Highschool

The Homescholar LLC – Total Transcript Solution

August 11, 2021 By Annette1 10 Comments

DISCLAIMER. I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Did you know that I have an finishing grade 10 student, soon to start grade 11? He really has no idea what he’d like to do yet as a working adult so we are continuing to offer a varied highschool education for him. But in the meantime keeping track of grades is vitally important. So imagine how pleased I have been to review Total Transcript Solution by The HomeScholar LLC. You will love this program with the sheer variety of transcript options. The solid training behind it all will delight you. 🙂

The Basics about Total Transcript Solution

The HomeScholar LLC is the designer of several products meant to help homeschool parents pull together details to help their children pursue higher education. Lee Binz’s speciality is in helping parents homeschooling highschool students. The goal: success both now and in future endeavors. The product that I am specifically looking at today is Total Transcript Solution. I have received 6 months access in exchange for my review. This is more than enough time since you get downloaded transcripts that you can use forever, or use as a template to create your own templates.

About Lee Binz

After homeschooling her children through highschool, and seeing them into their future endeavors, Ms. Binz decided to expand her consulting business by creating product to share. You can learn about her core beliefs and learn about her low-key method of providing help to others. Her husband Matt works alongside her, and her employees are also active homeschoolers.

What do you receive?

Upon opening Total Transcript Solution I was immediately able to see all the modules available in this course.

Not only that, I had access (via the sidebar) of all the available resources. And boy oh boy you will like these bonuses. From sample diplomas, to sample grading criteria, there is just so much here! You should be able to easily be done within a month, and if you need longer (cause face it, life happens) … join the silver training club. 🙂

You will be able to listen to Lee Binz, either by watching a video or downloading the audio, conduct various workshops. She has a simple, easy to listen style that immediately makes you feel at ease. She takes away the angst of making a transcript, while letting you know how important it is. Every course will come with a handout (varying in size from 2-109 pages), some with slides, and always with audio.

Did you know that courses can be labeled using a course code, a name that delineates exactly what you taught, or given a generic title? Higher learning institutions tend to prefer courses be as specific as possible. So not doing English 1, English 2, but rather something like Writing and Grammar grade 9. It’s the same thing, but the language is clearer (and therefore more desired) by the reader (the college acceptance people).

With the bonuses, some of them open into a webinar, others into a webpage. All these helps she provides in order to make our lives easier, and to enable us to complete all the steps that we need to. Isn’t it fantastic how Ms. Binz has created a homeschool transcript help site that is so complete?

What do I think?

Oh, I like and appreciate this course. I thought the logical layout and the diversity of material presentation. For instance….. I would much rather read a book then listen to audio as I can get it done so much faster. BUT I like listening to audio if I want to fine-tune my learning. The manner in which the material was presented was kind, at times funny, and with heart.

I was simply delighted by this particular bonus. Being able to see what I should be looking at for grade 11! Yes, it’s very USA centric, but that doesn’t mean I can’t extrapolate for Canadian needs/goals.

I adored how Ms. Binz thought about the different needs of families, providing her resources in a variety of formats. This makes it so easy to just edit materials right on your screen without having to print everything out (unless of course you like printing everything out). Everyone’s needs are different right?

The options for the different types of transcripts were great! I initially started out with one transcript but found it didn’t work well for me, so I switched to a different format which made more sense to me. I loved the ability to describe or state what product I used, or where the marks came from. I’ve been considering next year (in the spring) to sign my lad up for courses in London, so then I could use that course description as well as who taught it in the description area.

When should you get total transcript solution? Anytime after elementary school. You’ll find helps for middle school all the way through to the end of highschool.

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Making an Adult

June 28, 2021 By Annette1 8 Comments

The crew gave a challenge that I’ve been pondering for most of a month now… writing lists. It got me thinking along different lines but nothing really resonated with me. I finally came up with a pre-adulting list, or perhaps a better way of saying that is Making an Adult. Skills that I want my son to know before he leaves the house as an adult. Skills he should be practicing now before he gets out on his own.

Ideas that I tested out and rejected?

Organization by writing out lists. I’ve been doing that a bit lately what with my part-time job. It’s helping me to not forget items that need doing.

Schedules? I thought about doing this for quite a while. We don’t really follow a schedule in our household but we do have routines, and I’ve tried a number of schedules over the years. In August I’m going to be doing a day in the life post and I’ll talk about our routines then. No need to have it twice in two months right?

Then I considered how to help a lad keep organized and remembering tasks that he has to complete. Does this require lists to keep or something else? I’d tell you but that would ruin the surprise later in August. 🙂

Four Specific Skill Areas

I’ve written the past about specific skills that dads teach teens, but the skills I am wanting to address are skills that predominately I see myself as teaching as a mom. They are skills that any parent or grandparent can teach as well. I suppose you could say, these skills are closer to my heart and my mental outlook.

How to manage a budget.

I came into a marriage with a hubby who really didn’t know the ins and outs of managing a budget or planning for the future. Granted, I was NOT taught these skills as I was maturing, so I’ve had to work to develop the skills I have, and I’ve taught my hubby a few of them along the way. I’ve made some BAD financial decisions myself and felt the fall out for too long. I’d rather reduce some of the potential pitfalls for my lad if I can.

How to clean the house.

I AM NOT a great housekeeper but I know what needs doing and how to do it. (thanks mom!) I tend to find ANYTHING other to do than clean the house. It’s good that I have a lad I can pass along some of these duties too eh? 🙂 Seriously though, we share the workload. I’ll clean stuff off the stairs.. he’ll wipe the stairs down. Next month we reverse it. We do this for most cleaning tasks. That way neither one of us is completely stuck with a job we’d rather not be doing, and it’s shared labour. He, like hubby, would rather vacuum floors than sweep them, so I’ve taught him the joy of a small sweep brush and dustpan for areas vacuums don’t reach well. Seeing and doing is the best teacher don’t you think?

How to cook a meal and how to plan ahead for what you are making!

My son’s job? Sundays are MY day off cooking. If I ever HAVE to cook I’m selfish and plan meals around what I like. Sometimes this means the guys get to experience new tastes and be surprised. The lad though is supposed to cook on Sundays, and he can’t just do easy meals. He occasionally gets a Sunday off if we are out and about, or he breaks an arm or life just kinda happens. We aren’t rigid by no means. Currently, he makes easy meals two out of four Sundays. The rest of the time he’s learning skills such as substitution (when he fails to plan ahead), how recipes are often suggestions and guidelines rather than fixed rules, and various cooking terms. Sometimes it would be easier for me to do the cooking but it’s great for him to develop skills.

Doing a job well even if it’s not perfect.

I am a perfectionist. It took me a LONG time to realize this and it stopped me from doing a lot of things if whatever I was doing didn’t turn out the way I’d envisioned. It mentally stopped me in my tracks… “if I can’t do it right what’s the point? I guess I’m just a failure all round”. Guess who else is a perfectionist? YUP! That lad of mine. As soon as I stop it stopping him in his tracks I taught him what took me too long to learn. Is what you did a good job? Did you give it a good effort? Will it pass muster for most folks? Be happy with what you’ve done. Have your goal in mind, push for it, but if you don’t make it.. be happy with your accomplishment. Being perfect is HARD, be very good… that’s better and easier. The pressure eased. A smiling lad again is a very good thing. 🙂

Applying Worldview to Life in Making an Adult

I raised my lad with a Christian Worldview. We apply faith to how we live our lives. Faith is why I volunteer, faith is why I care for others, faith impacts how I view others. My faith filter comes through the bible.

My son admittedly is struggling with that right now. His very scientific mindset has him not quite seeing how God could fit into the picture. He’s willing to engage in discussion though, so struggles can happen right? So right now, as I present my Christian Worldview, I am learning to ask him questions so he can see how his worldview impacts his thinking processes. And how, as he applies that thinking process how it affects how he acts and interacts with the world around him.

All of this is important in helping him become the adult he is meant to be. My prayer is that he’ll come out on the other side truly seeing who God is and why God matters to his life, learning and way to live.

The whole goal of course, along with the myriad of other skills he needs to develop, is making an adult that anyone would be glad to know and work with. This adult will have a consistent worldview with how he lives.

June 2021 Social Media Challenge Graphic

Ontario Wildlife in our Backyard

May 24, 2021 By Annette1 7 Comments

Oh… Ontario Wildlife… we have so many options eh? One can travel up north to see moose and bear, or down south to watch the birds mitigating in from the states at Point Pelee. I can drive down to Grand Bend in the spring to watch the snow geese come in, or head down to the local park to watch the local Canada Geese and mallards. But one of the things I love about where I live is my humungous backyard. I have the joy of watching Ontario wildlife in our backyard. I have the double joy of sharing this with my teenage son. He’s not always so delighted when he gets to see some of this nature up close and personal as he helps me transport it elsewhere….

The Unexpected

The other day my son and I were out gardening when suddenly I yelled “wow, that’s the biggest wolf spider I have ever seen!”. The lad came running over as fast as he could. He was delighted. My lad loves spiders and has kept a number of them over the years. The largest wold spider we’ve seen in the past was perhaps an inch all around, this one was big and fat and had to be almost two inches around. FAST! We wanted to save it since why kill something that is helpful outside? Ergo, the lad captured it and moved it to our woodpile. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but a fast-moving spider and a camera in my pocket isn’t a good combination.

Critters can be found everywhere if you look for them. Gardening, mowing the lawn, trimming bushes, feeding the rabbits, hanging the laundry, or just sitting under a tree. A spider can suddenly appear right in front of you… sending you skittering far away! 🙂 Or a vole can be found nibbling a discovered snack.

All you need to do is keep your eyes open, and your ears listening. Who knows what you might discover? This spring I’ve been serenaded by toads, been surprised by skittering feet on the rabbitry roof, and been delighted by the warning buzz of a bumblebee.

Now mind you, there are critters I like to see… voles, insects, toads…. LOVE having toads, frogs, water bugs, spiders… in places I am not! But there are also varmints! I don’t much care for varmints, and I’d rather not be overladen with flying pests like yellow jackets, flies, and mosquitos. It is so much fun when I clean out the rabbitry and discover insects I’ve never seen before: whiptails, and yellow centipedes that are so tiny, and jumping spiders of all sorts. I don’t want them ON me, but it’s fun to observe creation don’t you think? Even with the varmints…to see their colour, observe their movement, note curiousities about them. It’s good to really see the world around us.

Critters I’d rather not have….

This guy was very unfortunate in his life. We observed many injuries on him that were healing.

This spring we have had a number of unwanted Ontario Wildlife in our backyard. Unwanted for a variety of reasons. I really dislike some of these varmints in the rabbitry.

Rats… cause they foul EVERYTHING, such filthy beasts, and they’ll damage the rabbits.
Skunks…cause they can be stink buckets! Though last year we had a polite skunk who I didn’t mind having around. I’d announce my arrival, it would disappear under the rabbit cages until I was gone, and then come out again. This year’s batch were less-than-polite so out they went!
Opossums… scary bad damage to rabbits they can do. They usually just pass through, but if I can encourage them on their way, I am more than happy to do so.
Raccoons… HORRIBLE critters when it comes to rabbits. The damage they can do makes me so very angry. I so heartedly have learned to dislike them around rabbits because of how they damage them.
Stray cats…. stinky messy animals. Why do stray tom cats like our backyard? I DUNNO. But I don’t need them peeing on my fence posts, messing up my hay, or leaving poop in my yard. YUCK. Not real fond of half-eaten corpses laying around either. The positive thing is they do help reduce the rat population.

My son has learned how to transport most of these critters away from here. He’s had to learn what time of day is best to move them, how far away to take them, and how to get them out of the trap without negative consequences. Being able to observe them up close and note their different features has been instructional. Skunks by the by, you cover them with a tarp and keep it between you and them the WHOLE time. They don’t see you, they don’t spray you. Important life skills for a lad to learn.

This guy was the youngest of five we’ve caught this spring. The other four were older and somewhat aggressive.

Science at home

My teen was also able to help in an experiment. What will catch more rats… a live trap or a snap trap? We were curious what will draw them in quicker… Nutella, peanut butter or seeds? This led to a hypothesis, observations, and a conclusion. Biology science in real life. Nutella came out the winner! Thank you to Shawn Woods and Mousetraps Mondays! This is a trap I’d love to own someday. It will have to wait though until I can get to the States sometime.

Critters I don’t mind

The other day I was out on the porch and spotted this swarm of ants. My son, when I told him, asked me a bunch of questions about them. Was it two colonies of ants fighting? Was it a mating swarm? Where they gathered around eating something? I said I don’t know, how would I know? He proceeded to educate me on ants and all the signs of ant colonies fighting and what a mating flight would look like. We determined that they were just out for some unknown reason. The lad knows a lot about ants as he raises them and has built his own formicariums for some of them. The goal… to raise big enough colonies to sell them. 🙂

Insects too!

Every year we have a bumble bee grace our yard. She often nests in old tree stumps or well-rotten wood. This year it took me a while to spot her nest. In a place I totally didn’t expect!

I thought she was nesting in the straw bale and didn’t want to move it until I knew where she was going. Certainly, I didn’t expect her to be in an old nesting box holding extra rabbit fur. Now I won’t dump it until the fall… after I carefully go through it. I’ve never seen a bumblebee nest before. In case you are curious as I am….

More than bumblebees

We are just starting to see a variety of insects. When I was moving the compost the other day it was swarmed by hordes of yellow flies. I told my guys to stay clear as on the farm growing up I learned these things bite! They like damp smelly places and if you bug them, they’ll bite. What the name of them is? I grew up calling them stable flies but when I look up stable flies they don’t look the same. They look a lot like these flies. I did have the lad give them a good look so he learns to avoid them.

I’ve also been seeing centipedes and millipedes, and have already been catching them for our goldfish. The rollypolys are out and about as well. The other day as I was cleaning cages a small black spider spun down in front of me. Aphids are coming out. We’ve been feeding various earthworms to our garter snake.

Our Pond Brings in Critters

I’ve needed to warn the lad when he mows the lawn to mind the toads we have hopping around. We have at least six different ones and I’d hate for them to go through the mower. They catch SO many flies.

Every year we get a frog or two.

Dragonflies will start gracing our yard killing tons of flies and mosquitos, and water striders, water beetles and more. They have to be quick to avoid our ravenous goldfish.

How about you?

So you gotta tell me….. what kind of critters do you find in your backyard? When you holler WOW, what would bring your youngsters running to see? What delights you in the animals you see around your place? Or even what you’d rather not spend time thinking on! 🙂

Want to know more about supporting teens through homeschooling? Sparks Academy has put together an ebook on Homeschooling Highschool. You could also visit SchoolhouseTeachers. (affiliate link) They have a variety of unit studies, biology lessons, nature studies, chemistry and physics lessons to help our highschoolers under the world around better. Use the code outside to get a discount.

https://schoolhouseteachers.com/dap/a/?a=2815

High School Poetry Lessons

April 19, 2021 By Annette1 2 Comments

As I pondered this week’s challenge from the Crew, poetry in the homeschool, I wondered how to find an English credit for a lad when I want to fill his world with the light and wonder I find in poetry. But instead, I have a lad who battles long, poetry is just not his jam. How then, do other parents provide their teens with high school poetry lessons?

It’s also, according to audible… national poetry month! What better month to talk about poetry in!?!?!

The battle rages
Swift and hot
I will not it
Just not not not.

But the words my lad!
I pleaded long
Can’t you see it?
The story and the song?

I will not do it
Repeated again.
Determined Teen
No Shakespearean!

In today’s post let’s discover some options for teaching poetry with those teens who would really rather not. 🙂 With teens, finding a way to make it interesting, almost always helps. A teacher’s enthusiasm can ignite fires in their pupils.

How to Teach Poetry to Highschool Students

Make poetry a part of life. Add it into the events of the day, or the month, or your life. You could have a daily poetry time, a circle time with the rest of the family, or just read poetry as it suits an occasion. Be creative. Choose good poetry if you can, but read silly poetry if you must. Just show how versatile it can be. Epic poetry, Sonnets, free verse, blank verse, rhyming, narrative, haiku, limericks and odes. Vary the style, mood and tempo just fit it to the events of the day or your life.

Add it to your studies. If you are studying WW2, read poetry that individuals created during the war, after the war, about the war. Let the imaginary fill their minds and just leave it there. World War 2 poetry books like Under the broken Sky, and It rained Warm Bread will capture the hearts and minds of your teens, bringing a poignancy of war they won’t get from non-fiction. If you are studying geological forms, learning chemistry, or even studying calculus. You’ll find a poem that suits almost any subject you can think of.

Some instructors say you should always introduce poetry that is age-appropriate or perhaps a bit higher. I can see the value in that, at the same time, reading poetry that is light and fun is sometimes just the ticket. Urge them higher, but don’t be afraid to introduce the unexpected should the occasion demand it. Mix it up, both topic, style and age appeal.

Introduce a variety of poets. Use the poets of different time periods when studying history, or use historical poems to talk through the seasons. Don’t limit yourself to celebrated poets of the past or just modern day delights. Good poems will speak to us regardless of when they were written.

Poetry is one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another

Use poetry of different lengths to teach drama and presentation skills as you prepare your high school poetry lessons. Help your students to hone the skills they need in presenting information without having to make a speech first. Poetry can teach cadence, tone, and style.

The value of memorization. I know, I know, not often something we have our highschool students engage in. But they have to memorize equations, scientific facts and the like, why shouldn’t they memorize some good poetry as well? Being able to retain facts is a necessary part of working after all isn’t it? Forbes will tell you that memorizing facts helps you to think more critically.

Just as you can use novels to teach some harder literary devices, you can also use poetry to do the same thing. Concepts such as irony, paradox, different types of symbolism and more. After all, the great American poet Robert Frost said, “Poetry is one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another.”, so why shouldn’t we use it to teach our students? Pen and Pad has some suggestions.

How about you eh? What will you use to help your students learn poetry this year or even next? Have you found some creative ways to add poetry to your high school years? What sources will you be using for teaching your high school poetry lessons?

Make Easter Meaningful for Teens

March 29, 2021 By Annette1 5 Comments

How do you make Easter meaningful for teens? This was the first thought I had when I saw the crew prompt Easter Traditions. It’s easy when children are little to do resurrection rolls, dioramas, Easter Eggs, and various other Easter themed crafts. But teens are generally a bit beyond that aren’t they? Yet, Easter… making it mean something with our teens matters! I’m not going to say I have all the answers, but I make some suggestions!

I’ll suggest acts of service, times of learning, and ways to celebrate.

Acts of Service

Teens by the vary nature of their creativity, energy levels, need for good mentors and to be good mentors, and their life experiences make them excellent candidates to be helpful at Easter.

From preparing Easter Egg hunts for the littles in the neighbourhood or in your own family. They could take charge of colouring eggs, hiding eggs, and coming up with innovative ideas for making an egg hunt Christ-centric.

A lot of churches that I know of have Easter morning breakfasts! Teens can help in the kitchen flipping pancakes, scrambling eggs, setting up tables, and helping with clean-up.

Times of Learning

Helping teens really understand the significance of Easter can be achieved through good services at your local church, unit studies such as this one, and even Devotionals. The Review Crew recently looked at Easter Escape Room which might be just the ticket for your teen and their friends.

Label sin on stone and bury it. I know… this is a bit odd and I learned about it from a gal on the crew. Our hope in Christ enables us to be free from the burden of sin. So write a sin on a stone, and bury it in the ground, symbolic eh?

Making Easter Baskets, Easter kits or various Easter-related items and selling them. Finding out what meets the market, deciding if they will be faith-based or more secular. It’s a way for them to learn entrepreneurial skills!

Ways to Celebrate

Have some fun of their own! Send them on a hunt around town following clues! They can run it on their own, compete with friends, or make it a cooperative venture. If you were good at doing this sort of thing you could even make cryptic biblical clues. Flummox them! 🙂 You’ll find other ideas here.

Treats to share with others. Easter baskets for shut-ins, cookies for staff at nursing homes or the hospital, colouring pages for littles, and maybe even making a skit to put on for parents! A time of fun. laughter, remembrance and celebration!

Planning Easter dinner. Some teens will be up to this solo, others… will need some help. Yet others just want to be responsible for a part of dinner or even not at all! They might even prefer not to make the meal but make unique place settings instead. Use their gifts and talents, push their skills a bit, and celebrate the hope we have in Christ.

What about you?

How do you make Easter meaningful for teens? Have you discovered something that I haven’t thought of? If so, let me know in the comments eh? It’s so good to learn from each other.

Savour the moment

March 26, 2021 By Annette1 12 Comments

So it’s Five minute Friday again and Miss Kate has posted this week’s word. Savour is one of those words that evokes a variety of memories. Savouring the beauty of a the world when one goes camping, savouring smells arising from a cookfire or stove in the house, savouring the smells of Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. One can savour lessons learned and time with friends. Currently we are in a change of seasons where out on a walk I can savour the moment as I gaze up spring flowers.

I can also savour moments in the lives of others, victories with skills learned, total wins, and life skills solidified. Isn’t it good to relish the successes gained in the lives of family and friends?

Savour the Moment

Sunday afternoon
A quiet time to rest
Traditionally a day
When Mom is less stressed.

No meals to make
Unless desire to make
Perhaps today is
Time for some cake?

Leftovers await.
Inspiration may arise.
But hold… there’s a teen
Life skills must apprise.

Question arises
What does the lad think?
If on Sundays it’s his turn
For food and drink?

Sure mom he says
I can handle that
If you help abit
Lest the food all be flat!

Savour the moment
Flavours descend
A lad’s willing help
Oh… I might have to amend!

MOM! Help the cry!
I ask what’s betwist
We have no ingredient
Is the meal now a miss?

Teaching I help
The lad learn substitution
Learning a recipe’s a guide
Not always the full solution.

Savour the moment
When confidence is found
No longer hotdogs and soup
Now casseroles abound.

Savouring the moment
When skills learned in life
Mean the lad’s future
Is filled with less strife.

Able to cook,
And learn to adapt.
Part of life-learning
It all seems so apt.

Scriptural Insight

Proverbs 22:6

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Genesis 9:2-3

“The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”

Matthew 6:11

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

1 Chronicles 9:31

“Mattithiah, a Levite and the oldest son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with baking the bread used in the offerings.”

Independent Learning: a high schoolers day in the life

February 8, 2021 By Annette1 10 Comments

Did you know I have a highs school student? I KNOW, shocking isn’t it? I remember so clearly the fun of my lad as a little guy, his questions as a middle schooler, and then planning for highschool. It’s been quite the journey for us. I thought today would be a good day to show you how homeschooling works for us. So today, Independent Learning: a high schoolers day in the life.

Independent Learning: a high schoolers day in the life

My son’s day starts, depending on the week we are in. Part of his schooling is with the local highschool, and the rest is through online or textbooks. He does 98% of his school work in his bedroom either sitting on his bed, often with his cat next to him, or sitting on his desk.

At the beginning of the year we take the time to count out the number of schooling weeks, the chapters/lessons in his course material, and then decide how much he need to accomplish weekly to be done by the end of the year. The end result: he can be independent in how he does his work.

Covid Impacts

With Covid running rampant throughout the country our schools have moved to a quadmester system. Two subjects for two months. then another two subjects for two months and so on and forth. In reality this has turned into one subject for one week, and then one subject the following week.

Since there are some subjects I can’t teach (aka manufacturing) he takes the odd course at our local high school. Those days start early! Currently, that consists of him sitting in front of the computer for three hours per day (spread throughout the day) and then working on his homework for another couple hours, and also fits in whatever other schooling he’s working on.

The benefit of quadmesters is they have taught my son the joy of just focusing on two subjects at once. This is much easier, he finds, than doing little bits of four subjects.

His course load

So this year he has two subjects the high school, Com Tech and Manufacturing. His at home courses are algebra, geometry, physics, Language Arts, French, and Geography. Sometimes things change up a bit depending on what reviews we have in the works from the crew but I mostly try to just work with what we’ve set up.

We learned this year that through army cadets that he can get credit through the training he does with them. So once things start up again… this will be a boon to his scholastic achievements. At this point, his training takes place on Monday evening, online. We hope in person, weekend training, will occur again before year-end.

At Home Days

When he has full days at home to learn he tackles one or two courses per day.

His current routine:

930 care for his mice, have breakfast
950-1130 work on schooling
1130-1215 play online games with friends
1215-150 spend time with dad (dad works late shift so this is their time together) We’ll have lunch, devotions, watch TV, play games and/or they’ll work on some project together.
150-200 read aloud time
2-5 school work
5 ish he often helps me with things like shovelling snow, moving stuff my bum arm gives me trouble with, goes for a walk with friends, etc. We often use this time to catch up with where he is with his schooling. Does he have any questions, things we need to cover together, stuck on an idea, needing reminders about getting projects done rather than having to go back etc.
6-7 he’ll do little things to finish up his school
7-9 is his free-time to do whatever he wants. currently, with covid, that means playing computer games with friends.
9-10 mom time, we watch tv or play games
10 Bedtime. This sometimes varies as late-night conversations sometimes happen.

We wouldn’t have gotten to this point without laying the ground work of trust and work ethic. My lad likes to learn, and over the years, he’s needed to learn how to work independently.

Part of learning independence was looking at the sheer variety of courses there is at SchoolhouseTeachers.com (affiliate link). Having this resource as one of the benefits of being on the homeschool review crew has been helpful.

Want to learn more about teaching independence to your students? There are 3 or 4 sessions at the Canadian Online homeschooling conference (affiliate link) all about teaching our students to be independent. You aught to give them a listen! Free to listen, $17 to have forever!