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Years 9-10-11: Second Year Booklist

As students mature, their reading material will present more challenging content, and may include strong language and more mature themes. We have placed footnotes linked in red beside those books that most parents will consider an issue. However, we cannot anticipate which content might be an issue for every family. We encourage parents to pre-screen material to determine its appropriateness for their child and family.

Note: These booklists and curriculum suggestions are incomplete without a thorough understanding of Charlotte Mason's ideas and methods. We cannot emphasize enough that you take time to familiarize yourself with her philosophy by reading her books.

If you're planning to use AmblesideOnline, your first stop should be the the FAQ for some information about the curriculum and basic instructions. Our FAQ answers all the questions that people routinely ask: AO's history scope and sequence, how to schedule your school days, how to do narration, and more.

Key: (What do all those symbols mean?)

Book titles are linked to Project Gutenberg (which offers free etexts in a variety of formats) or other online text when no Project Gutenberg text is available.

Asterisks refer to which term the book is used: * Term 1 ** Term 2 *** Term 3

β - manybooks.net, another free ebook site.
α - free etext at archive.org; newer books can be borrowed for one hour at a time.
(ChrBk) - purchase from Christianbook.com using AO's affiliate link.
K - free Kindle text from amazon.com.
(£amzn) - Living Books Press purchase using AO's amazon.com affiliate link.
($amzn) - book purchase using AO's amazon.com affiliate link.
(K) - Kindle purchase using AO's amazon.com affiliate link.
(£) - Purchase directly from Living Books Press with an affiliate link; save 10% with discount code: AOBooks
Λ - free audiobook at Lit2Go
Ω - free audiobook at Librivox ^[2]
∩ - other free audiobook source
^[0] - Click the bracketed numeral to view any notes about the book near the bottom of the page.
^[0] - red footnotes indicate a heads-up for parents about the title. We cannot foresee every incident that might potentially be an issue to every family, but we have red-flagged those that are commonly a concern.

AO is an affiliate of Living Book Press, which means that when you purchase from our (£) links, we receive a commission which allows us to keep offering AO for free.

AO is an affiliate of Christianbook.com, which means that when you purchase from our (ChrBk) links, we receive a commission that helps with our costs.

AmblesideOnline is part of Amazon.com's Affiliate program. If you use the Amazon links, we receive a small commission which enables us to cover the costs of keeping the website and curriculum. Amazon links are identified like this: ($amzn) or (£amzn) or (K).

AmblesideOnline Year 9-10-11 Curriculum

Weekly Readings

The following weekly readings should be broken up into daily readings in whatever way works best for your family.

Bible

OT: 1 Chron 15-29; 2 Chron; Obadiah; Jonah; Isaiah; Amos; Micah; Hosea; Nahum; Zeph; Jer; Habakkuk; NT: John; 1 Thess; 2 Thess; 1 Cor; 2 Cor; Romans; Colossians; Philemon; Ephesians; Philippians; 1 Tim; 1 Pet; Titus; Hebr; 2 Tim; 2 Pet; Jude; 1 John; 2 John; 3 John. Psalms 30-105; Proverbs 24:17-31 and 1-16

Spiritual Formation

* Holier Than Thou: How God's Holiness Helps Us Trust Him by Jackie Hill Perry (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[0]
The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer (about the attributes of God) α α α (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[0]
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas, first half α ($amzn) (K) ^[0]
or The Legacy of William Carey: a Model for the Transformation of a Culture by Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi α ($amzn) ^[1]

History

Keep a century chart and Century Book of the period studied. ^[tl]

The Great Democracies by Winston Churchill ($amzn) (K), volume 4 of History of the English Speaking Peoples; schedule here (continue from previous year)
A History of the Twentieth Century: The Concise Edition of the Acclaimed World History, by Martin Gilbert ($amzn) (K) ^[2]
Arguing About Slavery, by William Lee Miller ($amzn) continue from previous year
The Men Behind Hitler, by Bernhard Schreiber
The Trial at Nuremberg (short essay)

Biography

Diary of A Young Girl, by Anne Frank ($amzn) OR The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom (ChrBk) (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[4]

History Supplements and Speeches

Woodrow Wilson, entering World War I, April 2, 1917 "War Message"
Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball speech July 4, 1939; also the brief bio on his website.
Winston Churchill "Blood, sweat and tears" May 13, 1940
Winston Churchill "Their finest hour" June 18, 1940
Franklin Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor address December 8, 1941 "a day that will live in infamy"
Dwight David Eisenhower--Supreme Allied Commander broadcasts D-Day invasion order June 5, 1944 (Real Audio only--1 min. 42 sec. click on Speech Archive, scroll down to first Eisenhower entry) "The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you."
Franklin Roosevelt D-Day Prayer June 6, 1944
Douglas MacArthur's farewell to Congress April 19, 1951 "Old soldiers never die"
John F. Kennedy's Inauguration January 20, 1961 "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."
John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" June 26, 1963
I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963 (ChrBk) OR "I've been to the mountaintop" March 3, 1968
Ronald Reagan--Brandenburg Gate June 12, 1987 "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Literature

Silas Marner, by George Eliot β α (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) Ω
The Chosen by Chaim Potok ($amzn) (K)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)

Follow AO's Shakespeare Rotation.

Short Stories

The Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant (1884) Ω
How Much Land Does a Man Need?, by Leo Tolstoy (1886) Ω
The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane (1897) Ω
The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster (1909); also here Ω
The Open Window, by Saki (Hector.H. Munro; 1914)
Barn Burning, by William Faulkner (1939)
Shooting an Elephant, by George Orwell (1936)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by James Thurber (1939) (possibly here)
The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson (1948) (also here)
The Outstation, by Somerset Maugham (1950) (also here, a third of the way down)
A & P, by John Updike (1961)
Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1961)
Everything That Rises Must Converge, by Flannery O'Connor (1965) or here
*** Thank You, Ma'am by Langston Hughes (1958) or here; pdf

Essays

G.K. Chesterton (A Piece of Chalk; The Twelve Men; What is Right With the World)
In Defense of the Essay, by Christopher Orlet
The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent, by John Erskine, 1915
The Superstition of School, by G.K. Chesterton, 1923, from The Common Man (also here)
Master of Many Trades, by Robert Twigger, 2013
The Second Time I Learned to Read by Stephen L. Carter
Introduction to Athanasius' Incarnation (or, The Reading of Old Books) by C. S. Lewis, 1944 or here
The Inner Ring, by C. S. Lewis, 1944
Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell, 1946
Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, by Ronald Reagan, 1983
Can Beauty Help us to Become Better People?, by John Armstrong, 2014
You're Regretting Wrong, by Judith Shulevitz, 2014
Too Much Information: What Good is Information?, by Dougald Hine, 2014

Poetry

Ralph Waldo Emerson (ChrBk) and Walt Whitman
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Short Anthology of Modern Poetry

Copywork

Include selections from Shakespeare, the Bible, poetry and other sources. These selections may be the same ones used for recitation. Consider beginning a personal quote book.

Dictation

Do dictation regularly.

Grammar and Composition

The Book on Writing: the Ultimate Guide to Writing Well, by Paula LaRocque ($amzn) (K) continue from previous year)
On Writing Well - The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, by William Zinsser (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)

Recitation

2 Corinthians 6; Ephesians 4; Proverbs 1-4; Hebrews 8; Amos 5:1-24; 1 Peter 2
Psalm 19; Psalm 111; Psalms 121; Psalm 122; Psalm 145; Psalm 118
Shakespeare passages
a poem per term from the term's poetry selections

Foreign Language

Begin Latin if you've not started already OR Continue with any previous foreign language studies

Geography

Eothen, by Alexander Kinglake β α ($amzn) (K) Ω

Citizenship

Ourselves, by Charlotte Mason (£) (£amzn) (purchase paraphrase for Kindle)

Follow AO's rotation of Plutarch's Lives.

Post-Christian: A Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture by Gene Edward Veith (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
     or Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning by Nancy Pearcey (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) ^[5a]
The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as the Basis for Public Policy by Thomas Sowell α α ($amzn) (K) ∫
Are Screens As Addictive As Drugs? 53-minute documentary on YouTube ^[5b]

Government and Economics

Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt ($amzn) (K)
Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused?, by Richard Maybury ($amzn)
A basic government book ^[6]

Current Events

Keep up with daily news (resource options here) and keep a calendar of events

Nature Study and Science

The Handbook of Nature Study α by Anna Botsford Comstock (as a reference) (ChrBk) ($amzn)
Apologia science text ($earch) OR BJU Press Science
Microbe Hunters, by Paul de Kruif; chapters 4-12 this year α ($amzn) (K)
Great Astronomers by R.S. Ball β α (£) (£amzn) ^[8]
The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson, continued from last year ($amzn) (K) α ^[7]
Six Easy Pieces, by Richard P. Feynman ($amzn) (K) Online at CalTech

Follow AO's Nature Study Rotation of subjects.

Mathematics

Continue your math program; for some options, see this page.

Logic

Art

Follow AO's Artist rotation; Picture Study helps on YouTube.

Music

Follow AO's Composer Study rotation.

Follow AO's Hymn Rotation.

Follow AO's Folksong Rotation.

These folksongs fit with this year's historical time period:
Poverty Knock, origin uncertain (please preview and edit the verses as your family sees fit) term three
The Triumph of General Ludd, 1811
The Arms Of Abraham
Various Songs by Stephen Foster CD: ($amzn)

Health and Physical Education

Study nutrition
Keep fit: Learn and play a game (kick ball, tennis, croquet, ping-pong, softball, etc.) or folk-dance, or pursue other physical activity of your choice. One option is Swedish Drill Revisited by Dawn Duran purchase

Life and Work Skills

Work on useful skills such as budgeting, gardening, cooking, car maintenance, carpentry, etc.

Free Reading

The following is a list of books from the Lite Years that were not scheduled for this combined plan and should be consulted first for free reading. If you need more, consult the free reading suggestions from the AO booklist for Years 9, 10, and 11.

Year 9:

The God Who is There, by Francis Schaeffer ($amzn) (K)
The Story of Napoleon, by H.E. Marshall α ($amzn) (K) or The Boys Life of Napoleon, by Eugenie Foa OR The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson, by Robert Southey β α ($amzn) (K)
John Adams, by David McCullough ($amzn) OR John Adams and the American Revolution, by Catherine Drinker Bowen ($amzn)
She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith β α ($amzn) Ω
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen β α ($amzn) ($amzn) (K) DVD: ($amzn) Ω
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (or here) β α; Unabridged translation by R. Buss: ($amzn) (K) Ω
The Land of Little Rain, by Mary Austin β α ($amzn) Ω

Year 10:

The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis β α (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) Ω
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Alexander Brown; optional (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo β α (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) Ω One possibility: Family Radio Theater's dramatic audio ($amzn)
Invitation to the Classics, by Louise Cowan and Os Guinness ($amzn) (Purpose of, Importance of, Classics are not Canon, and all chapters from Jane Austen to Joseph Conrad)
How Should We Then Live by Francis Schaeffer ($amzn) The video series of the same title offers a strong supplement to the book. Purchase DVD series: ($amzn)
Walden, by Henry David Thoreau β α (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) Free Kindle edition may not be complete.

Year 11:

Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain ($amzn) (K)
When Character Was King, by Peggy Noonan; 20 chapters ($amzn)
The World: Travels 1950-2000, by Jan Morris, formerly James ($amzn) (K) (brief non-graphic mention of the author's gender-change operation in chapter 18, titled "Casablanca." The chapter is very short and can be skipped or removed. Also some language on pg 233 and 242.) (Geography)
Our National Parks, by John Muir (ChrBk) ($amzn) OR The Life of the Caterpillar, by J. Henri Fabre (Fabre texts with photos) ($amzn)
Invitation to the Classics, by Louise Cowan and Os Guinness ($amzn) (chapters from James Joyce to Contemporary Writers)
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)

Footnotes

2. Note on Audiobooks: While links to audio books are added as a courtesy, Miss Mason's approach to grammar and composition is heavily dependent upon the children receiving an immense amount of visual exposure to the written word over many years, so parents should exercise extreme caution in how many audiobooks they use each year. Our brains just work differently when we see the words.

For children who have difficulty reading, one solution is to have them follow the audio version along in a written text.
Librivox free audio is done by volunteers, and some are better than others. Heidi Nash has a list of some favorite Librivox readers. Be aware that apps, including Librivox, that have clickable ads can open a browser and allow children unfiltered access to the internet, even when browsers have been disabled by the parent. There are options: either download mp3 files from Librivox and listen without the app, or only install the app on a parent-controlled device. Librivox has a pay option to turn off ads.

Cindy Rollins did a Circe Mason Jar podcast that included the role of audiobooks with difficult books. There's an archived copy here.
(Back)

Timeline: At this age, students should be keeping a Century Chart and Book of Centuries. Students at this level in the PNEU schools made summaries of dates and events, referred to maps as they read their history, and made century charts. Instructions for making your own timelines and charts are included in these Parents' Review articles: Book of the Centuries; Teaching Chronology; The Correlation of Lessons. For more details about the why, when, how of keeping CM timelines (and other notebooks), we recommend Laurie Bestvater's book, The Living Page ($amzn). Two Book of Centuries options: (£) (£) (Back)

0. Jackie Hill Perry came out of a LGBTQ lifestyle and is now married with four children. In this book, which is about God's Holiness, she quotes from Tozer's Knowledge of Holy a few times. She also wrote the book Gay Girl, Good God, about her experience in the gay culture and her conversion to Christianity. That book may be useful for teens, but be aware that she speaks candidly, though not graphically, about her own childhood abuse and attraction to females. (Back)
Knowledge of the Holy is sometimes subtitled The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life.
Bonhoeffer: Eric Metaxas has spoken of God at work during his writing of this book, and how the witness of Bonhoeffer's life has more significance for our time than perhaps even for his own time. Only the first half of this book is scheduled this year, as the second half is scheduled in Year 12.
Eric Metaxas wrote an abridged version of his Bonhoeffer book, which is excellent, though not as detailed. (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K)
There's another book, The Plot to Kill Hitler - Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero by Patricia McCormick. It's much shorter and for younger readers, but covers some of the same material (condensed, of course) and the author seems to have used the Metaxas book as one of her sources. The Metaxas book is the preferred option, but the McCormick book is better than skipping Bonhoeffer altogether. (ChrBk) ($amzn) (K) (Back)

1. The Legacy of William Carey: Note This book describes some of the wretchedness Carey encountered in India in the 1800's (widow-burning, infanticide, child brides), especially in chapter 2.
The book was previously published twice before with different titles, but all three are the same book:
     William Carey and the Regeneration of India by Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi, 1977 α
     The Legacy of William Carey: a Model for the Transformation of a Culture by Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi, 1993, 1999 α ($amzn)
     Carey, Christ, and Cultural Transformation: the Life and Influence of William Carey by Vishal and Ruth Mangalwadi, 1997 α ($amzn) (Back)

2. Churchill: A History of the American People by Paul Johnson ($amzn) (K) is an option, although its focus is on the US. If you choose to use it, we provide a weekly schedule for Years 9-10-11 in Two Years. (Back)

3. Invitation to the Classics: pages 307 to 366 this year, beginning with James Joyce, and continuing to the end of the book; the chapters are short. Table of Contents arranged by Year and Term for both books. (Back)

4. The Hiding Place: Students who enjoyed The Hiding Place may also be interested in reading The Watchmaker's Daughter, by Larry Loftis, a carefully-researched biography which adds more details and depth to the story. ($amzn) (K) (Back)

4. Diary of a Young Girl: We recommend locating an edition published before 1989, as later editions include content that was left out of earlier editions and will need parental screening. If you use a later edition -- The Critical Edition (1989), or The Definitive Edition (1991), or The Revised Critical Edition (2003) -- please pre-read for content. (The mass paperback linked from the AO website ($amzn) translated by B. M Mooryart-Doubleday "with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt" should be fine; it's a reprint an earlier edition.) (Back)

Plutarch: Charlotte Mason recommended Thomas North's "inimitable translation." (Back)

5a. Saving Leonardo may appeal to more artistically minded students (Back)

5b. Are Screens As Addictive As Drugs? The first 15 minutes focuses on a doctor in France and uses English subtitles, but the documentary is English. (Back)

6. A basic government book: High School students will need to earn credit for basic government. This material can be done in Year 9, 10, 11 or 12. Some options:

Foundation for Freedom: A Study of the United States Constitution Workbook by Lars Johnson - This "workbook" is the text with review exercises after each chapter, which can be skipped. ($amzn) Foundation for Freedom is an updated, full-color version of The Story of the Constitution, Second Edition by Sol Bloom and Lars Johnson ($amzn). Both appear to be the same book/workbook, but the newer one is in color. (Sol Bloom's original 1937 Story of the Constitution, which Lars Johnson used as a foundation for his own book, is online at Hathi Trust.) Because it was written in 1937, it stops at the 21st Amendment. Lars Johnson did an excellent job expanding and updating the Bloom book by adding concerns that weren't on the radar in 1937. He also wrote a chapter on limited government, checks and balances, and Biblical morality as well as a full-page explanation of each Amendment; Sol Bloom's book just explains each Amendment with a sentence or two. If you are in a situation where you need an online resource, the Sol Bloom text could work, but you should also seek out a source that explains why each Amendment was added and what it does.

Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution is a twelve-week online course offered by Hillsdale College with 40-minute streaming video lectures (or you can download the audios). You have to register with a login and password, but the course is free. After you register, "you can find out how to get a copy of Hillsdale's U.S. Constitution Reader, the essential companion to the course, which contains over a hundred primary source documents edited by Hillsdale's Politics faculty." The website says the course begins on Feb 24, but their FAQ says their courses are archived so you can start them at any time, and you can go at your pace.

Exploring Government Curriculum Package by Ray Notgrass (purchase from CBD)

The Everything American Government Book by Nick Ragone is an easy to read explanation of political terms (such as caucus, filibuster, bureaucracy, regulatory commission, judicial review, pork barrel spending, gerrymandering) with a minimum of bias. The author glosses over the Constitution, giving his interpretation of the key points, so this is not a substitute for learning what's in the U.S. Constitution. If you decide to use this book, we provide a schedule that divides it over either 36 weeks or 18 weeks. ($amzn) (K).

This 10-minute YouTube video presents a clear explanation of the difference between a republic based on law, and a democracy based on majority rule. (Back)

7. The Sea Around Us - chapters 1-11 were scheduled in Year 9-10-11a (last year); chapters 12-14 are scheduled this year. The Young Readers Edition adapted by Anne Terry White may be helpful if you can find it (it's out of print). It's about a third shorter and has illustrations. It can follow the same schedule, but two of the chapters have different titles: ch 2, The Pattern of the Surface, is called The Surface of the Sea; ch 10, Wind, Sun, and the Spinning of the Earth, is called Rivers in the Sea. AO links to a special edition that's in print, but it's not the Young Readers edition and it has no illustrations. If you're curious why The Sea Around Us is scheduled, The Guardian has an article that describes The Sea Around Us as "the first, and still perhaps the best science bestseller. . . The reader is immersed in a new and wonderful world, one where everything really is connected to everything else. This sense of the sea and all its constituents as part of an interrelated system infuses the entire book." The special edition we've linked "features a new chapter written by Jeffrey Levinton, a leading expert in marine ecology, that brings the scientific side of The Sea Around Us completely up to date. Levinton incorporates the most recent thinking on continental drift, coral reefs, the spread of the ocean floor, the deterioration of the oceans, mass extinction of sea life, and many other topics." ($amzn) There is some evolutionary content in the book, especially the first chapter. If your student already read The Sea Around Us in Year 6, a good alternate (but not replacement) is Carson's Under the Sea Wind, which follows the lives of fish, birds, and animals that live in or near the sea. α ($amzn) (K) (Back)

8. Great Astronomers: A paraphrase is here. Chapters on Airy, Le Verrier, and Adams this year. Or, there are briefer biographies online at MacTutor History of mathematics archives at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. They can be searched alphabetically. (Back)

Page updated Apr 2, 2023 Bible verses were updated; The Sea Around Us was added.