Sixth year of homeschooling, here we go!
I cannot believe I’ve made it this far and that my kids and I are all in one piece. It says something for all the blogs and reviews I’ve read over the years that have helped me meld together a school program that works for our family’s goals, retains kid interest, and is doable for an ever-growing gaggle of goslings.
There is not much that will be brand new in our curriculum list this year, which is an added benefit of the programs we’ve used that actually work and don’t need to be changed!
Jaelah & Selah
Year 6. I refuse to call this year 6th grade because I’m in denial that we are anywhere near middle school yet. No way are my girls allowed to grow up this quickly. We are using up the last levels of elementary studies in many of these courses, which is exciting in that we’ve worked really hard to get to this point. It’s also a bit overwhelming because I’ll have to start researching great programs for the next phase of homeschooling. This will be a significant year in that we will have much review built-in without rushing ahead to new horizons. I want to flow slowly into middle school curriculum and allow the girls’ emotional maturity to catch up to where they are at academically. The nice thing is that we have plenty of time.
Bible – Discover 4 Yourself devotional studies
History & Literature – Sonlight Core E
Composition – IEW Student Writing Intensive Level B
Grammar – Fix-It! Grammar, Book 2 finish and start Book 3
Vocabulary – Vocabulary from Classical Roots, finish book 5 and start book 6
Latin – Latina Christiana, finish
Science – Apologia Chemistry & Physics, finish
Spelling – All About Spelling, Level 7 finish
Geography – Trail Guide to World Geography, Intermediate
Mathematics – Math U See, Zeta finish & Life of Fred – continue math reviews and storybook-math until ready for pre-algebra
Biblical Hebrew
Geography Through Art
Chavah
Year 4. My little “steady Freddie” is chugging along without being too serious about school work. Any hands-on projects I can pull together are a tremendous inspiration to her, but I have to be very careful about pushing too hard, particularly with writing and long chapter books (both reading aloud and her own readers). Even workbooks don’t hold her interest these days. This girl needs to keep moving to feel accomplished in her day.
Bible – read her Bible each day
History & Literature – Sonlight Core C
Composition – IEW Student Writing Intensive Level A very, very slowly
Language Arts – First Language Lessons, Level 4
Latin – Latina Christiana
Science – Zoology 1
Spelling – All About Spelling, Level 4 finish and start Level 5
Reading – Sonlight Grade 4-5 Readers
Handwriting – PreScripts Cursive American Documents
Geography – Trail Guide to World Geography, Primary
Mathematics – Math U See, Gamma finish and start Delta
Biblical Hebrew
Geography Through Art
Hosannah & Noah
Year 2. These guys love school and yet I don’t have to twist any arms when it’s time for recess. We’re still focusing on math and reading this year, with some favorite read-aloud stories from Sonlight Core A for interest as well as Zoology 1 with Chavah for science.
Bible – read their early reader Bibles each day
History & Literature – Sonlight Core A
Language Arts – First Language Lessons Level 2
Science – Zoology 1
Spelling – All About Spelling, Level 1 finish and start Level 2
Reading – All About Reading Level 3
Handwriting – A Reason for Handwriting, Transitions
Mathematics – Math U See, Alpha finish and start Beta
Biblical Hebrew
Geography Through Art
What is new this year? I’ll be doing lapbooks with the twins and Chavah for science instead of notebooking, which requires a lot of writing. Chavah struggles with any amount of required writing, so I’m keeping it simple with only requiring her to write for composition class and finishing out her cursive book. Everything else gets to be cutting, drawing, and pasting. The twins are slow writers and their handwriting is only for fine motor skills anyway. Notebooking would completely overwhelm them. Enter lapbooks – minimal writing plus lots of glue. The next big change is in music. I’m at critical mass with all the music that’s going on around here. With orchestra taking such a big chunk out of our school week and five children now playing piano, I can’t keep up with a practice schedule that actually allows me to keep tabs on what everyone is doing. We are going to take the year off from additional piano training. Everyone will practice their scales and what they know so far, but I am confident that the music training they’re getting in orchestra is enough for right now. We are also taking a break from worldview studies, which we’ve been doing as a family but has gotten to be too much with the wide array of ages we have around the table after dinner. We’re going to be spending our family together time in focused intercession and Bible reading instead of going through a separate program this year.
That’s the year for Hebron Heights Academy at a glance.
Thank you, Lord, for grace that sustains me from one day to the next!
Hebron Heights Academy 