8th grade, so far

We are about a quarter of the way through 8th grade.  You know we homeschool year round and we are on our own schedule.  Usually we start our school year somewhere around March.  We take lots of weeks off through the year instead of one summer vacation.  There are pros and cons to everything, but my favorite reason for schooling year round is there is no need to review for weeks when we start a new school year, we just pick up where we left off.  (My second favorite reason - we took three weeks off in between 7th and 8th grade.  Two weeks in Kara came to me and said, "I'm bored.  When do we start school again?")

So, 8th grade is going really well.  It's always exciting to see how new curriculum will go when we change things up.

Things that aren't working:
1.  Astronomy.  Who would have thought?!  Kara absolutely loves astronomy and could write her own curriculum.  That makes it hard to find anything that is good enough.  So far, the two different astronomy curriculums I bought are both pretty boring and pretty dry.  Such a disappointment.  In an effort to not squash her love of learning astronomy, we are going to just get through the books, not do the workbooks or tests, and move on to some different curriculum.  (When I finally do get the new stuff, we may just abandon what we have right now all together.)
2.  Taking notes on paper straight from the text book.  She still hates doing this.  So, in an effort to teach her how and in an effort to help her out, I take notes for her in science and history, and she files them in her notebook for studying before a test.
3.  Science?  I have a question mark here because science is a favorite subject for Kara, but last year and this year she is not liking it as much.  I think it's because of the curriculum we are using.  I plan to stick with what we have for the rest of this year, but switch next year.  As we transition into one topic per year for science (ex:  earth science, life science), instead of a little of everything each year, we are liking the BJU curriculum we have always used less and less.  Next year we will try Apologia, which has an excellent reputation.  Next year is physical science (pre-physics, pre-chemistry), which Kara really likes.
4.  Independent learning.  I thought Kara would be further along with learning independently than she is.  I envisioned her just working from a week's worth of lesson plans alone while I go run errands or work at church.  That is not happening.  But then I remind myself she is taking tough courses.  It's more important that she enjoy learning and that she retain the knowledge.  If I sit back and think about it, she is making baby steps toward becoming more independent.  I am working on not putting my expectations on her and just accepting her progress for what it is - very good for her age actually.

Things that are working:
1.  Independent learning.  Aren't I contracting myself?  lol.  She has completely taken over Bible history, Writing, Astronomy, and Spanish (thanks to DVD learning).  I help with Middle Ages history, but only about once a week.  She is still responsible for all the reading.  She never forgets to do her independent work and it empowers her.
2.  DVD learning.  Kara is taking Spanish 2 using DVDs.  This is working so so well for her.  She keeps getting wonderful grades on her tests and I'm really proud of her.  Having this time free for me, whether I need to run errands, do church work, or just enjoy coffee while I put on my makeup, has been so great.  It really wasn't expensive compared to buying all the books we received with the whole set.  I'm loving this.  I'd like to do more of these in the future.
3.  Serving at church.  Spanish and Bible history are done about 3 or 4 times a week to keep the work load light enough so she can comfortably serve at church.  I'm really proud of her.  I tell her it's important we keep talking about if something feels overwhelming or just like a full load.  There's a big difference.  I remind her we get to decide how much we do.
4.  Balance for her 11 year old life.  I feel like serving at church, horse lessons, school, friends, chores, and free time should be balanced in a way that works the best for Kara.  Since she is so young still and so creative, I think her free time should be plentiful and I make it a priority.  I do think there are a lot of right ways to raise your children.  That said, keeping Kara involved in extracurricular activities and school such that they take up 90%+ of her waking hours is not right for our family, even though it is the American way these days.
5.  White board tablets.  Kara absolutely hates writing with a pencil at a desk - always has.  We found white board tablets and haven't looked back.  We have a zillion fun and pretty markers to use and it makes all the difference for her.  In an effort to pick my battles, this is definitely something I don't care about.  She is able to sit at a desk with a pencil and complete a test, so we are good!
6.  Notecards.  Half the time she doesn't remember to study them later, but just writing vocabulary down on notecards helps her learn.  Baby steps.