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Oh, boy! I have finally reached the point in our homeschool where both my kids are high schoolers. It seemed like it would be FOREVER before that happened. Somehow, here we are. I’m now picking out 9th-grade homeschool curriculum for my baby.
It is hard to wrap my brain around, and honestly, it makes me sad that we only have four more years of homeschooling.
I’ve been through the process of picking 9th-grade curriculum before. But, as I learned early on in our homeschool journey, what I use with one kiddo doesn’t always carry over to the other.
Surprisingly, we have many similarities between what my daughter took her freshman year and what my son is doing.
So, let me share some of our picks for the upcoming year. It may give you some new ideas and companies you want to check out. That’s why I love reading about other homeschool families’ curriculum choices. I’ve found some great ideas that way.
Table of Contents
- 9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum: The Core Subjects
- Electives- Other 9th-Grade Homeschool Curriculum Options
- So Many 9th-Grade Homeschool Curriculum Options
9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum: The Core Subjects
So, as usual, I try and get my kiddo’s input on what they are interested in learning. I want to tailor my children’s education as much as possible to their interests. Therefore, they are more likely to enjoy what they are doing and be more engaged.
That’s the hope, anyways.
The reality, with my boy, is I get a shoulder shrug and an, “I don’t know.”
It takes a little more digging with my guy than it does with my daughter.
After a series of questions on different topic ideas, we finally had a plan. For the most part, we have specific programs that we have found work and love. We tend to stick with them.
So, here is what 9th grade looks like (for now) for us.
9th Grade English Curriculum
If you’ve read my past curriculum picks, you know we tend to follow a classical approach and lean more toward companies that offer classical curricula.
Literature
Our primary English curriculum choice is Poetry and Short Stories for the Logic Stage by Memoria Press. This curriculum is designed for grades 7+. I used this with my daughter. However, this is the updated version of what she used.
Students read poetry and short stories from 19th and 20th American literature in this course. Students read poems or stories and then do workbook pages. The pages in the workbook walk kids through the different stages of thought, from Grammar level work to Logical, then Rhetoric type questions.
It is a solid program that makes kids think and analyze what they read. I like starting high school with short readings and getting kiddos used to studying higher-level literature.
Grammar
Also, as part of our English curriculum, I am adding in grammar. My son has been using Fix It! Grammar by IEW for years.
I love how Fix It! Grammar uses quality literature to teach grammar concepts. There is a short lesson at the beginning of the week on certain grammar concepts, and kids find and fix those mistakes in the sentences throughout the week.
By the end of the year, kids have worked on fixing the grammar of a piece of literature. Grammar is taught in context and not in isolation.
Best of all, it takes less than 15 minutes a day to do grammar.
Writing
Even though our literature study has essay writing for each poem or story, my son really needs to work on honing those skills. We are using IEW’s Structure and Style Level B Year 2 course then we’ll move into Level C.
My son loves IEW’s writing program! It teaches skills incrementally and has handy checklists to ensure he includes different stylistic techniques to improve his writing. Plus, the checklists help mom and dad grade your child’s writing.
We left off on essay writing this past school year, so we will pick up on this and work on improving his essay skills.
If you have a child that has a difficult time learning how to organize their writing or needs help working through the process, IEW may help. It has helped my son understand how to organize his writing and improve it.
Here are some other 9th-grade homeschool curriculum options I’ve used for English curriculum:
- It’s NOT Greek to Me! A great vocabulary study course.
- Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind- A comprehensive grammar program!
- SchoolhouseTeachers.com– I’ve used their essay writing and Creating Dynamic Characters courses.
- PAC English Curriculum for a variety of ages and grades.
9th Grade Homeschool Math Curriculum
Math, math, math. This is one subject I will quickly find ANY curriculum option that doesn’t require me to teach it.
There are SO many math curriculum options out there. Believe me, I’ve tried a lot! My son is a hard one to find a math curriculum for. He needs some review but not so much that it gets tedious (some of you may know what curriculum I’m hinting at).
I’ve used a lot of math curricula out of necessity but also as a part of the Homeschool Review Crew which is now Homeschooling Finds. So, I’ve reviewed A LOT of different programs.
As a reviewer, I came across Math Essentials and reviewed some of their products (Math Rescue and MathandAlgebra.com). They have so many great options to help kids with math! I 100% love their workbooks and programs.
My daughter struggled with algebra, so we gave Math Essentials No-Nonsense Algebra 1 a try. It was so successful that my boy will use it for 9th-grade math.
Each lesson begins with a review of previous concepts, usually no more than six or so problems. Then there is a brief lesson and samples. After, kids complete practice problems and have a word problem at the end.
If you need further instruction, Richard W. Fisher created math videos to watch (for free). The lessons are simple and broken down step-by-step. It is a simple and effective program.
Other 9th-grade math curricula I’ve used:
- Math-U-See Algebra 1
- CTC Math (which I have reviewed HERE and HERE and HERE)
9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History
History is still the one subject our family does together…sort of. We are using R.C. History’s Connecting with History for the third year. Year 3 studies High Medieval to Post Reformation (13th to mid-18th Century).
Connecting with History allows the whole family to study history together. Each level has a Beginner, Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric stage reading material. So, both my kids have some books in common. Still, some will be different because my son is doing logic-level work, and my daughter’s doing rhetoric level.
My kids like the different writing options for creative writing and essays. Plus, there are many options for hands-on projects.
One thing I LOVE about this program is that it is a literature-based program. We have so many great books we’ll read to learn the material. Though, I guess that is kind of the downside of the program because there are so many books to buy. For me, it is worth it.
The program covers history, religion (Catholicism), memory work, and optional literature study. My son and I did the literature study included in the program last year. The books are all relevant to what you are studying at that time in history.
It is a complete program you can use for history, religion, writing, and literature. We all enjoy it! I can’t wait to use it for my son’s 9th-grade homeschool curriculum.
Other homeschool history curricula we’ve used:
- Homeschool in the Woods unit studies. It is meant for grades 3-8, but you can adapt most of it to suit older kids, too, with additional reading and research.
- Story of the World by Well-Trained Mind Press (They also have high school history options.) Story of the World is one of my family’s favorites!
Out 9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum- Science
Have you heard about Journey Homeschool Academy?
I discovered them through the Homeschool Review Crew, though I didn’t review them then. Later, I wrote my own review after using several of their science courses.
As part of our 9th-grade homeschool curriculum, my son will be using Journey Homeschool Academy’s Experience Biology course. This biology course is a high school-level program with labs (yes, even dissection if you choose to do so).
Students watch online videos, take notes, do reading assignments, answer questions, take a quiz, and complete labs with lab reports.
All Journey Homeschool Academy’s science courses are rigorous and do so much to teach students note-taking, study skills, and how to write quality lab reports. I can’t say enough about this program.
Plus, Luke and Trisha Gilkerson, the courses’ founders and instructors, are very knowledgeable and excellent instructors. Their curriculum is Christian based. However, they are very open about different Christian worldviews on specific topics and give options in their courses.
Other science curricula I’ve used:
- REAL Science Odyssey has a lot of fun, hands-on projects and labs.
- Real Science-4-Kids is easy to use and fun.
Electives- Other 9th-Grade Homeschool Curriculum Options
High school is the perfect time to let kids explore potential career choices they may have for the future.
As homeschool families, we can incorporate classes, volunteering opportunities, and internships to let our kids explore their interests further.
In doing so, our kids can “try” different career paths to see if they are suitable for them through the electives we offer in high school.
9th Grade Foreign Language Curriculum
This year my son wants to tackle Japanese. He’s dabbled a little with Spanish over the years, but it never clicked. He wasn’t all that interested.
However, my boy has been taking karate for over two years now, and they use some Japanese in the dojo.
I think if your kiddo is not enthusiastic about learning a foreign language, it will be a challenge for them to take one.
Even though Japanese is challenging, since my boy has an interest AND it is something he is familiar with, we’ll have better success than with Spanish.
We’ll be using Japanese from Zero! Level 1. It is a step-by-step approach workbook with YouTube videos to accompany the lessons. I think the format will work well for my kiddo. Plus, there are over 7,000 positive reviews on Amazon.
We’ll see how it goes.
Coding
Like so many kids that are into video games, my son says he wants to develop video games as a career. I honestly think he just wants to play them, but I decided to find a coding course for him.
Early this year, I bought Code Combat through Homeschool Buyers Club at a reduced price. It is a great coding course.
Kids work on computer science, game design, and web design throughout the program. It has lesson plans, solutions for parents that aren’t tech-savvy, and slide decks to help teach concepts.
We are now several months into the program and will continue to use it for the beginning of this school year.
Other coding program options we’ve done:
Physical Education Requirements
Physical education is one requirement I’m not too worried about meeting for my son. It is a matter of what I will count as P.E. credits and what I will save as extracurricular on college applications (if he goes that route).
With homeschooling, we can think outside the box.
For my son, karate will be his main physical education program. He does karate for 3+ hours a week (by choice). He works on karate material but also calisthenics.
Some families include other sports as P.E. I will include soccer as part of extracurricular activities since my son has karate and other things he will do.
That’s the beauty of homeschooling; you can choose what you want to do to meet specific requirements.
Another way we will meet phys. Ed requirements are through a homeschool dodgeball program. In the winter, a homeschool teen group meets once a week for 90 minutes (12 to 18 weeks), and the kids play different types of dodgeball games.
I figure dodgeball is something we played in gym that teaches skills, strategies, and it’s physical activity. The kids also learn to play and work together as a team.
Lastly, I will incorporate some handy habit trackers I received through American Coaching Academy. They have some easy-to-use trackers to help kids work on endurance, flexibility, cardio, strength, etc. These are great for non-sporty kiddos.
Home Economics
The final thing we have planned right now for the 9th-grade homeschool curriculum is Home Economics.
SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a great homeschool home economics class we will work through as a family.
This way, I can ensure my son has some good basic skills I may have forgotten to teach that he will need later in life. Life skills are super important.
We have used a lot of SchoolhouseTeachers’ curriculum for core subjects but also a lot of great electives!
So Many 9th-Grade Homeschool Curriculum Options
I hope checking out our 9th-grade homeschool curriculum choices gives you some ideas for your high schooler.
There are so many great resources out there, and I love sharing our options in hopes I might introduce something to a family that is just what they need.
Happy Homeschooling!
