Mid-Year Homeschool Update ll 2024-25 ll High School and Middle School

 Wow!  The first semester of this school year has absolutely flown by.  I can't believe that we're already halfway through the year, and. yet, all of December has been non-stop.  And despite my best intentions, our homeschool has been in full force this Christmas season.  This was the year that I realized having high schoolers sometimes means a more hectic holiday season.  A lot of it has to do with my junior taking a DE course while pouring tons of hours with this final push for The Nutcracker.  It's all good things, just lots of things.

For my 11th grader, she's taking three courses from me: Algebra II, American History, and Physics.  American History from Notgrass has been a great fit for our family.  We're not doing all the projects, but I do have her pick a project or writing assignment each week to accomplish.  I try to keep this very carefree so she can follow her interests and explore things that she might not necessarily have the time to explore.  We've separated it from the English credit, but I do have a lot of the novels available for her to pick up as she chooses.

Her DE course, Eng 1A, was a challenge before, but it really picked up just before Thanksgiving and continues to be a challenge.  She'll finish with a decent grade, and I'm so proud of her, but it's definitely been a lot during dance season.  I think I underestimated how much time this course would take, and I should have prepared her better.  Looking back, that's a word of advice I'd have for any homeschool family.  Your child may be perfectly capable of completing this course, but are they in a season to devote the time that's necessary to complete well.  It is a step up in time and prep from high school and should be treated that way.  I knew that before, but I REALLY KNOW that now.

My 8th grader has worked through his Math challenges.  I did, too.  :-) And so many things are going well currently.  Our big struggle currently is the fact that I assigned a Living History project just before Thanksgiving.  And I love what's coming out of that assignment.  However, this is just not the right time of year.  We are on the struggle bus to finish it.  Neither of us has the heart to get it done, but we're pushing through.  

On a positive note, we've been reading A Christmas Carol and talking through character development and storyline.  It's been a great study.  I'm so glad we did this.  This little novella is jam-packed with so much good stuff, and yet, it's a gentle, fun way to enjoy the holidays and still keep learning.

Incredibly, that's our first semester... so many lessons learned so much good... a few bumps along the way, but realizing that kids keep growing, and we just work through the challenges.  Such a blessing to be at home with my kids, learning together.  

How is your homeschool year going?