This year, we have TWO high schoolers in the house! Our oldest son, aka Curly, 16, will be in 11th grade, and our 2nd oldest son, aka Larry, 15, will be in 9th grade. For this post, I will outline Curly’s coursework only. Please go HERE to see Larry’s 9th grade coursework, some of which overlaps what you will see here because they are taking courses at the same two tutorials.

We are venturing into new territory this year with signing up our older three learners—Curly, Larry and Mo, 13 and in 7th grade—to attend a second tutorial in addition to the one we’ve been attending several years. So, they will be in classes with peers and teachers other than me outside our home on 2 days a week. I will be honest and say I’m quite excited about this, and I think they are OK with it as well. It will be a challenge as they will have less days at home to be responsible for 6-7 classes each, but between the two tutorials all of their classes are covered and they will be responsible to teachers other than me as well.

Below is a list of the classes Curly will take for 11th grade:

• AP World History/Geography* (2 credit course)
• Spanish I*
• Algebra 2*
• Biology (plus LAB class)**
• British Literature**
• Agri-Business College Course*** (4 hour course which is technically more than 1 credit but again just assigning 1 elective credit for this)
• Physical Education (e.g. Farm Chores, Flyfishing, Eagle Scout Project)

*Classes at Tuesday Tutorial
**Classes at Thursday Tutorial
***Class at Local Community College (Dual Enrollment Course)

He will receive 7.5 more credits toward his 22 credits needed for high school graduation. He earned 5.5 credits in 10th grade and he earned 6 credits in 9th grade. After this year, Lord willing, Curly will have earned 19 credits of the required 22 for graduation, which leaves him 3 needed his senior year. Hopefully, we will be able to transition into more and more college courses during his senior year. He also might like to do something different for part of that year, which I won’t share for now but it is exciting to think of the possibilities!

Now, I will break it down with more specifics if for no other reason than to have a record here to refer back to as we progress through the year. I hope some readers may find it helpful! I have provided links to the books he will be using in the courses.

Before I get started with books, here are our state’s high school graduation requirements for those on a college prep course:

Total Credits: 22

• Math: 4 credits – Including Algebra I, II, Geometry and a fourth higher level math course (Students must be enrolled in a mathematics course each school year.)
• English: 4 credits
• Science: 3 credits – Including Biology, Chemistry or Physics, and a third lab course
• Social Studies: 3 credits
• Physical Education and Wellness: 1.5 credits
• Personal Finance: 0.5 credits
• Foreign Language: 2 credits
• Fine Arts: 1 credit – May be waived for students not going to a University to expand and enhance the elective focus
• Elective Focus: 3 credits – Math and Science, Career and Technical Education, Fine Arts, Humanities, Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB)

Source

History: {AP World History/Geography}* {2 Social Studies Credit/3}

{TEACHER NOTES}

• Curly will be taking this course at the Tuesday Tutorial.
• After visiting the tutorial open house and meeting the teacher, I will NOT be supplementing this course with more resources, because the teacher has put together an extremely thorough course. We will go forth with the plan to sign Curly up for the AP World History exam and possibly the AP Human Geography exam as well. These texts are worth every penny for one, college credit possibility, and two, the EXPERIENCE of test-taking.

{RESOURCES}

World History & Geography, Jackson Spielvogel

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Math: Algebra 2 {1 Math Credit/4}

{TEACHER NOTES}

• The new tutorial the boys are attending uses Teaching Textbooks as the spine, and truth be told I picked up a copy of this at a used sale for CHEAP! I still need two other TT math courses, but this one is covered.
• With TT, all of the grading is done for me and they must go in order (not an issue for Curly) and the tutorial class will cover the more difficult concepts. I’m excited for them to have an actual class connected with their math.

{RESOURCES}

Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2

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Science {1 Lab Science Credit/3}

{TEACHER NOTES}

• Curly is looking forward to Biology after two years of Chemistry.
• He will be using the same publisher for this course that he used for Chemistry and that we use for science courses throughout their schooling.

{RESOURCES}

Exploring Creation with Biology 2nd Edition
Lab Notebook

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British Literature {1 English Credit/4}

{TEACHER NOTES}

• He will be taking the HONORS level course for British Lit at our tutorial this year. The book list contains 14 books. He does love to read, but this is definitely going to challenge him in new ways.

• I am not adding any Grammar or other Language Mechanics resources to his coursework this year. He is required to write extensively for this course anyway.

{RESOURCES} (which I might still need to order—I’m a bit late to the game this year!)

Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Night
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Father Brown: The Essential Stories
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
MacBeth by Shakespeare (FOLGER edition ONLY)
Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare (FOLGER edition ONLY)
Twelfth Night by Shakespeare (FOLGER edition ONLY)
The Importance of Being Earnest
Peter Pan
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Dubliners by James Joyce
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

____________________________________________

Spanish I {1 Foreign Language Credit/2}

{TEACHER NOTES}

• He isn’t thrilled but he has to do this to graduate, and he will be taking the course at our new tutorial.

{RESOURCES}

• The teacher will be providing the coursework for this course.

____________________________________________

Introduction to Agricultural Business {1 Elective Credit/3}

• This is a whole new territory for us as Curly will be attending the local Community College that is just 25 minutes away for this course this fall. HE RECEIVED the $500 grant (!), which the state gives to qualifying juniors and seniors to take a course each semester at a nearby CC. This is called Dual Enrollment, and the student receives both high school and college credit if they achieve a certain grade level in the course.
• We’ve been up to our eyeballs in filling out applications and making phone calls to stay on top of this! It would appear all is in order except the parking pass he needs, which will hopefully be obtained tomorrow while his Daddy is off work!

___________________________________________

Physical Fitness (.5 Credit/1.5)

• Boy Scouts: Eagle Scout Pursuit

• Flyfishing

• Farm Work

Total Credits: 7.5 Credits/22 {3 Remaining}