Home-Schooling Mama

It has been two years since I've posted anything. [sigh] We have been very busy; as I'm sure y'all are too. We now have a 6th grader, 8th grader, 10th grader, and 11th grader.

I've added two links to curricula I like on the tab to the right (for PCs). So check them out.

So, what are we up to?

In school, we are still incorporating Easy Peasy into our school day for history, science, Music Appreciation, Art Appreciation, and high school English (American Lit). I also use You Tube videos to supplement.

Books we've read so far this year for High School are: The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, and The Red Badge of Courage. We are starting My Antonia this week. For Middle School: The Story of My Life (Helen Keller), The Singing Tree, and Turtle in Paradise. We are starting Navajo Code Talkers this week.

We are using The Bible Project on You Tube for Bible class. My kids love this series. Thank you to my sweet friend in Rochester, NY for giving me the info for this great resource!!

In math we are using Math Mammoth for the 6th grader. (Math Mammoth caught us up from a deficit created by Teaching Textbooks. TT works for some, but not for us.) My 8th grader just started Algebra using Harold Jacobs Elementary math. He's doing great so far. And my 10th & 11th graders are continuing Geometry by Harold Jacobs from last year and will begin Trig/Alg 2 later in the year.

My daughter is doing CLEP courses for History, Science, American Literature, and German. She is realizing how intensive college courses can be, but is plugging away and doing a great job! We use Modern States, a free online program, where you can get your freshman college year for free. For real... FREE. It also counts as a high school credit. Sweet!

For PE our family does Taekwondo. Two of my kids are Brown Sr. belts (only a half belt away from black recommended). I'm a Red Sr. belt (a belt and a half away from black recommended). One son is a Purple belt (3 belts away), and the other son is a Green Sr. belt (4 1/2 belts away).

All of my kids take a Tech/Robotics course at our local library. My kids actually started that up, as well as a chess club at the same library that they help teach. And the tech librarian there has been kind enough to teach my two high schoolers an engineering course every week as they volunteer for him. We're heavily involved in our local library. :)

Speaking of... my daughter is on the Teen Advisory Board for our library and meets up once a month to plan activities and events for the teens of our area. She started a self-defense class there. It's in the preliminary stages.

I began working this year for a few hours a week at our Taekwondo school as a receptionist and janitor. It helps pay for our tuition, tournaments, and tests. It also helps pay for my son's piano lessons. But what I love most is that I still get to spend time with my kids, because they take classes as I am at the desk, AND they help me clean the gym.

We have gone on many field trips since I last posted. Some field trips this school year include:
Sea Turtles @ Gulf State Park
Cintas Factory
Golden Flake Factory
Noccalula Falls
Southern Museum of Flight

There is much more that has gone on, but I think this is enough for now. I'm hoping to get back to blogging again. It's like a journal of our homeschool journey for me. :)

Here are some school pics of this year.