Getting ready for the school year

     I have spent the summer finalizing things and getting ready for the school year.  It is weird to have only 1 that I am planning for.  In between buying all the things for S to take to college I have been assembling everything N will need.

     He will continue with HOD and is now in the Missions to Modern Marvels guide.  This guide looks very full and meaty.  It will definitely challenge him.  Usually we follow the guide exactly as written with the exception of math.  This year we are changing up 2 other things, the literature and the writing program.  I am changing the literature because he has already completed the DITHOR 6/7/8 book.  I love DITHOR and think it is a fantastic program, but the one negative for N was that usually he ended up dictating his answers to me which took away some of his independence.  Instead of DITHOR he will use Bob Jones' 8th grade Lit book "Excursions in Literature".  There are varying types of questions at the end of each chapter that we will use as discussion questions.  There is also a teachers CD that has other worksheets.  I will be using these very sparingly in instances where it covers something I know is a struggle for him.  This is only meant to be a 1 semester course so I have also planned out 3 books from the HOD 7/8 book pack that he hasn't read yet.

     The writing program scheduled in HOD is Write With the Best Volume 2.  We did WWTB volume 1 a few years ago and he did well with it and enjoyed it, however as I looked through WWTB vol. 2 I realized there were some things that were going to overwhelm him.  The passages that the dc base their writing off of are very challenging to read.  I knew he would get bogged down there and not be able to see the forest for the trees so to speak.  I had my dh look at it closely and we both agreed to go in a different direction, so we will use Jump In.  I have only scheduled the units that match up with what WWTB teaches so he will still write the same type of essays.  I like the looks of the program a lot and think N will like it also. 

    We are considering this year 8th grade for N even though if he were still in ps he would be in 9th.  He has a late spring birthday so he was always young in his ps classes.  N is in total agreement with this now, but I am going to keep track of grades so that if he changes his mind I have something to show for it.

Here are some pics of getting all the binders ready.

Here is the supplies for his nature journaling.  I am excited to see what he thinks of this.  He loves to draw animals, so I think he will enjoy this.  

 He will study the State of Ohio.  This meets a requirement in our state.

Science is a combination of Chemistry using various things, Genetics, and the book Evolution the Grand Experiment.

He will do a Presidents study.  I was worried about how he would write in his notebook since he has difficulty writing small.  My wonderful dh made a Word template that matches the President's notebook so now N can type his information and just print it and glue it into his notebook.

He will also use the Ipad and an app called PDF expert to fill out other forms that are used in the program. We are looking forward to another good year with HOD.