MAIMOM Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 In December I felt like I was the problem with our home school year. I was frustrated and wondering about changing back to a boxed curriculum. Here is our update. I took a hard look at our schedule and my expectations. I realized this year is about making sure the foundations are solid for my DD. When we started the year she had huge holes in her grammar and spelling. We are getting a solid foundation in both areas. Her writing assignments have been taken on by my husband who is excited to share his experiences with her. This year has not been a large year credit wise, she will have 4.5 credits for a total of 13.5 credits the end of her sophomore year. I have not counted Literature....we have been using TOG lit so far and as we get in the groove of her classes we may continue and research what is required for a credit. She is not missing any core subjects and will be on track to finish in 2 years. We have Rosetta stone Spanish that we are doing for fun together. She can take it for credit her Jr and Sr year. I reevaluated our curriculum for history and decided to go with a boxed world history. I love TOG and we are continuing the literature from that but decided to change history. Bob Jones had their online classes on sale just before Christmas so I signed her up for World history online. We are both loving the lay out so far. She has found joy in having an online forum of other students to interact with. I think much of her lack of effort during November and December came from a bit of depression or let down from the marching band season of school where she had daily contact with friends. This online class allows her to feel connected as well as gives her daily achievement goals. She has asked me to consider this type of format for next year. We will see how we like it at the end of the course. I have been wondering what to do for 11th grade and wanted to outsource most.....We may have found our answer for what to do next year. We did eliminate symphonic band from our morning schedule. This allows us to get the day started without interruptions. I left the option to her and she is the one that decided for this semester it was better to focus at home. It has been nice to take a breather and work with my daughter in deciding what to pursue. She has really shown some steps in maturity in her decisions. I am glad I did not make the decision for her but allowed her to wrestle through her "want to" vs "works better". I have embraced the fact I am a box curriculum person. I like the known boundaries and expectations. My kids like this setting also and thrive within it. I am surprised I did not realize sooner how we were feeling. We were out of our comfort zone and that left us feeling adrift. Thank you for your encouragement! Looking forward to the rest of this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I have embraced the fact I am a box curriculum person. I like the known boundaries and expectations. My kids like this setting also and thrive within it. I am surprised I did not realize sooner how we were feeling. We were out of our comfort zone and that left us feeling adrift. Thank you for your encouragement! Looking forward to the rest of this year. So good that you were willing to be flexible and find what works. High school doesn't look at all what I thought it would be for us either. At first I alwalys envisioned teaching them myself all the way (we used TOG and Sonlight different years), then that morphed into using a local all-in-one group, and now it looks like we'll do a mix of online and mom-taught is best for high school. Mine love online classes, but don't want to go 100% that way because of the time involved. I can see the youngest getting lonely when they are the last one left, so that may lead to yet another change, but who knows! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullia Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Thank you for the update. I think flexibility is a must for homeschooling through high school. My son liked the certainties of a box curriculum, too, and preferred that approach. He also learned to appreciate having a few more open-ended classes as well. Have a wonderful spring semester! :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Good for you! We got the physical science class with their $99. I forgot about the online forum, so we'll have to check that out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girl Power Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Good for you! We got the physical science class with their $99. I forgot about the online forum, so we'll have to check that out! I am full of BJU love right now too. I've been struggling this year and decided to try BJU for 3rd and 6th, and love, love, love it. I am loving it for all the reasons I've rejected boxed before. I love having a teacher share the load. Beck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 I got up this morning at there my DD was sitting at the computer getting an early start on her day. This is the DD I was missing last semester.! I am so glad we changed it up. I am going to attend the HS conference in March and see what else is out there along the lines of online. My DD in 6th loves boxed but not online. She loves books. Looking forward to a great year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
74Heaven Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I missed the $99 sale. Grr I wanted to buy Geometry & U.S. History for 2 kids. Does anyone remember is BJUP (has in the past) also did this $99deal for a summer semester? We have done both Geom & US History DVDs with olders and those were our favorite subjects by far with Mrs. Vick and Dr. Conn, (I think that was his name). But I thought the sale ended 12/31 and so when I went online to tie up my loose ends after Christmas, I found out I'd missed it!! Just for my 2cents worth, we did 4.5 classes one year on DVD and it was NOT a good fit. Both my children found the DVDs tedious (except the two above) and they both learned too doodle for the first time.... What I found out that year (9th & 11th gr daughters) was that less DVD classes is better than a whole slew of them. We also did chemistry and that went pretty well. Because chemistry is such a tough subject at our house, it made a good match for the students. I think next time, I'd do some kind of online - interactive if that is offered thru BJUP or another place. Lisaj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I'm glad to hear that your daughter's homeschooling has taken a turn for the better. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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