This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to Plan Language Arts for Homeschool High School, a Special Replay.
How to Plan Language Arts for Homeschool High School
English/Language Arts credits are a huge part of the high school process. It can be overwhelming trying to figure out what to cover and when. Join Sabrina and Kym for some helpful guidelines for covering ELA in homeschool high school!
First off: remember, there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school! So remember, these are guidelines. You know what your unique teens need.
How can you know what to plan for when organizing your materials for your teens’ homeschool high school English/Language Arts credits.
- Reading (Literature)
- Writing
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
- Public Speaking
Reading
There’s not one right way to choose books for homeschool high school. For students with learning disabilities or career-bound teens they may need more practical reading and/or audiobooks. Think at least one book per month with a literature study guide (follow guidelines for ability level usage in each 7SistersHomeschool.com’s Literature Study Guides). Then fill out the list with Bible reading, magazines, poetry, etc that interests them. Discuss this with you supervisory advisor for exactly what can be counted.
For students who are college bound, you will want to invest in more reading and probably more literature analysis (in the form of study guides). That’s the cool thing about homeschooling high school: you do what is best for your teens!
If you would like an in-depth look at how many books each teen should cover in each year of high school, here is a comprehensive look at how many books by level and by grade. (Remember, these are guidelines, not rules.)
Writing
Writing is as important as reading. Everyone needs to be able to write efficiently. Here are some very basic guidelines.
- 1 research paper (think about over the 4 years of high school: 1 APA paper, 1 MLA paper, 1 Chicago paper and repeat one of them for the 4th year). Lengths of the paper vary by ability, interest and grade.
- 4 5-paragraph essays
- 4 other kind of writing (business, poetry, short story, etc)
- Check 7Sisters’ writing guides for no-busywork, user-friendly, success-oriented writing curriculum!
Of course, if your teen has special needs or other challenges because life happens, adjust this to make it work for your family.
And if your teen is college bound or wants rigorous writing, check out this post on how many papers teens should write (by level and year).
Grammar
Grammar is necessary for homeschool high school. However, teens who have a practical mastery of grammar rules may find that editing their papers is enough grammar (proof that they understand grammar usage). If your teen is good with simply editing, it might be helpful to have a simple checklist of grammar rules to refer to. We suggest Grammar Granules.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is part of being well prepared for life. All homeschool high schoolers need some vocabulary study each year. However, teens who are headed to college need to lean heavily into vocabulary. 7Sisters literature study guides include vocabulary and more can be added with specific courses or online games like FreeRice.com.
Public Speaking
Public Speaking needs to be part of your homeschool high schooler’s yearly experience. It can be as simply as prayer at a large family gathering. However, for teens who are willing to stretch, they can do a full-year course or a speech team or any variant of that. 7SistersHomeschool.com has a speech curriculum that is popular with speech teams, co-ops and group classes. (Also, free lesson plans for the teachers in co-ops or group classes.)
Join Sabrina and Kym for fun and encouragement about planning high school English/Language Arts!
For more on English/Language Arts for your high school planning:
- Authoritative Guide to Literature for Homeschool High School
- Public Speaking for High School (An Authoritative Guide)
- Authoritative Guide to Writing Requirements for Homeschool High School
- What’s a Good High School Literature Course of Study?
- How to Help Teens Get Their Research Papers Done
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