9th Grade Curriculum Choices
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We’ve been back to school for over a month now, but I’ve yet to post what I’m using with my 14 year old, 9th grade son, Christian.
Let me first say that I’ve been asked to work at my husband’s office full-time. He gave me my own small office and I moved all our school books and supplies over there and we are doing school at work… not my favorite option, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do! I’m hoping to be back home by the end of the school year.
All the choices for my son this year were joint decisions between my son and myself. My son is a good student but not very motived in some subjects. He needs a lot of direction. We choose curriculum that is student led and ones that will give him good direction. Most are ones you’re most likely familiar with. Others maybe, not so much.
Science:
Exploring Creation with Physical Science
Exploring Creation with Physical Science Audio Book
Physical Science Student Notebook
I want to write a few things about the Exploring Creation books. I love these books and have used them with all 6 of my kids, but I will never purchase directly from Apologia as long as those in charge are still running Apologia.
As many of you may know, I’m LDS and Apologia is not LDS friendly (and also unfriendly to other denominations). They have made that very clear through posts on their blog as well as letters they have responded to to LDS homeschooling parents that have made their way into forums and the like. I will not support a company that promotes hate towards any group of people.
Dr. Wile, the author is Exploring Creation, wrote a statement about the direction Apologia was taking and he is not aligned with them at all. After prayer and consideration, I choose to continue to use the Exploring Creation series without purchasing from Apologia directly. I’m sad to have to do this, but after reading some of the things they posted, I could not in good conscience continue to support their company. I would typically not share this type of thing on my blog, but it hit too close to home and I just want to make others aware if you have not heard about it. Dr. Wile now has an Elementary Science program and if you are thinking about not purchasing from Apologia, you might want to take a look at his new book… with more to follow.
Admittedly, one of the reasons I have not posted our curriculum this year was because of this very reason. I’m not a big fan of stirring pots and was pretty hesitate about it. I hope you understand and don’t hold these things against me. I’m sure many of you would have made the same choice for your family, under similar circumstances. However, I was not going to post about our choice to use these books without this explanation.
History:
History Odyssey Level 3 – My son is NOT a big fan of reading books he thinks are ‘boring’. This is filled with great books but not much my son is interested in reading. He does well with listening to books, so I purchased the audio books of the ones I could find and changed a few of the others. We are actually going to watch a movie in place of one. I like this for my son because it tells him exactly what to do…. he needs that with me working. It helped me with not having to do much prep.
Math:
Foreign Language:
Rosetta Stone – Japanese – this is 40% off with free shipping right now through 9/30/13!
Language Arts:
Dynamic Literacy – Elements (I learned about this from a video Jimmie made about what she was using for her 9th grade daughter. I haven’t even gotten it in the mail yet, but I am excited about the program. It took a little time to find their homeschool website and then I stumbled across this video. I think many of you would like it a lot. They also have a beginners program.
Well, that’s about it besides some literature that we toss in here and there. I allow my son to choose what he wants to read, as long as it’s age appropriate and is morally a good book. Right now he’s reading Ender’s Game and enjoying it a lot. He’s excited for the movie to come out.
I hope all of your school years are starting off well! Don’t forget to check out my freebie section for lots of things that may help in your planning and activities.
