How I Homeschooled High School

Yes!  Homeschooling high school is doable!  If I can do it, you can too! At the time of publishing our oldest child is a few weeks from graduating high school and our second child is almost finished with 9th grade. Here are resources and plans that are working for us.

RESOURCES:

My first source of information comes from “The Homescholar”, Lee Binz at https://www.homehighschoolhelp.com/ .  Her free webinars and ebooks are encouraging.  She’ll show you it can be done, explain how to plan the right high school credits, how to keep records (report cards, transcripts, course descriptions, and work samples—all that scary stuff), how to find scholarships, and more.  She offers a paid support option as well, but I haven’t signed up for it.  

Other places I've gained guidance and resources include HSLDA.org and https://allinonehighschool.com/ . Since 2013, I made a habit of attending a homeschool convention near me at least every other year.  I recommend attending workshops on teaching at the high school level.  I gained a lot of insight and inspiration from them, and I refer to my notes from them often.

OUR CURRICULUM:
When our oldest was in 5th grade, my husband and I attended a homeschool convention, and spent time visiting the curriculum booths together.  I had spent grades 1-4 bouncing from one curriculum to another and was looking for something I could teach from high school.  I wanted some continuity for our children.  I was indecisive, so I wanted my husband’s input and accountability to stop thinking the grass was greener on the other side of the curriculum fence - you know, where that perfect, dream curriculum lies. We both loved what we saw from My Father’s World (https://www.mfwbooks.com/) because it appeared to be rigorous enough to prepare our children for college, should they choose to go.  We also liked that the books have a Christian worldview and teach critical thinking skills.  It is designed that the student be virtually independent, lightening the load on the teacher / mom, though I am available as needed.  The complete 36-week schedule lays out the lesson plans for the student to follow himself/herself.  There is a parent meeting once a week to go through some discussion questions and check in on how the student is doing.  This independence prepares the student for managing responsibility, due dates, study skills and time management - all valuable for adulthood.

For a Health credit, I wasn't happy with the "Total Health" curriculum which MFW recommended, but we have been using Apologia Science's "Health and Nutrition" this year for our second daughter and have been very happy with it. Total Health seemed to have outdated health guidelines and was unengaging. Apologia's book came out two years ago with current information, a colorful workbook with activities to complete, and relevant information for my growing teen. For example, she often let me know what she had learned that applied to the nutrition content of certain foods or how to stretch a stiff neck.

Our oldest is nearly done with her senior year, has scored very well on the ACT, and is accepted to attend the college she chose.  All that said, we are very happy with MFW and plan to continue using it for high school. 


TESTING:

Lee Binz recommends your student should take the PSAT Sophomore and Junior years to get comfortable with the testing process and to see how well you do in each subject.  Our local public high school allowed our daughter to take the PSAT alongside their own students.  We simply paid the fee to cover the cost of the test. She showed a weakness in math, so we got some tutorial materials to help her prepare for the ACT.  I got “ACT Math for Dummies” because a fellow homeschool mom had recommended the “ACT for Dummies” as a great resource.  I also found ACT Flashcards by Barron's Test Prep to be very helpful to my daughter’s test preparation.  I see that some of these flash cards are available for free use on Quizlet.com (HERE and HERE). Understand that the way the ACT, SAT, PSAT and even the GRE exams are structured, the student needs to have some critical thinking skills and strategies to do well in the time allotted for each test. Even if the student doesn't possess a mastery of all the math skills, knowing how to eliminate some of the multiple choice answers because they don't make sense can help. These study resources help teach an understanding of these skills and strategies.

Our oldest did not do any dual enrollment classes, but she is taking 4 CLEP tests to cut college costs and receive credit for some required core courses in college. If your student is college-bound, look into how many CLEP credits they will accept, which ones, and which credits will apply your student's degree program. Then find a testing center near you and arrange to take the tests. The cost savings of 3 college credits from a passing score on the CLEP exam is well worth the fee to take the test.

RECORD KEEPING:
Each quarter, I prepare a simple report card with a letter grade for each class, a percentage grade, and the calculated GPA (grade point average).  At the end of the year, I compile and file all finished work into a hanging file box, divided by class/subject, and I complete the transcript for her high school credits and classes completed so far. 

You can view a simple example report card from my Google Docs is HERE. 

You can also see my format for a transcript on Google Docs HERE.  You'll notice in the transcript, I have created class descriptions.  It's a good idea to have this as some colleges may be interested to know what your classes consisted of, and what resources your student used.  Include in your transcript activities, clubs, and volunteer work your student completes, as well as a list of books and other materials your student has read for school and fun.  Keep samples of your student's best work in each subject as well, as some college or scholarship applications may ask for these.

CREDITS:
When I considered what credits my high school student would need to graduate, I compared what my curriculum suggested, what the guidelines were for public high school graduates in my state, and what a few different colleges required - especially colleges which offer degree programs for what my student plans to pursue.

You may need to create a course or two tailored to your student for an elective credit, perhaps Fine Arts or PE.  In that case, you should know that one credit in high school equals about 150-180 hours of work.  A half credit would be about 75-90. 

For a Fine Arts elective, my daughter is doing a combination of photography and photo-book compilation and painting.  I have her record what she does and how long she spends doing it on a one-page paper with 180 squares.  When all the squares are full, I will consider her finished.  I used a free PDF from All In One Homeschool HERE . 

For PE, she has a combination of volleyball and soccer through our homeschool co-op and some health and nutrition education projects.  She also does self-directed exercise in the back yard or bicycling or takes a brisk walk in our neighborhood to fill some time.

For a foreign language, I have not been happy with Rosetta Stone. Our oldest used it for learning two years of Spanish, and though she gained a lot of simple vocabulary and sentences, Rosetta Stone did not delve much into the conjugation of verbs as a traditional program does. She enhanced her Spanish knowledge by taking a course based on Abeka's "Por Todo El Mundo". Abeka also offers a French course. I would recommend this, either working with a tutor who understands the language well, or using Abeka's video course. Our second child has been doing German through this website. I have created a schedule for her that includes working with the DuoLingo app, as well as learning about the German culture, foods and culture. Our third wants to learn Japanese, so I found a program HERE. The workbooks and textbooks for this program were hard to find, as they are a few years old, and, I suspect, out of print. We found a few on Amazon, and one on eBay.

I hope this gives you the inspiration and resources to inspire you to consider homeschooling your high school student. It has been a rewarding experience for us.

Check out the rest of my series on “How I Homeschooled” for the following grade levels: How I Homeschooled Preschool How I Homeschooled Kindergarten How I Homeschooled 1st grade How I Homeschooled 2nd grade How I Homeschooled 3rd grade How I Homeschooled 4th through 8th grade How I Homeschooled High School