We may have just finished the 2015-2016 “school year”, but I’ve been getting ready for the 2016-2017 one. I needed to decide what we were doing for the required homeschool notifications due next week anyway, so I’m glad I was in the planning mood. 😉 I’ll be sharing our plans over the next few Mondays here on the blog. First up: 9th grade for Miss A!
AmblesideOnline’s Year 9 is the source of many of these choices, but I’ve made changes and added or subtracted things for various reasons, some of which I will share here.
Bible and Theology: Miss A is still working her way through the Bible using The Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Study (currently in Proverbs). Inspired by Brandy at Afterthoughts, I decided we’d read Athanasius’ On the Incarnation in Term 1 (good heart prep for the Christmas season!). Then she’ll read some Lewis in Terms 2 and 3: The Problem of Pain and The Four Loves (listed on the AO schedule, but under different categories).
History: In addition to Churchill’s The Age of Revolution and some of the Ambleside Year 9 suggested documents and speeches, I’m scheduling these books:
- Term 1: The Roots of American Order by Russell Kirk. This is a big book, and I may be overambitious, but I think she’s ready for it. When I read it a few years ago, I knew it was one I wanted my kids to read in high school. It’s really history and government in one. The chapters are divided up such that she can read a section 4-5 days each week and get through the book in the term.
- Term 2: 1776 by David McCullough. Hubby really enjoyed this one, and apparently it was written to go along with his Adams bio (see below).
- Term 3: The Invasion of Canada by Pierre Berton. I wanted to get a little Canadian history in there, so I was happy to see this suggested under the Year 9 History Supplements. 🙂
Biographies: two from the AO Year 9 list, and one of my choice:
- Term 1: Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington by Richard Brookhiser
- Term 2: John Adams by David McCullough
- Term 3: Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More – Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist by Karen Swallow Prior (because I need to finish the book myself, and because I thought Miss A would enjoy reading about a woman for a change 😉 )
Geography: Keeping it simple and reading Halliburton’s Royal Road to Romance as scheduled in Ambleside’s Year 9 Lite. And she’ll hopefully do some U.S. map drills along with Mr. D and Mr. E – I think they all need it!
Government, Economics, and Citizenship: She’ll also follow the Year 9 Lite schedule for government, with the addition of The Story of the Constitution in Terms 2 and 3. We’ll continue to read Plutarch and Ourselves as well.
Current Events: She’ll read the WORLD Teen magazine and – if we remember – watch CNN Student News.
Worldview: Ambleside schedules Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who is There under Bible/Theology, but I thought it could also fit here, and decided to have Miss A read the entire Schaeffer Trilogy over the year. I read it as a teenager and hope to read it again along with her. Perhaps we’ll also watch How Should We Then Live at some point. 🙂
Literature: She will do some of the AO Year 9 literature selections: Gulliver’s Travels in Term 1, She Stoops to Conquer and The Vicar of Wakefield in Term 2, and Pride and Prejudice in Term 3 (that was a given!). She’ll also listen to The Count of Monte Cristo on audiobook over the entire year. But I decided to have her read Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in Term 1 (Ambleside doesn’t schedule it anywhere, but it is a powerful story and an important work of American literature). And she and I will read Homer’s Iliad along with Mr. D in Terms 2 & 3 – more on that next week!
Poetry: We’ll do the AO Year 9 “Option One”, probably reading the poems aloud together.
Composition: I’m hoping to dip our toes into The Lost Tools of Writing, but I will be happy if we only get partway through Level One this year. She doesn’t need any encouragement in the creative writing department – she’s about to publish her first book! – but she does need to learn how to write a good essay.
Math: She should finish Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 by Christmas, and then start Geometry.
Science: Hubby will help her schedule out Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Physical Science and assist with labs – yay! He also wants to squeeze in Ellen McHenry’s Carbon Chemistry with her as well – they didn’t get to it this past year.
Nature Study: She picked another volume from our Fabre collection: The Mason-Bees (because Grandma enjoyed it 🙂 ).
Foreign Language: She loved Dwayne Thomas’s Lingua Latina online class last year, and will be taking the second part this year. She’ll also contine learning French via Duolingo and attempting Around the World in Eighty Days in the original.
Fine Arts: She’s interested in filmmaking and directing and was excited to discover Compass Classroom’s Filmmaking from the First Directors online course. I was excited that it’s currently on sale. 😉 She will also continue to take voice lessons.
Physical Education: She can take another 9 months or so of parkour at the Jungle Gym (until she’s 15). She also has a part-time job there, which apparently is a workout in itself. 😀
There may be a few other books and things we’ll add in if there’s time, such as starting Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book. She’s going to be a pretty busy girl, but I hope and pray (and will try to ensure) she has time to be creative and pursue her interests. There will probably need to be some adjustments along the way, but it’s good to have a plan. 🙂
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