9th grade

[coloradomomof5]

First, thanks for alal the ideas on the English for a 9th grader.  i am closing in on Illuminating Literature.  Someone mentioned a recording where she talk about her lit ideas.  Does anyone have a link?  I loved what I saw on her website and think we will go in that directions.

 

Next subject, my 9th grader needs geography and government this year, one semester each. I am looking at Notgrasss for gov't and NorthStar for geography.  I am open to other ideas and suggestions.  I like to show him a few and let him pick.  Going with the whole have them get on board before we get started.

 

TIA.  You'll give me so much confidence that this HS thing is going to happen.

[jetzmama]

My ds and I have loved the self-paced VP OB 3 US History/Government class this year. He is in 11th and doing OB3 complete (history/lit/bible).  VP suggests OB 1, 2, 3 be done in 7th, 8th, & 9th, but I have found OB3 to have both a significant amount of reading and in-depth, engaging video lectures.  It is much more comprehensive than the b&m school's history class that he took in 10th. The videos not only contain lectures (often on-location), but also street interviews, interactions to build logic, expert interviews, interactive reviews, and graded quizzes.  I do assign one written item per book. Sometimes this is a paper suggested in the TM, other times it is another one of the activities suggested in the TM.    Based on the reading assignments, and knowledge of the depth of the videos, I would have no qualms about using any of the self-paced Omnibus courses for high school credit. The best parts: 1. Planning on my part is minimal; 2. I watch the videos with my ds, so we get to slow down to  discuss and just  'be' together.  Not a whole lot of time for just 'being' in high school, so that has been a real gift. 

Edited June 3, 2016 by jetzmama

[Holly]

We'll be using MP's Geography III, but probably not until 10th grade.  I would think you could fit it into a semester.  I also plan on Notgrass for government, unless something better comes along before then (I have at least another year to decide).  

[SilverMoon]

Runkle's geography is a semester course that focuses on physical geography.  The workbook is mostly learning countries and capitals. We skipped that in favor of regular review using online games. The textbook is pretty easy to use and the TM has quizzes.

[Guest]

We are also using Notgrass for government right now. Dd is 13 and we're just a bit into 9th grade work. I will say for the source document book, unless you have an advanced or very dedicated 9th grader, you might budget time to go through the source docs with them. The language and sentence structure is different than dd is used to reading so she will skim for answers without really grasping what she read. I figured there would be a little more explanation than there is on the actual source docs, so I am taking time to go through some of them with her so that she "really" gets it. After hearing about all of the kids in university who can't make it through the first sentences of The Declaration of Independence or US Constitution I want to make sure she understands what she's reading. So just throwing that out there as I'm having to change our schedule around a bit to ensure I have time to discuss.

[bluedarling]

I'm following because I'm on the same path: doing Government in the fall, and will need geography for spring semester.  Northstar says its a full-year?  are you planning to condense?   That might work for us, since year before this we did an in depth geography of Americas....I just need to cover the rest of the world!

[HollyDay]

We used PAC World Cultural Geography.  It can easily be done in a semester .  We stretched it to a year by adding music, art, literature, food, etc.  But, done as it, you can do it in semester.

 

AOP LifePac has a 1 semester government.  I think BJU and Abeka does as well. 

[Lori D.]

Gov't = YMCA Youth In Government (model legislation program) (west of Mississippi =Youth AND Government) 

Gov't = Teen Court, Youth Court, Mock Trial (model judicial branch of government)
Gov't = TEEN Pact (government and the political process; Christian)
Politics/Gov't =  Junior State of America (teen events on civics/politics; speakers & discussion sessions)
Politics = National Model United Nations or Model United Nations (mock U.N. session)

 

I always recommend actual participation in one of these (above) organizations for part of the credit for Government, OR as an extracurricular that is very fun and engaging for the student, and is impressive for college admission and scholarship essays. These groups are also super for developing skills in leadership, responsibility, public speaking, learning to network, etc.; for building friendships; and encouraging participation as an active/involved voter when the student is an adult. :)

 

Looks like you are in CO? Here are some links for your state: CO Youth & Gov't, CO TEEN Pact, CO Model UN -- since these are national organizations, homeschoolers are almost always able to join in if the delegation is based at a high school, unlike high school sports participation at high schools which depends on the school district. :)

 

 

Some other Government (and Economics) options:

 

Complete Programs -- Self-Directed

- Gov't & Econ = Alpa-Omega Life Pacs (workbook set) -- Switched on Schoolhouse is the CD rom version plus workbook material that can be printed out

- ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) PACES -- Gov't = 1133-1138 and Econ = 1139-1144 -- CD Roms + workbooks 

- Notgrass = Exploring Economics and Exploring Gov't

- Gov't & Econ = Time 4 Learning -- secular

- Gov't & Econ = AO Life Pacs (workbook set) -- or -- Switched on Schoolhouse CDs --  Christian

- Econ = Economics in a Box (books and DVDs program)

 

Textbooks

- Macgruder's American Government -- set of textbook and workbook

- Great Source: American Government -- textbook and activity book

 

Books

Gov't = Complete Idiot's Guide to American Government

Gov't = The Everything American Government Book

Econ = Lessons for the Young Economist (free pdf book)

Econ = Economics for the Impatient (book)
Econ = The Complete Idiot's Guide to Economics (Gorman)
Econ = Economics for Dummies (Masaki)

Econ = Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt) -- free online pdf book; written in 1946

 

DVD / CD video lectures

- Gov't = Standard Deviants: American Gov't Super Pack (secular; 10 DVD set; 3.5 hours)

- Econ = Stossel in the Classroom (DVD or streaming videos)

- Econ = Teaching Company: Economics (secular; 36 30-minute lectures on micro and macro economics) 
- Econ = Thinkwell: Economics (secular; 180 video lessons on micro and macro economics)
- Econ = Khan Academy (secular; free video tutorials: intro to econ; microecon; macroecon; current econ)

- Gov't = Khan Academy (secular; free video tutorials: American civics)

 

Past Threads with More Ideas:

Economics and Government suggestions

Government and Economics -- not rigorous
Help! American Gov and Econ for 12th grade

Please list what you use for Amer. History, Government, and Economics

Edited June 4, 2016 by Lori D.

[coloradomomof5]

Thank you for all the suggestions. Almost more than I can focus on. Do we have a favorite and why??

[Luckymama]

My dd participates in Youth in Government and in Model UN (also through the Y---she doesn't have to be a member). They have been valuable extracurriculars :)

[Lori D.]

My dd participates in Youth in Government and in Model UN (also through the Y---she doesn't have to be a member). They have been valuable extracurriculars :)

 

Same here, although DSs did Youth & Gov't, not Model UN (but Model UN is also a super activity -- *I* did it back when I was in high school! :) )

 

Both DSs *loved* Youth & Gov't, and each participated 3 years -- and neither had then (or has now) ANY interest in going into politics, law, or government. It was GREAT for developing a real understanding of how elections and politics work. And both Y&G and Model UN are very favorably looked on for college admissions and scholarship essays! :)

Edited June 17, 2016 by Lori D.

[Mosaicmind]

We will be using Northstar Geography this year for sons in 9th and 10th. It's a whole year course that's much more rigorous and in-depth than other courses such as Runkle. We won't be doing government and economics until 11th or 12th because the material being studied I believe is in-depth and rigorous and I don't think my guys are ready for that yet. We are still enjoying studying history, people groups, and other subjects branching off of history. If you do go with Northstar for geography make sure and get their wondermaps on cdrom, you won't regret it.

 

When we do study government and economics I think we will use Sonlight or possibly Notgrass, since we are using their World History this year. I've not looked at theirs as much as I have Sonlight's, which is pretty challenging. We've considered adding a unit study on elections this year, as it seems very appropriate but we are doing so much as it is that I'm not sure I can fit anymore in. I found Masterbooks curriculum and have picked up some awesome courses for the boys this year that I've never come across anyone else doing.

[coloradomomof5]

We used PAC World Cultural Geography.  It can easily be done in a semester .  We stretched it to a year by adding music, art, literature, food, etc.  But, done as it, you can do it in semester.

 

AOP LifePac has a 1 semester government.  I think BJU and Abeka does as well.

 

PAC looked interesting. What did u like about it? How long daily did u spend? Would ur kiddo recommend it to another?

[AEC]

what about AP HUG for the year?  It's geography, also a bit of govt (mostly as it relates to geography), and other stuff in for good measure.

We're doing it this year for 9th - we'll see how it goes.

[HollyDay]

PAC looked interesting. What did u like about it? How long daily did u spend? Would ur kiddo recommend it to another?

 

Yes, we have recommended it to others and they also used it.  I had 2 dds using the program so we all did it together.  They had the worktexts open and I lectured (or read) from the unit.  They could write the answers in the worktext as we came to it.  The mapwork was interesting also.  I did stretch it out to a full year (the other family did not).  I added art, food, native or folk dress, music, religion, etc to each area.  This took some advance planning.  Ideally, I had a food (meal or snack) prepared or about to prepare and examples of music and art ready to present.   I liked books like Material World and Hungry Planet.  Since I stretched it out to a year, I also added essays and research papers.  It really was a lot of fun.

 

One big con for me was the black and white text.  I think geography should be colorful.  It should bring the region alive.  I used ipad, art books, atlases, books from the library, dvds, etc.  to make this happen.  Travel dvds (or shows on TV) really help. 

The format is the same for each section so there isn't any guess work about how to do the program.  Once you have done one section, you know what to expect. 

[2_girls_mommy]

I seem to recall that WTM suggests The Complete Idiot's guide to Am. Government. If so that is probably what we will go with.  I usually stick to its history suggestions.