Sister is now a Sophomore. As I mentioned in my A Homeschool Year Unlike Any Other, this homeschool year is shaping up to look a lot different than any other homeschool year has in the past. Here’s a look at our 10th Grade Plans for 2024-2025.
10th Grade Plans for 2024-2025
Sister will be at home four days a week this year and at the homeschool enrichment center one day each week. Of course, that day also happens to be the day that her youth group meets, so it is going to be a BUSY day for her. She’ll get to sleep in (a little bit) the following morning.
10th Grade Math
Sister will take a one hour math lab once a week at the homeschool enrichment center this year. Her math teacher be using the Pre-Algebra curricula from All Things Algebra in addition to other resources. She’s used curricula from this writer in the past, and Sister has done well with it, which is phenomenal because she says math is her worst subject.
The Pre-Algebra Curriculum from All Things Algebra® is straightforward, organized, well-designed, and thorough.
10th Grade Science
Man, science last year was SO hard. We attempted four science curricula before we landed on one general science curricula from Power Homeschool that we finally just had to agree we would plow through so we could say we finished a science study for the year. It was rough and neither of us enjoyed it. This year we’re attempting a Homeschool Science from Berean Builders for her. My son LOVED Dr Jay Wile’s writing style. Sister is NOT Mister. So, while I am hopeful, I also have Biology from Power Homeschool on the backup list. We’ll see how things go. The fact of the matter is, Sister is not going to major in science in college. She merely needs a second science on her transcript. So, at the end of the day, we will use whatever we she can get through while understanding it and not hating it. Even if that means turning her loose to do her own deep dive into specific areas of interest for her.
10th Grade Language Arts
Sister will double dip in language arts this year. She’ll have both a creative writing class and a debate class.
Creative Writing
You may recall that Mister took a Bible-based creative writing lab at the homeschool enrichment center. Sister will be taking the class this year. The class is taught in a four year rotation, so students can begin any year, and can actually take it all four years if they wish to. Each week, she’ll study a person from the Bible and complete character sheets, uncovering the facts about this person’s life. She’ll look for their strengths, weaknesses, how God used them, what is known about their family tree, how the character changed, and where to find them in different parts of the Bible. She’ll see what she can learn from their character traits, what she would want to emulate, what she would ant to avoid. From there, she will have a writing assignment for that person. Writing assignments will include things like writing a letter from that person’s perspective, journal entries, and so forth. Her first assignment was writing from Isaac’s perspective after the trip up Mount Moriah. Her only required textbook for the class is a Bible, and she chose an NIV Thinline Bible for it.
Debate & Current Events
Everyday Debate & Discussion by Shelly Johnson enables students to will employ the techniques of logic and rhetoric.
Sister will also take a Debate and Current Events lab at the learning center and will use Everyday Debate & Discussion by Shelly Johnson. This is the same class that Mister took last year. We’ve previously avoided debate type classes because of the rigor associated with them, but the teacher of this class is familiar with Sister’s learning differences and abilities and is willing to work with me on accommodations to ensure that Sister can succeed in the class. With her teaching the class, I am confident that Sister will do well. She already has a firm grasp on how to argue and uses solid logic in arguments. Now she’ll learn more about the world of rhetoric and get to learn the formal side of debate in a way that will not be intimidating to her. Each week she will be given a topic and will need to research and prepare a list of for and against points for the topic. Until the debate begins in class she will not know what side of the topic she is debating, so she will have to be prepared for both sides. Her first two classes went really well, and she really seemed to enjoy having “permission to argue.” LOL.
Because she has a specific learning disability in reading (dyslexia) and a specific learning disability in writing (dysgraphia), she has two tutors. She has a private tutor that we’ve employed since she was seven years old. Miss Dawn will work with Sister on writing that correlates to her World History class. Her other tutor, Ms. Diane, is through our public school district’s “non-public access program.” She splits her weekly hour between reading and writing tasks with Sister and sets goals according to her ISP. We do advise her of what Sister is doing in her studies at home and with our other tutor, and when able, she does incorporate those things into her goals, as well.
10th Grade Reading Books
I’m allowing Sister the freedom to choose her books this year except for a couple of requirements. She will have to read the following to coincide with her World History class:
- The Cat of Bubastes Print Copy (The Cat of Bubastes Audible Version)
- Pilgrim’s Progress Print Copy (Pilgrim’s Progress Audible Version)
Of course, she has the choice of how she consumes her books. She has access to audiobooks through Bookshare, because she has a qualifying disability. Bookshare provides audiobooks and ebooks for learners of all abilities. We have found a few books that aren’t readily available on Bookshare, so we also use our Libby App and Hoopla App to access digital titles when needed. If free options fail, I search Audible. We’ve found that she does really well if she has a print copy in front of her that she follows WHILE also listening to an audioversion. Otherwise, she becomes distracted and starts cleaning or whatever. So, I try to provide her with both when it’s required reading.
10th Grade Social Studies
As I mentioned above, Sister will spend 10th grade Exploring World History. She’ll be doing that with Notgrass History. Her history set includes the following:
- Exploring World History Part 1: Creation Through the Middle Ages
- Exploring World History Part 2: The Renaissance to the Present
- In Their Words: Original Documents, Speeches, Poems, and Stories from World History
The goal is to do a deep dive into part 1 with supplemental videos, worksheets, readings, exercises, etc. If we make it into the second book, great. If not, that’s okay. She’ll have a thorough understanding of creation through the Middle Ages by the time we’re done.
Exploring World History with Notgrass History presents ancient, medieval, and modern history from the perspective of faith in God and respect for His Word.
Similar to last year, Sister will attend a one-hour history lab that will emphasize geographic and cultural factors determining the development of societies associated with the curriculum.
10th Grade Foreign Language
You may remember that Sister attempted a Japanese class last year. Though she gave it a valiant effort, it did not go well. It was just not a good fit, given her dyslexia and dysgraphia.
She decided she’d like to try American Sign Language this year. She has previously learned a little bit of ASL and learned it fairly easily. ASL is a full-fledged language and is accepted by most colleges as a foreign language requirement. I’ve also learned that many dyslexics recommend ASL because it was easier for them to learn. It makes sense because it is purely visual and kinesthetic. Because it isn’t a spoken language, it is processed in a completely different region of the brain than spoken languages and that can make it easier for dyslexics to learn. The fact that ASL words can be written with their English counterparts also makes it ideal for the dyslexic brain – there are no foreign words or alphabets to learn.
With all of that in mind, she will be completing her ASL class using Power Homeschool.
10th Grade Electives
Concert Choir
For the third year running, Sister will join the Concert Choir at our local homeschool learning center. She has developed such a deep love for choir and really just sings all the time. She’s formed some amazing friendships in choir, also. In Concert Choir, she almost always sings as a Soprano 2, but her range allows her to also sing as a Soprano 1 or Alto 1. We’ll see
Chamber Choir
Sister is returning to the Chamber Choir this year. The Chamber Choir is all email and in it, she sings quite the range. She will pretty much sings whatever they need her to, depending on which song it is, and has sung 2nd Alto up to Soprano 1. So far this year she’s only sung Soprano 1 and Soprano 2.
Child Development
Sister is fairly certain she wants to work with children in some capacity when she finishes school. She volunteers with our NextGen ministry at church and volunteered with children 70 hours last summer and 40 hours this summer for various camps. She’s already lining up camps to volunteer at for next summer, including one that is geared toward children with special needs. So, we’re going to add Child Development to our mix. I ordered a hardcopy of the Child Development, 12th Edition textbook, by John Santrock for her. This is an older edition. I picked it for several reasons. First, because it is also available on audio on Bookshare, so she can listen to it as she reads along. Second, because it is the edition that Jennifer, over at Organized Homeschooler, successfully used with her daughter in the Detailed Child Development Course for High School that she posted about, that I will be using as a rough sketch for ours. I searched for other child development courses that would work for my daughter, and didn’t find one that I liked until I found hers. So, we’re going to give it a shot. And, because we’re using it as a rough sketch, we can modify as we go.
Child Development, 12th Edition, by John Santrock
Like Jennifer, we will use selections from Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College for the course.
She will also transition from serving with the 6-11 year olds to serving with the preschool at our church. She aims to train to become one of the teachers in the next year or two. It will be interesting to see how this journey plays out for her.
At this point, I don’t know if she’ll be doing any after school sports. She’s sustained a few injuries to her foot that kept her out of cross country and track for the last year. And she keeps breaking and spraining her fingers, which keeps her out of most sports involving the hands. She does play ultimate frisbee with friends on Tuesdays, but not competitively. She also attends a local youth group that is separate from our church, so she is not lacking for activity. She’s likely the most “involved” kiddo that I have. We’ll have to see how the year shapes up and see if we can keep her hands out of splints and tape before we sign her up for anything sport-related.
