mlktwins Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 (edited) So...this past year was a blur due to unexpectedly taking care of my elderly father and getting his house cleaned out, fixed up, and sold! During my twins 8th grade year, I had so many good intentions for 9th grade research, starting to look at colleges, etc. But...that wasn't in the plan and I feel like I am behind the 8 ball a bit and we start 9th grade in 3 weeks. I am spending this year looking at colleges (with my boys) to see what they might be interested in and the requirements for each. I will also be laying out a better plan for 10th through 12th grade during this year. For now though, I just need to make sure I'm covering all my bases for this year so we aren't behind at the get go :-). I would greatly appreciate your input! Here is what I have planned: 1.0 SWB's History of the Ancient World with Study Guide. Plan to watch GC History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective and Understanding Greek & Roman Technology. I might include the first part of Western Civilization 1. 1.0 Language Arts - WWS2, WttW, LLftLotR, and I have Elegant Essays on hand if we should decide to use it. 1.0 Honors Biology w/Lab (outsourced locally). Plan to take the SAT Subject Test in the spring. 1.0 Spanish 1 (outsourced locally). We can continue through high school with this provider for Honors Spanish 2, 3, and 4 if we want. 1.0 VideoText Algebra - finish and CLEP (?). CLEP is at the recommendation of the Tom Clark, who we met at a convention. We will continue into Geometry when done with Algebra. 1.0 Health/PE (school requirement here for 9th and 10th so I am doing the same). The boys swim competitively so the PE piece is easy. Over this year and next, I am thinking of using GC Nutrition Made Clear, Strength Training, and Physiology & Fitness. I am also considering using the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens and The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make - both by Sean Covey. This year I plan for them to get their certification in first aid and CPR. I am open to other suggestions for health. In 10th grade at the schools, part of Health is Driver's Ed ! 0.5 Intro to Photography - GC Fundamentals of Photography 1 and 2. I also have Udemy's Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide to Photography and Creative Live's Fundamentals of Photography by John Greengo. Someone mentioned this https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Photography-Lab-Self-Expression-Mixed-Media/dp/1592538320 , which looks fun. We will also go out and just have fun taking pictures. I'm planning for them to make a little portfolio of their pictures at the end. I have a Nikon D7200 and a D90 with various lenses for them to practice with. We may continue next year adding in photo editing, etc. This is a passion of mine too so I am really looking forward to this!! So, I have 6.5 credits planned so far. I am also thinking of .5 Personal Finance??? We have Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? with guide (I already have this) and The Money Mystery. I can also use GC Money & Banking, How the Stock Market Works, Financial Literary. Would this be worthwhile and would these things work? They already know about compounding interests, the importance of saving, etc. They also did Simply Charlotte Mason's Your Business Math: Sports Store when they were in 5th or 6th grade and understand debits and credits, how to write checks, etc. I am open to other suggestions if you think we should even do this. I have one boy very interested in computers and programming. I have a Udemy class in Python purchased for him (Complete Python Bootcamp) that is 24 hours. He already went through Khan Academy's Intro to JAVA this past year. What can I do to turn this into .5 credit in programming or computer science??? My other son if very finance/math oriented but likes all core subjects. He needs to have a good Computer Science course at some point, but that is not his passion. Both boys volunteer 2 hours a week at our local library and will be swimming 2 hours/day 6 days/week. That much swimming is new to them this year. They are also completing their applications for NHS so, if they are accepted, that will be monthly meetings plus service work. They are also taking the PSAT in October for the first time. My goal for them is to be competitive with an advanced diploma in my area (26 credits). They would have been in the IB Program if we had decided to go with public school. Anything I should add, change, remove? I am very open to feedback and appreciate your time! Edited August 13, 2019 by mlktwins Typos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 I wouldn't bother with the College Algebra (?) CLEP if your sons plan to continue on with Precalc or Calculus. Given their career interests they'll almost certainly need higher math and the College Algebra credit would only count as a general elective or not at all. CLEPs aren't cheap and they're not something you'd list on college apps so I'd only have them take CLEPs if you are sure they can use the credit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbelle Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Classes look good. Agree about skipping CLEP especially if you are heading to taking SAT/ACT and all that. As an option to the regular school year, I did a .5 personal finance in the summer one year and a .5 health class another summer. 9th grade was a big jump in demands, so this gave us a little wiggle room. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlktwins Posted August 13, 2019 Author Share Posted August 13, 2019 Thank you both for info on the CLEP! This was one of the things I needed to research this year and this helps a lot. So much to learn and figure out!!! Yes, they will both be doing SAT/ACT stuff and both higher math. VideoText will get them Alg 1 and 2, Geometry, and Trig/Pre-Calc. Should be done by the end of 10th grade?!?!? I will know more after this year when I see how far they get in math. We don't mind doing school in summer (health/PE, personal finance, etc); especially if it makes our school year easier. We will be spreading our photography over the whole year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlktwins Posted August 13, 2019 Author Share Posted August 13, 2019 16 minutes ago, Mbelle said: Classes look good. Agree about skipping CLEP especially if you are heading to taking SAT/ACT and all that. As an option to the regular school year, I did a .5 personal finance in the summer one year and a .5 health class another summer. 9th grade was a big jump in demands, so this gave us a little wiggle room. Do you mind sharing what you did for personal finance or any opinions on my plan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbelle Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 1 minute ago, mlktwins said: Do you mind sharing what you did for personal finance or any opinions on my plan? We did the Foundations in Personal Finance (homeschool version). It is user friendly and my 2 oldest did this together. https://www.daveramsey.com/school/homeschool/highschool Well I love WTM resources! My dd did Story of the Ancient World in 10th I believe. It's a good schedule. I like to take preemptive breather weeks every 6 weeks. We don't stop working, but we slow down or catch up as needed. My oldest had a similar style of schedule and mix of classes as you have listed. She did a couple of online classes, home classes and one local outsourced class. She also ran 3X a week and raced with a xc team. (not as much time as the swimming you are doing but still a lot) It was all quite a lot to keep up with and it was challenging for her and for me. In 10th we did a similar schedule. By the time she was in 11th I then had another high schooler and we outsourced all of humanities to the local hybrid school one day per week and they also took science and/or math there another day of the week We lost some autonomy and it cost a bit more, but not so much more that it was too much. I was just tired and they needed more outside the house once xc season finished. Her Senrior year she did some DE classes for math/science. From my experience it looks to me with the classes you have listed that you'll have plenty of options for different scenarios if that becomes something y'all want to do. It's a solid 9th grade. Photography sounds really fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Your plan sounds good. I don’t know anything about Clep program. we used a Personal Finance textbook and Ds got his own debit card etc in around that age. He read some related to finance. We played Cash Flow game too (not sure that was a good idea). I probably will try to get him to read something by Dave Ramsey too I think. I tried to get him to read the Covey books unsuccessfully (he was in brick and mortar school by then so it could not be assigned as “school”) and we have Penny Candy but not sure how that went... Ds has CPR certification and has also learned to use defibrillator. Does not yet have First Aid but I hope he’ll get that. I think all of those are good to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 I think with that much swimming and volunteering the 6.5 for 9th is plenty. Maybe they could take a computer class in summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSprout Posted August 14, 2019 Share Posted August 14, 2019 I’ve never seen the LotR curriculum but the the other two + reading + writing for History might be plenty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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