Dmmetler Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 This is for a PG 8 yr old, on a middle school or higher level in most things who loves math and loves "cute". She's decided we're going to decorate the school room in lizards, alligators, frogs, and snakes this year. LA- MCT Town, mostly Paragraph Town and Practice Town (continued from this year), NaNoWriMo writing activities, maybe some EM writing activities. I'd like to get her just plain more comfortable writing more on paper, so I'm thinking this is a good year for cute stationary, fun writing prompts, and lots of drawing and illustrating. Literature online at Athena's Academy, mostly for the discussion and the chance to share books. They've got several favorites on the syllabus for this year, including Wind in the Willows, and she's loving the 5th grade level one. Maybe EPGY LA Spelling bee prep Typing practice Math- LoF Beginning Algebra/advanced Algebra, math contest prep, Mathletics (DD really likes it-maybe because of the cute graphics), lots of really nice books I picked up at PP's discount sale, maybe EPGY or some of the TIPS online classes-TIPS looks like they have some fun things for her age group that would be different and that aren't too expensive. I picked up a couple of fun "pre-geometry" books that I think might be a nice addition, too. Logic- Lots of nice PP books, thinkfun puzzles, and anything else interesting. Science-Physics, with LoF Beginning Physics, How things Work, The Cartoon guide to physics, a really cute set of coloring/activity books from the American Physics Society I'd forgotten I'd downloaded (which should lead well into studying specific people, and lots of hands on stuff to play with (I just did a nice order from Home Science Tools that my DH commented HE wanted to play with :) ). I expect she'll also continue diving deeply into reptiles and amphibians-that particular interest doesn't seem to have waned yet, so she'll probably sit in unofficially on another college zoology class this Fall. History-Continue into Medieval/Renaissance (approximately SOTW 2), with lots of books, starts and stops, and general rabbit trails. Draw and write through history, Dover books, stuff like that. Basically, 3rd grade hands on stuff with middle and high school level texts. She's already told me she wants to do a unit on Beowulf, and I think she'd enjoy some of the cleaner Canterbury Tales. Maybe the AAA World Geography class? Can't decide on this... Latin-SSL 2 (although it arrived today and may well be finished by tomorrow-the book seems to have vanished when I went to put the CD into iTunes), ELE prep (probably focusing on the specialty tests this year, because I don't think the main syllabus changes), Cambridge Latin 3 (mostly using the online supplements more than the book), Headventureland for the games and activities. Spanish-DuoLingo Spanish, reading in Spanish. Probably at least one other Mango language. PE-tumbling and cheer team Fine arts-Piano and music theory/composition with private teacher, maybe ballet if we can find a place with a recreational track for an advanced beginner/young intermediate (5th year) who just wants to do a class or two a week for fun. Group activities---I don't know yet. DD wants to have a math team, and wants to have mythology club again, but the number of "oh, we decided to do something else" we've had this year has driven me crazy. We're dropping co-op, and she's outgrown her lab science class, so I think we may just not even try academic group stuff except online this year. I'm guessing she's still going to be heavily into contests this year, especially since the medals and certificates are starting to accrue and she's starting to see results of her work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkyandtheBrains. Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 (Am I supposed to have a plan?) You're plan looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Looks good! We're going to focus on writing this year using IEW - SWI A and WWE3. I have Town, but haven't looked through it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clemota Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 Looks good and well-thought out! Ummm, I'm not quite there yet. :leaving: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junepep Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Your daughter is so amazing :) Instead of academic groups (since you both seem like you might like a break from them) have you thought about joining a multi-age park/play day group? The one that I'm in (in SE PA) was started by someone from CA, but I can't imagine that it's unique - there have got to be some elsewhere too. Being able to just hang out with a group of kids of different ages that simply accept Kit as she is (she's very shy and horribly rule oriented) has been incredible for her self-esteem and willingness to reach out to other people and try new things. Plus, I get to enjoy coffee and lunch with an amazing group of diverse women while both girls are off playing, which might just be the best part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MASHomeschooler Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Sounds great! Your dd is a year older than my oldest and I have been doing some rough long-term planning. You have a number of things I have penciled in for fourth, and now I went ahead and noted a couple of the ones I didn't have. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Have you always home schooled? Just that my son while not PG is on the HG/EG and it makes me wonder what he would be capable of if homeschooled. At the moment it would be fair to day he is not really stretched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 Sounds like a fun plan, I think my daughter would love it so I'm sure yours will too. I wanted to second the suggestion of a non-academic homeschool activity. Park day or monthly excursion group or something. For a while we had a homeschool (parents & children) yoga class that was a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 My DD was homeschooled after 1 year in PS K on early entry. By January, both parents and teacher were convinced that we couldn't make it work for her (and she had a great K teacher who was doing her best, plus pull-outs for math and reading to go to an advanced group with older kids). The final straw was a meeting for planning for the subsequent year where the principal outlined all these great ideas, and the 1st grade teacher looked like she was a deer in front of the headlights, obviously wondering "How the heck am I supposed to do this??" It's taken three years to get to the point where I feel like she's actually being challenged and where everything didn't come easy. The first year I badly underestimated and ended up throwing out a lot of stuff, changing tracks several times, and so on. Last year was a little better, but about March she did a major, and I mean MAJOR jump in math. This year is the first year that I haven't had to repurchase curriculum mid-year and is the first that she's regularly run into topics that are challenging and new to her. We're actually going into April with UNFINISHED materials for reasons other than "We did the first three lessons, and then the last test in the book because it was too easy", and where I feel like I'm finding a balance between age-appropriate/fun and challenging. As far as park days go, that's frustrating. That's actually how we came to homeschooling initially-when DD was about 3, I'd given up completely on playgroups, but she was DYING to be with other kids (that was how we ended up putting her in PS at age 4), and we ran into a group of moms that met at a local park for their homeschooled older kids to get together, plus a few siblings. DD ended up happily playing with the older kids, and I would sit and chat with the moms (mostly about nothing related to homeschooling), which made, when school didn't work for DD, a natural jump into homeschooling. I think our homeschool group has gotten too big-it's turned into this giant, scheduled blob where there's so much going on and so many groups that it gives me a headache. The relaxed park days where just anyone could come are a thing of the past, replaced by "Unschoolers activity group" "K-2 field trip group" "5th-7th grade science group", often three or four things happening at once. Which is what happened with mythology-instead of being a nice, stable group of a few kids who shared a common interest that I was hoping would be a good social fit for DD, it ended up with a couple of nice get togethers, but then other activities pulled people away. Maybe it's time to put a "just hang out" group on the calendar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I understand. Our local area is similar. Sooooo much going on that the relaxed park/play meets have fallen by the wayside. A couple of mothers to whom that is more important are having some success with reinstating them though, maybe you need to be that person? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I bet you are not the only one who feels that way. Maybe you start a "returning to our group roots" movement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clemota Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I bet you are not the only one who feels that way. Maybe you start a "returning to our group roots" movement. :iagree: If you post it, they will come.... Our group experienced some of that same fracturing. Not a bad thing, really; just not what my kids and I were looking for. We stubbornly hung on - even when there were only 2 or 3 of us showing up at the park. It did experience a turn around this year though - new homeschoolers joined, others decided they wanted to go back to a basic park day, and suddenly attendance climbed back up. If you can post it to your group, let them know you're doing a "new" park day - it's not really new, but if your group has grown that much I'm sure there may be some who would back welcome a basic park day. Also, for those of us with multi-age kids, it's great to be able to go to one activity they can ALL enjoy - maybe you could promote that somehow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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