Weekly Wrap-up: Holding On to Summer and This Year's Plan

I am holding onto summer for a couple more weeks!  Jason and Amanda have been working at New Life Camp all summer, as a cabin counselor and First Aid Provider, and they live there Sunday through Friday. Saturday has been for catching up on sleep. Period. Jason finished work last week in order to attend an elite basketball camp at North Ridge Basketball Academy this week, and today is Amanda's last day of work, as she has to get ready to head back to college next week for her senior year.

I feel like I've been working on school planning all summer, but really, I've been planning a little here and there and letting myself get distracted by anything and everything in between.  Now suddenly the August calendar is staring at me in the face.. and you know, school starts in August.  I still have a couple of weeks to finish getting things lined up and an in order, but that's close enough to give me mini-heart-palpitations.

This is our 11th grade school plan for 2015-2016.. with room for tweaking still. This might seem like a lot, but he doesn't do every subject every day, and some subjects are much lighter than others. A couple of them are credits being spread over 2 or more years.

English  - I teach this class in my living room 2 times a week for my son and a small group of friends. We focus on literature, vocabulary, and some writing.  The first book we are studying is The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, followed by To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee,  Les Miserable by Victor Hugo,  and The Chosen  by Chaim Potok.  I still have to choose another one or two books to round out the year.   I use a number of resources, including some Progeny Press study guides, as well as online study guides and lesson plans I find free online.

Math  - Jason finished Algebra 2 last year, but since he isn't a confident math student, my husband is going to spend the 1st semester reviewing Algebra 1 and 2 with him, and then hope to enroll him in Statistics online through the community college in the spring.  

History  -We are continuing an American history program we started last year. It is Dave Raymond's America History Part 1, which we purchased as a download, and consists of lectures watched on the computer, supplemented by a Student Reader.  Since reading is hard work for my son (convergence insufficiency), I look for some courses with limited reading, and this fits that bill. When we finish, we'll move right into Part 2.

Civics -  iCitizen:Civic Literacy for Young Americans from Generation Joshua, is an online text which can be printed off, if desired.   1st  semester / 1/2 credit.

Economics -  second semester; haven't chosen a curriculum yet; possibly Notgrass, possibly Bluestocking Press.  I also have some lectures on CD from The Teaching Company that could supplement.   I have all of those on my bookshelves. Also, he'll be working through Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance over the next 2 years.(available at 40% discount through 8/31/15 here)

Geography - I am a geography lover, so we'll continue to use maps and books and websites like education.NationalGeographic.com to learn about the world. By graduation he will have accumulated a 1/2 credit.

Anatomy -  Jason will be taking Anatomy, using Apologia's  Advanced Biology: The Human Body,
in a class meeting once a week with the same teacher who taught the Biology and Chemistry classes he took at New Life Camp.

Spanish 2 -  He will continue his Spanish studies at New Life Camp with Sra. Dean.

Christian Worldview  -  I am leading this class as well, with a group of about 8 teens. We'll be watching, discussing, and journaling about several DVD series:  For the Life of the World from The Acton Institute,  The Truth Project from Focus on the Family , Doing the Right Thing from The Colson Center.



Physical Education -  Jason is a varsity basketball player on our homeschool team, which competes against other homeschool teams as well as private and charter school teams in the area.  He works with a personal coach once a week for skills development and once a week for something called "Explode" training, which is working on strength, speed and jumping ability. He also goes to the Y and works out during the week and plays pick up basketball with a group of adults once or twice a week.

Guitar  - He will continue weekly guitar lessons.  Read How Music Affects Us and Promotes Health