No matter how well something is working, the time comes when a change is needed. Brent is ready to move on to something new. Probably inspired by his sister's planning for High School. We spent a few productive hours at the coffee shop today and came up with a new plan.
First, we broke down the day in subjects. I decided to model his days after what he would be doing in high school since Callie is having such a hard time with the transition. I'm hoping it will be easier for Brent. The day is broken up into 5 credit hours. The subjects are: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies and Electives.
Second, we looked at each individual subject and decided what was to be studied and how.
- Language Arts will be completed while working on the Science and Social Studies. It will include: spelling, grammar, writing, speaking, reading and more.
- Math will be done using Math U See.
- Electives that currently interest Brent are: guitar, cooking, and computer programing.
- Science topics that he wants to learn about are: physics, nuclear energy, electricity, magnetism, chemistry, sound, light, evolution, and zoology. For zoology he wants to focus on the following animals: bears, puffins, salmon, sword fish, orca, beavers, crabs, komodo dragons, and toads.
- Social Studies topics are in order of his preference: US history, geography, economics, world history, current events, civics and law, politics, government, and ancient history.
Finally, we discussed what would be the best way to learn science and social studies, and the best way to show understanding. We brainstormed the following ways to learn: online research, books (narratives, non-fiction, fiction, biographies and reference), experiments and observation, and documentaries and videos. He loves keeping notebooks as he works, so he would continue taking notes as he learned interesting things. He would also plan and implement his experiments and observation studies when applicable. Brent decided the best way to show understanding would be to write a report on each subject, then typing it and posting it online. The writing would include several rough drafts where we focused on writing techniques, spelling, grammar and typing skills. Then, he would create a webpage or glog to teach the subject to others. He wants to have a website of his own that covers everything he studies. He can practice some computer programing while he's creating it.
We've decided to do a test run of this plan. He is currently studying electricity and freshwater. Starting next week he will approach these subject this new way and see how long it takes to complete. After we get an idea of the time required, we'll layout a plan for next year.
The coffee was really good.
