7!  Seven years!  I can’t believe this will be our seventh year homeschooling!  Everyone still agrees that it’s the right choice, so we’re sticking with it.  And I’m thankful, because I truly love having all of my loves at home.  We’re making a few changes this year, including joining a new co-op in addition to Bridges Classical Community!  It’s very close by, which is such a blessing because nothing is close by where we live in the country.  Ha!  It’s a larger group with lots of families, including a handful of adoptive families!  It’s not a classical co-op, but we’re all really excited for the social aspect in addition to the proximity to our house.  The backbone of our academics will definitely remain classical, but it’ll be fun to be participating in some other “fun” classes at the new co-op!  In the lists below, I’ve only included the extra co-op classes for Angel because the other kids will be mostly focusing on the classical subjects.  We’ll make sure to keep up with the reading and assignments at the second co-op, but it won’t make up the bulk of our schooling.

Angel (8th grade)

Angel will be working on several high school level classes this school year!  The Classical Literature, Logic, and Anatomy & Physiology classes at Bridges Classical Community are all quite challenging and very representative of a classical education.  The Physical Science and Model U.N. classes are also high school level at the new co-op.  It’s a heavy workload, but I know that Angel is up for the academic rigor that all of these classes will provide.  She won’t be taking a group history class this year, so I’ll be giving her independent writing assignments based on the grammar memory work time period.  Likewise, she’ll be participating in all of our read alouds.

1. Language Arts/Reading: Classical Literature studies & related Socratic discussions at co-op class
2. Math: Teaching Textbooks Algebra I and Algebra II
3. History/Social Studies: Various writing assignments based on Story of the World Vol III, lots of reading, and Model U.N. class at co-op
4. Science: Living books Anatomy & Physiology class at co-op, Physical Science class at co-op (yes, she’s doubling up with one science class at each co-op!)
5. Logic: Discovery of Deduction class at co-op
6. Health: What’s In Our Food? Project
7. Art: Independent study with Lamb’s Book of Art II
8. Music: Private piano lessons
9. Bible: Family Bible studies and co-op small group class
10. Physical Education: Tae Kwon Do, weight lifting
11. Typing: Typing Pal

Lovebug (5th grade)

1. Memory Work: Claritas Classical Academy and fun review games
2. Timeline: Classical Conversations
3. Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 5
4. Grammar: Grammar lessons from our local classical community day
5. Writing: IEW Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons
6. Spelling: Spelling Plus
7. Reading: Various assigned great books
8. Math: Math Mammoth 5 and Xtramath website
9. History: Claritas Classical Academy, Story of the World Vol III, lots of reading
10. Geography: Claritas Classical Academy and map drawing
11. Science: Claritas Classical Academy and Christian Kids Explore Chemistry
12. Health: What’s In Our Food? Project
13. Art: Community day lessons covering elements of art and artist studies
14. Music: Community day lessons covering music theory and composer studies, private guitar lessons
15. Bible: Family Bible studies and Claritas Classical Academy
16. Physical Education: Bowling league and drop-in ninja warrior gym
17. Typing: Typing Pal

Sunshine (3rd grade)

1. Memory Work: Claritas Classical Academy and fun review games
2. Timeline: Classical Conversations
3. Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 3
4. Grammar: Grammar lessons from our local community day
5. Writing: Copy work exercises
6. Spelling: Spelling Plus
7. Reading: All About Reading Level 3 (and finishing up Level 2)
8. Math: Math Mammoth 3 and Xtramath website
9. History: Claritas Classical Academy, Story of the World Vol III, lots of reading
10. Geography: Claritas Classical Academy and map drawing
11. Science: Claritas Classical Academy and Christian Kids Explore Chemistry
12. Health: What’s In Our Food? Project
13. Art: Community day lessons covering elements of art and artist studies
14. Music: Community day lessons covering music theory and composer studies, private piano lessons
15. Bible: Family Bible studies and Claritas Classical Academy
16. Physical Education: Drop-in ninja warrior gym

Dumpling (1st grade)

With the addition of several diagnoses this past year, I have re-evaluated goals and am making curriculum changes for the upcoming school year.  My go-to resources simply don’t include enough repetition before moving on to new skills.  This has created a situation where we’re stuck in the middle of a few curriculums but can’t really move on.  I never knew this was even a “thing” to be concerned about, but special needs homeschooling has opened up a world to me that I didn’t know existed.  Soooooo … lots of research has led me to the following choices (with explanations):

1. Language Arts/Literature: Before Five in a Row (going back to basics to help fill in gaps and work on memory skills with this sensory-filled immersion curriculum)
2. Preschool Skills: ABC’s at Home
3. Handwriting: ABC’s at Home and  Zaner-Bloser Handwriting K
4. Reading: Orton Gillingham approach with a focus on letter & phonogram recognition using flashcard drilling and other sensory activities, and possibly picking back up with All About Reading Pre-Reading Level again (letter recognition and phonemic awareness have been incredibly difficult, so my hope is that the simplified goal of only letter/phonogram recognition with tons of repetition will be beneficial)
5. Math: Mathematical Reasoning Beginning 1 and Math U See Primer (we used Math U See Primer last year but got to a point where we couldn’t move on because too many of the previous skills hadn’t been mastered – I’m hoping that a slower curriculum with tons of repetition, in addition to Math U See, will help fill in gaps)
6. Health: What’s In Our Food? Project
7. Bible: Family Bible studies
8. Physical Education: Bike riding, running, jump roping, swimming
9. Everything else (history, geography, science, art, music, etc): Bridges Classical Community and Homegrown Co-Op