2019-2020 AL Planning Thread

[Cake and Pi]

I see the 2019-2020 planning threads popping up on the other boards and would love to see what you all have planned for next year. Please share your ideas here!

 

For reference, the 2018-2019 AL planning thread: 

 

The 2017-2018 AL planning thread: 

 

And also the 2016-2017 AL planning thread:

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Cake and Pi

[4KookieKids]

I feel like things change so crazy fast that I can't even think about this right now! In particular, ds9 loves AoPS PreA, but is nowhere near independent in terms of writing out his work well, so I still sit with him on the days that he wants to do that. But he's still had BA to work on when I want/need him to do something independent. 
But... he's finishing up BA5 in the next few months, and as of next year, I'll also be officially adding a 6 yo to the homeschooling mix, and the 4 yo will also be amping up what she wants to do (they do a lot together, but at different levels - if that makes any sense at all...). So I'm a bit nervous about adding two more kids to the mix *and* having ds9 need a lot more of my time to work through AoPS. I'm beginning to wonder if I should switch him to a PreAlgebra/Algebra that he could do more independently, instead of AoPS.

This year has been a crazy year for us with having dd7 dx'd with dyslexia, taking about a 4 month break from "school" with her to undo some of the emotional damage that came in the process of getting to the root issue, and then trying to move forward again. We also spent a lot of time driving around to vision therapy and OT. I'm hoping to be done with that for a while (we just quit both of them at the end of January), but am not holding that plan too tightly! 🙂

So next year, my kids will be 10, 8, 6, 4. My hope for the the oldest is to start having him start formally learning some history and science that we've mostly just played with up till now. I'd like that to be mostly independent, so not sure what it'll look like yet. My hope for the 8 yo is to get her reading up to par (including German), improve her confidence/enjoyment of reading, and keep plugging along on math. Once she turns 8, she'll be allowed to audition for the Nutcracker, so she's been practicing a lot of ballet in anticipation of that, and she wants to join an ensemble for violin. Both my older two have their sights set on a spelling bee for next year, though I'm not sure why. My (soon to be) 6 and 4 year olds get the shaft a bit, so I'd really like to figure out where they're at and meet their needs a bit better. I really hope to get the 6 yo reading -- she's so close! And she loves math, so she will probably start BA next year.  All four will continue piano (though ds10 is hoping to also start the bagpipes, oboe, or drums???) and spend lots and lots of time outdoors. 

[Cake and Pi]

Looking back at last year's thread, I don't have a particularly stellar track record for correctly predicting what we'll be doing in six months. But, I keep trying anyway. Here's my best guess for 2019-2020 (homeschooler first, public schoolers second and then ordered by age):

DS#3 -- 7yo, 4th grade with district / 2nd grade by age
AoPS Online Intro to Algebra B
AoPS Intro to Number Theory
Maybe Right Start Levels G and/or H for select drawing lessons
BYL 7 social studies and lit
CAP Writing and Rhetoric Chreia (book 3) and Proverb+Refutation (book 4)
Finish MCT Town (just the writing and 2nd half of practice) and begin MCT Voyage (grammar, vocab, half of practice)
Sequential Spelling 3
Interest-led science? Hewitt Conceptual Physics? RSO Earth and the Environment 2?? Something else???
Hour of Code
Sharon Kaye Philosophy level C
HWOT cursive
Plans to self-study Spanish and Greek with DuoLingo. I might have to investigate more on homeschooling Spanish if his interest is sustained.
Other TBD electives at the homeschool enrichment program

DS#1 -- 11yo, 6th grade
DS#1 is set on attending an aerospace academy next year for 6th grade. They have a "hybrid" option where the kids take their core classes online and only do the aerospace-specific classes through the academy. If he were to change his mind and homeschool instead, he'd join DS#3 for math, science, BYL, CAP W&R, and spelling. He'd finish MCT Essay Voyage and maybe begin MCT Lit level. He's also asked to do the Online G3 Lord of the Rings class if the aerospace academy doesn't work out.

DS#2 -- will be almost 10yo, and DS#4 will be almost 6yo
Continuing in public school. DS#2 will be in 5th grade at a GT magnet, and DS#4 will probably be in 1st grade with an IEP. (We've mostly dedicided not to retain him in K but are still kind of considering it.)
 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Cake and Pi
I keep remembering things I left out

[Rush]

    thanks for posting. It always helps me to plan and not to miss anything important 🙂

I have updated from the last year in bold and later will do it again, maybe even not once😁

DS10  Ds11 maths - AoPS Intro to Algebra Intro to Counting and Probability and Intro to Number Theory. a variety of books for competitive maths, olympiad maths club- no more.  Olympiad maths with a tutor.       

Competitive chess with tutor plus lots of tournaments - chess came suddenly out of nowhere and and its currently a main activity🤪                 

Olympiad programming with a tutor - my kid short of time and since it requires intensive work on his own, the most probable he will drops it for now. Hopefully only for now -  to continue

  English - reading + an online course of the creative writing. To continue

Science - Physical science, Life science and Earth and Space science. Not sure what to use yet. Maybe Holt Science and Technology. physics, biology and chemistry  - I m not sure what exactly he is going to use yet, but he already knows too much.  Clover Creek Physics. Biology and Chemistry - a collection of science books.

Mindstorms with his brother - at school Public speaking and debate club - at school 

Foreign languages: Latin - Galore park - dropped. French at French centre - to continue at school. Russian with mummy - to continue. Chinese lessons with a tutor and German lesson at German circle. 

Piano, songwriting and maybe vocal lessons (so far we decided to postpone it till 11yo due to a lack of time). piano - music school, vocal and songwriting - at other studio.

Swimming, gymnastics and athletics. Swimming team, gymnastics -to continue.

 DS8 Ds9 Maths - Beast academy 3 4 & 5 online + a variety of books for the competitive level.

English - Galore park + an online course of creative writing. To continue 

Science - Galore park. I'm not sure yet. He will also start history and geography.  

Art & pottery lessons - art school and clay modelling lessons with my friend-artist. 

Programming with Minecraft - maybe scratch. Mindstorms with his brother - to continue. Inventors club - droped. 

Languages - Russian with mummy. German at German circle and Japanese with a tutor all languages to continue.

Swimming & gymnastics swimming club and no more gymnastics. 

He has also started chess lessons and will begin playing the tournaments as his brother.

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2019 by Rush

[HomeAgain]

Our plans we made last year:

DS 8yo/3rd grade

LA - still deciding between MBTP 8-10yo units or continuing with ELTL style of narrations/copywork/poetry with books we choose for a year.
Math - LOF Kidneys, Liver, Mineshaft, finish Right Start E and move to F.
Science - BFSU2 or Mystery Science (or both)
Latin.....still deciding.  He'll finish GSWL first semester, but I want him to look at some options in person before deciding on his next.  Right now he wants Latin's Not So Tough level 4.
French - continue with One Third Stories and....GSWF?  Again, still deciding.
Spanish - Duolingo
ASL - Lifeprint & weekly study group
History - SOTW 3, and building our own American history study
Art - Artistic Pursuits
Music - violin lessons

And I have to say we definitely made some changes between planning and execution!
Next year ds 9yo/4th grade:
LA - We ended up with Treasured Conversations about halfway through the year.  We will save the last unit for the beginning of next year and follow it up with ELTL D.
Math - Moving on to LOF Fractions and Decimals & Percents, but we're taking time for the rest of this year and probably at least all next to get a very firm grasp of visualizing numbers with Gattegno. 
Science - I have no idea next year.
Latin - Continue with First Form (we're doing half speed) and Cambridge Unit 2.
French - L'art de Lire 2, Knowitall.org.
Spanish - Duolingo
Dropped ASL temporarily when we lost our study group
History - SOTW 4
Art - undecided.  Maybe I'll outsource this.
Music - violin AND guitar

[purpleowl]

Grade levels are for the fall. Everything is, of course, subject to change.

DD#1 (5th grade)

• Math: AOPS Pre-A
• Grammar: most likely taking a break for this year
• Writing: Writing & Rhetoric, books 5 & 6 
• Reading: mom-selected books
• History: Human Odyssey volume 1
• Latin: Lively Latin - Big Book 2 (finishing)
• Science: mom-created chemistry course

DD#2 (2nd grade)

• Math: BA 5
• Grammar: GftWTM purple
• Writing: Writing & Rhetoric, books 5 & 6 
• Reading: mom-selected books
• History: haven't decided if she'll do Human Odyssey volume 1 with older sister or SOTW 1 with younger brother
• Latin: Lively Latin - Big Book 2 (starting)
• Science: mom-created chemistry course

DS (Kindergarten)

He's been in school for pre-k, but I've done some stuff with him that's above that level...so I'm really not sure where he will be as far as math, reading, and handwriting go. His reading is currently about a 1st grade level, I think, but I haven't been consistent in working with him on it. I will most likely do SOTW 1 with him, and read lots of library books for science (with some narrations). 

Edited February 5, 2019 by purpleowl

[SeaConquest]

Sacha (5th):

Math: AoPS Academy Algebra I (which supposedly includes the Intro to Counting & Probability curriculum baked into the class), AoPS Online Intro to Number Theory

Science: Clover Creek Physics (hopefully, he can get in) or Derek Owens Physics

Lit: Online G3 Lord of the Rings and 19th Century American Lit classes

Writing: Sacha wants to take the California High School Proficiency Exam next year, so that he can start taking classes at the community college. To pass, he needs to further develop his writing skills, so we are working together with this express goal by compacting Writing With Skill 1-3, doing some reading comprehension and paragraph editing/mechanics exercises, and learning persuasive writing. ETA: Sacha was recently dx with ADHD (we have suspected as much for several years), so we are working with a developmental ped to find the right med/dosage and with his charter school to develop an IEP. As we have repeatedly seen over the years, Sacha has massive test anxiety and delayed fine motor skills, so I anticipate that he will need some test accommodations (the ability to type the essay, extra time for breaks/movement, etc.) The school psych is doing a number of other assessments to see if ADHD/fine motor are the only issues with which we are dealing or if something else is going on.

History: Medieval with Great Courses Plus and K12 Human Odyssey, Reading Like A Historian

Coding: AoPS Online Intermediate Python

Logic: We're going to try work through some of the CAP materials -- Art of Argument and Argument Builder to help with persuasive writing.

Plus, PE and guitar and whatever else he decides to do through his charter school for enrichment (2 days/week). Probably some sort of art, robotics, and choir.

We've given up on foreign language until he can DE at the community college and just knock it out. 

Ronen (we ended up red-shirting Kinder this year because of his August bday, so he will be Kinder again):

Math: Beast Academy 2, Smartick, Prodigy, Beast Academy Online

Science: Interest-led with books and documentaries, Brain Pop, Mystery Science, Generation Genius 

Reading: Reading Eggs, Progressive Phonics, AAR Readers, Learn with Homer, Torchlight/Books for Littles/Build Your Library/Junior Library Guild reading lists

Writing: Handwriting without Tears 1st, Explode the Code

History: Story of the World 2, Studies Weekly

Coding: Super Scratch Programming Adventure

Plus, PE and 2 days per week of enrichment through his charter school (mostly play-based)

Both boys: Lots of gameschooling!

Monique:

I started nursing school on 2/1. It is a 30-month BSN program, so I will be learning to juggle homeschooling two kids, plus being a full-time student myself. 🙂  

 

Edited February 15, 2019 by SeaConquest

[Jackie]

Oh, my. I just read through my post on last year's thread. I planned very few subjects, because I knew we'd be mostly child-led. Even so, nearly everything on there was changed or completed much faster than planned. I should clearly stop planning. Really, we just finished planning the current semester. Even so, I find these threads helpful, both for organizing my thoughts and for finding resources, so here I go again. DD is currently 8, will be 9 next school year.

Math: Currently AOPS Algebra A, until mid-April. No idea after that. She's done about 3-4 years of math in a year to qualify for Epsilon Camp, so I'm thinking a good, long period of time working on less conventional math streams. We have Math and Magic in Wonderland, The Art and Craft of Geometric Origami, and Zaccaro's 25 Real Life Math Investigations all waiting on the shelves. I might also buy Patty Paper Geometry and a MOEMS book. If she wants something more formal, we'll probably move on to Counting & Probability or Number Theory.

English: Homemade literature list; nothing assigned. I just ordered two more levels of Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus. She has requested spelling, so I found some spelling bee prep materials and she'll work her was through those as long as the interest holds. She unexpectedly loved learning how to write an essay recently, after years of boycotting nearly all writing. We have ordered Caesar's English 2 and Essay Voyage. This month, she is editing, revising, and illustrating her 2018 NaNoWriMo story. I'm hoping the MCT stuff lasts us until time for next year's NaNoWriMo. After that... um... ?

Science: Our library system partnered with a local university to offer middle school science workshops and they agreed to let DD participate. She's been loving those, and will continue them as long as the program is producing new topics for her. At home, she's been working through the Thames and Kosmos Structural Engineering kit, and we have the Physics Solar Workshop, Nanotechnology, and Chemistry C3000 kits on the shelf waiting. We meet with friends twice a month to work through MEL kits. She is toying with registering for the Clover Creek Physics class next year, but uncertain whether she really wants to commit to a year-long formal class when we've always done science as fully interest-led.

Social Studies/History: We recently remembered the 21 Activities For Kids series and have been enjoying them. She's also been watching Great Courses lectures on topics of interest. She just finished the Food: A History series and started the Japan: A Cultural History set of lectures. This subject is fully interest-led for us, so who knows?

Foreign Language: I expect she'll continue on with Homeschool Spanish Academy, which she loves. I toy with putting her into their high school level courses, which would include writing and more reading along with the conversational skills, but she has little interest in learning to write Spanish, so probably not.

Other: Destination Imagination is still her favorite activity. She's been doing a robotics club this year, but is just meh about robotics and programming, so I don't know if she'll continue that. She's currently doing Kendo, and loving it, but the Kendo class meets at the same time as the big math circle in town that she wants to try joining, so I don't know which she would choose. DH is job hunting, and we're not sure if that will mean moving, so it's hard to think about the "extras" since that could change so much if we need to move. DD has requested that the homeschool charter school consider officially skipping her two grade levels to give her better access to their onsite classes as well as community-based classes and camps, so we're in talks with the school about her request.

[Condessa]

Dd 5th: 

-English: Voyage level of Michael Clay Thompson’s Language Arts, R&S Spelling 5, continue with Spencerian handwriting

-Math: AOPS Pre-A (Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!)

-History: ??? Ancients  -any ideas?

-Latin: CLRC Intermediate Latin I

-Logic: Orbiting with Logic

-Music: Piano lessons

-PE: competitive gymnastics 

 

Dd 5th & Dd 3rd together:

-Science: Continue with BFSU II

 

Dd 3rd:

-English (individual part): AAS 3/4 and continue with Spencerian handwriting 

-Math: Singapore 4, BA Online 3/4

-German: CLRC Young German I

-Logic: Logic Countdown

-Music: Violin lessons

-PE: horseback riding lessons

 

Dd 3rd & Ds 2nd together:

-English: Treasured Conversations 

 

Dd 3rd, Ds 2nd, & Ds Ker together:

-History: SotW 1

 

Ds 2nd:

-English (individual part): HWOT 2, R&S Spelling 2/3, MotH if he seems ready for it

-Math: BA Online 3 & Singapore 2

-Spanish: ?maybe Salsa and/or Song School Spanish? or Excelerate Spanish?  or a local tutor?  Maybe have Ds K do it with him?  Maybe someone I can drop all the kids off with while I spend one hour alone each week? 🙂

-Music: Cello lessons

 

Ds 2nd & Ds K together:

-Science: BFSU I

-PE: Soccer in the Fall, baseball or soccer in the Spring

 

Ds K:

-Phonics: AAR1 and maybe Happy Phonics, too

-Handwriting: HWOT 1/2

-Math: Singapore 2/3 and BA 2

-Music: Violin lessons

 

All together: Homeschool Swim in the winter

[desertflower]

Well, while my oldest is al, I don't feel my plans are all that advanced anymore, but here goes.

Math: BA 5 and 3 math circles (dont ask!)

LA: FLL 3, MCT town, vocab study (not sure what), possible Narnia study, Jacob's ladder, WWS 1

History: sotw 3 and 2 with sisters, POE

Fl/music/art: not sure, not sure, HAS

PE: gymnastics, track

Bible: discover 4 yourself series

Science: not sure (bfsu, or rso)

Logic: logic in orbit, fallacy detective, other books from the critical thinking company

 

[Lawyer&Mom]

My Dd 5 will be starting kindergarten this fall.  She has a fall birthday, so she will be almost 6.

This time last year I was so worried she would be bored with an extra year of pre-K, but I’m so glad we waited. She’s much more ready socially.  We haven’t pushed academics at all, I want her to have something to learn at school.  Instead we’ve leaned heavily on read alouds for enrichment.  Charles and Mary Lamb’s Shakespeare for Girls and Boys, Nathaniel Hawthorne A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys.  The Blue Fairy Book remains on constant repeat in the car...  She’s so happy with the challenging language in these older books.

We read a lot of fairytales in German and French, with mom translating.  Again just exposure to interesting language.

I’m feeling really positive looking forward. I previously had a lot of anxiety about sending her to school, based on my own 2E experience.  (She’s definitely gifted, she may or may not be Autistic like me.  TBD.)  But her school is *so* much more tuned into learning differences than my school was way back when.  If issues do arise, I feel we are prepared to address them.  Yay!

 

 

 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Things went pretty well this year, plan-wise. For next year we have a few things continuing, a few new things being added in. DS turned 6 this week, so... Primary 2? 1st grade? Something like that. 

 Language Arts: Killgallon Story Grammar, CAP W&R Fable, cont. MCT Practice Island sentences, something for spelling... (AAS? SWR?), NaNoWriMo

Math: Beast Academy 3C - whatever he gets to. We may or may not alternate with Singapore IP. 

History: History Odyssey Middle Ages

Science: Real Science Odyssey Astronomy 

 PE: Cont. Tennis & Soccer

Art: Misc. history- / science- / math-inspired projects. Maybe a couple of Meet the Masters units that fit the time period. 

[Runningmom80]

I need help for next year! My oldest will be almost 13 grade 8, and while we’ve had a good year, I’d like one more year of “interest led” before high school 

 

math: he’s slated for geometry, I’d love for this to be online

lit: online G3 or mom led 

science: no idea

history: no idea

spanish: HSA

he’s super into music and music production, and we’ve made friends with a local hip hop artist and teacher so I’m going to get something worked out on that front. I think we may also move him to our city’s music institute for some more rigorous piano lessons. 

Twins - turning 9 - grade 4

these are my currently public schooled kids, and their needs are currently being met, but we’re on borrowed time. Next year the gifted kids split off into a contained classroom, which I’m able to visit in April. From the sounds of it, the gifted program is simply more work. My creative and very sensitive GT son isn’t sold and neither am I.

his sister is most likely stealth dyslexic and possibly disgraphic. We have testing scheduled for the end of this month and we will see how that goes.

all that to say, I may be back planning for them as well. 🤦‍♀️

 

[Donna]

Ha! I responded on last year's thread a few weeks before our house sold. We moved from NJ to NC in April and so much changed in that "almost" year.  

Here's what I wrote for 2018-19 and in bold, what she ended up doing....

Fall: Physics (at home): I have a couple Teaching Company courses and Dual Enrollment: possibly a Films Course (she'd love Films of Alfred Hitchcock) and a math. Never did physics at home. Dd transferred her DE credits from NJ to the community college here in NC. Here in NC, DE is a bit more structured and she had a certain list of courses she had to take before being open to take anything. She took Statistics, English 112, and Sociology.

Spring: Pre-Calculus (at home) and Dual Enrollment: possibly Western Civ and Nutrition course. This spring she is finishing up her "required" list of community college courses with British Literature I, Biology, and Ethics.

All Year: Irish Gaelic: (continue with tutor), French: Breaking the Barrier 3 (and hopefully a tutor for practice using the language), and Language Arts with tutor. We have both been learning Irish this year though our tutoring sessions have been sparse due to frequent travel for her music. She did finish up French 3 though we never found time for a tutor. Once we moved, Language Arts with tutor stopped.

I recently created a post about our changing plans for next year (2019-2020) - our final year of homeschooling so my last "planning" post! 😕 

Dd and I will be in Ireland all summer while she tours with an Irish dance show. She needs to finish up her senior year by January (so we will begin over the summer) because she will be touring the U.S. with the show for six months next year. I could graduate her now since she has enough credits but will hold off because DE is free in our state.

Over the summer, she will continue learning Irish, finish up her novel, and do physics with me. 

Fall: She is planning to take 2-3 dual enrollment courses- definitely British Lit II (she's hoping to get the same professor because she really loves her current course even though the workload is heavy) and two other courses as yet undecided.

Spring: She may take one dual enrollment course while she tours...we'll decide that once she sees how busy she is this summer doing eight shows per week.

[Porridge]

DD will be 11, hard to believe! This is a preliminary iteration, probably too much, but still awaiting further input from DD:
 

Math - continue AOPS Intro to Algebra

Science - continue BFSU with younger brother. She'd also like ot read through David MacCaulay's The Way Things Work, and to go in depth into human physiology. We'll choose  1-3 body systems and use Guyton and Hall's Medical Physiology.

Grammar - Grammar for the Well Trained Mind Purple

Writing - Classical Composition - continue Chreia and Maxim, possible learn format of 5 paragraph essay, if I can get around to it... Continue copywork and weekly written narrations.

Spelling / Vocab - Wordly Wise 9 - I proposed that she drop this, but she likes it and it doesn't take much time, so she'll continue

Latin - CLRC Intermediate Latin 1 or MP ONline First Form Latin, not sure which...

Chinese - continue with chinese school 2 hours/week

American history thread: Joy Hakim's History of US, books 3-5

World History: trying to narrow things down from thsi list: Genevieve Foster's World of Columbus and Sons, Winston's Churchill's Birth of Britain, OUP Medieval Times Africa / Middle East, OUP Medieval Times Asia, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Twain). She prefers narrative histories, and thus doesn't really like OUP's style, but I haven't found good narrative sources to use for the study of Asia / Africa in Medieval times....

Literature to discuss with mom: trying to narrow things down, current iteration: Beowulf, Ivanhoe, Black Arrow (Robert Louis Stevenson), Watership Down, Joan of Arc

Poetry: Idylls of the King (though with Beowulf, that might be too much epic poetry...)

Books for free reading: Adam of the Road, children's version of Canterbury tales, children's Don Quixote, 1001 Arabian Nights, Esperanza Rising, Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Wonder, other...

Other: Piano, gymnastics, guitar, art, Maker Club, 

[purpleowl]

On 2/5/2019 at 11:19 AM, purpleowl said:

Grade levels are for the fall. Everything is, of course, subject to change.

DD#1 (5th grade)

• Math: AOPS Pre-A
• Grammar: most likely taking a break for this year
• Writing: Writing & Rhetoric, books 5 & 6 & 7 (we'll be halfway through book 5 by the end of this year)
• Reading: mom-selected books
• History: Human Odyssey volume 1
• Latin: Lively Latin - Big Book 2 (finishing)
• Science: mom-created chemistry course

DD#2 (2nd grade)

• Math: BA 5
• Grammar: GftWTM purple Actually, I decided she'll take the year off from grammar, too, or at least part of the year. 
• Writing: Writing & Rhetoric, books 5 & 6 & 7 (we'll be halfway through book 5 by the end of this year)
• Reading: mom-selected books
• History: haven't decided if she'll do Human Odyssey volume 1 with older sister or SOTW 1 with younger brother
• Latin: Lively Latin - Big Book 2 (starting)
• Science: mom-created chemistry course

DS (Kindergarten)

He's been in school for pre-k, but I've done some stuff with him that's above that level...so I'm really not sure where he will be as far as math, reading, and handwriting go. His reading is currently about a 1st grade level, I think, but I haven't been consistent in working with him on it. I will most likely do SOTW 1 with him, and read lots of library books for science (with some narrations). I think I'll end up using A Beka 1st grade materials for him for math, phonics, and language, and K5 for handwriting. If he finishes those in the middle of the year we'll move to the things I use for 2nd grade (Math Mammoth 2; First Language Lessons 2; WWE-style narrations, dictations, & copywork). He's already doing A Beka 1st grade readers, so at some point we'll just jump over to real books. 

Made some strikethroughs and updates (in red).

I am in the middle of prepping for history (making my own "student pages" for Human Odyssey), science, and literature. Feeling slightly overwhelmed with it all at the moment, lol. 

[Porridge]

On 3/22/2019 at 6:47 PM, purpleowl said:

Made some strikethroughs and updates (in red).

I am in the middle of prepping for history (making my own "student pages" for Human Odyssey), science, and literature. Feeling slightly overwhelmed with it all at the moment, lol. 

Me too! I'm starting to make my own study guides for next year. I love this part of homeschooling, but I also feel totally overwhelmed. My stack of books to read is so tall...

[purpleowl]

4 minutes ago, JHLWTM said:

Me too! I'm starting to make my own study guides for next year. I love this part of homeschooling, but I also feel totally overwhelmed. My stack of books to read is so tall...

YES! You should see the sticky note I have of potential books for literature for next year (things I need to pre-read). I keep scribbling in more titles in smaller and smaller writing! 🤣

Edited March 25, 2019 by purpleowl

[Mommyof1]

My DD6 is finishing up Kindergarten this spring. During the summer I'm going to be preparing her for Beast Academy 2a in the fall. She needs more challenging math work. I'm not sure Horizon Math 1 will be challenging enough.

Explode the Code online so she can do it herself. She asked to stop Phonics Pathways because she doesn't like it.. ETC online will track her progress and will not make her work on things she already knows. She wants more independence here.

She wanted to learn cursive so I got her the writing books from Abeka. I will be working the most on this with her because this is her weakest subject. She is a perfectionist and gets really upset and frustrated on this one. 

Read alouds- History, science, literature, Bible and anything else that catches her eye.

She reads to me, Dad and/or herself books from the library.

Science is her favorite so we will be using Magic School Bus science kits as part of their club that sends a kit once a month but it has about 10 different experiments in it. Her science shows plus any science book I find via the library. 

Homeschool Co-op 

Field trips that also have homeschool classes zoo, nature center and local museums. A visit or two to the Science Center and our arts and craft center.

Swimming lessons, back to circus school and hopefully martial arts. Family walks, bike rides, swimming and lots of time at the park.

Have her keep practicing hula hoop, jumping rope, roller skating, Jack's and Yoyo. Will also teach her handball and dodgeball along with 4 square. You know some of the old school yard stuff.

I forgot storytime, HS book and lego club at the library.

[SeaConquest]

Sacha came back from Astrocamp a few weeks ago, and it really lit a fire in his belly. He's always been very interested in space and has been talking about wanting to be an astrogeneticist of late, but he came back from Astrocamp and wanted to focus more on his goal of actually going to space. So, we talked about what it takes to become an astronaut, and now he is talking about things like the Naval and Air Force Academies and studying Russian with me and getting a black belt and getting advanced scuba training and getting survival training, and, and, and... I'm like, who is this kid? I mean, he still is playing dragon pretend games with his brother half the day, but I've never seen him like this. There seems to be a shift. I think the tween years are upon us.

[Guest]

Ok, it’s starting to come together (DD14, 11th grade on paper)

 

Summer:

Hamilclass (Online G3)

Animal Behavior and Cognition (Athena’s Academy)

THINK Summer program-European Civilizations, Cultural Anthropology (College classes)

Study for PSAT

Fall:

Cognitive Science and Neuroscience (Athena’s)

College Algebra and Trig (DE-review, but we don’t want to get out of the usual math sequence for her major, and most schools seem to be fine with Freshmen coming in with Cal 2, but not much beyond that)

African American Literature (DE) 

teach Herpetology at Athena’s and go to the World Congress of Herpetology (and possibly present-ABSTRACT SUBMITTED!!), attend symposium on Reptile and Amphibian Sociality. 

NZ Biogeography (in preparation for WCH trip and getting to spend a month in NZ 🙂 )

Advanced American Govt and Politics (G3) (possibly take APUG)

Another couple of interesting college classes in Spring. (African American history, maybe another literature?)

Conversational Spanish at HSA

Cheer/tumbling (competitive, hoping for a limited travel level 2 or 3, because I really don’t want to do full travel. Likely assistant coaching a mini or youth team)

Piano/Theory 

Serious college search stuff

take the PSAT for National Merit possibilities. 

Edited May 14, 2019 by dmmetler

[EKS]

This will be the last one of these that I participate in, as my younger son will be a senior next year.

My son has decided to take five classes at the local high school, a 2 credit honors English/social studies course that is taught at a college level, a post-AP math class, AP Computer Science, and AP Environmental Science.  At home my plan is to do 6-8 reading and discussion based mini-courses (0.25 credits each) that get to things that we always wanted to cover but never got around to.  These will probably each be based on a conceptual theme, and I will find a few readings (where if possible, I'll pair fiction and nonfiction), a film or two, TED talks, and the like to spark discussion.  I've been intentionally educating him since he was 18 months old, even during the times that he was enrolled in school full time, and the idea is to enjoy learning together one last time without the stress of output.

And now I'm going to go cry 😢

Edited April 5, 2019 by EKS

[Runningmom80]

On 3/11/2019 at 6:55 AM, Runningmom80 said:

I need help for next year! My oldest will be almost 13 grade 8, and while we’ve had a good year, I’d like one more year of “interest led” before high school 

 

math: he’s slated for geometry, I’d love for this to be online

lit: online G3 or mom led 

science: no idea

history: no idea

spanish: HSA

he’s super into music and music production, and we’ve made friends with a local hip hop artist and teacher so I’m going to get something worked out on that front. I think we may also move him to our city’s music institute for some more rigorous piano lessons. 

Twins - turning 9 - grade 4

these are my currently public schooled kids, and their needs are currently being met, but we’re on borrowed time. Next year the gifted kids split off into a contained classroom, which I’m able to visit in April. From the sounds of it, the gifted program is simply more work. My creative and very sensitive GT son isn’t sold and neither am I.

his sister is most likely stealth dyslexic and possibly disgraphic. We have testing scheduled for the end of this month and we will see how that goes.

all that to say, I may be back planning for them as well. 🤦‍♀️

 

 

DS 12 and I sat down and figured out his 8th grade year. All online or not taught by me!

AP English through Athena's. This is the exciting development! He says he's ready for some challenge. We'll see how it goes. We are going to give him one more year of low stress middle school and reading good books that delight him. 🙂

Linguistics Online G3 - decided to do Lit through Film at athenas instead

Advanced World History through Online G3

Physics through Athena's

Jacobs Geometry with DH (which I do not agree with but the 2 of them vetoed me and I'm letting it ride.)

Homeschool Spanish Academy

Computer science or coding project

Piano & Swimming

I'm still planning for my twins, we just recently started leaning more towards homeschooling instead of PS. 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Runningmom80

[Gil]

Manual Education

• Electronic Technology
  • Make: Electronics    and Make: More Electronics, with the pre-assembled kit, and How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic
• Machine Sewing
  • Still looking for a book of projects that's a good fit.
• Cardboard and Duct-Tape Construction

Financial Education

• Financial Literacy -- Investing
  • Reading List is still being compiled
• Personal Finance -- Managing their personal expenses with supervision
  • No book necessary.

Technology Education

• Hardware: Tablet Repair + Modifications
  • Project Driven, no set book.
• Hardware: Vintage Game Consoles
  • Hacking Video Game Consoles
• Software: Continuing Programming
  • Home Brew Video Games / Project Driven, no set book.

Typical Academic Education

• Composition and Communication
  • Reading: 45 minutes a day.
  • *Bi*Monthly Presentations
    • In the past I've always given them WEEKLY presentations, but I think that going forward they'll be better served by presenting every other week.
  • Public Speaking
    • Open Mic 1x a month
    • Attending Youth Events at City Hall
• Intensive Japanese (it'll be their 2nd year)
• Science
  • Undecided
• Mathematics
  • Possibly... We might not do math next year. I think we'll take a 6month break, with the possibility of taking the whole 12 months off.
• General Knowledge
  • Continue the group reading, discussing and notebooking of the encyclopedia

[SeaConquest]

Gil, your homeschool always sounds so cool. 🙂

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

On 2/15/2019 at 2:24 PM, Expat_Mama_Shelli said:

Things went pretty well this year, plan-wise. For next year (1st grade) we have a few things continuing, a few new things being added in.

 Language Arts: Killgallon Story Grammar, CAP W&R Fable, MCT Practice Island (cont.), All About Spelling, NaNoWriMo

Math: Beast Academy 3B-3D, Singapore 3A -3B IPs 

History: History Odyssey Middle Ages

Science: Real Science Odyssey Astronomy

Vision Therapy: Assigned Home Exercises 

Special Topics: One per day: Gameschooling, Art (Meet the Masters units & poetry), Scientific Inquiry, Programming, Culinary Arts

PE: Tennis, Soccer, & possibly basketball or gymnastics

Our current year ends in 3wks, and our next will begin mid-June. In the past 2mo I’ve tweaked and clarified a couple of things (bold), but nothing too major. Looks like the plan is sticking, at least for now! 

[Gil]

20 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

Gil, your homeschool always sounds so cool. 🙂

Oh, wow, thanks!

[Runningmom80]

On 4/5/2019 at 4:56 PM, Runningmom80 said:

 

DS 12 and I sat down and figured out his 8th grade year. All online or not taught by me!

AP English through Athena's. This is the exciting development! He says he's ready for some challenge. We'll see how it goes. We are going to give him one more year of low stress middle school and reading good books that delight him. 🙂

Linguistics Online G3

Advanced World History through Online G3

Physics through Athena's

Jacobs Geometry with DH (which I do not agree with but the 2 of them vetoed me and I'm letting it ride.)

Homeschool Spanish Academy

Computer science or coding project

Piano & Swimming

I'm still planning for my twins, we just recently started leaning more towards homeschooling instead of PS. 

 

 

 

We're homeschooling everyone next year! My standards are too high at this point I guess. 🤣

DS 8 (turning 9) Grade 4 

Bravewriter Partnership Writing

MCT Town 

Singapore 5 along with Prodigy

Either Latin or Spanish

DD 8 - Still figuring my quirky girl out but tentatively:

Singapore, MM & Prodigy 

Apples & Pears

Tutoring with an OG curriculum

Twins Together:

History: A Little History of the World, with History Unboxed

Science: I'm considering MBTP, any opinions on this?

Let's Be artists and You are an artist along with art classes outside the house 

Creative writing after school program

~ All the kids together will do an Asia geography study with pin-it maps

Edited April 19, 2019 by Runningmom80

[SanDiegoMom]

On 4/5/2019 at 4:56 PM, Runningmom80 said:

 

DS 12 and I sat down and figured out his 8th grade year. All online or not taught by me!

AP English through Athena's. This is the exciting development! He says he's ready for some challenge. We'll see how it goes. We are going to give him one more year of low stress middle school and reading good books that delight him. 🙂

Linguistics Online G3

Advanced World History through Online G3

Physics through Athena's

Jacobs Geometry with DH (which I do not agree with but the 2 of them vetoed me and I'm letting it ride.)

Homeschool Spanish Academy

Computer science or coding project

Piano & Swimming

I'm still planning for my twins, we just recently started leaning more towards homeschooling instead of PS. 

 

 

Is your son enrolled in Linguistics? My eighth grade ds is enrolled in it for next year!  I also put both twins into Intro to British Lit with the writing supplement. 

[Runningmom80]

2 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

Is your son enrolled in Linguistics? My eighth grade ds is enrolled in it for next year!  I also put both twins into Intro to British Lit with the writing supplement. 

 

I'm enrolling him today, once we finally the plans. 🙂 He is deciding between psychology or a lit class. 

Edited April 14, 2019 by Runningmom80

[chocolate-chip chooky]

@Gil  I see you have financial literacy on your list. One thing that we did last year that was really all shades of fabulous, was the ASX  sharemarket game. 

https://game.asx.com.au/game/info/public/about-the-game

It's Australian, so I don't know if you can join in or not. Maybe there's something similar in your part of the world?

In a nutshell, you get $50,000 virtual money to invest in the Australian sharemarket. It's real-time with the real stockmarket, so you're learning about real strategies for tracking shares and deciding when to buy and sell. There are some great educational resources to go with it.

 

[Runningmom80]

On 4/7/2019 at 6:46 PM, Gil said:

Manual Education

• Electronic Technology
  • Make: Electronics    and Make: More Electronics, with the pre-assembled kit, and How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic
• Machine Sewing
  • Still looking for a book of projects that's a good fit.
• Cardboard and Duct-Tape Construction

Financial Education

• Financial Literacy -- Investing
  • Reading List is still being compiled
• Personal Finance -- Managing their personal expenses with supervision
  • No book necessary.

Technology Education

• Hardware: Tablet Repair + Modifications
  • Project Driven, no set book.
• Hardware: Vintage Game Consoles
  • Hacking Video Game Consoles
• Software: Continuing Programming
  • Home Brew Video Games / Project Driven, no set book.

Typical Academic Education

• Composition and Communication
  • Reading: 45 minutes a day.
  • *Bi*Monthly Presentations
    • In the past I've always given them WEEKLY presentations, but I think that going forward they'll be better served by presenting every other week.
  • Public Speaking
    • Open Mic 1x a month
    • Attending Youth Events at City Hall
• Intensive Japanese (it'll be their 2nd year)
• Science
  • Undecided
• Mathematics
  • Possibly... We might not do math next year. I think we'll take a 6month break, with the possibility of taking the whole 12 months off.
• General Knowledge
  • Continue the group reading, discussing and notebooking of the encyclopedia

 

Gil, thank you for posting that Hacking Video Games book, my DS watches his YouTube channel and I didn't realize there was a book! I just showed him and he's so excited! Do you and your kids collect old consoles? We spend our summers at garage sales looking for them. 🙂

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

On 4/8/2019 at 2:19 PM, Expat_Mama_Shelli said:

Our current year ends in 3wks, and our next will begin mid-June. In the past 2mo I’ve tweaked and clarified a couple of things (bold), but nothing too major. Looks like the plan is sticking, at least for now! 

 

Well, best laid plans... 😂 We’ve decided to blow nearly ALL of this completely out of the water. 

This autumn we are taking our first big family vacation. We start our school year in June, so that will be the mid-point of our calendar. We’ll be at a natural stopping point in ELA & history. I can find a stopping point in math. We won’t put DS back in sports for the Winter / Spring terms because... We are going to (semi-) worldschool! 

We are going to take one or two 3-5 day trips to a different country each month, to see this part of the world (SE Asia) before we return to the US - most likely at some point in 2020. We’ll journal, take photos, participate in unique activities, and visit museums in each country then spend the weeks in-between working on math, literature, spelling, & special topics DS wants to explore. 

So the *NEW* plan is:

LA: CAP W&R Fable, cont. Practice Island (autumn), All About Spelling (all year), keeping a Travel Journal (spring)

Math: BA 3C-3D, Singapore 3B (all year)

History: Ancient Rome (autumn), local history & cultures (spring)

Science: Blossom & Root botany (all year), Blossom & Root Nature Study (all year), researching local animals (spring)

PE: Tennis (autumn), hiking (spring)

Art: Culinary arts (all year), photography for Travel Journal (spring)

Edited April 20, 2019 by Expat_Mama_Shelli

[Cake and Pi]

On 2/4/2019 at 10:05 PM, Cake and Pi said:

Looking back at last year's thread, I don't have a particularly stellar track record for correctly predicting what we'll be doing in six months. But, I keep trying anyway. Here's my best guess for 2019-2020 (homeschooler first, public schoolers second and then ordered by age):

Snip....

 

 

Enough has changed that it's neater to just start over.

DS#1 has changed his mind about the aerospace academy for now. He wants to continue being homeschooled after all.

Also, I've decided to save BYL 7 for 2020-2021 because I think it'll mesh nicely with BLY 0, which I hope to use with DS#4 that year, and because DS#1 and DS#3 saw the Online G3 Horrible Histories classes and really, really, really want to do those now instead. Both DS#1 and DS#3 need a break from MCT LA. DS#1 needs to slow down and focus on writing, and DS#3 is really not into Roman history/cultural stuff right now and probably isn't ready for Essay Voyage anyway. We have also wound up with significantly more summer travel and camps than I originally planned, so some of the things I expected us to do over the summer will get pushed into next year.

So, 2019-2020 plans, version 5 or 7 at least 10 or something, lol:

DS#1 -- 11yo, 6th grade
Math:  Second half of AoPS Online Intro to Algebra and Intro to Number Theory (self-study w/book)
Science: 7th grade GT integrated science through our district's online academy  
Writing: CAP Writing & Rhetoric book 4, The Paragraph Book Two (and Three? Maybe four?) then hopefully MCT Essay Voyage
Literature: Online G3 Early 20th C. Historical Fiction and Lord of the Rings Lit (seriously, all DS#1's dreams come true)
Grammar: E-M Daily Paragraph Editing, perhaps Killgallon's Story Grammar  self-revisions of own writings
Extras: Sharon Kaye Philosophy level F (Will Power), Athena's mythology class, TBD electives at the homeschool enrichment program, Scouts, Swimming 

DS#3 -- 7yo, 4th grade (double whole grade accelerated)
Math: AoPS Online Intro to Algebra B and self-study AoPS Intro to Number Theory. Start AoPS Intro to Geometry
Science: Interest-led? 7th grade GT integrated science through the district's online academy
Writing and Literature: I don't knoooow! Writing solutions for math and reading whatever is all I've got right now. Perhaps CAP W&R book(s) 3 (and 4?)? Thinking about trying Brave Writer. Writing across the curriculum and BW Partnership Writing for the first semester. Might  try out The Paragraph Book One since it helped DS#1 so much. Second semester we'll have to play by ear. Perhaps W&R books 3 and 4, perhaps Paragraph Town.
Grammar and Vocab: Finish Caesar's English I, Guided self-editing of own writing? E-M Daily Paragraph Editing? Killgallons Story Grammar? Editor in Cheif? Very don't know.
Extras: HWOT cursive, Sharon Kaye Philosophy level C (Mark and Theo Make Their Case), continue Khan Academy computer programming and Code Combat, self-study Spanish and/or Greek with DuoLingo as interested, TBD electives at the homeschool enrichment program, Scouts, Swimming 

DS#1 and DS#3 Together
Spelling: Sequential Spelling 3 & 4  
History: Online G3 Horrible Romans and Egyptians and Horrible Middle Ages  

DS#2 9yo (10 in early fall) 5th grade
Continue in public gifted magnet full time. 7th grade math through the district's online academy.

DS#4 5yo (6 in late summer) K, again
The decision has been excruciating, but we are going to retain him in kindergarten after all. There's a lot of research that discourages holding back special ed students in general, but gosh darn it, he shouldn't have been in K this year. If he'd been born on time instead of preemie, he wouldn't have met the cut off this year and would just be going into K next year. It's where he belongs. It's also looking more and more likely that he will, eventually, someday in the future, hopefully, potentially, perhaps even probably catch up. So an extra year to mature should be good for him.

ETA: more changes. Canceled stuff struck through, additions in orange.
ETA: even more changes.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Cake and Pi

[Runningmom80]

Cake, my DS did the LOTR class this year and got a lot out of it. He doesn't love the books, (Blasphemy on this board, I know!) but still enjoyed the class. I can imagine for a kid who loves the books, it will be all that much more enjoyable!

[Runningmom80]

On 4/14/2019 at 10:52 AM, Runningmom80 said:

 

We're homeschooling everyone next year! My standards are too high at this point I guess. 🤣

DS 8 (turning 9) Grade 4 

Bravewriter Partnership Writing

MCT Town 

Singapore 5 along with Prodigy

Either Latin or Spanish

DD 8 - Still figuring my quirky girl out but tentatively:

Singapore, MM & Prodigy 

Apples & Pears

Tutoring with an OG curriculum

Twins Together:

History: A Little History of the World, with History Unboxed

Science: I'm considering MBTP, any opinions on this?

Let's Be artists and You are an artist along with art classes outside the house 

Creative writing after school program

~ All the kids together will do an Asia geography study with pin-it maps

 

Even when I wait to respond I still end up with a ton of revisions. 🤓

DS 12 // grade 8 

Language Arts: Mom made Literature and Film class along with a teen writing symposium at a local writing group. Possibly a literature or writing class at CC but I have to figure out dual enrollment situation. 

Physics at Athena's

World History A at Online G3

Spanish at HSA

Music, as always. He plays piano to placate me, his real passion is music production. We are in contact with someone who can mentor him and trying to support him that way.

We are also going to get more into Food allergy advocacy together.

Running, hiking, swim team, etc etc

DD almost 9 // grade 4

My 2E girl 🙂 

Finish remediating whatever phonemic holes she has and then moving onto the orthography piece. (I'm thinking of training with Wilson to become certified, but am definitely doing their intro training this summer)

Tinker crates, Bitsbox & Lots of Science (Maybe RSO?)

Keyboarding without Tears

Prodigy and Singapore

History is Modern times. Possibly with History Odyssey or BYL 4 (Leaving lots out. Haven't quite figured this out yet.)

DS almost 9 // grade 4

Thinking about Latin or CE. Finish the Daily Editor book we started before PS. Maybe Town level of MCT.

Bravewriter Arrows, maybe the book club

Prodigy, Singapore, Hands on equations, etc

Doodle Crates and Chalk pastel art

Science and History with Sis 

Everyone:

Geography with Pin it Maps and Around the world Stories. I think we are going to focus on Central America

I'd also love to do a National Parks study since we have 2 4th graders who can get into parks free. 

Me: Getting up to speed on dyslexia, dysgraphia and 2e hood. Possibly starting Wilson certification if the intro class goes well. Writing.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by Runningmom80

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

While we were Stateside visiting family DH’s company announced they are offering severance - ONCE - in advance of layoffs.

So we are moving back to the US.

In 5wks. 

SURPRISE!!

Homeschooling plans are blown to smithereens. We’ll crash land w/ family, but no idea where in the country we’ll end up, or when. DH is applying for jobs. I’m trying to wrap up as much as possible while we’re here, then will be packing & making other arrangements once we touch down. We are on “summer break” indefinitely. 

Edited May 23, 2019 by Expat_Mama_Shelli