It’s hard to believe my oldest daughter is going into 9th grade! She was only in 6th when she first came to us, and I can’t believe how much she’s grown.
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Language Arts
She’ll be using The Good and the Beautiful Level 7 Language Arts. The website says this level can be used for high school, and I’ve done the same with my older boys just fine, so that’s what we’ll do. The set comes with the coursebook, course companion, and a reader with assigned reading.
Math
We started last year with The Good and the Beautiful Math 5, but ended up switching to Saxon 7/6. We’ll continue with Saxon this year and move into 8/7 soon since she’s almost done with 7/6. If you're curious about why we made the switch, I talked about it more over on my YouTube channel.
This particular child has been through several placements due to foster care, and as a result, didn’t get a strong math foundation, not to mention the trauma she’s carried. So yes, she’ll be doing Pre-Algebra in high school, and I’m totally fine with that. She’s finally retaining more and has even occasionally says she likes math now, haha.
Handwriting
She’ll finish the handwriting book we started last year, then move on to The Good and the Beautiful Level 7. Technically, she doesn’t need handwriting, but I think another year of it will be good for her. She enjoys the cursive practice and the added bits like drawing.
Science
The Good and the Beautiful finally released a high school science course, and we couldn’t be more excited! For her freshman year, she’ll be doing their new high school Biology. What I love is that the experiments seem super doable with mostly household items. They’ve included dissection videos, which will help us not feel lost. I also like that there’s an online component so we don’t have more books to keep track of (because yes, my kids definitely lose things they shouldn’t, ha!). The unit booklets are simple and not overly colorful, which my older kids prefer, it helps keep the focus on learning. But the online version still has beautiful images in color, so it balances out.
History
Our plan is to complete history through our Commonwealth group, so I don’t have any pictures to share right now. She’ll be reading books, writing papers, and participating in lots of group discussions and simulations. I think she’s going to enjoy it; my oldest did when he took the same course at her age.
Electives
I don’t usually pre-plan electives. My boys have naturally picked theirs up over time, and I plan to take the same approach with her. My oldest leaned into computer stuff. My second got into machine work by rebuilding his dirt bike. My third has been into music and piano theory with a little coding on the side. I think my daughter will enjoy doing an art class and more cooking or baking, but I’ll let her interests guide us there.
And that wraps up our 9th-grade plan!
I’ve got more details and updates over on my YouTube channel if you want to check those videos out. I share the daily stuff on my Instagram channel @shantelshomeschool Thanks for following along!