Homeschooling Kortney

I have to say that homeschooling Kortney has been pretty easy.  Frankly, it's quite relaxing having her home.  Between homeschooling and playing piano together I think we are closer than we have been in a long time.  Below are a few tidbits of information about my days with her.

1.  I don't have to pry her out of bed in the mornings.  I usually try to have her up between 8:30 and 9:00.  She usually gets started on her work right away.

2.  She likes to do her school work in her pajamas.  She will get dressed for the day after her work is finished.  Oftentimes, I will find her working in her room; especially on cold mornings. 

3.  Most days she gets all of her work done in about two to three hours.  Below is what her course load is:

Daily Devotion:  Devotion is done first before anything else in the morning.  Devotion time consists of prayer time, bible reading, and reading from a book that will help her grow as a person. I have her pray for ten minutes daily.  Her Bible reading right now consists of thirty days of girly themes from the Bible.  Her devotional I won't mention by name as I know she would be really embarrassed if I did.  All I will say is that it is about real life issues that teenagers face.

History:  Her text is Land That I Love.  It is American History with Christian views left in the text.  All of her curriculum is Christian based.  Both her and I have found this to be very interesting.

Math:  Algebra 1 using Saxon Math.  The cool thing about this program is I ordered the teacher videos to supplement my lack of math skills.  Right now she doesn't watch many of the videos as she understands what she is working on.  However...when she gets stuck I refer her to the videos.  Every problem covered in the text/tests has a video.  It's WAY awesome!!!

Science:  Kortney has been struggling a bit in science this year.  Each section has a TON of information.  Being the great student that she is, she asked if we could slow down a bit in science so that she could take notes.  So...that is what we have done.  Controlling our own schedule is one of the great benefits of homeschooling.  As of right now she has learned about the creation of the universe and about stars and constellations.  I think I am going to have her create a Power Point presentation on a constellation as a project so that she can continue to work on her computer skills as well.

Grammar:  I have been absolutely astounded at the fact that I have learned that my daughter has not been taught proper grammar after eight years of being in school.  By this point in her schooling she should know most rules about grammar and be writing more reports and other various larger writing projects.  Grammar should come naturally at this point.  For the last three weeks all we have been working on are capitalization rules and this has been a struggle for her.  Good thing I'm an English major as I have been able to give extra help and attention in this subject.  This is a subject we now work on together.

Spelling/Vocab:  She does great in this subject.  I am a little worried that the words are not challenging enough.  However....one thing that I really like about this spelling program is that test days cover several weeks at a time and she has to know what vocab words are a part of her list.  Each week builds off the next.  That is how I learned and to this day remember words that most people can't.

Health:  This has been pretty easy for her.  She has been working on cells, the heart, and muscles.

Literature:  I love the literature she has been reading.  Its Christian based and she is reading some awesome stories that I was never able to read as a kid because I was in public school.  There are also speed comprehension tests, which she has not done in public schools.  She also has to do book reports, which she has never done before either.  I have kept all my English Literature books and every once in a while I will catch her reading from them.

Poetry:  She dislikes poetry quite a bit.  I was a little wary about the poetry program.  We are only to spend two to three minutes a day on poetry.  Then after four weeks she is to be tested on the poem by writing the poem on paper from memory.  I thought there was no way that she was going to be able to remember this poem by spending such a short amount of time every day working on it.  Boy was I wrong!!  She already knows the poem and could write it if I tested her tomorrow.  You can say I was blown away.

PE:    Have not really focused on this yet.  She will be starting bowling season in a few weeks.  That counts...right?!?  She has also asked to go running with me.  I guess thats her way of kicking me in the booty and telling me I need to get moving again...LOL!! 

Music:  She has piano lessons once a week.  She also plays piano for our church at least once a week.  I am very proud of her dedication to the piano.  This is something she has wanted to learn and she has stuck with it for several years; even when she wasn't able to take lessons because I was ill.

Home Economics:  I guess daily chores could fit here.  Kortney also cooks one meal a week.  She picks out her own recipe and I only help if she asks.  She has loved this!  I think she likes it because if she cooks that means I do the dishes...LOL!!  Last week she made Chicken Cannelloni using a Macaroni Grill recipe she found online.  It was AWESOME!!!

4.  I have learned the hard way that Kortney and Jake cannot work in the same room together or we have crazy days.  Ha...I learned this on the first day of school.  Like I mentioned earlier, she either works in her room or in the office on my desk.  I mean really....you guys want to fight over pencils?!?  Ha...if you go back to the first picture I posted you can see what I'm talking about...LOL!  On the dry erase board shown in the picture Jake wrote, "Kortney stinks."  Then she writes a reply that says, "Good!"  Sibling love...LOL!!!

5.  Yesterday she told me she was proud of me.  My jaw dropped to the floor.  I asked her why she was proud of me and her reply was, "Because you are taking the time to homeschool me even though it is not something you are entirely comfortable with."  This really made my day.  I can never say it enough....I LOVE YOU, KORTNEY!!!  More than you will ever know.

The first three weeks of home school have been great!!  Kortney has been working so hard and I am SO very PROUD of her and the proper young lady she is becoming.