Plans For the Next Homeschool Year ... Everyone is in High School Edition

You read that right: this coming fall I have two high schoolers learning here at home at the Living Oak Academy!

I know so many people who stop homeschool at or before high school; only one other family in our homeschool circle is planning to give it a go. I think it is because of clashing parent/adolescent personalities as well as fear that the harder subjects can't be effectively taught.

I try very hard not to parent from fear, and that especially extends to home learning. I believe that anyone who wants to learn will learn and that we don't have to take traditional paths to make that happen.

I was never afraid of teaching math; my own schooling only went as far as college algebra, but Papa minored in math so I knew we'd be okay. Except Papa doesn't really have time to teach the boys math in the evenings. So last year we tried Teaching Textbooks for algebra, and it worked fantastically. I was able to give support when needed, and Papa stepped in when even I was stumped, but overall the boys learned from the program. It was so cool to hear them throwing around words like coordinate and slope. So this year we are definitely moving forward with Teaching Textbooks!

The plan:

Texting Textbooks Geometry
Big History Project as our spine for history and science
A block on US Government incorporating our November election
A Greek history block to tie in with geometry
Literature to tie in with BHP
Time 4 Writing
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Piano for J
Guitar for T
Competitive mountain biking team for PE (also brings in some health and vocational arts work)

I've decided to give the Time 4 Writing high school courses a try; a friend had good success with the middle school courses. Although Brave Writer was fantastic, I think the boys need something that focuses more on the basics rather than the creative process. They are going back to the basics and taking one course in the fall semester and one in spring, with a plan to be finished well before we move into So Cal League finals and the state championships.

My main energies will be focused on the Big History Project as well as the two other social studies blocks. Everything else is pretty much taught for me, either with the programs or other teachers.

Last year competitive mountain biking threw us for a loop and we ended up scaling back our lessons until we settled into the routine of practices and races (which include travel). That was fine; home learning is all about flexibility, but it meant that the boys didn't finish up all their lesson work until late July, giving us only one full month off before we start up again. Hopefully we have a handle on things now and can start our year the day after Labor Day and end the Friday before Memorial Day, giving the boys a full three months off next summer.