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Best Homeschool High School Literature Suggestions For Teens

December 15, 2020 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Creating these homeschool high school literature suggestions for teens is more satisfying now that my teens graduated. Looking back, I know their love of reading came from being exposed to a variety of genre.

Having a variety of genre to choose from is just one element of keeping teens reading into adulthood.

Beyond reading to fill a high school credit, use your time with your homeschooled teens to shape and develop their thinking.

Contrary to what some educators think, teens are still questioning beliefs. Their thinking is not fully matured. Issues raised in literature gives you the opportunity to analyze beliefs.

Too, high school and college courses require your teens to interpret literary terms and techniques. I found this was best done by classic literature.

Best Homeschool High School Literature Suggestions For Teens

The point is whether your teen is reading American, British, or World literature he is gaining a greater understanding of the world. That is something which will stick with him well into adulthood.

This high school literature list will give you a starting point in choosing the best literature for your family.

Moreover, don’t fret if your teen is still not loving to read. Some of these books will ignite a fire and did I mention some are short?

Whether you have a teen who is a voracious reader or who is an unenthusiastic reader, I have some high school literature suggestions for all.

Homeschool High School Literature

  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • The Great Gatsby
  • The Red Badge of Courage and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)
  • The Old Man and The Sea
  • A Tale of Two Cities (Dover Thrift Editions)
  • The Time Machine (Dover Thrift Editions)

Also, it’s important to remember that there is so much more going on when a teen engages with a book

Books for your High School Teen

For example, when a teen reads

  • and the genre is historical fiction it can make the time period come alive;
  • and the prose is challenging, it can raise his reading comprehension;
  • his vocabulary is expanded; and
  • critical thinking skills are introduced.

Knowing that so much more is involved then filling a credit at the high school level, be choosy about what your teen reads.

Also, what helped me at the high school level are the self-paced online classes, Literary Adventures for Kids.

We covered a poetry unit for one of my teens in a fun way.

Look at my post Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved).

Best Homeschool High School Literature Suggestions For Teens

Teens Reading List

  • Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus (Oxford World’s Classics)
  • Emma (Penguin Classics)
  • The Odyssey
  • By Frank Herbert Dune (S.F. Masterworks)
  • All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

See, I had to learn the hard way that a teen should have a choice in what he reads.

I remember being in English class in middle school and reading about boring topics.

I was a good reader, but not an enthusiastic reader until I read The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. He’s not an author I thought I would be drawn to as a teen.

However, his stories and poems invoked a love for reading detective stories along with his great storytelling. I loved everything about that poem, the figurative language, the dynamics, and the theme.

Homeschool High School Reading

The point is I would have never picked up his book on my own when evaluating my choices.

So your teen needs your help. It literally takes one book your teen can’t put down for your teen to look at reading differently.

Now as a parent, it is a learned balancing act when each teen got to the high school level.

I tried to find their interests and themes they loved to weave that with other genre they weren’t interested in or thought so at the time.

Also, another way to engage your high school kids is to learn through a theme.

We love history in our house and learning history through living literature has been one of our very favorite ways to learn history.

For 9th Grade
For 10th Grade

We love Beautiful Feet History, and have used their high school literature. They suggest the following sequence which we mostly followed.

Grade 9  |  Early American and World

Grade 11  |  Medieval History Senior High

Grade 10  |  Ancient History Senior High

Grade 12  |  Modern U.S. and World History for Senior High

Grade 11

Books for High School Readers

  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Dover Thrift Editions)
  • The Last of the Mohicans (The Leatherstocking Tales)
  • The Three Musketeers
  • Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Vintage Classics)
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Pearl; [and] Sir Orfeo
  • Gone With the Wind

Although my teens had choices, I also had requirements because I wanted to invoke conversations to get my teens to think about the broader picture.

Learning to think critically means to know how to support your ideas from the book. It’s not always easy to do with just books they chose to read.

  • The Call of the Wild by Jack London: Complete With Original And Classics Illustrated
  • Robinson Crusoe (Unabridged & Illustrated)
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  • Les Miserables: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The Original 1820 Edition
  • Pride and Prejudice

Why Some Homeschoolers Choose to Read Banned Literature

Next, I also had to decide how I wanted to talk to my teens about sensitive subjects. A lot of homeschoolers, including myself, reject some modern reading lists.

However, the similarity stops there when choosing literature. Families and teens differ in how they want to handle sensitive topic.

When you research about banned books, the Washington Post stated, “The American Library Association launched Banned Books Week in 1982 to celebrate the freedom to read.”

However, every since then, the topic of banned books sparks controversy for any education. You too have to decide if you’ll present these banned books to your teen.

It’s been my experience that the sensitive subjects in books allows me the chance to direct my children about mistakes of the past.

  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer AND The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Unabridged. Complete with all original illustrations)
  • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
  • Roots: The Saga of an American Family
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  • Great Expectations (Penguin Classics)
  • Common Sense: The Origin and Design of Government

I didn’t want to cover up mistakes in history, but to expose them so we learn from them. Most important that we don’t repeat them in the future.

Children relate to everyday things and some kids lives have had painful turns they couldn’t control. Although my kids didn’t experience the sadness of divorce and death at the time, they had friends who did.

Homeschool High School Books

It helped my sons to form a compassion for their friends. Every child has a different maturing rate and I was sensitive to each teen’s emotions.

The point is that you are the only one to know whether you want your children to read banned books or not. Me? I will do the choosing for my family and determine the values; you probably feel the same way.

  • The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition
  • The War for Independence: The Story of the American Revolution
  • Lord of the Flies
  • Ivanhoe (Penguin Classics)
  • Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
  • The Scarlet Letter

Homeschool High School Reading List

I want the opportunity to help my sons’ learn from the past, but not be promoting ideologies which conflict with our worldview.

That is not always easy to do, but being familiar with literature your teen is absorbing is essential.

  • Wuthering Heights (Penguin Classics)
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • Invisible Man (Penguin Essentials) by Ralph Ellison
  • Anna Karenina
  • The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
  • Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & the War Years (Library of the Presidents)

As you see from this quick list that the books reflect personal tastes of each teen. In the end, you want your child to enjoy reading.

I stressed way too much about balancing the genre when my focus should have been on the short time I had with each teen.

Besides being forced-fed never worked for any reader. So use this list to begin your list for your unique teen.

Lastly, this is by no stretch all that each kid read in high school.

As I pore over my huge amount of books, I’ll update this post for you.

The point today was to get this quick glance to you.

In the end what matters is creating a lifelong reader.

Remember what Francis Bacon said “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few are to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”

Best Homeschool High School Literature Suggestions For Teens

I know you’ll love these other posts:

  • How to Choose the Best Middle School Literature And Favorite Resources
  • How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Middle and High School Language Arts Curriculum & Options
  • Online Homeschool High School Poetry (No Teaching Involved)
  • Modern U.S. and World History High School Literature
  • 3 Beginner’s Tips: Homeschool High School Literature
  • 8 World War II Historical Fiction Books for Middle School
  • Homeschooling High School: Curriculum, Credits, and Courses
  • 20 Nature-Inspired Kids’ Novels to Nurture Interest In the Outdoors
  • A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives

Hugs and love ya,

2 CommentsFiled Under: Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Multiple Ages of Children, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, Reading Lists, Teach Homeschool Language Arts Tagged With: book lists, books, high school, high school electives, high school literature, homeschool highschool, homeschool subjects, homeschoolanguagearts, homeschoolhighschool, homeschoolreading, language arts, languagearts, literature, reading

How to Choose the BEST Homeschool Middle and High School Language Arts Curriculum & Options

September 13, 2020 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

How to choose the best homeschool middle and high school language arts curriculum can be intimidating unless you have a road map.

Knowing the elements of language arts is important; knowing that not every teen needs the same amount of instruction for each component is equally important.

Before I dive into creating a middle and high school language arts curriculum road map, you need to see my post Free Middle and High School Homeschool Language Arts.

Using free language arts curriculum before you make a purchase can be especially helpful for many reasons:

  • Budget friendly curriculum allows you to assess problem areas in greater detail without busting the budget;
  • A free curriculum can be used as a reference alongside a purchased curriculum;
  • Your teen may need review in just a couple of areas and you can save your hard earned dollars to buy language arts where he requires in-depth focus or help;
  • Returning to free curriculum resources throughout the middle and high school years helps your teen review quickly; and
  • Let’s face it. Teen curriculum resources can be pricey, so having many options at your fingertips helps.

Let’s start with a language arts road map.

Step one is knowing the language arts components.

Step 1. Identify the Language Arts Components.

The easiest, but most useful definition is that English language arts is any subject to do with written or oral communication, including listening.

Right away you can see that some things are not formally taught or don’t have to be taught in isolation.

For example, from the time your teen was a toddler, you started speaking to him in full sentences. He learned your language through the art of conversation and discussion. That part still continues in the teen years.

Too, especially at the middle and high school years, teens need to make sense out of what they have been learning.

Combining language arts elements makes language arts practical and gives teens a reason to understand it.

For example, grammar can be revised or used while a teen writes an essay.

Next, let’s dive into the subject breakdown of what is language arts so you know that you’re covering it and that you choose the subjects your teen needs.

Language arts includes all facets of English: phonics, reading/literature, spelling/vocabulary, grammar, composition, and penmanship. In addition, it includes oral speech.

By this age your child has probably learned to read and write.

So penmanship turns to composition and reading becomes literature. Phonics is now spelling.

Step 2. Isolate the Language Arts Components Needed for Middle and High School Teens.

To help clarify this even further, here are the language art subjects for middle and high school grades.

  • Literature which is reading and could include literary analysis
  • Grammar
  • Spelling (if still needed)
  • Vocabulary
  • Composition

These subjects are the ones that most language arts all-in-one programs cover.

Next, now that you know the subjects that fall under the language arts umbrella, look at some of these homeschool language arts curriculum for middle and high school kids.

Step 3. Choose the EXACT Components Your Teen Needs OR Choose an All-in-One Curriculum.

Before you choose language arts, pay attention to the details to see if it’s an all-in-one program which covers most of the subjects for language arts OR if it’s just one component.

I have organized the elements for you so you can quickly see the choices for your child.

Grammar Homeschool Curriculum For Teens

Too, some of the resources can be used as a guidebook to assist your teen in his writing.

The first one I’m diving into is grammar. Grammar is the rules of a language.

Your teen has learned some of the rules naturally, so some of these resources can be used as a reference. Other resources can be used as separate curriculum to shore up any weakness

Look at this list of homeschool grammar curriculum.

  • Rod and Staff English. Solid no fluff worktext for doing grammar stand alone or use for a reference. The books in the high school years made great reference books for us. It’s a faith-based curriculum, but I found it easily tweaked for faith-neutral approach.
  • Easy Grammar. This goes all the way to high school. It’s a secular view and a traditional approach.
  • Jensens Grammar.
  • Daily Grammar.
  • Fix It Grammar. Takes a Charlotte Mason approach and goes to high school. Your child reads a story and fixes it by applying the grammar rules.
  • Purple Workbook: A Complete Course for Young Writers, Aspiring Rhetoricians, and Anyone Else Who Needs to Understand How English Works (Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind) This program is a bit more rigorous.
  • KISS Grammar.
  • Udemy – The Elements of English Grammar.
  • The Winston Grammar Program: Advanced Level, Student Workbook. This program is more hands-on.
  • GrammarFlip and these
  • Daily Paragraph Editing workbooks from Evan-Moor are nifty must-haves.

Although I feel grammar is best covered in conjunction with writing so a teen sees the value, there are some teens who need grammar in isolation.

Before looking next at the composition options, keep a few key points in mind. If a teen is struggling with penmanship remember that he can type his essays.

Try to not make composition always about penmanship. Yes, it’s about doing neat work, but that is for the final draft.

Composition is about learning how to compose his thoughts. So if you have a teen struggling in both penmanship and composition, focus on one or the other until he gets more practice. Go gentle in what you require of him if he is struggling.

Composition Homeschool Curriculum For Teens

Now, look at some of the composition choices.

  • Essentials in Writing. One of my favorite programs we used.
  • Paper is Power Common Core for Middle School.
  • Brave Writer.
  • Khan Academy.
  • Institute for Excellence in Writing. One of my favorite programs we used.
  • Cover Story. For kids who love to write.
  • Write Shop I and II. One of my favorite programs we used.
  • Beautiful Feet History. This is a great slant to combine literature and history; this is another one of my favorite programs which my teens liked.
  • Lightning Literature and Composition series.
  • GrammarFlip.

Literature Homeschool Curriculum For Teens

  • Learning Language Arts Through Literature: The Gold Books. A very gentle Charlotte Mason approach to literature using living books.
  • Bob Jones. You can just purchase the literature component separately or purchase the all in one.
  • Masterbooks. You can purchase the literature component separately.
  • Glencoe. Free downloadable study guides.
  • Penguin. Has free study guides for books.
  • Lightning Literature and Composition series.
  • Progeny Press.
  • Essentials In Literature.
  • Total Language Plus
  • Memoria Press.
  • Beautiful Feet History. This is a great slant to combine literature and history; this is another one of my favorite programs which my teens liked.
  • Dover Thrift Editions. This was another big hit in our home unabridged book and comprehensive study guide are together in one book.There are many titles to choose from. Read Homeschool High School Literature Guides to see how we used them.
  • The Evan-Moor Daily Reading Comprehension are good for middle school.
  • Outschool.
  • And we loved How To Teach Your Homeschooled Children Shakespeare.

You would think it would be easier to choose an all in one program which covered a bit of most of the components of language arts. It may or may not be.

The problem at this level is that most providers are assuming that your teen has had a fair amount of each component of language arts.

If you’ve switched homeschool approaches or resources, like most of us have, then you want to be sure you’re clear on what is the focus of the all-in-one language arts curriculum.

For example, it’s been my experience that curriculum may focus more on composition, while another one covers more literary analysis. While yet another resource may focus heavily on grammar.

All-In-One Language Arts Homeschool Curriculum for Teens

So the important point I’m making is look over the scope and sequence so that you make a good fit for your teen.

Next, look at the options for all-in-one language arts programs.

  • Easy Peasy All-In-One
  • Powerhouse or Acellus Academy.. They are both by same company. However, Acellus academy is accredited and more expensive, but Powerhouse isn’t accredited. Both are online and offer everything.
  • The Good and The Beautiful.
  • Essentials in Literature.
  • BookShark.
  • Bob Jones
  • Christian Light Publications.
  • Sonlight.
  • Everything You Need To Ace Middle School English 
  • Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts

Step 4. Combine Many Components of Language Arts for Lasting Benefits.

Finally, the most important benefit of teaching language arts to our teens is so that it sticks with them. Understanding the mechanics of the English languages connects our teens to great minds of the past.

In addition, teaching valuable thinking skills is an important part of communication whether verbal or written.

For language arts to have lasting benefit and to teach thinking skills, combining the components of language arts is a superior way to teach.

When a teen works with a piece of literature, he focuses on grammar, writing, vocabulary, and spelling to name a few.

We want our teens to have a solid foundation for language arts whether he chooses a career track or college track.

Look at these other posts for homeschooling middle and high school teens.

  • 5 Creative Ways to Boost Handwriting in Older Kids
  • 20 Nature-Inspired Kids’ Novels to Nurture Interest In the Outdoors
  • How to Begin Homeschooling A Teen Lagging Behind
  • A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives
  • Get It Over and Done: How Do Homeschoolers Graduate Early
  • How To Homeschool Middle School – Why Eclectic Of Course!
  • Homeschooling High School: Curriculum, Credits, and Courses
  • Homeschooling Stubborn Teens: Not for the Faint of Heart
  • How to Create a Creditworthy American History Course (& resources)
  • 3 Beginner’s Tips: Homeschool High School Literature

Hugs and love ya,

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, How To - - -, Middle School Homeschool, Teach Homeschool Language Arts, Teach/Which Subjects to Teach/Cover EVERYTHING Tagged With: grammar, high school, high school literature, homeschool, homeschool highschool, homeschoolhighschool, homeschoolreading, language arts, languagearts, literature, middleschool

How to Create a Creditworthy American History Course (& resources)

May 18, 2019 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Whether you want to create a standalone creditworthy American history course for your teen or you want to enhance the interest level of your current American history curriculum, you’ll love these tips.

Homeschool American History Credits

Here’s a seasoned veteran tip. Use lower grade level resources to put important topics in a nutshell.

To get a quick glimpse of major events, use what you have at the house or that you can get at a library to get a quick glimpse of major events. Lower level resources can give you an easy starting point when teaching a new topic.

Then, look at these 5 seasoned veteran tips that will make creating your own American History high school course easy.

ONE/ Be sure you know your state’s law.

Be familiar with your state homeschool laws so you can meet the requirements as you build an American history course.

TWO/ Track your teen’s time.

The rule of thumb is that one course credit is equal to 120 hours. Obviously one-half a credit is 60 hours.

What is not so obvious is deciding how to meet the hours requirement. It also does not mean that all of the hours need to come from textbooks.

THIRD/ Don’t hem in your teen’s creative expression on how to meet the hour requirement.

If you have the control in your state to determine how to fill the credit requirement, then think beyond what public school dictates as traditional learning.

Look at this list of ideas to add to your course and ways to meet the time requirement. Mix and match these activities to meet the needs of an American history credit.

  • Read a textbook
  • Read living books
  • Essays
  • Hands-on projects
  • Prepare a speech
  • Review primary resources
  • Learn history through art
  • Learn history through geography
  • Learn about fashion of the period
  • Focus on one or more history makers like Abe Lincoln or George Washington.
  • Learn history through music
  • Take field trips like attending a play, music performance and art museum
  • Apprenticeships
  • Watch movies
  • Cook a time period recipe
How to Create a Creditworthy American History Course (& resources). You'll love these EZ steps for creating your own curriculum @Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

FOUR/ Determine if history will count as a one-half credit or full credit.

The fun part begins when you and your teen decide if he will cover only history for the whole 120 hours or if you’ll mix and match with other subjects.

The beauty of homeschooling is that you can adjust a course to a teen’s likes and passions.

For example, if a teen is a writer, then he can focus on writing while learning history. So history could be a .60 credit and creative writing about history a .60 credit.

Alternately, if you want to add a literature element, then history may be a full 1 credit and literature could be a one-half credit.

If your teen is a budding artist and doesn’t like history so much, then he can cover history while doing art. You and your teen determine how to divide up the hourly credit.

FIVE / Begin American History in middle school.

By starting in middle school, your teen can go slower or take his time and dig deeper if there is a passion for history.

As long as the resource you’re using is high school level, then you can count the credit on the transcript.

American Homeschool History Outline

Although my teens had some say in the topics, they didn’t have the final say. I wanted to be sure my teens were exposed to a wide variety of topics, but it’s not necessary to cover all of the events, people, or topics at the same depth.

I find that looking at the table of contents of any American History textbook can serve as a beginning point for an outline. You can easily use it as a reference or make your own course outline.

Look at one I created to get you started.

  • Columbus
  • The First People of America
  • The American Colonies
  • The American Revolution
  • Creating the Constitution
  • The Age of Jefferson
  • The Age of Jackson
  • Religion and Reform
  • Manifest Destiny
  • The Civil War
  • Reconstruction
  • Industrial Growth
  • The Gilded Age
  • World War I
  • The 1920s
  • The Great Depression
  • Truman and the Cold War
  • The Eisenhower Years
  • The 1960s and Vietnam
  • Present

5 American History Enhancements

As you can see you quickly can draft a diy American History course that your teen will be passionate about.

After doing American History several times with each of my grads, I mixed and match different resources. Key to keeping it easy is to have a variety of resources at your fingertips.

Look at these 5 American history resources that you can use to enhance or flesh out your course. It’s not that hard, I promise.

ONE – Use Fun Lesson Plans.

America: Ready-To-Use Interdisciplinary Lessons & Activities for Grades 5-12. I loved this resource because it helped me to have ideas to include my younger kids while teaching my high school kid.

Too, I could expand an idea in the book to a high school level. Like it says, it’s a great big book of ideas to teach about American history.

TWO – Add in Living Books for Literature.

Use living books which bring history to life.

One of my son’s favorite authors is Albert Marrin. His books make it easy to cover topics using a story format and avoiding boring textbooks.

Here are a few of his books to get you started; matching book to topic is easy because they’re are so many at this level.

  • The Yanks are coming: the United States in the WWI
    Hitler
  • America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger
  • Virginia’s General
  • FDR and the American Crisis
  • Unconditional Surrender: U. S. Grant and the Civil
  • The War for Independence: The Story of the American Revolution
  • The Great Adventure: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of Modern America
  • Old Hickory:Andrew Jackson and the American People
  • George Washington and the Founding of A Nation

Another favorite series is the Genevieve Foster series of books. In addition to being well-written they too have images and pictures that one of my sons used to add art to his history notebook.

THREE – Use other fun resources to learn about events, do timelines, or learn about the time period history makers.

Another fun resource if you want to inspire a teen is the American History: A Visual Encyclopedia. It begins with Explorers and moves forward.

Just a heads up, it says grade 3 to 7 on the description, but it’s an excellent coverage in chronological order.

Remember topics are not grade level. The writing and reading do need to be high school level.

So the point is to use encyclopedias as a spine (i.e. your main resource) and add in grade level reading. This encyclopedia includes maps and visuals to spur on writing about events and people.

This is an excellent description from the site. Created in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution . . . gives detailed historical information and brings it to life with more than 750 photographs and paintings, plus extensive maps, charts, and state-specific information.

FOUR – Read about history in a narrative format.

Another love of ours is A History of US: Eleven-Volume Set: Paperback Set.

This used to be a 10 volume set and only recently have added an eleventh volume. This is a well-written series with an attention to detail.

It’s hard to pinpoint a grade level for the series because I feel they are different for each book.

The illustrations and pictures are fantastic. The sidebar information and style of writing makes history come alive. You can certainly use these to kindle a love of history.

FIVE – Add in hands-on games and fun if your kid loves hands-on.

Hands-on history is not just for the young. If your teen learns best by hands-on then assign one or two projects as a grade.

I used Home School in the Woods projects to help me come up with ideas for my teens.

Another way to engage your older child is to add a few games. I love what the Classical Historian offers.

Include your younger kids too and the day can be fun while your teen gets his credit hours.

I love this format because if you have to teach American History a few times over, there is always room for a unique slant or perspective. Avoid the boredom and blahs by using different resources.

What else do you like to include for your teen?

How to Create a Creditworthy American History Course (& resources). You'll love these EZ steps for creating your own curriculum @Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

I have other resources to make teaching history at this level fun and unique:

  • Modern U.S. and World History High School Literature
  • 7 Unique Ways to Supplement U.S. History for High School
  • 10 Early American History Events that Happened in Fall for Homeschool Middle or High School
  • How to Grade Hands-on Homeschool Activities and Projects (Free Rubric for Grading)
  • Daniel Boone – North American Explorer Unit Study and Free Lapbook
  • American Revolution and Free Lapbook
  • 7 Things to Try When a Homeschool History Curriculum Isn’t Coming Together (Hint: Try a Primary Source or Two)
  • How to Use a History Spine to Build Your Study of History

Leave a CommentFiled Under: History Resources, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: american history, early American history, high school, history, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolhighschool, homeschoolhistory, middleschool

Essential Life Skills – A Homeschooler’s Other Curriculum

March 2, 2019 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

More and more parents these days are dropping their kids off at the front door of public school and are expecting teachers to do it all — teach the three Rs and life skills necessary for kids to live as functioning adults in society. As homeschoolers we have an advantage; we know that essential life skills are a crucial part of our curriculum.

With the growing concept of adulting – when young adults are learning life skills for the first time as they move out on their own – it would seem that the formula public school tends to use which is an academic approach isn’t working. And homeschoolers aren’t immune to this problem.

Essential Life Skills a Homeschoolers Other Curriculum @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

No matter in what form they educate their children, parents who try to do and be all things for their kids are doing them a great disservice. Additionally, if parents are trusting (aka hoping) that life skills will be caught, rather than taught that only seems to work out when they pick up something we don’t want them to, right?

As homeschooling families we have not only the privilege, but the responsibility to teach our kids these all-important life skill sets that make for a well-rounded and capable grown-up.

Too, we all know that skills taught like this should begin early. I focus on the teen part of life in this article because really it’s the time to maximize what we’ve been teaching them all throughout the years.

From the mouths of homeschoolin’ mommas who have been traditionally schooled comes this list of skills they didn’t learn in school. The teen years are a great time to make sure your kiddo gets these skills down while still living under your roof. And even if they’re in high school, it’s never too late for a crash course.

And they will thank you for it down the road!

And if you’re looking for curriculum to help you teach life skills, you’ll love Skill Trekker. There are 500+ skills (and counting) in the program.

Domestic Life Skills for Homeschooled Kids

  • basic cooking and cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, grocery shopping (online and in real life)
  • how to sort laundry properly
  • basic and advance home maintenance
  • basics of human anatomy and well-being
  • how to access home services
  • how to garden or at least grow and care for one plant
  • how to care for pets, their health and animal CPR
  • how to sew is not a lost skill about homeschoolers and basic alterations
  • how tos of basic couponing
  • how to change a diaper
  • lawn maintenance
  • simple electrical and plumbing know how
  • how to menu plan

Auto Care Skills for Homeschooled Kids

  • how to buy a car and basic car care (oil and filter changes, how to check oil, change a tire, etc)
  • determining the value of a car using the Kelley Blue Book
  • how to keep an auto compliant with local law
  • how to pump gas

Workplace Skills For Homeschooled Kids

  • learn how to fill out a job application
  • learn how to prepare a resume
  • prepare for a job interview
  • understand how to work with others in a workplace environment
  • how to be on time for a job

Small business management, which is so relevant to many of today’s entrepreneurial homeschoolers, was and still is often reserved for college, or at least specialized trade school programs.

Your entrepreneurial kids may enjoy the boxes from Boss Club which teach kids how to be entrepreneurs. You can click on the picture below to see how they build skills for helping your kids.

Health Care Skills for Homeschooled Kids

  • basic hygiene
  • understand how to take care of their basic health
  • understand differences in how food is grown or processed
  • how to give consent for procedures
  • CPR and basic first aid
  • understand how to use medicine versus natural remedies
  • how to notice and be caring when others have special needs like dementia, seizures, or panic attacks
  • how to give basic elder care

Financial Education for Homeschooled Kids

Last, but certainly not least, many homeschool moms failed to receive an adequate, or sometimes any, financial education while in school.

  • how to handle and maintain a checking account how to prepare and file taxes
  • how to create and stick to a budget
  • how credit works
  • the basics of a mortgage and how it works
  • value of saving and preparing for retirement
  • how to apply for insurance and discern what’s necessary

So there you have it, skills that haven’t been taught in school in the past, and most likely aren’t today.

As homeschoolers we have an advantage; we know that essential life skills are a crucial part of our curriculum. Click here to grab this list!

These aren’t fluff topics; these are concepts and abilities that will enable your teen to be a fully functioning adult and even perhaps put him ahead of many of his peers.

Don’t make your teen fumble with adulting when you can arm him with these basic essentials!

You’ll also love these other tips:

  • A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives
  • When It’s Your Fault that Your Homeschooled Kids Don’t Do Chores
  • Successful Entrepreneur-3 Best Homeschooled Teen Resources
  • 14 Fun and (maybe Frugal) Homeschool High School Electives
  • 45 Ways to Define Homeschool Curriculum – Is Your Definition Holding You Back?

Hugs and love ya

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Gauge Homeschool Progress, Graduate a Homeschooler, Homeschool Boys, Homeschool Multiple Ages of Children, Homeschool Simply, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, How To - - -, Teach/Which Subjects to Teach/Cover EVERYTHING Tagged With: homeschool challenges, homeschool lifestyle, homeschoolcurriculum, homeschoolhighschool, life skills, middleschool, teens

A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives

July 27, 2018 | 2 Comments
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A to Z List: Middle and High School Homeschool Electives

There are so many great options for middle and high school homeschool electives for teens that it can be hard to narrow down the choices. Sometimes we need a little nudge to remember that the freedom of homeschooling opens doors for opportunities for our kids beyond the traditional elective options.

This A to Z list of middle and high school best homeschool electives should give you a headstart in helping your teen decide what he would like to pursue.

There are so many great options for middle and high school homeschool electives for teens that it can be hard to narrow down the choices. You’ll love this BIG A to Z List of Homeschool Electives. CLICK HERE!!!

I try to think out of the box when choosing electives. Too, remember each teen has a very different personality. You know that so don’t homeschool middle and high school in fear meaning take a boring and predictable path for electives.

Although they can be, these are not the core subjects. This is the time to explore a teen’s passion no matter how odd  it may seem.

There is no other time in a teen’s life that he will have freedom to explore even the mundane. I know your anxious about your teen’s next journey as he enters adulthood, but let him delve into his passions and likes here. Just like you didn’t push when they were younger, don’t do it it here either.

Also, something else I learned after my first high school teen is to start earlier. For example, by feeding one of my son’s passion for writing in the middle and high school years he has continued on with his love of writing past graduation.

High school electives can begin in middle school; it gives your child a head start in time to pursue his strengths.

Look at some of these out of the box ideas.

A

Acting
Animation
App creation/coding
Archaeology
Archery
Architecture
Aromatherapy
Art and design
Astronomy
Auto maintenance/mechanics

B

Baking
Ballet
Birding
Blogging
Book club
Budgeting
Business management

Also, don’t think you have to learn all these things on your own. Look at some these fantastic middle and high school courses to explore which are already laid out.

Look at some of these courses from learn music in our homeschool.

  • Music Appreciation of the Romantic Era for High School
  • 100 Delightful Classical Musical Pieces Mini Course

  

C

CPR
Cake decorating
Car care
Career exploration
Carpentry
Choir
Classical music
Coding
Computer building, programming
Cooking skills
Crew
Crochet
Crossfit

Also, don’t think you have to learn all these things on your own.

There are may self-paced courses that I like which can ease the stress of teaching during the teens years and make them awesome. We loved our self-pace courses for art with Atelier Art.

D

Dance
Debate
Dog training
Drama

E

Early childhood development
Electric dance music/digital music
Engineering
Entomology
Ethnic culture
Ethnobotany
Etiquette
Exploring different careers

F

Fashion design
Fencing
Fishing
Floral design
Foreign languages
Forensic science
Furniture stripping, repairing, etc.

G

Gaming development
Gardening
Geocaching
Geology
Golf
Guitar
Gymnastics

H

Herbology
Hiking
Home design/interior design
Homemaking
Homeopathic medicine
Horticulture
Human development
Hydroponics

Studying my boys love of history, I was able to sneak in literature and history while delving into the medieval time period with Beautiful Feet Books.

I

Information technology

J

Java script
Jewelry making
Journalism

K

Knitting

L

Logic

High School Elective Ideas

M

Marine biology
Mechanics
Meterology
Midwifery
Mineralogy
Music

One more place to check for free courses for a limited time especially during the summer is the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. And if you don’t see anything free, at least you’ll love the discount on the curriculum.

 

N

Nature studies
Naturopathy

O

Oceanography
Ornithology

P

Painting
Parkour
Philosophy
Photography
Physical education
Physical fitness
Piano
Plumbing
Psychology
Public speaking

Q

Quilting

R

Robotics

S

Sailing
Scrapbooking
Sewing
Social media influence
Survival skills
Swim team

For a love of geography, my boys loved the audio or download version of Bright Ideas Press Geography.

T

Technology
Theater
Trail and woodland management or design

U

US Politics

V

Venturing (scouts)
Video production
Videography
Violin

W

Weaving
Web design
Welding
Wildlife management
Wood burning
Wood working
Writing

For writing, your kids will love this self paced help they get at Fortuigence.

X

Xenology

Y

Yearbook
Yoga
Youth leadership

Z

Zoology

I hope this A to Z list of high school electives helps you brainstorm some options for your teen. Has your teen tried any of these high school electives yet? Are there any others you’d add to the list? There are so many great options for middle and high school homeschool electives for teens that it can be hard to narrow down the choices. You’ll love this BIG A to Z List of Homeschool Electives. CLICK HERE!!!

I think you’ll love these other tips for when planning middle and high school:

  • Get It Over and Done: How Do Homeschoolers Graduate Early
  • How To Homeschool Middle School – Why Eclectic Of Course!
  • Homeschooling High School: Curriculum, Credits, and Courses
  • Homeschool High School–How to Log Hours for High School?

Hugs and love ya,

2 CommentsFiled Under: Build Character in Homeschooled Kids, Homeschool Teens _ From Teen to Graduation, Homeschooling, Lesson Plan, Middle School Homeschool, Teach the Rebel Homeschooler, Teach/Which Subjects to Teach/Cover EVERYTHING Tagged With: A to Z Lists, high school, high school electives, homeschool highschool, homeschoolhighschool, homeschoolplanning, lesson, lessonplanning, middleschool, teens

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