Okay, I've tried 3 times to post this to my pages, but I keep coming up with an error, so for now, here it is as a post. Please forgive me, the spacing copied all wrong, but I'm tired of messing with it.
Our 2014-2015 Curriculum Choices:
It's hard to believe that we are now entering our 16th AND FINAL year of homeschooling here at Prairie Hill Farm. Our baby is graduating Spring, 2015 from our homeschool and we have plum ran out of students. The memories are sweet and we cherish each day with our two Blessings!
This year's theme is "Finish Strong!"
(for more on my theme choice, click HERE)
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| Labor Day 2014, Start-of-School-Year Family Coffee Outing Selfie Jeff, Jane, Anna, Amber |
We graduated our oldest in May of 2012, who runs her own home business/Etsy shop, Downy & Floral, selling her homemade vintage-inspired creations; as well as picking up neat-o jobs like working at a local U-Pick berry/apple farm, and using her natural gifts in various childcare opportunities to supplement her income. Jobs like these afford her the freedom she currently needs while leading a Bright Lights girls' Bible study and other ministry & volunteer endeavors such as being an Awana leader, volunteering at Operation Christmas Child (seasonal), playing violin for weddings/church, and still helping out around the farm. Oh, and she still enjoys joining us in Hebrew & history dvds, and reads a plethora of books (by/about great men (historians, leaders, pastors, missionaries) such as Wilberforce, Bonhoeffer (Eric Metaxas) 1776, John Adams (David McCullough), Edwards, Spurgeon, Rushdoony, Augustine, etc., and most of all, the Bible. Our baby, Anna Grace, is now in 12th grade and in addition to carrying a full load of studies in her final year of homeschool, she also helps lead in Awana, volunteers at Operation Christmas Child (seasonal), plays piano, guitar & ukulele, and helps with the farm. Additionally, she started to teach beginner piano this past winter and is exploring additional studies towards a career with animals.
(For our Educational Philosophy & Teaching Approach, and how we started homeschooling, please see my "Homeschool" page, above.)
The Schedule:
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| Days of the Week are in Hebrew -- Second Day, Third Day, etc.... |
Our schedule has pretty much kept the same look throughout the years, with only the yearly curriculum change. I don't plug in any "times" for my own sanity, but Anna & I are morning people, so we are usually at it right after 6:30/7 a.m. barn chores & breakfast, so around 8 or 9 a.m.. Subjects are listed in my self-determined order of importance so if our day is interrupted, at least the more important subjects were completed, but subjects are often completed out of listed order for various reasons (ie, we are not a slave to our schedule). This year we start on Tuesday, September 2nd (the traditional day after Labor Day). Every year I think we should really wait until October 1 to start as harvest/canning/freezing is in full swing, but we love school and my daughter is anxious.
You will note that we don't have a separate subject for "Bible". This is because most all our subjects are saturated in Bible and we all have our own personal quiet times as well as family devotions plus extra Bible study time on Shabbat (the Sabbath). One thing I really LOVED when I attended Christian high school/college was the weekly chapel times, so you will see on the schedule that we have a "Video Chapel" once a week.
The Curriculum:
So here we go with this year's curriculum choices (in the order of how they appear on the schedule)....
*Note: I buy almost all my books used, so even though the links might show some pretty pricey books, you might be able to snatch them up for a song like I did. My favorite go-to places are Amazon, Homeschool Classifieds, Ebay, & CBD. I ALWAYS buy way too much curriculum! Much of this year is a continuation of last year as I knew I had so much material that much of the year had grown into 2-yr. courses. Like last year, we are incorporating a lot of dvds/mp3's into our lessons by people who are smarter and far more eloquent than I. On the down side, with recorded material, Anna will not be able to rush through school like she is accustom -- after all, you can't speed up an hour-long dvd and it still make sense.
Biblical Hebrew (God's perfect language):
This is a continuation of our multi-year Hebrew studies. We first gained a good foundation using Zola's Introduction to Hebrew for a couple of years and then switched to "Biblical Hebrew" (a great study, but it moves a little fast, so I'm glad we had that foundation first). We (Amber joins us) only have two more lessons left in this book (which includes a short lesson from me and the accompanying workbook, dvd, and cd songs) and then we move on to Part 2 of the book with Hebrew Songs Copybook.
Biblical Hebrew
Once they have completed the lessons & songs, they will move on to the curriculum's Jonah Copybook: An Interlinear Hebrew Translation Workbook where they will translate the entire book of Jonah using the Copybook and Hebrew Bible.
Hebrew Lit.:
As part of the Biblical Hebrew study, we also do read-alouds (LOVE these books!):
The World Jesus Knew by Anne Punton
Stones of Witness: Images of the Holy Land by Stewart Custer
History of Christianity and the Christian Church:
We began with Genesis and move chronologically until modern times in America. This was started last year and we ended the year at Luther, so this year we will do a short review and then forge ahead. I know the below list of curriculum looks rather intimidating, but I am listing everything I plan on using just so I don't leave anything out (for my records). Most of these are not used on a daily basis and many don't begin until later in our studies. Although a continuation from last year, I have not pictured what we completed last year (mostly Vision Forum & Drive Thru History dvds/cds - Super Great Stuff) and some fails (Sonlight & it's accompanied reading). Amber often joins us when we watch the dvds.
History of the World 2006 Mega-Conference with BC/AD by Vision Forum (10 dvds & 40 mp3)
The History of Christianity and Western Civilization by VF (over 50 mp3 & dvd lectures)
History of America: A Christian Study Course by Vision Forum (10 dvds & 60 mp3s)
Sketches From Church History by S.M. Houghton (text & workbook)
Homeschool In The Woods: Renaissance & Reformation Project Passport (started last yr)
History Through the Ages: Record of Time (Timeline book - I print out my own online images)
Reformation Time Line by Rose Publishing
Drive Thru History American History Series (Episodes 1-12)
Drive Thru History Foundations of Character study guide & dvd
100 Most Important Events in Christian History by Curtis, Lang, Peterson
Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History by Richard M. Hannula
50 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren W. Wiersbe
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions by Ruth A. Tucker
and Bible Geography:
Trail Guide to Bible Geography and Bible Lands Activity Maps from Geography Matters ♥♥♥ Love this Study so much I'm doing it too!!!
50 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren W. Wiersbe
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions by Ruth A. Tucker
Hammond Atlas of the Bible Lands (out of print, but worth the hunt)
Soul Winning & Inspiration of Scripture:
Soul Winning Elective by ACE/School of Tomorrow (1 Pace/57 pgs);
once she has completed this Pace, then she will move on to
The Inspiration of the Scriptures B160 by Landmark's Freedom Baptist Curriculum (1 book/185 pgs)
Christian Worldview:
Understanding the Times by Summit Ministries
We are excited to be starting this study -- the material is excellent! However, it reminds me of the days when some of my college professors seemed to think their class was the only class on earth and would pour on the homework. Yes, your child can earn college credit for this course (I recommend purchasing the course early to understand the requirements -- essays/research papers, tests, exams, extra credit service projects, etc. if you wish to go that route), we don't care about that though. Just to give you an idea of how labor-intensive this course is, in the first 7 days alone, Anna will be reading 50 pages in the college-level textbook, plus 14 pages of essays & questions in the Student Manual, plus writing a 1-2 page essay, plus watching the dvd-ROM (not in that order). Oy! We will see if we can keep up with this one, so far Anna is doing fine and even a little bit ahead.
Economics & Civics:
We are excited to be starting this study -- the material is excellent! However, it reminds me of the days when some of my college professors seemed to think their class was the only class on earth and would pour on the homework. Yes, your child can earn college credit for this course (I recommend purchasing the course early to understand the requirements -- essays/research papers, tests, exams, extra credit service projects, etc. if you wish to go that route), we don't care about that though. Just to give you an idea of how labor-intensive this course is, in the first 7 days alone, Anna will be reading 50 pages in the college-level textbook, plus 14 pages of essays & questions in the Student Manual, plus writing a 1-2 page essay, plus watching the dvd-ROM (not in that order). Oy! We will see if we can keep up with this one, so far Anna is doing fine and even a little bit ahead.
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| Economics and US Civics ACE/School of Tomorrow Each course is 6 Paces/30 Pages each for a 1/2 yr credit of each course |
ACE Paces are rather de jevu for me as the Christian high school I attended also used ACE. It's good solid Christian instruction that covers the material. Anna will be doing Economics the first half of the year and then switch over to US Civics when Economics is complete. If she does 3 pgs/day, she will finishing in fine shape.Music:
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| Amber |
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| Anna |
Anna started in violin, but now prefers guitar, ukulele, and especially piano. Although she has taken piano for only a couple of years, she has quite an ear for it and sometimes teaches beginner piano and may do more teaching.
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| Anna instructing her cousin. |
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| Anna just started a 6-wk. online course for Piano Teachers. Coursework includes piano methodology, pedagogy, repertoire choices, and business sense. |
Vocabulary:
High School Vocabulary (1 word/day from a list I have from Inge Cannon)
Writes word in a notebook, finds definition, writes a sentence using the word, and discusses it with mom.
Writes word in a notebook, finds definition, writes a sentence using the word, and discusses it with mom.
Math:
Last year we combined two great math curricula, MUS and LFBC. Anna completed most of the work in both, but preferred LFBC as she believed they explained things better. (I love Mr. Demme, however the material seemed to assume the child had already experienced buying a car or getting a job where taxes are withheld.) So this year she will just be finishing up (14 weeks left) the second workbook of LFBC which concentrates less on consumer math and perhaps more on the business end. I like LFBC because they delve into the spiritual and moral aspects of some math issues; for example, they not only teach about taxes, but address the issues of whether Americans should even have a "Social Security". Love that!
Science:
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See that stack of magazine on Anna's headboard -- they are all animal related! Some teens read Glamor, some Teen Beat, my daughter reads Natural Dog, :). |
