10th Grade Schedule

[Guest Latabb]

Hi,

 

My daughter will start the 10th grade in the fall. I'm in the process of setting up her classes and need a little help. Any suggestions from you veterans would be great.

 

Thanks,

 

 

Linda in VA

[Kareni]

Here's a thread from a few months ago that might give you some ideas --

 

10th grade curriculum..anyone willing to share what..

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Michelle in AL]

I have one who'll be in 10th grade too. Will yours be college bound? If so, this is a good time to start test prep. Mine will take the ACT & PSAT for practice in 10th.

 

What is she interested in? Is she a science or math type?

 

Is she talented in Lang arts?

 

What are her interests? This can help in choosing electives.

 

Figure in 2-3 yrs for foreign language. My dd will start spanish 1 this yr.

 

Do you want to outsource anything?

[home2333]

It's important to work backwards from high school graduation. Does she know a couple places where she might want to go to college? If so, find out what they require and work from there. If she doesn't know, pick a few colleges in your area, look at their requirements, and see if you can fit them in her last three years of high school. Consider her interests, and consider that when she is applying for colleges early in her 12th grade, she will want her transcript to show that she did well in the challenging classes she took during her 10th and 11th grades. I recommend writing up a possible, able-to-be-changed plan for the next three years and getting feedback from her before, during, and after the plan is on paper.

 

Grace

[creekland]

I'm just starting now to settle on what my 10th grader is going to do next year. Here are my thoughts so far. For what it's worth, at this point, he wants to go into medical research in some form and is very talented academically...

 

- English: A BIG ? He's done Notgrass World and American in 8th and 9th respectively, so I really need to do some research here. Whatever we do, Wordly Wise will be part of it.

 

- Math: Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace for the Next Generation. He's finished Alg 1, 2, and Geo and I want to give him a year prior to Pre-Calc. It's a great time age-wise to fit in a really good 'life' math course. Pending his results on an SAT practice test, I might also work with him on any holes I find from his previous 3 courses.

 

- History: Government with Notgrass & Economics. I'm not sure which book for that yet. I've had Clarence Carson's Basic Economics recommended, but I have yet to look at it myself. Edited to add that I opted to go with the Teaching Company's DVD's for Economics - found the DVDs new (3rd ed) on e-bay for $125, so bought them a few minutes ago... sure seems to beat the $375 they cost from the company. I now hope they are what they were advertised as... :)

 

- Science: This is a toughie. He just finished Apologia's Biology, so we need to decide between Advanced Bio or Chemistry. We don't know if it's better to keep going with Bio now or wait a little and have it more fresh right before college. His senior year he'll probably be doing a microbio course at our local CC, but we need to order these two here at home... I've given him his options and will likely let him choose. (Anyone with thoughts can feel free to chime in.)

 

- Spanish: Continuing with Rosetta Stone's Latin American Spanish

 

- Art: An easy art history book - just for the basics

 

- Health: Possibly Abeka's, possibly just reading Nutrition Action and writing reports. We did that this year and it seemed to work well. We did Abeka the year before and I liked their program, so who knows?

Edited June 4, 2009 by creekland

[Lori D.]

My big picture for planning each high school year:

 

1. Look ahead

First, I look at what the state high school requirements are for credits and graduation, plus what kinds of credits colleges are looking for. That gives me a very general "skeleton" of what classes we need and generally when we need to take them. (For example, we need 4 English credits, so we need to come up with an English course every year; we need 3 lab Science credits, so we need to do Science for 3 of the 4 years, or stretch our hours over all 4 years; etc.).

 

Generally high schools/colleges require:

- English = 4 credits

- Math = 3 credits (minimum: Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2; more if entering a science field)

- Science = 3 credits (with labs; more if entering a science field)

- History = 2 credits (1 credit required as U.S. history)

- Foreign Language = 2 credits (must be the SAME language)

- Electives = 2 credits (can be different things)

 

Some states require other credits, such as .5 to 1 credit of Government (Civics) and/or Economics, or .25 to .5 credit of Health. And while not required by any schools, taking a Driver's Ed. course can help lower your student's auto insurance.

 

 

2. Look back

Then I look back at what we've already done and see what can be checked off the list from earlier high school years, and even a class or two from 8th grade. (For example, taking Algebra or Biology in 8th grade.)

 

I also look back to assess how our students are doing with foundational skills (the 3 "Rs"), which helps me determine if we need to add in remedial work, take more time with a subject, cut back on the overall number of classes so we can get those foundational skills solid, etc. (For example, one student continues to struggle with English skills, so we'll focus on that with extra work, but we'll also put off attempting the Foreign Language credit until he's solid with his native language.)

 

3. Look at the student

Then I take a good look at the strengths and interests of each student to see what kinds of classes we can build around those things that might very well be career oriented, or will help develop skills that can be lifelong enjoyable hobbies. These can count as elective credits, or at least as accomplishments to be added to job and college applications.

 

I also look at expanding our students' horizons -- what areas can we arrange a class, a seminar, a trip, an outing that will give our students new experiences and allow them to try out new things. Again, those things can count towards an elective credit or accomplishment.

 

4. Look up

For me as a Christian, consulting the Lord is an important part of the entire planning process, asking for His wisdom and guidance, His inspiration and creativity -- what attitudes and character issues is He wanting us to work on, and how does He want us to go about doing so.

 

 

After going through the above steps, I usually have a list of classes, with some checked off, and then I carefully consider the learning style and needs of each of our students to determine how to accomplish each class:

- make our own course

- textbook / pre-existing program

- DVD course

- online course

- local co-op class or public school class

- community college class

 

 

The big temptation I find I have to fight each year is to plan *too much*, and always have to back off the number of courses and how much work I include in each course, in order to leave our students time to breathe and think and figure out who they are; to explore and develop their own interests; to have time to read books of their own interest; etc.

 

The best advice I have received about planning high school was in a homeschool convention session by Mary Schofield (author of "The High School Handbook"), in which she reiterated that you really have very little time in high school, so it is critical to pray and determine what are the things that are most crucial to you that your student leave home with -- life skills, critical thinking skills, personal habits/attitudes, spiritual discipline/relationship with the Lord, etc. -- and make sure you include those things *first* in your planning, and the academics will fall in line. BEST of luck as you plan! Warmly, Lori D.