Emma has completed the first nine weeks term of her ninth grade year, and this is a report on our curriculum choices thus far. We have made a huge leap from a living books, Charlotte Mason styled homeschool to a more traditional textbook and tests approach. Another change is my involvement in Emma’s studies. In the past, I did a lot of reading aloud to Emma and a fair amount of planning and supervising. Thus far in high school, Emma has been doing all of her reading on her own, writing her own weekly schedules, and managing her time. In these 10 weeks, I’ve seen Emma develop a mature attitude towards her studies that is highly gratifying for me as her mom and teacher. I’ll share about that in another post. This post centers on the curriculum.
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Curriculum Check-up
First of all, we are sticking with our original choices, even the ones we were unsure about and are still not totally in love with.
Apologia Biology
I was intimidated by of the rigor of this program, and it has proven to be just as challenging as I expected. In fact, Emma has spent more time on science than any other subject. Apologia Biology is her first textbook ever, and it took her many weeks to learn how to use it.
She didn’t want my help with reading, and she used the audio version only once. She said the MP3 reads the book too slowly and caused her attention to wander. So she toughed it out and did the reading.(Yay!)
We are following the schedules at Donna Young. We also found a microscope at a yard sale for just $10, so I bought the slide set that goes with the curriculum after all.
Emma says that the book is very detailed and has lots of tough vocabulary. We have not used tests until this grade, and studying for them has been another huge adjustment for Emma. Her first scores were not fantastic, and I allowed her to review and retake the questions she missed. Each test has been a bit easier as she experimented with ways to read, study, and take the tests. In all, her first nine weeks grade was a B.
I’ve seen her struggle a bit with the information, but I also perceive a sense of satisfaction that she has figured out how textbooks work and how to learn with them. It’s a bigger victory because she did it on her own without my help. Plus I’ve heard her use some of the information she has learned in day to day life, so I know it’s sticking.
Emma says that the Christian material in the book is normally at the end of a section of content. It feels natural and is interesting. (I add this bit because she does not feel the same about her history books.)
Notgrass World History
This was the material I was least sure of. And it has not been a huge hit. Emma says Notgrass history is dull, condescending, and preachy. Plus she says the book is trying too hard to be Christian. It feels forced.
Ouch.
I guess an appetite for living books makes it really hard to digest Christian textbooks.
Maybe it sounds like we aren’t Christians. We are. But most of the books we have used in our lessons to this point have not been explicitly created with that label or for a Christian homeschool market. They are just good books. I guess that those bits of morals and Bible truth were things that we discussed on our own initiative instead of expecting our books to lead us.
On my part, I have been very disappointed in the literature schedule. In fact, when I opened the books, I had to call the company to ask what I was missing because I couldn’t find a literature outline. And that’s because there is not a single document, page, or appendix with a clear plan. Instead, the reading assignments are integrated into the student book with general directions at the end of the chapters. It will say, “Begin reading Julius Caesar and plan to be finished by such and such lesson.” In the next lessons, it will remind the student to continue reading, but there is no schedule. This means that we have to sit down with all the books and create our own outline, writing down approximately how many chapters she needs to read each day to stay on track with the plan. I expected to have a clearer plan laid out for me, so this was disappointing. We spent some time at the beginning of the year, hunting through the book to find the assignments at the end of the chapters so we could make our own schedule.
Worse, the reading is not balanced across the weeks. Some weeks have no reading scheduled whatsoever. That boggles my mind. Emma says that some weeks are intense with lots of reading, and other weeks have nothing. I don’t understand a schedule like that. So it’s a definite con for us. I really don’t understand why Notgrass wouldn’t create at a minimum a PDF file you can download from the site with the entire year’s literature outline.
With all that said, you may be wondering why we are sticking with it. I told Emma we could change, but she wants to keep going. She says it’s easy. So there’s honesty. And that’s okay. We are taking a get it done approach for history.
CurrClick Psychology
This CurrClick Psychology class has been not as in-depth as Emma wanted. It is a one semester, introductory class, so it is what I expected. But I am glad that I let her take this class first thing in ninth grade so we know how much she is interested in the topic. I will definitely be pursuing a more challenging, full credit psychology class for her, probably this one that has a live online option. I like the accountability of a live class, and I want to keep using online classes for high school.
Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1
Math is another subject that takes Emma a lot of time, but Teaching Textbooks remains a good fit for her. She has learned some needed study skills through trial and error with algebra, and I’ll mention those in another post.
Art & Arabic
Emma takes art at a local homeschool tutorial. It has been good, but I can see that Emma is exceedingly beyond the other students her age in both drawing and a knowledge of art history. But the class is great for keeping her accountable to practice with regular projects.
I guess we studied too much fine art and did too much drawing over the years. (wink)
Arabic is going well, too. Because of scheduling problems with her teacher, she doesn’t have a lesson every week, but she studies on her own when she can’t. She has a real knack for language, and I constantly embarrass her in public by pushing her to practice her Arabic whenever I see people who look like they might be from the Middle East. Yes, I’m just like those Chinese people that always pushed their children on us to practice English. Of course, I’m more subtle about it, and I never force her to do it. It’s just a joke with us.
Areas We Will be Shoring Up
We did not do as much writing as we should have, and that needs to be a larger priority for our remaining three terms. Fortunately, Emma is already a strong writer, so it will be easy to accelerate in that area.
In truth, we have spent this first nine weeks adjusting to a totally new approach to homeschool. And just like public school kids need time to adapt, Emma did too.
Our choices have worked out well so far, and despite a few negatives and challenges, we are content with what we are using. There is no perfect curriculum.
This post is pinned along with others like it on my High School Curriculum Pinterest board.
“I guess that those bits of morals and Bible truth were things that we discussed on our own initiative instead of expecting our books to lead us.”
This is what I strive for in our homeschool. While I include religion in our homeschool, I don’t want a curriculum to teach my kids these things.
Great post. Love your honesty.
You may want to try this free website that has great videos, and teachings all for free on some of these subjects. I’m using them as a supplement with my daughter to prepare her for CLEP, DSST and or AP test. It’s http://education-portal.com/ and my daughter loves it. She’s in 8th grade (bumped up from 7th).
Thanks for the update, Jimmie! It’s so encouraging to hear the practical pros and cons of your choices. While I *know* I’m not the only one to struggle with and question curriculum choices, sometimes I *feel* like I’m in a bubble all alone!:)
Great to read your update. I really appreciated the honesty about what is working well , what isn’t working so well, and why. Sounds like you are both doing a great job adapting to a different style of homeschooling. And you are right there is no perfect currciulum. Good to hear you’re satisfied with what you are doing though.
Oh my! My daughter feels the exact same way about the Notgrass World. We skipped the literature selections because Lydia had read most of them, but I thought the same thing when looking at the book. We’ve also added in Susan Wise Bauer’s The History of the Ancient World (high school level) which Lydia is loving. Lydia also chose to stick with it because her other subjects are taking a lot of time and she finds Notgrass “easy”. I’m disappointed though and we are not likely to continue with it in future years.
My son started ninth grade this year and we used CM techniques for the last three years. This year we are using a more traditional approach so your family and mine are in the same boat. I understand what your daughter means about history curriculum trying too hard to have a Christian worldview. We found http://allinonehomeschool.com/ and http://allinonehighschool.com/ this year. We really like the Early American History course on the high school site. My son likes that it is not just reading. It includes video and other multimedia. I like that it is based on primary sources. The owner of the site is a Christian but the history course is not overtly Christian.
I appreciate when you say things like “she struggled” – sometimes I think as homeschool moms we are afraid to be honest about our children’s strengths and weaknesses. I think we put too much pressure on ourselves that our children have to be superstar academics or we have somehow failed. We forget that encouraging our children to achieve their personal best is our goal.
As always I love your honesty and open attitude. You’ve never pretended to have it all together (but I really think you do have it together and you do a great job). May I gently suggest that you look at Sonlight for literature and history? I’ve been using it for years, but I do adapt it to fit our needs (I will often schedule a slower reading schedule or take two weeks to accomplish one week in the Instructor Guide).
Thank you for sharing how things are going. My experience with Christian textbooks has been similar to your daughter’s reaction to Notgrass. (wink) We take a very “living book” approach as well. and have largely stayed away from textbooks, but this year in preparation for high school level materials, I do have my 8th grade son using a couple.
One is Apologia’s General Science—yes, the test taking has been an adjustment. Oi!
The other is a secular history book, but we’ve filled in with books from our home “living library.” I still do some read alouds, but they are primarily for my 2 middle kids who are studying the same time period. My oldest just “listens in” and participates in discussion, but he’s also reading other things independently. I’m still getting a feel for things and am still trying to get more independent work out of it—but I’m happy to have this transitional year. High school doesn’t seem soooo huge, anymore. 😉
Thank you for sharing the high school journey. We are there as well and it is nice to get a glimpse of what someone else is doing. I am thankful for your honest accounts of curriculums, I looked at that history curriculum.
Quite interesting assessment.
Ninth grade! I can hardly believe it.
Thank you for this post and your honesty. My daughter is in 9th grade, too, and there are some things she’s struggling with, too. I’m not one for changing materials on a whim (mostly due to $, and sometimes because in life we need to learn to adapt) and usually try to make them fit, but I listened to her grievances with our literature choice and made a huge change already. It should arrive next week. She is still struggling with our biology choice, but I think this is because she hasn’t learned good study habits, despite my years of trying. I don’t know what to do there.
I thought I would only glance over this post since we are SO not there yet, but then I got sucked in and read the whole thing! Leave it to you to make curriculum reviews, about curriculum I not even considering, interesting! Great post! I’m so glad to have ladies like you forging these high school waters ahead of me!
I appreciate your review. My girl just told me she thinks she wants to homeschool for high school (she’s in fifth grade now, at home, so that might change) and I find it difficult to find good quality materials at THIS level, so it’s nice to hear someone else’s experiences.
I am thankful for your mention of “too christian” and “not too christian” as well. I choose secular materials when possible, and the science is where it gets tricky. Apologia has the best recommendations for rigor, but it’s faith-based. Can you tell me if it is neutral in earth age, or if it mentions young earth theories?
I’m curious about this as well. I found Apologia’s middle grade books (specifically Anatomy & Physiology) to have the faith component woven throughout. When my 6th grader asked in frustration, “Why are we talking about Christ’s atoning blood during the circulatory system?!” I knew Apologia was not the route for us. But this review makes me wonder if the high school courses are a bit more balanced and a bit less distracting. I find it SO hard to find good homeschool science curriculum!
It’s always so great to read what’s working and what isn’t. Thanks for this honest and thorough post!
–Gena
I was very happy to hear your update! I was just thinking I needed to take a “midway” look at how things are going for us, and here you are with not only a reminder to do that, but a look at things I can keep in mind as we talk about where to go from here in our own year. 🙂
Glad to hear you and Emma are doing so well and finding things that work!
What a big change in curriculum! What led you both to the switch, if it’s not too cheeky a question? Are you looking to increase accountability, feeling a big time crunch, or something else altogether?
Thanks for sharing your and Emma’s reactions to the choices. It’s one of my favourite things about your writing that you don’t sugarcoat anything.
Jimmie,
I’m so excited to read this because it’s oh so honest! I have a similar post in the works for our school year so far with the kids.
Makayla started her first textbook this year for 7th (Apologia’s General Science) and it has been a bit of a learning curve but she’s getting the hang of things. I think it’s always interesting to see the progression and shifts we make as our children get older in our homeschools.
I really enjoyed this review, even though I have two high schoolers and have used some of the curriculum you mentioned. We didn’t come to high school with a CM background. My oldest also felt Notgrass was too preachy, but I think that’s his personality more than anything. We had already used lots and lots of Christian curriculum and he was in his questioning phase. 🙂 My second oldest used it and had no problems. I didn’t notice the lack of a reading schedule which would have been very helpful. The thing I noticed is that it’s a LOT of work if you do the writing assignments, too. I didn’t have the kids do those.
We have used Apologia from middle school on and one criticism I had heard is that it didn’t adequately prepare students for testing. My oldest got a 36 on his ACT in science having used Apologia exclusively. Puts that criticism to rest. We really appreciate the Christian material in Apologia.
This is a great blog! I love apologia because I think it prepares wonderfully well for college but still talks at a level a high schooler can understand without dumbing down anything. And I amsolutely LOVE Teaching Textbooks…I could never have done high school math on my own without it. I would have been broke hiring tutors!!
Hi Jimmie, it’s Jackie stopping by from your link-up at Let’s Homeschool High School.
We tried Notgrass once for GA history and my daughter had the same issues. I thought is was mostly seatwork (worksheets).
We have also used Apologia and TT in the past and liked both.
Last year we kinda muddled along , but this year we are using T4L High School courses and supplementing where she needs.
Anyway, I just wanted to personally thank you for linking up with us and I look forward to reading your post next month.
Joyfully,
Jackie
Let’s Homeschool High School Team Member
I liked Apologia’s science curriculum but I love, love, love Supercharged Science. I think that Diana Waring’s history materials (I’m sure you are very familiar with them.) are a lot of fun and interesting for teens, especially for teens who are used to the Charlotte Mason method.
….I was interrupted before I had a chance to add one more thing. I remember reading that your daughter might be interested in becoming a nurse. (I’m a speech pathologist….another terrific science field.) I also remember reading that your daughter likes to learn by doing. She would appreciate Supercharged Science. Hands on first, followed by reading for more information about the experiments. Lots of support. Videos. Live webinars. All self-directed. The best purchase I ever made (and as a single mom, I have to be very careful about my budget). Thank you so much for taking the time to blog. Reading what you write is my splurge for the month!
Great curriculum overview. You may be interested in the discussion about teaching writing to homeschoolers going on my blog.
We’ve really enjoyed Diana Waring’s history curriculum. It has an audio component to it, which may draw your daughter into the joy of history 🙂 http://www.dianawaring.com
A suggestion for the history-love Beautiful Feet Books guides. 🙂 Uses good lit and it is a schedule a teen can follow. We mixed in one year of SL 20th Century World History into our high school years and the kids say they felt it gave them a good understanding and such. Maybe it is something your dd would like better (for next year since she is finishing the NG history this year). 🙂
I’m sorry that Notgrass history is not working out for you. In the beginning of the book it mentioned that they did not give a reading schedule for the books because they won’t do that in college and they want the students to be able to budget their time with it on their own. I too would prefer a more set schedule, but I do feel that there is some truth to the concept. I have to say I have not found the books to be boring in the least! My son struggles mostly with the idea of writing, so that is the biggest issue with us.