The Kids

We've had a nice holiday vacation from school and responsibilities. Our days have been filled with chatting online with friends, playing our new highly addictive game Ingenious, playing floor hockey, playing computer games, watching movies, and cleaning the house in preparation for school season to hit once again. Shawn is ready to start his schoolwork on Monday. Julia is on semester break still until the 14th.

When Shawn and I start back up he will be continuing with A Beka English which I am quite pleased with. The teacher fills in all the gaps I would have left. She has such great insight into the authors and brings such depth to the literature selections. I enjoy watching the dvd's right along with Shawn. The thing I would change about the program is the amount of writing it provides. I would like to see more writing assignments. This can be accomplished in other curriculum areas though.

For history, Shawn will continue where he left off with American history using the Boorstin text recommended on the Well Trained Mind boards by Jean. He is so enjoying this text! It has been a good choice and similar to the Spielvogel text he used for world lit last year with its primary source documents and art reproductions. More importantly, the depth of detail is there that wasn't there in the history curriculum we began using at the start of the year in September.

For math I will be ordering the A Beka Consumer Math text and we will also review material from Saxon Algebra II and Advanced Math one day a week as a refresher. Once the kids get to this level at math they are shipped off to the community college to finish up. He will be doing just that next year. My old brain can only handle so much math these days!

Science has been a bit of a struggle this year with this non-sciency kid. After a false start with chemistry, which we decided to drop for now, he has been working through the computer curriculum Earle wrote a few years ago. He is just about done with the completed part of the text. Next, Earle will spend a little time giving him some hands on experience and some instruction in programming, probably using Visual Basic as he did with Julia. I'm not sure what next year holds in store for Shawn in the area of science. Perhaps we'll just skip over chem and head straight for physics, Earle's field of expertise. I did the same thing in school and it wasn't a problem for me. There will be time to deal with that when we come to it. For now, I have to figure out what science we'll use to finish out the second semester of this year. Any thoughts?

Shawn's electives include finishing up drawing I and moving on to art history using the dvd course I asked for, and received, for Christmas from The Teaching Company: Art Across the Ages. I am very much looking forward to delving into this new course! Also for electives he will continue fencing lessons. Floor hockey and time spent at the YMCA lifting weights and jogging the indoor track will round out his physical education requirement. As always, Shawn continues various small woodworking projects of his own design and choosing. German will have to wait until the community college. Progress is too slow and tedious for my liking without an instructor and a class to practice with. The arts school where he takes fencing is offering a class in conversational German, but alas, it is on Tuesday evening, the same night as floor hockey. I may take it though! I'm still considering my options.

Last but not least, Shawn is continuing A Beka American Government. We decided to throw this in as an elective for his 11th grade year instead of saving it for his 12th grade year as A Beka has it laid out. We just couldn't pass up studying this topic while the election season heats up. Since he already completed Economics last year his senior year will be open for studying whatever advanced history elective he chooses. I'm not sure this is something we'll outsource to the community college because of the liberal spin that will be placed on the study of history there. Perhaps we'll try an online course.

Julia will be starting a new semester when the community college starts back up. On her slate this time will be: Biology II, Differential Equations, French II, Psychology, and her wellness component which is something to do with meditation and stress management. She did really well in her courses last semester and looks forward to tutoring in Biology to make some gas money.

After almost a year at Kohl's she gave her notice last week. The managers were all sorry to see her go and insisted she return in the summer if she so chooses. Not many people make the one year mark in a retail store like that. The turnover rate is very high. She is hoping for some sort of a co-op job this summer through Earle's employer, but these are few and far between. Be praying something opens up for her in a science field.

The most important new adjustment for Julia is finding ways to keep busy so she doesn't miss Derek so much. He returned to school on January second and will be there for about a year until he is done with the program. There is a summer component he needs to stay for. He will be home for breaks, but this will be a long stretch. His school is about four hours away and leaving on weekends isn't an option in the winter as he has counselling duties at the snow camp they put on for Christian teens. After being home a semester and working he decided to finish at the two year program he had started. Then, he will move on to a Christian four-year school to complete a degree in math education and also in preaching, two areas he definately has been gifted in.


I think we are all ready for the work to begin. Before I know it my youngest will be completing his last year as a full-time homeschooler. He will be ready to launch off into community college courses without me. He is almost ready to take his driver's test and has been looking for his first job. How did all this growing up happen right before my eyes? All of a sudden I am mother to two fine young adults whom I am very, very proud of for many reasons. I will surely miss this homeschooling adventure when it is at a close, but it will also usher in a new era of my life and I must admit I am equally looking forward to what lies ahead.