Pridgen Ninja Jedi Academy for Smarty Pants and Hooligans

10/20/2022

Just over a year since my last update. Evidently, I've completely given up on attempting to update around normal school breaks. We've rarely done anything the normal way, so I suppose it's fitting.
😆

Morgan is done. Morgan graduated from Troy last December with a double major in computer science and math. He worked for a software company in Niceville for a year before we decided that the commute was just too much. We are currently looking for options for him, there's just not a lot of opportunities for him locally, so we may have to look for remote positions even though he would prefer in person. If anyone knows of an option for someone who needs a little help getting onboarded but then can do almost anything computer programming related about 3 times as fast as anyone else, let us know!

Mason is full time at Troy this semester. If you want to get technical, he's a junior in high school because he is missing 2 English classes. Everything else is done. He had the opportunity to join Air Force ROTC at Troy while still a dual enrollment student as long as he took full time credit hours at Troy, so he's been exploring that this semester. He has his ROTC class, leadership lab, and PT 2 days a week on campus and his other classes online. He just finished Computer Aided Design and Earth and Space Science, both with As, and he started Criminal Justice this week. He's still super active with Civil Air Patrol, karate, jiu jitsu, and is working with the ROTC color guard. Unfortunately, he had to give up his job due to driving back and forth to Troy, so he's looking for other options for work.

Wyatt is in 9th grade this year. We decided to try doing all online classes this year. Still evaluating how we feel about our choices. He's using Mr. D for math and then takes biology, English, world history, and career prep through Alabama Access. His passion is still band and drums. He plays with the high school band and takes private lessons on the side. He's planning to audition for some summer drum opportunities that would be really cool. He's likely still a little young and inexperienced, but he's constantly working on improving. He's still going to karate when he can. He's also started working at Hardee's on the weekends.

Overall, it's a bit of a weird shift to having most of their educational stuff completely out of my hands. I always say I'm trying to work myself out of a job, but it's a little bittersweet when it happens. For all that they are working independently, I still seem to be doing a lot of driving around and shuffling of schedules. I'm not complaining, though. I'm so pleased with the relationships that we've been able to form through these years and super happy to still be involved.

10/11/2021

10/11/2021

Ugh. I just typed up this whole post, and it disappeared into cyberspace. Let me see if I can recreate it.
I didn’t do a beginning of the year post, so I thought I’d do a summary now that the first quarter is complete.

Morgan is going to graduate from Troy with a BS in Computer Science and a BS in Math exactly 2 months from today. He just finished Software Engineering, he’ll start Operating Systems tomorrow, and he’s halfway through Abstract Algebra I, Differential Equations, and Data Communications and Networking. He’s still maintaining his 4.0, and he’s working 1 day a week at the software company he did an internship with over the summer. He goes to Troy 3 days a week and Niceville 1 day a week, and I need a car with better gas mileage.

Mason is a sophomore in high school. He’s got precalculus and his Civil Air Patrol work at home. He is also doing US History II for dual credit through Sophia. He’s taking Non-metallic Structures and Welding live through Alabama Aviation College and Physical Science I and Orientation online through LBW. So far, he has all As, and LBW has accepted all his ACE and Arizona State credits, so at the end of this semester he will be a sophomore in college as well. He’s working a few shifts a week at Subway and still enjoying karate and jiu jitsu.

Wyatt is in 8th this year. He’s doing Algebra I, Physical Science, World Geography, and English all at home. He is staying insanely busy with band at Opp. Next semester when football season is over, he will get to go back to karate, and he’s asked to try another dual credit elective online.

I think that pretty much sums up the current school status. I thought things were nuts last semester, but we added getting Mason to class and Morgan to work. Every time I think we can’t fit another thing in, something else comes up. I think I might really be at my max this time. I’ll be relieved when Mason can drive himself but also sad to miss out on that commute time with him. Just trying to enjoy each stage while we’re in it!

05/31/2021

End of the year wrap up!

Morgan finished his spring semester with all As. This summer, he has a numerical analysis class and a software engineering internship that starts tomorrow. In the fall, he'll have data communications and networking, operating systems, software engineering, abstract algebra, and differential equations. And then he'll be done. And I'm not sure what will happen after that. Maybe things will go great with this internship, and he'll want to jump into a job. Maybe we will start commuting to South Alabama for grad school. Not really sure yet.

Mason finished out his 9th grade year strong. All his academic classes plus Civil Air Patrol, karate, jiu jitsu, starting working part time, and track. Over the summer, he's already been to aviation challenge at Space Camp. Next week he goes to glider academy in Kansas. In July he has search and rescue/ranger school in Pennsylvania. The current plan for fall is work, Precalculus with Teaching Textbooks followed by the college algebra CLEP, US History 2 with Sophia for dual credit, Science/English with an online program (looking at Time4Learning), and at least one live dual enrollment class -- probably an airframe class, maybe speech.

Wyatt finished 7th grade and his first year of band. Summer is space academy (already done), Troy band camp, and lots of Opp band camp. He's going to work on math and grammar over the summer in between things. In the fall, for 8th grade, he'll have band, Algebra I with Teaching Textbooks, and History/Science/Language Arts through Time4Learning. We'll also look at some options for elective credit through Sophia. It seems nuts that he's only got one more year until high school.

More and more of their school is moving out of my hands, which was the plan, but it still feels weird. Then again, they do still need me to check in and stay on top of things. Gradually working myself out of a job!

03/27/2021

I should be doing a zillion other things, so I think I'll do an update. 😝

Morgan is halfway through a new semester. His minor in statistics was short-lived. I think that there was a lot of emphasis on taking the actuarial exams, and he really wasn't interested, so he asked to drop the statistics course he started at the beginning of the semester. He was getting an A in the course, but there was no penalty for dropping, and our whole goal was to figure out what he liked and what he didn't, so statistics is a drop. That leaves him with Graph Theory, Real Analysis II, Cryptography, and Computer Organization and Architecture for this semester. I have no idea what he is doing in any of his classes, but he has As, so I'm assuming he does. He got a dorm room this semester, which he has spent exactly one night in. He does hang out there a lot during his longer breaks during the day, though. One step at a time. After this, he has one full semester and a part time semester left. He was selected for a big award at school. I'll have a post on that once they release the pictures.

Mason decided he wanted to run track which meant that he had to have 2 classes through the high school. We decided to do Beginning Kinesiology (basically PE with more busy work) and Career Prep. That's been fun. His interest assessment said he should be a 1. firefighter 2. police officer 3. corrections officer 4. private security 5. hairdresser. That seemed a little odd, so he retested and 5 turned into something with Emergency Management. Other than those two and track and karate and jiu jitsu, he still has Civil Air Patrol. In his free time, he's finishing up Algebra 2 with Teaching Textbooks, a live composition course through Essential in Writing, Biology, and some ACT prep. We still need to knock out the rest of US History II, but it may get pushed to next year. We usually school year round, but this summer he has a week at Aviation Challenge, 10 days at glider academy, 10 days at encampment, and 10 days at a search and rescue school. He's wait-listed for a 10 day honor guard academy as well, so I'm not sure he's going to get school done over this summer which is fine. He went super hard all summer last year.

Wyatt is still enjoying band at the high school. He's finishing up PreAlgebra with Teaching Textbooks, world history through study.com, keyboarding with Typesy, Grammar Flip, and a bunch of reading. He finished his science for the year already, so his schedule has lightened up a bit. He also finished a 1 credit hour course in Conflict Management for college credit. Sometimes I think his schedule is a little too light, but I know it will get crazy again soon.

We're still running around like crazy, but things are going. I think we've finally reached a point where I really don't have to plan too much. Or maybe I'm just procrastinating because it's a weird year. I've looked at writing options for the kids for next year, and I know math will stay the same. I haven't really thought about much else. At some point I will panic and start planning in earnest. Maybe when Morgan's classes are out and the boys are away at Space Camp or something. That seems like a good time to start stressing. 🤣

10/04/2020

My yearly update is late. It's 2020. That's going to be the excuse.
So here is the plan for 2020-2021:

Morgan did Statistics, Calc 3, Algorithms, Advanced Math, and Database Systems last spring and Number Theory and Nature of Programming Languages over the summer due to COVID cancelling his internship. He now has senior standing at Troy. This semester, he has Linear Algebra, Formal Languages, Discrete Math, Real Analysis, and Mathematical Statistics. We just had a meeting and decided to add a minor in Statistics to his double major in Math and Computer Science so that he can work on some independent research with a few of his professors. That will give him a little more time to explore some more options before grad school and help me stop panicking about him graduating so young and not knowing the next steps. Or at least delay panicking for another semester or so. He still has his 4.0, and I have no idea what any of his homework means.

Mason is still in a limbo between grades. A lot of alternative credit providers had free options over the summer due to COVID, so he knocked out 21 college credits over last spring and summer. For now, we are still calling him a high school freshman to give him more time to explore options. He can always graduate early if it seems right and there is a good plan. For this year, he is doing an awesome online writing class through Essentials in Writing. His teacher emails assignments back and forth every day. We're handpicking literature together. He's also doing Grammar Planet and some more typing. He's doing Algebra II for math. We started with Math U See and may end up back there, but he asked to look at the samples of Teaching Textbooks and Mr. D as well, so we are looking at those this month to see where we will finish. He is also doing Dave Ramsey's Personal Finance course. We did 12 weeks of Conceptual Physics for science. It has not been the best fit, so we are exploring Khan's Biology lessons right now to see if that will be better. History will be a 2nd semester block with Sophia's US History 2 for college credit. He is also doing Getting Started with Spanish and all his Civil Air Patrol studies and meetings (aerospace and leadership textbooks and some online emergency services classes) as well as karate and jiu jitsu.

Wyatt is in 7th. He's doing writing with Night Zookeeper, Grammar Planet, some selected literature, and typing for English. We decided to pause and reinforce PreAlgebra skills with Teaching Textbooks before advancing to Algebra I possibly in the spring. He is doing Dave Ramsey's middle school Personal Finance. He's using Study.com for World History and Earth Science. He's also playing percussion in the marching band with Opp High School. Going to the school every day has been a big adjustment to our schedule, but he's really enjoying it. He also still has karate and jiu jitsu around band practices. He'll be able to go back full time after football season.

The boys are all getting older and more independent in their schoolwork, which is a weird transition for me, but I guess that means it's working out, since my goal was to eventually work myself out of a job. For those who are still checking in here, I can't promise that I will get better at posting updates, but I will see you next year for sure! 😂

08/24/2019

Continuing the trend of literally updating this page once a year. 😂😂

Morgan is no longer a student at the Ninja Jedi Academy. That's weird. This year, he's officially classified as a junior at Troy University. He did add a double major (computer science and math), so he will probably need 5 or 6 semesters to finish out his degrees. This semester, he has Calculus II, Data Structures, and Object Oriented Programming on campus with Foundations of Computer Science and Business Systems Programming online. Tentative spring plan is Analysis of Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Calculus III, Advanced Math, and Statistics...possibly Computer Organization. He could cut one or two classes out of the spring schedule depending on how things are going. He has 8 semesters of scholarship available, so we'll just have to see what the plans are for summer -- whether he decides to do an internship somewhere or knock out more classes.

Mason is in some weird limbo between 8th and 9th this year. It's technically 8th, but everything he's doing could count for high school credits, so I'll start his transcript and see where we go over the next couple of years. He's doing Math U See for geometry, Study.com US History 1, IEW SWIB for composition, Well Trained Mind grammar purple, Essentials in Literature 8, History of Science (probably a half credit), and Aviation through a video course and Civil Air Patrol. We are block scheduling history and science, so science won't be until 2nd semester. It's up in the air right now. We started using Holt Physical Science, and we hated it. Front-runner options right now are Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum Conceptual Physics or Study.com. He may throw in another elective through Study.com in the spring. Maybe criminal justice, nutrition, or ethics.

Wyatt is in 6th. He's doing Math U See prealgebra, the second half of US History with Build Your Library, IEW SWIB for composition, Well Trained Mind grammar purple, Science Fusion, and finishing out his Evan Moor 7 Continents. He's also requested drum lessons, so...you know...send thoughts and prayers.

Everyone still has karate. Mason and Wyatt have PE in Troy once a week. Mason will probably have art in Troy, and Mason and Wyatt may have Chinese in the spring. We don't have robotics this year except for volunteering a little at tournaments, but Mason is volunteering with Meredith's Miracles, and we will keep volunteering with puppy rescue flights and Young Eagles. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. 😂

08/04/2018

Well, I've done a horrible job of updating this. I typically just write all my homeschool stuff on my regular page and forget about this one except when I get a notification that I've had a visit. Then I feel horrible that I haven't updated this. Not sure how I'm going to handle that. For now, an update:
We finished out last school year. Morgan did really well on his ACT in December, so he started dual enrollment at LBW in the spring with one class. Over the summer, he did 3 classes through LBW and 1 through Troy. Waiting on final grades for the last 2, but looks like all As.
Mason and Wyatt started the new school year a few weeks ago.
Wyatt is in 5th grade. He's doing American history for the next two years. He's also working his way through some basic geography workbooks. He did North America last year. Hope to get through South America, Africa, and maybe Antarctica or Australia this year.
Mason is in 7th grade. He's doing a world geography/cultural anthropology year for social studies. He also is just about finished with Latin I using Getting Started with Latin and will move on to Latin II using Visual Latin. He is using Essentials in Literature for the first time this year. He also uses Spelling You See since that's a weak spot for him.
Both boys use Math U See and Beast Academy for math, Science Fusion for science, Easy Grammar, and Essentials in Writing.
Morgan is doing full time dual enrollment. In the fall, he will have Computer Science (C++ programming) and Precalculus Trigonometry through Troy. He will have Composition I and Western Civilization I online through LBW, and he will have Chemistry I for his first, honest-to-goodness, live, in-person class at LBW. It's going to be okay. I'm taking my deep breaths. We'll finalize spring semester a little bit later, but it'll probably be Comp II, Western Civ II, Chem II, and Calculus I at LBW with Psychology or Sociology at Troy. The only thing he has planned right now that is 100% at home is an ACT prep class to see if he can raise his score on round 2.
Other than all that, we still have robotics and karate and lots and lots of theatre to keep me sane.
Consider this my yearly update! 😜😜😜

09/18/2017

We may be finishing up the last of the week's assignments on Sunday night at 11:00, but this marks six weeks of getting everything done in the week it was assigned. I'm bragging now because that streak will break at some point. 😂🤣😂

09/11/2017

I really, truly thought that I could give the kids a basic overview of Les Miserables through a graphic novel version prior to seeing the play in November. ..
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
That was the dumbest thing I've ever read. Here's their synopsis:
There was this guy who was a criminal. He was dumb and didn't stay in jail so he got stuck there for a long time. He faked his death a bunch of times and this police guy kept letting him go. He ended up in everyone's business and adopted this kid because he was there when her mom died. He still kept hanging around the police guy for some reason. Lots of people changed their names. The girl he adopted was dumb and fell in love with this poor guy without even knowing his name or even talking to him. The criminal guy was going to let the poor guy die but didn't. The criminal and the police guy kept attacking each other and then letting each other go. The girl and the poor guy got married and didn't want anything to do with the criminal guy anymore. Then they found out that the criminal saved the poor guy, so they wanted him in their family again but they were too late because he died. The end.

I can't wait to show them the movie. 😂😂😂

09/09/2017

13 live shows + required reading of the books behind 5 of the shows + movie comparisons for 3 shows + a book on the structure of American musicals + 11 hours of a lecture series on Broadway musicals = A more in-depth high school theater credit than I ever got. :-D

08/27/2017

Morgan took his first official ACT practice exam today. Gearing up for the real thing in December or February. He did better than I thought he would. Maybe I haven't totally ruined him. On the other hand, I told him he did well enough to get into most colleges, and he didn't seem very impressed. "Ooooookay. Can I go play on my computer now?"