Our first year of homeschooling high school has been a bit of a challenge. We're making it through, but due to some struggles my 9th grader has had with motivation, some of the credits we'd planned on granting for his freshman year just didn't happen.
He'll end up with about 5.5 credits for his freshman year, short of what we'd originally planned for the year. But that's the wonderful thing about homeschooling — we can be flexible.
So here's what's on deck for his 2012-2013 sophomore year. I've also included our updated 4-year plan at the bottom of this post. I also took another look at the graduation requirements for Texas and updated the minimum number of credits Jaden will need to complete before he can graduate.
Homeschool Curriculum for 10th Grade Boy
Language Arts (1 credit): One Year Adventure Novel’s Other Worlds curriculum. I'm also wanting to include grammar review of some kind to keep him up-to-speed in preparation for the ACT/SAT. I'm still not sure exactly what curriculum to use for this. Do you have any suggestions? I'm wanting something that goes beyond the basics of just drilling parts of speech.
Math (1 credit): He will be finishing Chalk Dust Geometry which we started mid-second semester freshman year and then begin Chalk Dust Algebra 2 sometime in the first semester of his sophomore year.
Science (1 credit): Exploring Creation with Chemistry. He will be taking this through The Potter’s School.
Social Studies (1 credit): He will taking U.S. History through The Potter’s School using United States History by Prentice Hall.
Foreign Language (1 credit): Spanish I, taken through The Potter’s School using BJU's Spanish I curriculum
Fine Arts (.25 credit): Private guitar lessons
Physical Education (.25 credit): He takes judo twice a week for a total of 2-3 hours.
Economics (.5 credit): Exploring Economics by Notgrass
Automobile Maintenance & Repair (.5 credit): Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care Maintenance & Repair
Drivers Education (.5 credit): We're planning to use DriversEd.com.
Our Updated 4-year Homeschool High School Plan
Because of the way Jaden's freshman year has gone, I had to change some things about his 4-year high school plan that I posted last year. But even with those changes, I think he's still on track to graduate on time.
You can click on the image below to view it full size. If there is a specific curriculum we've used, or are planning to use for a course, I've included it in the table. The abbreviation TPS stands for The Potter's School, the online Christian school we use for several of our courses.
This is such a cool resource for parents with high schoolers or even junior highers! Thanks for sharing. I graduated a couple and never thought about posting something like this. So many people are freaked out about what to do for high school and you've laid it all out for them. 🙂
I love your 4 year homeschool highschool plan. Do you have it on your website for copying and editing? Thank you.
Thanks so much for posting this and being so transparent that things didn't go as planned. We'll be tackling high school next year and your plan really helps give us some ideas. As for preparing for the ACT, have you looked into http://www.schmoop.com? Not only does it offer some great LA lessons but you can sign up for an ACT prep course as well.
You guys have no idea how much your 4 year high school plan has helped me get ideas for homeschooling. Thank you!
For high school grammar, I really love BJU's English Handbook. It has more than just grammar, it's non-consumable, and I think it's just practical. However, it's out of print. Their website says it's been replaced by The Writer's Toolbox. I haven't seen this new edition, but knowing BJU, it's probably good. Or the old English Handbook can be found used online, probably on Amazon.
This is awesome…we are doing high school also and this has really helped me to look ahead and prepare. I do have a question for you though…how do you document for the judo lessons and the guitar lessons? My daughter is in dance and I want to count that as her p.e. credit but I'm not sure if I need anything other than attendance? Thanks for your help!!!
Good question, and one I haven't really thought of. I think I'll want to do more research, but I imagine if you need actual documentation that a letter from the instructor would work. The letter could just include the dates the child participated and possibly even an informal assessment of the child's progress.
I am not Joy and do not mean to impersonate her, but on the bright side, I am about to graduate my fifth child. What I've needed to document was determined in part by state requirements and in part by what prospective college(s) required.
We have never needed anything more than documenting the class schedule (e.g., our boys sports program meets MWTh 12p-2p) times "x" number of weeks in a given semester or year; one child we just listed total hours. We also listed the name of the coaches or teacher and where the practice or class took place. Thus far, we have never had any problem with that. Hope that is somewhat helpful.
@Elise, Thank you so much, Elise!!! Exactly what I was wanting to know 😀
Hi Joy, You could try Analytical Grammar for a grammar review. I used it this year with my freshman son and was amazed at his improvement. It is reasonably priced and there is also a video available to aid you in teaching. You can use it at your own pace and finish it in a year or take several years to review. My son has always struggled with grammar (mostly because of attitude rather than intelligence) and this worked well for him. Blessings, Beth
Actually, Jaden is using Analytical Grammar this year in his English class at Potter's School. It has helped him for sure (except I've not been impressed with the number of typos and errors in their materials). We have the corresponding videos too that he used this year. Thanks for the reminder. AG might make a great way to review before the SAT/ACT!
If you are still looking for a grammar aid, I love the Grammar Bytes website. My son spends time here to keep sharp on his grammar skills and believe it or not, on this site, grammar is FUN!
Wish I had seen this last yr. We struggled so much with finding the right curriculum forhigh school