New to highschool...my 9th grade plans?

[Kfamily]

This is my first year planning for 9th grade. I'm very overwhelmed!:lol:

Please look at what I have and let me know where I've overlooked something or have made a mistake.

 

Algebra I (1.0 credit) Harold Jacob's text with dvds

 

French I (1.0 credit) Breaking the Barrier

 

Latin I (1.0 credit) Henle Latin

 

Science (1.0 credit) Introduction to Physics and Chemistry (Prentice Hall/Kolbe Academy) using Khan Academy for supplement and maybe something for experiments if needed (I'll have to look at this)w/formal lab notebook

 

Logic (0.5 credit) Traditional Logic w/dvds

 

English 9 (1.0 credit) with Practical English for grammar, SAT vocab. flashcards and CW/other resources for composition...literature will be connected with history...I could move it here if needed

 

Ancient Greek History I (0.5 credit) using The Book of the Ancient Greeks by Dorothy Mills, Fran Rutherford guide for our literature selections, Iliad, Odyssey, Myths and Their Meanings, 3 Theban Plays, The Oresteian Trilogy and some portions from the Story of Philosophy...I would love to add the TC dvds for our lit. selections

 

American History I (0.5 credit) using The Story of America (first 1/2) (ETA: The Story of America by Harlow and Miller is an older text but it is for high school) with Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Early American Literature selections, Common Sense, primary sources and speeches (AO Year 9), Miracle at Philadelphia, The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution and I may add more for government

 

We we still have nature study, art (both history/appreciation and technique) and music (appreciation and piano). I was wondering how to handle these...could I wait until later and perhaps allow all of her nature study work to accumulate and give one credit in science for this? I was thinking each year would earn a quarter credit and after all 4 years earning 1 total credit. I would leave piano as extra curricular but would allow art to accumulate for 1 full or 1/2 credit at the end of four years too. Would this be okay?

 

This year would total 6.5 credits. Is this okay/correct?

We will be doing the ancients every year of high school. There will be much more study of Ancient History over the next 4 years.

And yes, my dd and I would prefer to do it this way. :D

We will also be finishing American History in 10th grade.

 

ETA: She will also be reading the Year 9 section from English Literature for Boys and Girls, Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, Pride and Prejudice and The Count of Monte Cristo along with a Poetry Study

 

Thank you for any advice!

Edited May 12, 2011 by Kfamily

[Lori D.]

Welcome to high school! :) Everyone has students who work at different levels, and everyone has different goals and priorities for their families, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. ;) Enjoy your high school home school journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

My overall impression:

Wow! Overload! But your DD may already be working at a high level and this may be very realistic next step up for her. I know you want to do everything (we all do!), AND you want to do it at the full credit high school level, BUT, realistically, high school is the time it becomes very simple: 1 subject = 1 credit = 1 hour per day, 4-5 days a week (with some additional time for reading the lit. and history, and for practice of a sport or musical instrument). So 6.5 credits = 6.5 hours of school per day -- and, esp. when just starting high school -- that is plenty. If your student is schooling and practicing for 6-7 hours a day, and then have afternoon/evening extracurriculars several days a week -- when do they have time for family? friends? develop hobbies/interests? just have time to daydream, relax -- have FUN?

 

It's also a good idea to let 1 credit be an elective for something your student is interested in; a lot of high school is heavy, required coursework so it's important to have something to be able to look forward to each day! :) Does DD have any areas of special interest that you can carve out time for to encourage?

 

 

re: French and Latin

Two languages at once can be very hard on a student; are you already in the midst of one or both of these? --That would make it more feasible if you're already doing this. Do you really *want or need* 2 foreign languages? --For example, would dropping back to just vocabulary from Latin be acceptable? And if you really DO want or need both, but have not started either yet, I'd consider just start with one, do that for a year or even two to get a solid background in learning a foreign language, and then add the second one down the line.

 

The other reason I would suggest only doing one language is that it will allow you to do Piano as 1 credit of Fine Arts for example. (If you are wanting to accumulate 1 credit of art/music over four years of high school, then plan on 1 hour per week through all 4 years of high school, and that will accumulate the hours you need for the credit.) If you are really wanting 2 foreign languages, then no, I would NOT attempt to add in art or music appreciation or technique at all this year.

 

 

re: Science

Most high school graduation/college entrance requirements for science are three LAB sciences, so at some point, you'll need experiments -- if you're doing 4 years of science, it doesn't have to be this year. Sounds like you are doing Physical Science this year; if you decide you do want experiments for the lab portiion of the credit, take a look at TOPS units or some of the physics and chemistry kits from Home Science Tools. Another lab option: how about a local homeschool science co-op?

 

Nature Study is usually dropped for high school, OR, could be done as part of Biology. So you could save this for the year you do Biology for science.

 

 

re: Logic

Traditional Logic is not worth 1 full credit? Or are you planning to just do half this year and half another year?

 

 

re: English

The typical English credit includes grammar, writing (composition), and literature study. Looks like you have all that covered. I am confused -- I initially thought the lit. portion of your English would be covered by the Great Books you would be doing to coincide with the History; but then you mention the "Year 9 section from English Literature for Boys and Girls, Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, Pride and Prejudice and The Count of Monte Cristo along with a Poetry Study" -- That is certainly enough to count as the Lit. portion of English and would be very enjoyable.

 

So... the Great Books listed under your History need to be counted as another credit -- which moves you to 7.5 credits of work... This is a VERY heavy load for a high school student, especially a 9th grader!

 

 

re: History

The trick in successfully splitting your history/lit. into two 0.5 credit portions, each on completely different time periods, is to be careful not to overload each.

 

Ancient Greece: It looks like you have about 1.0-1.50 credits worth of material listed here. For example, the Dorothy Mills book is 450 pages -- certainly enough History for 0.5 credit. And then the amount of Great Books you've listed just for Ancient Greeks is just about enough for a separate full credit for The Great Books...

 

For example, I would plan on 8 weeks EACH for The Iliad and The Odyssey if you are doing full translations. That leaves you 2 weeks to complete the Myths, 3 Theban Plays, and The Oresteian Trilogy... Obviously NOT what you want to attempt. ;) That 2 weeks realistically leaves you time for EITHER some Myths, or ONE of the Theban plays.

 

American History: The selections all look like they would count towards the History credit, and it looks like adding those on to the textbook, you would have MORE than 0.5 credit for American History. I would NOT add in Government material unless you were going to count it towards a Government credit, and your schedule is looking pretty heavy on credits right now...

 

You also mentioned doing early American Literature selections; gently, I think you need to decide on one course of action -- either the Year 9 English selections and count THAT as your literature for the whole year, OR, go with some of the Greek Great Books in the first half of the year, and then go with early American lit. selections for the second half of the year. If you go with the later choice, then those Year 9 English Lit. selections could be saved for a year when you do a British Lit. focus, or are studying the 1700-1800s in history...

 

 

Just want to encourage you: this is the hardest part of high school planning -- having to cut back on what we feel is our "bare minimum" of "must do" materials. Believe me: I feel your pain! It kills me to have to cut back on the Lit. each year, and I finally get it down to what I *think* will be a workable amount -- and almost always, we STILL have to drop a few works during the school year. I think we all have a tendency to think we can accomplish more than what is realistic. Maybe if we could just learn how to bend time and space... :tongue_smilie:

Edited May 11, 2011 by Lori D.

[Kfamily]

Thank you so much Lori D!!

 

I actually had the Ancient Greek history and Am. History scaled back a little, but I was afraid it would not be enough to earn a 1/2 credit. I'm so relieved it would be!! I will scale both of these back again. I did think I would integrate government over the course of 4 years and add it all up for one credit.

 

I did plan on doing Traditional Logic 2 in 10th. I had a 1/2 credit this year because I had read that it was worth 1 semester. I was thinking both combined would be 1? Is that right?

 

I have had so much trouble working on science. I finally decided to just follow Kolbe Academy's sequence and start Intro. Physics and Chem. this year and follow it with Biology in 10th. I would use their study guides, texts, etc. I'm also following this for math.

 

We are already doing French and Latin. In fact, we are doing First Form now which will count towards Henle. Dd will finish FF this summer and start 2nd Form in the fall. As soon as she finishes this we will just move into Henle. We will have already completed a lot of it so I think this will make it easier to finish and then give us 1 credit.

 

Dd is very serious about languages...she actually wants to learn more...a lot more!:lol:

 

I could take most of music out. She really gains so much through piano (theory, lessons, recitals, competitions, etc.) so just listening to some classical music, which we do anyway, should do it here.

 

The art and nature study would be very light. She loves both so it brightens her day with all of the heavy stuff. I wouldn't have any high goals with either of these.

 

Yes, the literature is hard to follow. We're doing literature from AO's Year 9 and this is the literature she enjoys. I could rank this by order of priority and just let her get to what she can. I will also cut books from Am. History. I just wanted to be sure it was worth 1/2 credit.

 

I'm so grateful to you for looking at this and helping me be realistic!

 

 

ETA: Also, I'm not sure if the Introd. to Physics and Chem. (Prentice Hall text) through Kolbe has a lab or not. I need to look this up. If it does not, should I add one?

Edited May 11, 2011 by Kfamily

[Teachin'Mine]

Since your daughter is into languages, I don't think your schedule looks like too much. IMO it looks just right for 9th. :)

 

I think you could do art and music either way, or you could list them as 1/2 credit every two years. I like 1/2 or full credit better than a lot of 1/4 credits as I think it looks better on a transcript. We do use 1/4 credit for phys. ed..

[Kfamily]

Thank you! Yes, I agree with you that 1/4 credits look messy, I would think, and make it harder for tracking. I would think it would make the final transcript look too long and messy too.:D I like your idea of combining every two years.

[Guest]

I completely agree with Lori D. That is all the constructive comments I have.

[Ester Maria]

Looks good to me. :)

[Aquinas Academy]

I think your plan looks great! :)

[Kfamily]

Whew! I wish they had an icon for relief!

 

Thank you all for looking this over! I really appreciate it.

 

I have looked at Kolbe's Intro. to Physics and Chem. and it seems they have some labs built in that are optional. I think I would like to do them and perhaps add one or two kits from TOPS. Would this be a good idea? What would I need to be allowed to call it a science with a lab?