A Stable Beginning

Monday, April 8, 2024

2024 ~ 2025 Plan of Study: 5th, 9th, & 12th grades

Morning friends! It’s that time of the year again. You know the one where I share all the grand plans we have for the upcoming school year. I don’t know about you, but I am super excited to share our plans with you. It’s very freeing getting the plans out of my head and onto paper and the blog. Once again, I have had all three kids enrolled in their upcoming online courses with Veritas Press Scholars since the beginning of February. Our initial plans went from Montana only taking two courses to her enrolling into five! More on that in a minute. Veritas Press has been a huge blessing in our schooling since we started utilizing their a la carte courses when Madison was in high school. I am grateful to be able to take advantage of a classical education model and come alongside the amazing teachers to give my children an amazing classical education.

I’ve been planning for next school year since last December when I had a consult with our fabulous VP Consultant, Jen. She really helped me see the big picture of things for the rest of McKenzie and Micah’s schooling. I was <this> close to enrolling McKenzie in the Veritas Press Diploma program. I didn’t for several reasons, but mainly because I don’t want to give up our way of doing history or math. What’s the saying? “If it’s not broke, then don’t fix it”.

I am excited to say that we are entering our 15th year of homeschooling! For you Mama’s in the trenches with littles or those in the middle, keep going! Bottom line… it is worth it! Every.single.minute. There will always be doubt that you’re not doing enough or doing something wrong that will mess up your child for life, but you’re not! “Do the work of homeschooling” and you will reap the benefits down the road. As always, I want to note that any links below are not affiliated links. I just put them in for my reference and yours if you want to check the curriculum out. Also, because we have been schooling for so long and I am coming up on my 5th time through high school, I already own most of the curriculum listed as I try to shop our shelves first before investing into something new.

Without further ado, here’s our 2024 ~ 2025 Plan of Study.

Micah, is rising to 5th grade! He started his online learning this school year for 4th grade, and it has been the best thing for him. He is finishing up Latin 3, Linguistics 4, and Saxon Math 3 (Saxon 5/4) online. I made a mistake and had him enrolled in Linguistics 4 instead of Linguistics 5 which would have been a better fit challenge wise. But the silver lining is that he now knows the spelling rules and his spelling is even better. For 5th grade we are going to go back to our beloved Rod & Staff Spelling because he now can read cursive which is the reason why we switched last year. For 5th grade Micah will take four courses online including Latin 4, Grammar & IEW Writing 4, Saxon Math 4 (Saxon 6/5), and Literature 5. We will continue using Sonlight for History for him, but I am going to tweak it to fit us as I have done with the girls for 5th grade. He will also use the self-paced history course from Veritas Press to round out our study. It's a biology year in science for us but I’m still up in the air about which curriculum we will use for Micah. I have narrowed it down to three programs, Elemental Science Logic Stage Biology, Real Science Odyssey Biology 2 (minus the evolution chapters), or BJU Homeschool Life Science. I have done both Elemental Science and RS Odyssey with his older sisters, but I am thinking he will need something different to fit his learning style. Plus, I would like something that is Christian based, so I am leaning towards BJU’s Life Science.

Micah's Plan of Study for 2024-2025 will be:

Bible

~ Veritas Press Genesis to Joshua Self-Paced Bible

Math

~ Saxon 6/5 online with Veritas Press

Language Arts

~ Shirley Grammar 4 online with Veritas Press

~ IEW Structure & Style Writing, Year 1-Level 2A online with Veritas Press

~ Rod & Staff Spelling, Book 6

~ Script and Scribe Truth Traveler

~ Veritas Press Literature 5 online with Veritas Press

He will read:

• Anne of Green Gables

• Heidi

• Lad: A Dog

• Old Yeller

• Robinson Crusoe

• The Secret Garden

• Swiss Family Robinson

• Treasure Island

• Where the Red Fern Grows

History/Geography

~ Sonlight Core G – Ancient History, we will spread this Core over two years

~ Veritas Press Self-Paced History – Old Testament/Ancient Egypt

Science

~ BJU Homeschool Life Science

Greek Myths

*We didn’t get to this in 4th grade. Hoping to fit it in for 5th grade.

~ Memoria Press D'Aulaires' Greek Myths

Latin

~ Latin 4 w/ Latin for Children, B online with Veritas Press

Baseball – Sunday Select team, off season training

Weekly Co-Op

The schedule is not out for this yet, but we will continue to use the classes there for enrichment each week.

McKenzie is officially heading to high school! I am excited and a little sad at the same time. Sad because it means she just has 4 short years at home. However, I am preparing her to soar when the time comes so we are going to make the most of each of the years we have left homeschooling. She has done an amazing job at handling her course load for 8th grade. As I said earlier, I was going to sign her up for the diploma program with Veritas Press, but decided against it and we will proceed with our course of study that I know will pass the NCAA Clearinghouse and keep her competitive for USAFA (Not that Veritas Press is not competitive for highly selective universities). McKenzie will earn 6 high school credits for her 8th grade year to count towards high school. A combination of three core classes and three electives.

McKenzie's Plan of Study looks like this for 2024-2025:

Bible {1 credit}

~ Sonlight Bible 210 with Westminster Catechism

Math {1 credit}

~ Saxon Algebra 1

Honors English 9 {1 credit}

~ Composition 1 online with Veritas Press

~ Rod & Staff Grammar, 9/10, Book 1

~ Rod & Staff Spelling 8

Honors Science {1 credit}

~ Apologia Biology online with Veritas Press

Honors Literature {1 credit}

~ Veritas Press Omni I Secondary online with Veritas Press, Ancient World Lit

She will read:

• Omnibus I Text

• Chosen by God

• Till We Have Faces

• The Magician's Nephew

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

• The Horse and His Boy

• Prince Caspian

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

• The Silver Chair

• The Last Battle

• The Best Things in Life

• The Unaborted Socrates

• The Eagle of the Ninth

• The Screwtape Letters

• The Holiness of God

Honors History {1 credit}

~ Tapestry of Grace, Year 1(Rhetoric level) – Ancient World History

Foreign Language {1 credit}

~ Latin II online with Veritas Press

Electives

~ Apologia Health {1 credit}

~ Art @ co-op {1/2 credit ?}

~ Drama @ co-op {1/2 credit ?}

PE {1 credit}

~ Level 9 Gymnastics, 28 hours a week

Extras

~ SAT/ACT Prep (30 minutes/day)

Total yearly credits: 10 credits

Montana will officially be a high school senior in August! Remember how I said time flies once they hit high school? She will continue to take dual enrollment courses to finish out her high school years. This year she will take four courses that will count for 5 dual enrollments. She is still undecided on what she wants to study at university in the fall of 2025, but these courses will give her a jump start on her general educational requirements. Montana is going to take the ACT one more time over the summer to try and raise her score a little more. She is on the bubble to going up one full point, which translates more merit money or full ride depending on which university she attends.

Montana's Plan of Study looks like this for 2024-2025:

Bible {1 credit}

~ Sonlight Bible 510 Worldview Studies

Math {1 credit}

~ Calculus 1: Early Transcendental Functions online with Veritas Press (DE x 2)

Honors Science {1 credit}

~ Apologia Physics 1 online with Veritas Press

Honors English 4 {1 credit} (DE)

~ Modern, US and British Literature II online with Veritas Press

She will read:

• Omnibus VI Textbook

• On Christian Doctrine

• Out of the Silent Planet

• Perelandra

• Hamlet

• Common Sense

• John Adams

• Red Badge of Courage

• Self Reliance and Other Essays

• Walden and Civil Disobedience

• Leaves of Grass

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

• The Picture of Dorian Gray

• Interpretation of Dreams

• The Guns of August

• That Hideous Strength

• Heart of Darkness

• The Jungle

• 50 Great Short Stories

• Collected Poems of T.S. Elliott

Honors History {1 credit}

~ Sonlight Core 500 World History

Honors Foreign Language {1 credit} (DE)

~ Spanish 4 online with Veritas Press

PE {1 credit}

~ home workouts

Electives

~ Psychology {1 credit} online with Veritas Press (DE)

Extras

~ Mother’s Helper 1/day a week for 4 hours

Total yearly credits: 8.0 credits for High School / 15 credits for College

That’s it in a nutshell! Thanks for reading this far. If we happen to change anything over the course of the year I will update this post.

Until next time friends, have a blessed day!

Monday, May 29, 2023

2023 - 2024 Plan of Study ~ 11th, 8th, & 4th grades

Morning friends!

I am finally ready to share our 2023-2024 Plan of Study! When I tell you this year has been a labor of love, I mean it. I’ve been on my knees many times over the last few months praying and planning about our upcoming school year and our Plan of Study. Countless days I have been up late into the night researching…thinking…planning and replanning. Trying to formulate a (loose) long term plan of attack for my youngest two who, Lord willing, will get the chance to be student-athletes like their older sister. My current high schooler is also forefront in my mind as she has reached the level of whether we take the AP or Dual Enrollment (Early College) route. This fall the countdown will start and she will have just two years left. I’m leaning towards the latter as we currently have orders to stay in the area and we can get a waiver so we don’t have to pay out of state tuition as we would have had to with Madison and Mikayla when they were at this stage.

photo credit/blog post @ AfterThoughts

I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said there are not days that I feel physically and mentally done with homeschooling. It’s hard work! I’ve wanted to quit, to throw in the towel… but I can’t, I won’t. The stakes are too high, we’ve come so far! This is my job, this is what the Lord has placed before me as my task for the last 14 years. Plus, if you know me, I’m no quitter 😊.

I think this is probably the latest that I have ever waited to share our plans. I have had all three kids enrolled in their upcoming online courses with Veritas Press Scholars since February, so I’ve been planning for next school year since January! Things kept being thrown at me and we have been traveling a lot this year, but I have finally figured out the direction we’re going to go! I want to note that any links below are not affiliated links. I just put them in for my reference and yours if you want to check the curriculum out. Also, because we are coming up onto our 15th year and fifth trip through high school, I already own the majority of the curriculum listed as I try to shop our shelves first before investing into something new.

Montana will be in 11^th grade and is enrolled in three online classes, Saxon Advanced Math (Pre-Calculus), Honors Anatomy & Physiology, and Honors Spanish 3. The latter two offer a Dual Enrollment opportunity. At the time of penning this post, Montana is also currently enrolled in an online AP English Language course, however, I am in the process of registering her for the Early College program with Regent University.

Montana's Plan of Study looks like this for 2023-2024:

Bible ~ Sonlight Bible 410 {1 credit}

Math ~ Saxon Advanced Mathematics (Pre-Calculus) online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

Honors Science ~ Apologia Advanced Biology (AnPhy) online with Veritas Press (Early College/DE) {1 credit}

English 3 ~ English 101 with Tidewater Community College (FALL) {1 credit}

Honors History ~ Sonlight Core 400 American Government {0.5 credit}

Honors Literature ~ Sonlight American Literature 430 {1 credit}

Honors Foreign Language ~ Spanish 3 with Veritas Press (Early College/DE) {1 credit}

PE ~ softball (Rec ball) / home workouts {1 credit}

Electives:

Economics ~ Thinkwell {0.5 credit}

Personal Finance ~ GHW {0.5 credit}

Driver’s Ed {0.5 credit}

Extras

~ PSAT/ACT 1 hr/day

~ Mother’s Helper 1/day a week for 5 hours

Total yearly credits: 9.0 credits for High School / 9 credits for College

McKenzie will be in 8th grade this year and is enrolled in four online classes with Veritas Press Scholars, Latin 1, Grammar & Writing Transition, Logic 1, and Physical Science. Three of the courses are for high school credit as well as her Sonlight and Math course below. I plan to add to the writing course to make it count as an English 1 credit and we have a fall back plan in case the course does not pass the NCAA Clearinghouse down the road. She has big goals and wants a chance to be a collegiate gymnast at her current dream school, the US Air Force Academy (or anywhere she can gain a spot).

If you’re a long term reader of this blog you know that in 2014 when McKenzie was turning 5 years old we opted her out of officially starting Kindergarten with the State. She did in fact complete her Kindergarten year 2014, just not on paper. So when she did officially start Kindergarten in 2015, she was working at the 1^st grade level. Essentially she has been working a year ahead each year.

Eighth grade is when we normally start earning high school credit in our homeschool, however, next school year McKenzie is going to attempt to complete a full 9th grade course load for 8th grade. I am in no way trying to rush the high school process. I have talked with several other homeschooling families who have taken this route with success. We have been preparing for this jump and she is ready for this step.

McKenzie's Plan of Study looks like this for 2023-2024:

Bible ~ Sonlight Bible 110 {1 credit}

Math ~ Saxon Algebra 1/2

English 1

~ Composition with IEW's The Elegant Essay online with Veritas Press

~ Our Mother Tongue Grammar online with Veritas Press

~ Rod & Staff Spelling 8

~ Interactive Latin & Greek Roots Notebook

Science ~ Apologia Physical Science online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

Honors Literature ~ Sonlight American Literature 100 {1 credit}

Honors History ~ Sonlight American History 100 {1 credit}

Foreign Language ~ Latin 1 online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

PE ~ Level 9 Gymnastics, 26-28 hours a week

Electives:

~ Logic 1 online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

Total yearly credits: 6 credits

Micah, my baby boy, is jumping into online learning with three classes for 4th grade, Memory Period I, Grammar & IEW Writing 3, and Latin 3. Honestly, I wanted to enroll him into a Saxon 5/4 Math and/or IEW Linguistics 4 (Spelling) class, but deep down I can’t justify the cost at this stage. Saxon Math does take a big jump as far as the formatting of the lessons so I’m hoping we don’t butt heads too much over that. He will use Nicole the Math Lady for lesson instruction even though I can teach 4th grade math 😊

Micah's Plan of Study for 2023-2024 will be:

Bible/Recitations

~ Sonlight Bible Core E

Math

~ Saxon 5/4 online with Veritas Press

Language Arts

~ IEW Fix it Grammar, book 1

~ IEW Structure & Style Writing, Year 1-Level A online with Veritas Press

~ IEW Phonetic Zoo Spelling, Level B

~ Script and Scribe - Americana, Poetry & Art Study

Linguistics 4: IEW Phonetic Zoo online with Veritas Press

History/Geography/Literature

~ Sonlight Core E – American History, part 1

Science

~ Elemental Science: Physics for the Grammar Stage

~~Greek Myths~~

~~~ Memoria Press D'Aulaires' Greek Myths~~

Latin

~ Latin for Children, A online with Veritas Press

Baseball, Fall & Spring ball, private lessons during the off season

Micah will be the only one attending our beloved co-op for enrichment courses next year as well. McKenzie wants to take Drama but with her training schedule it’s hard to fit in unless she goes completely to night practice, which she doesn’t want {and neither do I 🙂}. Montana’s weekly babysitter job is switching to Tuesday mornings in September so we spread the bulk of her online courses to M/W, and she doesn’t want to sit in study hall all day to do her online courses. I’m going to be teaching a class on Time Management/Study Skills/Functional-Decorative Planning to middle schoolers as well as aiding in two science classes. I’m excited for co-op next school year!

I’m pretty sure we will be traveling all over the country again for gymnastics with McKenzie and trying to catch as many college meets of Mikayla’s too! Micah wants to make a Travel ball team next year so he will start taking private lessons in pitching as well as fielding/batting in the off season. Unfortunately, I believe Montana will age out of softball eligibility after the fall season so we need to look into something else to fulfill her PE requirement if she can’t play. She may look into being an umpire, but she also wants to focus on her drawing and possibly creating illustrations for sale. Micah will also be bridging to a Weblo 1 in Cub Scouts in a few short weeks. His Pack does a lot of exciting adventures and we’re looking forward to more camping throughout the year.

If you’ve read all of this, YOU are a ROCKSTAR! Leave me a comment, I’d love to connect with you and talk about your homeschool plans.

Until next time friends, have a blessed day!

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Wordless Wednesday ~ Happy birthday!

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Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Wordless Wednesday

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Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Wordful Wednesday

I had so much fun at GoWild in WASHIngton, D.C. My roommate was amazing and I met so many new planner friends. Even some local ones that I hope to catch up with soon. I'll be typing up a post this weekend and getting more active on the blog...I have a lot to talk about in general! Until then, be blessed friends!

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Thursday, November 17, 2022

The Quest for the King's Crown ~ a TOS review

Disclaimer: I received a Complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.

Morning friends! I am excited to share with you a new book we received from Tyndale House Publishers and Focus on the Family, called The Quest for the King’s Crown. I've been reading this book aloud to my two youngest, McKenzie (13) and Micah (8) and we are hooked! Let me tell you a little more about it.

The Quest for the King’s Crown tells the story of four friends, Mike, Winnie, Ben, and Spence, who are known as The Last Chance Detectives. One day, the friends come across an ancient artifact whose treasure could unlock their wildest dreams. However, a mysterious break-in is threatening the dreams of the Last Chance Detectives all the while leaving the local sheriff puzzled as he tries to solve the case. With several twists and turns to the story will the four friends have what it takes to solve this heart-pounding mystery?

The Quest for the King’s Crown is the seventh book in The Last Chance Detectives series that is written for upper elementary-middle school, roughly 8-12 year old students. Don’t let this books position in the series stop you from reading it. The great thing is that you do not have to read the previous books to fully enjoy this story.

We found this book to be fast paced and filled with drama and excitement! The story easily kept our attention as the plot twisted and turned throughout each chapter. It is well written and Micah has added the previous six books to his Christmas wish list for his “something to read” gift category. Each book is affordable at just $7.99 for a softcover or $9.99 for an ebook. You can purchase the entire seven set series as well for $55.94.

I love being able to add quality Christian fiction books to our home library and I am pleased to say that The Quest for the King’s Crown has earned a spot on our jam-packed bookshelves. I definitely recommend The Last Chance Detectives series for anyone looking to provide wholesome fiction stories for their children. Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what twenty of my other CrewMates thought of this book by clicking the banner below.