World History High School:
The last few weeks have been so busy, as my dh works a second job guiding for pheasant hunts alongside his other already crazy busy traveling job. It also seems that allergies from the neighboring farm fields being combined have made us all pretty tired. I am extra thankful for HOD in times like this, as we can all keep going with our homeschooling since it is totally open and go.
The dc and I are several months into the year, which also means we all know what we are doing and are into a good routine with things.
It seems that this happens every year - right when life gets crazy busy, with hunting/Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's, we know what we are doing so well in homeschooling at that point, that we can move forward anyway. Having taught previously in ps, where writing lesson plans was a weekly panic no matter what, I make sure to be thankful for the blessing of HOD in my teaching and in my dc's schooling.
One of our favorite activities this week was the culmination of Wyatt's fine arts project Pointillism Fruit. He has been working on this one time each week for a month for his Fine Arts study, and it has been surprising seeing it all come together so well at the end. It looks amazing, if you ask me!!!
The steps given in the DVD have been easy to follow, and the final project shows its success. Wyatt was very happy with it, and in general, he doesn't view himself as an artist. He did this week, thanks to HOD and Pat Knepley. I need to find a way to display this or to keep these projects in a special place. They are going to be keepers, I can see that.
Wyatt has been reading about Alexander the Great in history. He enjoys this topic. It is full of battles, adventure, and even warring elephants! His favorite subject is history, and his favorite genres to read in and out of school are history-based nonfiction and biography books. SO, this has been such a fulfilling few weeks for him!
I like the varied follow-ups he is doing, as they are interesting and give him ample ways to practice needed skills. The "Talking Points" oral narration is a favorite of mine (I love to talk with my ds!). The assignment that has Wyatt listing bulleted phrases to describe each person from history's point of view, actions, etc., has Wyatt expressing his 'opinion' at the end, and as such, it is one of HIS favorite assignments. He gets to share who he agrees with and why, and it is helping him to learn this important skill of accurately expressing and supporting his opinion by the clear steps taught to do so. He states who he agreed with and why by naming the event or issue, sharing his thoughts, giving a reason why he feels that way, supporting his answer, and restating the event/issue as he closes with his opinion. Impressive!!! He can already quite eloquently do this, thanks to the clear steps for him to follow.
This skill of expressing opinions in a clear supported way gets another polishing in his essay for his Literature Study. Having read and now listened to "Julius Caesar" Wyatt wrote an essay about the differing Roman and Christian views of suicide, concluding with sharing his own thoughts on suicide. I could see how he used what he had learned in the expressing his opinion activity in history to write his opinion of suicide for his Literature Study. I was also pleased that his opinion aligns with the Christian view of it. This kind of Christ-centeredness and connectivity between various school subjects is a signature of HOD guides. I am thankful we are not shying away from the tough topics of life in high school. We had such a good discussion about this, and having Wyatt express his own opinion about it in writing was a powerful way for him to collect his thoughts about it using the Bible as the ultimate reference with its provided scriptures to look up and ponder.
The "Total Health" study Wyatt and I are discussing has provided another excellent avenue for broaching difficult topics in a Biblical way. Last week we talked about how important it is for teenagers (and adults
) to get enough sleep each night. The health benefits from getting enough sleep were described, as well as the health dangers from not getting enough sleep. It was a good reminder to head to bed on time each night, for both of us.
The more difficult topic to discuss was this week. It was about sexually transmitted diseases, and how they are a worldwide health problem. We had a personal in-depth discussion about the physical and spiritual defenses that we want to have in place to help battle these infectious diseases. It was a wonderful way to talk about our babysitter/nanny who just got married, and how she had waited for her wedding night by choosing physical and spiritual defenses ahead of time like... meeting and knowing the man she began courting first at a good place (like a Bible Study they both attended), having her parents first meet the man multiple times before agreeing to court him, having her sister along on dates at first, having him over to get to know their family for 'family nights' every week, defining they physical boundaries of their relationship prior to courting and then again throughout their engagement, attending marital Christian counseling classes at our church for months, and finally having a short engagement. This was an excellent discussion we had! I also was able to re-explain why we have rules like computers only on the main floor within everyone's eyesight, computer usage defined and timed when used each day (i.e. rather than our dc quick hopping on the computer for this or that), tv only with cable on main floor (upstairs tv has no cable and is only used for dvd/vhs use), etc. The Total Health lessons made it clear that the only for sure way to not contact an STD is to wait for your wedding day and to have your partner have waited for your wedding day. This was done in such a Christian way, and it led to some excellent talks for the two of us. This is such a better way to learn about this than I did - which was slideshows in the high school gymnasium featuring pictures of the effects on the body of each sexual disease.
That was very embarrassing, scary, and awkward, as boys and girls 9th through 12th grade watched it all together.
SOOOOOOOO thankful for the time I am getting to spend in HOD with my ds privately discussing difficult personal things in a Christ-centered way - it is priceless to me.
We are drawing, drawing, drawing with the compass and straightedge in Geometry this week. The demonstrations and answer key are so very helpful with the Central Problems we are working, and they help establish the given/proof type things Wyatt needs to use. He is doing very well with it - better than I am!
Geometry is not my favorite math subject, I confess. Algebra - THAT I could do all day and love it! Not so much Geometry. Thankfully, for Wyatt, he enjoys pretty much all of it.
In Christ,
Julie
