High School Curriculum: 10th Grade

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Choosing the right homeschool high school curriculum for 10th grade can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. In this blog post, we share our favorite curriculum options that focus on engaging, hands-on learning while keeping education personalized and enjoyable. Whether you’re looking for traditional textbooks or interactive programs, we’ve got you covered!

We are starting our 11th year as a homeschooling family. While some homeschool families use the same resources year after year, we like to change things up to meet the needs of each child. What works for one doesn’t always work for the other ones.

We are taking a more unschooling approach with Emily this year for everything but English and math. Unschooling means that we are letting the student’s interests and curiosities drive their learning instead of a formal high school curriculum, parent, or other outside force deciding what needs to be accomplished this year.

Emily is my middle child. She is involved in Scouts BSA and Girl Scouts. She is an avid reader and an artist. She is an animal lover and enjoys spending time in nature (when it’s not too hot or too buggy). For the past two years or so, she has been working on writing a novel. She enjoys the fantasy genre, including playing Magic the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons (she is a dice goblin), and all things Harry Potter. In her downtime, she hangs out with friends or is in her “art cave” happily creating.

While I can’t just take her daily activities and call them school, we do use them as the starting point for planning our year. That said, Pennsylvania regulates homeschooling more than some other states, so we do have benchmarks to hit so that Emily can earn a high school diploma.

Planning Your Homeschool High School Curriculum with Graduation in Mind

In Pennsylvania, a student has to complete a certain number of courses to graduate:

• 4 years of English
• 3 years of Math
• 3 years of Science
• 3 years of Social Studies
• 2 years of Arts & Humanities

In our home, we cover English, Math, Science, and Social Studies annually. My children get to give input for what they want to learn in science, social studies, and electives.

English 10

When I was in high school, our English courses were a combination of literature, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. On our transcript it would simply say, “ENGLISH 10” or which ever year we were in. I have decided to label things the same way with my children when I create their transcripts.

I was an English teacher, so I have enjoyed creating our curriculum each year, but I’ll admit it has been exhausting. This year, I have decided to use a published high school English curriculum instead of creating something on my own. We have decided to go with Essentials in Writing and Essentials in Literature.

I chose EIW and EIL because of the online lesson component. I wanted to outsource some of the teaching and not have to be hands-on for English instruction. I’m excited to see how things go this year and share our opinions of these programs in a future review.

Algebra II

After many years of using Teaching Textbooks, my daughter is making the switch to Denison Algebra for Algebra II. She struggled last year with the spiral nature of Teaching Textbooks, so we knew we were going to have to change things up this year.

Denison Algebra has online videos for each lesson. He models how to take notes in math, as well as how to work through each problem. Then the student completes a few problems on their own to show understanding of the concepts.

I like that I don’t have to relearn Algebra and Geometry in order to help my children through this math program. I also like that there is a final exam that comes with the Algebra II curriculum. My children have never taken a cumulative exam like that (only the standardized tests) so this will be good practice.

Botany

Emily has requested Botany for this year’s science course. We have decided to use Harbor & Sprout’s secondary-level Botany as our foundation for science this year.

In addition, she has decided to work on Nature, Plant Science, and Gardening merit badges with Scouts BSA.

Emily is also in Girl Scouts and is currently working towards her Gold Award, which involves native plant species (she has asked that I not share other details at this time since her project has not yet been approved).

US History: 1900-Y2K

US History: 1900-Y2K is a curriculum I wrote last year for my oldest son. We hit a few snags along the way, mostly with videos or articles not being available, and I made some revisions to get it ready to use again this year.

The curriculum is broken down by decade. Each decade has two assessments, and more can be added if we decide to do a deep dive into a particular year or specific event. While the curriculum is not exhaustive of everything that happened in the 1900s, I tried to hit on the big events, important people, and cultural cornerstones. Since we are in Pennsylvania, just north of Philadelphia, and I grew up in New Jersey, there are a handful of items of local interest that I have included as well.

My goal is to have US History: 1900-Y2K available for others to use as well by the end of 2024.

Electives

Adulting 101

Through our high school, we focus on what I like to call Adulting 101. This isn’t something I add to the transcript or give a grade for, but instead, it makes me focus on what is important to get my children ready for the next season in their lives and having them take responsibility for a task instead of doing it for them.

We work on time management, personal finance, cooking skills, sewing, home repairs, auto maintenance, gardening, and etiquette.

Emily is hoping to work on Family Life, Personal Management, and Cooking merit badges to formalize some of these skills this year.

Health & Physical Education

All of my children participate in a local homeschool PE class that runs two separate 6-week sessions a year. We also participate in a homeschool bowling club once a month. Emily and David are both working on Hiking merit badge, so we will be spending many of the nice days starting this fall outdoors again to finish off that badge.

Botanical Art

I am in the process of creating a botanical art watercolor course for Emily (and, from the sound of things, a few of her friends). We found a great book in the bargain book section at Barnes & Noble, and we will use that book, along with online tutorials, for Emily to learn how to create botanical art.

Botanical Art is an Art & Humanities credit toward graduation requirements. Once I have the course planned out and can see the time commitment, I’ll be able to determine if this is a half-year or full-year class.