Homeschooling for His Glory

For many school is well underway! I realized I never posted about our plans for this year. So here is a run down of our plans for this year. This year I have a 10th grade and a hybrid 11/12 grader. Why hybrid 11/12, because technically he should be graduating next Spring, but I am extending his high school 1/2 to 1 year longer to get in all those credits needed.  As has been the case for the last few years, our main curriculum will be Tapestry of Grace (TOG) with an online co-op. These are the subjects we will be covering: History year 3 - The Nineteenth Century - From Napoleon to Teddy Roosevelt   Literature Writing Philosophy Church History I put together an art elective from the Fine Art strand of TOG year 2 and year 3 with a couple units from the Lifepac Arts elective.  I call it: Art from the Southern Renaissance to the end of the Nineteenth Century Science : we are trying the new Masterbooks Biology curriculum Math : we are continuing with Lifepac Math. Zach ...

Happy New Year to all! After a two year hiatus, I am resurrecting this blog. Life has been such that keeping up with this blog had become a really low priority, but I kind of miss it, so here I am giving it a try again. First I realized I never posted about my kids' curriculum line up for this school year. So, though late, here it is. This year I am homeschooling two high-schoolers. Time has gone so fast. With a 14 year old (9th grade) and a 16 year old (11th grade) I really feel like time is sleeping away; but that is the reality of life. We are but a vapor... So here we are: Humanities: Tapestry of Grace Year 2 - Middle Ages:   History, Literature, Writing, Church History, (hoping: Philosophy) Math: Alpha and Omega  Chemistry: Mr.Q. Science - Advanced Chemistry Electives:  Health - Zach - Alpha & Omega (1st semester), Speech - 7 Sisters Homeschool (2nd semester.) Violin - Zach Piano - Johann French: Duolingo, Breaking the Barrier...

It is the end of August and School for us is starting this coming Monday. Planning for this upcoming school year has been on going since May, and hopefully I have settled on what we will be using. This year I have a 9th grader and a 7th grader. I cannot believe I will have a high schooler in the house. Time really flew by.... So what are our curriculum choices for this year? A couple of notes before I lay the choices out: *****Last year we switched from online Math to paper Math. Hubby did not like the idea of doing Math online and wanted the boys to do paper math, so we switched to Alpha and Omega Lifepac (which is a curriculum he has used when he was in school). **** I am planning for my high schooler to be homeschoold all the way, so am working on a 4-year high school plan that will allow him to be well equipped to take the ACT and some AP classes comes 11th grade (which are what universities in Canada look for). Some outside grades will be nice too, so I will be thinking...

Middle School is in full swing here at our house. My oldest is in fact getting prepared to start High School next year (2017). I can't believe it! This summer, my heart was somewhat heavy realizing that this year was his last VBS as a participant. Sigh.... My youngest will be starting grade 6. So what are our choices for the upcoming year? Both boys Tapestry of Grace Year 3  - The Nineteenth Century  : History, Geography, Literature, Worldview. They will both be doing dialectic level. Classic Science: Advanced Chemistry Writing & Rhetoric - Book 5: Refutation and Confirmation: Writing CTC Math - Math Kumon Books - Pre-Algebra book 2 and Algebra book 1 Phonetic Zoo ( Finish) : Spelling Max Scholar : Spelling and vocabulary Bible Road Trip : Bible FrenchSmart - Grade 5 : French The History of Western Music and Great Artists Fine Art Pages : Music & Art Grade 8: The Art of Argument (finish) and The Discovery of...

The years are really mounting on me, as my boys are entering grade five and grade seven. Both are sort of in Middle School and the time has come for more rigorous school, with High School and College or University in mind. It is so hard to believe we are entering our 8th/9th year of homeschooling. The end is starting to peek in the horizon and so does the urgency of getting all of these goals straight. So what are our choices for this upcoming year? Grade 5: History: Tapestry of Grace   UG/D levels Year 2: The Middle Ages This covers History, Literature, Geography and Church History Math:   CTC Math and extra practice with workbooks still to be determined.You can read my review here . Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents followed by Pre-Algebra books. Stinky Kids Math ( TOS Review coming)  Language Arts: Grammar Basics and EnglishSmart Grade 5 both of which we started last year . WorldBuildOnline : Review here Phonetic Zoo if I get ch...

The middle school years are on us. My oldest is going to be grade seven next year. As I think about our curriculum line up for next year, I cannot but think I need to look ahead to the High School years which will be upon us sooner that we think. My son does not quite know yet what he wants to do, but he has a deep love for History and logic, (and for everything Marvel and DC connected), so I am thinking he is probably gonna end up in the humanities. With that in mind I am cogitating a course of study that will hopefully prepare him to that end, while still working on some general subjects that are kind of basics. Math: We have been using and enjoying a review product from last year: CTC Math . Though the subscription ended a few months ago, I was blessed to be chosen for this year's review of it again. You can read my review from last year here. Earlier this year, I got a good deal on the Life of Fed Before High School series , and we are enjoying going through that....

I am willing to bet that curriculum line up is on the mind of many homeschoolers at the moment. I am no exception. I have been meaning to sit down and draw up a tentative plan for the up coming school year. I finally get to do it, and decided to share it here. The boys will be officially in grade 4 and 6. Wow, the years are mounting up! For the 2014-2015 year I am hoping to still be on the crew, through which I am getting a lot of curriculum to try, so I am trying to not buy too much stuff. So here we go: (The ones with asterisks will be new acquisitions) Both of them will be working on these curriculum: CTC Math (online) :  Both of them are liking this program so we will stick with it for now. You can read  my review . Math on the Level :   our go to curriculum. Tapestry of Grace year 1 : We are looking forward to starting our cycle back again to Ancient Time. **** Writing and Rhetoric Book 2: Narrative 1: We are all liking this book. Spelling list...

It is that time of year, time to lay down the choices and decisions made about what to use for school in the coming year. So, here are my plans for my 2 boys, Zach in Grade 5 and Joho in grade 3: Math: We will continue to use Math on the Level as our main Math curriculum, and keep adding whatever I find on the web or get to review as supplements. Language Arts: Zach:   Daily Grammar . Joho:  This year I am trying something new with him: Simply Grammar . This is a Charlotte Mason grammar curriculum, which gentle approach yet rigourous, I am hoping will work for him. Both:  We will also continue spelling with  The Logic of English , which we enjoyed this year,  while  adding Spelling Wisdom to the mix. Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears : the new recently released grade 2 for Johann which includes some cursive, and Grade 5 for Zach. I love their approach to handwriting and I can testify of how it really helped improve Zach's handwriti...

Welcome back to the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop. Today we will talk curriculum, homeschoolers' favorite topic. Around this time of the year  most homeschoolers are lining up their curriculum for the upcoming year, if they have not started their year yet. Even when he is already set, a true homeschooler is always on the look out for curriculum and homeschool programs. Lots of us call ourselves "homeschool curriculum junkies". Before I start I want to share with you an article I came across last week which is very appropriate for our topic today: Before you Choose Curriculum, 3 Things to consider . Indeed, as I  choose curriculum for each year my primary considerations are: What do I want to accomplish this year? Remembering the kind of learners I have: one that hates writing, and one that is very active but does well with worksheets. My own teaching style: I love teaching but the more they can do on their own, the better. To go back to the first point (what do I...