Sometimes I’m stunned that we have made it this far with our homeschooling, but most of the time, I can’t imagine our life any other way, and just harbor regrets that I didn’t offer this education to my #1 Son. The time together as a family, the interesting discussions about books, faith, poetry, politics (lots of those!), the Constitution, economics…I would not have it any other way!

September is here, and we have started school with the schedule and booklist I sketched out over the summer.  I haven’t posted our school schedule the last few years, primarily because our Y7 and Y8 closely followed the Ambleside Online approach to Charlotte Mason, with a few book substitutions suggested by the Charlotte Mason Help website. Last year, I found gaps in American History and Literature, so I chose to add in a Term covering the Colonial period. I also made some vastly different choices regarding Literature.  A few of my fellow CM homeschoolers noticed and asked about it. I will go back and post the Y9 book list when I get a chance.

This year, I am adding in the ancient history stream mentioned on A Delectable Education, and we are reading American short stories.  Paradise Lost is anachronistic; a CM no-no.  But we did not finish it in Y8, and this is when I can best fit it in, and not get off track with the other epic poems I have planned for the rest of our schooling.

We have taken a relaxed approach to Henle 1, but will easily finish this year.  We’ve been fairly relaxed about Algebra as well.  My goal is to avoid the pressure and resulting math phobia that plagues most teens, and graduate a young woman who actually appreciates the order and beauty of Mathematics. So far so good. 🙂

Our first term booklist and rough weekly schedule* looks like this:

Monday: The Story of Christianity, David Bentley Hart; A History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer; Paradise Lost, John Milton; Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas;  Lewis & Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery, Duncan & Burns; Folksongs (English Ladye & the Knight, Skye Boat Song, Loch Lomond)

Tuesday:  Signs & Seasons, Jay Ryan; The Arts, Van Loon alternating with Picture Study of Giotto di Bondone; The Christian’s Secret to a Happy Life, Hannah Whitall Smith; Patriot’s History of the United States, Schweikart & Allen; The Fallacy Detective, Hans & Nathaniel Bluedorn;

Wednesday:  English (Grammar) Handbook for Christian Schools; Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature, G. E. Veith alternating with American Literature, Simonds; King Lear, Shakespeare;  The Age of Revolution (continued from last year) Winston Churchill; American Short Stories, this term focusing on Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne;  The Weather Book, Eric Sloane;

Thursday: The Planets, Dava Sobel/A Walk through the Heavens, by Milton Hefietz (sky maps Wil Tirion); A House for My Name, Peter Leithart;  Scales, Intervals, Keys &  Triads, John Clough; Economics for Everyone (DVD), R.C. Sproul;  The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher, Lewis Thomas;

Friday:  Notes on the Piano, Ernst Bacon; Ourselves, Charlotte Mason;

Most Days:  Reading Count of Monte Cristo (it’s a long book…) and Student News Daily, entries in Current Events Notebook, and Commonplace Book, and Book of Centuries, sketching maps or something from our walks for Nature Journal, and each day reading and discussing one poem from the English Romantic Poets;

Three Times Weekly: Format Writing, Frode Jensen; Henle Latin,  Life of Fred Algebra;

The Daughter also practices piano 90 minutes a day, and we really try to get out and walk or ride bikes most days, so we’ll see how it goes. It is not unusual for me to make a shift in the schedule after a few weeks if something isn’t working, but this is the plan for now.

*Had this in draft folder since September waiting for photos.  Just found it. ;D