World History High School:
Drumroll... we just completed the World History High School Guide!
HOORAY! The timing of all of this was perfect as Wyatt finished his guide right before he is going on a weeklong deer hunting trip with my husband. That means I'll have this week to look over all of his American History 1 Guide things, and I can get to planning how beginning a new guide will work into our current schedule! I have mixed feelings about this - excited we completed WH... excited to start AH1... sad my son is as old as he is... happy my son is as old as he is... sad to leave our wonderful intact routine and have to learn a new routine... happy to begin AH as a history to study - so perfect with all that is going on with our country right now... proud my ds has completed the WH guide so well... hopeful he'll do as well with the AH1 guide... Yikes! I'm a mess of emotions, aren't I?!? Sometimes it's like Wyatt has become the confident adult, and I'm the kid that needs cheering on.
I was just sharing with him that I was a bit apprehensive about how starting a new guide right now will certainly add time to the day, as we have always found that at the start of the guide more time is required, but then time falls off the day as the year progresses. Wyatt just looped his arm around my shoulders with that slow side smile of his and said, "Aw, mom, you know I got this! Sure, it'll be busy at first, but before you know it, a few weeks in and I'll be in a good routine and turning out that work in no time!" I sure do love my son. We've somehow switched roles, but occasionally, it's kind of nice.
I have a few pictures of our last week in this guide. Pilgrim's Progress was a favorite of mine. We discussed it and enjoyed it all year long together. That, along with Total Health, was a very special time for the two of us. We shut the door early each morning and had a private discussion time together. It is kind of amazing to be able to talk as an adult for the most part with my teenage son about important, life-changing things. It is crucial to talk about these topics in a Christ-centerd way! I really don't know what I'd do without this daily 'bread' together. It helps the two of us make sense of what is going on around us in this crazy, sinful world. It also helps us take hold of the hope and the light that our believe in Christ Jesus gives! I'd not have traded these conversations this year for anything.
Writing - Wyatt having excellent skills in writing is important to me. Someone said to me the other day that they were concerned about the writing in high school as they were looking at homeschool curriculum. I thought we were on the same page, and they were saying they were concerned that the writing would be rigorous enough to prepare their students for their future life after high school, for their future career or life purpose. I was wrong! They were concerned they may have to write too much. Anyway, it just took me by surprise as next to being well-read, being able to write is pretty crucial to future success in almost any walk of life. If you cannot express yourself, your opinion, your knowledge in writing in today's day and age of communication, you are going to have an uphill battle. Less and less face to face verbal communication is taking place today. For many, their skills will be known to their employers only through their writing, typing, emailing, messaging, yikes - that makes me shudder a bit. Wyatt said to me the other day that he couldn't imagine any HOD graduate not being a good writer. He said he thought it was such a strength of the guides because he has learned to use writing to express his opinion, support his ideas, write essays, retell important events, write creatively and poetically - he said really if a student did HOD's guides, he should be well prepared for college on all fronts, especially writing. I agree. Writing doesn't scare Wyatt. The blank page doesn't scare Wyatt. Essays don't phase Wyatt. He can sit down and write his thoughts, opinions, summaries, narrations, essays, poems, creative writing assignments with ease now. I am so thankful! I like his theme he wrote from Bonhoeffer... "Staying faithful to God will bring a much greater reward than any given for staying faithful to your country"... What an awesome year!
In Christ,
Julie
