Could anyone look at my school year plan?

[Di3kids]

Thanks for any input! (I also posted on K-8 not to duplicate but only since I have kids in both age groups.) **I particularly need wisdom with the read-alouds (I have a few too many!). Which of these would be less well-suited to reading aloud so I could assign to 5th or 8th grader on their own (I’m greedy and want to read these, too!)?

 

Josh-10th grade (7 credits)

History (1 cr.): MFW World History and Literature

Exploring World History (Notgrass)

World History Map Activities

Rand McNally Historical Atlas of the World

Encyclopedia of the Ancient World

History of the World (MFW edition)

Bible (1 cr.): MFW World History and Literature

In His Steps

Heroes of the Faith

Church History in Plain Language

More Than a Carpenter

Christianity, Cults and Religions

Experiencing God: Youth Edition

Also memorizing verses as a family, reading his own Bible

Literature (1 cr.): MFW World History and Literature

Julius Caesar

Beowulf

British Literature

Teacher Guide for British Literature

Practicing His Presence

The Pilgrim’s Progress in Modern English

A Tale of Two Cities

Silas Marner

Pride and Prejudice

Cry, the Beloved Country

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret

The Hiding Place

Animal Farm

Writer’s Inc.

(Also reading short selections from The Canterbury Tales,

Paradise Lost, Gulliver’s Travels)

Science (1 cr.): Apologia Chemistry

Math (1 cr.): Videotext Geometry or perhaps Geometry at local school (!)

Spanish (1 cr.): Pimsleur, extra reading and reports

Photography (1/2 cr.): online course through betterphoto.com, lots of personal work

Phy. Ed (1/2 cr.): running, soccer, and a p.e. class through our co-op

A few extra items:

Writing: IEW’s The Elegant Essay

Literature Analysis :Teaching the Classics (view DVDs with Mom and

Elisabeth)

The SAT and College Preparation Course for the Christian Student

 

[extra activities: piano and guitar lessons, 4-H, homeschool drama troupe, church youth group and leadership team, church worship team, forming band with some friends, nursery worker, sound volunteer, playing and visiting at nursing homes, co-op, learning to drive]

 

 

Elisabeth – 8th grade

History: Mystery of History, vol. 2 (early church through middle ages)/do with Mom and Annie, add'l history books

Math: Videotext Algebra

Science: Apologia General Science

Spelling: Spelling Workout H, spelling bee preparation

Spanish: Pimsleur

English: Rod and Staff 7

Bible: memorizing verses as a family, reading her own Bible

Writing: IEW Student Writing Intensive C

Art: Draw and Write Through History-Vikings and the Middle Ages, also Draw Today (through co-op)

Literature Analysis: Teaching the Classics (view DVDs with Mom and Josh)

Logic: Fallacy Detective and Thinking Toolbox

Literature:

Little Women

Ivanhoe

Eagle of the Ninth (119 A.D.)

Fingal’s Quest (6th c. France & Ireland)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Tolkien)

Saint George and the Dragon (England)

Castle Diary (1285)

 

[extra activities: piano lessons, 4-H, homeschool drama troupe, church youth group, nursery worker, playing and visiting at nursing homes, co-op, ballet, tap, jazz and pointe, much-loved baby-sitter]

 

 

Annie-5th grade

History: Mystery of History, vol. 2 (early church through middle ages)/do with Mom and Elisabeth, add'l history books

Math: Singapore, Mathtacular video

Science: Apologia Human Anatomy and Physiology plus notebooking resource

Spelling: Spelling Workout E

Spanish: Pimsleur

English: Rod and Staff 4

Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser 5

Bible: memorizing verses as a family, reading her own Bible

Writing: Meaningful Composition 4

Art: Draw and Write Through History-Vikings and the Middle Ages, also Draw Today (through co-op)

Literature:

Heidi

Cricket in Times Square

Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky

Black Horses for the King (5th c. Britain)

Theras and His Town (5th c. Greece)

Tales of Robin Hood (1200’s)

Saint George and the Dragon (England)

Castle Diary (1285)

 

[extra activities: piano lessons, 4-H, homeschool drama troupe, playing and visiting at nursing homes, co-op, ballet, tap, jazz, soccer team]

 

Read-Alouds (with all three children)-most go with history and a few are just for fun

The Gammage Cup

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Red Sails to Capri

Twenty-One Balloons

Twice Freed (1st. c)

The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow (early Christianity to Vikings)

Augustine Came to Kent (597 England)

The Shining Company (7th c. in Britain)

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver (1100’s)

Adam of the Road (1200’s England)

Catherine, Called Birdy (1290 England)

The Ramsay Scallop (England, France, Spain, crusades, 1299)

The Beduin’s Gazelle (Morocco, 1302, sequel to The Ramsay Scallop)

Crispin: Cross of Lead (1377 England)

The Door in the Wall (1300’s, Britain)

Joan of Arc by Stanley (early 1400’s)

The Trumpeter of Krakow (15th c. Poland)

The Great and Terrible Quest (late middle ages)

[Teachin'Mine]

Wow - I'm impressed! Your plans look awesome!!!

 

Hopefully someone else will be able to guide you on the reading. :)

[DebbS]

Awesome! But, I would definitely give your 10th grader high school credit for music. It looks like he does at least a full credits worth with the lessons and the performances. It's great that he does them as outside activities, but why not leverage this to his advantage? It wouldn't create any more work for him. He does have plenty of credits this year, but you never know if in the future you'll have a bad year (like we did last year) and need some extra padding.

[Di3kids]

Thanks for the encouragement, and the suggestion to give my son credit for his music (he does put in a lot of time on this). Any tips for grading this subject?

[LoriM]

Thanks for the encouragement, and the suggestion to give my son credit for his music (he does put in a lot of time on this). Any tips for grading this subject?

 

For courses like this, I wrote a contract (think "syllabus") with my child for weekly minutes of practice, and performances (open mic nights, recitals) for the year. She listed pieces of music she planned to master, and I asked her to make sure she knew the "context" of the piece (artist, when it was written, why) if asked.

 

I had her keep a journal of her practice time, and then she gave herself a grade at the end of each quarter based on her own evaluation. (She is her own worst critic.) I asked her instructors for feedback on her diligence and courage, and incorporated that into my evaluation.

 

Oh, and I also reminded her that if her effort fell, we'd stop paying for lessons. GRIN. So, that worked too.

 

To me, it was obvious in advance she'd have an A. But she took it very seriously, and often struggled over the idea of "giving" herself an A when she could have practiced more, and tried harder pieces.