100 Day Homeschool Year for Jr. High and High School Days 6-9

All happy families are alike; each homeschooling family is nerdy in its own way.

This is our 10th year homeschooling and I have loads of free time (haha) so I’m going to share a day in the life of our homeschool—hopefully all 100 days, but this blog is full of one-off “series” so we’ll see how it goes.

Our homeschool style is not classical, not unschool (well, I guess we do unschool, but we don’t not-school or unparent), not Charlotte Mason, not school at home, not Thomas Jefferson education, not K12, not even eclectic. I never use the word rigorous, except when I’m making fun of the local charter school. (“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”) We just love to learn. Here’s what we’re learning this week.

Links go to Amazon but check your local library for free books. If you’re in Phoenix, now you can keep those library books forever because the Phoenix City Council thinks it’s too hard for poor people to return library books (Can you say con-de-scen-sion?). Now you can check out 35 books and movies at a time and sell them on eBay. Maybe the Phoenix City Council wants to stimulate small business? Anyway, get all these books free at the library, or buy them used on Amazon with my affiliate link.

I’ve linked to the cheapest books on Amazon; if you don’t mind reading a screen, classics are often free on Kindle or Project Gutenberg.

For Homeschooling High School Week 1 go here.

Homeschooling High School Week 2: Days 6–9

Better things to do than school:

This week we took Tuesday off to work at St. Mary’s in the morning, and didn’t feel like doing school after three arduous hours spent stuffing spoons into plastic lunch bags. (Phoenix families can find the St. Mary’s volunteer calendar here.)
We did a half day on Wednesday because the kids were worn out staying up late (Iron Maiden concert for Jefferson and KC Tuesday night).
Friday is usually a half day because Jefferson plays in a bluegrass jam. We’re going to attempt DIY projects on Fridays this year; this week the kids built a small coffee table for KC’s birthday present.
“Real school” days this week: 2.
Educational days this week: 7, as always.

Read aloud:

Bible (20–30 minutes)

Isaiah 9–15. I just bought this large print Bible (NASB version) so I don’t have to run around looking for my reading glasses. Here’s a cheap Bible (NASB version) we have but the print is tiny.
Isaiah 16–20
Nicene Creed
Ephesians 4

Literature (45 minutes)

Finished Oliver Twist
Ellis Parker Butler short stories (American lit):
- Pigs is Pigs (free Kindle book)
- Mike Flannery On Duty and Off (free Kindle book)
- Solander’s Radio Tomb (free Kindle book)
- I thought these stories were funny; the kids only laughed a few times. Pigs is Pigs and Mike Flannery On Duty and Off are better as read-to-self instead of read-aloud if you (Mom) can’t read Mike Flannery’s misspelled Irish vernacular on the fly in a funny voice. [Flannery is the main character in both stories.]

US History (30 minutes)

Land of Hope This is the only book I’ve bought at full price in 10 years of homeschooling. It’s worth every penny.

Science: We skipped science this week since we realized we’d already covered most of the info in the biology book I intended to use. Also, 3 out of 4 people in our house hate science.

7th grade subjects:

Math: We use math books I find on eBay printed before 1960 (that’s when New Math started creeping into the math books). If you want painless and thorough math, vintage math books are the way to go.

Projects: Jameson’s current project is songwriting; she’s entering a contest and I built a little practice time into her school day.

10th grade subjects:

World History: The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant. Jefferson is reading through the entire set this year (covers ancient history through Napoleon).

Spanish: Duolingo on desktop (it’s easier to type answers quickly on the computer than on the app). This is the only online subject; everything else is covered with real books.