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The goals thread was great to really start formalizing the ever shifting ideas about next year. How about one for curriculum plans? Anyone starting to figure out what next year holds?

 

Here are our current plans....sure to change in a week since I have put this out there.....

 

Music: Piano and possibly violin if we wind up going abroad (moving a piano is a bit problematic), continuing music theory

 

English: Homegrown. Advanced Diagramming. Efficency at scaffolding. Depth of discussion/ oral rhetoric

 

Science: Environmental Science at home with the AP test

 

Latin: Lukeion Latin 2

 

History: Lukeion Meet the Greeks and Meet the Romans; continuing Art History

 

Math: AoPS; Derek Ownes for verification of Geo and Algebra II

 

The boy is expressing an interest in French. As far as I am concerned, no foriegn language other than Latin is going to be decided until we get final confirmation on the country we will be living in. This has never stopped him before, so he might decide to begin dabbling in French.

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Very sketchy here because we won't have a college course schedule, and DD is middle priority on registration (she will be a returning student and isn't DE, but since she doesn't have a declared major, she registers later than some).

 

But-

 

Math-2nd semester of the CC sequence she's taking (2 semester math for education majors, which is basically college algebra, logic and math teaching techniques) Fall, Probability and Statistics or Finite Math Spring (depending on whether she is likely to go to PS high school-if she does, we'll save stats for then since most schools offer AP stats, but few offer Finite Math. ) Lead math club for elementary kids.

 

Science-some CC class-Ecology, Microbiology, or Anatomy and Physiology depending on whether she is likely to go to PS. Possibly doing Chem lab locally at the high school level for extra practice on calculations and lab reports (The person DD is doing lab bio with is a PhD organic chemist, and DD likes her, although she doesn't think much of high school level bio). Micro and A&P have 2 semester sequences. If Ecology, probably continue as a homegrown class in Spring. Science education and outreach. And, as always, herpetology.

 

English-either an online lit class or homegrown, lots of essay and formal analysis practice. Possibly look at the English Comp CLEP exam or SAT-2.

 

History-Either continue our tour of history around the English Speaking World, if I can find books, or an online class

 

Foreign language -Possibly Spanish 1 at CC (we haven't done Spanish in several years now). Depending on schedule, we may review Spanish at home in the fall and then do the class in the Spring.

 

Piano

 

Cheer team (She wants to try out for the CC team :) ).

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Next year's plans are very tentative.  I answered in another thread, but here's more musings.

 

So far I have
Language Arts: ELTL 3.  I bought it during one of their sales and he looks ready for it, though we may make it a 5 day program, not 3.

 

Math: we found he is shaky on fractions.  Right now he's working through MUS's Epsilon dvd and for the first time enjoying Steve Demme.  I tried putting him in Alpha last year and it was a no-go.  So he's doing that, he's continuing LoF, I figure next year will be mostly an exploration year using some of the alternative math books that are out there.

 

Science: My plan right now is to introduce My Pals Are Here! level 3, but give him the freedom to do whatever unit studies he wants.  We'll actually live near a science museum for the first time ever and I have a feeling that will influence his thoughts a lot.

 

History: SOTW 2, or History At Our House.  He took an overview course through them in the fall and really enjoyed himself. 

 

Foreign languages:  Continue Duolingo for Spanish, Latin's Not So Tough, and I previewed a French program today that has promise.  It's WhistleFritz videos and lesson plans.  They do an immersion style dvd program (only 3 of them though), and have the option to buy extension plans with it.  The boys both enjoyed the video we watched and I like that we can split it up if need be.

 

I think that's everything.  Oh!  I also want to implement a plan for character.  Sort of.  I figure if we read through one ValueTale a week that'll springboard some discussions on that trait as well as the person who is featured in the book.

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I answered this elsewhere too.... but I'll add more thoughts here

 

Math-- DD is on track to finish the Intro to Algebra book this year. So next year she will do AOPS Intro to Geometry. But she just asked me to purchase AOPS Counting and Probablity and wants to do that as well. She picked it over the Number Theory book because she wants to do both, but if she was only going to do one, it would be number theory. This logic makes sense to her. Lol

 

History-- Notgrass From Adam to Us

 

Grammar-- MCT Magic Lens 2, 4Practice 2. I am tired of the repetition and I've been looking for something else. But really can't find anything that will resonate with her. And build on Magic Lens 1. She has done Twon, and Voyage levels as well. Part of me just wants to get the practice book and call grammar done. Help?

 

Vocab-- MCT Word Within the Word 2. She loved CE 1 and 2 and loves WWTW 1. So this is an easy pick.

 

Writing-- not sure yet. Might use MCT AAW 1 since I have it. Might just work on an essay a week. She is a natural writer. She can easily write an essay. I have the Strunk and White book... maybe we will just read through it.

 

Literature-- Figuratively Speaking, Notgrass literature. She reads a lot on her own. I was going to continue the next level of MCT poetry. But like Magic Lens, it is so repetitive. So probably not.

 

Science-- Little Passports Science Expedition subscription she got for Christmas. Plus we keep buying science kits... she wants Chen 3000. We shall see. She wants to do Ellen McHenry's Mapping the Body with Art. She reads science books and watches videos. She is a math/science kid. (Who loves crafts lol)

 

French-- Memoria Press First Start French. Finish book 1 and start book 2. duollingo. Plus she has a pile of French children's books.

 

PE-- she is an optionals level competitive gymnast and goes about 20 hours a week

 

She may want to continue with Greek. Or restart Latin. Of and she picked up a geography book she wants to do too.

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Oooh, I'm glad you stared this thread.  I need some ideas.  Also, I wanted to write out my (really, really) rough draft plans for 5yo DS#3 on the other board's planning threads, but I couldn't decide where to post so I just didn't.  He's technically supposed to start K in the fall, but his birthday's only a couple of months after the Oct cutoff.  In my head it feels more like his 1st grade year coming up. Anyways, this is what I've got so far.

 

 

5yo DS#3 for K/1st

 

Math: MEP 3 and/or Beast 3, though he just started MEP 2 and RS C, so he may have some finishing up to do on those first.  It's hard to predict.

 

Science:  I could really use some suggestions!  He needs activities to do and material to read for himself; nothing discussion based will work.  Right now I'm leaning toward continuing with E-M Daily Science 3 as a spine with Scott Foresman textbooks, Bill Nye episodes, and library books to flesh it out.  This just isn't feeling awesome though.

 

History/Lit/Geography:  BookShark 3 + E-M Daily Geography 3 (or maybe not E-M Geography, it's a lot of writing at that level)

 

Language Arts:  Not sure.  He's done FLL 1 and 2, but FLL 3 was too dry.  I'm considering starting him in MCT Island, but I'm worried it will be too much.  So maybe I'll have him do the E-M Language Fundamentals 2 workbook as a segue into MCT.  Or maybe something else??  

 

Extras: totally going to do RFWP Sharon Kaye philosophy level B (Theo Rising).  Nothing else planned yet.  I'll be reading this thread and hunting for ideas.

 

 

8yo, soon to be 9yo, DS#1 for 4th (who I did post on another thread, but plans have already changed! lol)

 

Math: AoPS Pre-A, might throw in RightStart lvl G too for fun and fine motor practice

 

Science: No idea

 

History/Lit/Geography:  BookShark 3 (with DS#3) + E-M Geography 5

 

Language Arts:  MCT Town.  Going to work through Killgallons Elementary Sentence Composing nowish through the summer, so maybe continue with that, or maybe move on

 

Extras:  RFWP Sharon Kaye philosophy lvl E (Finding Faith).  Not sure what else.

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Next year's plans are very tentative. I answered in another thread, but here's more musings.

 

So far I have

Language Arts: ELTL 3. I bought it during one of their sales and he looks ready for it, though we may make it a 5 day program, not 3.

 

Math: we found he is shaky on fractions. Right now he's working through MUS's Epsilon dvd and for the first time enjoying Steve Demme. I tried putting him in Alpha last year and it was a no-go. So he's doing that, he's continuing LoF, I figure next year will be mostly an exploration year using some of the alternative math books that are out there.

 

Science: My plan right now is to introduce My Pals Are Here! level 3, but give him the freedom to do whatever unit studies he wants. We'll actually live near a science museum for the first time ever and I have a feeling that will influence his thoughts a lot.

 

History: SOTW 2, or History At Our House. He took an overview course through them in the fall and really enjoyed himself.

 

Foreign languages: Continue Duolingo for Spanish, Latin's Not So Tough, and I previewed a French program today that has promise. It's WhistleFritz videos and lesson plans. They do an immersion style dvd program (only 3 of them though), and have the option to buy extension plans with it. The boys both enjoyed the video we watched and I like that we can split it up if need be.

 

I think that's everything. Oh! I also want to implement a plan for character. Sort of. I figure if we read through one ValueTale a week that'll springboard some discussions on that trait as well as the person who is featured in the book.

What is the French program?

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What is the French program?

 

http://www.whistlefritz.com/french-programs/

 

It is an introduction, but I have enough of a background to be able to draw it out if the lesson plans aren't enough.  I'm still looking, including at a textbook based one that does a lot of Montessori 3 part cards.  It's just hard to find a children's French program.

 

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I am so not ready to think about the next year!

 

DS:

Math: We are on track to start Prealgebra. I hope to start the book over the summer and then sign him up for the online class.

English: I'll probably have him take another young reader CTY class, and something else for writing. Continue providing him with reading materials and ask for some writing. Maybe add some quick formal grammar course.

Science and history: I have no idea. Bits and pieces of everything.

French: we will continue with our tutor. That is up to her.

Russian: we may drop Russian school, but then I'll have to come up with something else.

PE: fencing.

 

DD:

10th grade, so I am very nervous. She is going to take some DE classes, but I can't really plan anything, since there is no schedule yet, plus she has the lowest priority.

Math she will continue with AOPS Intermediate Algebra.

French with the tutor

English: could be DE or CTY writing. Not sure yet.

History: no idea. DE or something at home.

Science: Definitely DE, but we are still trying to decide if she should take chem 101, and then bio 101, or if she can take intro to biology. Physics is out of question this year, since they only have a conceptual physics course, and the next step up requires precalculus finished.

She will probably take something else in CC for an elective.

 

Now let's see how long these plans will last :)

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Olga, how have you liked the CTY Young Readers classes? I am trying to decide whether to stick with Athena's/OG3, or to venture over to CTY's offerings.

 

We liked them enough to consider another one for the next year :). I also signed up my DD for their Crafting the essay class because I liked DS's class (I know, not very logical :) )But it is also important that it was a match with my DS personality. It works like a forum: you read the assignments and post your answers and some writing assignment. Then in a few days you get your feedback. There was practically no critiques, mostly praise, but in our case it was exactly what he needed. He is shy and lacks confidence, although he is a very good writer. For us, it was the perfect amount of writing/thinking per week, plus it gave me topics for discussions with him. I liked the questions, since there was absolutely no "comprehension" questions, but rather much deeper discussions of underlying themes. We usually discussed all the questions, but he wrote only the required number. As for the discussions with classmates, our class only had the required posts. There was no actual inspired discussions among the kids. It's my understanding that Athena has live classes, so it will be different.

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DD is 6, turning 7 in May. Really don't know what next year will look like. We know we'll move early summer, but still don't know where, not even which country, so all my plans could go completely out the window. Roughly:

Math: Move along in Beast Academy as she's ready. Throw in Zaccaro, Hands on Equations, living math books, and whatever else catches my eye.

English: Not totally sure. We just finished CE 1 and Grammar Town, but the writing is still over her head. Probably we'll move on to CE 2 but not the rest of Voyage. Brave Writer is always in the mix somewhere. And we're still working on basic handwriting and typing skills. She reads tons, and my book lists aren't adequate to keep up at this point, so probably lots of asking the librarians "what's next?" Hopefully we'll still have good librarians after we move!

Foreign language: She's roughly reached conversational fluency in Spanish. Sometime after our immersion trip this Spring, we'll switch our focus to French. Maybe Galore Park? This will be DH's subject to teach, as he is fluent and I suck at foreign languages.

Then we always have a couple of interest-based subjects that we follow until the interest is done. These are usually science or art. Last semester it included her first Athena's class, which she loved, so I assume she'll go back to that when we're not traveling for a chunk of the semester.

ECs: she currently does gymnastics, dance, circus arts, piano, nature/forest school, and random other. Probably depends a lot on what is available wherever we end up living.

Edited by Jackie
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We liked them enough to consider another one for the next year :). I also signed up my DD for their Crafting the essay class because I liked DS's class (I know, not very logical :) )But it is also important that it was a match with my DS personality. It works like a forum: you read the assignments and post your answers and some writing assignment. Then in a few days you get your feedback. There was practically no critiques, mostly praise, but in our case it was exactly what he needed. He is shy and lacks confidence, although he is a very good writer. For us, it was the perfect amount of writing/thinking per week, plus it gave me topics for discussions with him. I liked the questions, since there was absolutely no "comprehension" questions, but rather much deeper discussions of underlying themes. We usually discussed all the questions, but he wrote only the required number. As for the discussions with classmates, our class only had the required posts. There was no actual inspired discussions among the kids. It's my understanding that Athena has live classes, so it will be different.

 

Yes, Athena's has live classes. Sacha is an extrovert, and a motormouth, so these are probably better for him. Thanks for the feedback!

Edited by SeaConquest
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Oooh, I'm glad you stared this thread.  I need some ideas.  Also, I wanted to write out my (really, really) rough draft plans for 5yo DS#3 on the other board's planning threads, but I couldn't decide where to post so I just didn't.  He's technically supposed to start K in the fall, but his birthday's only a couple of months after the Oct cutoff.  In my head it feels more like his 1st grade year coming up. Anyways, this is what I've got so far.

 

 

5yo DS#3 for K/1st

 

Math: MEP 3 and/or Beast 3, though he just started MEP 2 and RS C, so he may have some finishing up to do on those first.  It's hard to predict.

 

Science:  I could really use some suggestions!  He needs activities to do and material to read for himself; nothing discussion based will work.  Right now I'm leaning toward continuing with E-M Daily Science 3 as a spine with Scott Foresman textbooks, Bill Nye episodes, and library books to flesh it out.  This just isn't feeling awesome though.

 

History/Lit/Geography:  BookShark 3 + E-M Daily Geography 3 (or maybe not E-M Geography, it's a lot of writing at that level)

 

Language Arts:  Not sure.  He's done FLL 1 and 2, but FLL 3 was too dry.  I'm considering starting him in MCT Island, but I'm worried it will be too much.  So maybe I'll have him do the E-M Language Fundamentals 2 workbook as a segue into MCT.  Or maybe something else??  

 

Extras: totally going to do RFWP Sharon Kaye philosophy level B (Theo Rising).  Nothing else planned yet.  I'll be reading this thread and hunting for ideas.

 

 

8yo, soon to be 9yo, DS#1 for 4th (who I did post on another thread, but plans have already changed! lol)

 

Math: AoPS Pre-A, might throw in RightStart lvl G too for fun and fine motor practice

 

Science: No idea

 

History/Lit/Geography:  BookShark 3 (with DS#3) + E-M Geography 5

 

Language Arts:  MCT Town.  Going to work through Killgallons Elementary Sentence Composing nowish through the summer, so maybe continue with that, or maybe move on

 

Extras:  RFWP Sharon Kaye philosophy lvl E (Finding Faith).  Not sure what else.

 

We did MCT Island in 1st, and it was totally fine. It may actually be somewhat redundant after FLL. I only glanced at FLL once, so I don't remember what all it covers at the various levels. I just remember thinking that it moved really slowly, and wouldn't work for my kid. MCT is definitely more engaging. 

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Yes, Athena's has live classes. Sacha is an extrovert, and a motormouth, so these are probably better for him. Thanks for the feedback!

 

My son is happens to be a very shy extrovert. He needs his talk, but only with people he knows well. And when it comes to school, he would rather write it down than tell you. On the other hand, he is a very fast typist and used to chats, which is why I think he will do well with AOPS online classes format.

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The current rain storms is making it hard to decide on how many B&M outside classes for next year. My DS12 is feeling cabin fever this year since we only have two outside classes and everything else online.

So I am trying to find more weekend outside classes before deciding on any online classes. That is because my husband is the only driver so he drops us off at the Saturday school drop off zone and it is sheltered all the way to the classrooms.

For weekdays B&M class, we rely on public transport and walking in the rain which was okay when it is drizzling but tough when it is a thunderstorm.

 

ETA:

The last few years has been drought years and my kids were pampered by the dry weather. They don't mind the rain but their backpacks aren't waterproof and umbrellas are useless due to the strong winds while raining.

Edited by Arcadia
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Math: Move along in Beast Academy as she's ready. Throw in Zaccaro, Hands on Equations, living math books, and whatever else catches my eye.

 

DS just ran through HoE. For the writing portion we got a 1cm graph paper notebook that gave him enough room to do his figures in and keep them organized.  It was much better than trying to write it on a worksheet or even lined paper for him.

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well, this is the first year I'm not excited about planning for next year.  I'm still really overwhelmed from adding my twins into the mix.  I'm also taking a college course and studying for the GRE so I'm just not in planning for next year mode.

 

DD&DS (7 in July ~ 2nd grade)

 

DD is MG and DS is HG so that's a tiny bit challenging.  He's flying past her in math so I may switch one of them to something else.

Math: Miquon this year, but I'm switching to MM and lots of math games

LA: Bravewriter

Science: unit studies

History: unit studies

 

DD does gymnastics and violin, DD does soccer & piano

 

DS 10 (11 in November, ~ 6th grade)

 

uuuhhhhh..... :leaving:

 

ETA: Ok, I do know a few things he'll be doing, and the more I think about it the more I realize he probably needs a lot of outside instruction and I better get on that.

 

I think it's going to shape up like this,

 

Spanish: Continue HSA

Math: Jacobs

LA:  Maybe a Bravewriter class or two

Lit: finish up Mensa excellence in reading 4-6, continue grades 7-8 (we've read some, we can't get through Little Women to save our lives. :lol: )

History: online or Unit Study World History

Science: online or Unit Studies he's into computer science and chemistry

He also does swimming and piano  We are going to try to get him into the jazz piano group as well.

Edited by Runningmom80
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Sacha (Third Grade):

Math: Beast Academy 5, Borac, HOE, MOEMS

Science: Athena's Chemistry (uses McHenry), Mystery Science

Lit: Athena's Upper Intermediate Lit

Grammar: MCT Voyage

Writing: Writing & Rhetoric 3&4, Treasured Conversations, Killgallon

History: Athena's SOTW4

Latin: Latin Prep 1

French: Online G3 French (uses Galore Park)

Hebrew: Duolingo/Memrise and Shalom Ivrit

Logic: Logic Liftoff, Detective Club, Philosophy for Kids

Computer Programming: still figuring out the next step after Youth Digital Mod Design I. Maybe game or server design, or Intro to Python?

PE: Soccer, Gymnastics, Tennis

Art: Through his charter school

Music: Homeschool Rock Band/Guitar Lessons and Musical Theatre

Ronen (PK4):

Another year of preschool, which includes music, art, PE, and Spanish

Hoping that he will graduate from speech therapy, otherwise that will continue

Afterschooling math and learning to read with mostly apps and games; may try to throw in some TV/movies in French and/or Spanish to see how he does

Me (Old, Pre-Nursing):

Final in Stats this week

Biochem and Oral Communications in the Spring (because, apparently a JD, and five years of litigation practice, don't prove oral communications proficiency to the State of California. :cursing: )

Anatomy & Physiology in the Summer

Microbio, Developmental Psych, and TEAS Prep in the Fall.

Application to SDSU's BSN program due by end of 2017. :svengo:

Edited by SeaConquest
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Our official school year here runs from Jan to Dec. That doesn't really mean much to us as homeschoolers, because we follow our own rhythms and not school terms/holidays. If my daughter was in school, she'd have started grade 6 yesterday. So so so glad I've got her at home.

 

Anyhoo, this is what 2017 is looking like for her (10yr old):

 

Maths: AoPS pre-alg book + videos for revision + Australian curriculum grade 10 textbook. Supplemented by Zaccaro and LoF Algebra for variety.

 

English: Bits of this and that, really. The plan is to undertake at least two essays, with each increasing in complexity and length and using APA 6th referencing. For creative writing she's still working on the novel she began for NaNoWriMo, but I don't get to see it, so I can only assume (hope?) it's going along okay. There's no curriculum we use for English at this stage, but I'm always pondering our options.

 

Science: Mapping the Body with Art, LoF Chemistry, Physics MOOC, Manga Guides, Ellen McHenry Botany, Carbon Chemistry.

 

History/Geography: Mapping the World with Art + topics that take our fancy as they arise.

 

Music: piano + guitar

 

Art: youtube tutorials in pencil drawing (Mark Crilley, CircleLine Art School) and acrylic painting (Angela Anderson, StudioSilverCreek), self-taught crochet and macrame

 

Drama: making music videos (costuming, makeup, filming, editing)

 

Fitness: backyard stuff. Nothing structured, but something every day.

 

 

The thing we're lacking at the moment is social stuff. Our social network seems to be dropping away a bit and as my daughter gets older, she's less happy with things like playing in a park. We need to find her some like-minded buddies somehow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Somethings are pretty sure older DD will start AOPS prealgebra and lil sis will do Beast.  

 

We are doing Shakespeare for Lit/Drama

 

Minimus for Latin

 

Art is artistic pursuits, 

 

LA- MCT for younger, Older who is 2e gets IEW, Mosdos &Touch type read & spell.

 

Interest led for everything else.

Edited by rebcoola
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Ideally we will move this summer to a place in Oregon with viable schools for all 3 older kids, and I won't have to worry about anything except maybe afterschooling Latin or Greek, if the school doesn't offer it.  (If anyone has any great schools in Oregon or far northern California to recommend, I'm all ears).

 

If we can't find a suitable school this year, DD11 will continue with AoPS Algebra, finish the 7/8 Mensa List books, take Latin 1 (lukeion), complete WWS 2 at home, do some sort of introductory biology survey, take Intro. to Logic. (at CLRC), read lots of historical fiction and watch related documentaries, and continue to submit creative writing for publication.

 

DS8 will do BA4, Bravewriter's Partnership Writing, every last kit the TOPscience people have, probably, and maybe something related to coding, if he ever gets through this Minecraft Mod course.

 

They are both learning to type and while I thought that would only take this semester, I am starting to be resigned to another full year of typing instruction.

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Me (Old, Pre-Nursing):

 

Final in Stats this week

Biochem and Oral Communications in the Spring (because, apparently a JD, and five years of litigation practice, don't prove oral communications proficiency to the State of California. :cursing: )

Anatomy & Physiology in the Summer

Microbio, Developmental Psych, and TEAS Prep in the Fall.

Application to SDSU's BSN program due by end of 2017. :svengo:

 

My first baby was delivered by a CNM who also had a JD.  She was a great CNM, and a *very* good communicator. :)

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HOW THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ETA an actual answer:

 

Dd1(3rd)

Singapore 4 & BA 4

MCT Town (or maybe Treasured Conversations first, then back to MCT?)

R&S Spelling 3

Pictures in Cursive D- or E-ish

If she wants to continue with her focus on Latin, probably Big Book of Lively Latin 2

If she wants to continue with Greek, ?????

Piano lessons

 

Dd2 (1st)

Singapore 2b-3, BA 2 when it comes out

Finish OPG

Something else for Language Arts?

Pictures in Cursive B- or C- ish

Probably start spelling with R&S?

If she still wants her special focus to be on plants-- I have no clue what else to do for this.

violin lessons

 

Ds1 (K)

My wild boy is completely blowing me away lately. Not so long ago, I had thought that he would do better waiting a year and being an older K instead of a younger one (summer birthday). But with the way he has exploded lately, I think we'll call this K and keep on just doing things at his own request.

Math-- he started Singapore 1a eight days ago, and has done three chapters (including IP and CWP). I have no idea where he will be by next Fall, but it will be Singapore and BA.

He will continue with OPG for phonics

Probably something for handwriting?

Continue violin lessons (unless a move makes cello feasible, as he would love to play cello)

 

All

BFSU 2

SOTW 3

Excellerate Spanish 2

 

 

 

Again ETA: I wrote my initial response shortly after learning that my husband will be losing his job this summer. Hence the overreaction.

Edited by La Condessa
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We just got the annual request from dd12's school today, asking us to let them know our plans for next year. I indicated that she will return for 8th grade next year. At times, dd talks wistfully about returning to homeschooling, but I think that would not be best at the moment. She is still engaged with school, has a nice group of friends, and seems to really enjoy her afterschool programs there. The school makes some effort to implement her 504 plan. 

 

The school does an annual trip to Paris in the spring, which dd would love to do. I need to save our pennies for that for next year. Dh would need to go as well, mainly due to the issues covered by her 504 plan. We can't count on a teacher to be fully responsible for her with a group in another country. They don't normally take parents, but they recently decided to do away with hiring a tour guide to save money, and they would be lucky to get dh to tag along. He has close to native fluency in French, and has been to Paris more times than I can remember.

 

We have started to consider various high school options for grade 9. I was going to say grades 9-12, but then realized I am very much trying to stick with a year-at-a-time mindset, while keeping options open for future years. Dd's first choice is a performing arts high school, so she needs to gradually compile a portfolio, etc, over the course of the next year, but also plan to take entrance exams for other school options. 

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It's hard to say what exactly we are going to do next year. I haven't even planned anything yet, but this what I have in my mind.

 

 

DS(9yo to be)

 

We just got to know that he was qualified for a tennis group of promising players. It was our dream, but we did not really expect it to happen, especially so early. 

Officially his training will begin next spring, hence all our plans might change drastically. 

 

So far...

 

Maths

Hopefully next year he will be qualified for maths club at school, where kids are being prepared for Olympiads.

MEP 6-7, Perelman's maths for fun, Martin Gardner's logic puzzles & teasers, Zaccaro's challenge maths, The Moscow puzzles, other problems for Olympiad maths

 

Computing

Robotic class Mindstorms 

Java

He wants Game development, but at this point I think it will be impossible

 

LA

Creative writing online course

 

Science

Galore park, Basher books + library

Physics for You - Keith Johnson

Perelman's Physics for fun

Sport Science 

 

History

DS is asking to learn Political History. 

If not, then World History - mainly library

 

Foreign Languages

Latin - not sure

French - something with daddy

 

We were planning Songwriting lessons and Public Speaking & Debate Classes.

Now it will be either one or another one, or maybe nothing at all. Everything will depends on how much intensive his tennis will become and how high its fees will be

 

Music

Piano

 

Sports

Tennis, Gymnastics and Swimming

 

 

 

DS(7yo to be)

 

 

Maths

MEP 3, Mathletics

 

Computing 

Scratch

Projects with Rpi, Littlebits, Lego Boost, Mindstorms

 

English

Galore park

 

History

The History Detective Investigates books + library

 

Science 

Galore park + library

I think we will continue The Science and History Project book

Eco-school programme - mostly library

Introduction to Microscope 

 

Arts school

 

Sports

Swimming, Gymnastics and Ninjutsu 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My first baby was delivered by a CNM who also had a JD.  She was a great CNM, and a *very* good communicator. :)

 

That gave me a much-needed chuckle as I procrastinate on studying for my stats final. Thank you. :)

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Very loosely planning... (10th grade dd)  

I should really begin to put things together. I have texts for math and science plus all the resources for history. Need to order next level French.

 

Math: Pre-Calculus

Science: Physics

History: Renaissance-Early Modern

Language Arts: Not sure...possibly a college course and/or will continue to use tutor

Foreign Language: French II and continue with Irish tutor

Music: Violin/Fiddle/gypsy jazz

 

Considering other options: Interior design course, Psychology or Art History (both either college course, online, or at home course)

 

I have a few things to look into such as the viability of taking online community college courses because I am fairly sure dd's touring schedule will not allow her to attend in person next year. My other option would be to put the courses together myself using college texts.

 

 

 

 

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Well, the kid has convinced me to let him dabble with French by himself if his other work gets completed. There is no way to legitimately say no. We have a friend who is fluent who has agreed to look over his translations and do pronunciation once a week.

 

Anyone have good beginner French curriculum? Bonus points if it can expand past first year into high school.

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This is a hard one.  I usually change plans several times for each child.


 


Ideas right now --


14 y.o. (will be 10th grader)


Math: Algebra II with Lial at home


Science: a dual enrollment class at our state flagship


History: continued at home using Well-trained Mind, Sonlight, and Great Courses


Language Arts: probably an outside class


French II: definitely an outside class


Music: continuing at the pre-college division of the conservatory


 


11 y.o. (will be 6th grader)


Math: finishing up Beast Academy and then maybe an online AoPS Pre-Algebra class


Science: no idea


History: continuing at home with Well-trained Mind and Sonlight


Language Arts: continuing with Vocabulary from Classical Roots and of course adding something else... don't know what yet


Latin II: not sure yet... using Ecce Romani now... maybe an online class... Henle? Wheelock?


need to find him a rocketry club


basketball and swimming


 


7 y.o. (will be 2nd grader)


Math: Singapore Math and adding Beast Academy


Science: no idea


History: Well-trained Mind and Sonlight


Language Arts: All About Spelling and... 


a modern language (French?)


violin lessons and orchestra


basketball and swimming


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DS 8th grade starting next week!

 

Maths: We have finally decided to try AoPS again.  doing an intro algebra class through AoPS

 

English: DS is working at an 11th grade level, so I'm working through the material I just tutored last year.  He won't take the national exams anytime soon because of the dysgraphia, but we are going to let the strengths run and spend more time here than anywhere else. Homegrown with like a billion resources.

 

English remediation: we are counting this as a half class separate from English.  continuing 40 minutes a day of typing dictation to remediate the encoding problem. Ug.

 

Science: 4 terms covering: infrastructure, organic chem, astronomy, and geology. Reading intensive.

 

History:  Medieval history using Documentaries.  (His light and fun class)

 

Mandarin: (1/2 class) using NZ correspondence school materials.  The goal is to work at a high school level with an instructor besides me.

 

Music: with a tutor. taking ABRSM music theory exam in November. Trio and String Group.

 

Extracurricular: Badminton, games group, drama, gymnastics, swimming, and multisport. My socialite.  Yes, he has an activity a day!

 

Ruth in NZ

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Well, the kid has convinced me to let him dabble with French by himself if his other work gets completed. There is no way to legitimately say no. We have a friend who is fluent who has agreed to look over his translations and do pronunciation once a week.

 

Anyone have good beginner French curriculum? Bonus points if it can expand past first year into high school.

 

I love Galore Park's Spanish, I would try the French.  I think it's really great for a gifted beginner. :)

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I love Galore Park's Spanish, I would try the French.  I think it's really great for a gifted beginner. :)

 

Agreed, but I would start with Getting Started With French, and then head into Galore Park. That is how we are proceeding. 

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The goals thread was great to really start formalizing the ever shifting ideas about next year. How about one for curriculum plans? Anyone starting to figure out what next year holds?

 

Here are our current plans....sure to change in a week since I have put this out there.....

 

Music: Piano and possibly violin if we wind up going abroad (moving a piano is a bit problematic), continuing music theory

 

English: Homegrown. Advanced Diagramming. Efficency at scaffolding. Depth of discussion/ oral rhetoric

 

Science: Environmental Science at home with the AP test

 

Latin: Lukeion Latin 2

 

History: Lukeion Meet the Greeks and Meet the Romans; continuing Art History

 

Math: AoPS; Derek Ownes for verification of Geo and Algebra II

 

The boy is expressing an interest in French. As far as I am concerned, no foriegn language other than Latin is going to be decided until we get final confirmation on the country we will be living in. This has never stopped him before, so he might decide to begin dabbling in French.

 

 

what do you do for Art History? 

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DS 8th grade starting next week!

 

Maths: We have finally decided to try AoPS again.  doing an intro algebra class through AoPS

 

English: DS is working at an 11th grade level, so I'm working through the material I just tutored last year.  He won't take the national exams anytime soon because of the dysgraphia, but we are going to let the strengths run and spend more time here than anywhere else. Homegrown with like a billion resources.

 

English remediation: we are counting this as a half class separate from English.  continuing 40 minutes a day of typing dictation to remediate the encoding problem. Ug.

 

Science: 4 terms covering: infrastructure, organic chem, astronomy, and geology. Reading intensive.

 

History:  Medieval history using Documentaries.  (His light and fun class)

 

Mandarin: (1/2 class) using NZ correspondence school materials.  The goal is to work at a high school level with an instructor besides me.

 

Music: with a tutor. taking ABRSM music theory exam in November. Trio and String Group.

 

Extracurricular: Badminton, games group, drama, gymnastics, swimming, and multisport. My socialite.  Yes, he has an activity a day!

 

Ruth in NZ

 

What are you using for organic chem?

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what do you do for Art History?

We mainly use Gardeners Art Through the Ages (an ancient copy from by CC days.They are dirt cheap now on Amazon, but it was the most expensive text I bought back then!) It not onky contains great images and a timeline, but a magazine style layout. Ds can read blurbs about history, summarize, and then take notes on images of the works.

 

I suppliment with a handful of Great Courses since we have Great Courses Plus. These provide a more modern take on many of the pieces.

30 Masterpieces of the Ancient World

How to Look At & Understand Great Art

History of European Art

Great Artists of the Italian Renniassance

 

If you look at the AP Art History packet, it outlines the 250 works they cover. We have essentially been sprinkling these in over the last two years. At this point Ds can name over 60, along with region, time period, artist, and important details. It is just all wrapped into history so he doesn't do one crazy year and then brain dump.

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Cool, thanks!  DD has a great background in art history - her great grandmother took her to the Nelson art gallery in Kansas City every week for 3 years and did a 2-hour tour (she was a slide curator for the Nelsen earlier in life).  I'd like to start giving her some context and formal education for all that exposure before it fades.

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Agreed, but I would start with Getting Started With French, and then head into Galore Park. That is how we are proceeding.

I have heard that First Start French is better if the parent knows absolutely no French. Where as Galore Park is great if the parent (or someone frequently interacting with the student) can speak the language. Any thoughts?

 

 

I can help with explaining grammar and sentence structure terms, as my technical linguistics knowledge has gotten quite high, but I have no actual French background. Our friend who is employed as a translator through various foriegn governments is the one who is going to do an hour a week of structured writing and communication instruction.

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I have heard that First Start French is better if the parent knows absolutely no French. Where as Galore Park is great if the parent (or someone frequently interacting with the student) can speak the language. Any thoughts?

 

 

I can help with explaining grammar and sentence structure terms, as my technical linguistics knowledge has gotten quite high, but I have no actual French background. Our friend who is employed as a translator through various foriegn governments is the one who is going to do an hour a week of structured writing and communication instruction.

 

I don't know anything about First Start French, but you might check out the CAP French for Children videos on You Tube. That might be what you need to get him going.

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Our year runs May-March so '17-'18 is coming up waaaay too fast for me! I'm considering this year Kindy for DS4:

 

Math: RightStart B (finish), RightStart C, Prodigy, Beast Academy 2 (as released)

 

Reading: LOE C (finish), LOE D

 

Writing: LOE C (finish), LOE D

 

SS/Science/Art/Music: Continents & Cultures

 

Either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year we'll do a unit study on prehistory & evolution from Big Bang-Early Humans

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After half a year of mostly online classes, it is obvious that DS11 would need to stick to B&M classes for core subjects or he just slack a lot. He does a lot better for group music instrument class than for one to one as well. This kid just need a lot of provided rigid structure and some peer pressure to do better. When he see peers putting in the effort he just buck up.

DS12 does similarly well online or B&M so the B&M class is for his social needs and I don't need to look for B&M academic classes specifically. He makes his own structure if there is none provided.

 

Yes, Athena's has live classes. Sacha is an extrovert, and a motormouth, so these are probably better for him.

My motormouth DS11 liked the CTY Young Readers because when it comes to academics or anything formal, he is very careful in what he says while he is very blunt for informal conversations. He is also more diplomatic after he turned 8 years old. My DS12 has always been restrained in conversations and careful in giving feedback to classmates. My kids enjoyed CTY's Crafting the Essay too as it is guided enough for them.
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What are you using for organic chem?

 

We will start with Carbon Chemistry by McHenry, and then switch to the NZ highschool chemistry curriculum which is 1/3 organic.  This is the worktext I hope to use. http://abaresources.co.nz/product/year-12-ncea-level-2-chemistry-workbook-external-standards-2-4-2-5-and-2-6, It is designed as a first year chem class, year 13 being for the second year. 

 

Ruth in NZ

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Assuming we still live here in Alaska and nothing major changes:

 

DS in 4th grade:

 

Math in Focus 6 (Course 1), then Holt/Larson Pre-Algebra

Moving Beyond the Page LA (9-11, 10-12)

CAP Writing & Rhetoric

History of US Condensed A-D

Science- not sure, maybe unit studies using McHenry's Botany, Elements and Cells, plus science kits? If we can't get traction then we will do Holt Sci & Tech Earth Science

Spanish

Poetry for Young People

Fallacy Detective & Thinking Toolbox, maybe Philosophy for Kids

Piano

 

If, on the other hand, we move overseas, then I might put him in the DODEA school full- or part-time IF they let him grade-skip.

 

For DS in 10th grade, he will take a typical list of subjects - World History, English, Geometry/Alg 2, Chemistry, maybe Speech, Sociology, and/or World Religions, probably Spanish if I can make him. He really wants to homeschool even if we move overseas, but I would look at sending him for a couple of classes.

 

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We will start with Carbon Chemistry by McHenry, and then switch to the NZ highschool chemistry curriculum which is 1/3 organic.  This is the worktext I hope to use. http://abaresources.co.nz/product/year-12-ncea-level-2-chemistry-workbook-external-standards-2-4-2-5-and-2-6, It is designed as a first year chem class, year 13 being for the second year. 

 

Ruth in NZ

 

Thanks Ruth.

We're almost through LoF Chemistry at the moment and I have Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry sitting waiting to be used next. Glad to hear that others use it too.

 

I really like Ellen McHenry's stuff (we're loving Mapping the Body with Art right now), but I have no way of knowing how comprehensive it really is. 

My daughter is only 10, so we have time to dabble in this and that, but at some point I'll probably head towards more formal texts, much like what you linked.

 

How do you manage the practical side of Chem? Have you bought equipment for home? Or are you sticking to theory for now?

 

Thanks again. I value your opinions.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks Ruth.

We're almost through LoF Chemistry at the moment and I have Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry sitting waiting to be used next. Glad to hear that others use it too.

 

I really like Ellen McHenry's stuff (we're loving Mapping the Body with Art right now), but I have no way of knowing how comprehensive it really is. 

My daughter is only 10, so we have time to dabble in this and that, but at some point I'll probably head towards more formal texts, much like what you linked.

 

How do you manage the practical side of Chem? Have you bought equipment for home? Or are you sticking to theory for now?

 

Thanks again. I value your opinions.

 

This is my plan.  Also we will be adding in great courses and hopefully rabbit trailing from there.

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I dug this thread back up to ruminate on next years plans since I've finally been bitten by the planning bug.  (I usually start in December, so this is late for me! :lol: )

 

I'm toying with BYL for an HG 10, will be 11 year old.  Is this crazy?  I think we need to "recalibrate" and more freedom is not helping.  DS liked the looks of it and I could bump him up a grade or two to get more challenging books. I am wondering if a little bit of an outline for the year would be nice.

 

I might just be having a little homeschool panic attack and this will pass, so feel free to ignore. :lol:

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My accelerated kid will be in 8th grade next year. Where does the time go???

 

She will do:

 

Math: We will keep working through Foerster's Algebra 2/Trig and Chakerian's Geometry. My tentative plan is to finish both by the end of 8th grade and then have her take DE College Algebra and Pre-Calc in 9th.

 

Science: Chemistry, using Conceptual Chemistry

 

English: WWS 3 plus an online Lit class

 

History: CLE's Changing Frontiers, plus parts of US History Detective and Critical Thinking in US History from The Critical Thinking Co. I will also have her read volumes 3 and 4 of Story of the World so she can get an overview of global events during the time period.

 

Latin: Latin 2 with Lukeion

 

Chinese: Chinese 2 with FLVS

 

We will probably also start a self-paced computer programming course.

 

This schedule is similar to what she is doing this year, but this year has been rough. Not so much because of the difficulty level, but rather because she came down with a serious case of pre-teen brain and keeping her focus on her work/paying attention to instructions/managing time became major issues. I am really hoping that she is going to emerge on the other side of this lovely stage of development sometime soon... I will have two middle schoolers next year and between the two of them I am not sure if I will survive!!

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I have heard that First Start French is better if the parent knows absolutely no French. Where as Galore Park is great if the parent (or someone frequently interacting with the student) can speak the language. Any thoughts?

 

 

I can help with explaining grammar and sentence structure terms, as my technical linguistics knowledge has gotten quite high, but I have no actual French background. Our friend who is employed as a translator through various foriegn governments is the one who is going to do an hour a week of structured writing and communication instruction.

Can I butt in and suggest you buy him Assimil's New French With Ease? Unlike the other options, it is designed for an adult autodidact. It is what I wish my parents had given me when I was a kid.

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