Creating a High School Binder and Preparing for 9th Grade

Planning for high school is daunting and scary. I will be the first to admit that I go back and forth between "Hey I got this" to "What if I screw this up" to "I want to be a true blue unschooler". Most times I pick myself up by the seat of my britches and just move ahead. One of those times was tonight. I figured there was no time like the present and getting some of the logistics taken care of. You know like what items I really want to use for this year and how I want to use them. 

My first order of business was starting a high school planning binder for me and Grace to use together. In the past year I have reviewed two products that deal with high school and planning to go to college. You can check out both of those reviews Here - College Prep Genius and Here - College Common Sense. Both companies recommended some sort of a binder to create to help you and your child keep everything straight for high school transcripts and college scholarships. So I started the initial preparations for that tonight. 

First I looked at what classes Grace would be taking for 9th grade and even some extras that might be in the works. I created a page for English 101, Algebra 1, Ornithology, Medieval History, Current Events, Drama, Art, and Physical Education. Starting in August everything we do will be counted toward a 1/2 or whole credit for one of the above classes. For example - Grace currently loves watching CNN Student News and reading God's World News. Both of these would be considered Current Events. Everything time we watch an episode or she spends time reading an article the time will be added to the Current Events sheet in the binder. Once she reaches 75 hours then the 1/2 credit is accomplished and we move on to something else. It may take four years (all through high school) to reach 75 hours for that 1/2 credit, but at least with the binder I am recording the time and eventually it will be finished.

I will also include in the binder all the materials we will use for each subject Grace will be studying, as well as how she will use it each day. Tonight I sat down and created the overall theme and lesson plan for English 101 - her freshman year.

Materials We Will Use
Marie's Words - Vocabulary
Language Lessons for the Secondary Child - Copywork, Writing, Grammar Review
King Alfred's English - Read book and answer the questions and tests that are included
Story Starters - Creative Writing
Literature - 6 selected books to read
Teaching the Classics - Teach literary analysis starting with picture books and move up to the books she will be reading
Creative Writing Class at Cooperative

How We Will Use These Materials
Mondays - Marie's Words
                 King Alfred's English
                 Literature Reading
Tuesdays - Marie's Words
                 Language Lessons
                 Creative Writing Class
Wednesdays - Marie's Words
                     Literature Reading
                     Story Starters
Thursdays - Marie's Words
                  Literature Reading
                  Language Lessons
Fridays - Literature Reading
              Teaching the Classics

Once I have all the information ready for all the classes Grace will be taking I will sit down with her and go over everything. This will be a big deal for Grace. It is a fine line I am walking. I do view us as relaxed homeschoolers but for credit purposes we do need to step it up a notch.