I've hinted about the fact that we are making some changes this coming year to our Homeschool plans. Darryl and I decided that it was time to pull Joshua from Connections Academy and do something more traditional with him. There are many reasons we made this decision such as not being super happy with curriculum changes that have been happening; we want more of a Christian based curriculum; the on-line forum has not been working best for Joshua and he actually requested that we make the change. I've debated this change for a few years and took the plunge for this coming fall. I wanted to get a year under our belts before hitting high school where we have to actually keep track of things for transcripts and such. Nate will be staying in Connections Academy this coming year. We thought that it would be an easier transition to move one at a time plus Nate actually excels in the on-line environment so, even though we do plan to pull him from Connections Academy after this year, I'm looking at some Christian based on-line platforms for him.
So, now, I'd like to share what curriculum I picked out for Joshua's eighth grade year. I spent hours and hours reading blogs and reviews; looking online at sample pages; and looking at the cost (some curriculum costs a whole lot of money!) After weeks of this and making many changes, I finally picked out what I thought would be a good fit for him and maybe fill in a few holes that were lacking in Connections.
BIBLE: Positive Action for Christ
Bible was almost the hardest to figure out. I wasn't looking for just a simple devotional as that is already part of our schedule but rather, I wanted something that would help ground Joshua into the Bible.
Route 66 takes the students on a journey through all 66 books of the Bible. There are 1-2 lessons from each of the books so it is like a road map or overview. This book will not last the entire year. I have another Positive Action for Christ study that I'm looking at to do after this one and then think I will let Joshua pick something to wrap up the year. On a side note, I'm considering having Nate do this with us - so we would start our day with Bible - but I have to see if I can fit it into his day.
Reading: I knew that I wanted to add some actual reading of books into Joshua's year. This is something that was lacking in Connections. They did a lot of reading of essays or short excerpts from a book but not just reading a book. I really like this set-up from The Good and the Beautiful. There are three books and each book has it's own workbook/study guide. It is very self driven and includes everything from spelling to writing. He's actually a little excited (or maybe interested is the better word) about the books and the fact that he can pick which order he reads them. I plan in filling in the end of the year with some poetry/essays that we all know (Like "The Raven" or "The Mid-Night ride of Paul Revere") that have not been introduced to him as of yet.
Writing: Writing Strands is part of our core curriculum - Master Books. Joshua has really improved in writing this past year thanks to a great 7th grade writing teacher but I feel like he was lacking in his own creativity. Writing Strands will given him some direction on writing and being able to do it on his own. I think he will feel more comfortable with it since it is just me reading it at this time.
Grammar: Fix-It Grammar is part of Institute for Excellence in Writing curriculum. It is a simple, one page a day (see above for one page) Grammar workbook. Connections Academy lacked a little in teaching Grammar. It was within the work but it wasn't emphasized so this should help solidify some of those concepts.
Both our Science and Math are coming straight from the core curriculum - Masterbooks. The science looks fun because it includes lots of hands on things. I feel like it will be manageable and can be self -directed. Math was the subject that I spent hours up on hours on - I finally came back to this one because it fit into where I feel Joshua is and what he needs help with at this point. It does include the option of video lessons for extra help which is also a bonus. The only thing I wish is that it had more color! It's very black and white so the pages are a little boring!
The History portion of our day might end up being too much but we will start out and see what happens. The main portion that Joshua will be doing is
Explore the Holy Land which is from Masterbooks. One of the things he loves is geography and he really wanted to have that as at least part of his Social Studies/History curriculum. This books is amazing and there are several more in the series. I plan on using them in the next few years. The other book, also from Masterbooks -
The World's Story will be more supplemental. I have it in our scope and sequence as a twice a week activity and it is mostly for the reading about history. Joshua has been buried deep in Ancient World History for two years -- this book is more modern and will be refreshing. It also pulls in a lot more American History which was really light un until now.
Now this curriculum from Time Travelers is fun - or at least looks like it will be. We are starting with explorers and will move forward through American History throughout the year. It's a lot of hands out and creative activities.
Technically each unit lasts about a month but we will spread it out over about two months because we will not do it five days - my goal is 2-3 days a week. Some projects might take longer.
ELECTIVES: Now on to the other "fun stuff" in our day.
PE: I came across this Fit - 30 day challenges on Facebook. I wasn't really looking for a PE curriculum this year (it isn't technically required until high school) but was looking for something that Joshua could easily do daily and this fit the bill. He also wants to work on lifting his weights more so we might incorporate that as well.
MUSIC: Music lessons will cover most of this elective with both piano and drum lessons but I wanted to add in some enrichment to that as well. I picked up this program from
Confessions of a Homeschooler I've used her things in the past and it is put together well without being overwhelming. This will be self-directed for the most part and we will move through it pretty slowly but I think learning about the composers he is playing will be a good thing.
ART: I picked this book up on
Christian Book Distributors and it is published by Bob Jones. This is something else we will move slowly through - my goal is an art lesson/project every two weeks. So basically, Joshua will have two weeks to read about and create the required art assignment. I think creativity is good for the brain.
He will also have to spend 10-15 minutes a day in a typing program. Nothing major, just practice on those typing skills since we all do everything on a keyboard now!
Finally, I do have a "for fun" book picked out for him to read as well as his regular devotional book. (Nate also has a "for fun book" and devotional to read too!)
As I've finished typing all of this it feels like alot but some things - like all of the electives -- are all only 10-15 minutes activities so maybe a total of an hour.
Misc other things:
Yes, I'm already working on lessons plans - this is week one in September. This is something I have missed - the planning and prepping for the year/week/day. The goal is to slowly move into Joshua being able to pick up his daily folder and do 90% of the work on his own. I want him to learn some independence in his work where I become more of a teacher of things he doesn't understand and not having to walk through every assignment with him.
What is this? This is our scope and sequence for the year with subject/elective. I spent lots and lots of hours going through every subject and setting this up for the year. This includes our breaks/holidays and shows when we will technically end. This is also to help keep me on track of our goal of where to be each quarter. I know Joshua is motivated to complete his weekly work in less days and then to finish his yearly work several weeks early. Those are joys of homeschooling - he can work at his own pace which is sometimes more quickly because assignments are easy or short and sometimes slower because we need to review and ensure he understands.
Whew! Big changes, right? Exciting though!
