This will be our first year homeschooling a high schooler! Here is what I have planned out so far, but there is room for changes. There are also a couple other options I’m looking into or will start second semester.
High School Science:
My daughter will be studying biology this year using Apologia’s Biology. I picked up The Biology Coloring Book as a supplement to this class. She’ll be studying this course with a friend during the year. I created a list of helpful websites that I’m sure I’ll be referencing often: Apologia Biology Resources.
In addition to taking biology, she will be attending a 2-day biology/anatomy lab intensive via Landry Academy. She is considering a career in healthcare, and I thought this would make a good introduction to the field. Plus they’ll be dissecting things that I wouldn’t do at home. Glad to hand that job over to someone else to teach 😉
High School Math
My daughter will be finishing up Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra 1 and moving into Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1. She’ll also be reviewing concepts with KhanAcademy.org and other supplemental materials.
High School Language Arts:
This year we will be using WriteShopI as our writing curriculum. We are both looking forward to using this curriculum. She’ll also be finishing up Easy Grammar Plus.
High School Literature:
We will continue using Illuminations, which combines history and literature. This has been a wonderful fit for my daughter. This program schedules in WriteShop writing, history, and literature. It is has a fully customizable schedule sheet. You can see what Illuminations High School Year 1 contains on the Bright Ideas website.
In addition, I am signing her up for Fall 2012: High School Literature Class 101 at CurrClick. They’ll be covering Bulfinch’s Greek and Roman Mythology, The Odyssey, Julius Caesar, Pilgrim’s Progress. This fits in perfectly with our history studies plus gives her opportunity to discuss literature with others. {My daughter took a Vote2012 class earlier this year from CurrClick and loved it. We plan on adding Founder’s Academy’s Eco. class and Gov’t class for her high school studies in the future.}
Government 101
This was a last-minute decision. It seemed silly to me to not cover this class during the election year! So my daughter is taking Government 101 with Founder’s Academy over on CurrClick.
Electives:
For the Fall Semester, my daughter will be taking a SAT Prep class at a local homeschool co-op. They will be using SAT Cram Plan as one of their resources.
Other High School Resources:
I purchased the High School 4 Year Planner in order to help my daughter and I keep track of classes, credits, volunteer hours and more. I’ll have a more in-depth review later this month plus a giveaway for a planner.
This is what our year looks like on paper so far. I’m sure there will be a couple changes or additions. I’ll be sure to update during the year and share our thoughts on our curriculum.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. All statements made in this post are my true and honest opinions. I was given Apologia Biology and Easy Grammar for review purposes only.
Oh this biology coloring book intrigues me! I will be looking into that. And it was inspiration from you that inspired me to get the high school planner (and student planners for my older three) Thanks Maureen. Locking arms with you on the high school journey!
I’m SO excited about Biology this year. I loved it as a high schooler and my 16 year old loves it too, so this is OUR year. Bring on the dissections!! LOL We are going to use Bridget Ardoin’s Science for High School Biology program, so we are super excited about this homeschool year…
Hi there!
I was wondering how you plan to use the student planners with your kiddos? Specifically, do you plan to hold a daily/weekly meeting to relay assignments, etc? I’d love to hear how you have or will be implementing this into your routine. I have an 8th grader and 5th grader this year and I’m toying with the idea of student planners (instead of the weekly assignment sheets I’d print out in the past) but I’d love to have some concrete ideas on how others use them.
Thanks so much!
Today was our first day using the planners. I went through and taught them how to use it, how to clip sections together, mark off assignments, etc. My thoughts are to have a weekly meeting where they get all the assignments for the week (for us this usually is Sunday evening). Then I plan on checking their planners each evening to see if everything is checked off and completed (I might not get everything graded, but I can check and see if the work is completed.) For my high schooler, I am having her keep track of time spent on work for each subject. Next to her assignment is a square. If she spent around 15min. on it, she colors 1/4 of the square, a half hour is half the square, 45 min. 3/4th of the square, 1 hour color in the whole square. This is to help us kind of track hours spent on subjects so that we can award appropriate credits.
We used Apologia Biology last year with our 14 and 13 year old boys and loved it. We did do the dissections at home plus the microscope work. I’m a biologist by education so it was right up my alley, though I have to admit taking apart dead things isn’t my favorite.
I think I could handle doing the frog, fish, and worm, but in the class she’ll be taking they’ll tackle a fetal pig, sheep organs, and a cat. I just couldn’t do the last one.
I’ll have a highschooler next year! It is amazing how time flies. We also use Apologia and will be doing Biology next year. The color book looks interesting.
We are easing into high school this year. My daughter is a bit behind due to some learning challenges. We use Time4Learning and supplement with various things she is interested in learning more about. Last year and this year she is enjoying forensic science as our supplement. We finished one series so I purchased a huge book this time around. We beta tested for Write Shop, they are really good. We have used Apologia and Teaching Textbooks in the past and liked them too. Last year we used Drive Thru History and will continue using them again this year.
I found a neat new site for high school homeschooling. It’s called Let’s Homeschool Highschool. I know I will need all the help I can get!!
http://letshomeschoolhighschool.com/
Joyfully,
Jackie
Thanks for linking up to the HomeSchool High link-up, my friend!
Wow, I didn’t realize you had a high schooler! If you run into any questions with Illuminations, just email me. We have been using it for 5 years. I printed off a check list for my senior and if by Friday his assignments aren’t done, I cancel his weekend. So far the first week as gone well 🙂
Thanks Stacey! I know who to turn to if I get stuck! Wish you’d come over and teach a few things– you are so creative! 🙂