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Erin
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After Christmas dd14 will be 'in year nine!' I know that it is time to step up the expectations and expect more work but that is the trouble, I'm just not too sure how much work to expect. I design her program, myself but I'm sure she doesn't do enough. 
What I am looking at though is what skills do I need to teach her in the next couple of years? Realistically that may be all I have left to 'teach' her. Here in Australia many hsers are commencing bridging courses for university by correspondence. What knowledge/areas are a 'must'? Is there anyway of knowing these things? What/how do others decide this? TIA.
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Erin
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Bookswithtea
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What are kids her age doing in the traditional schools in your area? I'd start there, see what you agree with  , and then work off of that model.
How many hours a day is she working, and what is she covering? There are several threads about 9th grade here where you can see what others are doing, too...
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Erin
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Books
I've been pouring over the threads here, trying to get a feel for it all. I'm not sure that I want to use the local schools as a litmus test  I was more looking at what dd needs to receive an excellent education.
Dd would work from about 8am -12.30am with the rest of us. Now in that time she applies herself more diligently than the others and is more focused. Although she does have her days where she downs her books like yesterday where she just wanted to read 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte. Of an afternoon she reads and reads and ....
What is she covering?- Well she does dictation (uses misspelt words for spelling) and copywork (that by choice) and she was using Lingua Mater but as she really didn't like it she is currently using an old Australian grammar text. She does Singapore Maths and is a keen maths student. She is currently listening to St Patrick's Summer with us for Faith and she is following the TWTM method with science using 'How Science works' and is doing a little mapwork using an oop geography 'Atlas Fun' book.
And that is it at present because she is on a reading binge (surpassing anything she has done before) she is reading easily 8-10 hours a day!!! Some is light but she is tackling Jane Austen, Walter Scott, Charlotte Bronte, Alexander Dumas and Robert Louis Stevenson to name a few.
I know she is learning and digesting, I guess I feel she needs some more challenging work for Faith (and she would be keen) and more written work is required (not keen but it needs to be done) What do you think?
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Barbara C.
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It's so funny. I've just been reading "And What About College?" by Cafi Cohen. She talks about starting in eigth grade (since so many homeschoolers graduate early) having your child keep track of everything that they do noting the activity, traditional subject relevance, and length of time rounded to the nearest half hour. At the end of each month add up how much time was spent on each subject or elective with 120 hours traditionally equaling one year's credit for that class. (Reading for six hours adds up to six hours towards a Language Arts credit.)
She talks about starting with what your student already does naturally and see how it fits into normal basic requirements, and then just figure out if there are any areas that are really lacking. She also notes, though, that having special accomplishments or areas of study in addition to or in place of more traditional studies can make a homeschool student stand out on a college application.
The basic high school course of study in the U.S. includes 4 years of Language Arts (Grammar/Literature/Composition), 3 years of math (Geometry/Algebra I & II), 3 years of science (biology/chemistry/very basic physics), 2 years of history (World/U.S.), and 2 years of foreign language. That usually adds up to 14 credits, and then depending on the school students add 6 to 10 more elective credits. (For instance, since I went to Catholic school I had four credits of religion class when I graduated.)
Now as this applies to your daughter it sounds like she's covering the basics of math, science, and language arts. And I've read that four hours a day is pretty normal for high school level sit-down work. If you think she is college bound, it's just a matter of keeping track for her transcript.
And if she's on a reading binge that's cool. There are some colleges in the U.S. like St. John's that have a completely literature-based curriculum. Basically for four years you read and discuss the books on their book list. You just might consider having her put together an occasional book report or analysis paper comparing similarly-themed books. Or have her write a paper researching a common misconception about Catholicism and explaining the correct teaching.
I hope some of this helps.
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Bookswithtea
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Sounds like she is covering a lot of neat stuff.
I'd add in some writing (probably typed summaries of topics that either she or you determine). Ds hates it too, but I've seen a HUGE improvement in the 13 weeks of school that we've done and I have pushed 3/4-1 pg typed summaries (single spaced) heavily.
And I'd probably add in something else for faith formation. I am using Peter Kreeft's You Can Understand the Bible...Ds writes a summary of each book of the bible along with a copywork passage for each book. Elizabeth uses Kreeft's Catholic Christianity in the Transitions Trailguide. One of these might be a place to start since she is an avid reader??
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Erin
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Thank you SO much Books for your help. What do you actually ask of your son?
Thank you for the Peter Kreeft recommendation, I had wondered about his books.
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Bookswithtea
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If you pm me your email address, I can send you the syllabus I wrote for religion. Basically, he reads the chapter (more often 1/2 a chapter since each chapter usually covers 2 books) and outlines it on Monday (I checked these for the first 6 weeks or so until I was sure he had the hange of it) and does the copywork. I don't give an A unless the copywork is excellent and includes an illuminated letter!  Tuesday he writes the summary and I read over it, give constructive criticism once and let him fix it as much or as little as he wants. This does require me to skim the Kreeft book as well, to make sure that he hasn't left out anything important or accidentally plagiarized (easy to do when using religious lingo, kwim?). I grade on weekends (the program we are using for accountability requires number grades on everything)...He gets better grades when the writing requires less revision to begin with. Wednesday and Thursday move on to the next book of the bible in the same format. I picked scriptures over the summer.
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Blessings,
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Erin
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| Posted: Oct 29 2007 at 3:38am | IP Logged
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Books I am so excited, I've pmed you 
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Leonie
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I like to look at the Board of Studies syllabi for ideas and also at curriculum guides for private schools in our city. ( Note - the booklists are being revised for the new year and should be out again late this term or in January).
We are unschooly so don't have anything set in stone. I do love gleaning ideas, though.
I also look at my dc's interests and strengths - where do they think they will be heading and what may they require for such fioelds?
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Erin
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Leonie
Thanks for the reminder, I do need to look at the syllabus regards science in particular, that is an area that I need to source more books on. 
I also love ideas, the good thing is dd is happy to read anything (providing it is not a textbook).
Where they are heading? That is tricky in a way, so I'm aiming to be prepared
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4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond
Topic: What skills do 9th graders+ need?
