However, Having Said That....

.... I'm having some doubts, as my classical lists are emphasizing structure, structure, structure. One lady I respect very much is having her 10th grader do 10 hours of schoolwork a day (!). On my Catholic classical list, they are talking about how school has some advantages that homeschooling doesn't have, and how it is a battle against laziness in the homeschool.

Sigh -- I feel pressured. So I need to remember, especially for the middle kids:

1, they are ahead in math and we are going to keep doing math this year.
2, we are going to continue Latin and that will include grammar, vocabulary etc.
3, I can always give them any text-y thing we have around the house, and they can simply read it and get a few grains of knowledge from it -- that's probably about as much as they retain get by proceeding step by step (?) -- arguably at least.
4, they weren't getting much writing done as it was so anything would be an improvement there -- maybe we can try some Bravewriter ideas (but I am resolved not to buy any more curriculum until January!)
5, our weak spots seem to be independence and initiative, fortitude in work, and comfort in the "real world" and those can be addressed in other ways (?) another arguable statement -- I will let those stand as theories, at any rate.
6, they are all WAY ahead in reading ability.
7, in the younger levels not much formal science or history is necessary -- we can read, for all the content subjects.

SO what else is left??? Spelling, vocabulary and the like I'm not worried about -- religion, I'll make sure we cover -- that IS something I need to keep in mind. Grammar can take a rest for a year, or we can cover it once a week if necessary (also, we can do monthly spelling tests to check progress...IF I can find the Ayers booklet).

The teens are in a slightly different case. I need to make sure I am actively helping them reach their goals. Today I showed Brendan and Clare the list of minimum high school requirements in California. For Brendan, I want him to be thinking of how he wants to address the remainder of his homeschooling years.

Clare, I need to start paying attention to, especially since I have more time with less school stuff for the boys.