As the title of this post indicates, this was my 7th school year of home educating my children. My oldest graduated last school year, his 6th and final year of education at home. He has now completed his 1st year of college where he has done very well. My youngest is completing her 7th year of home education, which is her 11th grade year by public school standards. One more year to go. Her 12th grade year is going to allow her pretty much customization in her studies. She needs to only do English and another history course to fulfill the laws graduation requirements. She is planning on taking another year of Science because she likes it. She does not yet know what she will do post graduation. It is something we are still figuring out. Not all kids have this figured out by 12th grade or even at graduation. It’s okay. If they don’t know, they shouldn’t rush into anything or randomly pick something. Getting a job that gives as many hours as possible is not a bad thing, it doesn’t matter what the job is, even that means having 2 part time jobs if you can’t find one that provides enough. Work experience is never a bad thing. One of the issues is she has several interests. She would rather do something creative, but worried about how that pays the bills. This is always the case with creative persons who enjoy artistic endeavors. Many, like myself, end up choosing to get into a different field solely because they don’t think they can ever earn money with their artistry. I won’t sugar coat it, there is a real possibility of it being difficult, not impossible, but more challenging.

So, onto what I liked and didn’t like this 7th year, my daughters 11th grade year.

• Math – We used Bob Jones Press Consumer Math course. This was actually an excellent course for all areas of practical math skill needed for every situation in your child’s life now and later. From employment wages, taxes, and insurance and even stocks and bonds, to budgeting and banking there is a lot covered here. She filed her own taxes this year as well. Do keep in mind this course is outdated in tax forms and laws as it uses tax forms from 2018 and they are quite different.
• Science – She chose to try Masterbooks Forensic Science course this year. This was the first year release of this course. I had some problems with it, however she enjoyed the course. The problems I have come with the teacher answer key not always matching up to the questions asked. This happened more than once. Also with matching answers they ask for the letter on the students paper, abcd, but they show you the name, not letter, in the answer key. This is a minor annoyance but if you were grading more than one paper and just looking for the correct letter this makes is harder to grade. I’m not sure why they did that as this is not how any other answer key is done. There were a couple occasions where the labs, which are always at the end of a chapter, have nothing to do with what your child just read and studied and therefore it doesn’t make sense and they don’t know how to do it. And other times the labs are just impossible to figure out because there isn’t enough instruction and the answer guide doesn’t provide the answer. Perhaps in future publications these things will be ironed out. In general these annoyances didn’t take away from my daughter learning and enjoying the course.
• English – She studied both grammar and literature this year. The focus really on both was essay writing and communication via logical thinking and formation of thoughts and being able to put that on paper in text. We used a combination of texts. Memoria Press Poetry and Short stories. If you have never used Memoria Press before it really is quite different than most other curriculums. While my daughter didn’t hate most of the stories she read, she did hate all the essays. Every short story (except maybe a couple) you read requires an essay of 2-5 paragraphs at the end of the lesson. There are 28 short stories. None of the poems require this. Each lesson also has worksheet questions in grammar, logic and rhetoric. I didn’t make my daughter write 28 essays but she did write several . The teacher guide gives the worksheet answers but it does not tell you how to grade the essays. I used my rubric I’ve been using for a few years to help me grade them. I try not to mark up the essays but instead use the rubric and make suggestions how to improve the writing. In college my son’s English professor actually does the same thing. This curriculum indirectly works on grammar skills but to review and keep the skill up, I also implemented a second course on grammar. She used Christian Liberty Press Applications of Grammar Communication Skills. We have used texts from this publisher before. Yes these grammar texts are quite boring, but they do work on skills needed to communicate better. She finished that text and I added in Wordsmith Craftsman, knowing that she would continue to work through that text next year. Wordsmith is very different in that there’s really no grading instruction at all. This is meant to be done completely independently by the student, but the skills learned here are important and valuable. I recommend this to any 11th-12th grade student to prepare them for college or just in general. Read more about it, here.
• Music – We covered music twice in the past 7 years. Music is a required subject area per the home education law. How you cover music is up to you, but you are required to cover it once in elementary grades (1-6) and once in secondary grades (7-12) (note: I don’t include kindergarten because it is not a required grade in PA). In retrospect I should have waited to cover our 2nd year of music, but, live and learn. The first year we covered classical composers. We used texts that went through their lives and we listened to their arrangements. The 2nd year we covered music I decided to create my own as the texts only covered male composers but mentioned people like Mozart’s sister. I was interested to find out about female composers. There were no text books on that but there is actually information to be found if you research it. So I did. I created my own sort of text book by looking up female composers from past to modern day and printed out information and went over the material with my kids and we listened to arrangements if I found them. So, I then realized I didn’t cover music in my daughters secondary grade levels, therefore I did that this year. I had hoped she’d want to learn to play the ukulele from me, but she didn’t. So, I bought Masterbooks Foundations in Worship, which is a study of hymns. The text includes you needing to listen to the music, which I found them all on youtube, and brief study of the writers life.
• The rest – The rest of the courses were all optional. She used Masterbooks Foundations in Faith for studying the Bible this year, which is basically a study in doctrine and church history and presents the gospel and other areas like prayer. Then there was culinary. She wanted to focus on cooking again this year. I bought several texts that she read through on kitchen safety, tools, techniques, flavoring foods, the science behind foods, shopping for quality ingredients, etc. She also used her skills in hands on preparation of meals.

So that’s what my 11th grader studied this school year. I liked the math and English courses because they taught needed skills, even if I think reading classic literature is not that important. I wished for more in the Forensic Science course, but my daughter enjoyed it so that’s good enough for me. I had no issues with the music course, which of course my daughter found to be boring. I had a few issues with the Foundations in Faith course, but this is because some of things they thought were important for you to learn, like memorizing creeds that I disagree on because they are useless and pointless and you should only memorize scripture. I’m not a Christian who finds rituals, or modern church history, or certain church initiated practices to be important to our relationship with Christ and our faith in the word of of God. So, it was okay, but I did have to tell my daughter areas that I didn’t agree with and why. I pointed to scripture. If you want my honest opinion, curriculums I’ve used from Positive Action for Christ were far more to my liking in what I believe. I’ve been a Christian since the 80s. I’ve learned a lot in all these years. I’ve heard a lot, read a lot, and I’m very different today than in the beginning and it’s a good thing. I’ve learned to discern and have grown closer to my redeemer.

Onward we go towards evaluation time, picking out new curriculum, taking some time off from academic work, and moving into the final year of home education. When I figure out what she’s going to work on for 12th grade I will surely share with anyone who stops by my blog. If you’re new to home education, particularly in the state of Pennsylvania, please have a look around because I have many posts about how to comply, what to do and not to do. I have all the documents you need to print and send to your school superintendent for free. The very forms I use. Don’t be intimidated by the law text. It’s quite easy to follow. Please visit my pages on these topics linked at the top of every page. While I am actively educating a child at home I will continue to keep my blog up to date. Beyond that you can expect me to post less but I may maintain my blog as things could change in the future. In the very near future I may be removing old blog posts from when I began as I learned more or I may be editing those posts with disclaimers because the information is outdated.

I still remain in a few state wide homeschool groups and continue to see incorrect information being given to new parents. Please be careful of what you read or hear from others, this includes me. Always look up what you were told and compare it to the law text itself. DO NOT rely on other parents, your school district or the PA Dept of Ed. In simple terms, YOU are responsible for knowing what is required, when, and completing it. YOU are in charge of your program. YOU are accountable. The school district has NO authority over you. That’s right, they don’t. They receive three pieces of paper from you each year : your notarized affidavit (or your unsworn declaration in lieu of the affidavit), your generic academic objectives (which can be the same ones every year), and your end of the year evaluation letter signed by your evaluator. That is it. Do districts ask for more? Yes. Are you required to give more? No. They have a specific role and process to follow. PLEASE read the law. I have many posts about this.

What about your evaluation? All that is required of you is a portfolio (which can be a folder) which includes results of nationally normed standardized tests (grades 3,5,8 only), a log of reading materials listed by title, and examples of work. How many examples is up to you. Do you need to show something for EVERY subject? Not according to the law text because it doesn’t say that at all. That means you don’t need to photograph every field trip or physical activity and show this to your evaluator. Nowhere in the law is an attendance log or physical education log required, yet I see this time and time again being told to parents. Your goal as the supervisor is to show progress. This DOES NOT mean grades. This means that your child is progressing through your program, that they are learning something. Your evaluator is tasked with assessing that progress by looking at your portfolio and speaking to your child to determine if appropriate education is occurring. You really shouldn’t be able to fail this. If an evaluator won’t sign a document certifying this, ask them why. In most cases it is because they are not following the law and expecting more than required of you. I would refuse to pay them if they don’t do the job you hired them to do and than I would find a new evaluator. Always interview your chosen evaluator prior to hiring them. Ask questions about their expectations, their qualifications and the cost. Choose one that follows what the law says. If they don’t know the law, look somewhere else.