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New school year; new curriculum. Yay! I am a bit of a curriculum freak. So I get sooo excited when it is time to find new materials for the next school year. And now, I get to look for 7^th and 9^th-grade curriculum.

Yikes! I’m finally looking at high school curriculum. 😳 I thought it would be scarier than it is, though. Huh.

Actually, I’m pretty excited about having big kids. The only problem is the curriculum prices seem to get higher as they get older.

So, when choosing a curriculum this year, I’ve put a lot of thought and planning into it. After all, I REALLY don’t want to invest the money into a program that is a couple of hundred dollars, and it isn’t suitable for us after all.  

In the end, here is what I came up with for 7th and 9th-grade curriculum. Hopefully, it will help you in your curriculum search. Most of the curriculum is appropriate for middle and high school years in general. After all, we all have kids that work at different levels not exactly on grade level.

Table of Contents

• 7th and 9th Grade Curriculum
• Shared Curriculum for 7th and 9th Grade
  • Connecting Through History- History, Geography, Religion, Literature
  • Art
• 7th Grade Curriculum Picks
  • 7th Grade Language Arts Curriculum
  • All About Spelling
  • Write Shop Level F  
  • Literature Studies
  • 7th Grade Math
  • 7th grade Science
  • Other Areas Covered in 7th Grade
  • 7th Grade Curriculum Recap
• 9th Grade Curriculum Picks
  • 9th Grade English Curriculum
    • 9th-grade Literature
    • Vocabulary
    • 9th Grade Writing Curriculum
    • Grammar
  • 9th Grade Math- Algebra 1
  • Science- Biology
  • Other Areas Covered in 9th Grade
  • 9th Grade Curriculum Recap

7^th and 9^th Grade Curriculum

Okay, it took some time, but I finally have our 7^th and 9^th-grade curriculum. For a bit of background, we tend to follow a Classical model for homeschool. Though, we are pretty relaxed about it. You’ll notice the Classical Method in many of our choices.

Shared Curriculum for 7th and 9th Grade

Both of my kiddos will share some curriculum. We have a few subjects that we will do together as a family! I’m pretty excited because it makes things a little easier. I don’t envy large families. When I taught special education, I was often juggling several kids, all working on different goals. I feel your pain.

Connecting Through History- History, Geography, Religion, Literature

Connecting Through History is a Catholic curriculum that follows the classical method. It includes a four-year rotation and covers history, geography, religious studies, and literature. As with classical education, it breaks everything down into the different stages of learning.

The cool thing is the whole family can use this curriculum.

There is a list of materials for each learning stage-beginner, grammar, logic, and rhetoric stage for each year. It can get costly. However, you can use some of the materials for more than one year, find the literature books at the library, and use some materials with multiple ages.

I can’t wait to get started.

Art

One program we will use for art is Creating a Masterpiece. We really love this art program. The videos are excellent, so even though the project looks like it would be too hard, kids CAN create a masterpiece. I have a review if you want to learn more.

We will also incorporate some ARTistic Pursuits programs (a review here and here). They have some excellent art classes.

As the year begins and I work on reviews with the Homeschool Review Crew, we will have other areas the kids will work on together.

7^th Grade Curriculum Picks

Now let’s take a look at our 7^th-grade curriculum. My son’s curriculum picks look different than my daughter’s 7th-grade curriculum a couple of years ago. Both learn differently and have different strengths. Here is what we’ll be using.

7^th Grade Language Arts Curriculum

I foresee some changes may happen this year when it comes to language arts. I am trying something new and not sure about it. We may go back to what we typically use year after year.

All About Spelling

I have no doubt we will be using All About Spelling. We LOVE this program. Yes, even my son loves it. He used to struggle with spelling until we found this spelling program. My boy started with Level 1, and we are now on Level 7. This is the last level, and my son is disappointed there aren’t more levels.

The program uses a multisensory approach and digs deep into understanding spelling rules. It is an excellent program that I can’t say enough about. You can read more about it HERE.

Write Shop Level F

Okay, let me start off by saying I’m not too fond of teaching writing. Often, it is one subject that my son and I butt head over (mainly when it comes to editing work). We typically use IEW Structure and Style (which I LOVE), but we will give this writing program a try.

I am giving Write Shop a try for two reasons:

1. It is a very scripted program with everything laid out step-by-step for the student and parent.
2. The program helps students work on revision and editing skills.

Believe it or not, I lack confidence in writing. Yeah, I know; I became a blogger who writes all the time. Weird, huh?

Anyway, this program is far more detailed. I like how things are broken down into small steps and help students learn the revision and editing process.

Plus, Write Shop does have a grammar component. I still may use Fix-It! Grammar by IEW. My son really enjoys it.

Literature Studies

As mentioned above, Connecting with History contains literature studies. I may use those for read-aloud and discussion time but use our own unit studies for reading time. Usually, I pick different types of literature and then find study guides online. I tend to use Teachers Pay Teachers, My Teaching Library, and SchoolhouseTeachers.com for materials.

7^th Grade Math

Right now, math is still up in the air. We will probably finish out Learning Math Fast Volume II and move into Volume 3.

My son struggles with fractions. Learning Math Fast uses real-life fractions and simple explanations.

Once we finish Volume II, we may use Volume III or try using CTCMath or A+ Interactive Math. Both are excellent online math programs. However, my boy needed a more one-on-one teaching approach for fractions, so the online programs weren’t enough. Online math programs seem better for kids that can work independently and don’t need a lot of direct instruction.

7^th grade Science

For science, we are using Focus On Middle School Biology and Focus On Middle School Geology. We started the biology program and will continue with it. Then we’ll move into geology. Both are only about a semester long. I like how each lesson includes labs for kids. It makes science more interactive and hands-on.

Other Areas Covered in 7^th Grade

Music– Hoffman Academy online piano lessons.

Foreign Language– Spanish through SchoolhouseTeachers.com

7th Grade Curriculum Recap

• Connecting Through History- History, geography, literature, and the bible.
• Creating a Masterpiece- Art
• ARTistic Pursuits- Art
• Write Shop Level F- writing (maybe grammar)
• Fix-it Grammar
• Various Literature- literature guides
• All About Spelling
• Learn Math Fast- Fractions book (maybe then move to CTCMath or A+ Interactive Math)
• Focus on Middle School Biology and Focus On Middle School Geology- science with labs.
• Hoffman Academy- piano
• SchoolhouseTeachers.com- Spanish and other delight-directed learning courses

9^th Grade Curriculum Picks

Oh boy, I finally have a high schooler. I’m pretty excited. Between resources and help from The HomeScholar and SchoolhouseTeachers.com, I’m not feeling nearly as scared.

So, let me share what we are doing for the 9^th-grade curriculum.

9^th Grade English Curriculum

For 9^th grade English, I have a lot of great resources. I’ll start off with literature.

9^th-grade Literature

Part of our history program is literature. I will use that literature as a read-aloud and discussion. Yes, we will do read-aloud in high school.

At the end of 8^th Grade, we started Poetry and Short Stories-American Literature 19^th-20^th Centuries by Memoria Press. This program follows a classical approach, and I love it. My daughter does, too. Each story or poetry analysis starts with basic concepts like vocabulary and helps the student analyze the key theme of the piece. Plus, kids learn how to highlight and make notes while reading, so they can look back for answers.

When we finish this program, we will probably use some Literature Studies through My Teaching Library and SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

Vocabulary

For vocabulary studies, we will be using It’s NOT Greek to Me. I just started reviewing it, and I think it will continue to be part of our 9^th-grade curriculum. Kids learn vocabulary and Greek morpheme analysis. My daughter has studied Latin, and it helps with her vocabulary. I can’t wait to add  Greek vocabulary study.

9^th Grade Writing Curriculum

This year I may incorporate writing into history. We will be doing ancient studies, so I’ll use IEWs Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons.

I also tend to use different writing courses through SchoolhouseTeachers.com, and my daughter works on writing challenges on NaNoWriMo.

Grammar

For grammar, we use Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. It is a rigorous program, so we take our time working on it. Since my daughter is a writer, I use this grammar curriculum. It really helps her writing.

9^th Grade Math- Algebra 1

In math, we’ve been using Math-U-See.

My daughter likes Math-U-See a lot, though I may add in CTCMath. Some of the concepts in Algebra are tough for her. CTCMath seems to explain those topics easier for her.

Science- Biology

The 9^th-grade science curriculum we are using this fall is through Journey Homeschool Academy. Their Experience Biology online program looks terrific. We watched a sample lesson and looked through sample materials, and both my daughter and I were excited about it. It is pricey, but I think it will be worth it. My daughter hates biology, but she was excited after viewing some lessons from this program.

Other Areas Covered in 9^th Grade

Foreign language– French through SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Music– Guitar lessons. She uses a program on SchoolhouseTeachers.com and YouTube videos.

Public Speaking– Communication Science Team in 4-H, plus we’ll try some classes on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

9th Grade Curriculum Recap

• Connecting Through History- History, geography, literature, and the bible.
• Creating a Masterpiece- Art
• ARTistic Pursuits- Art
• Poetry and Short Stories- American Literature 19th-20th Centuries
• It’s Not Greek to Me- Vocabulary
• IEW Ancient History Writing-Based Lessons
• Math-U-See (supplement with CTCMath)- Algebra I
• Experience Biology by Journey Homeschool Academy
• SchoolhourseTeachers.com- reading lessons, French, public speaking, and other delight directed learning

Overall, this is what our 7^th and 9th-grade curriculum will be for this year. We always have other classes that pop up during the year. Plus, we incorporate a lot of courses that the kids have an interest in. But this is a general idea of courses for the 7th and 9th grades. I hope this helps you find some new ideas to help you in your homeschool journey. Remember, many of these curriculum ideas may work for middle school kiddos and up.

Happy Homeschooling!