The Plan: Physics
Science isn’t Sunshinegirl’s thing, so she says. Chemistry was NOT a hit in 10th grade, so I really spent a lot of time looking for the best resource to make Physics more bearable. As I wrote in “The Reality: Chemistry and Algebra 2”, I wish I would have used Conceptual Chemistry, but at least I…
The Reality: French 3
Ok, so really this is the PLAN and the REALITY since I never got to putting together a post on our plan. I’ve learned a lot about language acquisition this year, so here goes. We started with the Holt Bien Dit 3 textbook. From what I can gather, very few standard school textbooks have a…
The Reality: Chemistry and Algebra 2
As we approach the end of her 10th grade year, it is becoming more clear that she is adverse to math and science. Can she do well in those subjects? Yes! Does she want to? Nope. That is ok. Her passions are in history, language and art, but I still insist on covering the science…
The Plan: Chemistry and Algebra 2
Yes, it is January. Yes, we started 10th grade in August. Yes, I am just not getting around to writing this post. Better late than never? I’ve chosen to combine into one post the “plan” for 10th grade math and science. Both are fairly typical “textbook-based” subjects, so we will tackle them together. Chemistry Well,…
High School French 2 – The Reality
In my previous post laying out “The Plan” for French 2, I listed a few directions that we would go this year, so I will address each of those “wish list items” individually. Note: Bear with me. I am so behind on these posts, so I am just going to free-form write quickly to share…
High School Geometry – The Reality
This is a follow-up post to the beginning-of-the-year post on my Plan for Geometry for this school year. In this post I will discuss how Geometry went and whether we stuck to the Plan. As I mention in my Plan for Geometry post, Sunshinegirl has never claimed to be a “mathy” person. While I think…
High School: Book Reviews
This post isn’t so much about a specific subject, but more of a “technique” I find both useful and memorable. We’ve always used “living books” where possible in homeschool (AmblesideOnline the early years, and Build Your Library now), and I initially wanted a method of reflecting on the books that we read. I think I…
High School Biology – The Reality
I had high expectations for Biology this year, knowing Sunshinegirl loved all things nature. The “rest” of Biology (microbiology, for example) could have gone either way — and different parts went different ways. The Textbook We started the year using the CK-12 Chemistry 1.0 book, but we quickly found that she had a rough time…
High School World History 1 – The Plan
Ahh, history. The subject I think I hated the most in high school. I did fine in all of my history classes, getting A’s in them all, but I never enjoyed them. Most of the classes were dry — the teacher basically read from the dry textbook, and tests were about regurgitating dates and names.…
High School French 2 – The Plan
I started my language-learning career in 9th grade like most high schoolers — other than short enrichment elective courses early in middle school, my schools (and I attended two different districts in two different states for middle school) did not offer foreign language until high school. Some studies show that language-learning is most natural in…
High School Biology – The Plan
It seems like most school districts follow the same plan for high school science: Biology, then Chemistry, and then Physics. The sciences move from the least to most math-intensive as students progress through the parallel path of Algebra-Geometry-Algebra-Pre-Calc-Calculus. I had Biology in ninth grade, so that is what we’ll do, too! Sunshinegirl has ALWAYS been…
High School Math – The Plan
If you’ve read my post on Where We’ve Been with Math, you know that it took a long time to figure out what works best for my creative-soul daughter. I’m going to discuss our eighth grade year here first, since many students don’t attack Algebra 1 until high school. It also sets the stage for…
Science – Where we’ve been
I love science (now). In high school and college, not so much. I did just fine in my high school and college science classes, but I was that kid that could learn anything and took tests well. I just wasn’t “into science”. My public-schooled son, Rockman, is a science-nerd; he’s majoring and minoring in various…
French – Where we’ve been
Foreign Language – Parlez-Sie Franzosisch? Yes, I wrote that on purpose. I read early on that language learning happens best at a young age when native language acquisition is still taking place. So why not start a language in Kindergarten? Sounds great! I studied French for four years in high school and two more semesters…
Math – Where we’ve been pre-high school
So I am one of those weird people that actually loved math in school. I graduated with a BS in Math from the University of Michigan, which sounds like torture itself. Why did I choose math? Because it “makes sense” and is just a series of puzzles that are longing to be solved. I’m not…
High School options we considered – Alphabet soup!
AO vs WTM vs BYL vs UM What? Here’s a glossary before we dig in to each:AO = AmblesideOnline WTM = Well Trained MindBYL = Build your LibraryUM = Ursa Minor AmblesideOnline (AO/HEO) AmblesideOnline is the Charlotte Mason inspired “curriculum” put together by homeschool-mom volunteers based on the original writings of Charlotte Mason herself. AO provides…
My Homeschool Story
I was raised on a combination of Catholic school (3 years) and Public school (10 years), graduating at the top of my class; homeschooling never even entered the picture. My first encounter with homeschooling was hearing of the negative effects it had on a family I remotely knew only a few years before I decided…
What we used in the past – AmblesideOnline
Back before kindergarten when I was researching methods of homeschooling, I quickly learned about the Charlotte Mason method. Charlotte Mason lived 100 years ago and had the belief that children were whole persons and not just a mind to fill. She wrote a whole series of books that are used heavily by homeschoolers today, particularly…
High School – The Plan
I remember back in eighth or ninth grade being asked by my teachers or guidance counselors to make a “four-year plan” for my high school career. I came across that plan recently, and I had to laugh at the absurdity of it! The ninth grade year was spot on (I am guessing we had already…
How to set the stage for homeschooling
AKA, How to get your my student on board! I’ve had the luxury of homeschooling one child from day one of her school career, thus I’m no expert in what the majority of families are facing. Most families either have A) multiple children (a built in classroom full of some socialization) or B) are not…
Our Homeschool history – Where we’ve been
We can’t talk about high school until you know where we’ve been. It is an understatement to say that we haven’t been consistent with curriculum. As her learning styles changed (or I realized what they were!), and I learned what works and what doesn’t, we’ve adjusted over the years. The one constant has been…
Top of Her Class of One 