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Here's what he'll be learning.
(Items with an asterisk indicate a new-to-us resource. Because we don't homeschool on Tuesdays, all subjects will be completed four times a week unless otherwise indicated.)
Content-rich subjects
As in year's past, he will do a lot of his content-rich subjects like Morning time, history, world geography, science, art, and composer study with the rest of the family. You can see all of those subjects and curriculum choices here>>>
Personal Devotions- every day
Personal Devotions- every day
- ESV Seek & Find Bible
- What the Bible is All About for Kids- This is not a devotional book. It is a Bible handbook that provides a basic survey of each book, character, and main event in Scripture.
Language
- LLATL The Tan Book- I switched my son over to LLATL a few months into the 2016 school year. This open-and-go Charlotte Mason program was just what he needed to enjoy Language Arts again. He'll be continuing with the next book in the series this school year. (Use coupon code unlikelyhomeschool at checkout to get 15% off your entire purchase from Common Sense Press, the makers of LAHTL.)
- Finish All About Spelling Level 5 and move on to Level 6.
- Read for pleasure (every day).
- Read the following books that correspond with the LLATL Tan Book.
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
The Bronze Bow
Big Red
The Horse and His Boy
- If he's not currently working through an LLATL suggested book, he will read a chapter from a book that I assign to him. These will be classics, biographies, or exceptional fiction.
Math
BIC- Bible Instruction Class - 1x a week
One night each week, he will take a Bible class at our church. It is a two-year course designed for 6th-9th graders. The first year is a basic Old/New Testament survey and the second year focuses on doctrine and Christian living. While I could easily teach him most of these things at home, I'm hoping the class will gently introduce him to some of the "school skills" that are difficult for me to provide him here at home like listening to lectures, taking notes, managing his own assignments, and learning from someone besides mom. My daughter graduated from the class last year and grew so much as a student of life and as a student of the Word.World View
- Who is God?- I highly recommend every single title in this four-volume What We Believe series!
- Created for Work- (1x a week) He started this last year, but did not get all the way through it. Once a week, instead of reading his normal mom-assigned book out loud to me, he will read a chapter from this book.
Critical Thinking- 1x a week
Typing- 1x a week
Home Ec.- 1x a week
- Simplified Dinners for New Cooks- He will continue to be my sidekick in the kitchen one day a week, but will use this ebook to guide him as he takes over a more independent roll in the day-to-day kitchen duties. The program really turned his sister into quite the cook. She can now whip up just about anything you ask her to make including harder to master dishes like crepes, omelets, and whole turkeys. I have no doubt, he'll be able to do the same in no time.
Civil Air Patrol- 1x a week
For the first few months of the school year, he will attend the weekly Civil Air Patrol meetings as a "civilian," but come January, he'll be old enough to officially join the program as a cadet. CAP is an auxiliary of the US Air Force. If you're unfamiliar with the organization, check out this short 75th-anniversary video.
I'm kicking his schooling up a notch this year. I'm not adding more busy, I'm just adding more intent. I'm making lots of space for what he's most passionate about and will be watching him as he moves towards manhood.
I've never commented on any of your posts before, though I read them whenever they pop up in my Facebook feed. :)
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to comment this time to let you know that my brother was the exact same way as your son. He decided he was going to be a Soldier when he was 4, and he never wavered from that. He also attended Civil Air Patrol for many years, and got a lot of great experience in lots of different areas, from search and rescue to Color Guard.
He eventually applied to and was accepted by the United States Military Academy, which is the 4 year college for the US Army. There are also Academies for the US Navy, US Air Force, US Coast Guard, and US Merchant Marines (not the military Marines, they're still a part of the Navy). My brother graduated and is now serving in the US Army as a 1st Lieutenant.
If your son continues to pursue this goal strongly as he grows up, I would suggest looking into the Academies if he wants to become an officer. The roles of the officers and the enlisted personnel are very different, but both are professional and valuable, so if you can connect with some officers and some enlisted personnel in the branch he is most interested in, he might find that he is drawn more to one or the other. The broadest generalization is that the enlisted personnel are subject matter experts in more specific fields, with greater technical or mechanical skills, while the officers are more managerial and deal more with the planning and logistical sides of things. But that is a wild over simplification, and the ability to work well with many different kinds of people is important in all military roles.
I wish you and your son the best of luck with this year, and all the years to come! :)
Blessings,
Christie
Thank you so much! I'm pretty much clueless into how to help him pursue all of that. We've both been learning along the way. You've given me so much info to look into. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Please thank your brother for his service.
DeleteI'm interested to know how LLATL is comparing to BJU language arts. It's looks intriguing and I love the price!
ReplyDeleteSo far, I've only used it for one child for one year. This will be the "telling" year since I'll have all the kids doing LLATL. The time commitment is a bit more than BJU, but I think that's just because I CHOOSE to sit with my son through all the exercises. I don't think all parents have to do that. We shall see if I can spin all those plates all year long.
DeleteIf you are still looking for books with WWII stories this is the one: "303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron" by Arkady Fiedler
ReplyDeleteMy father loved it as a kid (one of his best books ever)and it was forbidden in Poland during comunism.
Hmmm...I've not heard of that one. I'll have to look into it. Thanks for the suggestion.
DeleteWhat have you done in the past with your youngest while you do more notebooking subjects such as History or Science? My youngest is PreK age, and the curr we're using for science this year came with a coloring page set, so she can work on that after we read and while my older two are working on writing/dictating what we read about, but she can only handle so much coloring before she gets bored... what have you done to include your youngest while the older ones are writing/dictating to you to write?
ReplyDeleteI have him draw the illustration first, then dictate to me 1-3 three sentences that I write down for him. At this age, it is more about establishing the habit of notebooking than notebooking perfectly. As soon as he's done with that short bit, he goes off to play. I actually don't insist that any of my kids do notebooking if they don't want to until second grade when they can write more independently with proper sentence structure and spelling. It's always an option, and my younger ones usually want to notebook. But I don't require it until 2nd grade.
DeleteI always loving hearing about boys learning to cook. Both of my brothers are great cooks!
ReplyDeleteI hope my boys will be someday too. I think it's a skill that all boys should learn.
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