Homeschooling: The Secondary Core Subjects

This is our fourth year using Sonlight for history, a literature based curriculum. It's perfect for Kylen given his love for books, though he hasn't read a single one! Nope! Instead, he likes to hear me read, and I like to learn history alongside him. We're currently covering the Eastern hemisphere and have about seven books left (plus encyclopedia selections) which should give us plenty of time to finish before summer. In addition, I read other books throughout the year for fun. All this translates into a significant portion of our days spent with me reading while Kylen occupies his hands in various ways. He's able to concentrate better while doing something, and lately that something has usually been LEGOs.

Our favorite books this year have been: The Master Puppeteer, Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun, Eric Liddell: Something Greater than Gold, and Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde.

We decided to try science through our co-op, which has worked well. It's been nice doing note booking/experiments there and keeps us accountable in a subject that tends to get neglected. I've been impressed with the text: Apologia General Science. The author gives clear and thorough information while doing a fine job of presenting evolution alongside creation and then explaining why the latter is superior. The class has been beneficial in other ways. Kylen was struggling to keep up with the writing, and that inspired him to make a permanent switch to cursive. It's also helped improve his listening skills and the ability to record information in a quick and efficient manner.

Latin is a new subject and our first serious study of a foreign language. I went round and round about what to choose -- Spanish, French, Greek? In the end, I decided on Latin, because I felt it would improve his vocabulary and understanding of our own language. He's had an interest in word origins for years, and I figured Latin would play right into that (and it has!). Though we have a few complaints about the curriculum itself (frequent errors among other issues), he's doing fairly well and likes the subject for the most part. We'll probably continue with it next year using a different curriculum.

Well, that's about it for the core subjects! Join us right here next time for Homeschooling: The Extras!