Homeschooling 11th Grade: Our Curriculum Choices For High School
Are you homeschooling high school? Many ask what we are using for Grade 11 programs and curriculum. Sharing our homeschool choices for the year!
Have you ever looked at your “little” one and realized, they aren’t so little anymore? *Sigh*
Disclosure: I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
One of the benefits of being a homeschool mom is spending time with my kids. As a working mom, I need to be intentional about finding time to connect with my teens.
As a result of those efforts, I’m close to my daughter. And I’m pretty proud of who she has become and I even like the person she is becoming ❤️
If you are a mom of teens you can probably relate. Time flies!
And before you know it you are facing the question: Do I homeschool the high school years or not?
If you are not sure if you can or should homeschool the high school years, be sure to read about the 3 questions I asked to help us decide what was right for our family ♥
Tips For Choosing High School Curriculum:
Now that your kids are older your homeschool will change, you’ve shifted roles from “I teach and control all the things” and moved into a supporting role for high school.
Therefore it is vital that you consider these tips when homeschooling a high schooler:
1. Talk to your kids.
In order to best guide and support your child, you need to have some idea of where they want to go.
It might surprise you that they have already given high school years a lot of thought. Especially if they know where they are going in life and how they want to get there.
Ask them these questions:
- After school, what are your plans?
- What kind of job do you want?
- Are you planning on secondary education?
- What kind of life do you want to live?
- What are your goals?
Now listen carefully. Try not to interrupt and do not belittle their ideas even if they seem far fetched.
Work with them to create a plan on how to reach their goals, whatever they may be.
Make a list of courses and credits they need in order to reach that goal.
To learn more about this I highly recommend Cure the Fear of Homeschooling High School: How to Be Sure You’re Not Missing Anything by Ann Karako. It is one of the few homeschooling books I recommend over and over again! It is THAT good!
Cure the Fear of Homeschooling High School: A Step-by-Step Handbook for Research & Planning
For the record, if your children are like mine this can be a very frustrating activity because mine don’t know what they want to do nor do they care.
That’s okay you can move on to the next tip.
2. Use what works with their learning style.
There are many different types of ways to learn but here are 3 basic types:
- Auditory Learner
- Kinesthetic Learner
- Visual Learner
An auditory learner learns through what they hear. They benefit greatly to having things read to them, instructions given orally, and will probably enjoy read alouds. When given dictation they will excel.
Examples: Use Story of the World Audio CDs and let them doodle, do sketch notes, or notebooking while listening and learning.
A kinesthetic learner learns through hands-on. They need to be moving and do not like to sit for long periods of time. They want to “try” what they are learning.
Example: A Science kit that allows them to learn and do. For older children kits such as Science Expeditions or the Eureka Crate.
A visual learner wants to be able to see what they are being taught. They prefer pictures, demonstrations, flashcards, and video approach to learning.
Example: Online programs that show how a problem is solved might work best such as CTCMath.
Bonus tip: If you are uncertain of your child’s learning style, watch them teach themselves something. They will naturally teach themselves in the way they learn best.
Therefore, you need to make sure your program/curriculum choices take the type of learner your child is into consideration.
Bonus: If you want to find out what type of homeschooler you are you might love this quiz!
3. Let them have input!
Show your kids new programs, ideas, books, projects…whatever. You NEVER know what they might say “Yes!” to trying out.
Or what might just catch their eye!
Talking to your kids is vital but don’t be afraid to introduce them to out of the box ideas.
Need an example? You can read how I messed up here.
Grade 11 Curriculum Choices:
I’ll be sharing what we are planning on using for Grade 11 because one of the biggest challenges of homeschooling and working is finding curricula that will work for you and your family.
Checking out what others are using is a great way to get new ideas to see what might work for you!
By the way, I’ll include clickable links and reviews when possible. I find personally that is the best way to see how something might work.
High School Planner:
One of the most important things I did this past year was to get my kids to start planning their own time.
Learning to set goals and manage their time wisely will be skills they will continue to use for life… I hope!
To get my daughter started, we set weekly planning dates. We meet at the kitchen table each Sunday night with our planners and planning supplies and treats!
Food is a great motivator for teens 🙂
Last year we used the Sarah’s Scribbles planner and it was one of our favorites. It is not designed for kids so be sure to flip through it first if you can.
This year she is deciding between a few different ones.
If your kids like online planners, I highly recommend Homeschool Planet (review) or Flexible Homeschool (review). As you can see I’ve used both. I prefer Homeschool Planet as it handles everything I can throw at it but if you want a simple and focused online planner, Flexible planner is perfect!
High School Math:
After trying and failing at so many math programs we find CTC Math is the best fit.
This online program has the option to print some lessons, keep records, and they can learn at their own pace.
I love that when she completes a section it will send me a printable award. Simple but she loves it!
You can check out our full review here on how we make this program work for us.
High School Language Arts:
Last year we used a program from Literary Adventures for Kids called Poetry and a Movie: A Poetry Study for High School, and she LOVED it.
This year we are digging into other courses they offer. They have an American Literature Series. I am letting her pick any of the studies that catch her attention!
Here is the list of high school studies. In each one, your child will go on rabbit trails of discovery into history, culture, and more. You will find ways to learn by experiencing parts of the book through hands-on activities.
American Literature Series:
- The Scarlet Letter Online Book Club
- To Kill A Mockingbird Online Book Club for Teens
- Fahrenheit 451 Online Book Club for Teens
- The Great Gatsby Online Book Club for Teens
- The Outsiders Online Book Club for Teens
- Up From Slavery Online Book Club for Teens
- Of Mice and Men Online Book Club for Teens
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Online Book Club for Teens
- Little Women Online Book Club for Teens
- Slaughterhouse-Five Online Book Club for Teens
By the way, you can purchase them in two different ways.
- Individually as linked above
- Grab the membership and get access to all the courses for your child (this is the best deal)
Each online literary guide has everything you need to study the book. This course includes vocabulary, grammar, discussion questions, rabbit trails, and a writing project. It is perfect for a month of high school level literature.
These literary guides do not come with the book. I create lists on Amazon to keep track and save money. You can purchase the books in digital, paperback, hardcover, and audio formats. They may also available at your local libraries.
Here is the list we made on Amazon of all of these books so you can see what I mean. Don’t forget to use Ebates to get cash back!
High School Science:
We love to supplement our science with our favorite subscription boxes, e-books and fun experiments the kids find.
This year her base will be Biology with Lab from All In One High School. This is the high school site of Easy Peasy.
High School History:
I’m going to be honest, I am still not 100% sure if we are doing Early American History from All In One High School or not.
Last year, she did a hands on learning fun mix of unit studies and textbooks for Canadian History and it was so much fun! (You can find my resource list here.)
The very idea of going back to a more online format is bumming her out.
We are also checking out Hands of a Child for history ideas. I am just not quite sure how much planning and work is involved for me yet.
High School Health & Physical Education:
A few months ago we dragged the kids on an outback hiking trip!
It was the same hike my husband and I took 2 years ago. The scenery was amazing and worth every single step. You can see photos here.
Because I had blown out my knee on that trip and it took 6 weeks in recovery I’ve been hitting the gym fairly consistently.
Therefore, when my daughter decided to come along this time she also joined the gym. She comes about 3-4 times a week and trains.
We feel educating our kids on their food and activity choices is vital to raising healthy adults. She’s been learning about food, cooking and working out as part of our lifestyle for years.
Here are a few resources we’ve used:
- Kids Cook Real Food. Not only does this program teach basic cooking skills but it encourages them to think about what is IN their food. You can read our full review here.
- How to Read Nutrition Labels for Kids: This is a 2 part video + Worksheet activity that teaches our kids how to read nutrition labels in the video so they can make informed, healthy decisions.
- Living the Good Life by David Patchell-Evans: this book came with the membership and includes his personal story, the basics of fitness, balanced health.
- Choose My Plate: Helps you learn more about building healthy food and physical activity habits will help teens now and as they enter adulthood.
High School Art
My daughter is my artsy one. As a mom who has zero artistic talent, I am so happy to have resources that I can rely on.
Last year she used Art School: Drawing 101 For Older Kids And Teens. (Read our review here) She will continue on with that.
She is also going to be using Artist and the Elements online course. I’ll be starting her off with the freebie course called Shape and Form.
I think this will be a perfect lesson to ease her back into taking instruction. All you need is a pencil and paper. Students will learn some basic pencil skills that will take a flat shape and make it appear three dimensional. These are simple skills are easily applied to future artwork and have a big impact!
High School Driving Course:
That’s right by “baby” is learning to drive.
She will be attending 30 hours of classroom instruction and driving with an instructor. I am not sure which program as of yet as we were NOT happy with Young Drivers Of Canada last year.
Thanks to the pandemic we had to put this off as all the courses closed.
High School Typing:
Because so much of our lives require technology, one of our “deals” when we purchased my daughter her own laptop was that she had to learn to type.
We’ve tried a lot of free programs, but so many were childish. I’ve been really happy with Typsey (review).
Typsey is just plain fun. It focuses on learning the right way to type to prevent injury and your child can choose how to learn.
You can learn through courses or playing games.
I highly recommend starting with courses and choosing the interactive option from the drop-down menu on the right.
There you have it our 11th grade curriculum plan.
You might think that high school is scary. I sure did. I have learned that it is great to be able to step back and let her take responsibility for her education.
This year was so much easier than I thought it would be. We went through the books, dug out the 4 year plan we created last year and saw what was missing. Adjusted and look at what was working and what wasn’t.
Are you homeschooling high school? What is your favorite curriculum you are using?
Many freak out about the very idea of homeschooling high school. I know I did! I thought it was going to be horrible and scary. It wasn’t. If you are worried you can’t do this, breathe deep momma and repeat after me, “I got this!” Have a little faith and trust in you.
I LOVE this book to help me cure the fear and overwhelm of homeschooling high school. Read my review here: Cure The Fear: A Powerful Tool To Help You Homeschool High School With Confidence
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Hi, I’m Jen. I help working moms juggle their career and homeschool their kids by providing support, systems and tools. You are warmly invited to Join the Online Community Here!
