2015-16 School Year in Review

We finished 30 weeks of Challenge a few weeks ago. Last week we sorted our Challenge books and notebooks and got on some sort of summer mode.

What did I like about the 30 week program? It was intense and unrelenting. But, with that the kids had to buckle down, push hard, get extremely focused; manage well and get the stuff done; and they did.

The Projects were phenomenal. The Community was a blast. The program was not much different than much of what we've done in the past, but the discussions and tools that the kids learned by having a Lead Learner and directed classical community were terrific.
We worked super hard for 30 weeks, were done at the end of April and have about 16 weeks before we hit it again. This fall my fellow Challenge Directors and I are starting earlier in the year and taking more intentional breaks throughout, still ending the last week of April.

What all did we get done this year?

Cub- 10th Grade
Finished Alg I, began Geometry
Finished 1/3 of Henle 1and really developed a love of Latin.

Physical Science with Lab; wrote and presented a 15 page research paper on "Mars."
Read 20 books for school and at least that many for fun- wrote 8 persuasive essays.
Participated in 2 Policy Debates: Immigration Reform and Military Draft

Performed 2 memorized IE's: Song from Tolkien (which he sang) and Patrick Henry's Speech
Government and Econ- completed texts, workbooks, tests and completed Cost of Living Project and Stock Market Analysis Project
Studied Taming of the Shrew and God's Plan for Marriage (Ravi Zacharia)

Math in Motion (music theory)

Listened to Old Western Culture The Greeks and 1/2 of The Romans
TeenPact Alumni State Class and Survival
Ballroom Dancing 1-2 times a month

Tantara Festival of One Act Plays
Shakespeare Camp
Spring Dinner Dance

Spring Protocol Event- dinner out and the symphony
Karate/ self defense
Youth Group

Flower 7th Grade
Finished Saxon 8/7
Finished 1/3 of Henle 1

Wrote and illustrated 16 papers on natural science topics and then learned to draw and label 9 body systems

Read 10 books for school and 5 more for fun -wrote 9 Persuasive Essays
Read It Couldn't Just Happen and the Fallacy Detective- wrote a 6 page Apologetics Paper on Comparative Religions
Learned to draw 600 points on the world map from memory, including countries, capitals, features.
Listened to Old Western Culture The Greeks and 1/2 of The Romans
TeenPact State Class

Ballroom Dancing twice a month
Tantara Festival of One Act Plays

Shakespeare Camp
Karate/ Self defense
Violin

What's up for summer? Cub will finish reading The History of the Renaissance World and the History of Science and finish Geometry, piano lessons and karate.
Flower has taken on the garden, has lots of reading and swimming and art projects planned, violin and karate. Have I mentioned Minecraft yet? All the kids still love it and play it
Plus vacation (got to love Airbnb! Grandson #1, due in a few short weeks (or sooner), Shakespeare Camp, a few more conferences, CCPracticum and Latin Camp, Teen Nights...the summer will fly by for sure.

Linking up with Trivium Tuesdays at Living and Learning at Home and Classically Homeschooling!

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!