Evan's 9th Grade Year

Evan's first year of High School! We started school this year in the summer to get a jump on things before we took a trip back east. If you'd like to see pictures of our summer trips just leave a comment asking to see Evan's blog. (It's password protected, but we'll share with you if you ask.) He took most of the pictures, and has done a great job blogging about it all.

I on the other hand, have been reading and reading some more about high school! Here's the line up.

Bible: Long Story Short with the girls and working on memorizing Philippians. Evan also has 5 books to read and write about, roughly 1 per quarter. Right now he's reading Practical Happiness by Bob Shultz. The others on his list are What He Must Be if He Wants to Marry My Daughter by Voddie Baucham, Humility by C.J. Mahaney, Knowing God by J.I. Packer, and a biography of someone from church history.

Evan is also doing a study of great books that corresponds to the time period of history he's studying. We're back at the beginning with ancient history, and of course the Bible is the great, Great Book. He's starting off the year reading Genesis through Job as his first "Great Book".

Math: Evan really likes Teaching Textbooks. This year he will be studying Algebra I.

English:
-Spelling: Spelling Power is proving to be a great fit for our family. I bought it with Evan in mind, since spelling is a weakness for him (like me). But everyone is doing well with it and liking it.
-Grammar: Evan is finishing up Easy Grammar Plus. It seems we have a tendency to not finish grammar books around here! I also have him doing a short lesson a day out of Easy Grammar Ultimate Series 9th grade. It's a one page summary of grammar rules to practice.
-Great Books: I'm planning on having Evan read through 10 great books. We're starting with the Bible (Gen-Job), then the Epic of Gilgamesh. I know Evan is looking forward to reading the Iliad and the Oddessy, but other than that there is some flexibility within a longer list based on what he's interested in and what's available.
-Writing: Each of the Great Books will have a paper due at the end. This along with the papers from his Bible class, and the numerous notes and outlines he'll be taking in History and Science should be enough writing for this year.
-Other books: Since I'm not following a curriculum per say with English, I'm having Evan read a couple of other books for reference and guidance: How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler, Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White, Study is Hard Work by William Armstrong,
and sections of The Well Educated Mind:A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer

History: He's reading The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer. After reading each chapter he takes notes on the events and dates. He'll use the Timetables of History by Burnard Grun and The Annals of the World by James Ussher for context and reference when writing papers.

Science: Evan is doing a class with friends also. They are using the Apologia Biology book. He is also taking a class on anatomy and physiology through our school called Body of Evidence by Answers in Genesis. The Apologia biology book doesn't go into human biology much, so I was glad that our school was offering the class.

Foreign Language: If we can get our Rosetta Stone program to work again, he'll continue on with Spanish. I think we're just having some technical difficulties.

Art and Music Appreciation: We spend a couple of hours each week looking a different composer and listening to his music while doing some art. I'm hoping to focus on painting this year.

Electives:
-Logic: We're going through the Fallacy Detectives by the Bludorn brothers. At church, the youth group is doing a study of logic and how it applies to us a Christians.
-Eagle Scout Project: Evan is on track to finish up his work to earn the Eagle Scout rank this year. Our school requires two semesters of community service. His project will count as one full semester.

P.E.: One of Evan's boy scout merit badges is Personal Fitness. He has to make a 12 week exercise plan and evaluate his conditioning before and after he initiates his plan. That along with the hiking, jogging, backpacking, walking, tree chopping, fence building, and tree climbing he does with his friends and family are his P.E. plan so far.