I’m finally almost finished curriculum planning! Here is what we plan to use this year, although we’re still waffling on a few things. And, yes, I know the high school plans are for an intense year, but we are free to cut back if necessary. (Note that all links are to my curriculum reviews.)
Mr. 17, grade 12
Bible: Finish Bible book summaries, selections from Omnibus 2-6, The Glorious Victory
Church history and world view: Omnibus
English: Literature (Omnibus); quick grammar review (Our Mother Tongue); review of basic literature terms; review How to Read a Book ; SAT prep vocabulary; composition (Omnibus, Format Writing, Zinsser’s On Writing Well, The Writer’s Workshop);
Math: Finish precalculus (ALEKS) ; Calculus and Vectors; Advanced Functions; (I’m still deciding whether to use Singapore’s New Additional Math and College Math, Life of Fred, ALEKS, or university texts).
Science: Chemistry (Apologia Advanced, selections); Physics (Apologia Advanced, selections) (note: doing selections because we only need grade 12, not AP level)
History: Medieval, Renaissance, and Modern (Omnibus and Spielvogel); Canadian History review (skim through an old textbook); historical fiction
Foreign Language: French (continue French 3 Years, Rosetta Stone, and various novels); Dutch (Rosetta Stone and Hugo’s Taking Dutch Further, and various novels)
Logic and Computer Science: Still deciding whether to take Nance’s Intermediate Logic or a computer programming course, or both. Both would make for a very heavy year. Decided on James Madison Critical Thinking Course, recommended by Cathy Duffy.
SAT prep: Barron’s SAT book. (Just a sideline for a month or two)
Career prep: take another aptitude test; learn more about various career options; apply to university
Music: History and appreciation (The Enjoyment of Music)
Miss 14, grade 10
Bible: Promise and Deliverance, continue Bible book summaries, Omnibus
Church history and world view: Omnibus
English: Literature (Omnibus) and read through BJUP English 10; grammar (Rod and Staff, year 7); continue How to Read a Book ; composition (Wordsmithy, NaNoWriMo, Omnibus, The Writer’s Workshop);
Math: Finish Singapore’s NEM 2; Do NEM 3 and 4a, maybe 4b
Science: Chemistry (Apologia), and finish Biology
History: Ancient (Omnibus and Spielvogel); some Canadian history with the Little Misses using World History Through Canadian Eyes; historical fiction
Geography: Begin Mapping the World by Heart (maybe)
Foreign Language: French (BJUP French 2, Rosetta Stone, and various novels); Dutch (Rosetta Stone, vocabulary study, and a Bible story book)
Logic and computer: Still deciding whether to take Nance’s Intermediate Logic with Mr. 17 or Logic 3 Verbal from Critical Thinking Press; chose James Madison Critical Thinking Course instead; basic HTML for blogging.
Art: Artistic Pursuits
Music: Organ, recorder, voice; history and theory
Civics: government and law; news
Miss 12, grade 7
Bible: Show Me Thy Ways 6
Church history and world view: Sketches from Church History or various biographies and sketches
English: Literature (English Literature for Boys and Girls; (novels from the 1000 Good Books and Ambleside Online lists); grammar (Rod and Staff, year 5); begin to read and summarize How to Read a Book ; composition (Intermediate Language Lessons, Wordsmith, The Writer’s Workshop, NaNoWriMo); handwriting (Presidential Penmanship); spelling (Spell Quizzer lists and spelling bee)
Math: Singapore’s PSLE, Key to Geometry
Science: General Science (Apologia)
History: Ancient (Greenleaf Guides); Canadian (World History Through Canadian Eyes); historical fiction
Geography: Begin Mapping the World by Heart (maybe)
Foreign Language: French (French is Fun 1, Rosetta Stone); Dutch (Rosetta Stone, vocabulary study, and story books)
Logic and computer: The Fallacy Detective; Web Design for Kids
Art: Art Pac 6
Music: Organ, recorder, guitar; theory
PE: track and field
Miss 9, grade 5
Bible: Show Me Thy Ways 4
Church history and world view: Various biographies and sketches
English: Pathway Readers (finish year 4 and do year 5); Literature (novels from the 1000 Good Books and Ambleside Online lists); grammar (Daily Grams, diagramming); composition (Primary Language Lessons, Intermediate Language Lessons, Writing with Ease, NaNoWriMo); handwriting (Presidential Penmanship); spelling (Spell Quizzer lists and spelling bee)
Math: Key to program (Fractions and Metric Measurement); cycle through some of the fact drill curricula we have
Science: continue Considering God’s Creation; if there’s time begin Apologia’s Botany
History: Ancient (Greenleaf Guides); Canadian (World History Through Canadian Eyes); historical fiction
Geography: Begin Mapping the World by Heart (maybe)
Foreign Language: French (Powerglide or Learnables, Rosetta Stone); Dutch (Rosetta Stone, vocabulary study, and story books)
Art: Art Pac 5
Music: Organ, recorder, guitar; theory
Everyone:
Nature study, picture study, and composer study: (3 nature study topics, 3 artists, and 3 composers), most likely following Ambleside Online’s schedule
Life skills: everyday skills; others as dictated by need and interest
Physical education: judo and basic fitness
Beginning Debate and when that is finished we’ll learn conversation skills using Overcoming Social Anxiety
Math reading: 3 books, chosen by student, with a short report on each one
Science reading: 3 books, chosen by student, with a short report on each one
History: enjoy the Diana Waring CD’s together
—For more homeschool curriculum plans, see the Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers curriculum edition, the Homeschool Curriculum Choice 2012-2013 at (School) Days Gone By, and the Not Back To School Blog Hop. Or visit the Carnival of Homeschooling for inspiration.
Glad you have our curriculum picked out for you. I hope that it all works out for you and the kids. 🙂
Thank you. It never works out as I’ve planned, but without a plan it wouldn’t work out at all! LOL
You will have a full year! I am going to supplement with Ambleside more this year, especially my oldest. He needs lots of good books to read. I am almost done planning for the younger two. I started the oldest’s today. It’s all so exciting from this end, but when we actually get back to work, it will be a bit of a shock!
Yes, when we get back to work, we will certainly have a full year too. I’m not looking forward to it at all yet. I must do some reading ahead of time for Omnibus, too.
I’m trying to do my planning. I have a 9th grader and an 11th grader this year. I see that your 10th grader has 12 subjects. That seems like a lot. How much time would you say she will spend on each one per week?
OK, that does sound excessive, doesn’t it? 🙂
You may notice, though, that Omnibus is part of many of the subjects; I just broke it down to make it easier to follow traditional subject categories. I’d say he’ll spend about 2-2.5 hours a day on Omnibus, 1.5 h on math, 1-1.5 on science, 1 on foreign language, .5 on composition, .5 on other reading, and 1 on together subjects with everyone. That would be about 8 hours a day of focussed work.
It’s not an easy load, but as long as he doesn’t get behind, it’s OK. The stress of being behind is hard on him; the work itself is not a problem.
My son reads very quickly, is very bright, and enjoys thinking deeply. He’s also apt to slip out for a walk in the woods when he needs one.
And if he’s busy with his bees or whatever, I’m more than willing to change the week’s requirements, because, after all, there’s more to life than academics.
I would not recommend such a heavy load for everyone; you really have to know whether or not such a load would benefit your teen or harm him or her.
I hope that answers your question somewhat!
If you are interested in connecting with other Apologia users, I’d love for you to check out the Apologia link up that I host here:
http://myjoy-filledlife.blogspot.com/2012/07/apologia-blog-role-2012-2013.html
Blessings!
Thanks, Sarah, I’ll check that out.
My head is spinning. You guys have a great year planned out, and a busy one. I only have one child, so planning for several must be a bit tough at times.
We use Time4Learning 8th grade (my daughter is about a year behind due to ADHD, CAPD, and Dyslexia). We supplement with Drive Thru History, Vocabulary Spelling City, Vocabulary Is Fun, some forensic sciences, and whatever she is interested in learning more about. Life skills play a big part of her learning.
She asked for a GED book this summer. We are going to use it to gauge where she is and what she needs to work toward.
Best wishes for a successful year.
Joyfully,
Jackie
My Attempt at Blogging
Quaint Scribbles and 3 D Learners
Yes, it’s a bit tough at times…but I used to homeschool 5 and I know people who have many more; you just need to change your style if you have more work than hours in the day.
I wish you a successful year as well!
Love your “(3 nature study topics, 3 artists, and 3 composers)”. Makes it easier to do if you keep it simple with a goal of 3! I may incorporate that into our school year since it sounds so doable vs. trying to study huge time periods or long lists of composers or artists. Thanks for sharing!