Getting Ready for World History

My oldest is ready for Hearts for Him Through High School - World History! 

We are making a few changes to the credits for her tenth grade year:

• She will continue Easy Peasy Spanish, completing Level 2 this year.
• She will not be doing the Fine Arts.  She did a half credit of music theory last year.  This year, she is taking a choir class.  My kids also do a homeschool drama program, so she has a lot of art exposure.
• She will not do the Bible as written in the guide.  She did Pilgrim's Progress over the summer, completing it in September.  The rest of the Bible will be skipped.  She will be doing Awana as well as Faith Bible Institute for Bible.
• She is taking an in-person literature course that includes some writing.  So, she will not be doing the literature and writing in WH.  She is doing the dictation and grammar, and I am assigning a few other short writing assignments to round out the year.
• For math, she is doing CLE Algebra 2.

It sounds like we are changing a lot!  But, she will still be doing five and a half boxes as written (out of 11), which is half the guide!

My daughter has three binders for the HOD part of her school work, plus the Book of Centuries that she started in World Geography and a binder for answer keys.  The first is for history.  It has the notebooking pages from HOD as well as the pages for Short Lessons in World History.  I went through and typed out all of the activities from Short Lessons.  It took a long time, but since I have four kids, I thought it was worth it.  The puzzles would not be easy to do on notebook paper, and I didn't want them to write in the book.  So, it seemed like the easiest thing to do.  In the front pocket of the binder, I also put copies of the pages from Critical Thinking.  I might go back at some point and type these up instead of using the "scanned" copy of the book.  But, I am not sure how formatting will work.  It might take measuring, etc to make sure they still fit in the notebooking pages.

The second binder is for health.  First, I have very basic pages for the review activities.  I know my daughter is terrible at putting notebook paper into her binders, so I decided to print lined paper and putting it in the binder for her.  Each chapter has one paper, with lines on both sides.  Than,  I "scanned" and printed all of the tests and quizzes needed for the year, using the list in the introduction of the guide.  I don't like how they came out of the printer, but I didn't have time to type up all of those after spending so much time on the Short Lessons pages!  Again, I might go back and type them at some point.  But, they are readable, and they will work.  I also went ahead and bought the answer key from MFW.  The one HOD sells only has answers for tests.  The MFW one has all the answers.

The third binder is for Pilgrim's Progress.  I love that AIG made the pages for the questions available for download.  Although it is slightly tedious to get all of the pages printed, as each assignment is a different file, it is easier than scanning or typing up those pages!  (Since this binder is done, it has alreayd been taken apart and stored for the future!)

For science, it appears everything is done in the PACE workbooks.  I considered taking out the tests, but it appears HOD doesn't really assign them.  So I just left them in.  Half way through the guide, and it hasn't been an issue keeping them in.

For grammar and dictation, my daughter is continuing the composition books she has used before.  When they are full, she gets a new one.  She finished Level 7 of dictation this fall (during WH) and has now started Level 8, and she will finish Level 7 of R&S English this year as well.

Revival to Revolution Take 2

 My second child finished Resurrection to Reformation yesterday, and he will start Revival to Revolution on Monday!!!

I did start organizing things like I did for my first, but then I realized I wanted to make a few changes.  So, I will go over how I set up everything for this guide this time around.

History Binder
This binder has the notebooking pages from HOD.  There are two "sections" - the normal pages and then the Signer study pages.  I think we will start with all of the cards together, and then he can cut them apart at the end if he likes.  I have created a template in Word so he can type the information for the back of the cards if he likes.  Since he has been typing his history narrations since this summer, I am going to guess he will type those as well. 

  

Science Binder
This binder is set up very similar to how I did it the first time as well. The first part is the notebooking pages for the inventor study. 

 

Then, I asked my son if he wanted to use the workbook as is or if he wanted me to take the pages out.  Since the workbook doesn't stay open well, he asked that I take the pages out.  I used a hair dryer to soften the glue.  And then I pulled out chunks of pages.  Once I had all of the pages out, I trimmed them to 8.25 inches, which cut off any remaining glue.  I then placed them into the binder, adding dividers for each unit.  I also put the one page for the experiments in the back pocket, as I thought that was a better place than the box.

 

 

Music Appreciation
This is a totally new binder for this year.  My oldest never put the full lapbook together, so I thought we would approach things a little differently.  First, I took the text from Pieces with a Purpose and pasted them into a Word document. 

 

Then, I screenshotted the pages for the Periods of Music, and pasted those into Word.  This makes the text bigger and easier to read! 

 

Next, I printed all of the parts for the timeline.  I then cut them apart and laminated them.  I taped the actual timeline together, and then I placed glue dots on the back of each composer.  My kids can now place the people on the timeline, and take them off.  All of this is taped to the top of a manila folder. 

 

Inside the manila folder I have the orchestra.  I placed all of the pieces into a little zip lock, so we don't loose those. 

On the back of the folder, I have the vocabular.  I placed a strip of cardstock down the middle to keep the "keys" from opening as pages are flipped.  But it is still very easy to open and read the definition. 

 

After the folder, I have the Music Appreciation page, printed on both sides.  I printed it a total of ten times, but I can always print more if needed. 

Behind those pages, I have a pocket divider with the pictures for Music Appreciation and Collection of Composers.  My son can then easily cut out the pictures as he needs them.

 

Finally, I made my own version of the Collection of Composers.  Those little books are SO easy to loose.  And sorting through to find the right one can be a pain.  So, I just made a notebooking page for those.  There is a spot for the picture (that would be on the front of the little book). 

Finally, I printed the Composer Cards and have them in another zip lock.  These likely won't stay in the binder, as they are very thick.  But, I did punch holes so I can store them in the binder at the end of the year until my third starts Rev2Rev.  I will only pull out the Music Appreciation and Collection of Composer pages to save with my son's completed work.

Geography, State Study, and Worthy Words
The last binder is "everything else."  For geography, I printed the student pages from MapTrek.  I already have a binder with all of the teacher pages for RtR-MtMM.

 

For State Study, I removed the appendix pages from the spiral.  The answer key pages I have stored with my other answer keys.  Then I placed the reference pages in page protectors, so I don't have to remove those for my next child.  I placed the picture pages in a pocket divider, so my son can easily cut those out when he needs them.

For Worthy Words, I printed the tone and purpose information on colored cardstock, so it can easily be spotted.  My daughter didn't complete many of the pages, but my son might use them more (I reused most of the ones I had for my daughter!).  With four kids, often they can't report immediately.  So, jotting down some notes should be helpful for him.

Other Boxes/Subjects
Math: He will be continuing Horizons Prealgebra.  When he finishes that, I am considering buying an inexpensive Prealgebra workbook to do as a review before Algebra 1.  He struggles with signed numbers and not doing all of the steps still, so I think some "easy" review will be helpful!  (He CAN do signed numbers, but he often just ignored the sign.  If it is focused on signed numbers, he has no problem.  But, he gets overwhelmed easily and misses steps.)

Writing: We are getting close to finishing Wordsmith Apprentice.  Whenever we finish that, we will be starting Jump In for writing. Most of his work for writing is in the workbooks, but he also has a composition book for any longer writing.  I often store anything typed in the history binder, as there is always extra room there.

Grammar: We will be doing Rod and Staff 5, first half, with Rev2Rev.  My goal is for him to complete Level 6 by the end of high school, as I feel that is more than enough for him.  What he does written (only what can't be done easily orally) is done in a composition book we continue level after level.

DITHOR: He has 2-3 more genres of the 4/5 workbook (with 5/6 books), and then he will move on to the 6/7/8 workbook.  I hope he will be able to complete all of 6/7/8 by the end of MtMM, but he may end up 1-2 genres short.

Bible: He will continue Awana for Bible quiet time (T&T this school year, Trek next school year).  We will be doing the worldview study in Rev2Rev as well.

Dictation: We will keep chugging along!  I don't know if he will get through all of the levels, but we will try.  He has his current level in a report folder, and he has a composition book he has used since the beginning to write in.

Getting Ready for World Geography (Take 1)

My oldest started Heart of Dakota's World Geography guide this summer.  She is using it for 9th grade.  We have made a few changes to the guide to work best for our family.  

• She is not doing the Bible study in the guide (Rooted and Grounded).  Instead, this summer she did Bible Bee Witness, and during the school year, she will be doing Awana Journey.  She is doing the devotional though.
• She is doing Easy Peasy Spanish 1 instead of what is scheduled in the guide.  I had originally thought she would do dual credit for Spanish next year.  But while researching colleges, I realized her top choice currently doesn't require foreign language.  And with COVID and all of the craziness with that, she might not do as much dual enrollment.
• She just started Jacob's Geometry with Dr. Callahan's videos.  She did Horizons Algebra (1) last year.

Now that we are 7+ units into the guide, I think we have things set up pretty well.  Here are the binders/notebooks she has this year:

1. Book of Centuries
   Since this will be used throughout high school, I have put it in its own binder.  In the front pocket, I put the pictures printed on sticker paper.  She can then easily cut them out and place them into the timeline.
   
   

   

   
   
2. Expedition Journal and World Religions and Cultures Binder
   This binder contains the notebooking pages for those two boxes of the guide.  I also have the living library and storytime bookmarks in the pockets of the binder.
   
   
   
3. Literature and Logic
   In the WG Facebook group, there is a file for the Fallacy Detective questions.  I printed those out, and placed them in a binder.  I have also added an area for all the pages with the literature answers in it.  My daughter prefers to write the answers to the questions instead of discussing them with me.  So she stores the "full" pages in this binder.
   
   
4. Answer Keys and Resources
   The IPC science program came with an unbound answer key/instructor resource material.  I put all of these pages in a big binder we already owned. 
   

   

   
   
   
   Jacob's Geometry comes with student reference material (glossary, formulas, etc).  I put these into a standard pocket and brad folder.  I also put the schedule I made for my daughter into this folder, so she can easily see what to do each day.
   

   

Here is everything in her bins currently.  You will notice that there are composition books for grammar, writing, dictation, and Spanish.  I also have a file folder in her Spanish area for anything she prints out for Easy Peasy Spanish 1.