Ok, so the last year my blog has sat and sat and sat. The poor thing has been completely neglected for almost an entire year. I am sorry dear readers that there has been nothing forthcoming. My excuse--I was exhausted. I was ill and finally was able to go through surgery that was much overdue. I am much better and am ready to go. However, the side effect of not feeling great--the kids were able to talk me out of a LOT of school time. 

Normally at this point we would be gearing down for at least a short break. But this year, we are still at full throttle. Much to my kids dismay. Well, except the older kid, DD16--she's enjoying school--she was even going through withdrawals from math! Crazy girl!

So what are we doing? A little of it all.

MATH:
DD16 has finished both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 books this year and has begun Geometry. She is really loving the Life of Fred books and has gotten out of the "It just doesn't make sense" to "Let's keep going" phase. This Fall, If DD16 finishes up the Geometry book (She might, she goes through about 2-3 lessons a day!) We'll begin the Trigonometry book.

DD 13 is finishing working on the Decimals from Life of Fred and will be starting the Pre-Algebra series in the fall.

The younger 2 are working on Singapore and Horizon's (Because that's what I had for them!) I do have life of Fred for them, but A) it moves really slow. And they are way beyond the books I have for them, and 2) There just isn't enough Drill. I don't know yet if I will continue the elementary books, or if I'll just drop those until we get to Middle School level. We'll see if I can find some discounted books.   In the fall I am looking at Horizon's workbooks for their math.

Life OF Fred:   http://www.lifeoffredmath.com/
Horizon's: https://www.aophomeschooling.com/horizons.html
Singapore: http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_US_Ed_s/39.htm


LANGUAGE ARTS:
This is always my sticking point. I struggle getting it all done. This year we have focused on composition. And I will continue to do so this summer. We have worked with spelling and grammar as well. I just found some workbooks at a local school supply store. Though it is not ideal, it has made it so that I could continue some things while I was under the weather. And it turns out the kids actually LIKE workbooks--who knew?

Spelling for the Younger kids: (Grades 1-8)  http://www.zaner-bloser.com/media/zb/zaner-bloser/spellingconnections/practice-pages.html  (this is good for a fill in like I'm using them this summer, but I would advise a more in depth study.)

DD 16 is focusing on Vocabulary instead of spelling. She is using Michael Clay Thompson's Word Within A Word series. She really likes it. In fact we will be continuing with this series for her. 
http://www.rfwp.com/series/vocabulary-word-within-the-word-program-by-michael-clay-thompson#book-word-within-the-word-vol-1-student-new-edition

So I have already found some spelling workbooks for the fall--K-12! I got them for really cheap at a used curriculum fair (Brand new for $4 a set!) Looks like it will work for what we need.

Grammar is another thing though. I haven't found something for this fall. I have another curriculum fair to go to this summer (in July) and I'll hunt for something. If all else fails I'll find something online to order.

Composition! This year I started with basics with the littles. I let the older kids work on creative writing (not that I could stop DD16 if I tried!) But we will be working on writing to a prompt this summer. In fact DD16 already did one--though it really doesn't count because the prompt was a creative writing prompt! I am hoping to get her to write a little more essay form and not creative/story form. She is practicing for the ACT/SAT and she needs to hone her skills to meet a 30 minute deadline. Her writing took 45 mins and she still hadn't proofread. :{ So a long ways to go. I found a very fun book that will be be a great starter--but not for this. It's creative in nature. I'll have to see if I can find a link to it. (I bought it locally!)

For prompts to practice writing I am using 501 Writing Prompts. I picked up the free .pdf Here:  http://talibiddeenjr.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/timed-essay-writing-prompts/
The .pdf is #3.

SCIENCE:
I am not focusing on Science (Or history) this summer. We did a LOT during the school year. In fact I taught a High School Chemistry Class. We used the Apologia "Exploring Creation With Chemistry" set. It was a great class and we ended the year exploding things like Watermelons. It was literally a BLAST! So we are done for now, but we will be picking it up this fall.

Apologia: http://shop.apologia.com/6-chemistry  (we used 1st edition that we were able to get at a discount from various sites)

My older 2 will be doing Biology. I am not sure yet if I will be teaching or if my girls will just be doing what is covered during Co-op. The plan is for Co-op to have a year long course. I don't know if it will cover it all though as the teacher (WHO IS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS and I love how she let the kids explore things and take a class where they will) isn't big on following a lesson plan or curriculum. My original plan was using either Apologia's Biology book--or another one that I picked up off of Craig's list. It's by Glencoe.

Glencoe Website: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/biology/bio2004/index.html
Resources: http://www.nclark.net/BPbiology

Apologia: http://shop.apologia.com/5-biology  (again, I would use an earlier edition or a used copy of this book. My reasons are not just financial, but I'll leave it at that.)

HISTORY:
This again will not be worked on this summer. We didn't do much in the way of history study at home. All the kids had history of some sort this year. DD16 attended a High School Level American History class via another parent. The younger 2 had classes at co-op. and DD13 read a lot of books on various History subjects. I know I'm a slacker, but really, something had to give and this was it.

This fall I will be teaching a year long high School leveled World History Class at co-op. I will be using a book series that I found on Amazon. Below are links to the books (Vol 1& 2) and some resources that I have found for the books. Some of the links are for earlier versions. Keep in mind the books I have linked is for 5th Edition. Currently 6th edition is available--however it is close to $200 a book! WAY out of my price range! From the various sites, it looks as if the changes between each edition seem to be minor and they should be able to be worked with together.

World Civilizations 5th Edition Vol. 1 (Atlas Edition)
World Civilizations 5th Edition Vol. 2 (Atlas Edition)

Resources:
Pearson Hall: http://www.phschool.com/advanced/lesson_plans/hist_stearns_2001/
ASFMS World History:
http://www.mitchellteachers.org/WorldHistory/ASFMSWorldHistoryMain.htm
Project Ideas:  http://missashleysworldhistoryclass.weebly.com/projects.html
Companion Website:
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_stearns_wc_4/17/4386/1123069.cw/index.html
Course Notes/Outlines: http://www.course-notes.org/book/export/html/1806
Sparta vs. Athens Project: http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/gcontent.htm
Mr. Black's World History: http://www.worldhistoryteacher.org/student_forum/projects.htm
World History Class; http://www.freewebs.com/cblankenshipwhistory/activities.htm

And that's a wrap!

I have more coming up really, but this is the basics. I'll be posting again soon!!

T8ermomma