9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Year End Wrap Up

The homeschool curriculum choices blog posts are great, but what I really want to know is what families thought AFTER they used the curriculum they chose! I will be sharing a series of posts with you; evaluating our choices in each grade level from this homeschool year.

{disclaimer ~ affiliate links are used}

We shared our 2nd grade year-end review here and 5th grade here. Next up, 9th grade! Here’s a reminder of the original 9th Grade Curriculum Choices post.

9th Grade Subjects

Science ~ Apologia Biology
Math ~ Teaching Textbooks Geometry
Writing ~ IEW SIW C
World History ~ Notgrass
Geography ~ Northstar
Spanish ~ Homeschool Spanish Academy
Finance ~ Foundations in Personal Finance
Reading ~ See book list here {which will most likely grow}

Below I will give a small review of each subject, if you have more specific questions about anything, just leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer!

Math ~ Teaching Textbooks Geometry

Teaching Textbooks is a great fit and he will be moving on to TT Algebra 2 in the fall. Geometry definitely wasn’t easy and was time consuming for him. He ended the year with an A and had to work for that grade! We are really proud of the effort he put in especially near the end to be sure he got that A!

9th Grade -1

World History ~ Notgrass

Notgrass World History was a great choice for us. I struggled with our choice last summer and finally landed on Notgrass because I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted a book written in an enjoyable reading style but also a slight textbook feel, with tests and such. Notgrass was a perfect solution for us. History isn’t his favorite subject but he mentioned several times how much he enjoyed the readings. We have decided to stick with Notgrass for Government/Economics in the fall!

9th Grade -2

Writing ~ IEW SIW C

This was our very first experience with IEW and although it was a HUGE learning curve for me, I am so happy we decided to try! We originally planned to do IEW SIW C and Elegant Essay but we barely finished C. I had to take a teacher-break during the year because I got overwhelmed with the learning curve. Then finally after watching the teacher training videos even more, something clicked! This fall all of my kids will be using IEW! Pac will be using Teaching the Classics along with Windows to the World.

9th Grade -1-4

Geography ~ Northstar

This was a great world geography curriculum, he was exposed to SO much! I am really glad he took this course and I loved how organized it was. I wish I had taken a course like this in high school! I highly recommend!

Finance ~ Foundations in Personal Finance

We LOVED this course!!! I cannot say enough good things about it, he loved it, I loved it and he learned so much that will be so valuable to him and already is! Highly recommend this!

Note – it looks like this will be on Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op July 17, be sure to check there as it might be cheaper!

Spanish ~ Homeschool Spanish Academy

9th Grade -1-2

We were given a year of HAS for review and I am sad to say we will not be continuing on with it in the fall. The program itself is laid out nicely and required very little from me, which I loved. Our biggest problem was his particular teacher. While she was sweet and kind, she was not a good fit for my son for several reasons. The teachers are based in Guatemala which is fabulous and he did have some teachers as subs that were amazing. At the beginning of the year we were told to try out teachers to see who we liked and then schedule with that teacher. We did that and he really liked a certain teacher he had but when I went to schedule the rest of the year, this teacher was totally booked. We ended up choosing the particular teacher he had for the remainder of the year because she was one of the few left that fit his schedule needs.

When Pac brought his concerns to me I thought possibly it was just him and advised him to talk with her about one of his specific concerns. I sat and listened in on the Skype session when he asked his teacher about a grade he had gotten {it was low and she didn’t seem to think it was a big deal and was confused as to why he was asking her to go over the test with him}. After listening to that session I became concerned myself, as a fellow teacher and as a mom. I brought our concerns {that was just one of our concerns} to the man in charge {who had given us the course for review} and offered to give another year a shot for review, to see if possibly our experience was tainted by the particular teacher we had. He told me that he didn’t think another run at it would add any additional perspective to the review. I was a bit surprised by this to be honest. I really wish I could, but due to his response and lack of helpful feedback to address my concerns, I cannot recommend HAS. It is a very expensive one on one tutoring program and possibly with a different teacher we would have loved it. I’d love to hear if any of you had a different experience if you’ve used HAS!

My son did learn and completed Spanish 1 and I am happy I did not have to teach this subject! I was impressed with the format of the program and the dashboard where we could log in and see his assignments and grades. We are currently looking at other options to continue on with Spanish! I am open to suggestions, leave a comment!

Science ~ Apologia Biology

He just simply didn’t enjoy Biology, and it was his most difficult subject. This course was his biggest learning experience since it was hard for him. He learned many study skills and this is even more important than the subject matter! He disliked dissecting, a LOT. He is excited to move on to Chemistry since there will be no dissections!

9th Grade -1-3