From the High School Lesson Book - Back To The Books

Welcome to the High School Lesson Book link-up! With both my kids in their teens, I've been making an effort to write more about what we are actually doing in our homeschool, and want to invite other homeschool bloggers to share more about their experience with high schoolers as well. I started writing this From the High School Lesson Book series a couple months ago, and now I'm turning it into a link-up. 

We've finally got Christmas packed away and have been getting back to a school routine this week. With mixed results! It's not hard for the kids to pick up their books and get back into gear in some courses, but more challenging in others. It's proving to be really difficult for them to get up on time on their own each morning, which is very frustrating for me! And for myself, I am procrastinating on getting their assignment lists and grades caught up.

Here's what we'd planned to do this year, and how we're coming along. There are a couple of things we'll have to change, now that we're nearing halfway through the year, and getting a reality check.

Landon - Senior Year

Grammar and Composition (1 credit) - Our plan was to have Landon finish the third season in Analytical Grammar and complete the Student Writing Intensive (Institute for Excellence in Writing). We are actually pretty far behind where we needed to be in Grammar, but overall this is going okay. We took a longer break than I would have liked from the Student Writing Intensive during December, so we need to get back into that and stick to a regular schedule of viewing the DVD lessons.

  

Math Elective (1 credit) - Consumer Math - this was the question mark at the beginning of the school year, and we decided to do the course in second semester to give us some time. Well, second semester will be upon us in a couple weeks, so we need to make sure we know what we're doing. We have the Switched-On Schoolhouse course that the older two boys did, so we were planning to do that. Assuming I can still get it to work. We had it partially set up, but never finished. Guess what's on the agenda for today?!

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. This is going very well, mostly because Landon can read the lesson and get this done without waiting on me or anybody else. Granted, he should be closer to the halfway mark than he is, but I'm not worried about this at all. 

Survey of Science History & Concepts Elective (1 credit) - I'm not worried about the Survey of Science History & Concepts course, but I'm annoyed that both Landon and Kennady are taking their sweet time with this. Again, it's mostly reading, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to get caught up - he just needs to sit down and do it.

Practical Drafting Tech Elective (1 credit) - Our hope was that this would be finished in first semester, and we seem to be on track for that! (Practical Drafting workbook from Insight Technical Education)

Drums Lessons Elective (1 credit) - DrumsWithWillie is obviously Landon's favorite subject, and I have no worries about him finishing this credit! 

Aerospace Education and Leadership Elective (2 credits) - Landon has been involved in Civil Air Patrol for a few years, and this is the course name we've assigned to it. He's earning two full credits this year, because of the number of hours he puts in.

Phys.Ed. (1/2 credit) - This won't be any problem either. The first semester of gym class ended in December, and second semester starts on Tuesday. Between the classes and extra gym nights and activities, this is an easy credit.

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Kennady - Grade 9

Grammar & Composition (1 credit) - Kennady is also doing the Student Writing Intensive along with a separate Grammar course. She's doing Fix-it! Grammar (Institute for Excellence in Writing). Her progress with this is pretty much the same as Landon's - way behind where we wanted to be in Grammar, and somewhat behind but not panic mode in Composition.

British Literature (1/2 credit) - We'd originally planned to combine the Lightning Lit and Comp course British Early-Mid 19th Century with another study of Jane Austen's novels, which we knew was ambitious, but Kennady thought she could pull it off. As it turns out, the reading is taking her longer than she'd thought, so instead of combining and earning a full credit, she will do just the original LL&C 1/2 credit course.

Algebra (1 credit) - Kennady tends to do Algebra in fits and starts instead of working on it every day (like I tell her to), but she does like Life of Fred, so this is going okay. It was definitely neglected over the holidays though, so she has her work cut out for her to get back into it.

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. Because of that, she could take a slightly easier pace in this course. I haven't checked her progress recently (my bad), but I'd be willing to bet the farm she's gone a lot easier on it than she should have!

Survey of Science History & Concepts (1 credit) -  Kennady is also doing the same Survey of Science History & Concepts course that Landon is working on, and is about as far along in the course as he is right now. Which is to say, they are not yet halfway through like they should be. She has a lot more wiggle room though, being in her first year of high school, so I'd be totally okay with her finishing it over the summer if necessary.

Health (1/2 credit) - It's a good thing this is just a 1/2 credit course, because it is just not getting done, so we'll think about whether she wants to do it in second semester, or just save it until next year.

Piano/Guitar (1 credit) - This is one of Kennady's easy and fun credits, because she loves music and puts in plenty of practice time. She has guitar lesson once a week, and plays on worship team, plus we work on piano a little bit too.

Chorus (1 credit) - Children's Chorus provides another music credit that she enjoys.

Phys.Ed. (1/2 credit) - Kennady takes the same gym class that Landon does, so this credit is no problem for her either.

We aimed for eight credits in Kennady's first year, but by reducing her Lit course to a 1/2 credit, we're down to 7-1/2 credits. Maybe only seven, if we decide to hold off on the Health course. Still a respectable way to start off her high school years.

How are things going in your homeschool? Are you on track for the school year? Leave a comment and let me know, and link up your posts about homeschooling high school here. Visit your neighbors and leave some encouraging comments!

An InLinkz Link-up

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