9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum choices

Curriculum list for 9th grade homeschooler


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Current situation: I'm laying down the rails for high school. A big box from BJU Press just rolled up in our driveway a few days ago and I'm trying not to hyperventilate. 9th grade is coming at me like a freight train. Wasn't she just starting kindergarten yesterday? Fortunately for the both of us, my daughter wears BRAVE well. "Mom, I got this. God's got this. It's gonna be just fine. Bring it on." I'm glad one of us is handling it well.

So, while I try to scrape my emotions up off the floor and attempt to piece my heart back together, you can take a quick peek at her upcoming school year.


I've always tried to weave in as much family-style learning as possible. And this year will be no exception. After sketching out a tentative four-year high school plan, I think I've planned a nice mix of both group and independent subjects to give her a one-of-a-kind year.

Here's what she'll be learning.
(Items with an asterisk indicate a new-to-us resource. Because we don't homeschool on Tuesdays, all subjects will be completed four times a week unless otherwise indicated.)

Content-rich subjects

As in year's past, she will do a lot of her content-rich subjects like Morning time, history, world geography, art, and composer study with the rest of the family. You can see all of those subjects and curriculum choices here>>>

Personal Devotions- everyday


Language



Math

Last year, in preparation for her dual-enrollment classes coming up in 11th and 12th grades, my daughter requested to take a more traditional approach to science. She wanted a chance to learn with a textbook and lab assignments in order to become comfortable with that set up before she had to do it "for real" in PSEO. I could certainly understand that logic. So, after reviewing four major textbook science programs, I settled on BJU Science which provided not only a thorough look at certain aspects of science from a Christian perspective, but also an opportunity to develop practical lab experience. Because since it is a traditional program, she struggled at times to completely understand all the reading. She and I both liked the program, we just knew she needed a bit more explanation.

So this year, I have ordered the textbook AND video lessons. (I have chosen to lease the videos instead of ordering the online streaming option. I don't want my daughter to be at the mercy of a sketchy internet service.) Each day's lesson is taught right to the camera by a science teacher. She'll watch the video, read the texts, answer the questions, and take the unit tests. (I'm not a fan of tests for elementary students, but I have different opinions about them in the jr. high and high school years.)

Electives


Interior Design- 2x a week


  • create one design board each week in a Universal Sketch Pad
  • shadow two area interior designers a few times throughout the year to get a glimpse of the unglamorous, monotonous, and business aspects of interior design

Piano- lesson 1x a week; practice 5x a week


Critical Thinking- 1x a week



Basketball- winter months

Like last year, she plans to try out for the girl's basketball team at a local Christian school. During the winter/early spring, practices will be several times a week right after school with games scattered throughout the end of the season. 


She's gotten pretty self-sufficient in the kitchen and has even mastered many dishes that I've never even attempted like homemade pudding, crepes, and fried pickles. So, she'll not be assigned any particular cooking classes like the Simplified Dinners course she took last year, but will be assigned a rotation of breakfasts and dinners to make throughout the month.

Ready or not, here comes high school.

11 comments:

  1. Jamie, I am curious as to how you will do LLATL with your high schooler. I did part of the American last year with my 10th grade and plan to finish it this year. How to you see the day go with this program? Also, are you changing all your other children over to LLATL, and how will you do the dictation with each of them with so many others? I find being able to do the one on one time difficult when I am needed with so many (4).

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    1. I have always done a one-on-one time with each of my kids for Language Arts. I'm hoping that LLATL will be a somewhat seamless transition because we've already been doing that. But, I know that the time frames might end up being a bit longer. Because we do family-style learning for so much of the rest of the day, I try to make this one subject happen in order to give quality one-on-one with each of them each day. Admittedly, it's not easy. But, since we started doing it from the very beginning, the kids have just gotten into a habit of knowing that when I'm with one child, they have to occupy on other things until I'm done.

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    2. Thanks for the reply. I hope the transition goes smoothly.

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    3. My son really unlikes :-) public school, and he just started a relly boring 9th grade...he's begging me to homeschool him, but I am so scared I'll fail. I don't know anyone personally that's doing it. I need a lot of help putting together what's needed for him to graduate. Where shoud I start? I am reading your blog, and I like what I see but I don't understand everything said here. Please let me know if you can help us.

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    4. Adel,
      Here are three posts that might be helpful for you:
      https://www.theunlikelyhomeschool.com/2020/06/high-school-records.html

      https://www.theunlikelyhomeschool.com/2021/09/high-school-success.html

      https://www.theunlikelyhomeschool.com/2020/07/career-planning.html

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  2. Love that you are using interior design as an elective and I have pinned those to remember for my now 8th grader as potential electives in the future. Thank you! Have you ever used any of Zaccoro's problem solving books for critical thinking? We came across him at our homeschool convention and I have added those in for mine :)

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    1. No, I've not used any Zaccoro resources. Have you liked them?

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  3. Hi, Jamie,

    My son has been in the public school system since kindergarten.
    In September he started 9th grade. Not to get chatty about the public education and the crisis it is in , it wasn't until tonight that we decided to home school for the next year or hey, it may be for one semester. We do not know, but we also agree we will never know if we do not do it. No venture no gain.

    My question to you is, how does one pick a curriculum ? I live in NYS and the homeschooling rules are stringent.


    Thank you in advance.

    Respectfully signed,
    Larissa Burger

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    1. Larissa, NY does have some very tight homeschooling laws, but it is possibly to homeschool quite well there! I'm going to give you two blog links to read that should help to point you in the right direction.

      This one has some great resources for getting started>>>
      http://www.theunlikelyhomeschool.com/2014/12/my-big-fat-list-of-100-resources-for.html

      And this one is all about choosing curriculum>>>
      http://www.theunlikelyhomeschool.com/2013/03/5-tips-to-consider-for-choosing.html

      I'd also highly recommend the blog Blog, She Wrote. It is written by a homeschooling momma in New York. She has graduated one child, has a senior that she'll be graduation this year, and two other kids in various grades. Her blog is a wealth of info for NY homeschoolers.

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  4. You are to kind. Thank you.

    Have a nice day , Jamie:)

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  5. Can you tell me what some of the activities are for the interior design lapbook curriculum? I can’t seem to find any specifics online. Thanks!!

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