Although I'm still researching curriculum ideas for a few subjects, I do have a good portion of Amber's 10th grade subjects and curriculum nailed down. This is my Wish List for 10th grade comprised of curriculum that we do not have in hand yet, but that we have decided to use and anxiously await time to purchase it.
I've become a bit of a stickler about waiting to purchase curriculum until we have our plans finalized and then finalized again. More than once in the past year alone this has saved me from purchasing a curriculum that we decided would not be a good fit even though it looked perfect during the initial research. Not to mention as part of the Homeschool Review Crew, we often receive exactly what is needed unexpectedly.
I do want to note that we've taken a nearly about-face in schooling style. After several years of trying as hard as we can to continue with the classical homeschooling model, I've accepted it is time to move to a more eclectic style. We still feel a classical education has many benefits, but it is too rigorous at times for a chronically ill high school student. I'd rather use a variety of methods depending on the subject than confine Amber to a single style that is not suited to her needs.
While we do have a method for literature that we like, I'm a little nervous to apply it to Shakespeare. Besides, we have thrown in a little bit of Lightning Literature's British Literature: Early to Mid 19th Century, which Amber adores it.
I do still need to determine Amber's entire literature reading list for 10th grade, however I know she definitely will do a couple of Shakespeare's plays. That means I need the guides prior to her Shakespeare units 10th grade although it will actually take all of high school to finish both Shakespeare sets.
We are decided to put chemistry off until 11th grade simply because we just aren't sure of a curriculum for it. We also are intrigued by this meteorology and astronomy set with the parent lesson planner from Master Books. The whole course is only worth 1/2 credit, yet is scheduled for a year. I will probably have to fill out each topic so the whole course can be a full credit, or shorten it to be a semester only. Amber doesn't have time to take a whole year to earn only 1/2 credit.
We had such high hopes for using Tapestry of Grace for government over the course of all four years of high school. Amber just found their plan for government to be more than she can handle. In a perfect world, she would have loved to go through everything outlined by Tapestry of Grace for both government and philosophy. In our world where the high school student has a chronic illness that seems to be more on than off, we need to take a good look at how to actually get her through the classes.
I think we have decided to go back to Mystery of History after using Tapestry of Grace for several years. We will supplement with Home School in the Woods Time Travelers series (we already own it all and will use it only for hands on projects), and with other more advanced reading selections. We also will supplement with videos, see below.
We own quite a few of their DVDs, and Amber honestly loves learning this way. We have all but decided to bit the bullet and sign up for The Great Courses Plus to utilize it as a source for Amber's history courses throughout history. She can also supplement her science with the many included science videos. Using these videos as one of her history sources will definitely relieve some of her exhaustion from reading.
After going over and over various personal finance products, we decided that simpler was better. Amber has already completed the Junior Achievement Finance Park curriculum and activity day at Junior Achievement. We simply needed a way to solidify that information and to expand on it a little bit.
I'm hopeful this is the entirety of our needed curriculum for 10th grade, but things always come up around here and plans change.
Those are some great curriculum choices. I should put together a wish list or 9th grade before I end up purchasing things we don't want or need.