March 2024

We took off the month of December, as usual, for a winter break. January is usually just academics, so we can ease back into things after the holidays. February we kick into high gear with extra curricular activities, until the end of April. Then May is when we wrap up our semester academics before summer break in June and July. Since last fall our routine has changed a bit, but not a ton. We dropped a few of our extra curricular activities. Typically we test in March, so that is coming up soon.

My high schooler just received his driving learner's permit. He is also focusing in on a vision of what he will probably do after graduation - work related, instead of straight to college - possibly joining the communications team at the sheriff's department. We also had a sort of mini-mester in January, squeezing in a four week piano session and drivers education for him, before we got back into the full swing of things. Now in our high activity season, he is out of the house every day for something, in addition to having his regular assignments at home. He also enjoys biking and playing disc golf. And this is the first official year he will have a transcript.

Mon - drone team

Tue - weight lifting

Wed - art lessons

Thu - weight lifting

Fri - alternates bible club and hobby club

I've tweaked my middle schooler's schedule. I dove in head first into two co-ops last fall with him, and now he is just in one, which meets on Fridays. Mostly he enjoys being home, playing in the yard and doing his own hobbies, but I do think I'll be more intentional about taking him out to lunch or something every week. I think he has begun to feel a little left behind since his older brother goes out every day. I feel like I'm really doing middle school for the first time, because my oldest was this age during covid, so it looked very different.

**To read about my tips on drivers education, click here, then scroll to the bottom. **

Academic resources:

Science (we have a subscription with all access for the whole family)
https://www.collegeprepscience.com/

Math (they have different preferences)
https://www.khanacademy.org/
https://artofproblemsolving.com/school/mathjams
https://brilliant.org/

Foreign Language (they choose the specifics)
https://www.duolingo.com/

Civics (they rotate within these programs)
https://www.icivics.org/
https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/
https://worldwatch.news/
https://teen.gwnews.com/

Transcript:
https://transcripts.hslda.org/
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hst/courses.asp

Extra curricular resources:

Exercise and sports:
https://sportscenternc.com/sports/personal-training/

Clubs & Co-ops
https://cabarrus.ces.ncsu.edu/4-h-clubs/
https://www.campglow.org/
https://www.cchsa.com/

Bible Study
https://join.bsfinternational.org/class/160
https://cefpress.com/curriculum/jyc-curriculum-j-you-connection-/
https://cefcma.org/
https://cabarruscounty.younglife.org/

Art & Music Classes
https://livinglouderlessons.com/
https://www.bluebirdmusic.org/bluebird-piano-studio
https://www.paintyourheartsout.com/