by Betsy Sproger
Homeschooler and Consultant
Our next step, after researching admission requirements, was one we all are already so familiar with - selecting curriculum. As homeschoolers, we are experts at this.... it's a no-brainer!
Choosing curriculum for high school was really just the same for us, with one important difference....now we also had college requirements to think about as well.
So once we had our list of requirements in hand, we began to think about curriculum, one year at a time, of course....
We found the whole process to be about the same as earlier years.
We just went ahead and explored, chosing the textbooks, living books, and/or online courses that seemed to be a good fit. We worked to meet our teen's interests, and, at the same time, meet her college entrance requirements.
One thing that made it easier was that most of the requirements were quite similar for us, from college to college! But be sure to check your college choices, too...
My teen's interests centered around film making, and political science. But for either of these, the college entrance requirements for her, would be the same. She needed to complete her requirements in the basic subjects (LA, social studies, math and science), for either path, but we used her interests to guide us, as much as we could.
For example, we did a course in Government for one of her social studies requirements. And film making became more than one of her electives.
Then we came up with our initial plan for our first year. My teen was, of course, a big part of this process!
Below, I'll be sharing some of our favorite curriculum choices for high school. There are so many ways to homeschool high school...I'd love to hear of your favorites, too!
But first, here are some great resources, that we used in our initial searching:
SCIENCE:
Most of our colleges required two lab sciences. We found many choices for science including Oak Meadow, Apologia, A Beka, Switch-On-Schoolhouse (SOS), etc.
We made sure that our choices included a science lab component.
We decided to look for a structured course that included regular test-taking. Getting used to test-taking would help my daughter to prepared for later test-taking in college!
We decided on Switched-On-Schoolhouse (SOS), as we wanted a computer based program, and my daughter wanted to work independently. SOS also included regular test-taking, which we wanted, as it would help prepare her for the testing that she would encounter in her future college courses.
SOS also offered tutoring (from their high school science teachers), to be purchased by the half hour. Working some of the science problems out with a teacher really helped, when complex concepts came up.
We also used Home Science Tools for our high school lab kits.
Other Science Options we looked at:
For information on Apologia Science, and a review, please go to The Curriculum Choice, and search for "Tweaking Apologia’s Advanced Chemistry and Advanced Physics for Grade 12."
MATH:
Most of our college choices required Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. (Or the series that Saxon offers, which is equivalent). We looked at LifePacs, Switch-On-Schoolhouse, Math-You-See, Aleks, A Beka, etc. We also considered Teaching Textbooks, but found that, for us, it did not provide enough depth for good retention for us.
It's all about what fits for your student.
We found that SOS met our daughter's needs well, and it had the structured and depth to help my daughter with her recall.
Other things that we considered for math:
Check out The Curriculum Choice for a review of ALEKS, and also one on No-Nonsense Algebra.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
When looking for a high school English program, we found that most colleges wanted something strong in literature and composition. One option is to create your own course, and pick out the literature yourself. Pairing that with writing assignments can make up a complete LA course for your teen!
We decided to go another way, and used a ready made course. We chose Oak Meadow, which offered a variety of literature based courses. Oak Meadow is both a curriculum publisher and a distance learning school, which is college prep in nature.
Please see my review of Oak Meadow Literature and Composition II. This course focuses on reading good literature, literary analysis and essay writing. We wanted to be sure that my daughter got lots of writing practice, for her college essay writing later!
Another popular choice for English is the Institute of Excellence in Writing, IEW, which offers a very well established, structured, step by step approach to composition.
Excerpt from Barb's review: "TWSS lessons have built from one paragraph summaries to three paragraph essays to now a five paragraph essay with introduction, conclusion, and bibliography."
Other options we considered for LA:
We also looked at such programs as Robinson, Lifepacs, and SOS for english, and found them all to be very strong.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
We had a lot of flexibility for Social Studies, as our college choices wanted only a certain number of credits, but did not specify which courses.
You may have this same flexibility for social studies..Please be sure to check with your college choices.
We were able to choose from a wide variety of subjects, such as World History, US History, Geography, Economics, Psychology, etc.
We decided to use Oak Meadow's history and courses, and resources from the Rainbow Resource catalog, plus an SOS course in Government, for our social studies.
Other options we considered:
We also checked out SOS, Lifepacs, A Beka, and Ambleside Online, and Sonlight for social studies, and found them also to be strong, in my opinion.
This gives you an idea of what we chose for our high schooler. There are so many more choices that I haven't even mentioned.....
What are your favorites for high school curricula?
Happy Homeschooling!
Betsy
Betsy is an eclectic homeschooler, mom to her 17yo, consultant and blogger at BJ's Homeschool, who shares how she helped her always homeschooled daughter get accepted by four colleges. Her series called - Our Steps to College., includes tips and advise for the college application process. She offers free homeschool help to families here.
Homeschooler and Consultant
Our next step, after researching admission requirements, was one we all are already so familiar with - selecting curriculum. As homeschoolers, we are experts at this.... it's a no-brainer!
Choosing curriculum for high school was really just the same for us, with one important difference....now we also had college requirements to think about as well.
So once we had our list of requirements in hand, we began to think about curriculum, one year at a time, of course....
We found the whole process to be about the same as earlier years.
We just went ahead and explored, chosing the textbooks, living books, and/or online courses that seemed to be a good fit. We worked to meet our teen's interests, and, at the same time, meet her college entrance requirements.
One thing that made it easier was that most of the requirements were quite similar for us, from college to college! But be sure to check your college choices, too...
My teen's interests centered around film making, and political science. But for either of these, the college entrance requirements for her, would be the same. She needed to complete her requirements in the basic subjects (LA, social studies, math and science), for either path, but we used her interests to guide us, as much as we could.
For example, we did a course in Government for one of her social studies requirements. And film making became more than one of her electives.
Then we came up with our initial plan for our first year. My teen was, of course, a big part of this process!
Below, I'll be sharing some of our favorite curriculum choices for high school. There are so many ways to homeschool high school...I'd love to hear of your favorites, too!
But first, here are some great resources, that we used in our initial searching:
SCIENCE:
Most of our colleges required two lab sciences. We found many choices for science including Oak Meadow, Apologia, A Beka, Switch-On-Schoolhouse (SOS), etc.
We made sure that our choices included a science lab component.
We decided to look for a structured course that included regular test-taking. Getting used to test-taking would help my daughter to prepared for later test-taking in college!
We decided on Switched-On-Schoolhouse (SOS), as we wanted a computer based program, and my daughter wanted to work independently. SOS also included regular test-taking, which we wanted, as it would help prepare her for the testing that she would encounter in her future college courses.
SOS also offered tutoring (from their high school science teachers), to be purchased by the half hour. Working some of the science problems out with a teacher really helped, when complex concepts came up.
We also used Home Science Tools for our high school lab kits.
Other Science Options we looked at:
For information on Apologia Science, and a review, please go to The Curriculum Choice, and search for "Tweaking Apologia’s Advanced Chemistry and Advanced Physics for Grade 12."
MATH:
Most of our college choices required Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. (Or the series that Saxon offers, which is equivalent). We looked at LifePacs, Switch-On-Schoolhouse, Math-You-See, Aleks, A Beka, etc. We also considered Teaching Textbooks, but found that, for us, it did not provide enough depth for good retention for us.
It's all about what fits for your student.
We found that SOS met our daughter's needs well, and it had the structured and depth to help my daughter with her recall.
Other things that we considered for math:
Check out The Curriculum Choice for a review of ALEKS, and also one on No-Nonsense Algebra.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
When looking for a high school English program, we found that most colleges wanted something strong in literature and composition. One option is to create your own course, and pick out the literature yourself. Pairing that with writing assignments can make up a complete LA course for your teen!
We decided to go another way, and used a ready made course. We chose Oak Meadow, which offered a variety of literature based courses. Oak Meadow is both a curriculum publisher and a distance learning school, which is college prep in nature.
Please see my review of Oak Meadow Literature and Composition II. This course focuses on reading good literature, literary analysis and essay writing. We wanted to be sure that my daughter got lots of writing practice, for her college essay writing later!
Another popular choice for English is the Institute of Excellence in Writing, IEW, which offers a very well established, structured, step by step approach to composition.
Excerpt from Barb's review: "TWSS lessons have built from one paragraph summaries to three paragraph essays to now a five paragraph essay with introduction, conclusion, and bibliography."
Other options we considered for LA:
We also looked at such programs as Robinson, Lifepacs, and SOS for english, and found them all to be very strong.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
We had a lot of flexibility for Social Studies, as our college choices wanted only a certain number of credits, but did not specify which courses.
You may have this same flexibility for social studies..Please be sure to check with your college choices.
We were able to choose from a wide variety of subjects, such as World History, US History, Geography, Economics, Psychology, etc.
We decided to use Oak Meadow's history and courses, and resources from the Rainbow Resource catalog, plus an SOS course in Government, for our social studies.
Other options we considered:
We also checked out SOS, Lifepacs, A Beka, and Ambleside Online, and Sonlight for social studies, and found them also to be strong, in my opinion.
This gives you an idea of what we chose for our high schooler. There are so many more choices that I haven't even mentioned.....
What are your favorites for high school curricula?
Happy Homeschooling!
Betsy
Betsy is an eclectic homeschooler, mom to her 17yo, consultant and blogger at BJ's Homeschool, who shares how she helped her always homeschooled daughter get accepted by four colleges. Her series called - Our Steps to College., includes tips and advise for the college application process. She offers free homeschool help to families here.
