All About Homeschooling

I can't believe we are finishing up our 15th week in school already. This time has just flown by. Things are doing great with my youngest son's curriculum- Heart of Dakota. Still truly loving this for him. He recently finished a 13 week study on Astronomy. During this time period we were in Arizona for a mini vacation and were able to take some field trips to an observatory and a science center to learn about meteroids, comets etc. He got to actually touch a meteorite which made his day. I think I have a little scientist on my hands. He was so sad to have the study end but we are now working on learning about planet earth for the remainder of the year and since that is still astronomy in his opinion we are all good!! Also, to hold his interest in astronomy we are having an astronomy themed bday party for him. He'll be turning 11 on the 22nd.. With that comes some astronomy books, educational things that will allow him to learn more and a solar system globe to hang in his room.. It's going to be great! (I'll post what we did when the time comes)

 

DS13 is doing well. I did have to make one change to his curriculum and that's just recently. He's been struggling with the Apologia Science since I've introduced it to him in 7th grade. (he's in 8th this year) and it's really hard to see that this curriculum is not right for him. Science is not his strength and with putting him in Apologia, I think it's really discouraging for him as it's a bit more advanced than other science curriculum's we've used in the past.

 

I've decided to purchase the Alpha Omega Lifepac Science and he'll start with that at the first of the year for the 2nd Semester and work on the last 5 books and we'll see if this change will help him succeed in this subject. I just really want to see him 'get it' and right now he's not and the best part of homeschooling is to find what works for each child so that's what I did. The best part of this year for him is that he loves his history curriculum. This is the first time I've used Mystery of History with him and he just can't get enough of it.. I just love to see the passion come alive in him.

 

Also, the boy that hated to write is loving to write now thanks to Excellence in Writing. WOW! I can't say enough great things about this program and am so blessed that we were able to use it this year for free with the help of my great friend which allowed us to borrow the CD's. I just needed to purchase the student book. I am fairly certain we will be investing in the next year's program with this because now my son is typing up a story that is NOT part of his schooling just because!! Can I say WOW again!!! hee hee!! I'm just one very happy mama!!

 

As for my wonderful DD18. She will be officially finishing her high school credits at the end of December. She also will be finishing up her very first college class this coming Monday. She's so happy with her progress in her class. It's a Fine Arts- Art Fundamentals class and she's doing a fantastic job. I was hoping that she would utilize this class to open up her creativity to things more than what she normally draws and she surely did and loves it too. I can't begin to express how proud I am of her and of both my boys!

 

We just went down today to sign her up for her 2nd Semester of college classes at M.S.U College of Technology. She's working on completing her core curriculum classes within this dual enrollment program. She's able to take her classes at the fraction of the price of regular students so we are trying to take advantage of this wonderful resource. After the 1st semester she's completed her Fine Arts credits needed and now she will be taking Human Biology, College Writing I, and Intro to Psychology. This will give her 10 college credits towards her college career and then an additional 3 credits from her Art class. She's well on her way to getting her college diploma. With this dual enrollment it also counts towards her high school credits as well as college so the classes she takes this year at the M.S.U will also go on her high school transcript!

 

We have two more weeks of school and then we'll be taking two weeks off to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and to ring in the New Year. DD18 will start her 2nd Semester of college classes on the 9th of Januarywhich will make her a full time student there and the boys and I will be picking back up with their school on the 7th of January and this will be the last week of the 1st Semester and the official half way point in our schooling.

 

My daughter will be graduating high school officially with the homeschool communities graduation ceremony on May 18, 2013. I just can't get over how quick time is flying. My baby girl is all grown up and I've been blessed by God to be able to witness and celebrate in this wonderful milestone in my daughter's life! Speaking of growing up, she's looking for a part time job right now. She had a job interview today and it looks promising. They are hiring 2 new positions and there is 4 people applying. She will know hopefully first part of next week.. I'm so excited for her. Things are really looking up for her. I'm proud of them all!!