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Hi all! A friend is considering starting homeschooling her DD who will be 9th grade next year. DD has been in public school, and is a pretty good student. Due to poor academics in the high schools here, plus the DD is doing very well in competitive swim leagues and would more easily be able to continue at a high level if she had a more flexible schedule, the family is considering homeschooling.

 

The complication is that both parents work, (though the dad has somewhat flexible hours, and the mom would be able to grade/help teach in evenings) -- but DD would need curriculum for all subjects that she can be relatively independent with. Also, the family does not have loads of money, so expensive (i.e. more than $500-$700 for ENTIRE 9th grade) is not an option.

 

Appreciate any and all ideas -- personal experiences and website links helpful too! I'll compile the thread and pass it on to the friend. Thanks so much in advance! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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I'd recommend Oak Meadow for most subjects. The syllabus makes it very doable for independent use and you can pick up most of the textbooks used at Amazon for really cheap. When dd came home in February I paid about $100 for 4 syllabus' and no more than $50 for the textbooks. The English courses use literature so there's no text there, just the syllabus and books you could easily get cheap anywhere. I'm still waiting to hear back from OM to see how much the teachers manuals cost, so I don't know about price, but since they have the answers to the questions in them, that'd make it easy for mom and dad.

 

You could easily switch the OM grades/subjects around depending on what classes she needs to take and it wouldn't be a problem.

 

I'd recommend Saxon regardless of math level for the $$ factor, since they could pick that up used anywhere for a good price, and the independence factor since it can be used fairly independently. Also, the D.I.V.E. CD's are pretty inexpensive when you start comparing it to something like TT.

 

http://www.oakmeadow.com/curriculum/samples.htm

 

Best of luck to them.

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Hi all! A friend is considering starting homeschooling her DD who will be 9th grade next year. DD has been in public school, and is a pretty good student. Due to poor academics in the high schools here, plus the DD is doing very well in competitive swim leagues and would more easily be able to continue at a high level if she had a more flexible schedule, the family is considering homeschooling.

 

The complication is that both parents work, (though the dad has somewhat flexible hours, and the mom would be able to grade/help teach in evenings) -- but DD would need curriculum for all subjects that she can be relatively independent with. Also, the family does not have loads of money, so expensive (i.e. more than $500-$700 for ENTIRE 9th grade) is not an option.

 

Appreciate any and all ideas -- personal experiences and website links helpful too! I'll compile the thread and pass it on to the friend. Thanks so much in advance! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

I have a rising 8th grader, so I have been doing some thinking about high school, and she'll probably be doing high school courses next year for the most part. So, here are my thoughts, even though I am just in the planning stages for my daughter.

 

I would think you are going to have in 9th grade the following subjects:

 

Science, Math, Foreign Language, History and Literature (with writing)

 

These should be included. So, I would approach it this way:

 

First, I'd suggest they buy a copy of TWTM.

 

For History/Literature: Lots of options!

 

One option would be to buy Spielvogel's Human Odyssey (super cheap used) as a spine for all four years of high school and then add in books listed in WTM for the time periods studied to cover literature. Buy a copy of the Well Educated Mind, too. And another I can't bear not to mention, The Annotated Mona Lisa. I would have her do outlining and narration and use some of the questions in the history text. If she needs a formal review of grammar, I would buy Rod and Staff 6 or 7 and have her work through that. Or LLATL Gray. Maybe this would cost about $100 total for the used texts, books, utilizing the library, and Rod and Staff or LLATL. Frankly, I really like LLATL Gray.

 

Another option is Ambleside Online. It's free and has lots of great suggestions. I would start a 9th grader probably in year 7 lite if she's not used to heavy reading. AO has so much info available, too, that I would just have this mom peruse the site. This would be free except for the few resource books they recommend. So, I'd say, again, around $100.

 

Also, Sonlight is an option. She could start with Core 100. The IG is geared to the student in upper cores I believe. Your friend could buy an IG w/o the binder or find one used and then get the books used or from the library. Probably around $100 total if buying everything used. I know I've looked at the History of the US books and you can get older editions super cheap.

 

With any of the history/lit options, mom or dad could read some of the book selections, too, so that they can have discussions with daughter.

 

For foreign language, unless someone can work with her and tutor her, I would buy Rosetta Stone in a modern language, probably French, German or Spanish because it would probably be easy to find a tutor in those if necessary. I'd get the homeschool version. The first level is around $200.

 

Math: I would probably just buy Teaching Textbooks because it is very good if you need something your kid can do independently. So, that's also close to $200. I know folks think it's not in depth enough but there are people on this board who've used it and their kids are doing great in math and have done well in testing. Plus, TT has fantastic resale value, so the sale of one year's curriculum would almost pay for the next year's, which would significantly reduce their outlay after the first year of using it.

 

Okay, science. I'd say for self-teaching, I would go with Apologia just because it is written to the child. I'm not necessarily crazy about their point of view on some things, but still...I would use it because it is written to the student and it seems manageable in the home. Biology would be most expensive I think if you get a microscope to go with it. Don't know if she'd be doing Biology or Physical Science. I believe it's possible to get these sets used. However, SL sells them new with the SL schedule and everything needed. Physical Science is well under $200. I believe all of them are except for Biology and that's because of the cost of the microscope. So, I think she could manage this for about $200 new for all sciences except Biology and that could be purchased used. In 11th or 12th grade, I would probably consider a community college science class if it was affordable.

 

That's $700 total, maybe less if the science is less than $200.

 

Other than that, I would sign the child up for the SAT question of the day.

 

I'd also buy Vocabulary for the College Bound Student used. I'd also have the child read Strunk and White's Elements of Style and work through The Lively Art of Writing. All three of these are probably well under $20 used.

 

Another option is virtual public school. We have K12 in our state as an option for free online public school. K12 is a great curriculum from what I have heard. I'm just not willing to enroll in a public school option but I'm sure it's a great way to go for some if it is available.

 

HTH! :001_smile:

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These are all great ideas! Any others also appreciated!

 

Yes, I, too am thinking DVD type of class for math -- or Saxon with DIVE CDs -- would be their best bet for math.

 

 

Do you know which science and history topics they would want to cover in 9th? And what level is she at in math (Alg I, geometry)?

 

 

They are still in the "thinking about it" stage and just at the beginning of researching it to see if homeschooling would even be do-able, so they haven't gotten as far as specific classes yet. Drawing from our state requirements, as a freshman she would probably be doing:

 

- (Bible/devotions)

- English (need grammar, writing, literature; *possibly* spelling or vocabulary)

- Math (Algebra 1)

- Science (probably Physical Science)

- Social Studies (probably World History; possibly American History)

- Foreign Language -- or -- an Elective

 

PE would be taken care of through the swimming

 

 

They also like the possibility of being able to do some Christian-based curriculum, having had all secular all through public school.

Edited by Lori D.
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My kids are 100% independent learners as hubby and I both work - and I prefer that they be independent.

 

We use:

 

Science - Apologia - it most definitely has Christian content, but is still written for the independent learner and does a great job educating the student. My boys tutor their ps counterparts. If students want to go into a science field, both regular and advanced counterparts (Bio, Chem, Physics) are needed. If they are headed into a different field, one can get by with just one year and still have sufficient high school knowledge. This year we added the Teaching Company's High School Chemistry to it. For Bio, we also supplement on evolution from the pro side (because I want my boys to know both sides).

 

Math - Teaching Textbooks - it is expensive, but if they don't write in the books, there is a great resale value. It teaches the basics really well. This is a secular text.

 

English - We've ended up liking Hewitt's Lightning Lit courses. And, since I want to keep them up on vocab, we add Wordly Wise. Both are secular. The Element of Style book referenced in a previous post is also great to have.

 

History - I'm a Notgrass fan - World, American, and Gov't. We do it with the literature, but I don't give Bible credit. This is a Christian text. For world geography we're doing BJU right now. There are a LOT of facts, etc, in it, making the tests tricky, but overall, I like it.

 

Health - Abeka high school course. This is a Christian text, but it does a great job IMO. After that is done we just keep current by reading and doing summaries of Nutrition Action magazine. This is secular and is not funded by advertising. It reviews current studies, etc, in a magazine form.

 

Spanish - Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition - this is pricy, so might not be in their ballpark.

 

Art History - the Story of Art - secular text and very interesting.

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This is what my independent grade 9 dd is doing/has done this year. She learns well by reading, even for math, so this is something to consider when looking at this. Some dc do better with lectures on DVD or on-line, and I've mentioned some of those options.

 

Life of Fred Geometry. I did have to grade some of the work including proofs, however, but if she's doing Algebra 1, then the grading is much easier. Since there is more than one way to prove anything, you have to understand this in order to grade it (so may or may not be a drawback here, but you can always grade things if you have to sit through a swim practice for some reason.) She is a very good math student, and found Teaching Textbooks too easy. Other options with DVD lectures are things like Lial's, ChalkDust (and you can get help from the author) and VideoText.

 

Rosetta Stone German with German is Fun grammar workbooks. RS keeps track of the scores with the homeschool version, but I have to grade the workbooks. Next year she's going to study German online, probably with OSU.

 

Traditional Logic I. Completely independent, but I had to grade the work. Dd could have graded it herself, but I prefer to do it so I can see what she's done.

 

Conceptual Chemistry, which comes with lectures for the first 12 chapters. I should add, though, that you need to do labs. We used MicroChem, which dd did with some other teens. The teens were able to do the labs without me.

 

She has other subjects, but I don't think they'd work as well if I were working full time outside of the house.

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For Spanish 1, we are doing Standard Deviants. We got 4 DVDs, I think you can get them in a package deal. For all 4 it will cost between $70 and $80. Here is Standard Deviants link for titles of the 4 dvds, it may be a little cheaper on Amazon (I got mine on sale at SD, but it looks like the sale is over).

 

http://www.sdlearn.com/product_p/001050579.htm

 

These worked way better than Rosetta Stone. My graduated son used RS and said it helped him for maybe a few weeks in college Spanish, and he had to start at beginning because he didn't do any grammar. Standard Deviants is heavy on the grammar, and is great for learning it. My daughter is actually correcting our college son's mistakes on homework.... We are a little light on vocabulary, but have a great foundation to build on.

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Christian Light Education would be very independent and only in the $200 range and looks to be a decent program. I especially like the looks of the Literature and language arts. I would suggest a different math as CLE's is not dvd type. We have looked at it and our concern was, if the student had a problem there didn't seem to be much support for the math. The rest of the program is open and do. HTH

Blessings,

Pat

Edited by Pat in MI
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