Finishing up grade 9 - anyone else?

[clementine]

Well, we made it!!! We will finish up our first year of high school at this time next month. I look back and can't believe how fast the year went!

 

I wouldn't do anything differently & it wasn't as scary as I imagined it would be. I am excited get deeper into planning for next year & tackle another year. :) (Not that I didn't feel a little burn-out during February, but that's normal for me.)

 

Anyone else almost done with 9th? How did your year go???????

 

:bigear:

[Robin in DFW]

but...as usual, we did not get as far as planned and will work on a light schedule over the summer to finish up.

 

I actually consider this a positive thing...math continues to get done-not forgotten, Biology is a great topic for summer, and we will probably continue working through our writing program as we want to begin the next level in the fall.

 

Ahhh, the days of summer vacation are a distant memory...

 

Robin

[Zee]

We should be largely done by June 1st. There are a few things we may need to finish up. I have in mind stopping points for some English related subjects that may need a few more days, after that, to finish. For instance, I want to stop after completing the Literary Essay in Unit 5 of Windows to the World. We'll continue with that next year, picking up where we left off. It's hard trudging forward when we are ready to stop, but we are doing it.

 

I'm ready to be done. House is a wreck, and I still need to catch up in grading. Am I the only one? :001_huh: I'm looking forward to time to clean house, finish up all paperwork for this year, and to begin planning for next year. I've got tons of books to sell, but haven't had time to post, and haven't had a chance to order everything for next year yet. Ugh!

 

School has gone better than expected in many ways, but I hope to improve on my part next year. I need to better organize this year, so I don't make the same mistakes next year. Both "moms," (mine and dh's) have been better physically than I expected, and we've had less interruption to our school due to their health issues than I expected. Praise the Lord! That has been a big blessing, and a prayer for next year, too.

 

Things that ds is still giving me anxiety over and that I thought we'd be doing better on: procrastination, not studying properly for tests, organization, neatness, time management, and using a planner. Obviously, we'll be continuing to focus on these things next year. :tongue_smilie:

 

This year was hard, but somehow, not as hard as I expected, or feared. (Encourgement for those about to begin High School next year - You can do it!) I hope that next year is the same. To God be the glory for any of our successes, no matter how big or small!

[Jenny in Florida]

Sigh.

 

This hasn't been a banner year for us. At this point in the year, all I can see is the stuff we didn't finish, the things we didn't do as well or as completely as I'd hoped . . .

 

But, honestly, when I look over my lists of what we have done, it's not too bad. So, I'm trying to make my peace with it.

 

We were scheduled to be done on June 10, the same time as the public schools finish for the year. We're more or less on track to wrap up on time with everything except Spanish, which we had to re-start in the middle of the year.

 

I'm already gathering items for next year and dreaming of the wonderful plans I'll write and how this time it will all go smoothly . . .

 

I'll let you know how it goes.

[jamajo]

I see no end in sight. Anything that wasn't scheduled (like Math) has been going slow. So we will more than likely work through the summer in Algebra. We are only in Week 23 of 36 of our lesson plans soooooo it's going to take a while. But that's part of the reason why we homeschool. My DD needs time to marinate in a subject and do it at her own pace.

 

However next year she will have 2 outside classes so she will have to march to the beat of someone else's drum in terms of time.

[Rhonda in TX]

I wish. We had a lot of doctor appointments last fall, plus we repeated a couple of Algebra chapters that DS was struggling with, so we won't be done at the end of May like I hoped. Math will probably go throughout the summer. Science and writing will be done, but we'll have a few weeks left of geography and literature.

[AHASRADA]

Slow going here as well. This is our first year with "outside accountability" (all ds's classes are distance/online), and we are really feeling the pressure to finish like never before. It has been difficult to adjust to someone else's schedule, choice of assignments, etc. Losing the authority to cut out or shorten assignments and declare the year "done" has caused us a lot of stress.

 

I am hoping to be done by the end of July :tongue_smilie:, but realistically I am just hoping he finishes everything before we want to start Grade 10 in Sept.! :001_huh:

[Vanna]

Well, we made it!!! We will finish up our first year of high school at this time next month. I look back and can't believe how fast the year went!

 

I wouldn't do anything differently & it wasn't as scary as I imagined it would be. I am excited get deeper into planning for next year & tackle another year. :) (Not that I didn't feel a little burn-out during February, but that's normal for me.)

 

Anyone else almost done with 9th? How did your year go???????

 

:bigear:

Co-op will be over in 2 meetings! I think I'll be in stunned disbelief the day after and think, "How in the world did a whole school year just pass?"

 

As a family, our last day of school will be on May 31st. My ninth grader will still have algebra to do after that date. We had to delete about 10-15 lessons that he was "bombing" in and not saying *anything* about it to Mom and Dad. :( Even though we had him doing some school work on Saturdays (in addition to Mon-Fri) he still missed some days or had to spend more than one day on a lesson. I share this to encourage some of you who've already posted about Math-woes -- you're not alone. :grouphug:

 

The children will have music and drama performances in early June but that's going to be a lot of fun for them and hardly like "schoolwork" at all.

 

If I had to do something differently? I would have started typing out the books my 9th grader has read and his curriculum as I was encouraged to at our local support group's high school workshop for the spring conference. I did start working on his transcript and so far, so good.

 

Overall, I'm pleased with how this school year has turned out. The Lord has been very kind and merciful to us. We are especially grateful for His help and loving guidance through this part of our journey.

[Jean in Newcastle]

No end in sight for us as well. Good thing we school year around! (Not so much by choice but because this always seems to happen.)

[beachnut]

Things that ds is still giving me anxiety over and that I thought we'd be doing better on: procrastination, not studying properly for tests, organization, neatness, time management, and using a planner. Obviously, we'll be continuing to focus on these things next year.

 

YES! Academically, we're doing OK, but the lack of organization skills are sometimes bringing us to a grinding halt & creating lots of tension. Maybe these skills will kick in next year? :confused:

 

We'll have to continue a few things in the summer, but not much. We're never quite as far along in history as I hoped to be, but we're enjoying our studies.

 

Looking forward to planning for next year & buying new curriculum. That always jumpstarts my motivation. :D

[OnTheBrink]

It's been a rough year. We should be done by the middle of June, but we're at the point of dwindling. Not every subject is ending at the same time. I'm encouraged and excited about next year, though!

 

The only thing I'd have done differently was get more organized. I feel like I lost the grip this year and everything is a mess. But, we're cutting out a few things for next year and reorganizing how we schedule life. Hopefully, that'll help.

[Pamela in VA]

Taking a deep breath of relief! It is hard sometimes not to compare our school to what others write about theirs...the advanced subjects, the motivation, the goals, and the college/career plans. Now, that's not to say it wasn't my vision, but the best laid plans of mice and men...

 

Ds 15 is finishing 9th and we are working on all the same organizational skills and conquering the procrastination monster as someone else mentioned. This year has been as much about developing these study skills as it has about academics.

 

Let's see...we won't finish Unit 3 of TOG Y3 until mid-May and I am debating what to do about Unit 4. We have not been successful trying to combine weeks and I don't really want to school every week of the summer that we are not at a camp, on a mission trip, or helping with activities at church. We're also behind in science - like only 8 of 16 modules complete. Much of being behind in these subjects is due to the procrastination and is so frustrating because there is only so much you can do to get a child to actually do the work. This is compounded because dd 14 is doing all the same work and is motivated and almost always finished on time and ready to discuss. There are a few other subjects were also behind in...

 

OTOH, Algebra I is going great with Lial's and we are on track to finish by early June. We spent the two previous years program-hopping.

 

I am also behind in grading papers and getting them recorded, but that is improving.h

 

My biggest goal for next year is finding the appropriate outside class/co-op so that ds has some other accountability and both ds/dd have a forum for discussion and interaction in an academic sense.

 

Interested to hear more from others!

[Wendi]

We're finishing up ninth grade, too. There have been some successes, and some failures. My son has Asperger's and ADHD, and there has been some significant drama this year (he was kicked out of our co-op after the first semester due to behavior issues; he has had some personal conflicts with friends, too), as well as me driving him three times a week to neurofeedback for the past few months. (It's helping, but it eats up a lot of time, since the doctor is 30-40 min. from us.)

 

Major success has been math; this was a huge problem at the beginning of 8th grade. He had reached a point of frustration so severe that he cried every day and often had meltdowns over math. He redid pre-algebra for the first 3/4 of this school year, then I started him on Kinetic Algebra, and he's doing well. No more stress about math.

 

Major failure, surprisingly enough, has been history. We both like history a lot, but it's hard to find the right curriculum. I like America: the Last Best Hope, but ds gets bogged down in long chapters without illustrations or headings, etc. He wants a regular textbook. So with all the other stuff going on, he's really only completed about half of his U.S. History credit. So next year, we'll finish it along with government.

 

We both really enjoyed using "How to Look at and Understand Great Art" from the Teaching Co. We're going to use some of the lectures this summer to practice note-taking from lectures.

 

For English, he's been doing The Magic Lens and we've been studying the writings of C.S. Lewis. We've done a lot of it with me reading aloud or listening to an audiobook (on the way to all those appointments) and discussing. As an Aspie, analyzing literature is difficult for him. But we have had some good discussions. Over the summer, we're going to do some of Movies as Literature.

 

For science, we're finishing up Physical Science, which he did half of at our co-op. He's doing okay. We're not going to do science next year; we'll concentrate on history and literature.

 

We'll keep on doing math through the summer, as well as doing some Movies as Literature, and having him read some novels from a list I'll come up with.

 

Next year will be:

Finish Kinetic Algebra and start Geometry.

IEW's intro. to literary analysis syllabus (WTTW and TTC), along with more Magic Lens

finish U.S. history and do government

Japanese I

some kind of graphic design, drafting, or similar

 

Wendi

[mom31257]

We've got about 6 more weeks to go. This has been our roughest year homeschooling thus far, and we started when dd was in 3rd. She's been hormonal and moody as well as dissatisfied with her work. I think I planned too difficult a jump from 8th to 9th grade and have maybe made "getting prepared for college" too much a priority. I'm praying about what to do next year with curricula choices. As much as I want the academics I believe she's capable of, I want her content, healthy, and learning life skills she needs more.

[clementine]

We will be carrying 2 subjects into the beginning of summer too - literature and history. But, overall, I feel like homeschooling through high school is do-able now. :tongue_smilie: I think taking that leap into 9th is so scary, with transcript stuff and making sure you've got all of your bases covered, that I worried that I would be consumed constantly with the worry of "am I doing the right thing?"

 

Although things weren't perfect, I am less worried about the next 3 years - which is HUGE for me!!!

[Mom22ns]

We have three weeks left, but I have to say this year has been our best yet. It is only our fourth year homeschooling. Ds matured SO much this year. He is responsible and hardworking, although slow working.

 

As I look at the year, I see a few key points for us.

 

Waiting to start algebra until 9th grade was a great choice for this kiddo. He is going to try to do Geometry and Algebra 2 both next year, but Algebra went perfectly and it just wouldn't have been a year ago. Oh, and so far no regrets on sticking with MUS, although we are testing this year and I'll see if I need to revise that opinion after we get test results.

 

We are going to need help with Japanese. Irasshai has been wonderful this year. Ds had learned a lot and enjoyed it. However, at the end of the year he was starting to struggle a bit and I can't help. We're going to have to find a tutor. I was already wanting to find someone to practice conversational Japanese with. Now I know this must happen by next fall.

 

OYAN was so worth it! He put in ridiculous hours and still isn't through writing his novel, let alone editing it. However, his passion for writing was kept burning bright all year long. I will be less hesitant to buy pricier curriculum again in the future.

 

Our time with SL is over. We have all loved it, but for the next couple of years I'll be creating my own history curriculum and using EIL.

 

Miller Levine Biology was a surprise hit here. I'm glad I bought it new and got all the online access. We have really used it to the max and ds who thought he hated Life Sciences, now really likes it. Froguts was also worth it for the kids who hates labs. He learned a lot from virtual dissections and usually learns nothing from labs except that he hates messing with labs:glare:.

 

I wasn't overly stressed about starting high school. It was a good step up in workload, but ds handled it better than I could have hoped for. The year did help my confidence going into the rest of high school tremendously!

[BakersDozen]

We'll be wrapping up our year end of May/beginning of June and I have to say that this year was great! I was so worried and second-guessed my curriculum choices over and over, plus we had a minor glitch when I was gone from Sept. 6th-Oct. 3. Because of that glitch I am amazed that we were able to keep going, to stay on track! I'm so stinking proud of my dc (as I get teary-eyed yet again thinking of all that happened during that time and how they continued on despite my absence). They deserve a gold medal for their diligence and self-direction in their schoolwork plus holding together the household and supervising my younger dc in my absence. :001_wub:

 

Lial's Algebra I was a success, thank goodness!

 

Biology has been a blast! I'm so glad I ditched Apologia and used things that made Biology come alive for the dc! My 14yos said he enjoyed science for probably the first time ever! We are going through The History of Medicine and it has been a huge success. The dissections were a hit as were the Biology 101 DVDs (we're actually going to view them again once we finish the year's work).

 

Visual Link Spanish has been nice review, however we will be switching to something else next year.

 

What else...MOH continues to be a hit even at the high school level. This is how I wish I'd learned history.

 

The thing I love most about this last year is that I have accepted that high school doesn't have to mean typical massive textbooks; smaller books with short lessons work just as well and may provide opportunities for extended reseach and activities the dc would otherwise not have time for.

 

I'm excited for next year!