It’s the 2022-2023 school year! Most people have begun their homeschool program or will be soon if they have not chosen a method of year round schooling. Learning does happen most days of the week all year long, but since we do formal curriculum for most subjects, I set a start date as to when they begin working on those courses. Things have been slightly different this year for my teenagers because the oldest, who will be 18 come March, will be graduating from homeschool this year, around the middle of May. He is continuing to work at his job he’s held since June 2021, although with slightly less hours due to school work. He was working mostly full time over the summer and will be trying to keep up with as many hours as possible during the school year. Another perk about homeschooling is how flexible you can be and there is no homework he needs to worry about. Is there homework in homeschooling? I’ve actually heard of that happening, which to me is very odd. But, moving on to curriculum this year.

For my 10th and 12th grader (courses together):

• Bible – Journey through the Bible – we are completing this from last year but I will need to choose something else. Rest assured, studying doctrine and the Christian way of life by studying our Father’s word is a required “elective” in this homeschool program. I may end up just piecing together some things to illicit conversation and discussion. I’m working on trying to solidify a foundation as the oldest teen will soon be an adult…moving out…working…perhaps college…and so my focus is to make sure he is focused on what is important because I know how things change when you leave the nest.
• English – Jensen’s Vocabulary from Master Books and British Literature from Alpha Omega Press. The literature course is designed for 1 semester (1/2 year) while the vocabulary has options but they recommend 18 months. We, however, are ignoring the pre-planned out schedule and working at our own pace to complete as much in 1 semester as possible. I think they will complete a good deal as they have double the recommended time to work on it and anything un-finished I have no doubt will be able to be worked on in the other 1/2 of the year. I decided to focus on vocabulary this year to expand use of words in writing based on what I’ve seen them write (which has been quite a bit) in the past 5 years and also knowledge of what words mean which will surely benefit in reading. Calling this English 10 and English 12 on their transcripts.
• Science – World of Mathematics, World of Physics, World of Chemistry and World of Biology packaged together from Master Books. Why I chose this : Both of my teens have quite a bit of knowledge in biology and they have completed 2 different general science courses over the years which included physics and biology but they have also taken biology stand-alone. I chose this because I wanted something in physics but if I wanted them to continue to work together (which is beneficial in more ways than one) on many subjects I needed to meet them both where they were. Most physics courses have prerequisites for math courses that my 10th grader does not yet have. As it is, I believe geometry is suggested here, which she is taking this year and this course does not start with physics so I felt it would be a non issue. This will give my 12th grader more physics education as well as introduce him to chemistry, which neither has had much other than what was included in general science. What I am calling this course on the transcript I have not yet determined.
• Math – CTCMath for Geometry (10th grader) and Pre-Calculus (12th grader). We love CTCMath so we stuck with it. It’s that simple. This will be the 10th graders 2nd required math course (in respect to the state homeschool graduation requirements) and 12th graders 4th – 3 credits are required. He will have 4. Why? He needs pre-calculus because of his field of study – computer science. This will only benefit him should he choose to further his education at any secondary school.

Here’s where things change. The rest of this they work on individually.

10th grader:

• Interior Design – This is a pieced together course as there is actually nothing out there for highschool, believe me, I searched. This will be an add-to-as-you-go course, but right now she’s reading a book about home decorating. The book is written for DIY homeowners, however, I felt there was a lot of good information in there to give her a foundation with color, patterns, lighting, creativity, budgeting, etc. Once completed she will move on to something else which I have a few options. One of which is a free online interior design course. The other is another book which gives a lot of good information. I have also “commissioned” her to create a project to redecorate my living room.
• Drafting and Art – She will alternate these 2 courses as they sort of go together. Slightly more is available out there for these, although drafting things that I’ve seen are not geared towards highschool. She is reading and will complete floor plan projects with this book, Architectural Drafting for Beginners. There are quite a few tools/supplies needed for drafting (you don’t need to buy a drafting table, though it’d be nice to have). This won’t last a full year so she will move on to another book, or work on learning software like free CAD programs or a program called SketchUp. For art, she is beginning with putting together a 1:24 mini scale house. She will have to build the entire thing, the structure, the furniture, the accessories, lighting, everything. It will be a long slow process as there are a lot of components and she has the option of designing many of the pieces how she wishes as I have alternate fabrics and components she can use. This will be a fun, though time consuming project.
• History – She is using Alpha Omega Press 10th grade LifePac per her request. She likes their curriculum and she needed to do History on her own this year and this is what she chose. They call this world history as it covers ancient civilizations up to the present. She’s done a much more advanced world history course in 8th grade (which was a 10th grade level text) with her brother from Christian Liberty Press so this may be review, however details may vary publisher to publisher and the course is set up very different.
• PE and Driver’s Ed – self explanatory, she will have a variety of activities for physical wellbeing and she will be studying the state driver’s manual and taking practice tests to prepare for the state knowledge test when she turns 16 to obtain her learners permit.

12th grader:

• Computer Science – Programming – He is continuing his education in learning how to use computer coding languages to create functional programs and games. This year he is taking Harvard’s CS50 Intro to Computer Science course (to start with) through their open courseware and Edx. He already knows quite a bit but needed to begin here in order to take the next course of theirs. The course is free. There is an optional “verified” track via edX you can pay for which seems to me just gives you a “verified certificate” which means you’ve proven your identity through their means of doing so, it really doesn’t mean much else. He’s begun with the free course for now as I feel the verified track is a waste of money, currently the price for this is $150 which is basically just you buying a certificate after you’ve sent them your ID but there is supposedly a way to obtain a free certificate which shows you completed the course. You need to have gotten 70% or better on each of the problem sets/labs and final project to obtain one. The much more beneficial part is not just what he will learn from the lectures, but the hands on projects that will be housed in a github account, which is a place programmers can keep their work to show prospective employers. He will have 1-1.50 hours a day to work on programming as the course will require that much time dedicated to it to complete by the deadline.
• Practical Math / PE – He will continue physical fitness and work on what I am calling practical math skills. Things like personal finance, accounting, maintaining a bank account, paying bills, shopping on a budget, car maintenance, etc. Skills he needs when he decides to move out on his own, whenever that will be. This may be worksheets, this may be a book, and this may be learning from me. Practical math can be counted as an elective or math credit, in his case it’s only 1/2 a credit.
• Work – Not a school subject but he will continue to maintain some hours at the place he’s been working at for the past year and in the event he needs to leave, he would find another job someplace else.

As for me, the supervisor, I find as they advance through the grade levels, I am not needed nearly as much other than to grade work and make sure work is being completed. I do however do Bible with them every morning. I also spend a great deal of time researching ways to create courses and continue to add to as needed, that are beneficial to their desired directions and what may be needed for them beyond highschool. This is how I can determine what’s important to learn now in highschool and what is not. I also do like to try to make it fun.

The last bit I will add in this post today is to show you my what my 12th grader is going to graduate with. If you need a refresher, the best source is the homeschool law itself, but the requirements for graduation credits are 4 English, 3 Math, 3 Science, 3 “Social Studies” (I call it History), and 2 Arts/Humanites (these are your electives). Aside from those you need to have completed certain subject areas at the elementary level and/or secondary level (depending when you began your journey). Secondary is 7th-12th grade. So, for example, they need to have had music as some point between 7th and 12th grades. This is no problem as we’ve done music twice. Per the law this is what is required in secondary level, “At the secondary school level, the following courses shall be taught: English, to include language, literature, speech and composition; science; geography; social studies, to include civics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; mathematics, to include general mathematics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health; and safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires.” None of this is required to be taught/learned every year aside from fire education which is “regular and continuous”. There’s no rule either that says you have to spend and entire year or semester, or any specific length of time on any of those subjects either. I have a checklist I keep on file for my own personal accountability to be sure we have done everything. Keep in mind many of these will be packaged together if you’re using curriculum, such as, often history of PA is included into US History, however I did spend extra time on learning PA history facts and we also studied the Civil War in Gettysburg. Speech is often covered in a complete language arts program or you can very easily add it. I remember when my son was doing his LifePac back in 7th grade and the sections on speech, his sister and I had some good laughs as he was trying to not sound so flat and monotone as the curriculum gave him activities to practice.

So onto what my 12th grader is graduating with, 4 English credits, 4.50 Math credits, 3 History (or social studies) credits, 4 Science credits, 12 Arts/Humanities credits (this includes, Art, Computer Science, Bible, German, PE, Health, Driver’s Ed) for a total of 27.50 when the required number is 15. Elective courses, Computer, Bible and German were the only full credit courses the rest were all 1/2 credits in each of the 4 years. We have always rotated PE, Health, Art, Music (which he took before 9th) and than driver’s ed. So basically they come out to be 1/2 a year for 1/2 a credit. Credits are generally based on hours. A full credit is minimum of 120 hours of coursework while 1/2 is 60 hours. This isn’t a hard and fast rule. As a homeschool supervisor you decide. You simply can decide they earn full credit if they completed a year long text book or they worked on a subject for say 50-60 minutes each day for 5 days a week until the last day. You can half that then for subjects that half the time was spent on. Sometimes curriculum providers tell you how many credits their course is. For example, the AOP British Literature course is only 1 semester long, so that is 1/2 a credit as there are 2 semesters in one year. I, however, created what I am calling, English 10 and English 12 which will include the Vocabulary and Literature in one credit and listed as such on the transcript instead of putting, Literature 1/2 credit, Vocab 1/2 credit. I know they will continue writing and other aspects of language arts throughout, so I prefer to encompass it all in one title.

Please be sure to check my other posts as I have many reviews and tips and attempts to clarify the language of the law (again though, please read it for yourself and don’t just take my word). I also have some posts on transcripts and don’t forget to check out my resources tab (newly updated with lots of links) with helpful links, such as to the law text and the printables tab which includes FREE TO USE documents to comply with the law.