There are about three weeks left until we start the 2008-2009 homeschool year. This year will bring a relatively big change in the way we do our work. Christian will be working in a similar way to what we have done in the past, but more emphasis will be placed on CLEP preparation. Since he is now in Algebra II that is so important for the science and engineering fields where his interest lies, we will work hard to establish a strong base there. Our plan is for him to take three CLEP tests this year in History of Western Civilization I and II and Spanish. Christian has a strong enough interest and background in programming now, that I think it is time to jump into C++. I am not sure whether we will do it on Linux or Windows, but either way it will be exciting to get started on a good project with him. Of course, he will continue with his guitar lessons.
Kelly will no longer follow the Sonlight suggested history and literature schedules. She will still read all of the Sonlight literature books for the year, writing about one book report per week. Mainly she will concentrate on college prepartion materials. She will use this year’s Apologia Biology to help her prepare for the CLEP Biology test, Rosetta Stone Spanish to help her prepare for the CLEP Spanish test, and the some CLEP preparation books to prepare for U.S. History II, Psychology, and Sociology. Her comic strip and two-per-week blog postings on a variety of subjects will be good for exercising her use of “new media”. She will continue with piano lessons.
As for exercise, both Kelly and Christian will swim until the outdoor pool at the YMCA closes for the winter. Then we have to make some hard decisions. I would really like to run a triathlon with the kids, but it would be kind of neat to systematically prepare for and run in a 10K race sometime before then. Running is a lifelong sport that could fit well into our schedule. I even think Lorena would like it. It is still a little early for Christian to do any serious weight training, but Kelly might do some of that with Lorena during the winter while Christian runs. We will see about all that and negotiate through what interests them and provides them a goal.
woot off still going on:
http://www.woot.com
Woo-hoo!
Ruthie
“We will see about all that and negotiate through what interests them and provides
them a goal.” That is Homeschooling in a nutshell. Interest driven….plus the goal part.
I like it!
Christian, did you know that the word “woot”, was named Merriam-Webster’s Word of the
Year in 2007? When I read that, I cracked up and had to immediately shoot off an email
to all of my daughters’ friends to congratulate them for helping make this new word
official because they used it so much in their blogs. Woot-woot! I don’t know what
woot.com is and will have to look into it.
Isn’t that the truth about homeschool? Actually, we do that now with a lot of our homeschool. A lot of the time we need to negotiate because the kids want to do too much so I have to help them temper their enthusiasm with a little reality 🙂 .
As for Woot, Christian and I are addicted. We are more fascinated with the amazing marketing phenomenon as much as the products. It is one of those things where we say, “I wish I would have thought of that!”
We too are in the middle of planning for next year. I have a spreadsheet with all my “wants” on it, and then a more realistic “NEEDS!” so hopefully we’ll be able to find something that works!
Also am trying to sell last year’s stuff on Ebay to afford this year’s and when the next kid reaches that level again, we’ll repurchase it. I think this is a better plan than trying to hold onto something for use by 5 children and then trying to sell it! Maybe I’ll find someone else out there doing the same thing and get a good deal. Although I do appreciate some of the perks that come with buying directly from Sonlight…customer service, the forums (do you ever use/need them?) and the support system there.
Please tell me some more about “woot” I’m in the dark, but you and Christian make we want to know about it!
We have not used the Sonlight forums so much because of the odd way we homeschool. That being said, I have heard a ton of people use them and like them and the working staff a lot. Incidentally, Lorena will send a book your direction in the next few days Audrey. http://www.woot.com is just a cheap/cool technology sale site where they sell one thing each day that is really cool and really cheap. They also have a t-shirt design competition where if you win the weekly competition, they pay you something like $2000 and then a certain amount a shirt for the days they sell your shirt. Christian has entered some designs in the competition. It really has gotten his creativity into high gear.
Catherine
So, here I am, finding a need to contribute to this conversation. Haha! Anyway, my dear husband LOVES woot.com and shirt.woot.com and sellout.woot.com which actually links to Yahoo! I believe. I never know when I’ll come home to a random package on our front porch because of some new, cool, “must-have” object he has bought. The latest is a refurbished Roomba for relatively cheap, well, cheaper than I’ve ever seen one and it works great, not to mention fun to watch!
Wow! We are WAY envious. We want a Roomba (Lorena, that is a robotic vacuum cleaner)! I think the business model for woot.com is absolutely incredible. People go to shirt.woot.com to make money and end up buy 5 shirts! We are going to want you to bring your Roomba over to our house for a demo!