Tweaking School Schedules pt. 1

Our last two teens at home are following slightly modified versions of the Ambleside Online's House of Education (high school recommendations) online buffet. We are pulling from years 9 and 10.

Youngest son, age 14, has been reading through English Lit for Boys and Girls and is not in the same chapter that is scheduled for year nine. Close, but not exactly the same, which I realize is hardly worth mentioning. We also work with his various learning issues and abilities, so he is not as far ahead as the 'average' student in one or two areas, Math being one. He has caught up in reading ability, spelling ability, and we are still working on writing. It is difficult for him to translate what is in his head to the page, but we are working on it! He is very imaginative and creative, so we have a lot to work with, and a lot of potential.

We are just now cranking up to begin other fine arts and Shakespeare for this year, so they may actually occur earlier in the day than scheduled below. Hubby works later in the day, so we have a later dinner hour than most people do, thus our evening draws out later than the average family's day. I am also a night owl, and am the parent who is up late any time any of our teens are out and returning home late for whatever reason, be it just visiting friends close-by, attending a football game, whatever.

Subjects	Monday	Tuesday	Wed.	Thursday	Friday
Bible:	Daily reading	Daily reading	Daily reading	Daily reading	Daily reading
History: HEO selections	History: An Island Story	History: Story of the Pilgrims	History: Clarence Carson Hist. of the US	History: Capt. John Smith’s World	History: This Country of Ours
Language Arts: Daily Grams	Daily Grams One page	Daily Grams One page	Daily Grams One page	Daily Grams One page	Daily Grams One page
Poetry: Puritan Poetry of N. England	1 poem read	1 poem copy	Spanish I Class	1 poem finish copying	Art History: The Story of Painting Jansen
Biography: Various HEO selections	English Lit For Children Marshall	Autobio of Ben Franklin 6.5 pgs.	Spanish I Class	Autobio of Ben Franklin 6.5 pgs.	Picture Study Raphael
Piano Lessons A hymn per term	Piano practice	Piano practice	Piano practice	Piano practice	Piano practice
An Island Story	Math Facts CD rom	Living Math reading	Math Facts CD rom	Living Math reading	Math Facts CD rom
LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH
Spanish sheets 2 pgs day	Spanish sheets 2 per day	Spanish sheets 2 per day	Mom teaches Spanish II Andrew copy Spanish Poem	Science: Science Lab in a Supermarket	Make Spanish vocab cards
Geography & Natural Hist.: Carpenter’s	View maps of militia and battle sites	Carpenter’s N.American Geograph. reader	…or copy a Spanish song	NatureStudy: Draw found treasures from the week	Leave for Piano
Citizenship: Plutarch’s Lives or Ourselves	Listen to Colonial audio dramas	Ourselves by CM	Plutarch	Ourselves by CM	Piano Lesson
Math: CDRom/ Teaching Txtbks Pre-Algebra	Pre-Algebra	Pre-Algebra	Pre-Algebra	Pre-Algebra	Piano lesson
Literature: Shakespeare * Midsummer Nights Dream	Letters from George Washington	* Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream	Letters from John Adams	Writings from other re-volutionaries	Head home
	TIDY	TIDY	TIDY	TIDY	Bank/grocery with Mom
Tea and Fine Arts ~ Term 1	Ralph V. Wms symph. I A Sea Symphony		Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)	http://cgfa.dotsrc.org/raphael/p-raphae41.htm	“
Free Reading:					“
Rome mini book
Greek Heroes					“
Games: Farkle	Or Cranium		Dad at Wd Working clb		Movie night
Bedtime	Bedtime	Bedtime	Bedtime	Bedtime	Bedtime
Lights out	Lights out	Lights out	Lights out	Lights out	Lights out

Since you can't see Friday, b/c of my blog layout, I will just list it ~

Daily Grams, one page; Art History: The Story of Painting by Jansen (has been reading this one for two years, now, and should finish it this year); Piano practice- scales; Picture Study, this term: Raphael Sanzio; lunch; copy Spanish vocab and phrases; leave for piano lesson; Piano lesson; errands with mom--bank, grocery; movie night or spend night with a friend.

A couple of other modifications are these:

Hubby has added a few of his own recommended readings for our Junior, from summer reading assignments given to his upcoming American Lit students (at the school where he teaches and is head of the English Dept). Examples such as a chapter from _The Travels of William Bartram_, "An Account of the Persons, Manners, Customs, and Government of the Muscogulges or Creeks, Cherokees, Chactaws...of North America." or Washington Irving's "The Creole Village" or Thomas Paine's "The Crisis: Philadelphia, April 19th, 1783." (includes important thougths on 'now what' after the Revolutionary War.

So as our 16 yo son is also studying American History and Lit, we are doing a modified year for him, which includes recommendations from years 9 and 10. You may be asking "Why?" and I'd answer that I chose to have him complete HEO year 8 last schoolyear, to make sure and wrap up as solidly as possible his study of British and Western History. Combining selections from both 9 and 10 so that he will be ready for Yr. 11 and the study of the 20th century for his Senior year. Practically speaking, we will not do everything from years 9 and 10, and will also crunch our choices from the recommendations into the next twelve months.

I am sprinkling in a few original source documents (most quite short) for both boys that fit into this time frame, as well, but I will assign more and expect more from our 16 yo. These are usually just letters associated with the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary wars, and can probably be found online. We have them in Hubby's "Library of America" collection, and more specifically George Washington's letters and some diary entries of some of the British (Frederick McKenzie on the retreat from Concord, MA) on some of the battles. We also have a short "Tory view on Lexington and Concord" by Peter Oliver. Then, we have "A Pennsylvanian Reacts to Lexington and Concord, 1775," John Dickinson to Arthur Lee. I will likely throw in "George Washington's address to the Continental Congress, June 16, 1775."


As I get the time slots tweaked, I'll post our 16 yo's schedule in another post.


Javamom