First Day of Home school High School A.K.A Day 1 of high school for only one child for the first time ever!
Due to an upcoming out of state wedding, 2000 miles away, I began school yesterday. We aren't doing much till we get home next month, but I don't want to get behind. Emma finished 8th grade at the end of April, so she's had three months off. The books have been here a month. So I looked through and decided where we would most likely want to get a head start, and we began.
Last year I was in the hospital for a month, and recovering another month. Emma missed seven weeks of school due to my health. We still managed to not only catch up, but to double up and finish early. But I would rather get ahead where we can BEFORE something happens. Due to my health, I also changed to more independent studies that Emma can do without me, if necessary. I will never forget laying in a hospital bed, newly awake from a coma, and death, and hearing my older two daughters trying to teach Emma Algebra over in the corner of the ICU room. It was funny, because big sisters' worst subjects had always been Algebra, but I cried because I felt like such a failure as a mom and as a teacher. I know, I know, it wasn't my fault, but as my child's only parent and teacher, it was my biggest worry other than my own physical and mental recovery.
Emma loves Ancient History. So do I, as a matter of fact, but I love all History. Emma loves the Greek myths, and can tell all about the different Gods and Goddesses, though. We have made it to 9th grade and never spent a full year actually STUDYING Ancient History though. So this year I chose Beautiful Feet Ancient History for her. I'm not all techy, and don't know how to add links in a blog yet, sorry. Beautiful Feet Ancient History is a lit-based History, Geography, literature, and writing all-in-one program for high school. It is the one course I DIDN'T change my plans for, because 1.) It looked amazing, and I had been drooling over it for two years, anticipating Emma entering her freshman year and being able to do it, and 2.) It can be done independently by the student if need be, so it met my criteria. It was the first course I ordered two months ago, and it was the first course we began yesterday.
There are 90 lessons in BF Ancient History, so we need to do 2-3 lessons a week to complete it in one school year. We wouldn't technically be behind if we didn't start till after our vacation next month, but the first few lessons are straight out of a textbook, and are LONG. There are additional little assignments and projects with each lesson, plus Bible reading, map work, and notes to take. I told Emma she needn't do the actual Bible copywork, but that we WILL go ahead and do the readings, because there is no older written historical record as complete as the Bible. Even if you aren't a believer, the Bible is still full of proven, historical records. We are doing lesson 1 this week. I read aloud and discussed the first half of the introduction yesterday. Today I will finish the intro, and begin having her take notes and do map work and the Bible reading. Depending how much we get done today, I hope to do lesson 2 this week also.
We also began ACE Algebra 1. ACE is the epitome of independent. It is written to the student, the student does the lesson, the student checks the lesson. I am around to help if she gets stuck,but otherwise I pretty much just give her the tests and grade the tests when she is done. I love ACE, but since every subject of every grade is set up the same way, it would be boring to do ALL ACE. I usually use it for one subject per child each year. This year I chose it for Algebra, because ACE is a good, solid math program with excellent reviews, and because Emma is a whiz with Math, so Algebra is the natural subject for her to do almost completely on her own.
Looking through Pace 1, (ACE is divided into 12 little booklets called Paces. Each one is 15 lessons, with a test at the end. Comes out to exactly 180 days.), the 1st fifteen lessons are all very much review from Pre-Algebra. Because ACE uses slightly different terminology than Saxon, I am having Emma do just the portions of the Pace dealing with terminology, and she will take test 1 before the end of this week, since she already knows all the math parts. Pace 2 looks much the same, so hopefully we can easily complete 2 Paces long before we have to take time off for our trip. Initially, I'd hoped to get ONE Pace done, so two would be great! That would be the equivalent of six weeks of Algebra already done before the end of August.
That is all we did yesterday for day one of ninth grade. French and Writing look like they will easily be shorter than a full year, so we won't start those till we get back home. Ironically, those are the two classes Emma is most looking forward to doing. Chemistry....looks like Chemistry. SHE likes Chemistry. I...think it is one of the most boring subjects known to man. It also looks long, so if I really wanted to get ahead, I'd start Chemistry too. However, I dread doing this subject. I am putting it off a little longer. The only good news involving Chemistry is that since my child is somewhat of a science and math nerd, she CHOSE to do Chemistry as the first of her high school science classes, and after this year we can move in to the more interesting sciences like Biology and Physics. I might crack open the Chemistry book before our vacation, but I might not. Tune in next time to find out.
Last year I was in the hospital for a month, and recovering another month. Emma missed seven weeks of school due to my health. We still managed to not only catch up, but to double up and finish early. But I would rather get ahead where we can BEFORE something happens. Due to my health, I also changed to more independent studies that Emma can do without me, if necessary. I will never forget laying in a hospital bed, newly awake from a coma, and death, and hearing my older two daughters trying to teach Emma Algebra over in the corner of the ICU room. It was funny, because big sisters' worst subjects had always been Algebra, but I cried because I felt like such a failure as a mom and as a teacher. I know, I know, it wasn't my fault, but as my child's only parent and teacher, it was my biggest worry other than my own physical and mental recovery.
Emma loves Ancient History. So do I, as a matter of fact, but I love all History. Emma loves the Greek myths, and can tell all about the different Gods and Goddesses, though. We have made it to 9th grade and never spent a full year actually STUDYING Ancient History though. So this year I chose Beautiful Feet Ancient History for her. I'm not all techy, and don't know how to add links in a blog yet, sorry. Beautiful Feet Ancient History is a lit-based History, Geography, literature, and writing all-in-one program for high school. It is the one course I DIDN'T change my plans for, because 1.) It looked amazing, and I had been drooling over it for two years, anticipating Emma entering her freshman year and being able to do it, and 2.) It can be done independently by the student if need be, so it met my criteria. It was the first course I ordered two months ago, and it was the first course we began yesterday.
There are 90 lessons in BF Ancient History, so we need to do 2-3 lessons a week to complete it in one school year. We wouldn't technically be behind if we didn't start till after our vacation next month, but the first few lessons are straight out of a textbook, and are LONG. There are additional little assignments and projects with each lesson, plus Bible reading, map work, and notes to take. I told Emma she needn't do the actual Bible copywork, but that we WILL go ahead and do the readings, because there is no older written historical record as complete as the Bible. Even if you aren't a believer, the Bible is still full of proven, historical records. We are doing lesson 1 this week. I read aloud and discussed the first half of the introduction yesterday. Today I will finish the intro, and begin having her take notes and do map work and the Bible reading. Depending how much we get done today, I hope to do lesson 2 this week also.
We also began ACE Algebra 1. ACE is the epitome of independent. It is written to the student, the student does the lesson, the student checks the lesson. I am around to help if she gets stuck,but otherwise I pretty much just give her the tests and grade the tests when she is done. I love ACE, but since every subject of every grade is set up the same way, it would be boring to do ALL ACE. I usually use it for one subject per child each year. This year I chose it for Algebra, because ACE is a good, solid math program with excellent reviews, and because Emma is a whiz with Math, so Algebra is the natural subject for her to do almost completely on her own.
Looking through Pace 1, (ACE is divided into 12 little booklets called Paces. Each one is 15 lessons, with a test at the end. Comes out to exactly 180 days.), the 1st fifteen lessons are all very much review from Pre-Algebra. Because ACE uses slightly different terminology than Saxon, I am having Emma do just the portions of the Pace dealing with terminology, and she will take test 1 before the end of this week, since she already knows all the math parts. Pace 2 looks much the same, so hopefully we can easily complete 2 Paces long before we have to take time off for our trip. Initially, I'd hoped to get ONE Pace done, so two would be great! That would be the equivalent of six weeks of Algebra already done before the end of August.
That is all we did yesterday for day one of ninth grade. French and Writing look like they will easily be shorter than a full year, so we won't start those till we get back home. Ironically, those are the two classes Emma is most looking forward to doing. Chemistry....looks like Chemistry. SHE likes Chemistry. I...think it is one of the most boring subjects known to man. It also looks long, so if I really wanted to get ahead, I'd start Chemistry too. However, I dread doing this subject. I am putting it off a little longer. The only good news involving Chemistry is that since my child is somewhat of a science and math nerd, she CHOSE to do Chemistry as the first of her high school science classes, and after this year we can move in to the more interesting sciences like Biology and Physics. I might crack open the Chemistry book before our vacation, but I might not. Tune in next time to find out.
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