Thursday, July 8, 2010

End of One Year; Beginning of the Next

Here in Pennsylvania, we had to have our portfolios finished and our evaluations finished and all of the required paperwork (and for some school districts, not mine, the portfolios) handed in by July 1st. We have to have our homeschool affidavit notarized and handed in with our list of objectives for the new school year handed in by August 1st. I do both my end of the school year and beginning of the school year paperwork all at the same time. That way I only have to make one trip to the school.

Our evaluations went extremely well. My oldest finished 10th grade and has almost all of his credits already completed for high school. He only needs a math, a science and two more English credits and he's got two years to complete them. That allows for lots of time to do some studying in some things he really enjoys. He will also be starting college in his senior year of high school. He's going to enroll in the College Plus program online. We have researched it and spoken to people from the program and are pleased with the opportunities he offers.

This past Tuesday, July 6th, we began our new school year. My boys get stir crazy after a month break from school. They get bored and start bugging be to start school again. We've been off about a month and a half, so it was nice to get back to it. Schooling over the summer also allows us to take breaks during other times in the year when we really want some extra time, like for Christmas.

My oldest is studying Government this year, and we will be reading some great classic books. We started with Treasure Island, which my younger son is also participating in. My oldest is also studying health/anatomy, algebra, and geography. At our co-op, he will be taking a chemistry class, a photography class, psychology and speech - and -debate.

My younger is studying World History and Geography. We are going to use the Answers volumes 1-3 for a good portion of his science. His world geography class is at our co-op. At co-op, he will also be taking a writing class and participating in a choir.

The little will continue to work on learning to read, write and do basic math. At co-op, he will be taking a music class, a human body class, and an art class.

Co-op begins near the end of August.

We are off and running. If you're interested in knowing what specific books I use, I can list them, just leave a comment letting my know you would like to know and I'll post them. Otherwise, I'll post something else.