From the High School Lesson Book - Third Quarter in Review

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End of third quarter, mid-term of second semester, whatever we call it - it happened last week and served as a reminder to us that we need to make sure we're still on track to get through all our coursework by the end of the school year. There are no report cards for third quarter, and not even midterm exams, so it's just a chance to check up on how we're doing and see where we may need to adjust. I have a pretty good idea that Algebra is where we'll need to kick it into high gear, but let's take a look . . .

Grammar and Composition

Kennady is doing The Power in Your Hands from Writing with Sharon Watson at co-op, with me as the instructor, and as it stands right now we'll finish the text with two weeks to spare. We probably would have finished sooner, except for a couple of snow days along the way, and my decision to take three weeks instead of just two to work on the Literary Analysis. I've started thinking on what to do with those last two weeks of class time, and I've got a couple of options. Not tipping my hand yet, though! Although non-fiction writing is not her favorite thing, Kennady has done very well in the class overall.

We originally reviewed this curriculum quite awhile ago. Read our review here: The Power in Your Hands (A Schoolhouse Crew Review) I recently wrote an update for the Blogging Through the Alphabet series, which you can read here: The Power in Your Hands (Blogging Through the Alphabet).

History, Bible, and Literature

This year Kennady has been working through the second half of Exploring World History from Notgrass. We're adding a few things along the way to make sure it's still a full credit in History. The Bible portion of this course is another full credit. We cut back the requirements for the Literature portion so it will be a half credit. It worked out so that the full-length novels she will be reading mostly fell during second semester, so getting through those is going to be the challenge for this course.

Math

For Algebra we've chosen to stick with No-Nonsense Algebra from Math Essentials. Although it is definitely a good fit for Kennady, it's still going slower than it should be. Algebra will never be a favorite subject, nor an easy one for her. I feel like I am constantly reminding her that she needs to work on Algebra every day, and she is still dragging her feet a bit. This is the course she will need to double down on in order to finish. The main goal, though, is for her to understand the material well enough to give her a foundation to make it in college. Ideally she wouldn't have to do the "remedial" college Algebra, but whatever it takes for her to get through it is what we'll do.

This is another curriculum we reviewed some time ago: No-Nonsense Algebra from Math Essentials (A Homeschool Coffee Break Review) and then did a more recent update: No-Nonsense Algebra (Blogging Through the Alphabet).

Electives

French I

 This course is taught in our co-op and Kennady has been doing very well and enjoying it. She does best when she gets together with one of her friends in the class to practice. That's no surprise, since actually using a new language in conversation is the best way to learn. What's surprising is that there's so much French study happening since I mostly hear them laughing! The textbook they're using is French I for Christian Schools from BJU Press, along with some additional material. The girls' favorite part of class is singing songs in French!

Music

Children's Chorus - We are very near the end of the season for chorus, with the spring concert just a couple of weeks away. Kennady earns a full credit for singing in the upper level chorus, and another full credit for interning as a Director's Assistant.

Guitar Lessons - Kennady continues to study guitar and hone her playing skills. She's a regular guitarist (and vocalist) on my worship team at church and with the youth band, and she occasionally plays with the other worship team as well.


Looking Ahead to Next Year

We've started thinking ahead to next year, and have already registered for the co-op classes she needs. Kennady will be studying US History, French II, and Fiction Writing at co-op, and will also do another semester of Public Speaking at co-op. There's an Introduction to Business course offered at co-op that I thought she might take, but that's still under discussion. She'll have one more year with Children's Chorus. And she'll likely continue guitar lessons - unless her instructor tells me there's nothing more he can teach her! She'll need to do Consumer Math and some kind of Tech credit, which we'll figure out once this school year is over!

 How is your school year going? Leave a comment and let me know!

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