Well, what a good feeling for mom and kids when you complete a study!  Rebekah has finished her geography book for the year, literature, and is working on getting her science done!  Now, having only one semester finished, we have to find something for another 90 days for her portfolio.

Jess has finished her science (no surprise there, her favorite) however, we need to get going on some english.  We have gone over grammar many times, but have to start working on other areas.  With her loving to read I want to start in on composition.  She is very good at spelling and hope that the writing will come easy.

Ken pulled his way through a semester of physics and we are searching for something of interest for science in his next semester.   He needs some motoviation in the english/comp area too!  He is still waivering as to what direction he wants to go so it makes it hard to direct his studies.

History for the high schoolers has become fun for me as both are studying the same area.   Politics!    What a great time for the elections!   I have found two outlines that I am following, one has lessons and quizzes that go along with them. Constitutional Study Guide  It starts right from the begining at the writing of the Constitution and we are working are way to Bill of Rights,  then jumping to voting.  We are also watching the candidates and we all have taken the online fun quiz Select a Candidate to find out just who supports each of our intrests in this election.

Now, I have had the chance to do some time on our slow moving computer and found many things I am using.  One is the search bar to navigate my way around for quizes.   My youngest has been watching Animal Planet in some of her free tv time.   We happen to have it for one month as a freebie from DishTv.  So why not get something else from it?  

For those of you that need a small filler,  I have a great site for poetry. The English Room - 30 Days of Poetry It is lessons that were used from  1997 Great Basin Book Festival in Reno, Nevada.  There are many examples of high school poetry to help the kids along.

Anyone having high school links that are helpful, please send them my way!

We are still on vacation!   Don't think I don't try and slip in some education while we are, though.   There is always those times we happen upon the history, documentary, or science channels.   Visual can be just as good!

It's that time to start studying government!   With two high schoolers,  It will be a great opportunity to start concentrating on the presidential race.  I found a link that helps tell about the candidates   The Pew Forum .  It is one of many to start with.

I am excited to see my oldest daughter is trying hard to get her academic diploma.   She is seeking 20 credits vs the minimal 15 for a general diploma (not to be confused with a GED). She is reading and writing, and striving to do well in her mathematics.  I only wish that  my oldest son was as motovated.   My youngest picks up on things fairly quick, but isn't quick to pick up the workbook.  If she had her way, she would be reading her way through school not leaving a paper trail of any kind.  Unfortunately,  PA  requires an over abundance of paperwork on her part and on mine.  

 

is coming up.  One that the kids can really say they don't have school work to do because they are taking a Thanksgiving Vacation!  They are thankful for that!

Plugging along, my 9th grader pulled out the booklet on rules and regulations for graduation yesterday.   She began going down the checklist of things she has to accomplish for credits to graduate.   I think she was happy  to see that it wasn't as hard as she thought it was going to be!  I am glad to see her excited about getting more than just minimum requirements to graduate.  

I am struggling with my oldest as the last year and a half is passing.  He just doesn't seem to realize that it is as important to the last day as it was for the first to accomplish the work tasks.  When a career is chosen,  they seem to think that they don't have to study certain things anymore.   Hard to impress on them that it is all relevent to what you need in life.

My youngest had a chance to go to her friends house the other day.  She discovered that the older sister is studying to become a veternarian.   Well, it confired that math and sciences are necessary for that field!   So glad to have someone else confirm what mom has been saying!  

Time to start searching out Trade schools and other avenues.   Time to start going to sites that show eligibility for grants and loans.  Even some scholarships.   Whoa,  so overwhelming!  I'm looking to others and gathering information and directions from all high schoolers that I know.   It seems that if I have them take time from their work to do scholarship work,  they won't have time to do their regular school work.   I know that by the time the last one is ready,  it will be old hat and I'll be ready....just when it's all over!

.To study!   Science!    After watching An Inconvenient Truth  with Al Gore last night,  I was surfing through the internet to find the site.  On it I found a study guide to download that corresponds with the movie.   Believing his credibility or not,  the man has some good points to ponder.   His inquisitiveness makes him about as qualitative as the rest of us to find answers. He may have a few more doors that us to get answers though.  

Out of curiostiy, why not go to the site or better yet,  check out the documentary and give your view about the statistics he reveals!

has passed, and we keep making changes.  How to make history interesting when it keeps repeating itself?    Dig deeper for newer stories!   We have found things that haven't been exposed that are more on a personal level in some areas.    Useful?   I suppose it was to the people that made that history, but facinating to us.  

I have added a new link bar for those who are career minded, but don't know exactly what area they want to pursue.  It is geared for the PA residents, but the little quiz in the begining could benefit anyone and maybe help direct them to a more defined area. See      Pennsylvania Career Guide  link.

I also have found a grammar link that is to help practice parts of speech and how it is used.  More for the younger grades.   Click on the Grammar Practice Park  link.

have come already.   Struggling with making American History easier to study,  I have went back to my shelves and found a history timeline book.  Divided into time periods, each opens with a summery for that era, with a chronology following.    There is more than enough information to pull from and hope that these highlights will be interestsing enough for my 11th grader to pick up on.  History, as we all know, is what we have to learn from.   Remembering so we can avoid repeating the same mistakes.    Alas, if you study it enough, we see a pattern throughout time that apparently others didn't learn this.  Same mistakes made, different time period.   Studying these relationships is a class in itself!

Making up the daily on the computer has made the first two weeks move smoother.   I just recieved the workbooks in the mail to round off the subjects being studied this year.    I have actually incorporated some internet time into our schooling this year.   I have found a fun grammar site that  just enforces parts of speech and how to define them.  Grammar Practice Park     Anything to make it easier to learn, and not as boring to study!

I'd like some input on junior year physics too, if anyone has some ideas. 

Our first week is under our belts.   Even though we had Monday as Labor Day holiday,  the amount of work was not over-whelming so we still made it into a five day week.

The way the outline of the year is set up this year seems to be much easier.  And FYI, those that traditionally homeschool and don't always worry about the TM,  get it!    I always had a hard time trying to be fair in setting up the work, but looking at the guides that I happened to get this year has really made it easier.  Especially for the advanced grades.    Lucky for them, or they might be mountain high in paperwork!  I feel (slightly) bad for my children that I bombarded them with so much unnecessary work in the past in fear of not submitting enough.  Ah, I am still learning how to homeschool even after eight years!

I am still playing with the science for my 11th grader.  He is taking physics for one semester, but I have find a way to help him through the whole year.   He is only interested in basic, and although it is my responsibility to see he gets all the the law requires,  I also want to make sure he can survive the more uninteresting (to him) subjects.  

Any help from others on this whose children are not going to pursue college and have alternate ideas on fulfilling the law would be helpful.

With my century old piano now having unrepairable keys,  I picked up a laptop keyboard last week at a yard sale.    Maybe it will become more interesting to learn with added options to try?   Knowing how to read notes is good,  but actually knowing how and when to play them is so much better!

and I feel the time drawing near....Just yesterday I copied the yearly forms and filled them out to hand in to the school district.   This year I am lazy and I am using forms that someone sent me from over the internet.  Rather than overworking my brain and coming up with the objectives for the school year I am using a general outline.   That will give me the advantage of moving around as much as needed without conflict.   It doesn't list electives for the high school years, but I am not worried.  I will add them if they ask.  This will be our ninth year home schooling so I don't think they will bother with extra work for them.

The list of what I need in workbooks is growing.   I have been looking online to replace that math that I absent mindedly set down.   Ugh.   The price for used.  Old and used yet!    There will be a book rep coming to my area so I can get the workbooks then and not have to pay S&H.   Bonus!   I like using the workbooks because all the work is right there and easy to hand in.   The extra paperwork they ask for cuts down.   Who wants to keep track of so much fire starter?

I will be working with the diploma program for the second year.   It's outline is pretty solid and helps the kids know what they need to do, and see it is state law, not mom's law! 

 

For PA,  work that has been done throughout the year has to be collected, evaluated by a licensed educator, and submitted in a portfolio for our school district to analyze and scrutinize by the end of June.        I collected the work and handed it in yesterday.   Now I can find the forms that I filed away and start filling them out for next year!

I had gone to the big curriculum fair that they hold in town every year and have picked up most of the texts that I need,  but still must order the workbooks.   I like the workbooks because it makes it so much easier to keep things together at the end of the year for the district.   I do have to find something in a consumer or business math for my son.  I had it in my hand at the fair, bought and paid for, but then I think that I set it down to look at books at the free exchange table.  Someone made out good with the books I bought!  

You know, it makes it a little harder to buy or trade online because some sites won't let you pick up the teacher manuals.   Not that I need them mind you.    It does make correcting a lot faster though.  I will be putting a few sites up that I use or browse over if anyone needs something.  I'm always open to finding new (reliable) sites too.

I don't think so!  Here is is the end of June and I am scouring sites and making a new blog.   I'd like to share the different books, resources, and ideas that I have as the school years go by.   I have been homeschooling for eight years, nine, starting this year.    The two oldest have attended public school, K and 3rd,  but the last was never enrolled in public school.  As high school came near, I began to doubt myself and did try cyberschool.  It wasn't for us!  We only were in a few months and I pulled them to go back to traditional schooling.  

This is a quick introduction to just get started but rest assured I will be back posting soon and reading others blogs with great stories and ideas!