Please help me put together my 9th grade Language Arts program...

[Tutu]

Hello all!

I've been researching language arts curricula for my soon-to-be 9th grader, and was curious to hear what others are using.

Ideally, I'd like for our combined LA to cover the following:

Grammar
Writing/Composition
Reading (including skills based stuff, like analytical reading skills, word skills, etc.)
Literature & Poetry (exposure to literary elements, etc.)
Vocabulary
Spelling (this particular child struggles with spelling)

Am I missing anything?

What have you used with success? Also, how do you determine how often to focus on each of the above weekly so that it all works together, rather than disjointed into several different categories?

TIA!

Patty

[mom2paul]

Language Arts for ds/grade 9:

Abeka Grammer
IEW Writing Co-op
Windows to the World Lit Analysis
Wordly Wise Vocab

I have ds do short essays every week on what we are covering in Bible or History. I am about to include essays on Science. Once a month I assign a 3 page paper or longer on History. Further, we have begun a Research Report, this year on slavery. He attends Co-op 1x week with writing assignments. Yes, he is writing more than he ever did, but he needs to and likes it.

We are just about finished Abeka and will begin R&S English soon. Both of these cover Grammar and composition.

I LOVE Windows for lit analysis. We recently read Fahrenheit 451 and ds was able to identify allusions, etc., as a result of this text. Love, love, love it!

[RobynN]

This is what I have lined up for my 9th grader next year so far.

Grammar : BJ Grammar & Writing 9

Writing/Composition : Writing Strands 4 & 5, BJ Grammar & Writing, various class assignments, EDITed to add: Writeshop 1

Literature & Poetry (exposure to literary elements, etc.): Literacy Lessons from Lord of the Rings

Vocabulary : Vocabulary Cartoons, Literacy Lessons from Lord of the Rings

Spelling (this particular child struggles with spelling) Apples and Pears along with Megawords (My upcoming 9th grader also struggles with spelling)

[Tutu]

Windows to the World Lit Analysis sounds great! I appreciate stuff that is laid out for me, and I'm admittedly very anxious now that we're moving into the high school years. Gulp.

Which Wordly Wise book would you suggest for a 9th grader that has never formally had a Vocabulary course?

Thanks again!

Patty

[Tutu]

Thank you! I've never heard of some of these! Am looking forward to looking into them.

Patty

[LisaNY]

For 9th gr., I used the following:

The Well-Educated Mind for literary study/analysis
Vocabulary for the High School Student
Put That in Writing
We went light on grammar for 9th, as I had used R&S through 8th gr.

For 9th gr., I think it is hugely important to focus on writing skills.

[Ellie]

Grammar: Are you sure this is necessary? If so, Easy Grammar Plus one year, followed each year by the "Ultimate Series"
Writing/Composition: Writing Strands

Alternatively, R&S's English series.


Reading (including skills based stuff, like analytical reading skills, word skills, etc.)
Literature & Poetry (exposure to literary elements, etc.)
Vocabulary
Generally, all of these are included in "literature" at the high school level. You might look at Smarr Publishers (http://www.smarrpublishers.com).

Spelling (this particular child struggles with spelling)
ABeka is the only publisher I know of that does spelling for ninth grade.

[Tutu]

Grammar: Are you sure this is necessary? If so, Easy Grammar Plus one year, followed each year by the "Ultimate Series"
Writing/Composition: Writing Strands

Alternatively, R&S's English series.


Reading (including skills based stuff, like analytical reading skills, word skills, etc.)
Literature & Poetry (exposure to literary elements, etc.)
Vocabulary
Generally, all of these are included in "literature" at the high school level. You might look at Smarr Publishers (http://www.smarrpublishers.com).

Spelling (this particular child struggles with spelling)
ABeka is the only publisher I know of that does spelling for ninth grade.

Hmmm...I'm not quite sure if I need a complete grammar program, but rather that whatever I use for LA would have some sort of grammar component or review built in. I've used R&S English for years, so my dd is fairly strong in grammar already. Frankly, I'm fairly anxious over stepping into the high school years, and there is a small possibility (however slight), that my dd may be attending our local public high school for sophomore or junior year. Because of this, I went to the school's site to check on their course information. They include all of the above categories I've cited here, as part of the 9th grade English course. It is entirely possibly that they meant that the grammar and spelling were to be within the context of the student's writing, but the info at the web site is unclear on this.

As mentioned, my dd is not particularly strong in spelling, so I want to do what I can for her there. And yes, the writing and literature is what I want to be our main focus for this next year.

Thanks!

Patty

[Quiver0f10]

My dd is in 9th and her LA is:

R&S English
IEW medieval Writing
TOG II Literature( D level)
VFTCR
TTC and WTTW

[LanaTron]

A couple of things he will be doing the 8th grade level...Lightning Literature so I can teach him and younger dd together, Growing With Grammar only because it will be his first year with this program and they don't have any high school levels out yet.

So, here's what I'm considering:

Grammar--GWG 8
Lit/Reading--Lightning Literature 8; reading list from 9th grade GB study--some of these he will just read, but on some we will follow the guidelines for Great Books study
Writing--Write Source grade 9
Vocabulary/Spelling--Megawords (or may let him drop spelling)

The literature is the main thing I'm not so sure about. I don't know if I'll have the mental energy to figure out how to do Great Books without some hand holding. I've been reading all the threads I can on this board to try and figure out what to do.