9th grade planning thread

[Porridge]

Is there a 9th grade thread? Did I miss it?

 Edited- I renamed the thread

Edited March 6 by Porridge

[AStableBeginning]

I was wondering the same. I keep checking, but I haven’t seen one posted for 2024-2025. 

[8filltheheart]

It's hard for me to process, but my baby will be a 9th grader next yr. I am not "planning" in any form at this pt. I do have different ideas that I am contemplating.  My dd currently believes she wants to pursue violin performance. Music is a totally new realm for me, so I have spent the past few months researching. That seems more important at this pt than formally thinking about next yr. (But, I am very relaxed about it in general bc she will be my 8th 9th grader and we do most things at home so there is zero stress in trying to get into outsourced classes that fill up quickly.)

In general, she will be taking Foerster's alg 2, Western civ, probably physics, continuing with Russian, lit, and some type of music theory/classical music. Those are the generalities. Specifics will be considered more seriously this summer.

Edited March 4 by 8filltheheart

[Meriwether]

I haven't spent much time thinking about next year yet. Dd14 is a good student but reads very slowly, so she doesn't have a lot of time for extras.

Things I am pretty sure about:

Science: Berean Builders Biology

Math: Jacobs Geometry (I may do this 3 days per week and Foerster's Algebra II 2 days per week. I don't like the big gap between Algebra I and II. But Dd14 likes the satisfaction of finishing a curriculum each year enough that using multiple resources might not be worth it. )

Bible: The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study Book 4

 

Things that I want her to do that aren't planned yet:

History and literature from 1776-1900.

Spanish

Things that I would consider valuable to her future that I would facilitate if she is interested (I am very open to recommendations on ways to study these topics!):

Accounting

Photography or video editing

Public Speaking

 

The bolded give her 5.5 credits. She will also be given some type of entrepreneurial credit for either helping plan or start (depending on when we get it off the ground) a family business, because she will spend a lot of time on it. Once she picks her elective, that will bring her to 7.5 credits which will be plenty for her.

For extracurriculars, she will hopefully find a good youth group. We haven't found a church in our new city yet. She'll also do TKD competitively this year which involves a lot of time on the road. She would also like to find a choir/show choir/drama club.

 

[Porridge]

I've realized a few things about my rising 9th grader. 

DC does better focusing on fewer things at a time

DC needs me to be tutor / coach, not the person giving grades and regulating deadlines.

DC needs a lot of protected time for their preferred activity (which doesn't fit with traditional school)

Based on these considerations, I think we'll probably lean heavily on DE/CC because the local CC is quarter system, which would allow us to focus on fewer classes at a time.

We'll run Math and English as full year courses (probably DO + an online English course)

Then do one core academic class through DE each quarter, for example: Science Fall, History Winter, World Language Spring. 

So at any given time, DC will only need to focus on 3 main courses

DC might do an additional "light" elective through DE concurrent with the other classes, or in the summer if things feel too heavy.

That would give us 5-6 credits / year with ample time to pursue non-academic interests.

Still thinking through this, so I might have a different plan next week!

 

 

Edited March 5 by Porridge

[8filltheheart]

7 minutes ago, Porridge said:

I've realized a few things about my rising 9th grader......

Based on these considerations, I think we'll probably lean heavily on DE/CC because the local CC is quarter system, which would allow us to focus on fewer classes at a time......

Then do one core academic class through DE each quarter, for example: Science Fall, History Winter, World Language Spring. 

So at any given time, DC will only need to focus on 3 main courses

He might do an additional "light" elective through DE concurrent with the other classes, or in the summer if things feel too heavy.

I am just going to toss some questions to consider bc I personally would not have a 9th grader DEing.

1-Is your student very strong academically?  (DE grades follow forever in terms of having to be reported.....so when they apply to UG and grad school, those transcripts have to be included.)

2-What is the population of students like at your CC?  (We have never lived anywhere where the CC is populated by strong students.  It is my last choice option for my kids who are strong academically and plan on pursuing any sort of academic 4 yr degree.)

3-How old are the other students?  (Many CCs restrict enrollment by age.  Some don't.  14 yr olds are not often found in most academic-oriented CC classrooms, though.)

4-How will your student do mastering content in a 1/4?  (Learning college level sciences and languages in a 1/4 can be rough for college age kids.  Even adjusting to learning in a regular semester vs a school yr can be an adjustment for a lot of students.)  

[wendyroo]

1 hour ago, 8filltheheart said:

I am just going to toss some questions to consider bc I personally would not have a 9th grader DEing.

1-Is your student very strong academically?  (DE grades follow forever in terms of having to be reported.....so when they apply to UG and grad school, those transcripts have to be included.)

2-What is the population of students like at your CC?  (We have never lived anywhere where the CC is populated by strong students.  It is my last choice option for my kids who are strong academically and plan on pursuing any sort of academic 4 yr degree.)

3-How old are the other students?  (Many CCs restrict enrollment by age.  Some don't.  14 yr olds are not often found in most academic-oriented CC classrooms, though.)

4-How will your student do mastering content in a 1/4?  (Learning college level sciences and languages in a 1/4 can be rough for college age kids.  Even adjusting to learning in a regular semester vs a school yr can be an adjustment for a lot of students.)  

I can say that for my kiddo, a DE class in 9th was a very good choice.

My DS is very strong academically, and took Astronomy which was a high-interest class. He earned an A+.

The other CC students were not academically strong, so it would not have been a good choice for DS for a class that would build toward his probable major (math), but for an elective science it was fine. And it was a good way for DS to learn the ins and outs of college classes without also being a huge academic load.

The other students were mostly standard college age...but DS was actually much, much more comfortable in the CC classroom than he currently is in the public high school.

DS's 9th grade DE class was a full semester, but the plan is for him to finish out his high school years with a mix of semester-long and 8 week DE classes. The semester long classes will be his high-interest math and science classes taken at local 4 year universities. But all low-interest classes will be taken through ASU to allow him to crank through them as quickly as he wants, and to eliminate the risk of failing due to disinterest or procrastination. He has the added incentive that most of the ASU classes will transfer to the university he is strongly considering (as would the math and science classes he wants to take), so if he grits his teeth and makes it through the dreaded Comp classes in 8 weeks each, then he won't have to take any writing courses ever again.

[Porridge]

1 hour ago, 8filltheheart said:

I am just going to toss some questions to consider bc I personally would not have a 9th grader DEing.

1-Is your student very strong academically?  (DE grades follow forever in terms of having to be reported.....so when they apply to UG and grad school, those transcripts have to be included.)

2-What is the population of students like at your CC?  (We have never lived anywhere where the CC is populated by strong students.  It is my last choice option for my kids who are strong academically and plan on pursuing any sort of academic 4 yr degree.)

3-How old are the other students?  (Many CCs restrict enrollment by age.  Some don't.  14 yr olds are not often found in most academic-oriented CC classrooms, though.)

4-How will your student do mastering content in a 1/4?  (Learning college level sciences and languages in a 1/4 can be rough for college age kids.  Even adjusting to learning in a regular semester vs a school yr can be an adjustment for a lot of students.)  

Appreciate your perspective! I share many of your concerns. I am not planning on DE (or, plan to use DE pretty sparsely) for my other child, who is a very different type of learner. 

DC is strong academically, but it comes with a lot of stress. The cognitive ability is there. EF requires a lot of support.

Our local CC is well regarded, with many classes accepted for credit at a highly selective uni. That being said, the CC student population is a mix, and in our experience, the profs can be of highly variable quality, too. We'd use RMP to help screen classes and be ready to drop any classes that weren't good.  So it is definitely not ideal.

There are quite a few teens who do DE in our area, so my DC won't be an outlier. 

The CC has high-school level classes. I would have my student start with one of those (not with college level) and see how it goes.  I actually think DC could handle the content of at least some college level classes, but when we're just starting, I want to put the kid in a low stress high-school level one so we can get used to the system and pace.

The majority of the classes we'd do through DE would be low-interest classes - things that DC wants to just get done. @wendyroo have you been happy with the quality of ASU classes? I have heard of ASU, but worried that the quality would be very low.  Are there any that Peter has found particularly good (or, as my DC might put it, "less bad")?

In our situation, one of the primary issues is that DC does better focusing on fewer things at once. The standard high school plan of taking 5-7 classes at a time is highly likely to fail. I could create custom classes at home (which would be my pref, and which I do for my other kid) where I could do it on our timeline, but in this kid's case, it is better for me to be the support than to be the main teacher. I could have DC do online high-school level classes, but those are full year, and we'd run back into the issue of needing to do 5-7 at a time. My plan is not an ideal plan, it is a making-the-best-of-a-complex-situation plan.

I really appreciate your perspective --I will need to hold this plan loosely because I am concerned especially about your point #4. But if we end up doing this mostly for low-interest classes, I think it might be ok.

 

 

[wendyroo]

7 minutes ago, Porridge said:

The majority of the classes we'd do through DE would be low-interest classes - things that DC wants to just get done. @wendyroo have you been happy with the quality of ASU classes? I have heard of ASU, but worried that the quality would be very low.  Are there any that Peter has found particularly good (or, as my DC might put it, "less bad")?

We haven't done any ASU classes yet. I also worry about the quality, but that worry is mitigated by the fact that 1) these would be get 'er done classes that Peter doesn't cares about or actually need much instruction in, and 2) the most we could be out was the $25 registration fee.

 

[alysee]

I am just at the research part of planning since this is the 1st time I've done high school. She will most likely be doing an online university when she's done high school but I know things can change so I'm not putting all my eggs in there. I know she will most likely want to do Art for electives and she will do Canadian Geography and Mathusee Algebra 1 but currently in research mode for English, Science and electives. 

[ByGrace3]

My baby will be in high school. ugh. craziness. 

 

Math: Mr. D Honors Geometry

English: still debating but probably Lantern English for writing, homegrown lit, and maybe compass classroom Grammar for writers or maybe Excelsior Classes for an online English

Spanish 2: Avancemos 2 with a small group I teach

Logic: Art of Argument with Scholé Academy 

At Co-Op:

Notgrass geography

Biblical Foundations: intro to hermeneutics and exegesis and Biblical doctrine 

Berean Builders Biology: self placed videos with labs at co-op

with lots of volleyball and soccer

 

Edited April 22 by ByGrace3

[Vintage81]

This is what we've decided on so far...

Math - Mr. D Geometry

English - Lantern English (9th grade full year curriculum)

Science - Biology (through our local co-op)

History - World Geography (FundaFunda Academy)

Foreign Language - German I (having scheduling issues with this, but I think we're going with True North Academy)

Electives/Other:

Photography (through our local co-op)

Film class (through our local co-op)

PE (at home)

Extracurriculars:

She'll probably do track in the spring

She's been doing MMA classes for over 5 years, so we're trying to convince her to stick with this when she's not doing track

Edited March 18 by Vintage81

[Soror]

It looks like dd2 will be staying home for 9th. I'm just starting to plan. This year has been a tough year for her physically and mentally. We've had to scale back to accommodate these challenges. It appears things are improving but I'm still aiming to keep things gentle for her.

Edited 6/2/24- I decided against Lantern English for the time being.

I found another Modern History option for a spine that interested her.

We're dropping foreign language, with all her health issues this fell away and she's not interested right now. 

We heard about Amoeba Sisters new book so we're going to use that alongside RSO to beef it up.

Math- MUS Algebra

English- LAoW fall/ WttW spring; 

vocab from classical roots d + analytical grammar+ mom-made booklist - full year

History- Modern History with Power of the People and booklists inspired by GH and BYL

Science- RSO Biology 2 w/ Amoeba Sisters (book and video)

Electives:

PE/Health (she is supposed to exercise and this is a typical credit here so I'll have her log until she gets enough hours- health will be discussions and some non-fic books- maybe redo first aid training)

Shop- fall - she wants to do some woodworking

Driver's ed- spring

 

Edited June 2 by Soror

[Amoret]

NM

 

Edited April 24 by Amoret

[desertflower]

Tentative plan is:

Math:  Finish Jacobs' Algebra / Geometry - not sure what program

ELA:  Honors English via PA Homeschoolers

Science:  Honors Biology via Blue Tent

History:  US History - not sure what program

PE:   Tricking

FLA:  ASL

Electives:   Psychology

[Wisdomsroadacademy]

For those using the Highschool level History by Susan Wise Bauer, what are you labeling it as on your student's highschool transcript? There is Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance. My older students had and what I know is most common is American History, World History and/or World Geography and the Government & Economics. We've used The Story of the World for younger years, but I've never used these higher level books before. 

 

Thank you,

 

Debbie

[birchbark]

Math - Systematic Mathematics Algebra 1

LA - Excelsior Classes English 1 with Writing Club

Science - ACE Biology with living books and 101 videos

History - Egyptian history, Great Courses and living books

Spanish - possibly ULAT

Bible - AOP Foundations for Living    Local class

Violin/choir/bells

Edited August 19 by birchbark

[Porridge]

On 3/23/2024 at 3:55 PM, Wisdomsroadacademy said:

For those using the Highschool level History by Susan Wise Bauer, what are you labeling it as on your student's highschool transcript? There is Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance. My older students had and what I know is most common is American History, World History and/or World Geography and the Government & Economics. We've used The Story of the World for younger years, but I've never used these higher level books before. 

 

Thank you,

 

Debbie

I haven't used SWB's high school history, but I would label the courses: 

World History: Ancients

World History: Medieval

etc.

Check the colleges you think your child may be interested in applying to-- some may require a year of American History and / or a semester of government

[luuknam]

On 3/5/2024 at 7:09 PM, Porridge said:

have you been happy with the quality of ASU classes? I have heard of ASU, but worried that the quality would be very low.  Are there any that Peter has found particularly good (or, as my DC might put it, "less bad")?

I'm not Wendy (nor Peter), but, assuming we're talking about Arizona State, I graduated last year with plenty of experience at other colleges... ahem. Some profs are good, some are largely absent, some are very easy graders, some are not... it's certainly not the best university in the US, but it's also not the worst. I liked Phil of Sci (McElhoes), and Disaster!. I get the impression some majors have stronger online classes than others too, but I couldn't say for certain (I only took something like 40 credit hours because I had more than enough transfer credit). 

-----------

Unrelated question: my 8th grader is taking two years to cover Physics (Giancoli) and Astronomy (Arny) by doing half of each in 8th grade and half in 9th (I figured it'd be lighter by spreading them over two years than doing one in one and the other in another, given how much work Giancoli is). How would I describe that on their high school transcript?

Physics II & Astronomy II

Physics/Astronomy II

Physical Science II

Etc...?

[Porridge]

1 hour ago, luuknam said:

Unrelated question: my 8th grader is taking two years to cover Physics (Giancoli) and Astronomy (Arny) by doing half of each in 8th grade and half in 9th (I figured it'd be lighter by spreading them over two years than doing one in one and the other in another, given how much work Giancoli is). How would I describe that on their high school transcript?

Physics II & Astronomy II

Physics/Astronomy II

Physical Science II

Etc...?

I don't think you need the "II" -- to me, it's confusing. Are you adding the II because they were done over 2 years?

Do you consider the physics to be equivalent to a full high school physics course? And is the astronomy equivalent to a full high school credit? If so, I would list it as two separate classes, each 1 credit:

Physics (1 credit)

Astronomy (1 credit)

And I would do a subject based transcript rather than a year-based transcript.

My DC took Chem in 8th and I plan to list it on their transcript as a high school class worth 1 credit, even though it was taken in 8th, because it was definitely high school level (DC also took the Chem AP exam that year). 

But there are many wiser and more experienced minds on this board and I hope they will chime in.

[luuknam]

8 minutes ago, Porridge said:

I don't think you need the "II" -- to me, it's confusing. Are you adding the II because they were done over 2 years?

Do you consider the physics to be equivalent to a full high school physics course? And is the astronomy equivalent to a full high school credit? If so, I would list it as two separate classes, each 1 credit

Yes, because it's a continuation of this year's class - the second half of each book. The thought of simply calling it Physical Science (no I or II) occurred to me, but in the course description it'd seem odd to say "continuation of 8th grade physical science" and list the chapters of the 2nd half of each book but not have "II" in the course name. Kind of like how some people list French II as a 9th grade class without listing 8th grade French I on their high school transcript. Except, of course, who on earth takes two years of physical science? Physical Science II makes it sound like a kind of remedial choice of a course.

The physics is (slightly) lighter than I'm having my 10th grader do (who's doing Giancoli in one year this year - no astronomy), I'm assigning almost no level 3 problems for the 8th grader and a few more level 1 problems, but it could count as a high school physics credit (Giancoli is an alg-based college physics text, and I did some just-in-time teaching of basic trig and logarithms for the 8th grader). Arny is a college astronomy text, but I'm only assigning the test yourself questions and not doing any labs for that, so... odds are it's no worse than what some high school out there is doing but it feels too light for a high school course to me. 

I'm not sure it would really matter all that much in the end... this kid is (recently) considering majoring in engineering, so preferably would take calc-based physics in 11th or 12th grade, at which point who'd even care what their 9th grade science is called...? (though also wants to do a year abroad, so not 100% sure there'll be time to get calc-based physics done before graduating). 

I'm not a big fan of subject-based transcripts nor of giving high school credit for 8th grade work that doesn't have an AP or something to back it up. That said, I likely have most of a year to decide what to call this (or change my mind about subject-based transcripts). We might consider doing a DE course spring semester of freshman year, not sure yet, but they require a high school transcript to enroll, so I'd need to decide before DE (a subject-based transcript for a 9th grader seems weird to me). The local CCs require you to be at least a freshman and 14, so that won't make the kid eligible for DE until then anyway (Nov birthday). 

[8filltheheart]

I would simply put 1 on the transcript for 8th grade and the other as 1 in 9th. There is no reason to overcomplicate and no one will care if they were split in 2 simultaneously.

FWIW, you completely lost me on no 8th grade classes being on the transcript unless there is something like an AP to back it up. I dont "back up" my kids' transcripts.  It has never been a problem with any school. Their transcripts have been accepted at face value. But, really, most 8th graders are taking low level high school classes like alg, geo, biology, or a foreign language. There are no "proof" tests.  If the only valid 8th grade high school level courses are AP level, then they must have completed all standard 9th/10th/and even 11th grade classes late elementary or early middle school. 

Edited March 30 by 8filltheheart

[luuknam]

18 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

I would simply put 1 on the transcript for 8th grade and the other as 1 in 9th. There is no reason to overcomplicate and no one will care if they were split in 2 simultaneously.

FWIW, you completely lost me on no 8th grade classes being on the transcript unless there is something like an AP to back it up. I dont "back up" my kids' transcripts.  It has never been a problem with any school. Their transcripts have been accepted at face value. But, really, most 8th graders are taking low level high school classes like alg, geo, biology, or a foreign language. There are no "proof" tests.  If the only valid 8th grade high school level courses are AP level, then they must have completed all standard 9th/10th/and even 11th grade classes late elementary or early middle school. 

Thanks. I thought most schools don't put Alg 1 or French 1 or w/e taken in 8th grade on the high school transcript, and just leave colleges to infer that if the kid is taking Geometry or French 2 in 9th grade that the kid took Alg 1 or French 1 at some point before that (I haven't heard of kids taking high school bio or geo in middle school, so no clue what they do with that credit wise - are they still expected to take 4 years of science in high school?). I could probably give high school credit for almost all of my 8th grader's current classes, but it'd seem odd to bring a year worth of high school credits from 8th grade into a high school diploma - like, why not call it 9th grade then?

I don't think this kid would be well-served graduating sooner though, and I don't think it'd make the transcript more competitive to list high school credits from 8th grade for things like our mishmash of the last part of Alg1, first half of Alg2, first part of Geometry and basic Trig, French 1(-2?) (doing the first two books of high school French this year), etc. Would they care seeing Astronomy and Western Civ since 1500 in 8th grade? I could just do like you said and list Physics as 9th grade... to me it felt like it might be dishonest to portray it as having been finished in a year when it took two, but I know I am (very) good at overthinking things too. 

Btw, so far this kid doesn't seem to have any interest in applying to hypercompetitive schools, but at 13 it's possible that might change... though I doubt it. 

[luuknam]

18 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

FWIW, you completely lost me on no 8th grade classes being on the transcript unless there is something like an AP to back it up. I dont "back up" my kids' transcripts.  It has never been a problem with any school. Their transcripts have been accepted at face value. But, really, most 8th graders are taking low level high school classes like alg, geo, biology, or a foreign language. There are no "proof" tests.  If the only valid 8th grade high school level courses are AP level, then they must have completed all standard 9th/10th/and even 11th grade classes late elementary or early middle school. 

I didn't really answer the test thing. Basically, in my mind, having an AP or CLEP or something to back up the class makes it impressive enough to bother listing on a high school transcript even if it's done in 8th grade (plus, colleges would get the test scores anyway, so might as well list a class to go with them). But anything else, is kind of like... it's not like all high school classes are the same level to begin with. My wife says that when she took a regular English class in Junior year in high school (she was fed up with the honors class so dropped it and switched to regular) the teacher covered material that they'd covered in 5th grade in her gifted elementary school. But that doesn't mean that she got English 3 on her high school transcript from 5th grade, kwim? It just means that the high school's regular English class was terrible. 

As a public schooler, I could see that if the student actually takes a high school class at the high school while they're in 8th grade, it'd end up on their transcript because that's how the system works. But as a homeschooler it's all more, whatever. I'm sure there are plenty of rigorous schools in the US where plenty of 7th-8th graders take harder classes than plenty of students at shittier schools take in 9th-12th grade (40% of high school seniors can't pass the GED... facepalm). But they don't put it on their transcripts, so why should I?

I hope that makes sense. I also didn't mean to say that every class on a high school transcript needs to be backed up with a test - I don't. I just don't see a point giving high school credit for middle school work unless it's so advanced it's worth mentioning. 

[8filltheheart]

On 3/30/2024 at 4:27 PM, luuknam said:

Thanks. I thought most schools don't put Alg 1 or French 1 or w/e taken in 8th grade on the high school transcript, and just leave colleges to infer that if the kid is taking Geometry or French 2 in 9th grade that the kid took Alg 1 or French 1 at some point before that (I haven't heard of kids taking high school bio or geo in middle school, so no clue what they do with that credit wise - are they still expected to take 4 years of science in high school?). I could probably give high school credit for almost all of my 8th grader's current classes, but it'd seem odd to bring a year worth of high school credits from 8th grade into a high school diploma - like, why not call it 9th grade then?

I don't think this kid would be well-served graduating sooner though, and I don't think it'd make the transcript more competitive to list high school credits from 8th grade for things like our mishmash of the last part of Alg1, first half of Alg2, first part of Geometry and basic Trig, French 1(-2?) (doing the first two books of high school French this year), etc. Would they care seeing Astronomy and Western Civ since 1500 in 8th grade? I could just do like you said and list Physics as 9th grade... to me it felt like it might be dishonest to portray it as having been finished in a year when it took two, but I know I am (very) good at overthinking things too. 

Btw, so far this kid doesn't seem to have any interest in applying to hypercompetitive schools, but at 13 it's possible that might change... though I doubt it. 

I have had several kids take courses like geometry, alg 2, physics, biology, chemistry, foreign language 1, 2 or 3, etc in middle school.  My 8th grader is currently taking geometry, biology, US history, and Russian (something.....I actually need to ask her teacher what it is considered.  She has been taking Russian since 5th grade.)  All of those plus algebra 1 from 7th grade will be on her high school transcript.  She will not graduate early.  (We don't graduate our kids early.  One of our sons finished the equivalent of math and physics minors in high school through DE at our local 4 yr Us.)

In terms of what she will take going forward, our approach with her is going to be different than with her siblings.  I rarely outsource courses except when there is no better option.  With this dd, however, we will probably have her DE at the CC starting in 10th grade to finish as many gen eds as possible during high school.  The only reason for that is that she wants to pursue a music performance major and completing gen eds allows more time for pursuing music pedagogy classes on top of performance classes.  (DE classes through our CC are easier than my homeschool classes, so her workload will actually be lighter via DE.)

In terms of the OP, your student is not taking 2 yrs to finish 1 course.  The student is taking 2 yrs to finish 2 with the 2 courses being integrated.  I agree it would be dishonest to label as taking 1 yr if it were indeed a single course spread over 2.  But that is not what you described.  If both are fully high school level, there is no problem separating them out and labeling them separately simply for the matter of clarity.  

Quote

Btw, so far this kid doesn't seem to have any interest in applying to hypercompetitive schools, but at 13 it's possible that might change... though I doubt it. 

Is the 13 yr old your oldest child that you are discussing?  If so, definitely be flexible in making decisions as you progress.  Until you are putting together a college app for your homeschooler, everything is hypothetical.  🙂

Edited April 1 by 8filltheheart

[luuknam]

2 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

 Is the 13 yr old your oldest child that you are discussing?  If so, definitely be flexible in making decisions as you progress.  Until you are putting together a college app for your homeschooler, everything is hypothetical.  🙂

Thanks. I've read quite a number of your posts over the years and it seems you do an awesome job with your kids, and I by no means meant that it's wrong to count Alg1 etc as high school credits in middle school or w/e. 

The 13yo is my youngest; the other is 16, in 10th grade, and currently taking his first DE course (statistics), because for him the exposure to a classroom environment etc would be good (he's taken high school English I online last year and and is currently taking English II online, but other than that he hasn't been in a classroom or had an outside teacher in years, so with his HFA it seemed prudent for him to start getting some exposure to that, and getting some college credits likely would be a nice thing as well (so far he's adamant he wants to just live at home and commute to the local U after he graduates high school, so since he's taking his DE class in the same U system it's nice to begin to chip away at it and maybe he'll double major, or graduate in 3 years and then do a master's, or who knows... I'm encouraging him to at least consider applying to some other schools to see if any make some great offers, but anyway, he's got a bit of time. Living at home and attending the local U would at least be almost free in this state assuming he maintains a decent GPA)). 

The 13yo I think is a lot more likely to be eager to apply to a variety of colleges, but seems to have no interest in high-pressure environments, jumping through a bunch of hoops to look better on an application, etc... which, honestly, the stuff some high schoolers do in order to look good is beyond silly, but those are the kinds of applicants he'd be competing against. So, if his app were to end up looking good, it'd be through a coincidence of pursuing things he likes that would just happen to look good, rather than doing sports, volunteering, playing an instrument, etc just to add it to an app (the house we bought a year ago did come with a piano in the 'saloon', so he's started learning that). But, TBD. 13 is young, and college app season is 3.5 years away or so (other than for DE, which does want to see a high school transcript to apply for DE, hence the original question - we're still undetermined when/what he might take for DE, but there was a class that he currently thinks he wants to take as soon as he's old enough, which is next spring, so... :shrugs:). 

New question... if I were to give 8th grade credit for Astronomy and 9th grade for Physics, should I for consistency purposes give 8th grade credit for Integrated Math I in 8th grade while I'm at it (for lack of a better course name... some mishmash of the second half of Alg 1, the first half of Alg 2, some Geometry and Basic Trig)? Next year we'll probably do a mishmash of the second half of Alg 2, the rest of Geometry, and some Logic and/or Discrete Math, so I can't easily just, say, call 8th grade Alg 2 and 9th grade Geometry (though I suppose I could... if they both get finished by the end of 9th grade - math is just hard to predict whether a kid will 'get' it... this kid got stuck on Alg 1 for quite a while). Integrated Math I sounds so wishy-washy to give high school credit in middle school for though. 

[pmeilaen]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:51 PM, 8filltheheart said:

It's hard for me to process, but my baby will be a 9th grader next yr. I am not "planning" in any form at this pt. I do have different ideas that I am contemplating.  My dd currently believes she wants to pursue violin performance. Music is a totally new realm for me, so I have spent the past few months researching. That seems more important at this pt than formally thinking about next yr. (But, I am very relaxed about it in general bc she will be my 8th 9th grader and we do most things at home so there is zero stress in trying to get into outsourced classes that fill up quickly.)

In general, she will be taking Foerster's alg 2, Western civ, probably physics, continuing with Russian, lit, and some type of music theory/classical music. Those are the generalities. Specifics will be considered more seriously this summer.

My "baby" will also be a ninth grader!  I guess when it comes to the last child, you do feel more relaxed about the whole planning idea.

[pmeilaen]

My ideas so far are the following.  If you are interested in links and more details, check out my planning page on my blog.  

Math: Teaching Textbooks Algebra, RightStart Math G, Speed Drills CalcuLadder, Middle Grades Math Minutes

English: CenterforLit literature class with Independent Studies Literary Analysis, The Daily Poem, second half of Grammar and Writing 8, English Grammar Recitation II, Put That in Writing Level 1, Book of Mottoes, Rummy Roots card game, WordUp!, SpellingYouSee F, The Word Wasp, Sequential Spelling 5, Vocabulary.com, Better Handwriting for Young Catholics, acting classes

Science: Exploring Creation with Physical Science (2nd edition) with lectures, Outdoor School book: Wildflower, and Mushroom Spotting, home ecology classes at local state park

Geography: Draw Europe, Draw Africa, World Geography Power Basics (Use only for Europe and Africa.), Van Loon's Geography  (Ch. 1-29), Buschmann, Buddha, Tuareg, Complete Book of Marvels  (Videos)

History/American History: Early American and World History (Beautiful Feet), U.S. History Detective (Book 1), Early American History: Natives, Colonists, and Revolutionaries, America the Story of Us (videos)

Religion: Introduction to Catholicism: The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth, The Young People's Book of Saints, The Catholic Youth Bible, scripture memory

Art/Picture Study: Catholic World Culture, local art classes, charcoal drawing

Handwork: Metal embossing kit, block printing, sewing

Music/Composer Study: The Composers' Specials Teacher's Guide for Bach's Fight for Freedom, Handel's Last Chance, Rossini's Ghost, Liszt's Rhapsody, Strauss: The King of Three-Quarter Time, Bizet's Dream

Classics for Kids

Classical Kids

Catholic hymn study

All About the Symphony Orchestra

Music Activities Kit

Violin, recorder, alto recorder lessons

Character: Ourselves, Beautiful Girlhood

French: Getting Started with French, Rosetta Stone French, Skoldo French Book 3 

German: Gezielt fördern Intensivkurs LRS 5./6. Klasse, Gezielt fördern Intensivkurs LRS 7./8. Klasse, Das sagt man so! (online), Abschreiben erwünscht

German literature: Kleider machen Leute, Der geheime Bericht über den Dichter Goethe, So zärtlich war Suleyken, Pole Poppenspäler, Damals war es Friedrich

Latin: Getting Started with Latin, Keep Going with Latin, Lumina Artes Latinae

Biblical Greek: Getting Started with Ancient Greek, Elementary Greek I

Student News/Civics: CNN10

Logic: Fallacy Detective

Typing: The Good and the Beautiful Typing 3

Home Economics: Landmark's Baptist Freedom Home Economics (Not sure if I will use it.), Home Ec for Everyone

P.E.: Local advanced ballet classes

Volunteer work: At an animal shelter and a living history museum

We loosely follow the ideas of Waldorf education and dedicate each month to a special topic (main lesson):

Main Lessons: 

1. History: Revolutions: Live Education!: Revolutionaries and Romantics, Kovacs: The Age of Revolution: Ch. 17-34, Novel: Scarlet Pimpernel, Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser Hörbuch  September
2. Earth Science/Geography: World Physical Geography  (First four chapters) and workbook to learn countries, etc.  October
3. Biology: Anatomy Physiology: Kovacs: Muscles and Bones: Ch. 35-48, DVD: Biology 101, Lyrical Life Science 3, Blood and Guts, Life Science for Young Catholics  November/December
4. History: British History: Master Books British History,  Great Britain: Engineering an Empire  January
5. Art History: BBC: Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (10 episodes), The Story of Painting (Thomas Craven), make an art history notebook  February
6. History: British History: Master Books British History, Great Britain: Engineering an Empire  April
7. Physics: Thermodynamics: DVD: Physics 101, TOPS Heat, Tiner: The World of Physics: Ch. 6  (4 weeks)  May

 

We also do a morning time together with rotating materials.  

[8filltheheart]

I have finalized our plans for next yr. 

Foerster's alg 2 (w/me)

Literature will be the works studied by Anne in Anne of Green Gables. I did this study with her 25 yr old sister yrs ago. It is a deep dive into epic poetry. Her sister fell in love with poetry that yr. (w/me)

Western Civ-a combo of a stack of books and Great Courses lectures. This will be over 2 yrs. (w/ me)

Theology (apologetics w/me plus an additional class at church)

Russian--with private tutor

Physics--Derek Owen's, parent graded

She will have a heavy focus on music. I'm not sure yet how I am going to integrate/classify on her transcript:

Classical composer study (we will start this this summer. Great Courses lectures will be the base.)

Music theory (working on this. I'm hoping I have located a private tutor. I'd like her to be able to take the AP music theory exam  at some pt in high school.

Violin--private lessons, youth orchestra, church. She is hoping to add a chamber group in the fall. She is currently practicing between 2-3 hrs per day,  This is her career goal.

Piano--goal is proficiency graduation so she does not need to take in college.

Voice-private lessons

Typing---this summer. She can type, but it is slow. She needs to get more proficient.

 

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

9th grade for my youngest. He would like this year to be 9th but I’ve pretty much decided that this year will be grade 8.5 and next will be 9th. He meets the age cutoff in our state but has a November birthday and there’s no need for him to graduate at 17 and a half. Also, this year wasn’t as strong as I would like for 9th grade. The 13/14yo boy brain fog has been pretty strong this year. Hoping that will lift by the fall. He also struggles with reading although I feel like I can finally hand him a book and expect that he’ll be able to comprehend it and learn from it. But I have to watch the reading level. 
 

Math - We’ve been doing MUS Algebra 1 but have only made it about halfway through. He still sometimes gets confused by negative numbers although we’re making progress. So more Algebra 1 next year. Either with MUS or maybe switching to Saxon. 
 

Social Studies - I think we’re going to do World Geography this year. Not sure with what. I have Notgrass but also plenty of materials to put together my own thing. I try to use a variety of audio and video sources with him in addition to books as his stamina for reading is still low. 
 

Science - Biology probably. I have Apologia and will just use that. We’ll use the audio book and I think I have the video instruction somewhere too. 
 

English - IEW has worked extremely well for him so we will continue with that. He’s finishing up Level B Year 2 now and we’ll probably do a Theme book next year. I’m thinking the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We’ve been doing Fix-It Grammar and we’ll keep going with that. I need to choose some literature for him to read, a mix of lower level to practice reading and higher on audio book. We also need to keep working on spelling. 
 

Electives and Extra Curriculars - Piano and Cello, Swimming, Karate, running club (hopefully. The woman who’s running it is moving and no word on a replacement yet). Other enrichment classes at co-op. We’re hoping for robotics and maybe exercise science. 

[scbusf]

My youngest will be in 9th grade. I can't believe it!!!!!

LA: At Co-op

Math: Thinkwell Algebra 1

Science: Apologia Biology @ Co-op

History: Bookshark American History

Spanish 1 @ co-op

Theater @ co-op

Maaaaaybe something else, but she's my super-ADHD kid, so we need to ease into the high school thing!!!

[alysee]

My 14yos picks for her 1st year of high school. We are easing into high school because we wont have any real transcripts needed(but will be keeping them). She is more into reading, writing, art.

1. Mathusee Algebra 1

2. Story of Science

3. Canadian Literature: 9 Books/9 Essays

4. Encounter Canadian Geography

5. Computer Animation: dad to create projects & teach

6. Home Ec for Everyone

Extracurriculars: Equestrian & archery

[Amoret]

On 4/27/2024 at 6:49 AM, 8filltheheart said:

Literature will be the works studied by Anne in Anne of Green Gables. I did this study with her 25 yr old sister yrs ago. It is a deep dive into epic poetry. Her sister fell in love with poetry that yr. (w/me)

Do you by chance have a reading list for this that you would be willing to share?

[8filltheheart]

5 hours ago, Amoret said:

Do you by chance have a reading list for this that you would be willing to share?

Here is a post I wrote about it twelve yrs ago.  I doubt I'll have this dd read the exact same things.  She will be a 9th grader where as the list below was done with my other dd when she was in 7th.  The history portions for sure will be beefed up more and I'll probably have her read Great Expectations.

On 3/16/2012 at 9:21 PM, 8filltheheart said:

Ok, I finally have more than 2 minutes to myself (well, not exactly.....my 2 yr old is on my lap, so I am definitely distracted while typing, so I am sorry if I am not coherent.)

 

WtBaRM as written recommends some resources that I would not use w/a middle school student. I pre-read many of the suggested books this summer and rejected some outright (the Mary Pride and Schaffer books come to mind right away.) There is a lot of bible study incorporated into the study if you use it as written. There are no teaching materials for the additional readings other than brief synopses of the readings.

 

I don't use the study as written, so take my comments for what they are worth.

 

My dd does not use the Annotated Anne. I do. She reads the simple novel version. The annotations will guide you toward the numerous allusions w/in the story. (and numerous they are!) The 2 additional resources I do recommend are Anne's Anthology and the Green Gable Letters (word of caution, LM Montgomery had many controversial beliefs, so if you are uncomfortable to exposing your child to someone who expresses beliefs in reincarnation intermixed w/weak Christian theology, you might not want to read this book. For us, it was a book for great conversation)

 

To give you an idea of what all we have read (or watched) to accompany AGG:

 

Poetry:

Lady of the Lake

Siege of Valencia

Edinburg after Flodden

Marmion

(and numerous short poems like "Evelyn Hope)

 

I highly recommend incorporating The Art of Poetry by Classical Academic Press.

 

Shakespeare (we read the Garfield version, followed by watching a production, followed by reading the play along w/an audio):

Macbeth

King Lear

Much Ado About Nothing

Othello

 

Novels (both fiction and non-fiction):

Northwest Passage (book 1)

Pere Marquette

Jacques Cartier

Shadows on the Rock

Secret Garden

Little Women

 

Watched:

Great Expectations

Oliver Twist

Orphan Train

 

For history, I have incorporated a lot of Canadian, British history. (we are listening to the Teaching Co lectures on the Tudors/Stuarts, but they are among my least favorite TC lectures we have ever listened to, so I personally don't recommend them.)

 

Those are the things I remember off the top of my head. I'm sure I am forgetting things. Anyway, hopefully you can see that even though you only read 1 chpt/wk in AGG, you are really reading many other works.

 

Oh, and dd did learn to weave and how to make raspberry cordial this yr. 😉

 

[Amoret]

52 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

Here is a post I wrote about it twelve yrs ago. 

Thank you! I'm still working on a reading list for my DD14, so this is helpful. She has already read some of these texts (and the whole Anne series), but not all.

Edited May 2 by Amoret

[8filltheheart]

11 minutes ago, Amoret said:

Thank you! I'm still working on a reading list for my DD14, so this is helpful. She has already read some of these texts (and the whole Anne series), but not all.

I realized that qute doesnt list them all. I remember Idylls of the King, plus works by Emerson and Pope. I wont have time until next wk, but I'll see if I can find a list with the others.

[Amoret]

2 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

I realized that qute doesnt list them all. I remember Idylls of the King, plus works by Emerson and Pope. I wont have time until next wk, but I'll see if I can find a list with the others.

Thank you! We hadn't quite hit on anything that seemed right yet, but DD is quite excited about this idea.

[skctgbrlis]

 

Math: Geometry  Probably Teaching Textbooks, but maybe Jacobs.  She's a strong student, so I hesitate to have her do TT, but I really don't want math to take up too much of her time

English:  LLATL World Literature and Essentials in Writing 10th 

Health and Nutrition (Apologia):  We're going to take the year off from formal science.

World Geography and Ecology (Beautiful Feet Books) : This will be with younger siblings.

Web Design (Compuscholar)

French:  First Start French 2 (Memoria Press)

Music:  Violin (mega hours of practice), piano, two choirs, orchestra, hand chimes, music theory

FTC Robotics : I'm not sure if this will show up as a class on her transcript or as an extracurricular.  Her involvement is mostly in soft skills areas.

Edited May 3 by skctgbrlis

[Jackie]

I always thought we would outsource more at older ages, but next year is planned to be less outsourced than we’ve been for years. Most of the classes will be done on a compressed university-esque schedule as 7-8 classes makes my kid super stressed, but fewer more intense classes are totally fine with them.

Full Year: All things they are doing with their free time but will count on a transcript

Queer History - personal interest of theirs for a while, they spent a crazy amount of hours on it this past year and aren’t slowing down, will turn it into a credit next year

Art - will flesh this out later, but it’s another thing they already spend a ton of time on. Maybe “Intro to Crochet” or “Sewing 1”, which are their current interests. We will track hours.

Queer Linguistics? I honestly didn’t know this was a thing, but they’ve been reading academic papers galore. It even turns out there’s a little-known (defunct) gay language called Polari. They’ve emailed the researcher who documented Polari with questions and gotten prompt replies. This is another one where we will try to track hours and see if it stands alone or gets rolled into the Queer History credit, but they’re spending their time on it anyway so we’ll see. (If anyone is reading this: they are doing a 1-hour presentation on Queer Linguistics In about a month as part of the Athena’s Junior Presenters series!)

Class at Athena’s that meets weekly to discuss academic research, mostly focused on marine biology. They’ve been taking Emma‘a classes for years now and this is an ongoing class they absolutely love. Would be 1/2 credit.

Fall:

ASL 2 at community college

PreCalculus - still deciding whether to stick with AOPS, use ALEKS, or something else

Media Production - how to create a professional-ish YouTube channel. Goes along with the Queer History listed above - they’ve been frustrated at how little content is kid-friendly and want to put something out there, so the channel itself will also be the output for the Queer History class.

Spring:

Ethnobotany (community college)

English/History combo - focusing on U.S. History 1980-2010, using Molly Sandling’s Exploring America series as a base. We’ve been having so much fun doing 1950-1980 this year, and I’m getting a kick out of the idea that I’ll be teaching my own lifetime as history next year.

Extras:

They’ve been putting together a Queer History class hoping to teach it at Athena’s next year, maybe that will happen.

Destination Imagination - they’ve been part of a team since 2nd grade

Circus Arts - long term EC, but planning to up this a LOT next year and join a fairly serious 12 hour/week program

[wisdomandtreasures]

My 14yo just started Ambleside year 9 book list (dropped a few books) and I added Guest Hollow Biology, Discovery of Deduction, and he's using Linney's Latin course. He's halfway through Writing With Skill 2 and will continue on with that and level 3. For math he's halfway through Saxon Algebra 2.

[SilverMoon]

I'm working on a gentle 9th grade plan for my extra kid. He's been homeschooling with my boys for awhile now. He'll need prepared for potentially going to b&m school but he also needs time and space to heal. 

English: continue WWS sped up as needed, with a goal of getting to Writing With a Thesis by year end, selections from a lit textbook between more uplifting novels 

Social studies: Crash Course world history, with the oop CC curriculum, fleshed out with extra nonfiction reading, links, videos etc - ETA: and .5 civics/government with the 8th grader

Science: I'm torn between a lighter physical or even environmental to get him used to running a textbook, or building around the Bryson book for a general science year. He feels very behind here. - ETA: Actually, maybe, biology with brothers? I'm working on a gentle but thorough course for the oldest one, and the youngest one is definitely ready for highschool science too. Mr 9th is right in the middle. 🤷‍♀️ The oldest one doesn't mind and the little two seem interested. It could work.

Math: MUS prealg is working and he's gaining confidence. We're camping in some areas and speeding up in others. 

Elective: art (videos, various supplies, therapy homework, etc), maybe TeachRock history of rock music

Extracurricular: .... 

Edited June 2 by SilverMoon

[Soror]

Edited my list above--

Edited 6/2/24- I decided against Lantern English for the time being.

I found another Modern History spine that interested her.

We're dropping foreign language, with all her health issues this fell away and she's not interested right now. 

We heard about Amoeba Sisters new book so we're going to use that alongside RSO to beef it up.

[desertflower]

2 hours ago, Soror said:

Edited my list above--

Edited 6/2/24- I decided against Lantern English for the time being.

I found another Modern History spine that interested her.

We're dropping foreign language, with all her health issues this fell away and she's not interested right now. 

We heard about Amoeba Sisters new book so we're going to use that alongside RSO to beef it up.

Thanks for posting.  I didn't even know Amoeba Sisters even had a book!  My girls are excited. 

[ktgrok]

I'm still in the planning stage (aka making myself crazy stage and often mumbling under my breath about lack of the right resources stage)

English: Essentials in Writing with literature books I assign, maybe have her join the book club at church or in another setting

Math: Dennison Geometry

Science: Biology, not sure which. Maybe Apologia 3rd edition, maybe Mr Q Biology and Evolution, maybe Ck-12 using BYL syllabus with labs from home science tools (kit). Or maybe Amoeba Sisters book/videos with Teachers Pay Teachers worksheets and lab kit from somewhere. 

Social Studies: Government....likely Crash Course videos with worksheets from TpT. And we are doing a co-op weekly with friends where the teens will come up with their own political parties, create party platforms, hold debates, create campaign materials, and have an election. (ideas welcome!)

Foreign Language: Spanish 1, going to do this with an Outschool class. DD said she wanted to do Spanish or German or ASL. We live in Florida, Spanish is WAY more practical than German, and I don't think our local colleges have ASL classes for when she gets there. 

Elective: No idea, she needs to think of what she wants to do

 

[Frances]

On 3/5/2024 at 5:41 PM, Porridge said:

I've realized a few things about my rising 9th grader. 

DC does better focusing on fewer things at a time

DC needs me to be tutor / coach, not the person giving grades and regulating deadlines.

DC needs a lot of protected time for their preferred activity (which doesn't fit with traditional school)

Based on these considerations, I think we'll probably lean heavily on DE/CC because the local CC is quarter system, which would allow us to focus on fewer classes at a time.

We'll run Math and English as full year courses (probably DO + an online English course)

Then do one core academic class through DE each quarter, for example: Science Fall, History Winter, World Language Spring. 

So at any given time, DC will only need to focus on 3 main courses

DC might do an additional "light" elective through DE concurrent with the other classes, or in the summer if things feel too heavy.

That would give us 5-6 credits / year with ample time to pursue non-academic interests.

Still thinking through this, so I might have a different plan next week!

 

 

If you think your child will attend college and still feel at that time that focusing on fewer things will be better, you might want to look at the few colleges that do one course at a time, including Cornell College and Colorado College. My husband and I absolutely loved the block plan. My husband went on to teach or take classes under just about every system and for him, liked one course at a time the best and quarters the least. The only advantage he found for quarters is that you do get way more bang for you buck compared to semesters, but the pace is super intense when you are taking four or more classes and the last wuarter of the year just seems brutal sometimes. Now for one or two classes at a time I think quarters would be just fine, but a full load is usually 4-5 classes.

[Tanager]

On 4/27/2024 at 4:49 AM, 8filltheheart said:

Literature will be the works studied by Anne in Anne of Green Gables. I did this study with her 25 yr old sister yrs ago. It is a deep dive into epic poetry. Her sister fell in love with poetry that yr. (w/me)

This sounds amazing! What a great idea 🙂 

[Tanager]

I thought I was planning out next year, but got thrown a curve ball with early college. Presently dd wants to do both homeschool and early college as it could start out slow with a class or two, I understand she wants to get going as she is looking toward a phd,  she wants to double major with a minor so it may be a way to help with that

what we know for sure: alg 2, Latin, marine research, English, physics

maybes: CC?, history, music theory

extras: chess with grandpa, fiddle, piano, scouts, swimming