(Edited April 25, 2021 to add in what actually ended up working out)
This year my curriculum choices are a mix from various sources. I've picked things from Ambleside Online, Build Your Library, Sonlight, Memoria Press, Christian Light Publications, and The Well Trained Mind.
My kids are in grade 9 and 6 and both of them will do both one-on-one work with me, and independent work. We also do "Together Time" where we cover subjects like poetry, read alouds, music and art apprecation, etc.
I have both advanced work and work modified for Dyslexia here. An ambitious plan but I hope to get to at least 80% of it. I'd rather have a bit extra planned, then to not have enough. I aim for about 50-60 pages of reading per day for my grade 9 student, and 1 hour math. Then just fill in the rest as time allows.
GRADE 9
Scripture Readings:
Proverbs x2, Psalms 1-60, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galations, Ephesians.
(Edited April 25, 2021 we did get to most of these)
Biblical Studies:
Memoria Press: "Story of Christianity"
Devotionals by Jim George
Commentaries by NT Wright
Phillip Yancey books
Max Lucado books
AW Tozer
Bruchko - missionary story
"Window to the World" - praying for the world
book about Menno Simons by Louise Vernon
book about William Tyndale
(Edited April 25, 2021 we ended up mostly focusing on the CLE 9 Bible course which was AMAZING. Highly recommend.)
Math:
Saxon, supplement with "Life of Fred".
(Edited April 25, 2021 never did end up using Life of Fred, but we did use Dr. Shormann’s math lectures online which were a bit hit and moving onwards with just Dr. Shormann)
Language Arts:
Micheal Clay Thompson and/or Well Trained Mind
(Edited April 25, 2021 MCT was a huge hit. Best thing ever for retention. Plan on continuing it next year. Doing MCT Grammar together with Montessori symbols and sentence analysis was the PERFECT fit. Wish I could have done it sooner, but any major grammar retention is a big win in my books.)
Nature Studies:
"What the Robin Knows"
"The Lost Art of Reading Nature Signs"
(Edited April 25, 2021 in progress)
Literature & Poetry:
History of English Literature (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
Age of Chivalry (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
"As You Like It" Shakespeare
Anne of Green Gables (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit, he ended up reading the entire series to the end)
Treasure Island
The Yearling (Edited April 25, 2021 not so great, could skip it)
Gulliver's Travels
The Count of Monte Cristo
Poetry and Short Stories in American Literature
Book of the Middle Ages
Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Hound of the Baskervilles
The Swiss Family Robinson
Sherlock Holmes
Audiobook: Father Brown stories
"The Roar on the Other Side" (analyzing poetry) or Memoria Press course
Classical Studies:
The Trojan War by Coolidge (Edited April 25, 2021 ended up skipping this one cause he knew it all already)
The Aenid for Boys and Girls
D'Aulaires Greek Myths (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit, so many connections to astronomy and space history)
Famous Men of Greece (Edited April 25, 2021 very good!)
Famous Men of Rome
The Book of the Ancient World
Memoria Press with video lessons: "The Illiad"
Logic
Orbiting with Logic
Unlocking Analogies
The Basics of Critical Thinking
Memoria Press course
"How to Read a Book" by Adler
Latin
Memoria Press
World History
My custom rotation including Mystery of History, Trial and Triumph, Oxford University Press history, and "A History of England" by Arnold-Forster.
Time Traveller's Guide to the Medieval Ages
American History
"Before Columbus" by Mann (Edited April 25, 2021 I enjoyed it, kid didn’t think it was that interesting. It’s short, it has great pictures and maps, and covers an obscure part of history you normally don’t learn. I would recommend it.)
CLE American History 8 (Edited April 25, 2021 BIG hit! I wasn’t sure about this one cause out of all the US history I looked at, this one was the most visually appealing but it was also way overboard in terms of depth, and also a bit dry. He learned a ton and retained most of it though, so I would highly recommend.)
Canadian History
"A Little History of Canada" and/or "A History of Canada in 10 Maps" (Edited April 25, 2021 never got to this, which is fine cause it will come in handy in grade 10)
History of Science
"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking
"Bomb: The Race to Win and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon" (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
"Longitude" by Sobel (Edited April 25, 2021 my son said this is very out of date, an enjoyable read but skippable)
"The Clockwork Universe" (Edited April 25, 2021 a bit too mature for Grade 9... should preread)
"Evolution" by Loxton (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
"The Evolution Book" by Stein (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
"The Story of Earth" by Robert Hazen (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
"The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs" by Brusatte
"The Story of Life in 25 Fossils"
"The Sixth Extinction"
"DK: Prehistory" (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
"DK: Evolution"
"Stuff Matters" by Miodownik
"The Microbe Hunters" by De Kruif (Edited April 25, 2021 son called it “ a bit overdramatic”, wasn’t a huge fan but the parts I read were engaging.)
"The Dissapearing Spoon" (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
"Napoleons Buttons"
"String, Straightedge and Shadow: The History of Geometry"
"BBC's The Story of Science: Power, Proof, Passion"
Extra science reading or save for grade 10:
"I Contain Multitudes" (microbes)
"The Violinists Thumb" (genetics)
"What a Plant Knows" (botany)
"Hidden Life of Trees" (botany)
"Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale" by Steven Jay Gould (prehistory, evolution)
"Silent Spring" by Rachel Carlson (ecology)
"The Soul of an Octopus" by Sy Montgomery (Naturalist)
"The Curious Naturalist" by Sy Montgomery
"Caesars Last Breath" by Sam Kean
Science
Modern Biology by Holt, with Memoria Press video lessons. (Edited April 25, 2021 nope! This was way too dry and technical. Ended up going with something else)
"The Biological Sciences" by Isaac Asimov
Government and Economics
The Naked Communist
The Naked Socialist
Uncle Eric book series (Finish "Whatever Happened to Justice?" "World War 2 and how it effects you today", :Rome and How it effects you today", "Are you Liberal, Conservative, or Confused?")
Prager U video series
"Capitalism for Kids" by Hess
"Who Runs this Country Anyways?"
Geography
Halliburton's "The Orient"
"Earth from Above"
"A Young People's America" by Hillyer
"How the States Got Their Shapes"
"Finding Gobi" - about a dog wandering the desert in the Middle East
Memoria Press Geography
Music Appreciation
"Hymns for a Kids Heart"
"The Spiritial Lives of the Composers"
Composer biographies by Opal Wheeler
Art Appreciation
"The Story of Painting" by Hanson (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit)
followed by "Hanson's Art History"
Picture Studies (Ambleside, or Living Book Press)
Health
"Facing the Facts"
"The Omnivores Dilemma" Young readers edition
Learn to cook healthy meals
Handicrafts
Learn to build 3 stage rockets.
GRADE 6
Biblical Studies:
Memoria Press Christian Studies
(Edited April 25, 2021 ended up going with CLE Bible instead which was a hit!)
Math
Saxon
(Edited April 25, 2021 still plugging along! I would recommend it.)
Language Arts:
All About Spelling (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit... as a Dyslexic, she made huge progress in spelling this year going up a couple grade levels. This is the best program. Though the indepth phonogram instruction is sometimes redundant.)
Simply Charlotte Mason's Spelling Wisdom
Micheal Clay Thompson and/or Well Trained Mind
Literature:
The Cricket in Times Square (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit... as a read aloud)
The Moffats
My Side of the Mountain
( inc. Various independent readers )
Read Alouds:
"Black Beauty" (Edited April 25, 2021 NOPE. Not even for a horse lover. Kept waiting for it to get better, and eventually gave up.)
"Heidi"
"The Railway Children"
"The Incredible Journey"
"Ginger Pye" by Eleonor Estes
"Misty of Chincoteague" and other Marguerite Henry books
"The Album of Horses" (Edited April 25, 2021 mostly too advanced for this year, will save it for next year.)
"Owls in the Family"
Science/Natural History
The Book of Insects (Edited April 25, 2021 This was not so great. The writing style was too outdated. Though the kids did learn a few new things.)
The Book of Birds
The Book of Trees
Memoria Press Astronomy
Science
From Sonlight Grade 6:
- Usborne Understanding Your Brain
- Blood and Guts
- Usborne Intro to Genes and DNA
- Survival Skills
- Usborne See Inside Your Body
TOPS Radishes (month long botany project)
Biography of George Washington Carver
"Evolution" by Loxton
Documentary series: "Your Inner Fish", "Your Inner Monkey", "Your Inner Reptile" by Neil Shubin
Art Appreciation
Come Look With Me
Montessori Child Size Masterpieces
Canadian Studies
WOW Canada
"The Story of Canada" by George Brown
"The Broken Blade"
World History
"A Child's History of the World" by Hiller
"Number Stories from Long Ago"
"Ox, House, Stick: The Story of our Alphabet"
"The Librarian Who Measured the Earth"
Documentary: The Story of Zero
"Herodotus and the Road to History" by Bendick
"Archimedes and the Door of Science" by Bendick
"Galen and the Gateway to Medicine" by Bendick
"Along Came Galileo" by Bendick
"Who was Albert Einstein?"
Genevieve Foster series: "Columbus and Sons", "The World of Abraham Lincoln", etc.
Sonlight American History Readers from core D & E
Geography
Montessori maps (Edited April 25, 2021 big hit, so worth it.)
Memoria Press
A Child's Introduction to the World
Also added in the “Stack the States 2” App, and “Stack the Countries” App
Composer Studies
"Paganinni" by Opal Wheeler (Edited April 25, 2021 hard to get into, not as good as the Mozart one)
"Beethoven" by Opal Wheeler
"Tchaikovsky" by Opal Wheeler
Latin
Memoria Press
Classical Studies
Pegasus
King Midas and the Golden Touch
Aesop's Fables
Poetry
"Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for each day of the Year"
"Poetry for the Grammar Stage" - Memoria Press
Shakespeare
"Tales from Shakespeare" by Lamb
"The Pop-Up Shakespeare Book"
Custom Unit Study: "Geography, Geology, and Money"
"The 21 Balloons"
"Rocks, Rivers and the Changing Earth"
"A Child's Introduction to the World"
Rock tumbling kit
Dk Rock book
Nat Geo Rock book
"The History of Money: From Bartering to Banking"
Health
"Almost 12" by Kenneth Taylor
Handicrafts
Crochet
Sewing
Wood carving
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Thankgsiving Readings:
Squanto & The Miracle of Thanksgiving
Over the River and Through the Wood
Christmas Readings:
"The Story of the Other Wise Man" by Van Dyke
"Holly and Ivy"
"Journey through Advent" 9780981999043
"The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"
"The Christmas Miracle of Johnathan Toomey"
"Christmas Day in the Morning" 9780688162672
"The 12 Days of Christmas"
"Saint Nicholas the Real Story" 9780758613417
"Why Christmas Trees aren't Perfect" 9781501825835
"Papa Panov's Special Day"
"A Secret Kept" Memoria Press
"Good King Wenceslas" 9780802852090
