First Quarter Check-in 2013

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Of course, we made our plans for our homeschool, but how have those measured up to reality? Some things have gone fabulously, while others have resulted in some serious lessons learned. Here’s how our first quarter has shaped up thus far.

The good

Care Bear seems to have a new favorite subject each year based on how much she likes the format of the class. History and Biology are favorites this year. History is through Hippocampus, and she loves the flow of the class through each week. The blend of reading, plus presentation, and ending with written assignments seems to be a nice balance for her. Since it is still quite book-y, we were excited to add in a bit of art, and in sha Allah plan to do so again in the future. It really tied in nicely.

Biology is another favorite, I’m sure part of it is because she gets to hang out with a group of friends each week in our study group. Add in videos, largely from Hippocampus, and some online enrichment, I think it is again a nice balance.

IEW is always a favorite. Care Bear loves checklists and IEW makes each assignment basically a series of checklists. While I sometimes cringe at a checklist mentality, it works for her and I consistently am impressed with the writing she does through the IEW prompts each week.

Some of her other subjects are just in the realm of “it’s done.” Alhamdulilah, her Studio Arabiya class is going well, I think her Chinese class is fine (though admittedly I don’t really check on that class since it’s taken care of by Currclick), and Algebra is just something that has to happen.

The bad

I’m not sure if Literature is ever going to be in “the good” category. Care Bear has walked in my footsteps in the sense that we both hate literature in high school (though I now have an appreciation for it), and she doesn’t see the point of studying literature written long ago. Excellence in Literature does give a lot of context work, so that helps with her tying in some history and making it a bit more interesting. Still, she trudges through the reading and has a “just check the box” mentality to it. While I’d love to see her relish each book and forget to watch TV in exchange for reading time, it just isn’t her thing, and that’s fine.

The ugly

Time management was a big lesson learned in September and October. Oh, it was painful. Finally, I told Care Bear that I wouldn’t take any late work after Eid break. She had multiple extensions, forgiveness for forgotten assignments, and talks about “do what you need to do before you do what you want to do.” I had to put my foot down. She failed the first unit of Literature, and got an F in Algebra after the deadline. You know what though? We no longer have the weight of past due assignments and in terms of the never ending to-do list, it’s a clean slate. She still has to make up for those low scores throughout this year, but now we are focusing on the current assignments and not feeling the baggage of the areas she’s behind.

New energy going forward

Care Bear has been on top of her game since we came back from Eid break. Her assignments are done in time, and she’s not complaining about her work very often. It’s like she grew up into a real high school student overnight! Is life perfect? No. But I’m not nagging her about her work as she’s watching TV or talking with her friends on FaceTime.

Care Bear wants to work when she turns 14 next month, and she’s said that she knows she has to be on top of her school work in order to take on the added responsibility of a job. Obviously, that plays a piece in how well she’s doing since Eid break also. Whatever it is, I’m a happy mama and I look forward to the coming weeks and months, in sha Allah.

How is your homeschool going so far?