Since my topic is so broad, I didn't want to hijack the other thread .... I just need ideas and help! We are starting our sophomore year, and so far, these are the credits my dd has: Algebra 1, Spanish 1 and 2, Biology, PE, Performing Arts (this was a combo guitar lessons/drama club), World History (1/2), and English 1... Total 7.5 Our schedule for this year so far... Alg. 2 Physical Science World History (doing a full year of Notgrass) English 2 Bible I really need ideas for electives! AND publishers who have a good program/book/workbooks or whatever! Here are my ideas so far...I know we wouldn't do them all this year, but thinking ahead... Health (need 1/2 credit for graduation) Computers and Keyboarding Speech/Public Speaking American Sign Language Photography Cooking (Home Ec? She is going to cook with my mom while ds and I are at co-op, which she feels she has outgrown! ha) Soooooo...where can I find these programs? I know CLE has a Computer Basics course...any opinions? I am open to all suggestions! Thanks, gals!
For Health, Cooking, Home Ec., Look at Nutrition 101: Choose Life. We are going to be using it this coming year and I can hardly wait.
Agreed. I think we will use Nutrition 101 next year. It's a really great book! I flipped through it at the homeschool convention and was impressed.
I'd drop the English. Remember Notgrass in one credit of History, one of Bible, and one of World Lit. If you feel you still want to review grammar, use Daily Grams. Talk to me about Nutrition 101. It sounds interesting! As I said on the other thread, 4-H has awesome project books you can use for electives, without being in 4-H.
This is the Nutrition 101 description: http://growinghealthyhomes.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=182 I like how it approaches nutrition and health by breaking it down within the body systems. It teaches you why you should eat or do certain "healthy" things vs of just saying "do this because it has this in it". There are a lot of activities, including recipes and meal plans, to incorporate the lessons and ideas. The book is very colorful and full of graphics, too, so it keeps you stimulated while reading. Here are some sample pages from their website: http://www.growinghealthyhomes.com/caffeine/uploads/files/N101_Sample.pdf
Home Ec. we used Life Pacs and it was a pretty good course. Health we did Abeka..a very complete course. I have also heard Total Health is good too. ASL we used Sing Language The Easy Way. For computer literacy we used Professor Teaches..that was a great program and goes through how to use Microsoft Office.
Thanks, Jackie. I'm with you on this. My 'English 2' IS the literature from Notgrass and one book from CLE that is a three week research paper. I aso have a great workbook from R&S that is good grammar review. I'm just labeling that English 2, because that is our state graduation requirement.
Well, I looked for Nutrition 101 at the library, and they didn't have it. I'm hesitant to spend $100 for a book I can't see first! (ETA) ...AND I can't find it at any of the used boards! So maybe I'll put it off until next year, when Faythe will be a Senior, and Phillip an 8th grader! And then I can buy it from one of YOU ladies who used it this coming year....
Financial Stuff - Dave Ramsey - I decided all 4 of my kids (even PS kids) will be taking this class Teencoder - I got this through Homeschoolbuyers Coop - but I'm not sure when they are having it again. We are also doing Home-Ec through Switched on Schoolhouse, Spanish through SOS & a basic personal finance class through SOS (though we may drop that now that we are doing Dave Ramsey). Public Speaking - make it where they do a speech to the family about a topic (we are mixing it with memorization)
I highly, highly recommend Foundations in Personal Finance! We just started Tuesday evening with this as our Finance / Consumer Math course. I'll be giving .5 credit for it; it's 12 lessons. Dave Ramsey is funny and moves at a quick pace. The pace is quick enough to keep the attention of a 17 year old boy, but it's still at a pace that he is absorbing it. It really really keeps his attention and even makes him laugh out loud from time to time at Ramsey's humor. I was a little worried it would be dry (I mean it is finances and money. haha), but it's really not. I sit down and watch with him because I know I will get some great financial wisdom out of it myself; I've been enjoying it as well. It appears to be filmed during one of his conferences for adults, so sometimes it feels a tiny bit "out of touch" for teens, but at the same time it's great information that is good for any age to hear. I had heard some complain that it wasn't geared towards teens for this reason, but I really disagree. I think he does a good job of combining adult vs teen; and like I said, it's really not a bad thing that he is hearing a bit of an adult circumstance in regards to finances. Hopefully it will just plant a seed for something that comes up a little later in life. It does break away from the conference often to either Dave by himself or surrounded with a group of teens where he answers questions that are more a teens-with-part-time-jobs-and-finances level. We are only on Chapter Two and I can't say enough great things about the program!
