Melanie's Curriculum 2011-2012 School Year

I've had a few requests to post my kids curriculum for this year.  I know it's well into the school year, but I hope it will help those of you who will be planning your schooling in the coming years.  Melanie is 15 and a sophomore.  She is very independent and works well alone and actually prefers to work alone.  She is a little behind in Science and Math because of our house fire a few years back.  Those are the subjects that we fell quite a bit behind on during that year of rebuilding.

Also, I'm down to only teaching my two youngest kids.  My son, Chris, is 12 and still needs help with many of his subjects.  I am working hard to get him to be more independent over the next year or two.  I'll add his schedule on another post.

Together School is what I call the things we all do together :)  We don't have a set time for anything.  I'm sort of on call to go to do work for my husband at a moments notice.  So with all this out of the way... here's Melanie's schedule... :)

Together School

Scripture Study - The Book of Mormon Made Easier - This takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes.

Spelling - Sequential Spelling - Melanie has struggled with spelling and Chris is ahead, so they are on the same level.

Independent Studies

Literature - (some of the literature guides are undecided - I'll add what I find for those later)

1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens using this literature guide.  Complete in 12 weeks.
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn using this literature guide.  Complete in 12 weeks.
3. The Scarlet Letter - literature guide undecided 
4. To Kill a Mocking Bird - literature guide undecided 

English/Writing - Institute for Excellence in Writing or IEW - the link is for the continuation course.  You can find schedules for IEW courses on the IEW Yahoo! Group along with other great resources.  You can find where to begin with IEW here.  She is also taking English 101 at our community college during her second semester.

Science - Apologia Physical Science 1st Edition using this schedule from donnayoung.com from this page.  I added the page because there are other useful things there for you to look through.

American Government and US Constitution (Part 1) - The 5000 Year Leap Study Course.  This course comes with the text book (5000 Year Leap), curriculum guide, DVD lessons and so much more.  Read through the description for more information.  She is taking a full year to complete this course rather then just one semester like it suggests.

Math - Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1

Music - Voice lessons and piano lessons, she's been taking voice for 4 years and piano for 2 years.  Our violin teacher moved away last year and we haven't been able to find someone to take over.  She will also be performing in the high school musical this year, Beauty and the Beast.

On Fridays, Melanie brings me all her work to grade.  She grades her own math and post it on a schedule I have posted on the wall of the school room.  I completely trust her to grade her own work.  She likes to get good grades and beats herself up if she doesn't do well.  She'll ask for help when needed and we always discuss how she's doing after I grade her work.

Downloading Issues

I've had several people contact me recently because they are having problems downloading my free files.  What I've discovered is that hslaunch.com, where I upload my freebies, has changed how you download files.  Instead of the file opening up on their page, the file goes directly to your download folder on your computer.

So, if you are unable to see the file, you will need to open your download folder or wherever files go when you download directly from the internet.

I'm not sure how else to help you all that are having problems.  If someone else has another idea, please feel free to leave a comment to make whatever suggestions you might have.

Hope this helps!