Big Guy: End of Freshman Year

*sniff sniff*  It was hard for me to type that title and not get a little choked up.    Big Guy's first year of high school is just days away from being finished.   Right now he is in the other room putting the finishing touches on his Communications final which is tomorrow.    At the beginning of this year, I had feelings of sheer terror about whether or not I could homeschool him through high school.   I can say that those feelings have only diminished slightly as this year has reaffirmed to me just how challenging and important these high school years are going to be.

I wanted the chance to sit down and write down some things about this past year.   I know that he and I will both want to look back and remember that we survived this freshman year!

His Course Load:

Algebra 1 - We tackled this at home with a curriculum we purchased called Teaching Textbooks.  

Biology -  This class was taken online with CurrClick.com through a professional teacher, Debbie Mackin, who offered the Apologia Academy Biology course.    He went to online lectures once a week and had to submit all of his assignments to her.   Even his tests were taken online and she graded them.   Loved this!    To complete the lab requirements, he went to Millsaps for a lab class with Dr. Paul.

Communication/Speech - There is no doubt that this is the hardest class that Big Guy has had this year.   It is taught by a retired college professor.   She is TOUGH!    However, she has taught Big Guy a valuable life skills:  "You don't have to like something to do it well."

Latin - Out of all our classes, this is the one I am still trying to figure out.   We chose Visual Latin for this class.    He likes it, but I need to make sure he is progressing correctly.  It has been a LONG time since high school Latin for me.

Mississippi History - We ordered the MS history textbook written by a professor at the University of Mississippi.    It was recommended to us by our pediatrician.    In addition to completing this textbook, Big Guy had to complete a major Mississippi project for this class and take a test which included labeling all the counties of Mississippi.  

Mississippi Literature/Writing - All of Big Guy's literature and English was tied into his Mississippi history.  

Music Theory - Another class which he took through CurrClick, both boys took this class of basic music concepts.    It gave them basic musical knowledge of notes, clefs, time signatures, notes of the piano, accidentals, half and whole steps, etc... 

P.E. -  Between bowling club and 4H shooting sports, it was no problem meeting the PE requirements this year.

I am sitting here looking at him working at his desk and I realize just how much he has grown this past school year in so many ways.   He has changed so much physically.  He is now so much taller than I am and his voice is becoming deeper and deeper.    He has always been a very introspective and shy person; however, I have seen him step out of his shell this year.    Big Guy is the kind of person who would do anything for you if you asked, but he isn't going to jump out there and say, "Hey, I will do it."   I have even seen that change a little.    He has been a part of the audio/visual team at our church for the past three years and recently he has begun asking to go over extra days to help with certain projects.    I like seeing him step out of his comfort zone and do things for others.   

I love being his Mom.   The older he gets the more I love and admire him for the man he is becoming.   I love watching God mold him into who He wants him to be.   I can't wait to see where God takes us next on this amazing journey.