2019-2020 Year 9 Curriculum Preview

Even though, we are in week 11 of our 2019-2020 school year, I want to go back and post curriculum previews for high school. This year, RileyAnn is in 10th grade and Ruben is in 9th grade. I posted Levi's Year 2 back in Sept, but have been making some adjustments to Ruben's Year 9 schedule. Here is a preview of his general plan for Year 9....

Bible

I have assigned misc bible passage readings based on Ruben's history plan.

History

Ruben is using an older edition of Notgrass Exploring World History as the spine of his history study. It's a two book set, but he will only complete the first book this year, which runs from Creation to the Middle Ages. Angel used this same set for her history several years ago in 9th and 10th grade through My Father's World. Although, I am not using MFW for Ruben, I have created a similar set up in that he will read from the Notgrass text a couple days a week and then I've added a variety of history and literature supplemental books, which you can see pictured above. We will call it Ancient History and Lit. As noted above, his bible readings are also linked to this study. In addition, he completes notebook pages with narrations, map work, and drawings from his reading. We did study this same time period three years ago, when Ruben was in 6th grade so he read many great Ancient Civilization living books at that time too.

Science

Ruben is studying biology this year along with Riley. Although, they are using different books. Riley is taking a more traditional approach, using Modern Biology through Memoria Press. I've built Ruben's biology using a variety of resources, including Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology. Because they are studying the same subject matter, they are able to have discussion and complete labs together.

We use the Apologia Biology book as the spine and then I've added other living books. So Ruben's lessons consist of watching some of the Apologia Biology DVDs, reading misc. picture and chapter books, completing some of the Apologia labs, and keeping a notebook of vocabulary, narrations, lab notes, and drawing diagrams/illustrations from the books.

For example, you can see some of the resources pictured below that Ruben is using for a study of bacteria. He read the books, watched the DVDs, collected pond water and is growing cultures for various experiments from the Apologia text, we've discussed all this, and he has kept a notebook of his study. I've drawn from multiple websites and resources to find living books and tried to create a multi-sensory experience for him. Here are links to some of the books and resources Ruben will be studying aside from Apologia...

Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif 
Archaea by David M. Barker - This is part of a series of six books. We will use several in the series.
Bacteria by Judy Wearing
Protists by Rona Arato
Fungi by Judy Wearing
Tiny Creatures, The World of Microbes by Nicola Davies
Golden Guide Pond Life George Reid, edited by Zim and Fichter - There are many books in this series.
One Small Square - Pond by Donald Silver - There are many books in this series as well.
Pond by Jim LaMarche
The Golden Book Encyclopedia set
Gregor Mendel, The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe
Nature Study as a Part of High School Biology by Barb McCoy
Guest Hollow Biology
Exploring the World of Biology by John Hudson Tiner
The Book of Trees, An Introduction to Botony Through the Study of Trees by Sean Brooks  - published by Memoria Press
The Biology Coloring Book by Robert Griffin
Biology 101 by Wes Olson

Natural History

Seasons of America Past by Eric Sloane - Ruben is a fan of Sloane and this book has been a hit so far! I spread it out so he will read just a few pages one day each week throughout the year.

English - Literature, Poetry, Composition, Spelling, Recitation

In addition to the literature that Ruben is reading for History, he is also participating in a local High School Book Club that I'm facilitating. The students are reading the following titles and then gathering for discussion throughout the months of October through March...

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Silas Marner by George Elliot
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 

Ruben will study the following poets using the Poetry for Young People series. He will read from a different book each term.

Carl Sandburg
Robert Frost
Langston Hughes

Ruben is writing narrations as part of his English credit. I also draw from IEW's Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons and other resources for formal composition. He is working through IEW's Fix-It The Nose Tree for grammar. Each of the kids is currently memorizing Psalm 23. Ruben has also been reading through The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien in his free time. I will be adding Spelling and possibly a couple other misc. language arts resources second term.

Math

As with other subjects, I'm using a variety of resources for math. I've been taking a more developmental approach with Ruben working through various math concepts to ensure he has a good foundation for algebra and geometry. He is currently working through an old Modern Curriculum Press workbook. We are focusing on solidifying operations, decimals, fractions, and percents.

Fine Arts

I have outsourced our Term 1 and part of Term 2 Fine Arts. Each of our kids is participating in a local homeschool choir and art classes outside the home this semester. Once their out of home semester has ended, we will include art and music study in our Morning Time.


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