We are 3 weeks in and finally finding our groove. It's been a mental challenge to figure out how to fit it all in and what each child needs. Thankfully, after taking the first few weeks to get the older kiddos familiar with their class requirements, they are starting to be more independent so I can focus on our younger kiddos. Here is what we are working on right now:
11th Grade: Our wonderful oldest is not currently college bound, although that possibility isn't completely ruled out. So, we are still taking transcript requirements into consideration when planning out her year. Becoming an author is her current career goal.
Knowing her strengths and weaknesses, we made the last-minute switch to a different math curriculum for her. It is a simpler math program that will ensure she has the basics mastered while taking up less time from her day than the math program that her siblings are using.
We also made a huge leap into a new program for her language arts. She is taking a Creative Writing course online through Young Writer's Workshop. It is absolutely amazing and has brought more excitement and motivation into her dream of writing for a career. She spent two hours of her own time working on this one subject today!
9th Grade: Our wonderful second child is college bound. She has a career in mind but hasn't fully decided. She's got time!
For her, we are working on meeting transcript requirements and challenging her to push herself in her studies. Speech is a challenging class that she is slowly coming around to, and her math is where she simply excels. She is nearly finished with her Algebra 1 course and will complete or be close to completing Geometry by the end of the year if she continues at her current pace.
1st Grade: Our wonderful third child! His math program recently added a mastery challenge to each lesson in order to encourage kids to spend the extra time needed to truly master the concepts. He has just embraced the challenge whole-heartedly. He will not move on to the next lesson until he has achieved the math mastery! It has slowed down his progress but solidified the concepts he is learning. He will complete 1st grade math before Christmas.
Language Arts is the class we are still figuring out. He is currently working on handwriting. He gets bored with it, so it is challenging to get him to spend the effort to write neatly and learn to form the letters the correct way. I will probably end up changing what we are doing because I don't' want him to learn to despise writing. I just haven't figured out what to change to yet. Thankfully, he is reading quite well with little effort, so I am not too worried about that part of it!
Preschool: Our wonderful youngest! He is busy learning many life skills right now. We're settling into a routine with school and I'm finding ways to include him in our learning at his level. He does a lot of the same things his older brother is doing, just a bit more simplified.
Naps are limited, he actually stopped napping over summer break, but with the busyness of the school day, he will take a short nap, and that helps to give me some one-on-one time with his older brother. When naps end, we'll create a new routine. :)
