(PREVIOUS: Raising Scholars ** The Vision)

Once our family made the decision to self-educate our children, I committed to seeing it through all the way to the end if that is where this journey led us.  The academic goals and vision for my children’s education were clear and focused ~ I knew what I wanted them to get out of their academic journey. 

The scholars’ education consisted of three foci:  

      • Classical Studies  
        (history, literature, composition & analysis, logic, Latin/foreign language),
      • STEM Studies 
        (Science and Math were mandatory; Technology and Engineering were electives), 
      • Fine Arts 
        (for us, music/piano and some art).

In addition to these academic subjects,
the scholars grew in faith and character,
learned life skills,
and engaged in various extracurricular
and personal-enhancing activities. 

Overview of Academic Phases 

Three distinct phases define the journey from academic neophytes to independent scholars:

PHASE 1:  “FOUNDATION & FUN”

Part 1:  The Journey Begins ~ The Basics (K-1)

    • Learning to Read:  phonics (Explode the Code) & beginning readers  
    • Learning to Write:  letters, upper case, lower case, print, words, basic sentences
    • Learning Basics of Math:  numbers, adding, subtracting, time, money, shapes
    • Learning about the World:  Survey of World History & Geography
    • Learning How Things Work (Science):  Magic School Bus, beginning science 
    • Learning to Love Literature:  classic children’s literature   (read-aloud)
    • Learning about God’s Love:  Children’s Bible stories & Christian heroes
    • Learning to be a Child of Character:  manners, morals & values, character traits
    • Learning to Love Music:  Music everywhere!;  Piano – the very beginning

** Local Field Trips **

Part 2:  The Journey Continues ~ Laying the Foundation (2-3)

    • God’s Life Lessons & Stories of Missionaries/Christian heroes
    • Introduction to American History
    • Literature & Readers: historical fiction (aligned with history study) & children’s classics 
    • Writing/Composing:  comprehension questions, simple paragraphs, cursive
    • Grammar & Punctuation – the beginning
    • Vocabulary/Word Roots study – the beginning
    • Learning to Type + Computer Skills
    • Elementary Science (Apologia) – The Wide World of Animals and Plants
    • Advancing Skills in Math: multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, basic geometry, graphs; MENTAL MATH & word problems
    • Piano – intermediate instruction

** Southwestern Nature’s Wonders Tour (2 weeks) **

PHASE 2:   “ESTABLISHING ROOTS”

Part 3:  The Journey Settles In ~ Sending Roots (4-5)

    • Introduction to World History (concurrent with Biblical history) 
    • Historical fiction & nonfiction related to world history study
    • Learning to Write with Structure & Style – descriptive, informative, and opinion/persuasive paragraphs; book summaries & critiques; introduction to 3 & 5-paragraph compositions
    • Vocabulary/Word Roots – Intermediate
    • Latin
    • Advanced Elementary Math – finish elementary series
    • Advanced Elementary Science – Anatomy & Physiology; Chemistry & Physics
    • Piano – intermediate & advanced instruction; introduction to piano classics & jazz
    • Fundamentals of art

** Midwest-Pioneer Tour (2 weeks) **

Part 4:  The Journey Transitions (6)

    • Intro to Government & Economics; State History
    • Literature:  non-historical classic literature – some of the “greats”
    • Composition & Analysis: creative writing, elements of a short story, poetry
    • Advanced Latin; Latin & Greek roots
    • Solidifying Grammar through Sentence Diagrams
    • Pre-Algebra
    • Middle-School General Science + hands-on labs
    • Logic puzzles: Mind Benders & Red Herring Mysteries
    • Piano – classical, jazz, folk songs, and improvisation
    • Art – beginning & intermediate skills 

** State History Tour **  
(our state was Texas)

Part 5:  The Journey Seizes Joy ~ Roots Take Hold (7-8)

    • U.S. History In-Depth + study of original sources
    • Advanced Grammar, Vocabulary, Roots – conclusion of these studies
    • Composition & Analysis:  Nine most common types of compositions, timed essays, MLA research report, formal literary analyses 
    • Literature:  historical fiction (aligned with U.S. history study), introduction to classic literature
    • Algebra 1, Geometry
    • Middle-School Science + hands-on labs, (Biology with lab)
    • Casual Introduction to Spanish
    • Introduction to Logic:  Fallacy Detective, Thinking Toolbox
    • Piano – Advanced skills; Individual pursuits of classical, jazz, folk, pop music + improvisation
    • Art – Individual pursuits

** Early American History Tour (5 weeks) **

PHASE 3:  “SPREADING WINGS”

Part 6: The Journey Cultivates Wings ~ Students Become Scholars (9-10)

    • World History In-Depth 
    • Literature – original sources & literary classics
    • Composition & Analysis – literary analyses of classic literature, Thesis & Rhetoric
    • Speech & Debate competitive class/club
    • Advanced Math – Algebra 2, Trigonometry
    • Biology & Chemistry with lab
    • Immersion Foreign Language (e.g., Spanish) – online resources, novellas, TV/movies, writing, grammar + travel, native-speaking personalized tutor
    • Formal Logic & Critical Thinking
    • Life Skills Course: college preparation, career planning, resume building, financial management, legal and civic matters & responsibilities
    • Fine Arts:  art history & music history  (as part of world history study)
    • (Engineering or Technology elective course, if desired)

** European Historical Tour (3+ weeks) **

Part 7:  The Journey Concludes ~ Independent Scholars Take Flight (11-12)

Dual credit courses at Community College
or  CLEP/AP exams:

    • 2 “English” courses   (Rhetoric & Composition)
    • 2 U.S. History courses
    • U.S. Government
    • Economics
    • 2  Math courses:   Precalculus, Calculus
    • 2 Advanced science courses:  Physics + 1 other
    • 1 Fine/Creative Arts course
    • [Once all high school requirements met, scholars can take additional college courses]

(Above courses fulfill both
“Distinguished Achievement High School Program-Advanced”
requirements for high school 
and University Core Curriculum courses in Texas.
Course requirements may be different in other states.)

(NEXT:  Raising Scholars:  Phase 1 “Foundation & Fun”)

A NOTE ABOUT GRADE LEVELS:

Public educational institutions divide students into grade levels from Kindergarten to 12thgrade.  These designations are less meaningful to those like ourselves who do not utilize institutional education.  However, for the ease of organizing our academic goals, I did use similar delineations.  

The beauty of self-education is being able to move at the pace of the individual scholar to maintain the challenging, enriching, and inspiring environment.  In practice, our annual academic goals were approximately one to two years more advanced than the grade designations of the public school counterparts.  

We could have scheduled the 7th-10thgrade goals to have resulted in high school graduation at the end of 10thgrade, but opted to maximize dual credit courses because of the high school transcript GPA benefits and the financial benefits in our state.  Additionally, this allowed our sons who were already very young for their grade to mature before heading off to the university alone.

A NOTE ABOUT THE ACADEMIC YEAR:  

In the early years, learning took place year-round.  Because it was less academic and more free-flowing and fun, there was little structure to the educational day and year. 

However, by 4thgrade when the young scholars were becoming more independent in their academics, more structure was beneficial to scholars and parent-teacher alike.  We generally began the academic year at the beginning of August (it was too hot in Texas to do anything outdoors anyway) and ended the year in the middle of May with a 2-week fall break, 2-week spring break, and 3-week winter/Christmas break.  This allowed us to enjoy the more pleasant weather outdoors in the fall, winter, spring, and early summer, and also broke up the year into four quarters.  

 Though written work was suspended for the summer, our children read throughout the summer and sometimes did other fun “enrichment” activities such as typing games, math games, music, and creative/computer/technology pursuits.   This schedule also allowed us to travel during the public school year when places were less crowded.

A NOTE ABOUT GRADING: 

My personal experience with grades led me to minimize their importance in raising my scholars.  When I was in school, achievement was assessed by numerical grades, and this was the driving force behind my learning; I learned to complete assignments and exams with high scores.  I became very good at memorizing information to score well only to quickly forget the information.  Thus, I was deemed “smart” and was at the top of my public school class but knew my grades were deceiving. 

I wanted different for my kids; I did not want grades to be their motivation.  I wanted my children to love learning, to hunger for knowledge, to think critically, and to consistently pursue greater understanding.  I wanted them to learn for the sake of knowledge and strive for excellence in all they did.

In the early years, grades were never used. Checks and stars were used to indicate correct answers.  All incorrect or incomplete responses/answers were corrected – mastery was the goal. After all, if misinformation is not corrected, how were the young scholars to gain this knowledge?  

In the middle years, grading in terms of percent correct was introduced for some assignments, especially quizzes. Beginning in 7thgrade when a final grade report was compiled, all assignments and exams were given a percent-correct grade.  All assignments and exams were expected to be corrected. 

Scholars, regardless of level, learned that putting the effort into completing work correctly the first time saved time later and that the purpose of the assignments was to actually learn the information.  

SOURCES OF ACADEMIC INSPIRATION:

In developing the curricula for our independent academic journey, several sources provided inspiration:

      • The Well-Trained Mind  by Susan Wise Bauer
        The classical approach to education described in her book most closely matched my vision, especially for history and literature.   I heavily adapted her suggestions to fit my own goals.
      • Sonlight & Veritas Press homeschool curricula
        The book lists were very helpful in developing my own reader lists for my scholars. 
      • Homeschool resources for specific subjects used in different grades are linked on those pages.

Great places to buy homeschool material:   

      • Rainbow Resource
        They almost always had the best prices, had almost everything I needed, and offered free shipping.
      • Christianbook.com
        They have a wide selection with competitive prices.  However, I didn’t order much from here since they did not offer free shipping.
      • Amazon.com
        You can find almost anything here, and free shipping is a plus.  However, their prices are not as competitive as they used to be.
      • Homeschoolclassifieds.com and Ebay.com
        If you want to buy used books and materials, here are two common places.

A WORD OF CAUTION TO THOSE WHO MIGHT WANT TO USE THIS APPROACH:

It was and still is a pure pleasure to take this journey with my children; however, it was far from effortless. 

This is a journey that requires the parent-teachers to be scholars themselves.  They must have a personal desire to read, learn, and discover.  Rich discussions, effective grading, and feedback of exams and compositions as well as the ability to excite the scholars about the information they are learning is difficult without the parent-teachers having that interest, knowledge and excitement themselves.  

While I myself had a graduate degree, I learned so much reading and studying all the rich history, intriguing literature, and enlightening science that they read.  This took time, but for the parent-teacher who is also interested and excited about learning, this time is not work, but an investment in oneself and one’s own pursuit of greater knowledge. 

For those parent-teachers who are not able or are not interested in investing this time, this approach may not be for your family.  For those who do, however, the journey is incredible.