Monday, February 9, 2015

Planning Stages

Barely planned

     Next year's curricula list. I like to have it ready early. Used books are cheap right now. Sales start soon. I just like at least a rough draft fully formed ahead of time. The younger crew is simpler. Math, spelling, and such just go to the next level in the same course. The high school kids always need new stuff. Honor usually needs more science than they left behind.
     I'll add the Official List later. For now, Grace and Faith are going to do Portraits of American Girlhood together. This covers American history through the American Girl books and ancillaries. Honor really, really wants chemistry with lab.  And his own geography year thankyouverymuch. The teens will do Spectrum Chemistry and One Year Adventure Novel. NOT combined. I value my sanity far too much to attempt making those two share. The chemistry experiments I think they can handle together, but the actual work? Just. No. Justice is also strongly considering taking piano and Spanish at the local public school. Joy wants to do everything and is having a hard time weighing priorities. Her wish list has NINE credits. (This week.) Starting early gives these guys more time to seriously consider where they're going too.

Deep planning, but still unfinished

      I've been knee deep in translations of really old Germanic, Icelandic, Welsh, Celtic (and more!) poems and mythology for Justice's current TEMSEI course. (See his '14-'15 curricula list for what that means.) Deor, Widseth, Historical Sagas Concerning Dietrich, Romance Sagas Concerning Dietrich, Elder Edda, Younger Edda, Biarkamal, Waldere, Hildebrandslied, Kalevala, Naudu Argat-lam, Lludd Llaw Ereint, Nibelungenlied, Mabinogion, and gobs more that Spell Check is having a fit over. The Road to Middle-earth by Thomas Shippey is the spine tying all of this together. If you have no idea what is in any of those, neither did I before this! I've learned more really old mythology and philology than I ever would have cared to study on my own, but it has been interesting. Justice is just about finished with the Faerie and Fantasy course from Tolkien Professor, and he is very excited to get this one started. Surely no matter how wonky a lit course any of them choose in the future, this experience will have me well-prepared and ready to take it on.

Thoroughly planned

     In the summer I took the time to make detailed syllabi. This made me more deeply familiar with their school books than I would have been, and gave them a weekly target to shoot for. Honor has a couple, and Joy and Justice have several each. Halfway through the year. I am SO GLAD I took the time to do that during the summer. The few subjects I just left at a "do this pace weekly" status have not done half as well as the courses with actual syllabi. Kids know what to expect. They can drive it themselves. I'm not fiddling with TM's trying to figure out what's what when they're stuck. Win-Win situation all the way around.

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