Year in Review-Everleigh, 7th grade and Kyrie, 10th grade

This year was supposed to be easier. After all, I was just down to two students. It turned out to be a chaotic and difficult year, with some golden spots, and a lot of learning for the students and teacher.

Everleigh hit her stride this year and I saw a huge uptick in her effort and the quality of her work. She took piano lessons and taught herself to crochet this year, as well as continuing to paint and do hand-sewing. Here is what we did for her for formal education:  

Math-Ev wanted to continue using Horizons for Pre-Algebra. This book introduces algebra concepts as well as early geometry. 

Grammar, Writing and Spelling-All of my kids ended up liking Rod and Staff's grammar. Ev declared it her favorite subject and learned it well. She also thrived with Writing, developing into a strong writer. We have loved the Writing & Rhetoric series from Classical Academic Press, and she completed Comparison and the descriptive writing portion of Description and Impersonation. She learned to compare people, events, and things as well as to write descriptions of nature, people, and processes. She completed Spelling Workout G and H, a series I loved and used for all three of my children.

Physical Science-My older kids used John May's Physics text and really liked it, so I used Novare Physical Science for Everleigh. It's a challenging program, using mastery concepts, but she ended up thriving and learning a lot. She laid the foundation to be more prepared for physics and I appreciated the conversion problems as well as solid foundation. 

Health and First Aid-Using Susan Boe's Total Health: Choices for a Winning Lifestyle, we had class discussion on physical, emotional, social, and spiritual health. Evie kept a food journal, did an exercise and lifestyle analysis and focused on time management. She completed a National CPR Foundation Course in CPR and First Aid. Ev also read Your New Playlist: The Student's Guide into Tapping into the Superpower of Mindset and I blogged about that experience here. 

U.S. History-I relaxed on this topic this year and had Everleigh sit in on discussion with Kyrie who was taking U.S. History and then do extensive reading of history biography and historical fiction. She will take this on a more in depth level in high school. This was to whet the appetite.  

 

Kyrie had a tough year. A lot of things went wrong, including my mistake at not pivoting quickly on a poor curricula choice. We both can't wait for next year. She participated again in Debate and even that was tumultuous with a lot of personal challenges (sickness, grief) for both her partner and her. She also took piano lessons.

Bible - We did a study of Genesis and Creation using Chance or Purpose and the Hearts Aflame study on Genesis Part 1: God and His Creation both of which explore a lot of theology. (I did this before with Ben and will return to it with Ev.)

Biology with lab - This is a cautionary tale. Kyrie started off year in Charlotte, N. Carolina at a 2-day lab intensive which she loved. She dissected a frog, sheep's brain and uterus (pregnant with twins), typed her own blood, took a sample of her DNA and studied it, and many other amazing labs. There were 15+ labs, and she kept a notebook, and completed a lab report. This experience carried her through a tedious curriculum. We have loved Novare's Physics and Physical Science curriculum, but the Biology was written by other authors. I didn't love the order it was presented in, but failed to recognize that it just wasn't making the subject clear and interesting. Sadly, it wasn't until April that I dumped it. We had covered everything but part of plants, animals, and humans. I covered those using Miller & Levine's Biology using resources I used for Ben from Kolbe Academy. Kyrie loved this section and encouraged me to go back to it for Ev.

Geometry - We used Jacobs Geometry through AskDrCallahan who provides teaching (we have videos because I purchased for Ben--it's now streaming). Love both the curriculum and the Callahans who provide guidance and support throughout the process. 

Latin III - Kyrie took Latin III through Schole Academy with Eddie Kotynski as her instructor. Mr. Kotynski is an amazing instructor and his ability to make students feel like they were in the room with him was truly a gift. She thrived in this course and I eavesdropped a little to learn the skill of teaching. Online classes are painfully expensive; this one was worth every penny. 

U.S. History - I used A Patriot's History and along with the corresponding primary source reading guide. I used The Classical Historian's teacher's guide with additional resources selectively.  We used games to quiz with and had class discussion as well as 16 different short essays and one long essay on different U.S. history events and people. I love U.S. History, but probably should have condensed for Kyrie, instead of elaborating.

Writing and Literature - While we did some work in Classical Academic Press's Writing & Rhetoric Thesis II, I have taught Ben from CAP's Rhetoric Alive and found them very similar. I liked Rhetoric Alive a lot and it is on Kyrie's schedule for next year, so I was selective. Kyrie also read C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces using this literature guide and discussed in a book group with others who had read the book. However, this area was short-changed this year.