Planning for High School

Planning for High School: This is when it is very important to be keeping very good records, no matter what level of your state's oversight, since you will be giving your child a high school diploma.  If your child plans to go to college, you should check out your state's graduation requirements or the admission requirements of the college your child is interested in.  Dual credit options can also be part of your high school transcript and cover graduation requirements, depending on your local options.  Our local community college allows students to start in the 9th grade. If your child has special needs, you will want to research the appropriate requirements for your child.  Remember, these recommendations are based on typical children.

Minimal requirements usually involve:

Math

Science

English 

History/Social Studies

Foreign Language

Fine Arts

P.E.

Math: Algebra 1 should be taken in 8th grade for a somewhat advanced student or 9th grade for an average student.  Algebra or more advanced math classes taken in 8th grade can be counted on a high school transcript.  The typical progression is: Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra II, Precalcus/Trigonometry, and then Calculus classes.  Many students will not need to take all of these if they do not plan for a math- or science-based degree.  For example, we live in Texas, which requires three years of high school math (including Algebra 1, Geometry, and then an advanced math course).  My oldest did algebra 1 in 8th grade, is currently taking a College Math for Liberal Arts class at the community college as a 9th grader, and then will take geometry as a 10th grader.  My middle child will be completing algebra in 8th grade as well.

Science: A typical science progression in high school is biology, chemistry, and physics.  Texas's science graduation requirement is a minimum of 3 years of science.  One year is required to be biology, one can be chemistry or physics, and the last can be any advanced science class.  My oldest is currently doing biology.  Next year, she will be taking an Earth Science class through the community college, and she will take chemistry at home in 11th grade.  

English: Most states require 4 years of English.  English involves both literature and composition.  Typically, British Literature, American Literature, and World Literature are all covered.  Composition will involve essay writing and research papers.  My oldest is doing a composition class at the community college in 9th grade.  For the associate's dual credit degree that she is doing, she will also have a second dual credit more advanced composition class that she will complete before graduation.  She is doing the literature part of her English classes at home.  This year, she is doing classical epics and early British literature.  The curriculum we use follows literature chronologically instead of by location of writing, so it integrates world literature, British literature, and American literature at their appropriate times.

History/Social Studies:  Social Studies in high school will typically cover U.S. history, World History (and/or Geography), and U.S. government and economics.  Texas requires 3 years of history, requiring U.S. History, World History or World Geography, and U.S. government and economics.  The curriculum we use also integrates World History, British History, U.S. History, and U.S. government and economics chronologically.  It also includes Church History, which we cover as Catholics.

The curriculum we use is Mater Amabilis.  The high school curriculum is Levels 5 and 6.

Homeschool Planning series 1: Planning overview

How I plan:

1.   Pick the courses you want to do each year for each child. This will depend on the child's age and any special needs. I will be attaching a post, Courses by Age, that gives a general overview of my recommendations of what to cover each year at each age.

2.  Research different curricula after you have decided the kind of curricula you are looking for.  Here is a link about different types of homeschool curricula from Home Educator.com.  You may decide to use books to create your own course.  

3.  Figure out how many days a week you will be doing each subject.  Until high school, my kids only do school work 4 days a week.  We have a co-op on Fridays, and our co-op focuses on enrichment subjects.  

We do: Religion- 4 days a week

            Math-4 days a week

            Phonics/Grammar/Mechanics-4 days a week

            History- 4 days a week

            Science- 2 days a week through elementary, 3 days a week in middle school

            Geography- 3 days a week through early elementary, 4 days a week in late elementary and middle school

            Literature-4 days a week

We use multiple resources for each subject, so I then assign days for various books.

This is this year's daily schedule.  My high schooler's dual credit classes are also listed on the schedule.  Each child has a different color.  My high schooler is in pink, my middle schooler in blue, and my elementary child in orange.

4. If your curriculum doesn't already divide the books (and/or workbooks) into what to read and do each day or you are making your own curriculum, you will need to do it yourself.  I will be attaching a post, Creating Your Own Curriculum, that will include how to do this.

5.  I use Google Sheets (so you can definitely use Microsoft Excel if you have access to it) to plan what work is on each day.  I will post a more detailed post about how I do my daily planning, Making Your Daily Lesson Plan, which I can then use to do my weekly plans.

Reintroducing myself

 I am a mother of 3.  I have been homeschooling off and on since 2016, when my oldest was in kindergarten.  My kids now are 15 (a high school freshman), almost 13 (a 7th-8th grader), and 10.5 years old (an older 4th grader).  All of my kids are neurodiverse; my 15-year-old and 10.5-year-old both have ADHD, and my almost 13-year-old is autistic.  My almost 13-year-old also has a chronic illness that has caused her to be hospitalized multiple times over the past 2 years.  My 10.5-year-old was recently diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia.

We have mainly used Mater Amabilis, a Catholic Charlotte Mason curriculum, throughout.  I have used every level up through 9th grade at least once throughout our homeschooling life.  

I am hoping to share wisdom gained through our experiences to help other parents and families.