"I've never seen a teenage boy work so hard."
I hear these words all the time with regard to my oldest son. At the home renovation of a family friend, at his lawn mowing job, at a landscaping gig of a fellow church member, at local and national Civil Air Patrol events--wherever and whenever he's tasked with responsibility, he receives audible praise for how hard he works.
This will serve him well in the military someday. He has hopes of becoming a Navy SEAL after homeschooling. Regardless of where God leads him, I know without a doubt, that he'll put 110% into the job.
Last year, I laid out a 4-year high school plan that will hopefully help prepare him for his future service goals.
Here's what he'll be learning.
(Because we only homeschool 4 days a week, you can assume that all subjects will be completed four times each week unless otherwise indicated.)
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Content-rich subjects
As always, he'll do all of his content-rich subjects like Morning time/Bible, history, science, art, and creative writing with his older siblings. You can see those curriculum choices here>>>Language
- English 10 from BJU Press
- Finish All About Spelling Level 7.
- Work through a Reading Horizons lesson (online tutoring for dyslexia) for 20 minutes each day to improve phonemic skills.
- Select books for the MUST READ book list I put together for him.
- Listen to military memoirs on Audible or Libby like SEAL of God or Faith Under Fire.
Math
- Plane Geometry video program from Abeka Book
- Practice math fact flashcards with a sibling for five minutes.
History
For the first time, my son will not join the rest of us at the dining room table for our Truth Quest history units. He'd still really like to continue on with the rest of American History that we started last year. However, since he'll be able to vote in the next presidential election, I'd really like him to take a civics class. Unfortunately, he doesn't really have room in his day to do both, so we're compromising. He will take the civics course I've selected for him and listen to the American history stories he's interested in on audio when he's working out, doing chores, or any other time he'd normally listen to audiobooks or podcasts.
- Constitutional Literacy- This is a workbook/DVD set that examines our government and some current events through the lens of the Constitution and the original intent of its signers.
- Mystery of History IV- This audio series is not specifically designed for high schoolers, but is quite robust, nonetheless.
Extracurriculars
- CAP- Each week, he'll attend our local chapter of Civil Air Patrol (the youth auxiliary program of the US Air Force) where he has slowly worked up the ranks to Senior Master Sergeant.
- Rosetta Stone foreign language- With military aspirations, he had hoped to begin learning Arabic, assuming this would come in handy someday. But since the president has begun to pull troops out of Afghanistan, he's rethinking that idea in favor of Mandarin Chinese or Russian. Since I grabbed the lifetime/all languages package of Rosetta Stone when it was on sale, he can try out any/all until he finds one that he's interested in learning.
- Mavis Beacon Typing
Life Skills
- Life Skills for the Homeschooler- This is an out-of-print resource compiled by Steve Clark that teaches basic life skills like filling out a renter's agreement, maintaining proper records on a vehicle, paying taxes, etc. Because of its 2000 publication year, some of the information is a bit outdated. I've not found a newer publication that is even slightly comparable, however.
- Behind-the-Wheel hours- This past summer, he took Driver's Ed through a private organization. According to state law, he has to log a certain number of behind-the-wheel hours with a parent and with his instructor before he can apply for a driver's license.
- Clean his room and make his bed each day.
- Daily chores: sweep the dining room, wipe down the boys' bathroom, vacuum the three area rugs with an electric sweeper
- Weekly Chores for his child-of-the-day privileges and responsibilities: help make lunch/dinner and do two loads of laundry (Tuesdays)
- Monthly Chores: mop his room, mop the dining room, help his brothers dust the main level, and one additional chore that he randomly selects from our chore jar one Saturday each month
- Take turns with his brothers mowing the grass/shoveling the snow as needed for our lawn/walkway and for a local Air BnB near our house.
- Continue to do odd yard jobs for a family in our church.
Co-operative Learning
This will be a full year for him. He has big goals and I'm hoping these curriculum choices will help him accomplish them. I've no doubt he'll continue to work hard. But I'll also be looking for intentional ways to sprinkle in lots of teenage fun to his days.
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