Have you started back to homeschool yet? Homeschooling high school doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Though, I have to admit I do understand that overwhelming feeling. This year we are homeschooling 11th grade. See what curriculum choices I’m making for the school year.
When I started homeschooling I kept telling myself, just take it one year at a time. And, for the most part that’s what I’ve tried to do. Of course, by the time 9th grade came along I needed a general four year plan. Yet, I’ve been flexible enough to know that I can make changes as needed.
He stunned me this summer by telling me he isn’t so sure he wants to do architecture any more. So, I’ve had to use that flexibility to alter courses a bit.
This post contains affiliate advertisement links.
Homeschooling 11th Grade Curriculum Choices
Need help planning for homeschooling high school? My friend Heather has the perfect Homeschooling High School by Design ecourse that can walk you through step-by-step so you can feel confident in graduating your teens. And, don’t miss her Homeschooling for College by Design ecourse as well.
Homeschool Curriculum Planner
As you plan don’t forget a planner. You can download my Homeschool Teacher Planner for free if you like a paper planner.
Or, if you prefer a digital planner I recommend Homeschool Planet. It allows you ease of scheduling.
I personally like using both. I use the online digital planner to manage the overall year, but I’m a paper and pencil king of girl. So, I keep a copy of the paper planner as well. I don’t put all the lesson details in the paper planner, but do keep a general overview of the schedule so we can stay on task day to day.
Homeschooling 11th Grade Curriculum
Bible Curriculum
This continues to be a top quality Bible curriculum for our family. I see my son digging much deeper into scripture. He’s truly developing his own faith and his own understanding of the truth of God’s word.
While this is a Bible class curriculum designed for congregations. I’ve easily been able to adapt it into homeschooling by breaking up the lessons. So he spends about 30 minutes in Bible study each morning before moving on to other subjects. This allows him to complete about 5 lesson books per school year.
We started these last year, but weren’t able to spend a lot of time with them. As my son gets older though I want him to have an even broader understanding how truth of scripture applies in real world situations. So I plan to return to these this year.
Social Studies/Literature
Notgrass’s unit study, Charlotte Mason style, materials continue to serve as the spine for our homeschool. It allows my son to learn from a Christian based world-view but is quite comprehensive in scope of world and American history and social studies.
This year he’s doing Exploring Government, a high school level civics curriculum. This curriculum covers 1 semester’s worth of learning so you can assign 1/2 credit social studies for this material.
Because it incorporates literature into the lesson plan, you can also give a 1/2 credit for literature
For the second semester he will transition to Exploring Economics. Also written from a Christian worldview this material teaches students about how money works in our world, both in American and globally. But, it does so in a way that teaches them how to be good stewards of money.
This material is a one semester curriculum so you can 1/2 credit social studies for this material. Doing this back to back with Exploring Government means you can assign a full social studies credit for the year.
Again, this material incorporates relevant literature into the lessons, so you can credit an additional 1/2 credit of literature making for 1 credit for the year.
Language Arts – Creative Writing Curriculum
In all the years we’ve been homeschooling creative writing has been the most difficult subject for my son. I’ve written time and again about the struggles of creative writing.
I’ve written so many times about finding materials to help him get past the struggle. But, time and again, he’d start the material and before long he’d get frustrated and give up.
So, I was beginning to get skeptical that he’d ever overcome this problem.
But, I was wrong.
Midway through our school year last year I learned something important. I learned that the struggle likely stemmed from a communication disorder. And, through speech therapy he has begun to overcome whatever it was that was keeping him from communicating, and thus writing, effectively.
- One Year Adventure Novel
After some help from the speech therapist he went from never wanting to write even one paragraph to wanting to write a book, well, really a series of books.
So, I’ve decided to give the One Year Adventure Novel a try. Though, admittedly I will still need to order the material. I’m excited to see how he will utilize the guide to fulfill his own desire to write a book.
Math
This year it will be Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry. Honestly, because my son started Khan Academy before they offered grade levels, he mostly has approached math from the World of Math.
This means, he gets credit for all skills as he works. He’s already 77% mastered in Trigonometry, and 30% mastered in Pre-calculus. I’ll have to watch his progress.
If he gets through these by the end of first semester, I’ll have him work on high school statistics for the second semester.
Foreign Language
- Mango Language
Mango language has extended their offering with our local library, so he will continue to use Mango Languages for Spanish this year.
Health Curriculum
We started Health and Nutrition last year, but as you know sometimes as schedules change we have to adapt. I ended up dropping this elective last year to make room for him to take Occupational and Speech therapy.
Which means, this year I hope to jump back in so he can complete the material.
Fine Arts
Music Appreciation of the Romantic Era for High School. Since my son will be entering his 11th year of piano lessons he’s had a pretty decent amount of instruction in music theory and music history.
Most of his music has been focused on the classical and baroque eras and I thought it would be a good idea for him to get a more in-depth history of the romantic era.
This year I’ve chosen to use the online lesson materials from Music in Our Homeschool. I find that it has a comprehensive study and will serve him well as a pianist.
- Piano Lessons
We have chosen to seek out a new piano teacher this year. And, we are enrolling him in the UMKC Conservatory of Music for private lessons.
While these will be private lessons, and not for college credit, he will be working closely with one of the college professors of music. I believe this will both challenge and inspire him.
- Art Lessons
I plan to use Sparketh.com again this year. It has proved to be a valuable resource for my creatively talented son. He really enjoyed doing the portrait course and I can’t wait to see which course he chooses next.
Discover other ways you can teach art in your homeschool, even when you don’t feel that you have the talent to do so.
You purchase a plan, and then from there all courses are available to the student.
That’s about it for this year. As an eclectic homeschooler we do make changes as necessary each year. I never want to feel like a given material is our task master. Rather, I want to be confident in knowing that in homeschool I have the freedom to adjust as necessary for the needs of my family.
What about you? Are you homeschooling 11th grade? What are you utilizing in your homeschool this year?
Don’t Miss These Homeschooling High School Posts
- How to Prepare for Homeschooling High School
- 10 High School Homeschool Bloggers You Should Follow
- Homeschooling High School 9th Grade Curriculum Picks
- Homeschooling 10th Grade High School Curriculum Picks
