New Homeschool Year in Books

I have begun my 21st year homeschooling. This year is not very different from past years, although we are not doing current events anymore. We begin with Bible and I read from the NKJV. Then I read a page or two from Luther's Small Catechism and discuss. Currently we are reading about Sanctification.

My 14-year old likes me to read history to her, while my 15-year old reads on his own. We are reading from Land of Hope by Wilfred McLay. I pre-read this text a few years ago and absolutely appreciated it  that I contacted the author to let him know my thoughts. He was so grateful that he sent to me another free copy and the Teacher's Guide. I also bought the student workbook, which offers comprehension questions and additional documents to read and questions to answer.

What I like a lot about this text is that it is written as a story for older audiences. It doesn't bog down the reader in heavy details and specifics, but it does follow a theme about hope. 

We use Abeka Grammar and Composition for English. Both of my teens are finishing up this workbook and then they will move on to III.

For literature, I had the kids choose from a list of classics. The 15 yo chose a story from Sherlock Holmes and the younger chose Little Women. When they are done reading they will write a narrative on what they read. Most of the questions I pulled from The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer, and I added some of my own. By the end of the school year, they will have each read and written about three classical fiction, one biography, one play, and one poet. 

Once a week we do geography together with U.S. History Map Activities. Usually I do geography lessons connected to history, and I figured this would work because it is a chronological geography lesson in American events, which mirrors their American history text. Since you are never too young to review geography, I do this activity along with them. 

My 15 yo is working through Math-U-See Geometry and my 14 yo is completing Saxon's 8/7. She really should be in pre-Algebra, but she works at a slower pace because math is painful. 

For science, since they work separately, my 15 yo is working through this giant Biology by Levine and the 14 yo is doing some fun work through anatomy with The Body Book and Human Anatomy Coloring Book. I was able to synch them together according to sections of the body.

One other subject we do together is Logic. We are using Introductory Logic from Canon Press. 

In addition, my 14 yo does seven hours of dance instruction a week, and my son works on piano everyday. He is planning on having a "recital" for us in a few months. 

We have three more years of homeschooling left, although my son is hoping to complete all of his advanced math by summer of 2023 and co-enroll at the local community college in the fall. He would like to begin college math and maybe music, too. He'd rather graduate high school early like his three older  siblings before him.