I felt the pressure mounting this week.  Wondering if I had planned correctly. Enough. Too much. Would they like it. Would their interests still be there? Would they trust me? Would I trust me? Would I trust the Lord’s provisions?

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Last term, in June, I sat down for a week and sought which paths the next logical steps of learning would lead down. We are in the 10th and 7th grades this year. Nathan is still unsure of what direction he would like to go – but the ideas and desires that he has mentioned will require at least some college. With that in mind, we are still gearing him towards the opportunity to enter any college, or be the most well rounded young man without the university.

Monday started with a fun excitement as the Fed Ex man dropped off our Chess House set.  Jon immediately set it up and began to beat us all quickly in several rounds of chess. I am looking forward to watching the video – maybe not letting Jon watch, and see if I can at least challenge him. (A TOS Review will let you know how it all goes and give you all the info in a few weeks.)

Weds brought back our Art and Music Appreciation Day. I was pretty nervous. I printed out Jon’s biography on Vermeer and the Art to study and reproduce of the Girl with One Pearl Earing.  I printed out Nate’s work as well, his Art wasn’t too bad but the Music Appreciation is pretty intense. I was writing down his homework, then realized that it was intended for a 2 week spread. I printed out his sheet and hoped he would still be as willing as years past.

Thankfully – they both still enjoy Art and Music Day. We didn’t get to the Chalk Drawings, but there will be plenty of time to add that in later. In full disclosure, Jon said he didn’t want to do Art day anymore, because he was tired of learning “about old guys and drawing their paintings”. He also wanted to surf that morning. While he did his math and spanish, I started working on the assignment, and when he finished, he worked on his as well. I think the Ancients took their toll, and I’m pretty sure he will enjoy this year.  He said he slipped back into Picasso to draw the girl, which he thought was a guy, of whom he thought was Vermeer. Ha. I showed him the watercolor and clay art books we will be using this year and he is back on board.

Jumping around – Monday – Nate took an online class called Easy Essay.  He is linkedup via video and sound to 8-9 other students and the teacher. Seriously interactive. I’m glad we looked at the homework early in the week that was due Friday.  She assigned him 2 hours of homework, and it took one hour on two days to complete it.  It is a 6?7? week class. I think it will be the perfect jump start to get him using his paragraph and 5 paragraph essay skills.

Also on the table for the week were Zeta with Math U See – for Jon.  He seriously loves this curriculum. He was envious last year watching Nate finish up his Algebra 1 with MUS. He completed his first week’s work, all of the pages, on Thursday. That left him open to help with a Surf Lesson on Friday Morning. (Our Goal to be Surf Ready on Fridays.) As I suspected, Jon is going to need all of the worksheets to grasp new concepts.  Math does not come easy to him. He needs gentle reminders of how to do the steps from yesterday. By Thursday, 1a-1f he was working on his own. ❤ MUS

Nate is in Geometry.  I struggled of which path – Alg 2 or Geometry. Personally.  I needed a break.  Many have said that if the ACT or SAT may be an option, Geometry needs to come next.  The college that we have been in contact with, that wants Nate for a specific program, urged him to do Geometry next to qualify for their scholarships.  That sort of put it over the edge.  He is using Video Text Interactive Online Geometry for a few weeks for a TOS review. If that goes as well as it seems, we may stay with it, or move on to Math U See Geometry. Nate too, did his whole weeks worth of work by Thursday and is doing well.

Friday is Chemistry Day for Nate and Jon. Jon will be using Creek Edge Press Chemistry Task Cards. I’ll start him on Monday, since he was at the beach on Friday. For Nate – We started Chemistry 101 by The 101 Series. I printed out his Accreditation Program and Quizzes. We loaded the Guidebook onto the Kindles and Laptop.  Hubby, Nathan and I enjoyed watching the video and love it even better than Biology 101. Maybe because we are so intense with Biology with our whole lives and play – that Chemistry is just new and exciting. We had so many ah’ha moments, stopping the video to discuss, and taking fun notes.  Who knew that High School Chemistry could be so enjoyable? (Review for Chemistry 101 will be up soon, maybe a week or two into it to give you a good feel for the program.)

By Friday at 2 I was bushed.  So much planning. Purchases. Thoughts. Prayers. We build our home learning on Trust of what the Lord brings our way. Opportunities. Resources. Friends. Mentors.  So far – each day has been a building block on the next. Each new resource is an answer to a desire for what they want to learn.  If we are allowed, we will continue onto the next year with the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  It has been such a blessing to us. We will also reach out to vendors like The 101 Series to ask for reviews.  Without these kind people – we’d be unschooling a bit more through the library.

Next week, we’ll pull out the IEW SWI – B TWSS (that’s code for Writing) for Jon. He was going along quite well and we will pick up where we left off this summer.

OH!  And Spanish. Jon’s been working on Flip Flop Spanish all week.  It is a curriculum that we are reviewing for TOS. (The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for you new readers). He has a tutor on CD, then flash cards and a white board to practice. He’s heading into lessons 3 and 4 next week.

Nate’s been busy studying for his Driver’s Permit and should have it in his wallet soon as well.  He took the Lifeguard training this summer and was hired on with the City’s pool and will start on Wednesday!  (We’ve been working on this since last March.)

Jon is training like crazy for a longboard competition on Sept 20th.  It’s funny. For this competition, it really is for the older guys – ages 18 and above. There are few 15-18’s entered, and last year just 4 groms in the 12 and under. He won 3rd place and at that time he was still surfing the white water.  This year he is paddling to the outside, dropping in, turning, foot work, hang 5, kick backs, and riding the rim. His 12 and under division is sort of an aside, no heats, just everyone in the water, and no advancing, just winning. But – it’s helped his training the last few months – and he’s ready to put on a show!  I’m sure you’ll get photos placement or not.

So – How’s that for a week? Plus we’ve had meetings for our local Homeschool group that is up to about 40 families, meetings to plan our Surf Team fundraisers and another trip to Santa Cruz,  and trips to Portland and Corvallis. Whew.

I is tired. But a wonderful full week. I can see that this year is going to be fantastic. At the end of the week none of the work was overwhelming at all. Just bit by bit, day by day. For you younger moms, who had time to read all of this – the younger years are worth the effort!!! 

Blessings to you. It’s great to be homeschooler – I can’t say it enough – I. LOVE. MY. LIFE.