Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

I hope you’ve had a relaxing summer full of all your favorite summer fun. For me that’s relaxing mornings with all my kids at home, toes in the sand at the beach at least a few times, 4th of July in Tahoe with family, lots of dinners in our backyard, some home improvement projects and seeing friends that we don’t always see during the busy school year.

How about you? Does it feel like mid-summer to you or the beginning of back-to-school? It’s August 1st and I’m sad to say, it feels like back-to-school time at our house. League football practices are beginning for my 2 high school boys, my college kids are ordering their supplies and booking flights and I’m ordering the last few books for my daughter’s homeschool year. Gone are the days when we enjoyed that summer feeling until Labor Day. But I DO love anticipating all we will be learning and reading - so I’m sharing our plans today. Maybe they will give you some ideas for your own school year.

My daughter is in 8th grade and it’s my 16th year homeschooling. I’m so excited about the curriculum we are using this year - both in my homeschool and in the classes I’ll be teaching at our co-op and as a tutor. First, I’ll share Abby’s schedule then I’ll tell you about the classes I’m offering. If you live nearby, I’d LOVE to have your kids join one of my classes!!

Abby’s 8th grade year:

• Latin - Ecce Romani II (6th year of Latin)

• Writing the Essay - online with Alexandria Tutorials (I highly recommend! - lots of classic books, discussion and great writing instruction)

• Medieval History - using Beautiful Feet Books middle school curriculum - lots of amazing literature, maps, discussion and writing

• Deductive Logic - we belong to a Classical co-op so we do 2 years of Logic classes in 7-8th grade. We use THIS book from Classical Academic Press.

• Saxon Math - Algebra I We use the 3rd edition because it’s NOT common core.

• Apologia Physical Science We’ve used Apologia Science in every grade - even high school.

• Art History - We are using The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich in our co-op and I love this text because it has photos of every work of art discussed. I volunteered to teach it because I WANT to learn about famous works of art. So excited!!

Jill’s Classes:

In addition to teaching Medieval History and Art History at our co-op, I’ll be teaching a few classes for homeschoolers at my home as a tutor with several local charter schools including Visions, Valleyview, and Compass. Here they are…

Medieval History - 6-8th grade using Beautiful Feet Books middle school curriculum - lots of amazing literature, maps, discussion and writing. Thursdays 1-2:3pm in Walnut Creek.

Saxon Math - Weekly small group classes for middle school students in Math 7/6 thru Algebra I. Tuesdays in Walnut Creek. As a math tutor, I’ve seen the problems kids have over and over again. Saxon is my favorite Math curriculum because it teaches cumulatively and repetitively so kids remember concepts. You can learn more about it and get the best pricing on Saxon Math HERE.

Geography - 1-4th grade using Using “Around the World with Picture Books” part 1 from Beautiful Feet Books this class takes 1-4th graders on a trip around the world through story, art, maps and even food tastings. My children are too old for this new curriculum and I’m so excited to “borrow” a few children to teach it to! If you know an elementary student who could use a little class of their own this year, come over on Thursdays 10-11:30am for this fun class!

If you are planning for school and want some tips, check out my FREE mini-class - Organize your Homeschool. You can get through the two videos and a list of my favorite curriculum and resources in under 20 minutes.