(Not) Back to School Blog Hop - Curriculum Week

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Earlier this week, I explained that (to my delight) the Next School Year Won't Cost A Fortune! In the days that followed, I placed a couple of orders, and talked to the kids about getting rid of a couple of the question marks on that list of coursework. I think we are pretty set in what we're doing now, so here's our final line-up.

Landon - Grade 11 (but hoping to graduate early)

Grammar and Composition (1 credit) - Landon will finish the third season in Analytical Grammar and complete the Student Writing Intensive (Institute for Excellence in Writing). Most of the essays he'll be assigned will come from his American History course.

  

Math Elective (1 credit) - Consumer Math (Switched On Schoolhouse) - this is still a question mark, since we haven't verified that our SOS program still works.

American History (1 credit)/American Lit (1/2 credit)/Bible: Issues in American Christianity (1 credit) - Exploring America from Notgrass covers all three subject areas for three full credits. Since Landon doesn't enjoy reading any more than his brothers did, we'll follow their lead and cut the required number of novels and award a half instead of full credit for American Lit. 

Survey of Science History & Concepts Elective (1 credit) - By using the Parent Lesson Planner along with the books I already own, Landon will get another credit for the Survey of Science History & Concepts course.

Practical Drafting Tech Elective (1 credit) - Landon did start on this during the past school year, but we set it aside with plans to finish it at the beginning of the next school year. (Practical Drafting workbook from Insight Technical Education)

Drums Lessons Elective (1 credit) - Thanks to the innovative online course DrumsWithWillie, Landon is able to learn drums and to earn a credit as well!

Aerospace Education and Leadership Elective (2 credits) - This is the course name we've assigned to his Civil Air Patrol involvement. I plan on awarding two full credits this year, because of the number of hours he puts in include not only a weekly squadron meeting, but lots of extra activities and studying, flying, and the ten-day encampment he did this summer.

Phys.Ed. (1/2 credit) - Landon attends a co-op gym class both semesters, and participates in basketball and other sports at the regular open gym nights hosted by our church. 

If all the above courses go as planned, Landon should have all the required credits for graduation. He will definitely have a full course load, but we think that he can finish Drafting and probably Drums during first semester, which will ease his load during second semester, and may open the door to another half credit elective that he can pick up in second semester.

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Kennady - Grade 9

Grammar & Composition (1 credit) - Kennady will also do the Student Writing Intensive and she'll continue with Fix-it! Grammar (Institute for Excellence in Writing). She'll have writing assignments in her Lit course as well.

British Literature (1 credit) - Our plan is to combine the Lightning Lit and Comp course British Early-Mid 19th Century with a study of all six of Jane Austen's novels using the Miniatures and Morals by Peter J. Leithart. There is some overlap between the two studies, and we'll adjust some of the rest as needed.
   

Algebra (1 credit) - We are sticking with what work and that is Life of Fred! She will do the second Pre-Algebra book and hopefully get all the way through the Algebra book.

Cultural Geography (1 credit) - Kennady got a head start on this by doing the introductory chapters of the BJU text and the units about Europe done already. We were thinking about getting another one or two of the Simply Charlotte Mason guides to go along with it, but at this point I don't think we will.

Survey of Science History & Concepts (1 credit) -  Kennady is doing the same Survey of Science History & Concepts course that Landon has agreed to do.

Health (1/2 credit) - We have a BJU text that Kennady will read for this required course.

Piano/Guitar (1 credit) - Kennady will be continuing with guitar lessons, although we are switching her to another teacher, and I will take over her piano lessons. She will earn at least one full credit for this music study, depending on how much time she puts into it.

Chorus (1 credit) - She will be continuing with the Children's Chorus, which is a full credit in musical education and performance.

Phys.Ed. (1/2 credit) - Kennady also participates in the co-op gym class and open gym nights, so I expect her hours will add up to a half-credit worth as well.

If Kennady can keep up with everything, and I'm pretty sure she can, she will end her first high school year with 8 credits earned. Not a bad start.

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After a whole year of the two kids working on completely different curriculum, we will be back to working together a little bit next year. I didn't think that was likely to happen again, and I suppose this will be our last chance for it anyway. I'm not sure exactly how it will work out once we get going, so we are going to play that by ear. They will both be working all the way through the Student Writing Intensive from Institute for Excellence in Writing. They worked together on it when we reviewed it awhile ago, and that worked out very well. Because it's DVD-based, it just makes sense that we'll work on it together. Kennady did choose the Survey of Science History & Concepts course that I thought would be a good fit for her, so I bought the lesson planner. As she and I were looking it over, I decided to offer it to Landon as an elective, and he agreed that it would probably be a good choice. Now it is mostly reading, and I'm not at all sure they would go for sitting together and reading aloud on a regular basis, but it's a possibility. 

Have you made all your curriculum decisions for next year? I'm sharing our choices in the (Not) Back to School Blog Hop at iHomeschoolNetwork.com.

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