A Stable Beginning

Monday, August 12, 2024

Here we go with year 16!

Can you believe it? We started year 16 of homeschooling today! Wow, never in a million years did I think we would be in this spot doing life, living and learning under our roof. You want to know what's equally impressive? We have lived in this same house for 15 years! What was once just supposed to be a quick tour on the east coast has turned into an extended stay with two children added to our family. And you know what...I am so glad that God has placed us just where we needed to be.

Montana started her last first day of high school this morning! So bittersweet. I can't believe we have another hgh school senior. She will be our 4th graduate from ASBCA in May and our first graduate to be fully home educated. That alone is a huge accomplishment in my book.

Montana has a pretty loaded plan of study this year and I am really excited that she has the opportunity to knock out some of her general education requirements by doing dual enrollment. The local community college has lowered the tuition to just $25.00 per credit! Currently she is set up to take three dual enrollment classes in the fall semester. She will also start her college applications process in September. As of right now, she is qualified for the full tuition/fees scholarship at her first choice school. She doesn't want to go too far and she is familiar with the campus as she did a summer intensive last year so she may only apply to this one school. In my mind that is scary for some reason. But, the school has the major she wants to study and it's close so maybe we will just sit back and see how it plans out.

McKenzie is officially a high schooler! I don't know if I am ready. The high school years fly by so fast. I know she will be prepared to fly the nest when it is her turn, but man, my baby girl is a freshman!

She too has a jam packed schedule, but I do think it will be manageable even with her busy training schedule. She is set to compete Level 9 again and she is hyper focused to stay healthy so she can qualify for Eastern's next May. McKenzie is taking three courses online with Veritas Press and she is looking forward to them. She was wanting to start her modern foreign language this year but we held off to finish the Latin series with Latin II. I know it will pay dividends down the road and at most schools it is now an accepted foreign language. She is hoping to start Russian but we may settle for German because it is offered more widely online and she would have the option to do dual enrollment German in 12th grade. Thus earning 5 foreign language credits for high school, 2 Latin and 3 German. I know that will make her stand out come her university application season as she has her heart set on a highly selective school.

Our Micah is in 5th grade! If you are a long term reader you're probably thinking that that went by super fast...because it did! He's 10 years old now and knows it all and can already argue his point about all things. Which honestly sometimes all I need to hear is "Yes, Ma'am". But in all seriousness, he's a good boy and we are super proud of the young man he is becoming.

Micah has spent the summer playing baseball on All * Stars and his travel team. The boys had a good run even after all the adult stuff that interfered with them playing. When I tell you it was H-O-T, I definitely mean it was HOT on the fields. Some had trees to shade the grounds but many did not. Fall ball is starting up in a few weeks and Micah has invited to a new training program just across state lines. It's only 45 minutes and he is looking forward to the training to improve his batting and overall game play. He took lessons this summer and we have already seen huge improvement so we think it is worth the time and drive commitment.

I know I have been absent from this blog for awhile...I do hope to get better at that this year. Like I really want to try and write something weekly. I don't even know if anyone but my Grandma will read it, but it's okay! {Hi, Grandma!} So, stick around and see what is happening in our neck of the woods.

Until next time friends!

Monday, April 8, 2024

2024 ~ 2025 Plan of Study: 5th, 9th, & 12th grades

Morning friends! It’s that time of the year again. You know the one where I share all the grand plans we have for the upcoming school year. I don’t know about you, but I am super excited to share our plans with you. It’s very freeing getting the plans out of my head and onto paper and the blog. Once again, I have had all three kids enrolled in their upcoming online courses with Veritas Press Scholars since the beginning of February. Our initial plans went from Montana only taking two courses to her enrolling into five! More on that in a minute. Veritas Press has been a huge blessing in our schooling since we started utilizing their a la carte courses when Madison was in high school. I am grateful to be able to take advantage of a classical education model and come alongside the amazing teachers to give my children an amazing classical education.

I’ve been planning for next school year since last December when I had a consult with our fabulous VP Consultant, Jen. She really helped me see the big picture of things for the rest of McKenzie and Micah’s schooling. I was <this> close to enrolling McKenzie in the Veritas Press Diploma program. I didn’t for several reasons, but mainly because I don’t want to give up our way of doing history or math. What’s the saying? “If it’s not broke, then don’t fix it”.

I am excited to say that we are entering our 15th year of homeschooling! For you Mama’s in the trenches with littles or those in the middle, keep going! Bottom line… it is worth it! Every.single.minute. There will always be doubt that you’re not doing enough or doing something wrong that will mess up your child for life, but you’re not! “Do the work of homeschooling” and you will reap the benefits down the road. As always, I want to note that any links below are not affiliated links. I just put them in for my reference and yours if you want to check the curriculum out. Also, because we have been schooling for so long and I am coming up on my 5th time through high school, I already own most of the curriculum listed as I try to shop our shelves first before investing into something new.

Without further ado, here’s our 2024 ~ 2025 Plan of Study.

Micah, is rising to 5th grade! He started his online learning this school year for 4th grade, and it has been the best thing for him. He is finishing up Latin 3, Linguistics 4, and Saxon Math 3 (Saxon 5/4) online. I made a mistake and had him enrolled in Linguistics 4 instead of Linguistics 5 which would have been a better fit challenge wise. But the silver lining is that he now knows the spelling rules and his spelling is even better. For 5th grade we are going to go back to our beloved Rod & Staff Spelling because he now can read cursive which is the reason why we switched last year. For 5th grade Micah will take two courses online including Latin 4, Grammar & IEW Writing 4. We will continue using Sonlight for History for him, but I am going to tweak it to fit us as I have done with the girls for 5th grade. He will also use the self-paced history course from Veritas Press to round out our study. It's a biology year in science for us but I’m still up in the air about which curriculum we will use for Micah. I have narrowed it down to three programs, Elemental Science Logic Stage Biology, Real Science Odyssey Biology 2 (minus the evolution chapters), or BJU Homeschool Life Science. I have done both Elemental Science and RS Odyssey with his older sisters, but I am thinking he will need something different to fit his learning style. Plus, I would like something that is Christian based, so I am leaning towards BJU’s Life Science.

Micah's Plan of Study for 2024-2025 will be:

Bible

~ Veritas Press Genesis to Joshua Self-Paced Bible

Math

~ Saxon 6/5

Language Arts

~ Shirley Grammar 4 online with Veritas Press

~ IEW Structure & Style Writing, Year 1-Level 2A online with Veritas Press

~ Rod & Staff Spelling, Book 6

~ Script and Scribe Truth Traveler

~ Veritas Press Literature 4

He will read:

• Mary Poppins

The Hobbit

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Twenty-One Balloons

Faerie Gold

Leepike Ridge

Dangerous Journey

History/Geography

~ Sonlight Core G – Ancient History, we will spread this Core over two years

~ Veritas Press Self-Paced History – Old Testament/Ancient Egypt

Science

~ BJU Homeschool Life Science

Greek Myths

~ Memoria Press D'Aulaires' Greek Myths

Latin

~ Latin 4 w/ Latin for Children, B online with Veritas Press

Baseball – Sunday Select team, off season training

Weekly Co-Op

~ Magic School Bus Science

~ Around the World Geography

~ PE

~ Blood & Guts

McKenzie is officially heading to high school! I am excited and a little sad at the same time. Sad because it means she just has 4 short years at home. However, I am preparing her to soar when the time comes so we are going to make the most of each of the years we have left homeschooling. She has done an amazing job at handling her course load for 8th grade. As I said earlier, I was going to sign her up for the diploma program with Veritas Press, but decided against it and we will proceed with our course of study that I know will pass the NCAA Clearinghouse and keep her competitive for USAFA (Not that Veritas Press is not competitive for highly selective universities). McKenzie will earn 6 high school credits for her 8th grade year to count towards high school. A combination of three core classes and three electives.

McKenzie's Plan of Study looks like this for 2024-2025:

Bible {1 credit}

~ Sonlight Bible 210 with Westminster Catechism

Math {1 credit}

~ Saxon Algebra 1

Honors English 9 {1 credit}

~ Composition 1 online with Veritas Press

~ Rod & Staff Grammar, 9/10, Book 1

~ Rod & Staff Spelling 8

~ Wordly Wise, Book 9

Honors Science {1 credit}

~ Apologia Biology online with Veritas Press

Honors Literature {1 credit}

~ Sunlight Core 210 Classical Literature

Honors History {1 credit}

~ Tapestry of Grace, Year 1(Rhetoric level) – Ancient World History

Foreign Language {1 credit}

~ Latin II online with Veritas Press

Electives

~ Apologia Health {1 credit}

~ Drawing basics @ co-op {1/2 credit ?}

~Yearbook / Photography @ co-op {1 credit}

~ Theater @ co-op {1/2 credit ?}

PE {1 credit}

~ Level 9 Gymnastics, 28 hours a week

Extras

~ SAT/ACT Prep (30 minutes/day)

Total yearly credits: 11 credits

Montana will officially be a high school senior in August! Remember how I said time flies once they hit high school? She will continue to take dual enrollment courses to finish out her high school years. This year she will take four courses that will count for 5 dual enrollments. She is still undecided on what she wants to study at university in the fall of 2025, but these courses will give her a jump start on her general educational requirements. Montana is going to take the ACT one more time over the summer to try and raise her score a little more. She is on the bubble to going up one full point, which translates more merit money or full ride depending on which university she attends.

Montana's Plan of Study looks like this for 2024-2025:

Bible {1 credit}

~ Sonlight Bible 510 Worldview Studies

Math {1 credit}

~ Calculus 1: Early Transcendental Functions online with Veritas Press (AP exam)

Honors Science {1 credit}

~ Apologia Physics 1 online with Veritas Press

Honors English 4 {1 credit} (DE)

~ Sonlight Core 630 British Literature (AP exam)

Honors History {1 credit}

~ Sonlight Core 500 World History

Honors Foreign Language {1 credit} (DE)

~ Spanish 102 at local CC (DE)

PE {1 credit}

~ home workouts

Electives

~ Psychology 101 at local CC (DE) {1 credit}

~Art History at local CC (DE) {1 credit}

~ Principles of Advanced Drawing @ co-op {1/2 credit}

~ LEGO Creativity & Problem Solving @ co-op {1/2 credit}

Extras

~ Mother’s Helper 1/day a week for 4 hours

~ Student Teaching Spanish 6-12 @ co-op

Total yearly credits: 9.0 credits for High School / 15 credits for College

That’s it in a nutshell! Thanks for reading this far. If we happen to change anything over the course of the year I will update this post.

Until next time friends, have a blessed day!

Monday, May 29, 2023

2023 - 2024 Plan of Study ~ 11th, 8th, & 4th grades

Morning friends!

I am finally ready to share our 2023-2024 Plan of Study! When I tell you this year has been a labor of love, I mean it. I’ve been on my knees many times over the last few months praying and planning about our upcoming school year and our Plan of Study. Countless days I have been up late into the night researching…thinking…planning and replanning. Trying to formulate a (loose) long term plan of attack for my youngest two who, Lord willing, will get the chance to be student-athletes like their older sister. My current high schooler is also forefront in my mind as she has reached the level of whether we take the AP or Dual Enrollment (Early College) route. This fall the countdown will start and she will have just two years left. I’m leaning towards the latter as we currently have orders to stay in the area and we can get a waiver so we don’t have to pay out of state tuition as we would have had to with Madison and Mikayla when they were at this stage.

photo credit/blog post @ AfterThoughts

I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said there are not days that I feel physically and mentally done with homeschooling. It’s hard work! I’ve wanted to quit, to throw in the towel… but I can’t, I won’t. The stakes are too high, we’ve come so far! This is my job, this is what the Lord has placed before me as my task for the last 14 years. Plus, if you know me, I’m no quitter 😊.

I think this is probably the latest that I have ever waited to share our plans. I have had all three kids enrolled in their upcoming online courses with Veritas Press Scholars since February, so I’ve been planning for next school year since January! Things kept being thrown at me and we have been traveling a lot this year, but I have finally figured out the direction we’re going to go! I want to note that any links below are not affiliated links. I just put them in for my reference and yours if you want to check the curriculum out. Also, because we are coming up onto our 15th year and fifth trip through high school, I already own the majority of the curriculum listed as I try to shop our shelves first before investing into something new.

Montana will be in 11^th grade and is enrolled in three online classes, Saxon Advanced Math (Pre-Calculus), Honors Anatomy & Physiology, and Honors Spanish 3. The latter two offer a Dual Enrollment opportunity. At the time of penning this post, Montana is also currently enrolled in an online AP English Language course, however, I am in the process of registering her for the Early College program with Regent University.

Montana's Plan of Study looks like this for 2023-2024:

Bible ~ Sonlight Bible 410 {1 credit}

Math ~ Saxon Advanced Mathematics (Pre-Calculus) online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

Honors Science ~ Apologia Advanced Biology (AnPhy) online with Veritas Press (Early College/DE) {1 credit}

English 3 ~ English 101 with Tidewater Community College (FALL) {1 credit}

Honors History ~ Sonlight Core 400 American Government {0.5 credit}

Honors Literature ~ Sonlight American Literature 430 {1 credit}

Honors Foreign Language ~ Spanish 3 with Veritas Press (Early College/DE) {1 credit}

PE ~ softball (Rec ball) / home workouts {1 credit}

Electives:

Economics ~ Thinkwell {0.5 credit}

Personal Finance ~ GHW {0.5 credit}

Driver’s Ed {0.5 credit}

Extras

~ PSAT/ACT 1 hr/day

~ Mother’s Helper 1/day a week for 5 hours

Total yearly credits: 9.0 credits for High School / 9 credits for College

McKenzie will be in 8th grade this year and is enrolled in four online classes with Veritas Press Scholars, Latin 1, Grammar & Writing Transition, Logic 1, and Physical Science. Three of the courses are for high school credit as well as her Sonlight and Math course below. I plan to add to the writing course to make it count as an English 1 credit and we have a fall back plan in case the course does not pass the NCAA Clearinghouse down the road. She has big goals and wants a chance to be a collegiate gymnast at her current dream school, the US Air Force Academy (or anywhere she can gain a spot).

If you’re a long term reader of this blog you know that in 2014 when McKenzie was turning 5 years old we opted her out of officially starting Kindergarten with the State. She did in fact complete her Kindergarten year 2014, just not on paper. So when she did officially start Kindergarten in 2015, she was working at the 1^st grade level. Essentially she has been working a year ahead each year.

Eighth grade is when we normally start earning high school credit in our homeschool, however, next school year McKenzie is going to attempt to complete a full 9th grade course load for 8th grade. I am in no way trying to rush the high school process. I have talked with several other homeschooling families who have taken this route with success. We have been preparing for this jump and she is ready for this step.

McKenzie's Plan of Study looks like this for 2023-2024:

Bible ~ Sonlight Bible 110 {1 credit}

Math ~ Saxon Algebra 1/2

English 1

~ Composition with IEW's The Elegant Essay online with Veritas Press

~ Our Mother Tongue Grammar online with Veritas Press

~ Rod & Staff Spelling 8

~ Interactive Latin & Greek Roots Notebook

Science ~ Apologia Physical Science online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

Honors Literature ~ Sonlight American Literature 100 {1 credit}

Honors History ~ Sonlight American History 100 {1 credit}

Foreign Language ~ Latin 1 online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

PE ~ Level 9 Gymnastics, 26-28 hours a week

Electives:

~ Logic 1 online with Veritas Press {1 credit}

Total yearly credits: 6 credits

Micah, my baby boy, is jumping into online learning with three classes for 4th grade, Memory Period I, Grammar & IEW Writing 3, and Latin 3. Honestly, I wanted to enroll him into a Saxon 5/4 Math and/or IEW Linguistics 4 (Spelling) class, but deep down I can’t justify the cost at this stage. Saxon Math does take a big jump as far as the formatting of the lessons so I’m hoping we don’t butt heads too much over that. He will use Nicole the Math Lady for lesson instruction even though I can teach 4th grade math 😊

Micah's Plan of Study for 2023-2024 will be:

Bible/Recitations

~ Sonlight Bible Core E

Math

~ Saxon 5/4 online with Veritas Press

Language Arts

~ IEW Fix it Grammar, book 1

~ IEW Structure & Style Writing, Year 1-Level A online with Veritas Press

~ IEW Phonetic Zoo Spelling, Level B

~ Script and Scribe - Americana, Poetry & Art Study

Linguistics 4: IEW Phonetic Zoo online with Veritas Press

History/Geography/Literature

~ Sonlight Core E – American History, part 1

Science

~ Elemental Science: Physics for the Grammar Stage

~~Greek Myths~~

~~~ Memoria Press D'Aulaires' Greek Myths~~

Latin

~ Latin for Children, A online with Veritas Press

Baseball, Fall & Spring ball, private lessons during the off season

Micah will be the only one attending our beloved co-op for enrichment courses next year as well. McKenzie wants to take Drama but with her training schedule it’s hard to fit in unless she goes completely to night practice, which she doesn’t want {and neither do I 🙂}. Montana’s weekly babysitter job is switching to Tuesday mornings in September so we spread the bulk of her online courses to M/W, and she doesn’t want to sit in study hall all day to do her online courses. I’m going to be teaching a class on Time Management/Study Skills/Functional-Decorative Planning to middle schoolers as well as aiding in two science classes. I’m excited for co-op next school year!

I’m pretty sure we will be traveling all over the country again for gymnastics with McKenzie and trying to catch as many college meets of Mikayla’s too! Micah wants to make a Travel ball team next year so he will start taking private lessons in pitching as well as fielding/batting in the off season. Unfortunately, I believe Montana will age out of softball eligibility after the fall season so we need to look into something else to fulfill her PE requirement if she can’t play. She may look into being an umpire, but she also wants to focus on her drawing and possibly creating illustrations for sale. Micah will also be bridging to a Weblo 1 in Cub Scouts in a few short weeks. His Pack does a lot of exciting adventures and we’re looking forward to more camping throughout the year.

If you’ve read all of this, YOU are a ROCKSTAR! Leave me a comment, I’d love to connect with you and talk about your homeschool plans.

Until next time friends, have a blessed day!

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Wordless Wednesday ~ Happy birthday!

http://astablebeginning.com

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Wordless Wednesday

http://astablebeginning.com

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Wordful Wednesday

I had so much fun at GoWild in WASHIngton, D.C. My roommate was amazing and I met so many new planner friends. Even some local ones that I hope to catch up with soon. I'll be typing up a post this weekend and getting more active on the blog...I have a lot to talk about in general! Until then, be blessed friends!

http://astablebeginning.com