If you are interested in what we are using this year, you are in the right place. Here is an overview of what we are doing for the 2016-2017 school year.
David~ DONE for right now
- David is finished with his schooling at this time. He worked his way through High School using Blessed is the Man Curriculum, Progeny Press Literature Guides, Cordura Driving School and his library card.
- He is waiting for me to write him an English curriculum that focuses on composition so that he can get his diploma.
- Patrick will be using Easy Peasy All in One High School for his last year of formal schooling, found here. We decided the go with it again, since he liked it so much and it offered him freedom from sitting with me all day. He is working their 12th grade recommendations and reading devotional materials provided by the youth pastor. He will need to do the composition class I write for David as well. We are going to work through an American Government online class together. He is also working at the church in the children's department a few times a week, and at the gym 2-3 days a week with David. He recently got his license and is spending many hours working on his 95 Honda Civic. (I can count that as shop class, right?)
- Derek is using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. You can find it here. It covers Bible, Art, History, Science, Geography and Music. Since it does not cover Language Arts and Math skills specifically, I am using the MFW suggested materials to cover Language Arts. They can be found here. We've added Reading Eggs after a free month long trial brought surprising results. For math, he is using Life of Fred. He is taking online piano lessons at Hoffman Academy. We also have an educational video a few times a week. We've purchased all the episodes of Liberty Kids, all the Magic School Bus episodes, and have many from Drive Thru History and Learn Our History DVDs. We enjoy the Video (and Quiz) of the Week from the BrainPop app on my Kindle. I also have a few DVDs from Izzit. That way, we can redeem some of the hours we spend in the car that day, and he can have a some extra education disguised as fun. We also enjoy a board/card/dice game each day to have some fun, work on sportsmanship, strategy, situational awareness and to take a break from book work. Current favorites include Ticket to Ride, King of Tokyo, Exploding Kittens, 7 Wonders, and One Night Ultimate Werewolf. We work hard 4 days a week and then have a light day to catch up on anything we missed, some life skills and perhaps even be social for a while.
- We're all enjoying field trips, park days and other fun activities this school year. We head to the park once in a while on a Friday after a week of hitting the books to relax and enjoy some food and fellowship with other homeschoolers. On the other Fridays, we rotate between field trips, life lesson days and catch up days.
- We re-assumed a normal school schedule this year with A in 1st at the local Christian school, and G's online homeschooling schedule not being as flexible as we'd hoped. Hooray for US having the flexibility to adapt to their needed routines. (Please keep in mind that NORMAL is just a setting on your dryer and we don't do normal very well at the Man Crew House. LOL)
- We are working hard to not be controlled by the school calendar, the curriculum or other people's expectations of us. It's nice to put down the weight of other people's expectations of us and just do what works for us. It's been a much different school year. When Mama K isn't worrying about what other people think of her (*ahem*), it's been very freeing.
I wish I'd thought to do this every year when I updated for the coming school year, but better late than never, right?
