I’ve been working on making decisions on what resources to use for school next year. I have poured over the wonderful Rainbow Resource catalog, reading the reviews, and then getting on the internet and using their website, Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, and the various company websites to look over the products. I love the preview windows most of these places offer. It’s so hard to make choices site unseen. My daughter’s courses are fairly simple to choose because she’s still in elementary school, but my son will be entering in high school this year. I have a friend who works for the public school system, so she gave me the course catalog to look over. The descriptions are so vague. With so much input from all over the place it can be a challenge to make these decisions. Sometimes it can be overwhelming because there are so many choices of great courses, and so many well-meaning people who try to be supportive when they tell you what they think you should be sure to cover. So, I’m relying on instinct, previous experience with high school, and a large dose of prayer that the books I choose will be the best ones for my children.
Here is what I’ve decided so far:
For my Daughter (6th grade):
- Bible-Daily Devotions, Copywork, Memorization
- Grammar-Daily Grams
- Writing- Journal Writing
- Literature- Learning Language Arts Through Literature-Tan Book
- Spelling-Spelling Power; Dr.Aardsma’a Spelling Drill
- Vocabulary-Vocabulary Cartoons-Elementary
- Penmanship-Copywork
- Math-Saxon 76
- Science-a weather unit using The Weather Book and HOAC Extreme Weather Lapbook: Exploring Creation with General Science (even though this is a 7th grade course, we will begin it this year and finish it next)
- History/Soc Studies-basically a mix of sources including Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers-19th Century, SOS History 6, and living books.
- Geography- Trail Guide to World Geography, Trail Guide to U.S. Geography
- Logic-American Girl Minute Mysteries
- Foreign Language- Prima Latina; Complete Book of Spanish
- Music-Recorder
- Art-Discovering Great Artists
- P.E./Health-Ice Skating and various team sports, American Girl The Care and Keeping of You and Girl Zone Body Talk.
For my Son (9th grade, Freshman)
- Bible- Daily Devotions, Copywork, Memorization
- Grammar-Daily Grams-Green
- Writing-Write with the Best; Journal Writing
- Literature-Movies as Literature; various literature studies
- Spelling/Etymology-Spelling Power; Dr.Aardsma’a Spelling Drill, Roots and Fruits
- Math- Saxon Algebra 1
- Science-Exploring Creation with Biology
- History- U.S. History Power Basics
- Geography- Trail Guide to World Geography, Trail Guide to U.S. Geography
- Foreign Language- Powerglide Spanish; Latina Christiana
- P.E./Health-Ice Skating and various team sports
Electives:
- Music- Recorder
- Logic- Introductory to Logic
- Consumer Education-Home Ec
- Art- How Great thou Art
Of course, I have a ton of e-books that will fill in any gaps I find in these courses, so I’m hoping I have the bases covered.
I’d be quite interested in what you think and what you have chosen this year. Leave a message so I can check out your choices.
…you've got a very solid plan in place. It all sounds good to me. We'll be in this together, since Ashley is also entering 9th grade.
I need to make up an interactive transcript form. I keep putting that off, but want to do it soon because she has some credits we can use from some of her 8th grade courses.
Heidi
What a wonderful line up you have. Once you get used to having a high schooler it isn't soo scary. We loved doing literature as movies last year. My ds still talks about it. Next year is his last year. Yikes….
Blessings,
Dawn
I hope to really dig into planning for next year in a couple of weeks!
Blessings,
Laurie