Friday, August 14, 2015

9th Grade Curriculum Choices




It's getting near that time again. Back to school time. Our public schools start up at the end of August, but we don't start our homeschool year until after Labor Day. Matt was born Labor Day weekend, so we always have family visiting that week.

I began buying the curriculum we will be using when we got our tax return money back. I also used lots of my saved Swagbucks points to buy a nice microscope and slides off Amazon. I am nervous teaching the high school years. My daughter went to public school for high school, but Matt will be home for all four years.

I spend the summer making the lesson plans to fit us. This year it took like 3 months of daily work to finish.

Here is what we (Matt and I) have narrowed down for curriculum:


History:

We are going to be using Mystery Of History. I have added a bunch of required reading, in addition to the activities, map work and timeline work that is included in the curriculum. I did this book with my daughter and Matt (he was 5 at the time though), so it has been a bit since we have studied this time period. My plan is to use all four books in high school as well as the All American History by Bright Ideas Press, the same publisher as Mystery of History.


Math

We plan on using Saxon Algebra 1, but like last year, that might change. He said he enjoyed the Saxon math last year, but it was just way too many problems every day. I have to totally agree. It was taking him hours to do the work and causing melt downs. After talking to both my husband and Matt, we agreed to have him do half the problems (15 total) a day. Then if he has a hard time, he can do the other 15 problems, or if he totally gets the lesson, we can move on to the next. I know the book says to not skip any problems, but it wasn't working for Matt last year that way. He also has the DIVE cd-rom to use with it, so I don't have to teach Algebra. I might have to brush up on it myself though in case Matt has any issues understanding. It has been 20 years since I graduated high school after all.


Language Arts

We will be using Wordly Wise 3000 grade 9 book for vocabulary. I will be changing this book after this year, because I just found out that the newer editions that are coming out are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. We homeschool to avoid that crap. The book I have is one we bought for my daughter to use like 6 years ago, but never used it.

Easy Grammar 180 Daily Lessons will be used to brush up on his grammar. After having grammar every year since first grade, He just needs a little refresher, nothing to deep anymore. Matt will be taking a literature class through co-op, not to mention all the books he will be reading for history and science.


Science

We are going to be studying Biology this year using the curriculum from Guest Hollow. I am doing most of it, just not adding in any additional reading other than what is scheduled in. For the most part it is free and it was almost free for me. I used my Swagbuck points to buy giftcards for Amazon and bought a microscope and some of the books scheduled that are not free online. I am totally excited for this class. Matt stated that he has no desire to do any dissections. I never did them when I took Biology in high school either, but I found a ton of virtual labs online for him to watch and do a lab write up on instead. I may or may not do a dissection myself and have Matt watch.


Electives

Matt will be taking a Digital Photography class online through a NH online school. I figured it was one thing that the Common Core Standards were not going to be implemented in and would be safe to have him do. He also has a desire to learn how to use my old Pentax camera as well. That is the camera I learned on back in my high school photography classes.

Archery will be continued as well. He has a four day tournament coming up in September to practice for, so I need to find a place close to us for him to practice more than the scheduled class time.

We will also be joining our local homeschool co-op again. Literature will be one class he is going to take, but we are still working out what the other class will be. There is a co-op meeting coming up at the end of the month.



So, that pretty much sums up our plans for the year. I may or may not change things up a bit as we go. We always seem to do that. It's one thing I enjoy about homeschooling. We can tailor things to work for your child.


Monday, August 10, 2015

What I have been up to

It's been crazy here in the garden and kitchen. It's been really hot and humid too, which bothers my RA a ton, so I didn't venture out to the garden much. The crazy weeds show my lack of attention too.

I've also been canning beans up like crazy too.


This is when the bush beans were almost ready to be picked. A few days later, I was snippin n snappin them.


My small but productive bush bean plot. Got tons of beans from this little bit of plants. Jade bush beans are wonderful.


Abby inspecting the beans after they were cleaned. She likes to take one and bat it around the living room. This was part of the first days worth of beans. I pulled just shy of a 5 gallon bucket that day.


56 pints of green beans all ready for winter suppers.



Pole beans are now starting to come in, so I will be canning even more beans. Tomatoes are starting to ripen as well. I freeze them as I pick them and can my sauce when it is a bit cooler out.


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