Kyrie started some high school work this year and also had the chance to participate in debate. She learned a lot about speech and argument and was able to participate in several nano-tournaments and a full scale tournament in May. She loved it and along with piano, these are her primary extracurriculars, along with a book group she formed with her friends.
Here is what she studied this year:
God's Great Covenant: New Testament 1-The Gospels We
really love this curriculum and how it is the reading of Scripture,
thoughtful commentary, and worksheets that help solidify the reading. She does this with Evie.
Elementary Algebra-Harold Jacobs with online instruction I'm really grateful to have found AskDrCallahan.com which took a lot of the pressure off of me to provide instruction and figure out how to test/grade. All of that is included in this course; I still have to grade work. Dr. Callahan assigns the problems he feels are most useful in solidifying the material without over-assigning.
Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times Kyrie and Evie did this class with me but Kyrie had additional assignments and a higher reading requirement.
Latin Alive I Kyrie loves Latin and this course makes it engaging with online video instruction and an emphasis on translation. By the time we were halfway through the course, Kyrie was explaining to me why her translation was correct even though it was slightly different than the answer key. Next year, she moves to online instruction for that reason. But this is an excellent program.
Elemental Science Chemistry This curriculum, which is really a guide to using encyclopedias, outside resources, and a lab guide, allowed Kyrie to shine. She put a lot into learning the table of elements and working hard on the lab assignments. Labs are my favorite part of this curriculum. The emphasis on learning through experiments, though exhausting as a teacher, is the best way of learning in the middle grades.
Writing & Rhetoric Comparison and Description & Impersonation Comparison guides the write to effectively comparing different things in an effective manner. Description and Impersonation teaches how write vivid descriptions of nature, people, and processes and also how to present a point-of-view from someone else's perspective based on what is known about them. Kyrie loves to write and she is working hard to perfect her craft. We both really enjoyed this year.
Art of Argument An excellent program for informal logic and helping students to recognize the logical fallacies and build coherent arguments. Kyrie loved this and found it useful in debate. We used the video instruction as well as the books.
Total Health Kyrie and Ben took this course together and I was thankful for a book that helped me remember all those things we needed to cover that I wouldn't think of teaching because I know them. This covered health from a physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual perspective and gave us great discussion material. Kyrie dived in and did research and a presentation on a disease a close friend suffers from and learned more about a mental health condition that helped her perspective on another friend. We added in online resources--a podcast, video, and then she went through American Red Cross first aid certification. (These were my additions to round out the course.)
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