Academics for 2016 - 2017 ~ Build Your Library 9

Well, I haven't blogged here in two years. This week I've been making some updates and adding entries so you will see a few new posts here. But otherwise, what have we been doing in the past two years???!!!

Honestly, I can't remember.

Two Aprils ago, I finally hit a wall, pushed my doctor to do more testing, and discovered I have hypothyroidism. That is a long story in itself that I won't go into here. But what I will say is that medication changed my life in ways I never could have imagined. I started with Armour brand of desiccated pig thyroid, and when that became less stringently produced, switched to generic NP (Nature) Thyroid (also desiccated pig thyroid with T4 and T3). I am not perfect, but I feel SO much better. Before meds, I was a kind of fatigued that most people will never understand, including the doctors.

So the last two years have been a time of physical recovery. Low thyroid was also causing much of my anxiety. I had worked through the reasons for my anxiety with years of therapy, meds, cognitive behavioral changes, and more. Yet, I was feeling worse every day and becoming more and more fatigued. Thyroid meds changed all that and my anxiety is GONE! (Well, I live a stressful life as a low-income, single mom so I always have a whisper of anxiety.)

The result is that my motivations have changed. I used to be, in part, motivated by anxiety. And now, I'm not. It's hard to explain, but life is different in some ways. For the better. But I'm not driven like I was, and I've relaxed.

In addition, Little Brother, who I always knew had sensory processing disorder, but was easily treated and dealt with at home, earned his own diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. I will blog about that as well, in more detail, at a later time. What I will say about that is that I thought I was losing my son, he thought he was losing his mind, and a good friend introduced the concept of ASD to us. He's basically Asperger's, although that is no longer an official DSM diagnosis. Anyway, with therapy, he is growing by leaps and bounds. So much change and healing going on!

I feel like I can't leave Big Sister out... she has had her own transformations that I will need to blog about in detail! She got to travel to Japan for Nihongo language school and homestays for two months! Not many people know that 4-H has an International program, but that is how Big Sister ended up in Japan the year before starting junior college. More on that later!

In the mean time, I felt that for the first time in 16 years, a somewhat comprehensive curriculum was needed to make things easy in our UNSCHOOLING family. It's been a mixed bag, but generally has enriched all of our lives! A friend recommended Build Your Library a few years ago. I didn't pay much attention because we unschool. But this past year, I researched a bit more and decided I really liked the idea. I won't explain the system here, but will show some of the books we are using. (It is a reading-heavy curriculum that can be customized to your family's needs)

I chose BYL9, (ninth grade) because while Big Sister is a senior in high school and Little Brother is in 8th grade, the curriculum encompassed a topic that we all love. It's challenging enough for high school and customizable to tweak for either grade level. The kids can both do the same curriculum so that I'm not losing my mind trying to keep up with two different currics!

Here are some of the books we are using with BYL9, plus some extras that I added in. There are a few BYL9 books that we just did not care for, so have dropped. And that is what I love about homeschooling. We can do what works for us. Life is a smorgasbord. Take what you like and leave the rest. :)

This is my book and subject organization system. It works! Each subject has its own drawer, and sometimes a subject has more than one book. We do not do each one every day. That would be crazy! Notebooks, papers, and any equipment is in the drawer as well. The best example of that would be ELEMENTS. In that drawer is a book about elements, special round cardstock pieces to draw a Bohr-style model, proper circle stencils, colored markers, tape (for putting on the wall), etc. Some drawers simply have a book.

This has been fun. Just the basics, but very effective for technique

This is not a subject. It's just a latchhook that Big Sis is doing

I have mixed feelings about this chemistry curriculum. It is written by a woman who is very pro-Intelligent Design. That is completely unacceptable, and yet, she has written a marvelous and easy to understand book for conceptual chemistry. So I'm going through it with the kids until we can tackle a high school chemistry text book. I'm watching for elements of Intelligent Design, but have not found any yet.... If I do, I'm happy to take a black magic marker to redact the text. This is NOT BYL9

The Mary Oliver and poetry 180 books are BYL9. The Mensa is not. I still love this Mensa list of poetry memorization, and we come back to it every few years. Poetry 180 simply is read aloud for pure enjoyment. I am OK with the Mary Oliver book. She has a bit of an elitist approach to poetry, but her basis is sound. And of course, she is a wonderful poet.

This is not BYL9, but for Little Brother who simply does not have the knack for spelling. The CD player in the drawer is to help him relax with the sounds of nature while spelling and writing

Some fun stuff that is NOT BYL9. 

Again, NOT BYL9. But a basic, nuts and bolts, comprehensive math program that leaves no stone unturned.

Little Brother completed a US Civics course after two years of studying with his homeschool co-op. He took the final test and did great, earning a certificate of completion!

Japanese language and 4H projects for Big Sister!

Wordly Wise remains a favorite vocabulary curric. The kids began to enjoy that even when we unschooled. It was one thing they enjoyed sitting down with and tackling in a more traditional manner. It is NOT BYL9. Figuratively Speaking and HTRLAP are BYL9, and great fun! Figuratively Speaking is a basic workbook, that gives a little practice. It is short and sweet. The HTRLAP book is SO FUN for my Lit Kids! They enjoy reading it and applying what they learn to books and movies they have experienced, as well as to stories they are writing.

I added this group of books because I've always wanted to include the 2 page stories somehow into our day. It's better to savor each story by itself than to read the short books entirely through in one sitting. The BYL approach works perfectly with these books about Buddhism

We've loved and hated this BYL9 book. It's a great topic that we are all interested in, but the reading can be dry and a bit tangly for the tongue to read aloud. There is a lot of name dropping and reference of scientists and facilities that are important in the big picture, but not for getting the point across. I would edit half of the content out of this book and get to the meat of the topic if I could. Overall, it's a positive contribution to the curriculum, but I can't help but to wonder if there is something better out there.

Recommended by a friend, this nonBYL book consists of 25 short chapters to ponder and read. I love it, and it has inspired many ethics discussions for the kids.

I don't remember why I bought this book, but I'm glad I did. We have gone BYL style with it (even though it's not part of the curric) and chosen one element at a time to read about and create a Bohr style model for. The whole table will end up on the wall soon. It's interesting how the kids actually now know what each element is all about! They aren't just letters, but real parts of our world. I love this author and we saw his 'table of the periodic table' on a PBS program a few years back.

What can I say? THis BYL book covers our favorite topic in the world! Great illustrations for our journey through the history of life!

OK. Simon Winchester is not a BYL book, but it should be. Any budding geologist will love this book, but it is for older kids as the life story of William Smith has some depressing moments. 25 Fossils is great fun and I love the commentaries on each of these significant life forms. We have not read Stuff of Life yet, but the graphic novel looks excellent. Sandwalkers is a bit dystopian, but an excellent graphic novel. We also love Hosler's graphic novel Clan Apis, about bees! The two Dickinson books have not yet been read, but they look promising. How can you go wrong with Rachel Carson's Sea Around Us? The Shakespeare... I'm not too crazy about it. Truly it is a lot to ask anyone, adult, let alone kid, to read an entire Shakespeare play. And here is the deal. They were never meant to be read, but to be watched. So while a re-writing or a notated excerpt would be great, this just is not. And then Raptor Red... well it's a documentary style story about a dinosaur. Black Beauty, move over! 

Ah... the Cornwell novel. Don't bother with it. Just don't. It's an adolescent sexual fantasy in historic form. No thanks. But A History of US by Hakim? That is a keeper. We are still plowing through this series, especially Little Brother who loves history. This is NOT BYL, but we sure like it.

Again, what can be said about these two BYL selections? They are amazing.

Ah... my 17 year old is taking a college course for credit. This orientation class has been wonderful and goes toward her degree! Next year, she will graduate high school and start junior college full time.

Before college officially begins, Big Sister is pushing herself to get some classics under her belt. She has a list of subjects she wants to polish before graduation.

Big Sister tackling algebra before college. 

ANd this one was recommended by Big Sis to Little Brother because it was SO POPULAR in Japan when she was there!