Homeschool Plans - Jan 2016

We usually start our learning by reading & discussing the scriptures and I read from a chapter book (Escape from Baxters' Barn right now). After this, I meet with Austin & Nyah to focus on one subject per day for about an hour (Mon-math, Tue-physics, Wed-history, Thur-language arts, Fri-commonwealth). Austin is ready for this more intensive work,while Nyah comes & goes as she's interested. Then they work on their weekly assignments (Khan Academy every day, reading, writing, etc.), while I work one-on-one with Olivia, Jolie, & Sophie for about 30-45 minutes each.

Austin

• Art of Persuasion with a local homeschool group- somewhat based on this.
• Reading- recently read Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson & The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
• Math- Khan Academy, Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe- book & website, & math class at commonwealth
• Java Programming through My Tech High
• History- World War II class at commonwealth; Tom Woods' Introduction to Government
• Physics 101
• Aeronautics & Motorsports- car repairs, races, documentaries, movies, history, etc. & Civil Air Patrol (CAP)
• Boy Scouts troop & High Adventure at commonwealth- working on merit badges
• Alice in Wonderland- playing a lobster & Tweedle Dum
• Church activities & ward choir

Nyah

• Brain Highways
• Writing
• Reading- recently reading greek mythology
• High Adventure at commonwealth
• Shakespeare class & play at commonwealth- playing Leonato
• Alice in Wonderland- playing the White Rabbit
• Church activities & ward choir

Olivia

• Physical therapy exercises
• Speech practice
• Fine motor activities
• Reader Rabbit
• Math- Kumon workbooks
• Classes at commonwealth- Young Explorers, All About Animals, Arts & Crafts, & My Body is a Temple
• PE- swim lessons, gymnastics, hiking, & soccer

Jolie

• Reader Rabbit
• Math- Kumon workbooks
• Classes at commonwealth- Young Explorers, All About Animals, Arts & Crafts, & My Body is a Temple
• PE- swim lessons & hiking

Sophie

• Reader Rabbit
• Math- Kumon workbooks
• Classes at commonwealth- Young Explorers, All About Animals, Arts & Crafts, & My Body is a Temple
• PE- swim lessons & hiking

Homeschool Fall 2015

AUSTIN - 14 - 9th Grade

Seminary

Math- CTC Math and Math for Life, a class through our commonwealth school using the book Mathematician's Are People, Too. 

English- Reading, writing, and discussing through an Argumentation class he's taking at a friend's house. 

History- World War I class through our commonwealth school. I'm mentoring this class- we are reading The Yanks Are Coming & doing simulations and hands-on activities in class. We started with the Marshmallow Challenge. I'll also probably have Austin read World War I: The Rest of the Story and How it Affects You Today and watch documentaries on Netflix or Amazon. 

Tech- He's taking another Java/Minecraft programming class through My Tech High.

Aeronautics & Motorsports- When I talked with Austin about what he's really interested in and passionate about, airplanes and fast cars were at the top of his list. This frees up more of his time to focus on Civil Air Patrol and practice flying with a flight simulator program. We're still working on how to incorporate motorsports, but attending the Pirelli World Challenge near here last month was a good start. And I think I'll throw in some physics, too.

High Adventure- Another class at our commonwealth school that is helping the kids earn boy scout merit badges.

Ballroom Dance

NYAH - 13 - 8th Grade

Math- CTC Math

Medieval Art & History- This is a class through a new-to-us co-op. The teacher is using History Odyssey: The Middle Ages and I did not realize how intense the reading & writing were going to be. I must have paid more attention to the hands-on part of the class description rather than the warning about the amount of reading and writing. So I'm feeling a little anxious about it, but so far Nyah is doing great. I found most of the books, including a couple of the more "textbook" type books on Librivox, so she's been listening up a storm and I've adjusted the rest of the work to better meet her abilities. It's definitely going to be a challenge!

Shakespeare Conquest- Nyah's 2nd year taking this through our commonwealth school. In the last 24 hours she's already read, watched, & listened to 10 plays and is hoping to be High Queen by doing 17 before anyone else in her class. 

More plays- One thing Nyah definitely wanted to do this year is be in more plays! She is currently playing a pirate in a local production of Peter Pan Jr. It's already been a huge growing experience. She didn't get the part she wanted {drama drama drama} and it took a week or two of pep talks and attitude adjustments, but now she's excited and really having a great time at rehearsals. Performances in October for anyone who is interested. 

High Adventure & Quilting- Nyah is also taking the merit badge class at our commonwealth and she's taking a quilting class too.  

Ballroom Dance & Gymnastics

OLIVIA - 8 - 3rd Grade
JOLIE - 7 - 2nd Grade
SOPHIE - 5 - Kindergarten

Olivia's school this year is all about brain health. She's recently been doing neuro-cognitive testing again (every 3 years) and she also had an appointment with a neuro-opthamologist about her light sensitivity and migraines. And I fell in love with this online article: Reading Readiness Has To Do With The Body this summer. The results? 

• Daily Exercise- strength exercises, and swimming, biking, hiking, fitness classes at rec center- it has to happen every day!!
• Meditation- Sitting Still Like a Frog
• Memorization- Poetry & Hand Clapping
• Better Sleep- We were really lazy this summer! Late bedtimes, good-bye bedtime routine, tv before bed- all that needs to change to help Olivia (all of us!) sleep better. 
• Food- making sure she's getting healthy fats and proteins to support her brain growth. 

{These are things that we will be focusing on as a family- we can all use healthier habits & brains! This is probably my favorite part of homeschooling - we do so much together! While Nyah is listening to Shakespeare, we all get a dose of Shakespeare. When Austin & I discuss books, everyone listens and chimes in or asks questions. When we go to Jolie's riding lesson, everyone loves spending time with the horses & barn cats- even the big kids who try to convince us they are too cool to be there. When we listen to Olivia's meditation cd in the car, everyone benefits from it. It's so much fun!}

Olivia's commonwealth classes- Gymnastics, Young Explorers, Horse Club, Math/Science, & Standing Tall. Jolie's commonwealth classes- Daughters of Virtue, Horse Club, Math/Science, and Free Play. Sophie's commonwealth classes- Young Explorers, Horse Club, Grab Bag of Fun, and Free Play. I'm teaching the Horse Club- guess who twisted my arm to do it? 

We attend commonwealth on Fridays, so during our learning time on the other days we will be playing games- Sleeping Queens & Battleship are favorites right now- and working on reading more fluently. Our family membership to CTC Math means everyone has an account, so maybe they'll do that as well. Plus nature walks and art afternoons. And mom reading aloud a bunch. And laying in the grass watching the clouds go by. 

Homeschool Fall 2014

Our plans for this semester

KidSchool

• Pray, Song, & Scriptures
• Character- currently reading 7 Habits of Happy Kids
• RADKids- Olivia & Jolie took this class this past spring. We are reviewing the safety rules & lessons they learned.
• Verbal Math
• Poetry Memorization

Austin

• Math- Teaching Textbooks & Other Side of Math class- a friend of mine is teaching this class for youth 13+ yrs. A short description is a right-brained math class. They work on logic puzzles, riddles, games, art, projects, etc. A Mathematician's Lament is great starting point if you want to learn more. 
• Shakespeare Conquest- project offered through our commonwealth school. This semester they are reading & discussing King Lear, reading-listening-watching 17 plays, learning about the Elizabethan era, developing acting skills, memorizing a soliloquy, and more. Next semester they will rehearse & perform a family friendly Shakespeare play. This is a LEMI project.
• Sword of Freedom- Civil War history project offered through our commonwealth school. They read & discuss four books (uncle Tom's Cabin, Across Five Aprils, Abraham Lincoln biography, & To Kill a Mockingbird), historical documents, learn about the history of battles and politics, watch movies, memorize songs & Gettysburg address, and more. This is a LEMI project.
• Adult Scholar Class- this year the adults in our commonwealth are reading & discussing Science Fiction & Fantasy books, and Austin decided to join us. So far we've read Peralandra by C.S. Lewis and Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card, and there will be a number of other books and fairy tales throughout the year.
• Minecraft/Java Programming- through My Tech High
• Python Programming- through My Tech High
• Video Game Design & Entrepreneurship- a class offered by a homeschool dad we are good friends with. 
• Piano Lessons
• Scouts

Nyah

• Math- currently reading & doing activities in the Time Life "I Love Math" series.
• Shakespeare Conquest- same class as Austin
• Young Stateswoman- this is offered through our commonwealth school. The girls are reading biographies of women from the civil war era- so far they've read Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman and Invincible Louisa. The girls also plan and carry out activities & service projects. 
• Our Animal Friends (science)
• Drawing, Sculpting, and Animation Foundations- through My Tech High 
• Art Class- Nyah wanted to take an art class again this year, but the classes through the rec center were on the same day as her youth church activities. So I'm teaching a class for Nyah and some of her friends using Artistic Pursuits and Harmony Fine Arts 7th Grade plans. I'm not sure what Nyah will do next semester because she'll have Shakespeare rehearsal during this time.

Olivia, Jolie, & Sophie

• Reading Eggs- through KOLA (discounted rates!)
• Liberty Girls (Olivia & Jolie)- reading history books (Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman so far), planning & sharing fun activities, 
• Living Math- currently reading & doing activities in the Time Life "I Love Math" series
• Stations- once or twice a week they spend 15-20 minutes rotating with Austin, Nyah, & I, doing different games & learning activities. 
• Art Projects- they paint, draw, or use chalk pastels, or play with play-doh during Nyah's art class.
• Reading & Math workbooks- once or twice a week when they want to do "school"
• Speech (Olivia)

Kelsey

• Adult Scholar Class & Mom's Colloquia- monthly classes offered through our commonwealth school. 
• Mentoring in the Classics
• Geography & Current Events- our family loves to watch Amazing Race and I decided to capitalize on this interest to help us learn more about other countries, cultures, governments, and current events. We watch the show, read & discuss the new country in The Travel Book, discuss the type of government and any current events we can learn about, makes some food if we can, listen to music if we can, and so on. 
• Piano Lessons
• Nature Study- we go on walks or hikes a couple times a week & learn about anything interesting the kids find. 
• Mentor of Sword of Freedom project at our commonwealth school.
• Teach Nyah's Art Class

Homeschool Revolution

I don't really know how to describe it, except that we are, in many ways, radically changing how we homeschool. No more school at home. No more pushing agendas from outside our family, whether they be state standards or someone else's ideas or a curriculum.

We are focusing on our family values. Our passions. Our agency. Our learning styles.

Some things that I've been reading over the last year:

Free Range Learning - book website facebook Laura Grace WeldonA Thomas Jefferson Education - book website facebook blog

Agency Based Education - website
Teach the Children (book)

What that means for our summer is that we are focusing on daily reading and working together to build our core values.

We are currently reading: The Book of Mormon, Little Britches, and the 7 Habits of Happy Kids series. Looking to add in some math classics

Our daily work: Cleaning up when we're done playing and eating, and building routines and systems for the rest of the housework; and meeting Olivia's needs (speech, regular exercise, etc.)

And lots of time to live and play and explore around us.

What does this mean for the future? I'll let you know when we have a better idea!

Winter 2014 Homeschool Plans & Schedule

Last semester we all felt bogged down by school work and like we "had" to meet some mystical set of requirements I'd created. Mostly it's my public school mind trying to run a homeschool- blah. It just doesn't work that way! So I simplified and adjusted and changed things up. 

During Breakfast: 

• Read & discuss a chapter of Scripture Stories - there is also a great website & app.
• Music Study - Handel - Firework & Water music. I think we'll change the composer every 6 weeks, with different music selections each week.
• Artist Study - Degas' Two Dancers. Discussion is "What do you think is happening? How do you think they feel? What else do you see in the picture?" etc. Changing up the artist every 6 weeks.

After Breakfast: 

• Get ready for the day - get dressed, hair, teeth
• Poetry Memorization - we've been using IEW'S poetry memorization system, but the three younger girls are struggling with the longer poems, so I've found some shorter poems for us to work on. 
• English - Olivia & Jolie alternate working in their Explode the Code books (Mon & Wed) and playing alphabet related apps on the ipad (Tue & Fri). Each week Austin & Nyah write a 5 paragraph paper on a topic of their choice, and then I help them edit and rewrite. 
• Math - Austin still loves Life of Fred and is almost finished with the Elementary books. Nyah does Teaching Textbooks twice a week (Mon & Wed). Olivia & Jolie practice on IXL twice a week (Mon & Wed). Twice a week (Tue & Fri) the girls and I do some living math activities. We are using the Bedtime Math app, MathStart books, other math picture books, and math games (board games, dice and dominoes). I'm thinking about dropping Teaching Textbooks and IXL, and going full time with living math for the girls, as they all learn better when it's hands-on and they are using math for a reason.
• Snack time
• Mom Reads - I'm currently reading Pioneer Sampler. This reading time will be for history and/or science books. 
• Austin & Nyah work on independent school work (reading, writing, projects, or chores).

During Lunch:

• Listen to Poetry - I haven't quite figured out how we'll do this. I think we'll listen to individual poets, changing it up every 6 weeks, but this depends on being able to find the cds/downloads. 
• Listen to Portuguese song - we want our kids to learn a foreign language and since Kurt speaks Portuguese (Brazilian) we're going to start with that. We have Rosetta Stone for the older kids, but I'm going to have the younger ones learning songs and read picture books. I'm still trying to figure it out and find resources.  

Afternoons: 

• Monday - Science day. Nyah will watch her Jacques Cousteau cartoon & research the topic. I'll do Young Scientist Club experiments with Olivia & Jolie. Austin watches physics videos & does his reading.
• Tuesday - Austin attends his online MathArt class. The girls make a Westward Expansion craft project. We all go on a field trip to a local museum that focuses somehow on American Western history. 
• Wednesday - Art Projects for girls- pastels, watercolor, whatever I feel like; Science club for Austin & his friends. 
• Thursday - Commonwealth: Shakespeare and art for Austin; Young Stateswoman and art for Nyah; Liberty Girls & music appreciation for Olivia & Jolie; Nursery-type class for Sophie. I help with the nursery class the first 2 hours, the art class the last hour, and it looks like I'm going to be the producer for the Shakespeare play done by Austin's class. 
• Friday - Dragon Quest with friends for Austin & Nyah; Olivia, Jolie, & Sophie go to a friend's house to play. 

Bedtime: 

• I read the girls their books for commonwealth - Olivia & Jolie are reading American Girl: Caroline this semester and we don't have Nyah's books yet, but they will be around the same time period (War of 1812/Pioneers). 

Additional:

• Tech classes - The girls do robotics on Thursday mornings instead of math, english, and listening to me read; Austin works on game design a little every day and is teaching himself to animate with a free program he found online and youtube videos.
• Piano - Austin & Nyah have lessons on Mondays, and I try to spend time with them on one other day during the week going over their lessons and practice assignments. Austin is doing Simply Music and Nyah is doing child-led, games lessons with a friend of mine. I'm hoping to use Austin's videos and books to continue teaching myself (I did pretty good through the first 7-8 months of last year), but we'll see if it works out. 
• PE - We've found with Olivia and her NF1, that she needs to be consistently physically active, and really it's a great thing for all of our kids to be doing. On Monday and Wednesday I take the four girls swimming at the rec center for lessons and free play. Austin has been skipping out by hanging out with friends, but I think I'm going to start making him go with us. He can climb the climbing wall or shoot hoops if he doesn't want to swim.  On Saturdays we've started going ice skating as a family. 
• Nature Study - somehow, somewhere I want to fit in a weekly nature hike, but I'm kind of a pansy when it comes to cold weather, so I may wait until things warm up around here. For now, I've been watching a nature documentary whenever I fold laundry and my kids end up watching with me. 

Typing it all out makes me realize we are doing a lot more than I thought and I feel like what we're doing now is much more enjoyable for all of us. I've brought back some of the things that we really enjoy like artist study and music study; the girls are doing more things as a group instead of individually; English is simpler for the older kids to do on their own; I've reduced the required work for some subjects; Some subjects are more hands-on---

One week in and it's going great :)

Interesting Thinks

Why the Universe is Trying to Beat You Into Submission @ Life Manifestos

Exclusive 'Jaw-dropping' breakthrough hailed as landmark in fight against hereditary diseases as Crispr technique heralds genetic revolution @ The Independent

What You Don't Know About that Wild, Unruly Child @ Scary Mommy

4 Ways to Live a More Creative Life @ Darling Magazine

Twenty-five freezer meals that don't require any cooking ahead of time @ New Leaf Wellness

Interesting Thinks

How to Get Flat Abs, Have Amazing Sex and Rule the World in 8 Easy Steps @ Huffington Post - not what you may think!

School is no Place for a Reader @ Canadian Notes & Queries - I remember reading Watership Down - a 400+ page book - in 5th grade and having to "prove" to my teacher I had read it. I doubt he really wanted to know what happened, but I talked on and on and on. 

In the Art Room: Tree Weaving with Third Grade @ Cassie Stephens - a great looking project!

This physics grad student made a mind-blowing Bohemian Rhapsody cover @ io9 - this is just FUN!

Morning Board and Calendar Time @ See Jamie Blog - I think I want to make one for our mornings!

Dear parents, you need to control your kids. sincerely, non-parents @ The Matt Walsh Blog - a new-to-me favorite blog. I also enjoyed Christianity has done more for science that atheism ever could.

35 years later, woman searches for teacher who changed her life @ KSL

21 Everyday choices that will lead to success @ Business Insider

21 Habits of Supremely Happy People @ Huffington Post

Calvin & Hobbes piece - Bill Watterson advice @ Zen Pencils

I'm thinking of signing Austin up for the National Mythology Exam @ Excellence Through Classics

Teaching Your Children Enough @ Mama Bean's World

And my Dad shared this awesome article with me - Q&A: Ungifted and Talented @ Psychology Today

Interesting Thinks - 8/25/2013

Make Ahead Cold Lunches {A Weeks Worth of Cold Lunches in a day!} @ Happy Money Saver 

Google Science Fair

Higher Education Wasted on Stay-at-Home Mom? Hardly @ The Sutherland Institute and then O, Alma Mater @ Verily Magazine

Pieces of Autism Puzzle Slowly Coming Together @ Psychiatric News

Schools Put Child in Special Ed, Tell Mom He Can't Learn. Now He's Free, and On Track to Win a Nobel Prize @ The Libertarian Republic

Have you seen this? Love song of all love songs @ KSL

You Do Matter @{In the Head of Al Fox}

Interesting Thinks

A Nation of Wimps @ Psychology Today

When You Think Your Love Story is Boring @ HuffPost Parents 

Kate Middleton and the Mom in the Mirror @ HuffPost Parents 

Simplify Simplify - If Only It Were That Simple @ SPD Blogger Network

11 Things I wish Every Parent Knew @ MindBodyGreen

To Moms of One or Two Children @ Short Stop Blog

2013-2014 K & 1st Grade Homeschool Plans

Olivia will be in 1st grade and Jolie will be in Kindergarten, however, because their school abilities are similar they will do pretty much everything together. Also, to keep it simpler for me, they are studying the same history & science (american history and marine biology) that Nyah is doing.

UPDATED July 14, 2013

Olivia will be enrolled with My Tech High, but Jolie is not old enough.

Olivia - Homeroom w/My Tech High
Weekly learning Logs
Weekly attendance
Study Island & Utah Write (standardized test prep websites)

Math
MathStart & other math picture books
Living Math books & activities
Math activities from The Three R's
Addition & Subtraction to music
IXL for practice & play

Language Arts
Happy Phonics
Get Ready for the Code 
Get Set for the Code
Go for the Code
Word of the Week
Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization
Literature:
Burgess Seashore Book for Children
Beachcombing: Exploring the Seashore
Shimmer & Splash: The Sparkling World of Sea Life

History/Science
Westward Expansion Discovery Kit
Magic School Bus: Junior Scientist Club
Magic School Bus books

Tech Class
Robotics Foundations

Elective
Swimming & Ice skating

Extracurricular
Hopefully nothing! Ha. Olivia has speech a couple times a month through PCMC. It's important for Olivia to be involved in consistent physical activity, which is why we'll be going swimming or ice skating as a family a couple times a week.

2013-2014 6th Grade Homeschool Plans

Nyah will be in 6th grade - growing up so fast!

UPDATED July 14, 2013

Homeroom w/My Tech High
Weekly learning Logs
Weekly attendance
Study Island & Utah Write (standardized test prep websites)

Math
Teaching Textbooks

Language Arts
Language Lessons for the Elementary Child
Pictures in Cursive
Word of the Week
Fables, Myths, & Fairy Tales Writing Lessons
Literature: Venus Among the Fishes
A Dolphin Named Bob
The Mermaid's Purse
Jacques Cousteau: Life Under the Sea
Adventures of the Shark Lady: Eugenie Clark Around the World

Island of the Blue Dolphin

The Black Pearl

Call It Courage

History/Science
Pioneer Sampler
Westward Expansion Discovery Kit
Marine Biology Hybrid Class - Semester 1 & 2

The Seaside Naturalist
Animalearn for animal dissection alternatives :)
A World in a Drop of Water

Tech Class
Robotics Foundations

Elective
Swimming & ice skating

Extracurricular
Nyah will also be involved in Activity Days with our church & continue working on piano with me. She will also be doing speech twice a week through My Tech High. She may participate with Insight Liberal Arts Commonwealth if it works with our schedule & plans.

Sample of Nyah's weekly checklist - I'll continue to edit & modify this throughout the school year:

2013-2014 7th Grade Homeschool Plans

Austin is going to be in 7th grade - Eeek!

UPDATED July 29, 2013

Homeroom w/My Tech High:
Weekly learning Logs
Weekly attendance
Study Island & Utah Write (standardized test prep websites)

MathMathArt through Currclick
Life of Fred- I think he'll work through the elementary books really quickly and then he'll move onto the Intermediate series. I was thinking of skipping the easier ones, but he thinks Fred is hilarious and doesn't want to miss the story.

Language Arts
Language Lessons for the Elementary Child

Pictures in Cursive
Word of the Week
English from the Roots Up
Rockets, Radar, & Robots: Technology Based Writing Lessons

Science
Exploring the World of Chemistry
Exploring the World of Chemistry: Questions, Reviews, & Tests
Chemistry C1000 Experiment Kit
Exploring the World of Physics
Exploring the World of Physics: Questions, Reviews, & Tests
Physics Workshop Kit

Tech Class
Become a Computer Game Designer
Unofficial LEgo Mindstorm's NXT 2.0 Inventor's Guide

Elective
Shakespeare Conquest through our commonwealth school, Insight Liberal Arts Academy (tentatively- I'm not sure we'll be doing the commonwealth next year).

Extracurricular
Austin will also be involved in scouts, piano lessons, and he wants to learn Japanese (for his future career as a ninja :D).

*We decided to not do First Lego League this year. We're trying to simplify our outside commitments and this is one we decided to cut.

Sample of Austin's weekly checklist - I'll continue to edit & modify this throughout the school year:

Interesting Thinks - 5/16/2013

A Million Skies: They Need You! Don't Give Up!

Sixty Second Parent: Help for PArents of Autistic Children: Emphasize, Don't Criticize - has this great gem in it: 

". . . helping people is not about what YOU believe or what YOU think about their situation. It is about who THEY are and how THEY see and feel about their circumstances."

(the author is referring to parents judging other parents, but for me, it's a really critical way to think about my kids)

Intoxicated on Life: 5 Great Bible Verses for Kids to Memorize About Anxiety

Huffington Post: Have American Parents Got It All Backwards

Roscommon Acres: Perseverance and Hope

Additudemag.com Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid - I hesitated about posting this one. I don't want people to be afraid to talk about all the wonderful things their kids are doing. I don't want people looking at my family and thinking we're "perfect" at anything. However, I've had a few moments similar to the ones described in this article. Not long ago I was in conversation with two women who were both expecting - now they both have beautiful babies that I love to see and hear all about - at the time the discussion turned into "all I want is a perfectly healthy baby." As the mom of kids who were not born perfectly healthy - ouch. 

"Though we often feel worlds apart from parents of perfect kids, we do have something in common: We’re all proud of our kids for one reason or another. It’s just that the reasons we’re proud differ. Many parents of special-needs children assume that perfect parents don’t care about our kids. We think that people do care about our kids, but sometimes they forget whom they are speaking to."

I'm planning our next school year - do you think we can read 1000 books? So many books, so little time- sigh. Classical Christian Education Support Loop: 1000 Good Books List

Homeschool - Spring 2013

There have been a few minor changes, but for the most part we've been plugging along, getting things done. 

Austin

• Math - Austin is no longer working with ALEKS math. He didn't like it and I think he was short-term learning and not retaining the information. He's still using the ALEKS QuickTables to help him memorize his math facts, but he is also using XtraMath and the Khan Academy outline at All-In-One Homeschool. Once he's finished with the Khan Academy list (some of which he's already done), he'll move on to the Middle School Math. Next year he wants to do Teaching Textbooks like Nyah. 
• Computer Literacy - My Tech High 
• Intro to Robotics - My Tech High - he only has about a week left in this class. 
• Medieval History - this is going well. He's working through the study guide, reading and doing projects, and enjoying what he's learning. 
• Language Lessons for the Elementary Student Vol. 1
• Knights of Freedom - this will finish up the beginning of May. He's really loved his group this year and is looking forward to doing the Shakespeare class with his buddies next year.
• Study Island - to get ready for his standardized testing (next week!) he's been working on this program through My Tech High. 
• Simply Music Piano Lessons - we started working with a Simply Music instructor a couple months ago. It's going really well for Austin. He has a great memory and is naturally talented at piano. 
• Happy Scientist
• BrainPop

Nyah

• Math - Teaching Textbooks - Nyah doesn't love math, but this has been a fabulous program for her. To have her actually talking about and using math outside of doing her assignments makes me want to do a happy dance. 
• Digital Media - My Tech High - she only has a couple photography projects left before she's done with this class. 
• Art class - she has really enjoyed taking art classes at the rec center. 
• History of the Horse
• Marine Biology - Nyah wants to be a marine biologist so we are going to be starting Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures. We're going to take it really slow and see how it goes. It may be too technical. We'll see. Happy Thoughts :)
• Language Lessons for the Elementary Student Vol. 1
• C8Kids - I cannot praise this program enough for the huge strides it has helped Nyah achieve this year. It's been a miracle to watch. 
• Young Stateswoman
• Study Island
• Simply Music Piano Lessons - Nyah is a great piano player, but she hates changes, she romanticizes her past teacher and traditional lessons, and pretty much thinks she's the worst piano player in the world so there are battles every.single.day about piano. To top it off, our new piano teacher had to rearrange some of her group lessons and we ended up with a group that is a couple songs ahead of us and she's trying to get Austin & Nyah caught up. This is stressing Nyah out BIG TIME. In fact, I just realized she went to a friend's house to play and didn't do her piano before she left. Ugh. 
• Happy Scientist
• BrainPop

Olivia & Jolie (& Sophie too)

• ABC's & Learning to Read - Getting Ready 1 at All-In-One Homeschool. We are doing this in conjunction with Language Lessons for Little Ones Vol. 1. 
• Math Lessons for a Living Education: Book 1 & other math games and activities 
• Speech - Olivia recently met all the goals we set for her last year (hurray!). So her therapist and I picked some new goals for her to start working on - /th/, speaking slowly and clearly, pacing so she's understandable. It's helpful to have Jolie (and often Nyah) playing games with us when we work on it. 
• Reading with Mom- fairy tales, mother goose, picture books, etc. We've been reading a chapter book in the evenings before bed and I'm loving it! Re-visiting some of my old favorites - Charlotte's Web, A Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan. Fun fun fun. And my older kids sneak out of their rooms to listen too. 
• Liberty Girls
• PE - making sure we go walking, hiking, biking, swimming, etc. at least 4 or 5 times a week to keep Olivia strong!
• Sophie sits on my lap, coloring and looking through books, while I work with Olivia & Jolie. She's going to be a smarty-pants.

We are trying something new - instead of taking one long summer break, we are trying 6 weeks on, 1 week off of school. We're going to see if a more consistent, predictable schedule works better for us. The classes and clubs they are taking will be over at the end of May, but they will keep doing language lessons, math, history, and science over the summer. At least that's the plan for now. 

We are also going to try a couple classes through CurrClick this summer - 

• MathArt - I've been wanting to add in more of a "living math" experience for my kids and this class looks like it will be lots of fun. 
• Marine Biology - for Nyah, but all of us will join in for the summer. If this works out I think she'll take the classes for next school year. 

Interesting Thinks

So, I'm always checking on emails and FB on my phone, which leads me to many interesting things I want to keep track of or remember to look at more in-depth.  And then I end up with lots of pages on my phone and need to find someway to keep track of them before I lose them. Which is why I'm posting them here. You may enjoy them as well. :)

Preschoolers & Peace is making over her blog - I like the new, clean look. And the advice is  always fabulous- in particular, Little Drama Queen Girls is soooo applicable to me. 

{ In the Head of Al Fox } I stumbled across this blog on FB and loved the post Tattooed Mormon. Can we all stop judging each other already? I'm excited to look around the blog a little more.

Can we stop comparing ourselves to others too? Or stop looking down on our own lives? Martha's To Do List at Time Out For Women was a beautiful reminder to love where we are and what we are doing. 

This is a great reminder for me as we are coming to the end of our "official" school year (through our charter school): Last Week(s) of School at Marathon Mom.

Why You Can't Read Twilight: A Letter to My Daughter at Carrots for Michaelmas. Confession: I've never read any of the Twilight books so I don't have personal opinions on them. And I know lots of people who like them. It's a little weird because I typically like teenie/romance-without-sex-on-every-page books or usually I'm willing to see what all the hype is about for popular book series'. I just couldn't ever get into reading them. But I agree with many of Haley's points about what she does want her daughter reading. And I love many of her books suggestions: 10 Books You Must Read to Your Daughter (try not to get sucked into the Disney Princess debate in the comments), 10 Books You Must Read to Your Son (there are some wonderful children's version of the Iliad, Odyssey, Beowulf, Greek myths, BBC dramatic recordings of LOTR, etc. that we've read/listened to before diving into originals), and 20 Picture Books That Will Delight Your Children (I've added some to my library requests). Currently, I'm reading Charlotte's Web to our kids before bed. I'm so excited to go to the Children's Theater Charlotte's Web play next month. Reading Charlotte's Web coupled with watching Vegucated this week and I'm feeling incredibly conflicted about our food choices - in particular the barbecue ribs Kurt bought for dinner today. Sigh.