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My last year having three students. Our second-born and oldest at home is a senior! And it will be my first year of having all independent students. Last-born is in sixth grade so we are out of the elementary era! It was many years due to the kids’ age spread. I’m looking forward to a light year for myself and wondering what I will do with my time!

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Duncan/12th Grade

I wrote a bit on our revised high school goals for Duncan in my last post, so you can check that out if you’re curious. The Man still manages his schoolwork with a spreadsheet and weekly meetings. This element is crucial for our high school success.

Math – A short and sweet Trigonometry as well as Mathematics Survey as a cumulative review. I think if he applies himself he could finish both of these in a semester. The pacing is up to him so we’ll see what he does. We are also going to provide internet access if he needs a quick video to help with concepts. Since his desk is in the same office as The Man’s, he will have great oversight!

English – His credits are fulfilled in this subject, so we just enrolled him in a popular local literature class to keep the juices flowing. Very happy to have face-to-face learning, no screens. It is one semester only.

Science – Two Great Courses with some assigned writing. We already had one on Meteorology, and he selected a second on Forensics.

History – Duncan opted to learn about WW2, so we got a Great Course on this as well. We also have many books on this topic left over from Dusty. (Hint on Great Courses: you can find many of the older ones on Ebay for a song.)

Finance – Dave Ramsey’s Foundations in Personal Finance

Entrepreneurship – His only online class, from True North Academy. Duncan is creative, social, and high-energy so we could see him being a business owner someday. This is only one semester.

Bible – A local class with a retired pastor. He will only be able to do the second semester due to schedule.

Extracurriculars – Piano, Choir, Bells, and CAP again. He will probably dabble in Spanish a bit, but we won’t make it into a course requirement. He also watches a 5-min PragerU video daily for worldview/current events stuff.

I think this will be a great year. I leaned heavily on what I learned with our last student. Next, a grad party!

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Pearl/9th Grade

First year of high school! Doing a few things like her brothers, and a few unlike.

Math – Systematic Mathematics Algebra 1. She is a year behind where her brothers were at this age, but is learning well. As I have written before, it is more important to me that concepts are solid, than speeding through to keep up with a schedule. There is plenty of time in high school to get the requirements in.

English – Excelsior Classes English 1, with the Writing Club which she loves. Pearl is also joining her brother in the local lit class since it is on the heels of choir practice.

History – Giving her choice, she selected Ancient Egypt. We already owned a fabulous Great Course on this, as well as a favorite book of mine, Unwrapping the Pharaohs. Adding in some historical fiction for that Charlotte Mason flavor.

Science – I gave Pearl a choice between ACE Biology and Friendly Biology. She chose ACE. As with her brothers, we are adding Biology 101 videos and a couple living books.

Spanish – We are giving ULAT a try. I hope Duncan and I can do some as well.

Bible – Same local class as Duncan.

Extracurriculars – Violin, Bells, and Choir.

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Jack/6th Grade

Jack is mostly doing what the last two siblings did so check the archives for those lists! He is not a natural reader so he will be given a booklist to work through. Jack is also in Piano, Bells, and Choir.