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10th Grade!

Emma and I have had a busy summer. She has learned how to mow the grass, and helps me with my two yards. She goes to gymnastics 3 days a week, plus had a full time week of intensive gymnastics camp. Emma lost a young cousin to suicide last month, and she and I went to Oklahoma and Texas for a week to spend time with family. Yesterday Emma completed her first week of tenth grade. We are focusing on the Medieval time period this year.  I am making up my own history and literature curriculum.  I bought Susan Wise Bauer's , "The History of the Medieval World." It is boring as all get out, and contains WAY more detailed information than anyone other than a college history major would care about, so that was pretty much a waste of money. Thankfully, I also bought several other things, such as, "The Middle Ages; Everyday Life in Medieval Europe", several books to read for literature, and several DVD s. If anyone knows of any GOOD books or movies about the plague pl...
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Done with 9th grade

Wow, I had several family emergencies and never got back here to post our last couple of weeks! Needless to say, we finished all Emma's school the last week of April. Emma's final grades were A's in everything, other than the first semester of Algebra. She got a B for that. My PLAN is to write reviews of all the curriculum we used last year now that we are done. I have already begun looking for 10th grade materials, of course. Hopefully I will have a post up sooner than another two and a half months. :)
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Weeks 30-32 and Spring Break

The end is in sight. I love, love, love homeschooling. This is my tenth year, though, and I'm always relieved to have 3 or 4 months off. Next week we are taking a break, per Emma's request, because this close to the end, I sure don't want to. Chemistry: I'm starting with this subject this time because we only have ONE DAY left. We finished the textbook, and we literally only have one 44 minute long section of Chemistry 101 DVD left. Yes, even though we are taking a break, we are watching the video Monday and be officially done with Emma's Chemistry credit. Algebra: another thing we only have one left of....one Pace left, which is a review of the entire year of Algebra. If we stick to the schedule that equals 15 days (3 school weeks) left of Algebra. Ancient History/Literature: we are both still reading, "Quo Vadis". This is a loooooong book! Almost 600 pages long, and we are only up to page 350. Emma isn't as fond of it as I am. I love this book,...
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Weeks 20-29 In Review

So I "might" be a little overdue on catching up this blog. January was busy with my oldest daughter hospitalized for a week, a month straight of below zero temperatures and snow, doing school, and gaining two new puppies. February was more school, springtime weather, puppy care, and two gymnastics meets for Emma. This month so far it's cold and snowy again, and I am suddenly at the part of the school year where the end is in sight! In Algebra, Emma is at the end of Pace 10 out of 12. We should be finished with this pace Monday. Ancient History/Literature: we are somewhere in the 70's out of 90 lessons. We are reading, "Quo Vadis". This is a book that I love, and Emma hates. Chemistry: we should be finished with Chemistry by the end of March. We started chapter 10 yesterday, and it is the last chapter. We also still have one more DVD in the Chem 101 series. Writing: honestly, we haven't done much formal writing since Christmas, but Emma continues ...
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Instant Pot Initial Impressions

I wouldn't do a curriculum review after only two uses, but I am so impressed with my boyfriend's Christmas present to me, that I've decided to share my first impression of the Instant Pot cooker. My VERY first impression was, "This thing is HEAVY!" John got me the 8 quart Instant Pot, and carried it up to his third floor apartment to wrap, carried it back down to his truck, then carried it from his truck to my living room Christmas morning. I felt a little guilty when I saw how large the box was. However, the Instant Pot was well packaged in Styrofoam, and wasn't AS big as it first appeared. It is about the size of my largest slow cooker when out of the box, and easy to carry. My second thought was to be slightly intimidated by this thing. It has many functions, but it is first and foremost a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers mean...high pressure. I've never cooked with high pressure, so I was a little scared. I followed the manual exactly, though, inc...
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Weeks 17, 18, and 19, Christmas Break Begins

We have been BUSY! Emma has done great progressing with school work, had her first gymnastics competition of the year, and it seems none of us can stop buying "just one more thing" for Christmas. Algebra: Emma finished Pace 7 out of 12 last week. She got an A + on her test! Ancient History/Literature: we have completed through lesson 40, other than those last 60 pages of "Homers Odyssy", which she has to finish before being officially on break. Writing: we are just over halfway through her text, chapter 12 of 23. Emma continues to do her own creative writing almost every night. Chemistry: we finished chapter 7. French: we are in chapter 5, but only doing review of the entire semester this week. Today is our last official day of school till early January.  Emma had her first gymnastics meet Sunday. She didn't do nearly as well as usual, but that is to be expected, since she missed 10 weeks due to her fractured spine and her coaches personal issues. ...
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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

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Due to doing NOTHING for Christmas last year, I've gotten way ahead of myself this year. The lights and tree have been up for two weeks. 90% of the gifts have been bought, and a good 75% of them are wrapped. I was so afraid something would happen to me again and I wouldn't be around to make a nice Christmas for everyone, so I began shopping in September. I'm so happy and blessed, and I want to show everyone how much I love them.
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