Homeschool Year in Review: 2019-20 (10th grade)

This year brought a lot of clarity to me about homeschooling. In terms of hours spent, I worked the hardest at educating my children than in any previous year. Like last year, I had a high schooler (rhetoric), middle schooler (logic)(review here) and my youngest is still in elementary school (grammar). (4th grade wrap-up here). Last year was harder because I had less time and I had to put a lot of emotional energy into assessing and correcting my own assumptions about what was best for my oldest. So while this year I put in more hours, it wasn't as taxing. I also had more time as my travel business was reduced to nothing about the same time I usually get overwhelmed trying to keep up with school and working. For the first time, at the end of the day, no one felt they hadn't received the help they needed to be successful at learning. I also kept up with planning and correcting.

I continue to have to work hard to draw Ben into the planning process. He would just prefer I make the decisions, but we continue to progress in the right direction. He helped make some choices this year, and he was assertive in letting me know he did not want to take any online classes.

Here is what we did for his 10th grade year:

Math-After asking many questions and reading many reviews, I went with Jacobs' Geometry with support from Dale Callahan. Ben used three different Algebra texts over the last couple of years in an effort to learn a subject that was difficult for him. Going into the year, Ben didn't think he liked math and we were both really nervous about math this year. This program is the first high school math curriculum that I can actually get excited about. I still made a number of errors and he was very bogged down trying to do all the problems the first part of the year. This winter, I took the time to really read Dale Callahan's teacher's guide which offered up this helpful advice: never do ALL the problems because they aren't all necessary or helpful. The guide suggested which problems to do to cover the topic thoroughly, with understanding. A helpful guide on grading, as well as a book that has tests and a place to keep grades on daily assignments, and an interesting solution guide made this costly course entirely worth it to me. Ben didn't find the online tutorials particularly helpful; he does find it helpful to check his work with me verbally. He is way ahead of me at understanding geometry, but dialoguing is the tool he needs to lead him to understanding. Jacobs' is a great curriculum at bringing practical application and exploring all the many ways we use geometry in different fields. (This review is particularly helpful.)

History-History is my strength and Ben's. Ben read The History of the Medieval World and worked through some heady questions in the study guide. We both loved this book; however, it makes my head hurt to think of using this for Kyrie. Susan Wise Bauer is brilliant, but she doesn't think in a sequential pattern. Her methods of categorization confuse me at times. She loves story and anecdote. This text is good for anyone who is comfortable confronting how little they can really know; not for someone who wants to be able to offer a tidy summary of a time period, person, or country. We liked it; I wouldn't recommend it as a high school history course to very many people.

Earth Science/Astronomy- We stuck to a survey course and while Ben did participate in labs, they were middle school level and he wasn't required to write lab reports. I taught this course at three different levels (for each of my kids) and had different reading/writing requirements for each of them. I used Elemental Science as a guide for reading/questions/investigation and tailored the course up a little for Ben. (More on my middle school review.)

Thesis Writing- This was a half-credit course but I opted to spread it out over the full year and take some time developing a thesis and learning to write a thesis paper. We used Writing & Rhetoric Thesis I which offered a way to make tangible progress toward a final paper. Ben wrote his final essay on "What is Beauty?" reading thinkers like Aristotle, Roger Scruton, and Thomas Aquinas. I loved the way this book progressed; my only suggestion is that the student guide could offer more on how to compose the works cited section. 

Poetry-Perhaps the most enjoyable course of a great year, I taught Poetry to Ben and Kyrie simultaneously. While Ben bent down to take science with Kyrie, she took a big step up to take Poetry with him. Like his writing course, this was a half credit course but we chose to spread it over a year, so we didn't rush the process. We read a lot of poetry, analyzed styles and Ben wrote quite a few poems. In addition to normal assessment tools like quizzes and a midterm and final, the bulk of the work was in a poetry notebook he kept and in a final poetry slam. We invited his grandparents and everyone recited one or two poems, and we ate pie. (Ben recited two original poems.) I used The Art of Poetry and it was a great choice for content and ideas. The teacher's guide is really handy too. 

The above classes (and four credits) went off without a hitch, and may have even been better for having to shelter at home. The remainder of the courses listed were affected by the health crisis of Spring 2020. 

Art-We continued to use Feed My Sheep by Barry Stebbing (a 4-year curriculum) and Ben worked on Portraits and Anatomy drawing for first semester and Art Appreciation for second semester. He studied different art periods, the style and key artists, and then drew, imitating the style of each. I had planned trips to four different art museums coinciding with debate trips to Indianapolis and Ohio. We made it to one: Columbus Art Museum. And coronavirus happened.

Debate-Last year Ben audited speech and debate, participating in class and practice rounds with his local Christian Communicators of American (CCA) debate club. He was ready to go this year and was really excited about the debate resolution: Resolved, The United States Federal Government should reform the War Powers Resolution of 1973 as amended or its policy for the authorization for the use of military force.
We went to Ohio in February and he did 7 rounds (up to 90 minutes each) in 2 days for his first tournament. He learned a lot and was excited for the remainder of his tournaments. And coronavirus happened. 

Music-Ben continued with piano and received a drum kit for Christmas. We were going to get him a lesson or two to get started. And coronavirus happened.