2022-2023 Planning for your AL

[SeaConquest]

It's that time of year again, so let's chat about plans!!  

Updating from my 2021 post, I graduated from nursing school last June and, after 7 long months of rejections, was finally able to land a position as an ICU nurse. I am starting this week and will be working nights. Due to Covid, Sacha's bar mitzvah trip got bumped to the fall of 2022 instead of 2021. By some miracle, he was admitted to SOHS and has really enjoyed the class he took there this year. They admitted him with the option to attend full-time, so he is trying to decide whether to continue with our current hybrid model or to go there FT for high school.  

Ronen has made tons of progress with his special ed services and now is reading very well. He also moved to the same charter as his brother and really enjoys it, but we are trying to decide if he would benefit from going to a regular brick and mortar school FT. His math skills and interest in science continue to impress me. 

Sacha (8th grade):

Math: SOHS AP Calculus BC

Science: He took Derek Owens Honors Physics this year. He is thinking about taking either Honors or AP Chem at SOHS or Gen Chem at the CC.

Language Arts: The bane of his existence. He struggled with his writing class at Integritas this year and with Davidson the year before. He is really over doing literary analysis, so he switched to doing debate and book clubs for now. The writing intensive curriculum at SOHS is the main thing holding him back from wanting to go there FT, so he is still deciding what to do for next year re writing. I think he will likely take Freshman Composition at the CC just so he can knock it out in a semester and be done with it for the rest of the year. 

Social Studies: He is leaning towards either AP or DE Micro or Macro.

Programming: He took C++ at SOHS this year and AP CS at CTY the year before, so hopefully he is ready for the Data Structures class at SOHS.

Extracurriculars: He is loving Civil Air Patrol and is learning to fly gliders. He's also been doing MOEMS, some coding competitions, and the AMCs. He did a genetics camp over winter break that he really enjoyed. The institute has other science camps, so I imagine that he will continue those. The boys take Parkour classes on weekends for PE. Guitar has kinda dropped off, but I know that he enjoys playing, so hopefully that will pick back up. 

Ronen (3rd grade -- if we continue to homeschool):

Math: Beast Academy online class

Science: I'd like to find him some cool Outschool or other online classes, still TBD

Language Arts: He is doing well with Spelling You See, Writing With Ease, grammar with MCT, and reading from various booklists

History: Lately, we have been reading together from SOTW, and he seems to enjoy it. I would also like to get him some Outschool or other online social studies courses as well, but still TBD on specifics

Elective: He is taking enrichment classes at his charter (Spanish, coding, art, etc.), so we would continue that

Extracurriculars: Parkour, but I would love to get him involved in something else -- just not sure what

 

What are your thoughts about next year?

Edited January 30, 2022 by SeaConquest

[Frances]

I’m no longer homeschooling my accelerated learner since my son is a young adult, but I just wanted to say congrats on the new job!

Edited January 31, 2022 by Frances

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Congratulations on the graduation & job! 👩‍🎓 

DS will be entering 4th grade next year. 

Language Arts:  Paragraph & short essay compositions alongside self-directed reading & literature. We’ll use W&R Narrative II, AAS 5/6, a poetics activity book, possibly some Killgallon. He’ll participate in NaNoWriMo. Depending on how much of that we get through we may or may not tackle MCT Caesar’s English (which I’ve been avoiding) & Essay Voyage in the spring. 

Math: Wrap up Beast Academy & begin AOPS PreAlgebra. If the transition is rough, we’ll explore rabbit trails (Didax Pentominoes / JA) & join an AOPS course in the fall of 5th grade. 

History: HO Early Modern. I’ll begin assigning DS supplementary reading & occasional nonfiction compositions. 

Science: RSO Physics. As with history, supplementary reading & nonfiction compositions. 

Other: Continue soccer, tennis, ice skating, Scouts, & swimming lessons. Once he completes swimming lessons (not sure if that’ll be this school year or not) we’ll have him choose between music lessons or a foreign language. 

[Clarita]

Technically, DS5 will be entering Kindergarten next year, he was in K4 this year, DD3 will be 4 and she would like "school work" to make her feel special.

I don't have DS5 plans solid yet. So I guess here are some plans and some thoughts.

Reading: Continue AAR. AAR is working for us in terms of building fluency and I don't think it'd be a good idea to skip on ahead. I have my probably overthinking it thoughts, which is that DS5 is able to decipher phonetically or by roots/patterns way past where we are in AAR). The other day reading a completely new book he sounded out h-ou-s stared at the 'e' for a while and decided he probably didn't need to say that because h-ou-s is a word already (we are only on AAR level 1 beginning blends and ending blends). I'm nervous about him going down the road guessing and just memorizing words, but I don't know how to keep that from happening. 

Spelling: I think he's too young to push official spelling, but IDK see reading.

Writing: He's not ahead in this department so we will do HWOT along with "writing"/scribing/narrating activities through science/history/social studies to show him writing is a good skill to have. Maybe get more puzzle books and stuff to work on the fine motor muscles.

Math: We'll chug along with Singapore Math (level 1). We are really happy with it. 

Science: We are going to try Science Connection Inquiry. We have a subscription to Discovery Education and Generation Genius through our homeschool charter school so we'll supplement with that.

History: Continue with Notgrass Star Spangled Story, but just the reading not the work. I just make up my own activities based on the unit we read.

We'll do read aloud and stuff but I don't really plan that ahead of time. 

I think our big question is how best to approach Language Arts.

[8filltheheart]

I have made a few decisions about next yr.  One, for sure, is that our history is going to be less intense than this yr's.  My youngest will be a 7th grader.  I have decided to do the Anne and Green Gables study that I did with her 23 yr old sister when she was in 7th grade.  That was an awesome study and I think youngest dd will enjoy it.  That will cover lit and history.

Math: geometry

Science: not sure yet

Russian

She'll continue with the things she loves--violin, choir, track, and maybe drama.  She just started a Jr Beauty and the Beast production.  We'll see how it goes.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

On 2/12/2022 at 5:57 AM, 8filltheheart said:

I have decided to do the Anne and Green Gables study that I did with her 23 yr old sister when she was in 7th grade.

Ooh, do tell! Is this a resource you created yourself or one you picked up from elsewhere? DS9 adored Anne of GG & we are now reading Anne of Avonlea 🙂

[8filltheheart]

20 minutes ago, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

Ooh, do tell! Is this a resource you created yourself or one you picked up from elsewhere? DS9 adored Anne of GG & we are now reading Anne of Avonlea 🙂

I bought Where the Brook and River Meet, but it didn't really fit my needs.  I used it as a source for some ideas and went on to design my own from there.  I used to have a lot of posts about it, but when I searched I couldn't find many active links.  Here is a blurb from one I did find:

Quote

 

My graduating sr is a lover of all things language, but equally advanced in math (which she didn't really care for until she discovered that she loves econ this yr.) Everything for her personally started to come together in 7th grade when we did an Anne of Green Gables study. I used an annotated Anne to guide me toward all of the literary references Anne makes. The list is actually quite wonderful. Off the top of my head, I can remember Marmion, Lady of the Lake, Siege of Valencia, Edinburgh after Flodden, Idylls of the King, King Lear, Prelude to Childhood, etc. Dd fell in love with epic poetry and Shakespeare that yr.

 

I integrated history. We read Canadian and British history. We did an in-depth study of the the Tudors to Stuarts. Science was completely interest led in 7th.

 

FWIW, I wouldn't do this study with any child younger than 7th grade and then only with a very advanced literary student.  It is a very heavy literature load for even most advanced 7th graders.  But it was a transformative study for my dd back then.  (I did the study with her in 2011, so it has definitely been a while.)  But, she fell in love with epic poetry and literature that yr. 

[Brittany1116]

Older child will be grade 6 next year...

 

Rod and Staff English 7

IEW US History based writing

Saxon Algebra- complete 1 and move into 2

CLE American History 8- at his request. He is uninterested in world history now. Plenty of extra reading to work this in with IEW writing.

MB God Design science- the water/weather/earth/space one. Bulking this up with extra reading resources, Crash Course videos, and experiments. 

4th year choosing a Funschooling geography book. He already has Germany and Israel to choose between.

We'll probably do Abeka Bible 6 online, and he got Lee Strobel's new kids devotional.

Chesskids. Typing. CTC logic games. 

A few Progeny Press lit guides. A few Christian Heroes Then and Now studies. 

Oh, I also got The Fallacy Detective.

Baseball. Soccer. Possibly archery if they have continued their homeschool classes.

 

Younger one will be grade 1. He's bright, although he has the motivation and attention span of an average 6 year old boy.

CLE reading 100

CLE math- complete 100 and go into 200

CLE LA 100

Abeka science 1

Abeka social studies 1

TGTB safety health unit

Read. Read. Read. Read.

Tee ball. Soccer.

After Christmas, I'll likely start him on CTC logic games. 

I didn't get him a Bible curriculum, but we have a dozen children's Bibles and Bible story books so we'll likely just read through them all.

 

[SeaConquest]

On 1/30/2022 at 11:05 AM, SeaConquest said:

Sacha (8th grade):

Math: SOHS AP Calculus BC

Science: He took Derek Owens Honors Physics this year. He is thinking about taking either Honors or AP Chem at SOHS or Gen Chem at the CC.

Language Arts: The bane of his existence. He struggled with his writing class at Integritas this year and with Davidson the year before. He is really over doing literary analysis, so he switched to doing debate and book clubs for now. The writing intensive curriculum at SOHS is the main thing holding him back from wanting to go there FT, so he is still deciding what to do for next year re writing. I think he will likely take Freshman Composition at the CC just so he can knock it out in a semester and be done with it for the rest of the year. 

Social Studies: He is leaning towards either AP or DE Micro or Macro.

Programming: He took C++ at SOHS this year and AP CS at CTY the year before, so hopefully he is ready for the Data Structures class at SOHS.

Extracurriculars: He is loving Civil Air Patrol and is learning to fly gliders. He's also been doing MOEMS, some coding competitions, and the AMCs. He did a genetics camp over winter break that he really enjoyed. The institute has other science camps, so I imagine that he will continue those. The boys take Parkour classes on weekends for PE. Guitar has kinda dropped off, but I know that he enjoys playing, so hopefully that will pick back up. 

We heard back from SOHS re financial aid for next year and because Sacha is now a returning student, they were very generous with our aid package. Since I returned to work, I am not sure how much that will change in the coming years, but at least for this year, he can go full-time without it putting us into BK. In addition, Sacha's charter school has basically said that they are unlikely to be able to accommodate him going forward (because he's gotten too advanced), so he is going to give SOHS a shot full-time next year to see how he does before making a commitment re high school.

We met with his counselor this morning about his course selection, and he has to petition for approval since 3 of his classes are high school level. He is petitioning to take:

Single Variable Calculus (in lieu of their BC class, since he doesn't care about taking the AP test)
Honors Chemistry
Data Structures
Human Nature and Society

A full course load at SOHS is typically 4-5 classes, but we think that 4 classes will be plenty challenging for him, given the rigor and his 2e issues. Hopefully, he will still have time for Parkour, Guitar, Civil Air Patrol, and just being a teenager. If he succeeds next year, then I think that we will all have confidence that he's found the right fit for high school. And if going FT proves to be too challenging, then we will know to find another solution for HS. Hopefully, they will approve his petitions or give us some other good options for him. I am honestly happy to have the hand-holding, at this point.

[Condessa]

I have just realized (right now, at 3am) that my current 2nd grader is going to complete BA by Christmas, barring another major interruption to his schooling.  He’s the most math-gifted of my four mathy kids.  He’s where he’s at despite having missed over half of the school days in 1st grade and numerous days from 2nd grade to medical issues.  He is eager to get to take AOPS classes like his older siblings.  And I have just now realized that is probably not going to be a feasible option past prealgebra.  Without a self-paced option, I can’t see being able to keep up with the pace of an AOPS class with all of the ups and downs of fatigue and nausea and the random, sudden appointments or further tests when a new symptom or an off blood test comes back.    Maybe if we get some periods of stability between treatments, but there’s no knowing if that will happen or how long they might last.  How does a languagey mom like me facilitate an advanced math education for a kid who can’t take outsourced classes?  

[wendyroo]

1 hour ago, Condessa said:

I have just realized (right now, at 3am) that my current 2nd grader is going to complete BA by Christmas, barring another major interruption to his schooling.  He’s the most math-gifted of my four mathy kids.  He’s where he’s at despite having missed over half of the school days in 1st grade and numerous days from 2nd grade to medical issues.  He is eager to get to take AOPS classes like his older siblings.  And I have just now realized that is probably not going to be a feasible option past prealgebra.  Without a self-paced option, I can’t see being able to keep up with the pace of an AOPS class with all of the ups and downs of fatigue and nausea and the random, sudden appointments or further tests when a new symptom or an off blood test comes back.    Maybe if we get some periods of stability between treatments, but there’s no knowing if that will happen or how long they might last.  How does a languagey mom like me facilitate an advanced math education for a kid who can’t take outsourced classes?  

Derek Owens might be a good option - completely outsourced, but also self-paced.

[SoCal_Bear]

@CondessaOr Math Without Borders. All of that is Foerster (except Geometry). I would have had no problem doing this. I slowed mine down because we were tandem doing Singapore and Beast. Then we worked through Jousting Armadillos first not because it was challenging but to make him learn to read a textbook and write out problems in an organized manner. Zaccaro. Glen Ellison. Cleo Borac. Patty Paper Geometry. Jacobs' Mathematics: A Human Endeavor. We did all this and more to go sideways and build EF skills along the way. We actually ended up doing Intermediate Algebra before Geometry (he doesn't love Geometry topics and finally has gotten over his proofs issues). It's onto Precalc this fall.

Edited March 10, 2022 by calbear

[wendyroo]

3 minutes ago, calbear said:

@CondessaOr Math Without Borders. All of that is Foerster (except Geometry). I would have had no problem doing this. I slowed mine down because we were tandem doing Singapore and Beast. Then we worked through Jousting Armadillos first not because it was challenging but to make him learn to read a textbook and write out problems in an organized manner. Zaccaro. Glen Ellison. Cleo Borac. Patty Paper Geometry. Jacobs' Mathematics: A Human Endeavor. We did all this and more to go sideways and build EF skills along the way. We actually ended up doing Intermediate Algebra before Geometry (he doesn't love Geometry topics and finally has gotten over his proofs issues). It's onto Precalc this fall.

I agree with going sideways. We do Zaccaro books, Hands on Equations Verbal problems, Hands on Geometry, University of Waterloo math circle materials, James Tanton, etc. My goal isn't to slow them down necessarily, but to go very wide and deep before moving forward...and to spend that time building EF skills so they would be ready to tackle higher level math.

However, I'm not sure about Math Without Borders for a younger learner. I've considered using it (but never have) for my kids for geometry because I haven't found any other texts I like. But I have always hesitated because I find the sample videos soooo boring. They would not have worked for my kids when they were learning algebra at young ages.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

5 hours ago, Condessa said:

Without a self-paced option, I can’t see being able to keep up with the pace of an AOPS class

Not a perfect solution, but if his heart is really set on AOPS could he manage a slower-paced online course, such as the ones through WTM Academy?

When he is zooming ahead you could add in Alcumus & the challenge problems from the book (which I don’t think are included in the class) & when he has to miss for medical reasons, it wouldn’t be so difficult to catch up in a slower course. I’m sure the instructors would be flexible with attendance given the circumstances. 

Edited March 10, 2022 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax

[SoCal_Bear]

I wonder it the AOPS classes over at Royal Fireworks will help. WTMA might be strict about age. RWP supposedly is aiming at gifted education. The instructor (Allen Gross) over there is reponsive to emails. 

[SoCal_Bear]

This is the class for AOPS Virtual Academy. The one associated with the live instruction in person campuses.

https://virtual.aopsacademy.org/courses/year-round/math-6

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

8 hours ago, calbear said:

WTMA might be strict about age.

That didn’t even occur to me. I’ve been planning on using WTMA if DS doesn’t take to the AOPS Online format or if the scheduling doesn’t work for us. While he’ll be older than Condessa’s kiddo, he’ll still be a grade below their listed range for several courses. They also don’t offer C&P or NT (which could otherwise help delay other courses) or anything above PreCalculus. Hopefully they’re flexible! 
 

ETA: They did have this in their FAQs:

“Can I enroll my student in a course if they fall outside the age recommendation for that course?”

Parents of students falling outside the age recommendations for a course should contact administration before enrollment for approval. If a parent of a student falling outside the age recommendation for a course enrolls the student without contacting the administration, they should expect to be contacted by the Academy.

Edited March 12, 2022 by Shoes+Ships+SealingWax

[SoCal_Bear]

I believe RFP has something both those courses as semester long classes.

[SoCal_Bear]

There's a series of courses at RWF called math for the Highly Gifted child which looks interesting where she used Hands On Equations and does mathemathematical oragami, modular mathematics, bases, geometric design, etc.

Edited March 12, 2022 by calbear

[SoCal_Bear]

this is the first sequence. It looks very fun, and what my son would have enjoyed.
https://www.rfwp.com/online-learning/courses/math-for-highly-gifted-young-children-part-i/

This is a hands-on math course that uses games and manipulatives to help teach math. Topics will include number fluency and flexibility, place value systems, the commutative and associate properties of addition and multiplication, and the distributive and reverse distributive properties. Geometric topics will include measurement of perimeter, area, and volume using two- and three-dimensional models. Students will use a circular protractor and a ruler to construct a multitude of polygons, along with accompanying artwork. Students who delight in number surprises will have the opportunity to investigate special numbers such as primes, twin primes, composites, figurate, perfect, abundant, deficient, amicable, and other special numbers. They will also have fun with fractions through playing a fractional candy game.

Edited March 12, 2022 by calbear

[Condessa]

Dd13-8th grade:

-AOPS Geometry, or maybe Intro to Number Theory first

-CLRC Intro to American History 

-Maybe CLRC High school Latin 1?  She’s taken the middle school Latin 1&2 classes, which cover the same material, but I think she could use some more work on the grammar before moving on to a higher level.

-I don’t know what to do for English.  She’s finishing Intermediate Literature and Composition from CLRC now, and I’m planning on using their Great Books classes for her in high school.  I’m not sure about in between.  Possibly a detour to something fun for a while?

Finish up R&S spelling.  Improve at typing.  TBD for science, logic, piano, maybe gymnastics.

 

Dd11-6th grade:

-Algebra, maybe Foerster

-probably CLRC’s Intro to Ancient History.  It will stretch her, but she’s been asking for this class, so probably a good medium to help her work on the organization skills she needs.

-Finishing MCT Voyage level.  We’ll probably finish this halfway through the year.  I’m not sure what we’ll do then.

-Dance class.  Probably another art class, too.

-All About Spelling 

-Orbiting with logic

typing and xtramath

TBD science.  Possibly start German again.

Ds9-5th:

-Finish AOPS Prealgebra, possibly start Algebra

-Finish MCT Voyage level with dd11, except for poetry unit.

-SOTW with ds7.

-Science TBD.

-Spanish tutoring LanguageConvo.com

-Cello Lessons

-Pictures in Cursive, Orbiting with Logic, R&S Spelling.

 

Ds7-3rd:

-Finish BA.  After that I will try to interest him in some Zaccaro or other side trails with math, but he might not be having any of it—he is constantly trying to answer his brother’s math over his shoulder during school time and is excited to get to start AOPS, too, so we’ll use their self-paced prealgebra when we get there and just try to keep it slow.

-Finish Treasured Conversations, start MCT Town level.

-All About Spelling

-Xtramath, typing.com, Logic Liftoff, Pictures in Cursive

-SOTW with ds11

-Science TBD.

May start violin lessons again.

[Condessa]

On 3/10/2022 at 4:08 AM, Condessa said:

I have just realized (right now, at 3am) that my current 2nd grader is going to complete BA by Christmas, barring another major interruption to his schooling.  He’s the most math-gifted of my four mathy kids.  He’s where he’s at despite having missed over half of the school days in 1st grade and numerous days from 2nd grade to medical issues.  He is eager to get to take AOPS classes like his older siblings.  And I have just now realized that is probably not going to be a feasible option past prealgebra.  Without a self-paced option, I can’t see being able to keep up with the pace of an AOPS class with all of the ups and downs of fatigue and nausea and the random, sudden appointments or further tests when a new symptom or an off blood test comes back.    Maybe if we get some periods of stability between treatments, but there’s no knowing if that will happen or how long they might last.  How does a languagey mom like me facilitate an advanced math education for a kid who can’t take outsourced classes?  

Guess what I just learned?  AOPS is coming out with a self-paced Intro to Algebra A class!  Hopefully they keep going with making more self-paced versions of their classes.

[mckittre]

8th grade.

Social studies/history: We usually do this with audiobooks and discussion, which works well for him, but I feel like I need to nudge this kid into doing more writing before he actually gets to high school. He's not as bad as he thinks he is, but has a huge mental block for any written output, so it's like pulling teeth to get him to write anything. So, will try to add more writing assignments.

L.A.: Similar issue. Wondering if having non-mom deadlines would help, but not sure I want to sign him up for an online class in an an area of weakness.

Math: He's doing AOPS Intermediate Algebra this year. Which is going OK, but he struggles with the workload. I encouraged him to take it for practice/feedback on proofs, which has been good, but I think we'll do pre-cal with AOPS books on our own for a more relaxed pace. I'm kind of worried I can't really help him much anymore, but he doesn't need much help usually.

Science: Probably more slowly working through the college physics book we have, combined with lighter stuff in other subjects or whatever rabbit trail he wants. He had fun adding a light Athena's class in invertebrate anatomy this year. He's great at science, but rather than try and check off any of the official high school science boxes I figure we might as well be more free-form and just hit those at a higher level in official high school years. We also have an ongoing intertidal citizen science investigation that ends up as about a half a class worth of time.

Computer Science/Programming: This I'm the most unsure of. He loves programming and is good at it, and will go to a CTY summer program in data structures and algorithms, and I'm not sure what to do next. He programs on his own, of course, but also would like a challenging online class, and I have no idea where to find one for him. 

 

[SoCal_Bear]

On 4/4/2022 at 7:54 PM, Condessa said:

Guess what I just learned?  AOPS is coming out with a self-paced Intro to Algebra A class!  Hopefully they keep going with making more self-paced versions of their classes.

Is it new or retooled? Because they had a self-paced Algebra at one point a few years ago and then they took it down.

[Cake and Pi]

I think I'm finally at a place where plans for next year are semi-solid enough to share. Some things are still up in the air, but this is the plan until further refinement:

 

DS14, 9th GRADE

Math: 
- WTMA Advanced Calculus AB (AoPS curriculum)

English: 
- Finish IEW SSS 1C and move on to 2C in November-ish if it's still a good fit by then
- Fix It 5
- Online G3 Dystopian Lit (fall) and *something* for literature in the spring (BW boomerangs? FishTank? SEA Teen Book Clubs? Another G3 lit class? Other??)

Science: 
- OM Environmental Science (w/ DS10)

Social Studies:
- OM World Geography

World Language:
- WTMA Spanish I

Electives:
- Online G3 Science and Societies in Science Fiction Movies (spring)
- Adobe Photoshop (found a free curriculum to follow)
- P.E..... of some sort, possibly weight training
- MTG group??

 

 

DS12, 7th GRADE 

Math:
- Davidson Explore Algebra I class (Davidson says that kids usually test into whatever level they most recently completed, and this turned out to be true for DS12. He completed algebra 1 in PS this year, but I think that he needs more time to mature anyway and that he will probably enjoy the flipped classroom style of DE classes.)

English: 
- finish MCT4 grammar, vocab, poetics
- finish Sequential Spelling 3, begin 4
- Fix It 4 (new ed) Mowgli and Shere Khan
- Writing... restart IEW SSS 1B? W&R books 5 & 6? More Killgallon? Other???
- possibly Athena's Book Explorers class

Science:
- Something outsourced, but not sure what. Considering Athena's Terrestrial Biomes class (fall) with some other Athena's class for spring or perhaps an in-person class or coop kind of situation.

Social Studies, geography, and literature:
- Torchlight 5 Equity & Ethics (w/ DS10)

EF & Social/Emotional:
- Gratitude journal
- CBT
- anxiety management workbook

Electives:
- Fencing and martial arts are on his wish list. He'll have to pick one.
- MTG group??

 

 

DS10, 5th GRADE

Math:
- AoPS Online Calculus and/or Intermediate Number Theory and/or Olympiad Geometry?? I'm trying to postpone in-person college classes as long as possible.

Science:
- OM Environmental Science (w/ DS14)
- More Biochemistry Literacy for Kids live online classes for fun, maybe study for and take the AP Chem exam

English:
- Davidson Explore Writing and Popular Young Adult Fiction class
- Handwriting (HWOT, perhaps?)

Social Studies, geography, and literature: 
- Torchlight 5 Equity and Ethics (w/ DS12)

World Language:
- WTMA Spanish 1A

EF & Social/Emotional Learning:
- continue stress and anger management workbooks
- yoga
- meditation
- an EF curriculum if we can squeeze it in... deciding between Gen:M and Unstuck and On Target, which were both on the list for this year, but we never got around to them.

Electives:
- coding/programming something or another, no idea what
- swimming
- OT for sensory
- Speech therapy
- Hoping to find him a local D&D group

 

 

And youngest kiddo is the opposite of an AL, but I've not excluded him from the planning thread yet and won't be starting now!
DS8 (turning 9 this summer), 3rd GRADE

Math:
- SRA Connecting Math Concepts lvl A, RS (1st ed) A, MUS Primer -- just kind of rotating through when he gets stuck, and hopefully moving on to the 1st grade level(s) of some or all of them at some point in the year

English:
- SRA Reading Mastery, reading strand -- finish K, move on to 1st
- SRA Reading Mastery, language strand (aka Language for Learning)-- finish K, move on to 1st
- SRA Reading Mastery, spelling (aka Spelling Mastery) -- finish K, move on to 1st
- SRA Reasoning and Writing level A
- SRA Read-Aloud Library, grade K?? (we tried this year and it was too challenging)

Science:
- Blossom & Root level 0 nature study
- Let's-Read-And-Find-Out-Science level 1 books
- Considering trying out the scheduled TL science, but I'm still undecided. The discussion-based SCI curriculum will *not* work for my language-impaired kiddo, but maybe the other stuff...? Or maybe Mystery Science grade K lessons?

Social studies, geography, literature:
- Torchlight level K Worldly Wisdom, skipping chapter book read-alouds since the language is too complex
- KiwiCo Atlas Crates (I've had the subscription going for a year+ and have been saving them so I can line them up with TL topics!)

EF & Social/Emotional Learning:
- Little Spot of Emotion curriculum
- lots of picture books about feelings and problem solving

Electives:
- OT
- PT
- speech therapy
- adaptive swimming
- sensory diet

Edited May 22, 2022 by Cake and Pi

[Lawyer&Mom]

Dd8 is finishing second grade at her B&M school.  So far we’ve avoided complaints about school being “boring” which is what *I* felt about school at her age, and I’m trying not to project myself onto her school experience.  We are doing French at home.  I love the ULAT, she loves it less, we are currently taking a break and using Paul Noble French for Kids instead.  She loves the audio based format, which isn’t what I expected from an Autistic kid, but maybe it just has fewer distractions than the ULAT.  If she wants to continue with Audio, than grown-up Paul Noble and then Pimsleur, Assimil etc. are all options.  I’m trying to avoid her reading French texts until she’s internalized the pronunciation more.  French is not ideal in that regard for a very-visual kid.  Both kids happily watch French cartoons  

We are also watching the Great Courses Art History course.  She loves it and would totally binge it, but her younger sister is only willing to watch one episode a week.  Personally I’m Team Binge, but as a mom I think it’s actually good practice for us to pace ourselves, so one episode a week it is.

It’s hard for me to know that she is ready for college level input in lower elementary school.  That’s just something  I’m going to have to sit with. I have to remind myself she’s not in school for the academics, but there *is* a lot she is learning at school.  It’s hard to be a grown-up 2E kid raising a 2E kid!

Dd6 finally made the leap to being an independent reader.  My heart grew three sizes watching them read together on the couch.  She continues to make fabulous lego and magna-tile constructions.  She’s clearly an engineer, and it’s less obvious to me how to nurture that at this stage.  

[madteaparty]

On 5/29/2022 at 12:42 PM, Lawyer&Mom said:

Dd8 is finishing second grade at her B&M school.  So far we’ve avoided complaints about school being “boring” which is what *I* felt about school at her age, and I’m trying not to project myself onto her school experience.  We are doing French at home.  I love the ULAT, she loves it less, we are currently taking a break and using Paul Noble French for Kids instead.  She loves the audio based format, which isn’t what I expected from an Autistic kid, but maybe it just has fewer distractions than the ULAT.  If she wants to continue with Audio, than grown-up Paul Noble and then Pimsleur, Assimil etc. are all options.  I’m trying to avoid her reading French texts until she’s internalized the pronunciation more.  French is not ideal in that regard for a very-visual kid.  Both kids happily watch French cartoons  

We are also watching the Great Courses Art History course.  She loves it and would totally binge it, but her younger sister is only willing to watch one episode a week.  Personally I’m Team Binge, but as a mom I think it’s actually good practice for us to pace ourselves, so one episode a week it is.

It’s hard for me to know that she is ready for college level input in lower elementary school.  That’s just something  I’m going to have to sit with. I have to remind myself she’s not in school for the academics, but there *is* a lot she is learning at school.  It’s hard to be a grown-up 2E kid raising a 2E kid!

Dd6 finally made the leap to being an independent reader.  My heart grew three sizes watching them read together on the couch.  She continues to make fabulous lego and magna-tile constructions.  She’s clearly an engineer, and it’s less obvious to me how to nurture that at this stage.  

I don’t have an accelerated kid but wondering how you’re keeping French going at home. Dd is practically fluent but you know, fluent for her age… And her grammar needs constant work just like it does for native speaking kids too! around 4th grade is when I found afterschooling impossible for my DS and we started homeschooling, so I wonder how this plays out.  DD is going into public at 6th grade. So far I have mornings (before school) for French, 2 evenings a week for Chinese, and AOPS class on Sundays. Adding tennis everyday and  it seems like a lot even if the goal is just to tread water on each of the three subjects above…

[Lawyer&Mom]

20 minutes ago, madteaparty said:

I don’t have an accelerated kid but wondering how you’re keeping French going at home. Dd is practically fluent but you know, fluent for her age… And her grammar needs constant work just like it does for native speaking kids too! around 4th grade is when I found afterschooling impossible for my DS and we started homeschooling, so I wonder how this plays out.  DD is going into public at 6th grade. So far I have mornings (before school) for French, 2 evenings a week for Chinese, and AOPS class on Sundays. Adding tennis everyday and  it seems like a lot even if the goal is just to tread water on each of the three subjects above…

I’m starting my kid from scratch with French, so she isn’t fluent at all.  In someways that makes it easier, there is so much to learn, we are a long ways from just treading water.  There is *so* much I’d love to do with after schooling. (Like Chinese and AOPS!) But I’ve decided for now to just focus on French and focus on consistency.  We do about an hour of French everyday and she’s making great progress.  (That hour includes TV and read-alouds. It’s only 10 minutes of explicit instruction.  Which is what her 2nd grade attention span can handle!)

We can’t do it all with homeschooling and it’s just 10x more true with after-schooling.  It’s hard to accept.

 

[madteaparty]

3 hours ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

I’m starting my kid from scratch with French, so she isn’t fluent at all.  In someways that makes it easier, there is so much to learn, we are a long ways from just treading water.  There is *so* much I’d love to do with after schooling. (Like Chinese and AOPS!) But I’ve decided for now to just focus on French and focus on consistency.  We do about an hour of French everyday and she’s making great progress.  (That hour includes TV and read-alouds. It’s only 10 minutes of explicit instruction.  Which is what her 2nd grade attention span can handle!)

We can’t do it all with homeschooling and it’s just 10x more true with after-schooling.  It’s hard to accept.

 

So true. I need to go back to the crumb philosophy. A 30 min TV show here, a read aloud/audio chapter there…

[Jackie]

Haven’t been around here in a while, but DD12 does have plans for fall.

Math: She’s currently about halfway through AOPS Geometry and will continue. She prefers learning from the book and working on Alcumus, and has been 95% independent with the Geometry book. This summer is her last year with Epsilon Camp. She doesn’t like the local Math Circle, so she’s going to return to piecing together interest-based math using some online stuff from MoMath, and a variety of math books. She’s been carefully reading through Symmetries of Things because one of the authors taught her previously at Epsilon Camp and will be back this summer, so she wants to pick his brain about some of it.

English: she’s taking a class on personal essay writing this summer (meant for high schoolers writing college app essays, but she wants to try for a CDB scholarship and has never written this style essay before), next year will just be the SEA Tween book clubs sometimes with the writing supplement

Social Studies: she still reads nonfiction for fun, so not doing formal stuff. Will have a subscription to The Sweary Historian and regularly watch CNN10.

Science: high school level Marine Bio through Athena’s

Foreign language: ASL at the CC

EC: Destination Imagination team, flying trapeze, various circus arts classes

This past year, she put hundreds of hours into learning how to custom craft lotions, lip balms, and a few other body products. All just for funsies, but now that she has the knowledge, she’s going to try her hand at launching it as a business by the end of summer. After having put some of the time in, she learned she is allergic to the vast majority of body products on the market and further learned how to play with ingredients so she can custom make for herself and others who need to avoid any given ingredient. So we’re keeping academics especially light (by her standards) so she can put time into further product development and learning some marketing and bookkeeping skills.

[SoCal_Bear]

3 hours ago, Jackie said:

Haven’t been around here in a while, but DD12 does have plans for fall.

Math: She’s currently about halfway through AOPS Geometry and will continue. She prefers learning from the book and working on Alcumus, and has been 95% independent with the Geometry book. This summer is her last year with Epsilon Camp. She doesn’t like the local Math Circle, so she’s going to return to piecing together interest-based math using some online stuff from MoMath, and a variety of math books. She’s been carefully reading through Symmetries of Things because one of the authors taught her previously at Epsilon Camp and will be back this summer, so she wants to pick his brain about some of it.

English: she’s taking a class on personal essay writing this summer (meant for high schoolers writing college app essays, but she wants to try for a CDB scholarship and has never written this style essay before), next year will just be the SEA Tween book clubs sometimes with the writing supplement

Social Studies: she still reads nonfiction for fun, so not doing formal stuff. Will have a subscription to The Sweary Historian and regularly watch CNN10.

Science: high school level Marine Bio through Athena’s

Foreign language: ASL at the CC

EC: Destination Imagination team, flying trapeze, various circus arts classes

This past year, she put hundreds of hours into learning how to custom craft lotions, lip balms, and a few other body products. All just for funsies, but now that she has the knowledge, she’s going to try her hand at launching it as a business by the end of summer. After having put some of the time in, she learned she is allergic to the vast majority of body products on the market and further learned how to play with ingredients so she can custom make for herself and others who need to avoid any given ingredient. So we’re keeping academics especially light (by her standards) so she can put time into further product development and learning some marketing and bookkeeping skills.

Online version of math circle is a drag...Maybe give the in person a go in the fall? Though admittedly it is highly competition math oriented, so if that is not her cup of tea...I would not get up early on Saturdays to go.

Edited June 21, 2022 by calbear

[Balletbaker]

Plans for my sponge-like six and a half year old:

Math: RightStart Math C (starting this summer) and Beast Academy online 2

Language Arts: Silent reading time, read aloud and oral narration from history curriculum, WriteShop Primary B to learn about the editing/revising process, Handwriting Without Tears, still experimenting with spelling vs. copywork. He seems to absorb spelling without explicit instruction.

History: Medieval history - History Quest, reading selections from Build Your Library, lots of hands-on projects and make believe. SO MANY great read aloud books this year, I'm really excited. 

Science: Robotics/Circuits/Computing/Coding - Per his request, so I'm cobbling this together. I found a book to use to work through concepts with LEGO Boost robot. I got a big snap circuits set to systematically learn about electrical circuits. We'll also read a variety of related books.

Music: Piano lessons continue

Art: Visits to the art museum, art appreciation, plus crafts from the history curriculum

Input levels are much more advanced than written output, so I'll continue to scribe for him. 

 

[Jackie]

On 6/21/2022 at 3:11 PM, calbear said:

Online version of math circle is a drag...Maybe give the in person a go in the fall? Though admittedly it is highly competition math oriented, so if that is not her cup of tea...I would not get up early on Saturdays to go.

She dislikes how directed/lecture-based it is. She wants exploration of interesting math, which can absolutely include contest prep, but this past year was sign in, listen to someone with very little interaction.

[SoCal_Bear]

44 minutes ago, Jackie said:

She dislikes how directed/lecture-based it is. She wants exploration of interesting math, which can absolutely include contest prep, but this past year was sign in, listen to someone with very little interaction.

IME, she will find more than 1/2 the time is spent on problem solving together in groups in person if that helps at all.

Edited June 24, 2022 by calbear

[Condessa]

Updated 2022/2023 schoolyear plans:

Dd13-8th grade:

-Dd has decided to take AOPS's AMC 8 Basics course this Fall, followed by Intro to Number Theory in the Spring

-English/Literature with me, still hammering out all the details, finish up R&S Spelling, typing

-CLRC Intro to American History

-CLRC Physical Science

-CLRC High school Latin 1, Immersive

 -Memoria Press Traditional Logic1

Still deciding on piano. She is really wanting to start gymnastics again, and I am worrying whether it is too soon after she has had a very slow recovery from a break to the growth plate on her femur.

ETA: DD13 is going to school.  This is a first for our family.  I think it will be for the best.  I hope.  

 

Dd11-6th grade:

-Foerster's Algebra with Math Without Borders' Home Study Companion, xtramath

-Essay Voyage, Practice Voyage, and Caesar's English with ds10, AAS 5, typing

-CLRC’s Intro to Ancient History.  

-Collection of Life Science resources and the Story of Science

-German.  Combination of some Languageconvo with a native tutor, some reading children's books in German with me, and some watching kid shows in German.

-Orbiting with logic

-CLRC Art History Drawing Club

-Dance class.  

Ds10-5th:

-Finish AOPS Prealgebra, possibly start Algebra towards the end of the year

-Essay Voyage, Practice Voyage, and Caesar's English with dd11, SSS 4/5, Pictures in Cursive, typing.

-Oxford University Press Pages from History & SOTW with ds7.

-Collection of Life Science resources and the Story of Science

-Spanish tutoring LanguageConvo.com

-Orbiting with Logic

-Cello Lessons

-Judo

 

Ds8-3rd:

-Finish BA, then start AOPS self-paced Prealgebra, xtramath

-Finish Treasured Conversations, tag along with olders for Caesar's English, AAS 1/2, Pictures in Cursive.

-SOTW with ds11

-Collection of Life Science resources and the Story of Science

-Logic Liftoff

-Violin lessons

-Physical Therapy

ETA: and Japanese tutoring for ds8 from Language Convo, because he walked past the computer and saw my post, and was concerned that I hadn't made any plans for foreign language for him and told me he really wants to pick back up with Japanese again.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Condessa

[Guest]

Math: AOPS Online Pre-Calc

Science: CVC Organic Chem and BioChem

English: WWS3, writing across the curriculum, homegrown literature tailored to her interests (focus on ancient greek works and their echoes in modern lit). We're dropping grammar this year.

History: homegrown, tailored to her interests - we'll be spending 1 quarter each on Persia, India, and Africa. We're pretty excited - we have a great line-up of resources! Hopefully I didn't overdo it, but I have a plan for what to shed if it ends up being too much. 

Chinese: with an online tutor, aiming to sit for AP Chinese in May

Elective: Arabic through DE

PE: Swim, TKD, Running

Other: HAM Radio - she joined the local club and the average age of attendees was like... 70.... but she loved their sense of humor and she's hoping to learn more and recruit friends,

Piano, Speech and Debate, Youth Group

Keeping up with all the lit and history reading will be a lot of work for me, but I'm looking forward to the discussions we'll have.

Arabic is 5.5 units so she knows she needs to hold that loosely and potentially drop it if things get too busy. Although, if she really loves Arabic and doesn't want to drop, I'll let her work through lit and/or history more slowly and finish those over the summer.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Condessa said:

-Memoria Press Traditional Logic1

I'll be curious to hear how your child likes this class!

[Condessa]

52 minutes ago, WTM said:

I'll be curious to hear how your child likes this class!

Just doing the book, not the class.

[8filltheheart]

My 7th grader will be doing

geometry (Chalkdust.....bet most of you have never even heard of Dana Mosley.  I've been using this with my kids I think since 2004.)

Russian 

lit will be reading through Journeys Through Bookland and Collier's Jr Classics

writing will be across curriculum

world history (reading through a stack of books)

science (also reading through a stack of books.  She started Can You Hear the Trees Talking last week and said it is one of the most interesting science books she has read. Great book for sparking ideas for more research.  This will be the source for her first research for writing this yr.) 

plus activities like violin (youth orchestra), piano, choir, art, and ballroom dancing.

 

 

[mckittre]

My 8th grader's current plan:

AOPS precalculus (just with the book -- he took the intermediate algebra class last year, and although the proof practice was good for him, the schedule was intense, and it'll be nice to spread it out some)

Computer science from Coursera, hopefully, plus whatever self-driven programs he wants to make. What he's done already apparently corresponds roughly to a second year college CS class, so I've been trying to find him good options to learn the concepts he doesn't know yet.

Biology -- I'm an ex molecular biologist so I can teach this. Got a college biology text mostly for my own reference to ensure I cover all the topics, not sure how much of it I'll use. Lab-wise we live on the coast and have a long standing family obsession with intertidal invertebrates, and at least 5 years worth of semi-quantitative checklist data, so I'm hoping to incorporate that into whatever topics work for it.

History -- audiobooks plus discussions

English -- he's a terrible and reluctant writer, but somehow does fine doing videos or slideshow presentations. So we're trying a new plan where he creates a presentation on each topic first, before writing an essay about it, to hopefully shake him out of complaining he has no idea what to say for every single sentence. 

Spanish -- should do more here, but will try to remember to practice this to coast along and not entirely forget all the conversational Spanish he learned in South America as a younger kid. Will do it more formally in high school probably, to check the foreign language box.