High School

… the first year of high school … our first child to be homeschooled for high school.  I’m not nervous or worried.  Maybe I should be!   We made the decision to homeschool high school this past Spring and I started ordering materials throughout this past year (that organized part of me that likes to look through materials before using them compelled me to purchase before actually making the final decision to homeschool through high school).

Dash is following the course laid out by Mother of Divine Grace (MODG) for 9th grade – for the most part.  So, he’ll be studying the following:

Religion 9:  Chief Truths of the Faith  and Catholic Morality by Fr. Laux

Grammar and Composition 9 (includes Spelling and Vocabulary):  Warriner’s English 3^rd Course. 

  I also added Language of God – Level G from Catholic Heritage Curricula, but if it’s too much it’ll be dropped.

Spelling: Phonetic Zoo (just finish up Level C)

Math: Math-U-See: Geometry

History (United States History/Geography and American Literature):  World’s Greatest Speeches, Christ and the Americas,

and titles from the following topics…

Exploration and Colonization (choose two titles):  Madeleine Takes Command, The Witch of Blackbird Pond

American Revolution (choose four titles):  Johnny Tremain; John Treegate’s Musket; George vs. George; Peter Treegate’s War

Westward Expansion (choose two titles):  Death Comes for the Archbishop, Swiss Family Robinson

Civil War (choose four titles):  Red Badge of Courage, Killer Angels, Rifles for Watie, Iron Thunder

Recovery (choose 1 title):  Up From Slavery

The World Wars (choose two titles):  The Winged Watchman, Twenty and Ten

Earth Science (Standard Grade 9):

Geology, Oceanography, Weather, and Solar System (all from Milliken Press)

Astronomy for All Ages, Geology (Golden Guide), Weather (Golden Guide), Oceans for Every Kid

Art:  Drawing from Nature by Jim Arnosky and Landscapes in Pencil by Gene Franks

Music: Music of the Great Composers by Patrick Kavanaugh

Piano: Alan Jemison Piano Course (Dash is in the Reading at the Piano level, so he’ll work on completing the course this year).

Poetry:  The Harp & Laurel Wreath and Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, which includes a list of Literature Selections

Latin I (IA – First Half of Henle I):  Latin I and Latin Grammar by Fr. Henle

Electives:  Computer Science Pure and Simple Book 2

Extracurriculars:  Football, Tae Kwon Do, Crop Judging, 4-H … (we are considering FFA, but need to work out the details)

Most of the history, art and music books listed above were purchased through AbeBooks, which allowed me to find everything used at a fairly good price.  It saved time and money.  I’ve used this site a number of times over the years to find out of print books or good quality used books for school and general reading. 

 

Ready or not (and I think we are!) … here we come.  A path not entered lightly, but a path entered with much prayer, thought, and trust.