Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Summer School and How Much

This is our first year ever to school year round. Grace has known for months that we would be doing this. There are two main reasons as to the need of schooling through the summer. First and foremost is the fact that we just got plain behind. Especially in math and science. Most of this was attributed to health issues from August to December and too many activities outside the home (I do feel like the outside activities were important and we will continue to do most of the same starting back in August). The second reason is being a part of the TOS Review Crew. We continue to receive products to review even through the summer. We all know this ahead of time when we sign up for the Crew. So without further ado here are the items we are still working on:

Math - Algebra has been a real booger for us this year. Grace ebbs and flows with understanding. We are currently on lesson 84 and need to get to at least 115 before calling it a full credit for 9th grade. We cannot wait to be finished with Algebra. Grace had so much trouble with Algebra that after much discussion and thought we will not pursue Algebra II in the fall but instead will be studying personal finance. With her pursuits in starting her own business I figure some of that will be more important to her than solving 2nd, 3rd, and 4th degree equations. If she decides to go on to college she can take a remedial math class to get caught up but currently she does not want to attend college. We hope to accomplish 4 lessons a week which will still not get us finished until close to August.

Science - This year has been a mish mash of general science subjects. We started with what we hoped to be a year long study of birds but it just wasn't working out. Although we did do birds for about four months. Next I picked up the Apologia General Science book at a used book sale and so far she has done 6 modules. Now we are taking a break from the general science book for a review product. Luckily it fits right in with our science needs with a study in biochemistry. Between this study which will continue on until July and a couple more modules from the general science book we should have a full credit in science for 9th grade.

Literature - English is one of the easiest credits for us to fill and it is no different for this year. Grace's 9th grade English credit is finished. The reason we are still working in this area is another review product. This finds us reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and using the corresponding study guide. This study will be finished in July.

Other than the math and science the only other items we will be studying is any review products that come our way.

2 comments:

LJS said...

We record our learning year round too. Math will be done 2x per week. Writing 2x week. Book club continues so they will be reading at least one book a month (Lilah reads several). I have also looked into some fun short activities to change things up a bit, like Chalk Pastel ebook and some new science activity books to cover topics we have not discovered yet, like the Earth. I want to keep it simple, allow plenty of time for spontaneous activities and find the learning in all we do. This is where the binder (or whatever recording system you are using) is so helpful. If we go on a hike and we discuss things I record it as nature studies and give hours to that credit. Or if we visit a museum, concert or take a trip, it all gets recorded as learning and the hours start to add up. It give us a nice head start before we begin in earnest in the fall.

Good luck. I look forward to your reviews!

Karen said...

We're doing a modified year round schedule too. We moved in January and we took that entire month off. The goal is to finish "school work" in the mornings and still have afternoons for fun stuff - with plenty of days off when we need them.