That Time of Year Again

It's that time of year again. The Homeschool Convention is right around the corner and I have started to think about next years school year. It is a little more momentous this time because this will be my third son's first year of High School. I have to come up with a plan not just for next year, but a map for the next for years.

That isn't to say I can't tweak it a little. As with any trip you can take side trips along the way, or decide to go a little more scenic or a little more direct along the way. Still I do need to have a destination in mind or I could end up in San Fransisco when I wanted to be in St Louis.

I think I've done pretty well so far but I am having one problem. HISTORY. I can't make up my mind. I have narrowed it down to two, one, History Alive by Diana Waring and the other, Truthquest. Now I'm stuck. I am in the process of praying about it, but how that goes, "Lord help me make that decision. . . yesterday!" I know He will and that when he does I will sit there having a V-8 moment. Until then though, I want Him to do it yesterday. How childish is that?

I am going through the steps of pretending to be an adult though. I talked with my husband about it and (now I love my husband but...) he was no help at all. He started out saying "I really like this program best, I think you should go with it." Then he looked back at the other program a little more and said "You know I think I like this other program more, I think you should go with it." Finally he said "Why don't you buy them both?" (This is me screaming)

Actually buying both is a good idea, a very good idea, if, that is I happened to have about $150 to flush out my history program with. I have already asked my husband for over $100 to spend on my son's Algebra. I can't justify in my own mind another high priced program. Well, actually two, but together they would make one high priced program.

So I went on to step three while still continuing in step one. I talked to my son about it and said that I wanted him to look at the samples and tell me which he liked best. His first comment was that if he needed to learn history from creation forward, that he could just read the bible until he got to Ancient Egypt. Sensible young man and one point for Truthquest. Then he read the lessons in the two and and said that he liked really liked Diana Warings writing style better. (Two points for History Alive.) I thought he would like it better. She has a student book with her program and conversational style of writing that makes it seem that she is talking to you. Truthquest just has the teachers guide and, while her style is conversational too, she seems to be talking at you.

So the scale is tipped, my son prefers the one program, I ought to be happy right? Wrong. This is what balances out things again. Diana Waring wrote her program to be a unit study. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with unit studies. With younger children they are fantastic. It is my belief though that for a High School student they are rather light weight. Not that I think the history portion is light weight. It can be as heavy or as light as I want it to be. Also some of her writing ideas are rather neat though I think I would add in some strictly research papers as well as the creative writing stuff.

On the other hand, at an age where he needs to be doing biology and chemistry along with their labs, he is rather beyond building a flood in a bottle. She has a week in each of her nine or ten units that is devoted to just those kind of things, because in unit study all subjects, or as many as possible revolve around the unit that you are studying. As a strictly history program it will work quite well for High School. I can choose heavier weight books and writing assignments for him. On the other hand, my personal bias is that High School students are beyond most of the unit study ideas she has. That leaves me with one to two weeks to fill with my own ideas.

I can do that with no trouble. The problem is this, last year about this time when I was planning for this year, My son asked for a more textbook style book. He also asked for more tests. Can you Believe it? I was given textbook that I had him use. I ended up hating it and he got bored so now I am trying to get something a little more in the middle. Something that is more structured but is written in a conversational style. Something that will direct us and give us the ability to do tests but will allow us to pick and choose a little more how we go about it so that we can use things that interest him more. I need a program that will show God's over shadowing hand in all of history. I want him to reach adulthood understanding that God is always in control. That, if He has a plan for the end, and He does, then He must have a plan for how to get there. That nothing ever takes God by surprise, just us. That, as Jeremiah says, He has a plan for us. Plans for good and not evil. The evil we see is ours and Satan's, and even then God has a plan to circumvent it. It doesn't take him by surprise.

That's a lot to ask for in a history program I know. But it is what I am looking for. If I had the money I would take up my husbands idea and buy them both. I know I could make one great program out of them, but I don't so I'm looking for the Lord's leading. He knows what I should do even if I don't. I just need to wait and listen. I wish I were better at both.