Yesterday the girls and I took on the playroom/homeschool room. I had planned to do it on my own but both jumped in wanting to help, and I’m so glad they did because we really got in a thorough cleaning out and reorganization. The space feels so fresh now and it really has us feeling excited about spending our mornings together again as we get ready to start our new homeschool year, 8th grade and 6th grade!

Yes, somehow I have two middle schoolers this year and a few changes on the horizon! First, we are feeling settled in our new home, a big change from starting our school year at Nana’s kitchen table last year. And second, we’re joining a new co-op!

The co-op we joined midyear after our move was a super sweet group of families whom we enjoyed very much. What wasn’t a great fit for me was the teaching requirement. I felt I was spending Wednesday prepping and Thursday teaching/helping in classes, which ultimately led me to feel like I was missing out on two days of being able to focus on my own kids. While we will miss seeing that group weekly, we are grateful to still be plugged in with them socially.

Our new co-op is a Charlotte Mason inspired co-op with some methods taken from a classical education approach as well. Another change for us is that a couple core subjects will be led by teachers at the co-op instead of me at home (like 8th grade literature and composition). I’m both happy and nervous about this.

I’m optimistic it is going to fit our needs well and be a great community for us going into this new school year. Both girls participated in the middle school girls summer book club recently and while nervous upon arriving, were lit up with great things to say about the experience and the other girls when I picked them up, which brought some peace and confidence to this anxious mama’s heart.

With no teaching requirement from me I feel free to dive deeper and be more present with the other days we have together at home. There will be some required work assigned to the girls from their co-op classes for each at-home day, and I’m adding in some other curriculum to fill out what I feel will be a well rounded academic year. I think it’s going to be a really good one for us.

To accommodate our increased work load that comes along with having two middle schoolers, I plan on having us start our days earlier. We were beginning our days at 9:00, but I’m going to shift that forward to beginning at 8:30 to allow us to get the bulk of our work done by lunch time, leaving just after lunch for anything that needs to be finished up for the day.

Hailey’s 8th Grade Homeschool Curriculum

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Language Arts: Literature and Composition at our co-op: The course includes grammar, vocabulary, writing, and literature. The literature component explores literature from a variety of cultures and eras and includes short stories, poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and drama. The composition component includes creative writing, poetry, and building on essay writing skills as students prepare for more academic writing in high school.

Literature Book List: Hatchet, Anne of Green Gables, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Escape: The Story of the Great Houdini, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Swallows and Amazons, Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors”, Holes, and The Hobbit.

Math: Saxon Algebra ½ with Nicole the Math Lady

Science: Apologia General Science with co-op: The course covers a variety of branches of science including astronomy, meteorology, oceanography, earth study, geology, paleontology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. Students will also learn how to use the scientific method, how to write a lab report, and about many great historical and modern-day scientists all while being inspired to better understand science and the world around them.

Nature Study: Reptiles (fall), brooks, rivers, oceans (winter), and garden flowers and garden weeds (spring)

History: Beautiful Feet Medieval History (5-8)

Art: A focus on art and beauty in history, awareness and appreciation of famous artworks, and growing in personal, creative expression. Experience in drawing, painting, various types of mixed media, printmaking, sculpture, and more will be introduced or built upon and explored.

Extra Curricular: Piano, Musical Theater, Soccer, Basketball

Kaitlyn’s 6th Grade Homeschool Curriculum

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Language Arts: She will be in a literature and composition class through co-op. I also plan to do Logic of English Essentials program with her, starting strong for a month before co-op classes begin and continuing it alongside her co-op class as much as we are able.

Literature Book List: The Many Assassinations of Samir, Seller of Dreams, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, A Long Walk to Water, The Wind in the Willows, The Story of King Arthur & His Knights, My Side of the Mountain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Journey to the River Sea, various works of poetry.

Math: Saxon 7/6 with Nicole the Math Lady

Science: Simple Machines

Nature Study: Reptiles (fall), brooks, rivers, oceans (winter), and garden flowers and garden weeds (spring)

History: Beautiful Feet Medieval History (5-8)

Cultural Studies: Around the World in 80 Days and an emphasis on countries around the world

Extra Curricular: Musical Theater, Soccer, Basketball

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Subjects We Do Together & Morning Time

While math and language arts are fully separate subjects for the girls, there are many that we take on together. We’ll be doing Medieval History and nature study together, as well as rotating through our morning time activities. Usually with breakfast we’ll watch World Watch and discuss. Then each morning we have a new focus before we get started.

We rotate through these famous works of art cards (which have been such a huge hit), a devotional (starting this new one), personal development (currently doing How to Win Friends and Influence People for Teenage Girls which has some great advice, but I edit some of the content that I feel is more appropriate for 16+ than 11/13 as we go), handicrafts with read aloud, and music study. We found this past year how much we all enjoy this gentle entry into our days.

I’ve been hesitant on really nailing down a start date, but I think we’re going to just go for it and begin on Monday, August 4! Because of that, we’re really leaning into the relaxed schedule of summer this week. The girls and I spent 4.5 hours yesterday putting together this puzzle on a whim (it’s a good one). We’ve been swimming, watching movies, reading (Hailey, every chance she can get), and staying up later than usual. …And these are all things we can continue to enjoy in the afternoons after we get our lessons done says teacher mom 😉