Our 9th Grade Curriculum

 In August 2017, we began homeschooling Chasity. We knew it was the right thing for us, and now that she is a senior in high school, we are so glad that we did. 

Over the years, we have made some great choices for her curriculum, but other times we have not. 

I know that this is a few years after the fact, but I wanted to document it. I will be needing this information for her NCAA paperwork soon, and I wanted to be able to find it quickly. 

Her freshman year, we had to rearrange some things around Christmas break because we did not like what we had chosen. However, that is the joy and privilege of homeschooling!  You can make changes as you need to.

These are the curriculum choices we made for Chasity's ninth grade year, 2017-2018. 

Be warned; there are 10 courses. She completed all of them every day, except Health/PE and Bowling. She completed work for at least 8 classes each day.

Science: 

Apologia Biology with Labs 

Earth and Environmental Science was taken in 8th grade at the public middle school.

We used the book, workbook, and CDs.

It has answers to everything for the teacher. 

There are alternate tests if the student needs to relearn something and take a new test. 

There are online resources as well.

Bible:

We started with Easy Peasy All-in-One High School Bible, but Chasity did not like it. 

I printed the information, but it only daily reading. 

I added questions/quizzes/tests. 

A few weeks in, we changed from this to worksheets I found online about different books of the Bible. 

I use questions from those worksheets (that I cannot find the links for) to make tests and quizzes. 

Spanish II:

We used Easy Peasy All-In-One High School Spanish II.

Spanish I was finished in 8th grade. 

I had her create flashcards for vocabulary and complete the work required online. 

Health/PE:

We used Easy Peasy for Health.

We set up a workout plan for home and the gym for PE.

Astronomy:

We found a series of Crash Course videos. 

I found a set of worksheets on Teachers Pay Teachers to go along with the videos. 

We added in other activities like using the telescope. 

Her first day of 9th grade was the day of the solar eclipse, and we went to Cherokee for that event!

I added writing, quizzes, tests, and projects.

Geometry:

We used Teaching Textbooks Geometry.

They have DVDs with videos of the lessons, but I think the new version is online. 

We had a book with problems and one with answers. I did the grading, but now I think it does it online for you. 

She completed Math I (Integrated Math, but I counted it at Algebra I) in 8th grade. 

English I:

We began with Abeka English I (9th grade).

It included grammar, composition, vocabulary, spelling, poetry, and literature. 

There were six book reports required, and she completed Little Women as her first one. 

We also added personal books. 

I changed it to add projects instead of reports because she thought they were boring. 

We did NOT use the accredited/academy version.

After Christmas, we started using Easy Peasy English I for everything except literature. 

I completed the literature plans for her. 

Government and Economics:

We used Notgrass Government and Notgrass Economics. 

They are two separate courses, each lasting a semester.

We used them for ONE full credit. 

We did not use the Bible or Literature parts of the curriculum.

She completed unit projects.

It is reading, questions, quizzes, and tests.

The books for EACH course include:

          text

          primary documents book

          student review

          teacher answers 

We absolutely loved this curriculum!!

Chorus:

Chasity was part of the local homeschool chorus. 

It met on Tuesdays at a local church.

She completed daily practice with the CD provided by the director.

There were two concerts--Christmas and Spring. 

Bowling:
Chasity joined the local youth bowling league. 

She practiced for 2 hours on Tuesdays. 

We would go to the bowling alley for individual practice a couple of times a week.

She took a couple of lessons from a coach as well.

She also participated in a couple of tournaments.

We added all the hours of practice, games, and tournaments together to get a full credit (180 hours)!

During her first year of homeschooling, we had a lot of questions about curriculum.

1. How did we choose the curriculum?

We found the subjects she needed first. Then we found the electives that she wanted to take.

Finally we found curriculum that was mostly self-directed. I was working, as a substitute teacher, and I needed to be able to have her complete her work on her own.

2. How did you choose subjects?

Originally, she was registered, until July of 2017, to attend the local high school. We had her schedule from there already. We used most of the same subjects, and then we added a couple, like Astronomy, Bowling, and Chorus. 

3. How will you plan for graduation?

In North Carolina, we have the UNC System of Universities. They have a plan of courses they expect all incoming first year students to have. We used that as a guide. 

The link for that is here. 

Everything we read about colleges, not only in NC, told us that this was a good plan to follow. 

4. Where did you find curriculum?

We found some through a lot of online research.

We found some at the NCHE (North Carolina Home Educators) conference. 

We found some through friends who are homeschooling families as well.