Seasoned home school moms-I need some advice.

[snadig]

We have been doing HOD for 6 years and I love it! Our oldest graduated in 2017 from HOD and has done well in College. She is very strong academically. Our next oldest is a senior this coming fall and is an average student and we have a 13 year old son going into 8th.

Our middle daughter has lost the love of learning and just gets exhausted by school. I have tweaked things along the way but am struggling in how to put her senior year together. I should have tweaked more but I am not going to look backwards now.

Here are her needs: She needs the history time period from the US II guide(we skipped MTMM), but she just finished World History. She needs government and we are working our way through algebra I.

I tweaked the world history guide-no spanish, no living library, no pilgrims progress, no grammar(just writing) and we didn't finish the last couple weeks of the guide-which I think is alright.

She also took an outside photography class- was suppose to be fun but was a bit stressful for her trying to manage it and the world history guide. She has real talent here.

She tested well (not timed ) she is below in math. Not a surprise. We are trying to get her driving and a part time job for some experience. She does not really want to go to college and has no idea what she wants to do after high school. I think she could start at a community college and do fine but would need some help along the way but I don't want to push it. I know college isn't for everyone.

I am trying to figure out how to tweak the last year of HOD to help her finish strong but not exhausted, hating school.

I thought about just having her do the history box only-not history activities or would she miss the connections to much (us2), math(our own), government(us1) but not sure what else to "make" her do or if we should look for some "fun" electives. Would you have her do lit (just read them?) she enjoys reading but it can take her a while. Not sure about science, or writing.

Hopefully some of this makes sense. Would love your advice!
blessings,
Stacey

[StephanieU]

Have you considered maybe doing MtMM (possibly with extensions) for her senior year, adding in the government she needs?

[snadig]

Thanks for the reply. I think the History she can handle but just trying to brain storm on how to make school some what enjoyable and not exhausting. She can do most of the work but it would take her a while longer then some doing it.

HOD high school guides are very full great curriculums but just wondering what has to be done vs doing it all as written. Give her a good year but maybe take out a bit.

Just thinking out loud........

[Nealewill]

The one thing I would do is to look at what is absolutely necessary for graduation requirement purposes and start there. If she is missing anything, I would add it in this year. The other thing I wouldn't skip is the financial class. I teach personal finance at a university and I am always amazed at how these adult students still don't know how to manage their money. Other than that, I would ask your daughter what she wants to do. If she loves photography, I would have her do another year of it.

[StephanieU]

My thought about doing MtMM is that she could do more as written and yet still probably take the same or less time than US2. And MtMM I feel is enough for high school, especially for a child not planning on college immediately. It would mean less tweaking in terms of history, which would be less work for you. She could do the left page basically as written (skipping projects at your discretion). Then add in any extra credits you need for your state and her goals.

[Carrie]

Stacey,

I had the same thought as Stephanie. I was wondering about MTMM too. Could your son and your daughter be combined in MTMM? Would she possibly enjoy this? It would be less writing and more short hands-on projects. Your daughter could honestly do MTMM as written in all areas to give her a solid, less stressful year. The Bible would be worth a half credit as written. It is shorter compared to what she has been doing for Bible. Yet, it is very Biblical and interesting! She might enjoy the nature journal too! Or, you could forego the nature journal to do photography instead. Both fall under the Fine Arts category.

If you do a photography course, I would look for a less stressful one. Try to have it be a fun elective. Once she officially graduates, she will have time to pursue her photography full-time with more intense courses. Right now, she just needs to graduate. I would encourage you in your thinking to let her final year be less work. This may mean no part-time job, few outside classes, and less stress. Just remember, you only have one more year of formal academics to go with her!

Instead of doing the President Study and the State Study scheduled in MTMM, you could add-on the Constitutional Literacy course from US1 instead. The Constitutional Literacy is easier than the government course and can be used to fulfill government requirements.

For math, you would continue working on Algebra I.

Depending on what she has had thus far for science, you could consider doing the science that is in MTMM too. It is possible she may not need any more science credits at this point, depending on what she has earned already. Feel free to share and we can discuss this.

As Nealewill suggested, you could also consider the Dave Ramsey Finance course from US2. It is a wonderful course that is so helpful for real life!

For literature, you could consider either the literature from US1, the literature from US2, or doing DITHR with selected titles. You could do WWTB2 as scheduled in MTMM for the writing portion.

Feel free to pop back and share your thoughts!

Blessings,
Carrie

[snadig]

Thank you all so much for the replies.

I have been thinking and praying about the things you all recommended. She would not enjoy doing a guide with her little brother..........We skipped this guide because she felt like she was in the “young” guide and too close to her brother. We also thought maybe having that separation between guides might help her to rise to the challenges in the Geography. I asked her about doing MTMM and she said NO! She did pretty well in the Geography guide........but probably could have stayed where she was and done more as written. She seems alright with the US II guide but not excited. But maybe when she realizes it isn’t as overwhelming as last year it will help her relax.

She has done
WWB2
Advanced Physical science in RevtoRev, lower level Chemistry (MTMM) and Chem 101 dvd with written work in this area. Biology-world history guide

Here are some of my thoughts:

History -us2

Math-Algerbra I

Constitutional lit-from Us 1

Lit study-Us 1/thought about counting this as writing/ and lit study. May have to add more if I do that?

Writing- not sure, thought about doing “In His Sandals “or Esstentials In Writing level 12 ( since she finished level 11 in World history guide). We could focuse on Essays not covered in previous level. Not sure how much more writing she needs. I want to make sure she has a good foundation.

Electives-Drives Education

Elective-Personal finance

Bible- still thinking about this. I may ask her to pick out a few studies and show them to us. We could decide if they are a good fit. Just an idea. I may still have her look at the one in MTMM or the New Testament one in USI.

Science- may not do any.

She wants to wait on doing any formal photography course for now and if she gets a job it will be very few hours to help with being around people more. She is pretty introverted. The job would be the first thing to go if things seem overwhelming. I am leaving the job thing in the Lords hand for timing and place. Not too worried about it right now.


Any other thoughts or ideas? Does it seem like too much?

Thanks again!

[snadig]

Hi ladies. I have been pondering some more and feel like it is starting to come together.

Here is what I came up with:

History-USII-1 credit
Algebra I-1 credit
Constitutional study-USI-.5-1 Credit
Lit study-US1-.5-1 Credit
Drivers Ed-.5-1credit-It is very full(Drivers ed in box )
Personal Finance-USI-.5
Bible-MTMM-.5
Vocational training-part time job-.5- maybe, The Lord hasn’t opened this door yet. So we will see.
Science-Physics 101 dvd or the Palontology book from USII. Still thinking about.

Still thinking about another elective but not sure yet.

Any advice?

[rumkimom]

What are you using for Driver's ed? Right now all we are using is the NY state book. My daughter is having a hard time understanding it so we are doing very small chunks at a time and then talking about it when I am driving.

[snadig]

Hi Wendy.

I sent you a PM................I think. Hopefully I did it right.