Recommended Courses to Take in High School

May 2007

One of the key convictions of homeschooling is that parents know the best way to educate their children. A parent's knowledge about their student's learning style can help them in selecting the courses they should take in high school. Homeschooling in high school is very efficient and there is time to give your children an education that has breadth and depth. Here is a list of recommended courses to take in high school. Courses that colleges look for in their applicants. As you read it, think about how you can incorporate these subjects into your homeschool.

 

Colleges like to see four years of English, and there are a variety of ways that you can meet this requirement. Your student could study literature and composition through a prepared curriculum, or you could simply have them read and write a lot every year. You might want to consider having a speech class as an alternative. One year, one son wanted to take third year Latin but the other wanted to do first year French. One wanted to do Sonlight Language Arts but the other wanted to use "Learn to Write the Novel Way." I wanted to please everyone so we ended up doing EVERYTHING! This is a strategy I do NOT recommend! Unless, of course, you enjoyed the pain of childbirth.

 

It's important to have four years of math. It's less important what LEVEL of math they do each year. Colleges like to see kids moving forward in their math studies, so just teach your student consistently at their level. It's great to complete geometry before the PSAT test, and better still if they can complete Algebra 2 and Pre-calculus before taking the SAT test. But really, as long as you "do the next thing," working on math at their level, you can't lose.

 

 

 

 

Colleges like to see three to four years of social studies. Usually that will mean world history, US history, American government and economics. Our favorite supplement in this area was Teaching Company tapes. These are college level lectures on audio or video recording. My kids loved them! You aren't confined to choosing the "expected classes" for social studies, either. One year one son took a course in Russian History and the other chose Psychology. And remember: not every subject has to involve tests. Sometimes you can just "audit" a course like they do in college. That is how we used the Teaching Company lectures.

 

Three years of science is expected for college preparation, with at least one lab science. We used Apologia Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, which all had a lab component. Each area of science is so different that a child may really hate one but really love the other, so it's helpful to try to expose them to each one. You can also branch out into different subjects: geology, astronomy, etc. Colleges love to see unique courses!

 

 

 

Many colleges require a foreign language for admission, so be prepared. The best advice I ever got about foreign language is to do a little bit every day. A daily 15 minutes study period is a much more effective way to study than once a week for an hour. We used foreign language curricula that were designed for homeschoolers, who didn't already know the language. In general remember: you don't always have to know a subject to teach it. (For goodness sake, just look at our public schools!) You only have to know where to find a good curriculum (at a homeschool convention), and then let the student learn independently.

 

 

Some kids find it EASY to get the required two credits of PE. They get their PE credits from soccer team, summer swim league, or community running clubs. Some kids, however, hate physical exercise! Some other ways to obtain physical education credits are yoga or weight lifting at a YMCA. Your kids could also take CPR or a health course at a community center. Some kids who "hate" PE will love going swing-dancing, or downhill skiing. Any physical activity that breaks a sweat counts!

 

 

Colleges like to see some fine arts in the transcript. Not being an artistic family, we had to look up "fine arts" in the dictionary. What I learned is the fine arts are music, art, theater and dance. Who knew? There is a wide array of opportunities to find those credits. Some choose music or art lessons, but there are more budget - conscious ways to get the credits. My kids didn't like hands on projects, so we studied fine arts through history using library books. We studied music history by checking out CDs and biographical books on different composers and styles of music.

 

 

 

Some of the most valuable electives to include are driver's education, typing, logic, and computer skills. These are skills adults need every day. They either have them or wish they did. Make sure your student has the time to pursue their passion. A little known secret is that passion IS an elective! I had a student that loved chess and studied it for hours each week. One year in high school, we called those hours "critical thinking." The next year, when he began teaching chess classes, we called it "public speaking." The following year he had multiple chess jobs, and we called the course "occupational education." I know students that have specialized in ornithology (birds), fungus, economics, and musicology. Specialization is one of the benefits of homeschooling, so seize this opportunity!

 

So how do two normal parents with only a tenuous grasp of algebra, and a casual relationship with grammar, teach children upper math and Latin? The answer, my friend, is cheat. Not really cheat, but use people who are much smarter than you to help you through the rough spots. For example, there are LOTS of great video tutorials for every level in math - some of them even demonstrate the solution to every problem in the book. Where do you find these resources? At a homeschool convention or curriculum fair, where you can compare different choices side-by-side. And don't forget to bring your kids. Sometimes, the best thing to do for the "hard-to-please" teen is to give them ownership of the curriculum choice. Our oldest son shocked us all by choosing Saxon math for high school calculus. Mom and dad - who grew up thinking a math book had to have pretty pictures to be effective - were dismayed. But it seemed to work for him. Kids today!

 

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