Curriculum Week

My friend, Darcy of Life With My 3 Boybarians and Graphically Designing fame is hosting the Not Back-To-School Blog Hop. The basic scoop is that every Monday you post according to that week's theme. Sign the linky over at Darcy's site and then go see what everyone else had to share about the theme.

This week is Curriculum Week. Since I'm in the throes of planning for the upcoming year, the timing couldn't have been better. ClayGuy is 15 and the Comedian is 14 (10th & 9th grade, if you're into that kind of age-grade relationship). That does, however, mean high school. This added an extra layer of planning, because now I have to consider things like credits and requirements and such. In Colorado, the homeschool laws are fairly lenient, which is nice.

At this point in time, I don't know if either of the boys will attend college, but our high school curriculum has to account for the possibility. I'm using the book, High School @ Home - You Can Do It! by Diana Johnson as a guide to planning. I have to say that this book has been an enormous help. If you're nearing high school with your kids, I highly recommend it. A couple of other plugs - HSLDA's Homeschooling Through High School is incredibly helpful. Also, Lee Binz at The Home Scholar offers a wealth of information from someone who's been there, done that.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.

Because my boys are only a year apart, I am not going to teach two separate science courses, history courses, language arts, etc. So they'll be working with the same curriculum at times, which is just fine. By the time they complete high school, each will have covered what he needs. So if you're looking at my plans thinking, "Isn't he supposed to do that when he's a freshman?" don't worry about it. It's one of the beauties of homeschool; you can make it work for your family.

Bible - We start each day by reading through the Bible together and discussing what was read. We will also be re-implementing prayer journals. I would also like to have the boys participate in a Bible study/devotional on their own where they can learn to study God's word on their own. Still praying about that.

Language Arts - Grammar & Composition III, Themes in Literature, and Vocabulary, Spelling, and Poetry by Abeka. Interestingly, as I was perusing language arts materials, I found that much of the same material is taught in middle school and high school, particularly when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and such structural matters.

Math - LifePac Algebra for ClayGuy and Keys to Algebra for the Comedian. The Comedian will actually be done with his series probably by the middle of the year. Then he'll be moving onto Geometry and the curriculum will be determined closer to that time. Keys also has a Key to Tracker online which provides your child with further assistance and tracking. Given that the Comedian loves anything computer related, I think this will be a bonus for him.

In case you're wondering . . . they have different math programs because they both learn it quite differently from each other. They also are fairly independent with math, asking for assistance as needed. They'll be doing similar work, though different books.

Science - We're using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology this year.

Greek/Latin - We began using Vocabulary Vine last year, but didn't complete the book, so we'll be finishing that up the first part of the year. I've also ordered Science Roots, as Dr Wile of Apologia says that it is "a valuable study tool" to go along with their Biology course.

History - We'll be picking up where we left off in Mystery of History. While it's geared for slightly younger kids, there are things that can be added to bump it up for older students.

The Comedian is going to bowl on a junior league again this fall. There'll be other P.E. for both of the boys, as well.

That pretty much covers the core areas for us. More will be added, such as computer game programming for the Comedian, driver's ed for ClayGuy (he has his permit), practical living skills, and art.

{p.s. - Since hubby has his own business now, he occasionally takes the boys out on jobs with him. So they get to learn about various aspects of RV service and such.}