High School is looming. How did it get here so fast?

[Guest]

My older 2 are entering high school. 1 behind and 1 ahead. SNIFF!!! My babies are growing up. Enter the clueless mom. We have done lots of things over the years. None of which we particularly loved or enjoyed. I never seemed to find our groove with these two. That being said, does this look alright for a first year? I would like to keep it nice and simple.

 

Rel: our own scripture and church things

 

Math: VideoText Algebra

 

English: Growing with Grammar 6 (grammar is grammar and they like this)

Literary Lessons from The Lord of the Rings (already started)

Jump In! (I have been looking at WriteShop as well. Any thoughts/experience?)

All About Spelling (yes, they need it. I am using it for the younger crowd as well.)

 

Science: Apologia Biology with frogguts.com done very slowly with all the note/lapbook help we can get. I will likely buy the audio of the book, as well.

 

History/Geog: no real idea but it needs to be writing light, leaning more towards timeline creation and maps. I was thinking US History as we have done quite a bit of world over the years. I would like something simple. Perhaps a reading list? We have done History Odyssey in the past.

 

Thank you for looking this over for me.

[Lori D.]

does this look alright for a first year? I would like to keep it nice and simple.

 

RELIGION: our own scripture and church things

 

MATH: VideoText Algebra

 

ENGLISH: Growing with Grammar 6 (grammar is grammar and they like this)

Literary Lessons from The Lord of the Rings (already started)

Jump In! (I have been looking at WriteShop as well. Any thoughts/experience?)

All About Spelling

 

SCIENCE: Apologia Biology with frogguts.com

 

HISTORY/GEOG: no real idea but it needs to be writing light, leaning more towards timeline creation and maps. I was thinking US History...

 

 

Totally just my opinion, so take this for what THAT is worth! ;)

 

Specifically about your curriculum choices:

 

Religion

Looks vague, but would probably "shape up" if you list specific books, resources, assignments, activities, etc., so we could see how how much of a credit to count it as. My initial "gut" reaction from what you said it includes is to NOT count this as a credit, but just make it part of your family's life routine. Most "church things" in my experience are not the kinds of things that I felt were "academic" for counting as credit. For me, that would need to be things like:

- Church History

- Worldview/Comparative Religion/Philosophy

- in-depth Bible Study (not just reading a passage of the Bible and discussing "off the top of the head")

- lecture series/class on specific Church-related topic, or "Christian Living" (prayer; service; etc.) topic

 

Things like church social events, Youth Group, and volunteer activities are better included in the important "Extracurriculars" that jobs, colleges, and scholarship applications want to see -- rather than trying to call it an academic pursuit to count towards a credit. Again, this is JMO. :)

 

Math

Looks good. Doing Algebra in grade 9 is very typical, and allows you to get 4 credits total of higher math in during the high school years.

 

 

English

Perhaps a little "lite". Are you (hopefully!) doing some of the additional works suggested in LLftLotR? Especially for high school level it would be important to include full works of an epic (either the Illiad or the Odyssey); Beowulf; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; some King Arthur work; and something by Shakespeare -- perhaps Macbeth or Midsummer Night's Dream. All of those titles are either covered somewhat in LLftLotR, or are mentioned in connection with Tolkien or LotR. That would bring up the amount of Literature covered to a high school level.

 

Also, Jump In is a middle school writing program, which makes it "Lite" for high school -- BUT if you have a struggling writer and this is where you are, then go with what works for your specific students! There have been a number of us who used Jump In with a struggling 9th grade writer. :)

 

And it looks like you're using an EARLY middle school level of grammar (GWG 6) -- but again, if that is where your students are, you need to teach to their level. Is it possible to move along at a quicker pace and do two levels (GWG 6 and GWG 7) in 9th grade?

 

And finally, perhaps incorporate some Vocabulary in with the Spelling? Or, there is quite a bit of Vocabulary in LLftLotR; will you be using that for Vocabulary?

 

 

Science

Looks good. If you can at ALL do even a few labs at home, not just online, do so! It is really important for learning how to do a series of procedures, look for results, and write up results as a lab report. Looking at a lab online is not quite at the same level as actually doing it...

 

 

History

This is where you need to NOT go "lite". Your students are entering high school; this is where they start transitioning into reading critically: thinking, discussing, analyzing, and writing about what they are reading.

 

Perhaps consider Notgrass Exploring America (skip the Literature portion and just do the History portion). It is a VERY do-able text, with some primary documents, suggested assignments, written to the student at about an 8th grade level, and covers first explorers to the New World up to George W. Bush as President. You can pick and choose among the writing assignments so as to keep it at a manageable amount for your particular students' needs. In addition, since the program is divided into 30 units, that gives you 6 weeks of "fudge time" to take extra time to do the readings and assignments, to go off onto "bunny trails", to pursue a topic of especial interest, to add in some historical fiction, etc.

 

 

 

 

A general suggestion as you prepare for 9th grade: I would suggest checking out your state's high school graduation requirements. Looks like you are in Texas? I see from that linked website that currently Texas has 3 sets of required credits: Distinguished (26 credits); Recommended (26 credits); Minimum (22 credits).

 

At the moment, it looks like you have 4 solid credits (English, Math, Science, History/Geography), plus Religion (although, as I said above, I don't think I would include this as a credit or partial credit). Even at the Minimum Texas graduation required credits, you'll want to cover 5-6 credits per year, and you'll need to cover 6-7 credits per year if you want to make the Recommended or Distinguished graduation requirements.

 

Not that I am recommending that homeschoolers do what public schools are doing, BUT... I have seen quite a few situations in which homeschool teens end up in a brick-and-mortar high school even though that was NOT the parents' original plan. So it is REALLY helpful and far less stressful making that transition if you have already been accomplishing very similar credits as to what the potential school system might require -- not to mention, that those SAME high school graduation required credits are usually what colleges ALSO require for admissions.... :)

 

 

So, to still keep it nice and simple -- but without being so "Lite" that you don't get everything needed accomplished -- what about adding 1-1.5 credits to your above plan?

 

- 1 credit = Foreign Language

 

OR

 

- 1 credit = Fine Arts -- OR -- 1 credit = Elective

- AND .5 credit = Speech -- OR -- 0.5 credit = PE

 

 

I think that should make for an extremely gentle transition into high school... Another idea is to talk to some local homeschoolers with high school students to get a feel for what they are using for History, Fine Arts, Electives, etc. to help you decide how much to plan for and what to use to accomplish your credits.

 

BEST of luck! And welcome to high school planning! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Lori D.

[regentrude]

You should think about foreign language. Most college want to see two years; some selective schools up to four years. Also keep in mind that two years is nowhere near enough to achieve anything resembling fluency; so if you want your kid to actually learn one, you need to start in 9th grade.

 

A fine arts credit is often required as well.

[Amy in TX]

I would add in more reading for English--perhaps 6-8 books or however many they can handle. And what regentrude said about foreign language. :)

[Pegasus]

History/Geog: no real idea but it needs to be writing light, leaning more towards timeline creation and maps. I was thinking US History as we have done quite a bit of world over the years. I would like something simple. Perhaps a reading list? We have done History Odyssey in the past.

 

If you want a break from history, you can consider a year of world geography. We used Brenda Runkle's "Wonderful World of Geography" which does an amazing job of making physical geography interesting. We added in other books for the cultural geography component: Material World - A Global Family Portrait, Hungry Planet - What the World Eats, The Riddle of the Compass - The Invention that Changed the World by Amir Aczel, and

Longitude - The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel.

 

Edited to add, that last one, "Longitude" was also made into a very interesting film that we watched from Netflix.