Chemistry intensive

Great opportunity to get an entire year of chemistry lab credit via Landry Academy! 

high-school plan

Feeling pretty accomplished now that Haley's high-school plan (complete with emails, dates, contact people, and registration information for Olympiads, competitions, and camps).  #Winning

Geometry - Teaching Textbooks

Done (with a tutor as needed) over the summer.

I must say, I am a fan of this geometry course.  While it isn't that 'complicated', it is a great basic course that introduces concepts, allows for practice, has great good lectures, and Haley felt comfortable advancing to algebra 2 (which, admittedly, is quite disconnected from geometry, anyway).

Geometry can be a difficult subject for many students.  Haley, likewise, finds it complicated.  However, geometry is well-incorporated into the AwesomeMath lectures and Summer Program.  So, combined with these resources, we felt comfortable with TT.

School year in pictorial review (collage)

There are plenty of post about each of these activities so we won't go into that here.  But noteworthy to point out:  7th Grade Talent Search John Hopkins CTY and Duke TiP.  Awards in piano and music theory.  Cotillion.  North Texas Children's Choir.  Change in studios to very prestigious music instructors.  Artemis conference and great debate year.  Fencing greatness.  And great academic success (including an A in algebra).  She joined a math club, and participates in Jack and Jill.

While Haley is busy, because she is homeschooled, there is plenty of TIME for her to spend her time doing each of these things without the "distraction" of public school and all the time "wasted" there for 40 hours/week or more.

Preview:

Nonetheless, this upcoming year Haley wants to try Student Council, Journalism (so yearbook and/or photography) in addition to orchestra/harp, piano, Extemp, and math club.  She has Spanish, Algebra 2, Biology (pre-AP), Earth and Space Science, and AP World History (with writing, speech and logic).  She is enrolled in two AoPS online math course to prepare for the AMC 8.  And we are looking for a research mentor for science.  We are considering English online via Duke Tip, but that may not be necessary if AP History offers enough writing and research opportunities for this EIGHT grader!!  Finally, she will have a writing class with an English instructor.

8th grade Curriculum acquired

All of the requisite books have been purchased.

The only outstanding issue is whether we give English credit for the writing component in the honors history track, or do we do CTY or Duke Tip online options for writing an essay?

Decisions.  Decisions.  But leaning towards (since she IS in 8th grade) to combining writing with history this year, and then maybe next year do Duke Tip online (much cheaper than CTY).

Haley has a difficult/full schedule this year:

Astronomy - Earth Science
honors biology
Algebra 2
Honors World History
Logic
Speech
Spanish
English

Plus she's doing:
Extemporaneous debate
Fencing
Harp
Orchestra
Piano
Journalism
Student Council

Totally manageable (as she has been doing quite a bit for awhile now). But as the stakes get higher, it is more important to focus and consolidate when possible.  Also, these classes are high-school level instruction.  Credit can be given for Extemp (as a political science), student council can be an elective, and Journalism can be a Language Arts/writing course.  However, if the load gets too heavy, we can back off some of the line-items, extend them into next year, or drop them altogether (and pick them back up for a summer course).

Lots of options and flexibility with homeschool.

7th Grade

The year of TWELVE has been phenomenal for this little girl!!  From a speech that helped win a Peabody, to a premier math-camp opportunity, this girl has been a shining star.

Her curriculum this year has focused on HER.  Whatever she vaguely thought she might want to pursue, we tried to give her a taste.  Afterall, this is the last year of "whimsical fluttering" from flower to flower.  Its time to FOCUS and specialize!!

There are a few *staple* foci, which include math, and language arts.  As stated here:  math is the metronome for the cadence of education.  We focus on math - regardless of the desired ultimate field of study.  Additionally, being able to read well is the foundation of being able to "self-teach."  Ultimately, "self-teaching" is how all teaching is done.  

This is what we did this 2014-2015 7th grade academic year:

• Algebra - we spent last summer doing pre-algebra so she'd excel this year
• Language Arts - Excellence in Writing, Elegant Essay, and lots of time spent doing Analytical Grammar.
• Physical Science - PLUS science fair.
• Debate:  Team Policy
• Piano
• Harp
• Orchestra
• Fencing
• Choir
• Jack and Jill

Also it's important to mention that this year was the year of the Talent Searches. Haley took the ACT and qualified for Talent Searches (in qualifying for 1, it is very likely qualifications have been met for the others).  So we opted to participate in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth and Duke TiP.  These additional merit badges are intrinsically great (especially for a homeschooled child) as external validation of "smartness."  Also, though, they have GREAT online courses (which are outstanding resources for homeschooled students) and summer camps.  It is our intention to have Haley participate in an online course this upcoming year, and go to a CTY camp in upcoming years. 

Summer Plans

• Math Camp (geometry and algebra 2)
• Geometry 
• Piano
• Harp
• Fencing camp
• Debate camp:  extemporaneous 

What she's done from then to now (2014).  

Transcript - lets get started

Work in progress - the transcript

A few nights ago I attended a seminar on how to do the high-school transcript.  Creating this document is the cornerstone of the homeschooling parents duty!!  It is important to plan the high-school curriculum, and the advice we received was to look up what the local public schools are doing and see if you can make your own homeschooling curriculum "fit."

So I looked up the TEA website, saw the requirements for a diploma in Texas to be only 22 credits.  Haley is taking 8 credits each year - so that's 32 (almost 2 extra years of school!!).  Some consolation is that the "distinguished" diploma from the State of TX is 26 credits.  So she won't be TOO far above her public school counterparts.  I didn't want her to be so much in the stratosphere on *this* document because admissions counselors may not know what to think of that.  And in "not knowing," it may be dismissed.

One major advantage the homeschooling student has is:  everything they do can be "for credit."  For instance, if Haley attended public school and took afterschool private piano lessons, she wouldn't be able to get "school credit" for all that work unless she ALSO took piano at school.  But in taking piano AT school, she has less spots to fill with OTHER classes, like fencing for PE, or orchestra.  As a homeschooler, she can get a credit for piano, orchestra, fencing, AND still have "room" in her schedule for all the 4x4 (4 years of English, 4 years of Social Studies, 4 years of Math, and 4 years of science).  Fine art and PE are covered as mentioned.  That's 18 credits right there.  Remember she needs only 22 to graduate!!

Then she does speech and debate.  Speech is a credit.  She has to take some elective.  Well, all those extra music classes can serve as elective (AP music theory, orchestra, harp, piano).  That's 23 credits if she only does each of her musical endeavors for one year for a single credit (which she's NOT going to do, she'll do them for 4 years).

Additionally, Haley is taking many AP classes, extra classes in humanities.  Because colleges require foreign language, she is taking 3 years of American Sign Language, and 3 years of Spanish.  Now you can see how she's at 32+ credits!!

Nonetheless, I did look at what our local public school system offers and the course descriptions, so when things can match (when it makes sense for her to try to 'match') we can do that (such as with American Sign Language being a foreign language).  The freedom of homeschooling comes from not being obligated to engage in coursework if it doesn't fit in the larger picture of her life.  It also (and primarily) allows her to spend her valuable time engaging in activities that play to her strengths and interests while minimizing those activities that serve as "busy work."

The transcript is also serving as a road-map for high-school.  This road map is allowing me to plan this upcoming year (as Haley begins taking high-school classes like geometry and possibly a science).  Even IF she goes back to public school, or private school, the transcript will help make the transition a tiny bit easier.  It will demonstrate her level of education, and while I'm sure there will be exams and what-not to confirm the proper placement, I am not concerned because the coursework she's doing is actually more rigorous than that in public school....so she'll do fine.

People frequently ask me how the kids are able to find the time to do all the activities that they do.  The answer is, they don't *waste* time at school 40 hours each week doing stuff just because that's what everyone else is doing.  FORTY hours a week is a TON of time.  Time enough to explore and develop almost anything.