School Summary - 7th and 9th grades - weeks 15-24

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

You can see what we're using here: 9th-grade curricula and here: 7th-grade curricula.

Like I said in my previous post, this is a really boring school year as far as blogging goes. I'm blaming that for the reason why I haven't blogged school since the end of November and the reason why I'm going to dump an entire quarter into this single post. :)

Weeks 11-14

In Tenor's homeschool this quarter…

He finished "learning" Greek letters in his AHL work. He's worked through Psalms and Proverbs and is now tackling Isaiah in Old Testament. He just finished Rick Warren's "What on Earth Am I Here For?" There are opposing viewpoints about using this book in AHL, but I like it. I think it's a good foundational-type book. We'll be using John Piper's "Don't Waste Your Life" and "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris this summer to build on what he was working through. His literature study is focused on the Iliad at this point. While I've heard that some students really struggle with the book, Tenor seems to be comprehending what he's reading.

Map work

Proverbs project

My favorite thing this quarter…
His literature study is focused on the Iliad at this point. While I've heard that some students really struggle with the book, Tenor seems to be comprehending what he's reading.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Again, just emphasizing that the weekly conference is really important. (Yup, just leaving that line here for the rest of the year as a reminder to myself!) At this point, Tenor's in a good routine about getting things done. He hasn't had any big writing assignments in the past few weeks so that helps to ease the schedule.

Art drawing

What’s working/not working for us…

He's not a big fan of writing summaries about composers and artists/art periods for Harmony Fine Arts. I tried to find some online resources about writing a music critique but there's not really a lot out there. I did put some thoughts together but the first time he used it, he still only gave me one paragraph. We're going to keep refining the process. :)

Picture proof that they do get along on occasion ;)

In Soprano's homeschool this quarter...
She finished her literature program...Beautiful Feet Books History of the Horse. Soprano worked hard at the end to read the last book which was only scheduled as a 'finish as you have time'. She completed it and the extra activities quickly to finish up the whole curriculum. After the literature was done, we moved to her semester of science, Winter Promise Equine Science.

BFB mapping

BFB art -- attempt #1

BFB art -- attempt #2 (with less enthusiasm)

My favorite thing this quarter…

Some of the activities in Equine Science have been fun to see. She had to re-enact Hun stealth tactics using her model horses and "Be Genghis Khan" for another. Her silly personality definitely came out! 

Harmony Fine Arts

Harmony Fine Arts

English oral report on hedgehog anatomy

Notgrass Uncle Sam & You -- around our state (Soprano says I did that college that has the cat logo. Ah... Penn State...Nittany Lion :D )

What’s working/not working for us… I thought we had conquered her 8 hour school day issues. For about three weeks, things were going really well. She was getting done by 2pm each day. Then all of a sudden it was back to horrendously long days where she'd get stuck on a math lesson for 6 hours. We're hoping an earlier bedtime (as early as we can with outside activities) will help.
We also ended up ditching her French curriculum. There were just too many gaps from the lesson to the lesson work. We were both lost. I'm looking into a couple other options. Either we'll start this year with a different program that will have quite a bit of review, or we'll try again next year with something else and start working on an early high school credit.

9pm Seriously...doing schoolwork at 9pm!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing...

We went to a local theater company's Christmas program, saw Rogue One in the theater, and did a couple craft shows. Tenor got his braces off and tested to earn his red stripe belt in Taekwondo!

 

Soprano joined a local youth choir and enjoyed a youth group Galentine's Day party. There was other holiday busyness with family, church, and work. Including getting our newest family member: Peanut.

Most of my hours were spent preparing for those craft shows. (Blog posts to follow about all that.) :)

Things to come:
Soprano's choir concert season begins in a couple weeks
We need to pick and plan some of next year's curricula.
We're ready to plan our big field trip for the year...the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter!
Soprano has a big birthday coming up and we're thinking a French Patisserie themed party.
Tenor is looking into getting a summer job.
Oh yeah, and we should probably finish the school year. :)

What's on your list?