Changes ...

We've made some changes around here in the past few weeks. While I am fighting this illness that grabs hold of me every couple of months, I needed my oldest daughter to be able to continue her work on her own - something she is quite capable of, and willing to do. So I purchased My Father's World: Creation to the Greeks for her, and she is loving it. It is for grades 4-8, so I look at it as a middle ground between the Dialectic level work she was doing with Tapestry of Grace (which required too much from me) and the grammar level of SL Core 1. My 9 yo son is working his way through The Mystery of History, Volume 1, and my little ones will still do SL. When we do get together as a group, we still do SOTW, and the activity pages, as well as CHOW. But the pressure is off to make sure the group is all together every day. My 10 yo is loving MFW, and she loves the freedom of getting up early, beginning her work, checking off all the things she has completed. She is very much the independent learner.



So since this blog is to serve as my "diary" of our homeschooling journey, I should take a moment to jot down where we are for the new school year.



Oldest Twin, 10, 6th Grade

My Father's World: Creation to the Greeks (history, geography, theology, music and art history, art applied, literature)

Rod & Staff: Grammar, Spelling, Science 6

Life of Fred: Fractions

Rod & Staff Mathematics 7

Lively Latin

Latina Christiana

Ludere Latin

Literature from MFW, SL Core 4 (readers and read-alouds we did not get to)

Shakespeare and Plutarch, one per month from each



Younger Twin, 9, 4th grade

Mystery of History, Volume 1

Our Young Folks' Josephus

SOTW, Volume 1

Studying God's Word, Book E

Rod & Staff: Grammar, Spelling

Singapore Math 3B with all the supplemental workbooks

Saxon 65

History of Medicine, supplemental science encyclopedias and lit.

Lit. from Ambleside On-line, Years 1-5 (anything we missed)

Shakespeare and Plutarch, one per month from each



*They are both still working on an independent lap-book project of the United States Presidents.



Assigning a grade level has been a difficult thing to determine. The 10 yo just took the 5th grade CAT, and the 9 yo took the 3rd grade one. I only gave them those levels because I did not want to be forced to give them the higher levels at a mandated time in the future (every two years is required here) just because the school district expected it. In other words, if I gave my 9 yo the 5th grade test this year (which he could have taken with ease), then he would have to take the 7th grade test at the age of 11. I do not want that, because who knows if he will continue to be as advanced in his work as the work gets progressively harder? I am calling my 10 yo a sixth grader only because she just took the 5th grade test. And it provides some structure for me as I plan out the higher grades.





I am looking to add a writing program to our studies. My dilemma is I really enjoy R&S Grammar. Most of the writing programs that teach the progymnasmata have their own grammar programs scheduled, or incorporate grammar. I did use Imitations in Writing one year, and my daughter enjoyed it. I may choose that again for her, and allow her to continue with R&S. As for my son, I think Writing Tales is looking promising. Working within the framework of the LCC for him is the best approach. The structure of Writing Tales, as far as I can tell from the samples, seems to fit that very nicely.



Well, I've updated, droned on for a bit, and now it is time to do some actual work. So, adieu for now.