I always feel bad when I hear people talk about homeschooling high school with fear and dread. It is not uncommon to have people comment, “Well, we’re going to have to step it up now that my child is entering high school” followed by exclamations of nervousness and anxiety. If you are in that proverbial boat, be assured that planning for high school is actually quite simple.
First a disclaimer, I am coming from the perspective of a private homeschool teacher. If you are part of a charter or are homeschooling via independent study with your school district, you will need to check for their requirements.
With that said, I’ll also mention that I have graduated three students so far and have two students entering high school this year. Wow, it seems surreal typing that out. Time flies my friends!
1. As you’re planning for high school, think beyond high school
What are your child’s plans for after high school? Is he/she planning to attend a four-year college right after graduation? Maybe the goal is to spend a few years at a junior college and then transfer to a university. Or maybe college is not in his/her plans at all. What you and your student decide on this topic bears a lot of influence on the steps that follow.
2. Decide on graduation requirements
Here’s where it pays off to look at the finish line and work backward. If you know what is required for your child to graduate and what he/she plans to accomplish afterward, you will have an easier time planning for that goal.
In my “Create a course of study” post, I included this form. On it, you can plot out all four years at a glance. I like seeing the entire plan laid out in one form.
This other form includes a place for grades which will serve you well when it’s time to make your student’s transcript.
Check state requirements for high school graduation
As part of your planning, be sure to check your state’s requirements for both credits needed and for subjects that need to be mastered to graduate. As an example, I went to the California Department of Education to find that information. Here you can find a chart that syncs high school graduation requirements with what colleges require for incoming freshmen. This is very helpful if your student is planning to go straight into a four year college after graduating.
If you’d like to know at a glance what your state requires, I found this handy chart from the National Center for Education Statistics. Organized by state, it provides the total number of credits students need to graduate, and breaks it down further by required subjects. I was shocked that in California, a student only needs 13 credits to graduate!
3. Create the requirements for your high school
Once you know your state’s requirements, fill in the courses that you want your kids to complete before they leave your school. Remember, if you are operating as a private school, you can choose your own requirements. For instance, maybe you want all your kids to take a finance course before graduating, put it on the plan.
4. Plot out core subjects
Once you know what you’re requiring, fill the core subjects into the plan. For instance, I had my kids complete four years of science so I would fill in: general science, chemistry, biology, and physics into the science section. You can be general as well. Under Literature Arts, you can put “English 1, English 2, etc.” It might be a good idea to also keep a running list on which you describe what’s covered in certain classes. If you wrote down “English 1” you could write a description, for example, that notes that “English 1 covers vocabulary, grammar, spelling, literature analysis, and composition.”
5. Choose electives
Along with core subjects, you’ll want to sprinkle in some electives. Here is where you can get very creative and make up your own classes or you can use existing classes.
How do you make up your own class?
It’s probably easiest to explain this by way of example. I put “Performing Arts” on my three oldest kids’ courses of study. All three of them were in theater and they took piano lessons. To get an “A” in the “class,” they had to attend all the theater rehearsals and performances, along with practicing their lines at home. Along with that, they had to go to all their piano lessons, practice at home, and participate in recitals twice a year.
As you can see, creating the Performing Arts class was simple. I determined the criteria for the class and counted what they were already doing as its requirements. You can easily do the same for sports or other activities.
What if my child isn’t involved in outside activities?
If your child is not involved in other activities, you could build a class around one of his/her interests. Follow the same steps that I outlined above. First choose a subject. Then decide what you would like to require for the subject. Finally, decide how you will flesh out the requirements.
Would you like another example? One of my incoming 9th graders lives and breathes art. I’m creating an “Art Study” course for her. First I’m having her take at least one class through our city’s leisure arts program. The one she’s taking will be in cartooning. After that, and through the year, I’ll utilize different “how to” YouTube videos for her to watch and create her own works of art. She’ll do some sketching, watercolor painting, cartoon drawing, realistic drawing, etc.
What if I still don’t know what to choose for electives?
There are some bloggers who have compiled a lot of great ideas for electives. Check out some of their ideas:
Homeschooling High School Electives from Homeschool.com
The Complete Guide to High School Electives for Homeschoolers from Not that hard to homeschool
How to Plan a High School Elective Course for HSLDA.org
5. Assign credits to the courses
Now that you know how many credits your student will need to graduate, you can fill in the number of credits you plan to give for each course.
How do you decide how many credits to award per class?
Susan Wise Bauer writes that: Traditionally, 1 credit in high school equals 120 hours of classwork, or 160 45-minute periods.” Obviously then, 60 hours of classwork, or 80 45-minute periods would be worth half a credit.
Don’t worry if you don’t know exactly how many hours your student is putting into a subject. You all are smart people who are able to guesstimate, I’m sure. Just consider roughly the amount of time he/she is spending on their day to day work, tests, projects, etc. And if you go on field trips related to the subject, count that time as well.
6. Explore dual credit or other means of outsourcing courses
Now that you have your high school plan in place, do you have to teach it all? Thankfully, the answer is no!
Dual high school and college credit
If you would like for your kids to earn high school and college credit simultaneously, look into dual credit classes at your local community college. A one semester college class counts as a one year high school class. I had my oldest kids take care of their foreign language requirement this way. They took one year of Spanish which translated to two years of high school Spanish.
Your situation may be different, but for us, dual credit classes are just a fraction of the cost of regular college classes. I think we paid $8 per class and sometimes found classes that did not require a textbook.
Online classes
The prices of online classes range from very expensive to free. We’ve done both expensive and free. I’d opt for free as often as possible. To provide you with free resources, I’m going to point you to
Year Round Homeschooling.com’s post Free High School Homeschool Curriculum.
So you see, planning for high school isn’t all that difficult. You can do it! I’ll leave you with one last post from Weird unsocialized homeschoolers that you might find helpful on How to graduate a homeschooled student.
Be sure to sign up below if you want access to the free printables. If you have any questions, you can contact me at hislifelearner@gmail.com or julie@hislifelearner.com