more serious” with Spaz. (I will probably still CM around a little with Fuzz.) And on a related note, I intend to “Stop reinventing the wheel all the time and just follow the curriculum.” Actually, that has been my intention for the last several years. But this year I really mean it. I think. I’m tired of tweaking and supplementing and recreating. Besides, using curriculum simply as a Suggestionary for doing My Own Thing tends to make me the bad guy when the kids don’t want to do stuff. So I’m practicing saying, “Because the curriculum says so, that’s why.” It really isn’t that hard to say once I get used to it.
Speaking of curriculum, I am supposed to. Speak of curriculum, that is. This could get REALLY long. How about if I just list it and don’t talk about it? Yes, that will be difficult, but yes, I can do it. Besides, I’ve already talked about some of it here and here. And the rest, especially my favorite subjects of literature and history, I can always post on later. (But don’t hold your breath.)
Oh, before I get started on that… (Now, stop rolling your eyes and get your finger off that mouse pointer. This will only take a few seconds.) …I’ve been talking about the academic part of our homeschooling, but I haven’t forgotten that there’s more to it than that. Above all, I want to keep in mind this year the goal of building relationships with & between my children, and helping them to build both a relationship with God and a Biblical worldview. I haven’t always been good about doing those things.
Alright, curriculum and resources and other stuff. The posts I referred to a couple paragraphs ago contain links to and descriptions of many of these resources, and I’ll link below to my history curriculum. By the way, * means this is new for us this year.
(Note: We are not starting all our subjects right away due to the craziness of the current season. So don’t panic when you see that some of my curriculum choices are not yet finalized.)
Spaz, age 13 (grade 7-ish)
~BJU Pre-Algebra
~Institute for Excellence in Writing* (either SWI-B, or TWSS plus Character-Based Writing)
~Natural Speller
~Word Roots
~Apologia General Science* (I think)
~Electing Our President* (a Good Apple repro book- Sept & Oct only)
Fuzz, age 10 (grade 4-ish)
~Saxon 45 (switching from BJU math)
~IEW Writing* (probably) &/or Wordsmith Apprentice
~Sequential Spelling
~Italic Handwriting E
~Informal science
~Drawing With Children (starting in Jan)
Both- Misc
~Daily Grams ??
~Own booklogs, journals, vocab cards
~Typing Instructor
~Independent Bible reading & copywork
Both- History & Lit
~BiblioPlan Vol 4- America & the World 1850-2000
~History of US Vol 7-10
~Story of the World Vol 4- The Modern Age
~Kingfisher Encyclopedia of World History
~Knowledge Quest Maps; Easy Timeline Creator software
~America’s Story: Character-Building Copywork
~Various resources for relevant art & music history
~Family & independent history-related lit as per BiblioPlan
Outside Classes/Activities
~Drama- performing in hs production of Disney’s Jungle Book* (Sept thru mid-Nov)
~Piano lessons (possible switch to guitar for Spaz in January)
~Spanish* ??? (Haven’t yet decided whether we can fit this in- probably not)
~Homeschool Indoor Soccer (Spaz only- fall & winter)
~Football thru local Christian Athletic Association (Spaz only- thru mid-Oct)
That’s a bit of a list. Now last schoolyear, one of my creeds was, “Less is more”. I thought I was going to keep that in mind this year, too. I thought. It doesn’t look like it, does it? Now to get it all organized and scheduled…
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That's one neat thing about homeschooling- being able to change and adapt as you see fit each year.
Okay, after a while I'd love to hear how you like IEW. I've been eyeing that for next year for Alek. We're using WriteShop this year. It looks good, but *I* could use the extra instruction that IEW seems to give. Writing is NOT my strong point (which I'm sure you've noticed after reading my blog a while!).
Looks like you've got a good plan in place there! :)
Love, Alyssa