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Teaching the Subjects

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We have been using Charlotte Mason's methods and educational philosophy in our home school since 2004. I am home schooling one child, a son, who is highly gifted. Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy works very well with gifted students, especially those who love to read.  However, not all of her methods mesh well in our home school.  Mostly this is due to my son's unique gifts and special interests (no fault of her methods!)  I have had to modify my approach to suit his needs.  We currently use a mish-mash of approaches:  Unit Study with CM tossed in!  It works for us so hooray!!

Art

We currently use the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Timeline of Art History website.  This is an awesome resource and we match up the period we are studying and pick and choose artists to review.  Normally, I select several from each period and then find age-appropriate biographies and choose paintings that I feel represent the best of each artist.  I also have us read the appropriate chapter in either Story of Painting by H.W. Janson or Janson's History of Art for Young People.

Music

Since I have a born musician in my family, I do not do a lot of extra music study.  My son takes weekly lessons from a private instructor and participates in a Chamber Group (he is accompanist to the violinists).  He studies theory and composition as well as technique with his music teacher.  I do match composers to our current history study and when possible see if he can learn to play a piece of music from one or more of the composers we are reviewing.  At a minimum, we try and find Midi's or MP3s to listen to online.

Bible

We have used Calvary Chapel's Online Sunday School Curriculum for our Bible Study program the past two years.  I have us read aloud the selected passage from the Bible and then we discuss any items of interest.  Map work usually follows using a good Bible Atlas (I have the Oxford Bible Atlas).  This year, my son is reading through the NIV DailyWalk Bible, a 365 Day Reading Bible.  He spends quiet time reading and then in personal prayer/worship.  Each Friday we read one devotional study book together.  We are just finishing up C.S. Lewis' book, Mere Christianity.  

Math

This has been the one area where we have had the most problem finding a good match for our son.  He is quite a good math student but struggled with traditional math programs.  A friend recommended we try CIMT's Math Enhancement Program (MEP), a free online curriculum based out of the United Kingdom.  We have used this program for two years and we absolutely LOVE it.  We plan on using this through Pre-Calculus.  We do math 4 days a week and spend 2 days on each lesson.  This helps keep our math sessions short, approximately 30 minutes each day.

Science

We love A Beka for science and are have completed the 6-9th grade textbooks.  We love the way they are designed and how easy they are to use.  My son really likes all the content and finds them interesting to read.  We read two sections per week and then spend Friday's either doing a lab experiment or watching a DVD.

Foreign Language

We are able to use Rosetta Stone through our Public Library and have completed Level 1 and part of level 2 for French.  In process:  German I, Spanish I and Latin I.  I plan on spreading this program over 4 years so each Level will take 2 years.  This allows for less study time and a more low-key experience.  Each RS Level is equivalent to 2 years of high school foreign language.  My goal is to complete 2 levels of each of these languages by high school graduation.

English

We love Easy Grammar for grammar and Jensen's Format Writing for composition instruction.  We will finish up the red book (Plus) next year and will spread Jensen's through 10th grade.  We will finish up our study of Poetry using Roar on the Other Side by Suzanne Clark this year.  Next year, we will go over The Grammar of Poetry (skipped in Y7) and will continue to read poetry each week.

Literature and History

We will continue with HEO and will try and follow the course recommendations as listed on the website.  We will make some modifications as needed. 

Every so often, we take a diversion and study topics of interest.  We did this in between 8-9th grades, 9th grade and then in 10th grade.

Computers and Technology

My son is very advanced in computer technology.  He has recently finished reading and studying the Visual Basic Applications book, 4th Ed. and has designed several applications as part of his program.  

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