SCHOOL YEAR 2016-2017

The start of a homeschool year is always filled with excitement and concerns, but this year is especially filled with mixed feelings. This is my first year with just one learner at home. Even when I started 13 years ago, I had a kindergartener and a preschooler (with a baby on the way). My older kids, Jake, a senior, and Cate, a freshman, are both attending a STE(A)M charter school. This year Sam will be my only homeschooler.

With Sam's developmental delays stemming from Sensory Processing Disorder, focusing on his learning will be a huge benefit to him. His abilities in core subjects are "all over the place", effected by his visual tracking and fine motor challenges. He's made slow, steady progress in these areas, but he is "behind" in writing, spelling and reading comprehension. Our focus skills this coming year will be in the following areas:

❏ Improve Spelling

❏ Write 5 Paragraph Essays 

❏ Practice Formation of Cursive and Print Letters

❏ Improve Reading Comprehension

As for the rest of our studies this year:

LANGUAGE ARTS
Moby Max (continued from last year)
     Language, Vocabulary
     Reading Stories
     Reading Skills Literature
     Reading Skills Informational
     Writing Workshop
     Writing Assignments
Daily Grams Grade 6
GradeSpelling Grade 3
Word Roots A1 (Cherie A. Plant)

MATHEMATICS
Saxon Math 6/5 with DIVE CD (continued from last year)
Saxon Math 7/6 with DIVE CD
Mind Benders A1 (Anita Harnadek)
Mind Benders A2 (Anita Harnadek)

SCIENCE
Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics
     Journal
     Laboratory

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY
A History of US (Joy Hakim) Books 3-10 (continued from last year)
Sheppardsoftware USA Geography Games

FINE ARTS
Art Fraud Detective (Anna Nilsen)
Meet the Great Composers Book One (June Montgomery and Maurice Hinson)

With many things different this year, I'm both excited and anxious to see how things go. Sam doesn't enjoy organized sports and decided not to continue Boy Scouts so our schedule is "wide open" (after transporting Jake and Cate to and from school). I hope to find a homeschool group for him to participate in, but for the first time EVER we have more freedom to focus on experiences we want. Kayaking? Fishing? Library Clubs? Perhaps even a Lego Robotics Club?