Here we are, starting our eleventh year homeschooling! I started with preschool for my oldest and now she is entering high school and we’ve added two more children. It truly is wild.
Each year is different as kids get older and are able to do more. And I always try to listen to what they want to learn about and things they want to change up. No two years look exactly the same.
With a high schooler now, I am being more diligent with keeping track of her grades for transcript purposes. I’m thankful we live in a state that is friendly to homeschoolers and easy to find graduation requirements. I’m very impressed with the work she is accomplishing this year. One of the biggest changes is taking American History in our Co-Op, using the Hillsdale College curriculum. It is a lot of reading! She is also diagramming maps, creating timelines, and reading papers written by the founding fathers. Denison Algebra continues to be a hit and one of the best discoveries for this non math mom. She chose astronomy for her science credit and I’ve been thrilled with the MasterBooks curriculum on that subject.
I didn’t change things up too much with my sixth grader. He is still doing Teaching Textbooks for math, although at his request, I am printing off the homework pages instead of him doing them on the computer. He is studying ancient civilizations for history and it has been completely new territory for him. The hardest part is how to pronounce all those names!! He has really gotten into creative writing this semester and has started writing short adventure stories. It has helped with punctuation and my one rule is no AI help!
My youngest is in second grade and I’m still quite hands-on with her. I read history and science to her and she likes it when I watch her do her phonics work to make sure she understands it. Of all three kids, she enjoys breaks the most, even though it prolongs her school day. So we will often tackle two subjects, play a little or have a snack, and continue on.
I’m very thankful for our schoolroom that allows the kids to have their own desks, all the books in one place, educational games and craft supplies stored nearby, and tucked away so when school is done, we aren’t looking at the mess. Being able to homeschool my kids is something I don’t take for granted and something I truly enjoy doing.