Next Year Plans

Last year I posted back in April about our struggles with what to do with Nathan this year, as he began 7th grade. We ended up doing Classical Conversations for this year, but it was still sort of kicking the can down the road, because he didn't do their jr. high "challenge" program, since our campus was new and they didn't have one of those starting. Christine and I had tossed around starting the Challenge program up ourselves this coming up year, since her Isaac will be in 7th grade next year, but we both realized that there is no way we can devote the time needed for being Challenge tutors/directors, with so many little ones still at home. And there is absolutely no way we could afford CC without me being a tutor. So that is out, and in fact, we are not planning on any of us doing CC at a campus next year. I am planning on getting the memory work CD, however, and having them memorize the Cycle 2 stuff.

So, what are we doing next year? Well, we're starting a very small jr. high boys co-op. There is another family at our church who has 5 boys. Her oldest 2 will be in 9th grade and 7th grade. Nathan will be in 8th, and Isaac will be in 7th. Another family, who is in our Tuesday co-op, has only 1 son left at home, and he will be in 7th grade. They are also joining, and we have invited one other family with a 7th grade boy, who is also in the Tuesday co-op and Nathan's writing co-op, to join. So it looks like we'll have 6 boys, which is a perfect number. I definitely don't want this to be big, and we know all the families really well. Plus, there will be no extras, like preparing a family presentation or making a frozen meal, like we have had with CC this year.

We are planning on covering science, literature, history, writing, and possibly a foreign language. We will continue doing our own math, Latin, and logic at home, but we will have a group for these areas where it is nice to have discussion. We already have the use of our church building on Tuesdays from 9:30-4:00. That seems like a long day, but we are planning on giving the boys lots of breaks and time to run around. Maybe P.E. will be a part of this day too, LOL.

I will be teaching science. I'm planning on using the BJU 7th grade Life Science text. Angela wants her oldest son, the 9th grader, to take the SAT II biology test at the end of the year, so Jordan will be going through the BJU high school biology text at the same time, for a more in-depth coverage of the topics. I have compared the table of contents, and they match up pretty well, but we'll see how that works out. I think I'll do a lecture in the morning for like an hour, and then I'll have an hour of lab time in the afternoon.

We will be using Tapestry of Grace for the literature/history/writing part of the co-op. Theresa has taught literature and English, so she will be great at leading us through this. If the other family joins us, then Siri will hopefully teach the boys French. She is a trained interpreter/translater of French, so she will be a very valuable asset. Originally we had thought someone would be teaching Spanish, but it doesn't look like that will work out. It really doesn't matter to me what language they learn, as long as I don't have to teach it, LOL. Spoken languages--sooooo not my thing. French is what Bob and I both learned in high school (although he remembers it so much better than me!), so maybe we would be able to be of some assistance if Nathan needed help.

The beauty of doing this co-op on Tuesdays is that is the day when the younger kids have our other co-op. And the 2 churches are practically around the corner from each other! So during the morning, one of the moms not teaching will help with the 3 nursery age girls (Grace, Faith, and Elena). Then we will give the jr. high boys a break and even take them with us when we go pick up the younger kids because they like to play football in the parking lot for awhile after being released from their classes. Then we will all go back to our church to finish the day.

We haven't nailed down exactly what the younger kids will do in the afternoon while we are finishing up with the older ones, but it will most likely be some history and science memory work, like at CC, some geography (again, like CC!), maybe some art, and some writing for the 5th/6th graders. About 2 hours' worth of stuff. We have another planning meeting Sunday afternoon to keep working out these details.

So I am very excited! I love that it is small, and that we know everyone so well. We're all on the same page and have similar expectations. I hope the boys will foster really close friendships-that is another goal of ours. And I am insanely excited that it means we will only have to go out early, with lunches for everyone, one day a week next year!! Should be SO much less stressful!!