New Year and a New outlook!

Hello Fellow Home Schooling families, 


Look out because here comes 2012! I can't believe we are already nearly half way through the 9th grade! 


John has been plugging along really well, aside from a few problems with schedules and stress over too much work, we have done a great job with our first half of the year thus far. 
We started our year with both Constitution and History and Geography that deals with the same time period.
After the first quarter we added more practices with drama and less baseball so the memorizing of facts and time periods became a bit much for us to keep up with. We took a look at the Constitution course and realized that it is a 1 Semester class.  Thank God! So we cut that class from this quarter and will add it in either third or fourth quarter to finish up the rest of it when we are not learning the same things.In other words; when we get to the geography we will finish the constitution which I have found out is actually a Senior course level, and so not really needed yet this year. My Freshman is holding his own in Geometry with MUS being a great way to learn for my son. He listens to the lessons and does the first practice lesson in each course on Mondays, then if he gets and A he can take the test either Tuesday or Wednesday then on good weeks we continue to the next lesson, if he gets a few wrong we continue with our lesson on the rest of the week until he 'gets it' and the next practice sheet shows us when that really happens. The test I allow him three retakes to pass; thus far we have not had to use it except on the Middle Unit Test  which he took twice.


With all of the driving I have had to do this year to get people to work and to classes on time my hands on time has often been rushed. So this January I will begin letting people take public transportation more often and focusing more on the English papers ds is missing and to a little more hands on with his Science as well. 
SOS has been a blessing for Science, the projects so far we have watched on videos or discussed what happened when older brother or sister did this project years ago. 
I would really like to get my hands dirty with some more real experiments this month though! 


Do you have a favorite Science experiment?  If so feel free to post a comment! 
We get an early spring in February and so I like to do planting and such then, but with some of the early years it seemed like planting projects fell in the beginning of the science books.  
I am enjoying the way SOS has it set up this year. John started with a dab of Chemistry pretty much but has since moved on to his more enjoyable Ecology and dirt rocks and other elements of the earth we live in. I believe this year, 9th grade, will end up with a dab of biology getting him ready for the three years of Science ahead of him; Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  Can't wait for Physics but we must follow our plan to get the right lessons down. 
I like that we have had some studies with our local home school group  on Biology already because we can refer to some of that information when we get there. 


My choices for next year have begun! I am looking at Simple Schooling Biology, and possibly their US History as well, I am confident that it will be what we need, my only concern if if we have internet access where we will do our schooling. 
Plans are in place, but things have to be set in motion. 
Just like any Home School we plan way ahead, change up a few hundred times then make the set plan to do what is best for our students. 


So until then we will continue with; Bible Life Pak 9th Grade ( Survey of the Word -this is very intense! John has done a lot of digging in the Word to find answers to questions and to understand the written lessons). 
English Life Pak with reading on the side - The City of Ember and the rest of the Books of Ember series is what we are in right now. I plan to have him do some projects on the power point to go with his book reports. 
History- Life Pak 9 is becoming easy to do without the Constitution Course bogging us down. 
SOS Spanish-- going right along with this on course, he is learning to speak a few things and catches words when we are out and about that he knows. 
SOS Science 9 - see above. 
And MUS Geometry- also see above. 


We will add in PE with Baseball in February even though it seems we get way more hours a week than needed in this sport we are doing training on our own as a filler of PE time until then.  


electives will be computer graphics and communication 


This is it for now! 
Be blessed until next time!

In His Word- 12-26-11~ Hope for the New Year

Where is your hope, who is your hope in? 

This time of year when people make their plans and goals for the year I like to think on what the last year brought me.

This year it was hard, we had a rough year; some good, some bad, but we pulled through it and are ready for a bit of a better year in 2012. I believe in setting Goals, and I try to achieve them, but if not then its okay because I have another year to work on them.

My goal to complete two books is almost there, I got one finished and am in the editing process now. Look for it in the coming year.

My goals with home teaching are plugging right along.

I am okay with my goals from last year where they are at because I do not like to set them beyond an achievable level. I try to be reasonable when I make a goal.

Do you know what my goal is for the coming year?

It is to have hope!

I will have hope for this year to be better than the last.

I will have hope for tomorrow to bring me joy, but more than that to bring someone around me joy too!

Of course, I will have hope that things go better for me financially; we can all use a break there right?

I will have hope that my family is healthy, and happy, and whole.

I will have hope that my friends will know Jesus and follow His direction in their lives, as I too hope for myself to do!

None of this will be attainable with out one thing; my hope is in the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth to help me to achieve all that I desire to achieve this year.

For without His guidance I will go no where, without His love I cannot know what real love is; and with out Him in my life, there is no hope.

I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol. Psalm 16:8-10

Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful and fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.  Psalm 31:23-24

For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You.  Psalm 33:21-22

Thus I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no response. For in You, O Lord, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God. For I said “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me, lest when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.”

Psalm 38 14-16

I hope that I will follow my Lord to the place He would have me in at the end of this year; because wherever I am, there I will be, and I can only hope it will be in a good place.

 

We all need to set our hearts to hope in Him, because nothing is possible without the trust that comes with hoping in Him.

When we trust God to be there when we call then we can hope for tomorrow to be a better day knowing He is there with us.

Sometimes life deals us a lot of rotten eggs, or freezes our lemons. Though they taste nasty or bitter our days can be fruitful still if we think to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for help in these situations.

Rotten eggs can still sharpen the garbage disposal and make things move smoother through the process.  In life that means the stinky things we have to deal with can help us in some way by sharpening our instincts to avoid such things, while the bitter things can still make juice if we add a little sweetener to it. A kind thought, a joyful word… equals sweetener for the soul.

So if we look at lemons of the world as words that come to us as bitterness we just have to add the sweetener! God is good! Jesus loves you.

This morning I was dealing with some unkind words and instead of being a jerk about it like I could have I walked away and sang “Jesus loves me” quietly and thanked Him for helping me remain calm. People do not always treat us the way we would like, they are not God after all. We all grumble at times and spit out bitter words; the key is to accept that we have failed and ask forgiveness of God and man. Then go on to find the sweetener! I happen to know there is a lot of sweet delicious words in the Word of God just for today!

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for your Words in the Bible. Help us to relish the sweetness of it each day and we dig in and enjoy your Word. In Jesus name, amen.

Suggested readings: Psalm 31: 1-24, Psalm 32:1-11, Psalm 331-22, Psalm 38:1-22.

In His love,

Teresa M. Wilson

www.teresawilson.com

Copyright © 2011
   by Teresa M. Wilson.

No portion of this book study may be reproduced without explicit permission from the Author.