Overall 9th Grade Plan - Reasonable?

[UmmIbrahim]

So thanks to the advice received here I think we've got a reasonable plan for English I next year, but I wanted to throw out the whole shebang with my assumed credit numbers to get some feedback from the pros here :)

 

Background: This is for a rising 9th grade boy who has always been homeschooled. We have been more eclectic and relaxed than classical in the past, just for reference.

 

1.0 credit - Algebra II - Live Online Math (continuing with this company because his online Geometry class this year was a great success. 3x weekly live class with homework and assignments to be completed in the interim.)

 

1.0 credit - Biology I (Honors) - Local Homeschool class - Preparation for the SAT subject test and tons of labs. Most of the work (quizzes, tests, readings, videos) is completed by the students at home and then the substantial lab portion and in-depth discussion is completed during class. Heard good things about this course so we are excited for a great year of biology, but have heard that the workload is substantial, so I expect lots of effort to go here.

 

1.0 credit - English I - Planning on using WWS2 and continuing on with WWS3. Will alternate WWS with Bravewriter's HHS for variety. Various selected literary works.

 

1.0 credit - World History and Geography - Local High School - Our state allows high schoolers to take 2 core classes at the local high school as a "part-time" student. We are going to try this out and see how it goes. Because of the wonky block scheduling he's going to be alternating two classes during the morning block period to better utilize the time that we have to set aside for this anyway.

 

1.0 credit - Spanish I - Local High School (see above)

 

1.0 credit - PE - Parkour - he trains at the Parkour gym for 3-4 hours daily, so waaaay more than enough for a PE credit.

 

------------

 

6 official credits

 

He also takes an online Arabic class (3x per week with a tutor on Skype) and an environmental science/survival skills class (1 day/week 5 hour session) I didn't know what to do about those because the Arabic moves at his pace and doesn't have tons of homework or complete an official "Arabic I" curriculum. Maybe if we continue both semesters I can count the whole year as 0.5 credit? I'm really still figuring out the whole credits thing so I'm not sure what to do about these classes that don't fit the typical mold. I'm not sure about the survival skill class either, maybe some kind of an elective? They do tracking, shelter building, edible plants, outdoor knife skills, fire starting, environmental studies, field ecology, etc. etc. Such an awesome class that he has taken for years and learns so much from, but I don't know what to categorize it as or how to quantify it as a credit/partial credit/etc. Maybe if we supplement it with some book work at home? Any ideas on that would be much appreciated.

 

I am scared of overloading him and think this will be a lot of work for him to adjust to. At the same time, I read about 9th graders with 7-8 credits in that first year. Any opinions and feedback welcome and I'll continue to read old threads to get more of an idea of the ways people structure their year.

 

Thanks!

 

Edited June 3, 2016 by UmmIbrahim

[freesia]

I think it looks wonderful! If you add an hour of Arabic TV or movies or books (even kids books) a week or cultural activities some weeks, you could give a credit.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I'd count the Arabic as my Foreign Language by doing what PP suggests and I'd drop the Spanish for now, maybe pick it up later if DS hits a wall with the Arabic.  I don't think I'd add anything to the Environmental Science/Survival Skill thing yet. Later, like next year, if he's still doing it then use it (with minimal added book work if you want) as his Science Credit. Or replace the Bio with it as Science credit this year and do the Bio next.  Otherwise it looks good, IMO.

[DebbS]

I would definitely give him some kind of credit  for the Survival Skills class - maybe 0.5 science and 0.5 elective? Five hours an week is substantial enough. I'm wondering if you can add a field experience instead of more book work.

 

With the Arabic, I would just add up the hours. When he gets in 60 to 80 hours, give 0.5 credits. 

 

IMO, it's okay for a course to not be completed within one school year. For those that spanned the years, I gave my kids credit in the year that they completed it.  So, if you do find the schedule to be a little heavy, pick a course(or two) that you will complete 0.5 credits this year and another 0.5 next year. For example, my dd earned 0.5 credits of English composition credit for every year of high school and then took the AP English Composition test in her senior year. Her writing  applied to the concurrent history and literature courses thus her essays reinforced what she was learning in these courses and we didn't make her do a bunch of English comp busy-work.

[Carrie12345]

 

 

I am scared of overloading him and think this will be a lot of work for him to adjust to. At the same time, I read about 9th graders with 7-8 credits in that first year.

 

 

 

Just want to throw it out there that I think many heavy credit years involve some serious creative planning.  At least, they will for my dd.  Her credits will be spread over 12 months, not 9 or 10, and they won't all be concurrent or at the same intensity when they do overlap.

 

My daughters are taking a Survival Skills class, too, but not nearly as many hours.  I think I'm going to put it in as part of Health/Safety/PE, since their most "official" PE is seasonal.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Can you share what online math company you are using? Thanks!

[UmmIbrahim]

We use liveonlinemath.com

 

My oldest took the Geometry class this year, and my middle son took the Pre-Algebra class. Both boys had John Bovey (the owner of the company) as their teacher and he is really great in the online format. Doesn't allow distractions in the chat, really engages the kids and forces participation during the class, and even manages group work and projects among the students.

 

A really great experience for us this year and both boys are continuing with the next level for the upcoming year. Feel free to ask if you have any other questions about the classes!

 

 

Can you share what online math company you are using? Thanks!

 

[UmmIbrahim]

I think it looks wonderful! If you add an hour of Arabic TV or movies or books (even kids books) a week or cultural activities some weeks, you could give a credit.

 

This is something to consider for subsequent years if we want to beef this up for a credit. That is a really clever idea for adding in content in a fun way. 

 

I'd count the Arabic as my Foreign Language by doing what PP suggests and I'd drop the Spanish for now, maybe pick it up later if DS hits a wall with the Arabic.  I don't think I'd add anything to the Environmental Science/Survival Skill thing yet. Later, like next year, if he's still doing it then use it (with minimal added book work if you want) as his Science Credit. Or replace the Bio with it as Science credit this year and do the Bio next.  Otherwise it looks good, IMO.

 

Because of the scheduling with the local high school, he really wants to take spanish during that same block period in the morning because it makes sense to just use that time he already has to allocate for history. It would probably make more sense to just continue with the Arabic, but I can't really say no to another language. Language learning is my hobby, so more is better with that :)

 

Thanks for the feedback! I think we are just going to leave the Arabic and Survival Skills classes alone for the moment and then either "add up" the credits for future years, or look at them as potential "future credit expansion" in later years if we need to.

 

I would definitely give him some kind of credit  for the Survival Skills class - maybe 0.5 science and 0.5 elective? Five hours an week is substantial enough. I'm wondering if you can add a field experience instead of more book work.

 

With the Arabic, I would just add up the hours. When he gets in 60 to 80 hours, give 0.5 credits. 

 

IMO, it's okay for a course to not be completed within one school year. For those that spanned the years, I gave my kids credit in the year that they completed it.  So, if you do find the schedule to be a little heavy, pick a course(or two) that you will complete 0.5 credits this year and another 0.5 next year. For example, my dd earned 0.5 credits of English composition credit for every year of high school and then took the AP English Composition test in her senior year. Her writing  applied to the concurrent history and literature courses thus her essays reinforced what she was learning in these courses and we didn't make her do a bunch of English comp busy-work.

 

This is a very useful tip! It hadn't occurred to me to accumulate the hours over multiple years. If we add a little bit more with the Arabic, I think we can easily get to a half credit class in Arabic this year, and that may be a good way of capturing his work in that subject. So 0.5 credits per year as long as he continues, definitely a good idea.

 

Just want to throw it out there that I think many heavy credit years involve some serious creative planning.  At least, they will for my dd.  Her credits will be spread over 12 months, not 9 or 10, and they won't all be concurrent or at the same intensity when they do overlap.

 

My daughters are taking a Survival Skills class, too, but not nearly as many hours.  I think I'm going to put it in as part of Health/Safety/PE, since their most "official" PE is seasonal.

 

 

This is also something good to consider. Because of our outsourcing, some things are fixed, but for the things we do at home (and he's really itching to add in some programming), if I get creative with scheduling the English I can work it in on alternate evenings/etc. We go year-round without holidays, so that gives us some good wiggle room too.

 

I appreciate all of the food for thought!

[JadeOrchidSong]

We use liveonlinemath.com

 

My oldest took the Geometry class this year, and my middle son took the Pre-Algebra class. Both boys had John Bovey (the owner of the company) as their teacher and he is really great in the online format. Doesn't allow distractions in the chat, really engages the kids and forces participation during the class, and even manages group work and projects among the students.

 

A really great experience for us this year and both boys are continuing with the next level for the upcoming year. Feel free to ask if you have any other questions about the classes!

Unfortunately, Shedule A geometry is full. I would like my son to take online math. This looks really good with three seasons a week! Thanks!

[UmmIbrahim]

Unfortunately, Shedule A geometry is full. I would like my son to take online math. This looks really good with three seasons a week! Thanks!

 

The big snag with these classes was making them fit into our schedule (three fixed times a week is tricky!), and they do fill up. However, sometimes there is a wait list available if you really want the class, and people may drop at the beginning of the year and free up space.

 

I had one son who would come immediately out of the woods after completing a five hour survival class, and jump right into his math class while we tethered our laptop to my phone data. A bit tough to make the schedule work, but we are so glad that we did.

 

Good luck in finding a geometry program that works for you for next year :)

[Janeway]

my post went in the wrong place, sorry.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Janeway

[UmmIbrahim]

I think if you already did algebra at home, it's technically a recovery credit. If you haven't done the class yet, it's an acceleration test, therefore, not allowed. So if you did algebra at home, which is legally a private school, it should be considered for recovery.

 

I am guessing that this was for another thread? Either that or I am totally clueless (definite possibility  :lol: )

[Mosaicmind]

I don't think you are overloading him at all. We just finished 9th grade and I'm finalizing plans for 10th and reworking things for our youngest who will be in 9th this coming year. I got out my older kids transcripts from high school; all of them but one went to public high school and there were 2 different high schools that they all went to. In 9th grade they all completed 7 credits or more and most of those were core classes that were either AP, pre-AP, or honors courses of which they didn't get a grade lower than a B. Also, my three oldest took courses during the summer so that their senior year wouldn't be packed with many core courses.

 

Right now I have this planned for my 9th grader: Algebra 1, Analytical Grammar and Beyond the Book Report, Notgrass World History, Art 1, Masterbooks Survey of Astronomy, Latin, Spanish, Northstar Geography, Apologetics, Biblical Archaeology, Apologia Biology, and Creationism-Evolution course by Masterbooks

 

That sounds like a lot but some of it isn't done everyday and some of it is only a semester course. He wants to add Greek and another Master looks course but I said that we will see about doing it next semester.

[UmmIbrahim]

I don't think you are overloading him at all. We just finished 9th grade and I'm finalizing plans for 10th and reworking things for our youngest who will be in 9th this coming year. I got out my older kids transcripts from high school; all of them but one went to public high school and there were 2 different high schools that they all went to. In 9th grade they all completed 7 credits or more and most of those were core classes that were either AP, pre-AP, or honors courses of which they didn't get a grade lower than a B. Also, my three oldest took courses during the summer so that their senior year wouldn't be packed with many core courses.

 

Right now I have this planned for my 9th grader: Algebra 1, Analytical Grammar and Beyond the Book Report, Notgrass World History, Art 1, Masterbooks Survey of Astronomy, Latin, Spanish, Northstar Geography, Apologetics, Biblical Archaeology, Apologia Biology, and Creationism-Evolution course by Masterbooks

 

That sounds like a lot but some of it isn't done everyday and some of it is only a semester course. He wants to add Greek and another Master looks course but I said that we will see about doing it next semester.

 

Hahaha, definitely not an "overload" in comparison with what you have going on over there :) I have a tendency to overload and try to "do all the things!" so I'm fighting that natural inclination. It sounds like we may have a good year in terms of getting into the high school groove and maybe even wiggle room to add another class.

 

Thanks for the feedback.