2016-2017 (9th Grade) Curricula

Updated for Second Semester: 
Here's Amber selected course of study for her first official year of high school. Unbelievably, we are just about ready to start school the first of August, despite a little anxiousness on both of our parts.

This may look like an overzealous amount of credits or topics when you add it all up. However the entire last section, Electives and Non-core Subjects, are simply part of our regular life or homeschool co-op classes that do not take up our scheduled school hours. It's just an added bonus when co-op classes are eligible for credit too.

Math:
(1 Credit each)

Life of Fred - Finish Advanced Algebra (algebra 2) and start Geometry.
These have been a life saver for Amber and she no longer dreads math or has panic attacks over math assignments. Amber is off schedule with math though, and most likely won't finish Geometry until sometime in early 10th Grade - Amber is far ahead in math and we decided to take second semester off from math to focus on other subjects. Geometry will be a 10th grade subject.
(Algebra 2 completed: 1 credit earned)

Language Arts:

(1 Credit for English I)

Writing: IEW SICC-B. This is the continuation course from SWI-B that she used in 8th grade and the IEW High School Essay Intensive.

Literature: We made an about-face on this one a week into the school year. Using the principles from Teaching the Classics, we have decided for the most part to go without a formal curriculum. Our reading list was created from suggestions in Tapestry of Grace for the history period we are studying, Reading Roadmaps, Ambleside Online, and books I personally read in the early high school years. It is, of course, subject to change at any point.

The tentative 9th grade reading list is:

• Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne - Completed
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - Completed
• Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott - Completed
• Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
• The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
• Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
• Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
• Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
• Poetry - to include Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron, Keats, Coleridge, Browning, Tennyson, Whitman, Dickinson, Irving, Poe and Longfellow - Partially complete

Memoria Press - Poetry & Short Stories: American Literature. We planned this for 8th grade, but other things came up. Amber still wants to work through it during high school.

Grammar: IEW Fix It! Grammar - Amber has started somewhere in the upper levels of this and will hopefully continue until she finishes the series. It will be incorporated in her English credits throughout high school until she finishes the series.

Vocabulary: Latin Morphemes Lessons (Latin and Loving It) - Amber already completed the Greek morphemes lessons from this same publisher. She will work on the Latin lessons until finished.

(1 Credit over two years for Creative Writing Elective)

Creative Writing: One Year Adventure Novel - Amber's goal is to become a writer, so naturally one of her electives is creative writing. However, she may take two years to complete this entire elective credit, and then work on a second creative writing elective for her last two years of high school.

(1 Credit Foreign Language)

German: We will continue to work through Prima! German, along with more advanced reading and creative writing. - Switched to Portfolio Deutsch in January.

History & Government

(1/2 Credit U.S. History & 1/2 Western Civilization)

History: Tapestry of Grace Year 3 Plan - Amber is using the rhetoric level of TOG Year 3 to complete a portion of her U.S. History credit and a portion of her Western Civilization credit.  Next year she will use the TOG Year 4 plan to complete both of those credits.  

(1-2 total Credits over 4 years)

Government: Tapestry of Grace Year 3 Plan - We;re also using Tapestry of Grace over the four years of high school to complete a course we've titled U.S. Government & Comparative Political System. It will include government studies from ancient times through modern day. (We did not get around to government. We will be doing a different course in 10th grade for U.S. government.)

Logic & Philosophy

(1/2 Credit - Elective)

Formal Logic: Traditional Logic I - Instead of trying to finish this in one semester, our current schedule has Amber working on it a couple of days a week for the whole year to earn her half credit. She will probably try for half a credit of logic most years of high school.

(1/4 to 1/2 Credit - Elective)

19th Century Philosophy: Tapestry of Grace Year 3 plan - We plan for Amber to follow the philosophy electives in TOG all years of high school. If time allows she will do enough work to earn 1/2 credit each year, otherwise she will total a single credit over all 4 years through her philosophy study.

Science

(1/2 Credit)

Botany: Inspired by the botany course at Guest Hollow, we have created our own course for Amber to study her first semester. It utilizes both physical texts, online videos (helpteaching.com), experiments, and NotebookingPages.com for narrations.

(1/2 Credit) - Cancelled. Will be a small unit tacked on to the Forensic Science class below.

Genetics: Amber does not desire to take an entire course on anatomy & physiology, however she is extremely interested in studying genetics in more depth, so we will work on a semester course dedicated to human genetics. I'm still finalizing our curriculum options for this course. We will bridge between the botany and genetics courses with the fast plants  genetics experiment. 

(1/2 Credit)

Forensic Science: A laboratory science class that I'm teaching at our homeschool co-op second semester. It's high school level, with labs (obviously) and lesson work. Amber is taking the course, so we will probably hold off on other science at home second semester.

Electives and Non-Core Subjects

(Fine Arts Credit)

Drama: A year long co-op drama class, but will probably only amount to enough hours for 1/4 to 1/2 credit.

Art: A semester long co-op art class that will also only have enough hours for 1/4. (Completed: hours applied to general art credits)

Music: Continue weekly private flute lessons and practice. We only count her 45 minute lessons as school hours. So between 1/4 and 1/2 credit of music too.

(1/2 Health Credit)

Health: A year long co-op health class, worth 1/2 credit with homework included. I'm actually teaching the class, so I know exactly how to credit this.  Amber also works on learning about her connective tissue disease and how her body responds differently than the average person.

(1/2 Speech Credit) - Completed

Speech 1: A semester long co-op class, worth 1/2 credit with homework included. I'm teaching this class as well, so Amber had no choice but to take it. This is a class I wanted for Amber and when the opportunity arose, we took it since we can't be certain of when it will fit in the co-op schedule again. This is definitely a class that works better in a group.

(Religion Credit)

The Four Gospels: Amber decided at the last minute to take this class at co-op. It was taught by one of our pastors, included homework assignments, and an end of semester test. We counted the actual hours in class and completing homework towards a religion elective credit. (Completed: 1/4 credit earned)

In the Beginning: Second semester Bible class offered at co-op still taught by our pastor. Amber signed up for it as well, so again we will count the actual hours towards the religion elective. I expect she will get another quarter credit.

(Practical Arts Credit)

Cooking: Amber will still be taking cooking lessons from my mom and practicing at home. Probably 1/4 to 1/2 credit.

(1 Physical Education Credit)

Phys. Ed: Amber has weekly physical therapy sessions where she works on strengthening the muscles around her joints and learns how to care for her body. She also has daily cardio exercises to help with her dysautonomia, along with her daily home physical therapy program to keep her muscles toned and her joints safe.  Amber can easily earn a full credit of physical education every year of high school because of her therapies (occupational therapy as well) and her prescribed home care. (1/2 credit earned as of 12/2016)