Look out Freshman Year {Back to School Blog Hop}

In continuing the Back to Homeschool theme this week, I uncovered the scribbled index card where I wrote down Brennan's school plans. Thankfully I think I also uncovered all of the school materials that I gathered before the move and then allowed the movers to stash in random (and often mislabeled) boxes.

World History

Brennan's World History course is going to be based on the Veritas Press Self-Paced History Courses. Since he's a bit older than the intended audience, he's going to work at a faster pace to cover both the New Testament, Greece, and Rome course and the Middle Age, Renaissance, and Reformation course.  Along the way, we'll add in some movies for him to critique in terms of historical accuracy.

Algebra II

I don't believe in fixing things that aren't broken so we'll stick with Math U See again this year.

Science

For freshman science, Brennan will be using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology book and participating in online classes with Virtual Homeschool Group. Addison took the same class several years ago and thought it was fantastic.

Language Arts

I'm excited about the new literature program we're starting this year -- Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide by Sharon Watson. The first two works on the list are Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain and The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Our plans right now include meeting together with a few other homeschool boys to discuss the materials on a monthly basis.

For composition skills, we'll continue working with Institute for Excellence in Writing's Student Writing Intensive program (my review from last spring). I'd also like to add in their Fix It! grammar program.

Spanish

When given the choice of foreign languages to study in high school, Brennan picked Spanish. I'm still working on figuring out a good online option for him. I remember some Spanish from my high school days (almost enough to order at Taco Bell), but I'd rather focus my one-on-one time with him on other subjects.

PE

We might as well start working on a PE elective to meet the high school requirements for most states. Part of this class will be completing the Boy Scout Personal Fitness merit badge and the rest will be running, biking, and swimming (depending on the weather).

Introductory Logic

When I enrolled Brennan in his Virtual Homeschool Group Biology class, I noticed they were also offering an Introductory Logic class. He decided that it sounded like going to a logic class was going to be more fun than studying logic and thinking skills on his own.

Other Electives

We don't have specific plans yet, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for at least one or two more elective credits that Brennan can earn this year. I'm hopeful that the work he does for Boy Scout merit badges will count for something. I'm also considering having Brennan do some of his projects for other classes (World History, Literature) as video presentations instead of written assignments. If so, then he may earn a half-credit in video production for his work with writing scripts, taking the video, and then editing it.

This post is part of a huge Blog Hop sponsored by Homeschool Connections and The Schoolhouse Review Crew. If you'd like to read more homeschool encouragement or would just like to spy on other homeschooling family's plans, be sure to click the picture above and find the links to everyone else's ideas.

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