Week 28 ~ A Need to Take Stock

I did not manage to take any pictures this week that had anything to do with school or our lives. Instead, I am showing you the above video of a show we were fortunate enough to see this week. It was awesome. 

I felt the need to take stock this week of where we are in our school year. I keep lesson plan books for the kids and decided it was past time to count up their hours in each subject. I was right. Anne was already more than 30 hours past her required hours for Physical Education.

Let me back up for just a minute. Our goal in our homeschool is to complete 150 hours a year for a full credit and 75 hours a year for a half credit. We are not required by our state to complete a certain amount of hours. I decided on the amount of hours by researching state averages and accepting the recommendations from the HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association). I do not record our lessons down to the minute. I do, however, record our lessons in 30 minutes or one hour blocks into our lesson plans so that I know approximately how long each lesson took. Lastly, we are completing 40 weeks of school this year instead of the typical 36 weeks. This allows us to take half days when needed, take more subjects than the normal public school student, have margin for doctor/therapy appointments and maintain a more structured lifestyle that my kids thrive on.

Below is where each child is currently (after 28 weeks of school) ~

Anne 6th Grade ~ 

• Literature - 127 hours
• Language Arts - 117 hours
• Math - 110 hours
• History - 101 hours
• Physical Education - 183 hours = Complete
• The Arts (theater, music, fine art) - 58 hours
• Science - 58 hours (this is a half credit course)
• Home Economics - 60 hours (this is a half credit course)
• Sign Language -  41 hours (this is a half credit course)

Anne is doing well with her goals. For the remainder of the year, I will be recording her dance/theater classes under The Arts instead of under Physical Education. Considering that she completes a minimum of seven hours a week of dance, that subject will be filled up quickly. I do feel that her Sign Language course is not even going to get to the half credit point if we do not step it up. We will be adding more time to practice at home. If she doesn't complete a half credit, that is okay. Since I am not required by the state to record hours, this year is only a practice year to help me see how our days will need to flow by the time they're in high school. Then determining credits for transcripts will become very important.

Dean 7th grade ~ 

• Literature - 127 hours
• Language Arts - 126 hours
• Math - 102 hours
• History - 101 hours
• Science - 91 hours
• The Arts - 79  hours
• Physical Education - 123 hours
• Home Economics - 63 hours (this is a half credit course)

Dean is also doing well with his goals. He has less hours overall than Anne because he takes fewer dance classes, and with his sensory and attention issues, he needs a slower pace. His Science course will flesh out now that he received a laptop from his grandparents and will be able to attend a STEM class hosted most Saturdays at a local private school. Also, when his Physical Education hours have been completed, his dance classes will be recorded in The Arts category.

A Few Changes ~ Until now, I have tried to cover a little bit of time on most of their subjects each day. Naturally, we spent more time on the subjects that the kids either love and/or are my strong points. We are almost done with Literature. I told the kids that we would only be doing two or three more books this year. They are arguing debating about which two books from our Middle School Literature List that we will be read. We are currently deep into a unit study of Heidi. As we complete courses, we will be intensifying our hours in other courses. Over the next few weeks, our days will be changing slightly. We will be doing more science, math and history in the coming weeks. I am excited to see where the last 12 weeks of school will take us.

Blessings, Dawn