L turns thirteen in a few short weeks. She and her twin are not quite at the stage of studying for their GCSEs but they are the stage where they are forming opinions on what they would like to study. The goal for them is similar to T in that they will take 2 GCSEs in year 9, three in year 10 and three in year 11 (currently year 8). This will hopefully give each child eight GCSEs with which to begin their future with. Once they reach 16 they will be free to go to a sixth form collage if they wish or they can stay at home to study for their A levels or other similar level course. This year for L and C is GCSE free year, so I have given them a lot of scope.
Here is L12’s schedule (the beginning is practically the same as T’s until after lunch):
8-9 am One hour of Maths
9-10 am One hour of writing/grammar/spelling
10-11 am One hour Morning Meeting – this will include listening to Samuel Pepys diary; finishing the Who is God? curriculum and moving onto Who am I? curriculum; Watching a ten minute video from Khan Academy on the 17th century and another on biology. These are free and very, very good, each lasting around 10 minutes. The videos on the 17th century will be great go alongs with our very casual approach to history this year, whilst the biology ones will be useful for IGCSE in Biology which both T and L want to take.
On a Friday (when Lorna’s two join us) this one hour will be focused on a continent unit study which the children will be doing by themselves in preparation for their presentation at the end of each term. Each term we will cover a new continent. This term it will be South America.
11-12 am One hour Nature walk to a local meadow and woodland
12-1230 pm Lunch whilst watching another Khan video on world history. These are done by John Greene and are really, really good. They go over all we have covered in the past six years but I hope will pull everything together and make more sense of history as a whole rather than a series of cultures. Again they are short, very well done and quite funny.
On a Friday we will probably not include the video and just have lunch at the table.
1230- 130pm Quiet time. The children have a small reading list to work their way through and I have bought in a few more books from the Sonlight curriculum, which are perfect for their age but have little to do with what we are learning in history or science.
On a Friday the littles will have a quiet time whilst the older four and I work our way through Religious Studies GCSE. We will be focusing on Religion and Citizenship. This will not be an exam we take this year, but I figured there is no harm in beginning to work our way through the syllabus.
130 -330 pm Interest led learning
L has chosen a hodge podge of subjects. She is toying with a few ideas regarding the future. Her main interests lie in sport, trampolining in particular, and art. In terms of a future career she is looking into the possibility of Sports Therapy, keeping her art as a hobby or a means of making money once she has children. To this end she has decided to work her way through the highschool PE/Health modules from easy peasy homeschool. These are free and look great. They need to be done three times a week.
If she chooses to do a Sports Therapy degree then she will need Biology, which fortunately she has been nagging me to do for ages. So she will also be working her way through the Biology course, again from Easypeasy Homeschool. She will do this in addition to watching the set of Biology videos from Khan Academy. Each video is only about 10 minutes long, so she will probably aim to watch at least three a week. I will also be doing Anatomy and Physiology on a Wednesday with her. Although T will be doing IGCSE Biology, he wants to do it next year and focus on his physics and maths this year so it will just be L and I. L will read whatever topic we are doing in her Wednesday quiet time and we will do some hands on work during the afternoon as well as watch one or two short Khan video from his Anatomy and Physiology section .
She has also opted to work her way through Easy Peasy Homeschool Drawing Professionally course. It is advised that a student spend at least an hour a day on art. Whilst I am sure L will be continuing her art course in her spare time, I will only be requiring her to work for half an hour each day on art. She also wants to spend some time on her jewelery making. She does this naturally during every spare moment, so I’m thinking I probably won’t need to require it from her!
Last but not least she wants to spend time daily in her trampolining. She is currently working towards badge nine. Her goal, which is being greatly encouraged by her trampoline coach, is to work towards her proficiency coach exams (which she can take when she turns fourteen) after which she will work towards her coaching exams. Her goal is to use this as a way to fund her university courses. Once she has done her proficiency exams it means she will be able to help out in the younger groups (in which her younger sisters may be learning).
On a Friday, like T she will be spending the afternoon working on her history unit study. She will be studying the 17th century by learning about two artists. The first term will be spent on Rembrant and the second will be spent on Vermeer.
L, like T attends a youth choir, as well as weekly trampolining lessons. She also attends her Sunday school group for her age. She and I will be crafting together each Sunday evening, so we can spend 1-2-1 time together.
Like T, I am excited for L. She has goals and a purpose, which I really do think is important during the teen years.
Looks like it’s going to be a very fruitful and productive year for both T and L, and no doubt, C as well! I love how organised and well organised your plans are for each child. While I can say the same for my situation, I feel very inspired by reading about yours! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks Hwee!
I love reading your schedules for T and L. And I LOVE that you schedule a nature walk daily. This is something so important than I, unfortunately, don’t make time for. Here’s to a lovely year!!!
The nature walk is something we are all enjoying and which seems really important to the older children.
What a great idea for her to plan for how she funds her college. Not being British, the way you talk about the exams reminds me of reading Harry Potter and their NEWTs and OWLs. I’m sure they’re nothing alike, but I thought at the very least you’ll get a laugh from the comparison.
Lol at that Ticia!
I’m with Ticia in that I don’t entirely understand all the exams, but it really sounds like you and L have thought through her future plans carefully. It’s wonderful for her to be thinking now about possible ways to fund her university time while enjoying her time. This sounds like such a fun way to learn!
Great to see another homeschooling trampolinist. My daughter has two passions in life and trampolining is one of them!
Looks like a very busy schedule. It is amazing to see how you get so much accomplished.
Thanks Donna. Keeping them busy is my main defense against bickering. We don’t allow it at all, and this definitely goes some way to preventing it altogether!