Ninth Grade for Finn

 High school! Finn is going into high school! This feels overwhelming sometimes until I realize that high school should just be a natural continuation of all the learning we've already done, and that that learning--which has felt casual and organic much of the time--has been oh-so-sufficient.  I don't place much stock on standardized tests, and I never tell my children their scores.  I just send them to the school board and move on.  But this year Finn's scores truly blew me away.  It made me realize I can just Not Worry so much about "where we are" because where we are is fine!

More than anything else, I just love that he enjoys pursuing knowledge for its own sake. He's not much of a fiction reader, which has surprised me.  But he loves learning languages (this summer he's learning Chinese for fun), loves reading the encyclopedia, knows more geography than anyone I've ever met, etc.  He's becoming the person God created him to be.  He cares about the world, he asks great questions, and he's genuinely curious about life.  I love this!

So this year my goal was to provide opportunities that will foster his interests while not burning him out.  I looked at our state's advanced diploma requirements and sort of formulated a plan based on that--while still honoring what Finn is interested in doing. 

So 9th grade for Finn will be:

*Pre-Algebra/Algebra transition --we use Saxon and love it for him. I had worried about him being "behind," but my husband, who is a math nerd and engineer, strongly said that we need to focus more on building a strong foundation, and that he thinks Finn will be just fine to take the SAT.  I trust my husband's judgment on this point more than I trust anything else, so I'm not going to worry about it!

*Spanish 2--a continuation of the Spanish 1 class from last year. This is an in-person class taught by an American friend who spent part of her childhood in Mexico, and a lovely lady who immigrated from Venezuela a few years ago and barely speaks English.  It's wonderful and a huge, huge blessing for us. 

*Honors French 2 through The Potter's School (online)--Finn has never done formal French, just studied on his own over the years as well as worked with a friend who lived in France and tutored him.  They would read bits of Harry Potter in French, discuss grammar, etc. We decided it was time for a formal class, so he took and aced the placement test for Honors French 2.  I'm so excited for him. 

*Honors Biology through The Potter's School (online)--this is a subject we both wanted to outsource. I love biology, but don't want to teach it.  He's VERY excited about this course!

*Beautiful Feet Books Early American and World History pack--I let Finn pick what history to do for this year, and he picked this one. I'm happy because it is heavily-based on Genevieve Foster's books, which we enjoy so much!  This will provide his history and part of his literature for the year.  I chose a few more books for the year to round out his literature selections, and we'll do a combination of reading them and listening on Audible.  I'm actually keeping this subject as light as possible because I know he'll be pretty busy with his other classes. I seriously doubt we'll finish all the readings (it's a lot), but I'm hoping to get through about 3/4 of it this year. We will be reading the same books and having discussions about them--fun!

*Morning Time: this is where we do Shakespeare, Scripture memory, Bible reading, poetry, hymn, etc.  We will do this each day as a trio for half an hour or forty-five minutes before Finn tackles his other subjects. 

*Piano!  Piano is a huge time commitment for Finn. He practices a lot--and it shows because he plays beautifully.  So I count this as its own subject because it truly does take the same amount of time as, say, math. He loves piano theory in particular, and is focusing more on that this year. 

*Annie and Finn are both participating in a robotics club/competition this fall on a team that is led by a friend of mine.  It's an extra commitment, but they really seem to enjoy the team aspect and the problem-solving.

*PE: Finn and my husband are hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail for "PE" this year.  Once they finish the sections they are doing, we'll come up with another "PE" activity--probably perfecting his swimming strokes, or golfing, or tennis lessons.  I am focusing PE in high school on things that I consider life skills! Finn isn't really an "athlete" and I don't think he'll do any team sports. We may also do a 5K running clinic and/or a resistance-training clinic together, and eventually I'll have him take a CPR class, and I'll teach him a practical first-aid/basic nursing-type class. But we'll do all that over the course of 3-4 years--not one! :) 

And that's ninth grade for dear Finn! 

Next up, fifth grade for Miss Annie......