Back to School: Homeschool Style: What is New to Our Homeschool?

It is always exciting to start on a new journey. We are at the start of our homeschooling life; so pretty much everything we are using is new to our homeschool.

I am excited this year to really dig into SchoolhouseTeachers.com for our teenager. We hope to use the following courses:

• American Literature in Historical Context
• Addressing Cultural Issues 
• General Biology by Core Academy
• Geometry with Mr. D. Math 

I have started printing out lesson plans for those courses that have them and the necessary documents. I have also bookmarked the courses for our teen so he will be able to easily find them online.  

American Literature in Historical Context 

One of the things I was incorporating into my AP US History course as a teacher was more literature and primary sources. I think it is very important not to study history (or literature) in isolation. Therefore, I think this will be a very interesting course for both our teen and myself. 

During American Literature in Historical Context we will be taking a look at American literature from pre-colonial times through the present day by reading such authors as 

• Washington Irving 
• Edgar Allan Poe 
• Louisa May Alcott 
• Mark Twain 
• Ray Bradbury 
• and others 

Addressing Cultural Issues 

I hope to incorporate a few shorter courses that will help our teen be able to navigate the world with a Biblical perspective. Addressing Cultural Issues is a course with 6 hours of video and several worksheets to help fuel discussions. Three of the videos are available through RightNow Media with no expiration date but three of the six videos are licenced from Day of Discovery with an expiration of August 2019. There are few courses where parents and students are notified upfront that the material is under licence. 

One of the reasons why I wanted to use this course is because as the course description states: "traditional biblical values are not only rejected, but it seems as if they're attacked on every front." How can we, as Christians, handle ourselves in today's world? I am hoping this course will help us answer some of the many questions that we find ourselves asking each day. 

General Biology by Core Academy 

As biology is the typical 10th grade science course for students in our state, I chose General Biology by Core Academy to serve as our course. It is a general high school biology course covering human biology, ecology, zoology, botany, microbiology, cell biology, genetics, and origins over the course of 32 weeks. There are over 25 hours of video instruction along with reading assignments, notes, worksheets, vocabulary, and quizzes. 

I like that General Biology is divided into two semesters and multiple units. This will make it very easy to schedule our time. 

Geometry with Mr. D Math 

Last year our teen attended public school and took Algebra I. The recommended next course for math is Geometry so we decided to use Geometry with Mr. D Math. It is a full-year course with twelve chapters of video-based instruction, tests, semester exams, and answer keys. Some of the topics covered include: points, lines, planes and angles, triangles, area and perimeter, and circles – to name a few. 

While our teen has struggled at times in his math courses in the past, I am hopeful that since we will be able to move at his pace – work towards his own mastery of information – that he will succeed more easily. I think he may find that homeschooling will help him achieve more mathematically. 

We look forward to using SchoolhouseTeachers.com for both our teen and five-year-old as we embark on our homeschooling journey. 

If you have a moment and are looking to find new curriculum, ideas for field trips, or other homeschooling tips, please visit a member or two of the Homeschool Review Crew! 

Christine Howard – The Simple Homemaker – Schoolin' Swag – Footprints in the Butter –Homeschool Review – Homeschool 4 Life –  A Stable Beginning – Thou Shall Not Whine –  A Glimpse of Our Life