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10th grade! A lot of homeschooling parents seem to be afraid of homeschooling through high school. One of the things that I love best about Robinson Curriculum is that by the time my teenagers get to high school, they are ready to be self-teaching, independent learners. It makes my job SO MUCH EASIER. Also, using vintage books helps, because the youth of yesteryear were often MUCH more responsible at he same age than modern teens. So my teenagers don’t really think that it is “weird” to act like young adults rather than petulant toddlers! So nice. Anyway, here’s how to homeschool using vintage books for 10th grade — even if you are worried that you don’t know enough to teach high school!
My Curriculum Choices for 10th Grade 2020-2021
- My home library
- Robinson Curriculum
- Dollar Homeschool
- Religious resources to fit your family’s needs
10th Grade Schedule for 2020-2021
Teaching Assembly
This is exactly the same for everyone every day. Everyone participates. I have a different child lead each week, in rotation.
- Pledge of Allegiance
- Psalm 23
- Sing the weekly hymn
- Read the daily Bible story
- Talk about the day (traditions, liturgy, saints)
- Pray
Teaching Math
This year, my 10th grader is doing Saxon Algebra II. She still isn’t sure whether she wants to study medicine or not, but she is proceeding through math as if she planned to be pre-med.
She likes to tell me that math is her worst subject — but I think that just because it isn’t as easy for her as writing. Algebra II in 10th grade is still reasonable in my book.
Teaching Writing
This is my one child wh needs NO HELP with writing. She writes for a peer-reviewed magazine, and on her first submission they told her that it read like a college essay, and asked her to “dumb it down” a bit.
Since she is in high school, she writes mostly essays and publishes them on her schoolwork blog. She writes an essay on history, one on STEM topics, one on philosophy, and one on literature each week. She writes about one essay a day, but if she were not as easy with writing, I’d probably have her do less for the week, so she could focus on writing well.
After she is done with writing, she does a quick workout and then goes on to language arts.
Teaching Language Arts
Language arts in high school is the time for foreign languages. This is what all the diagramming of sentences has been leading up to. This year, my daughter is studying Latin and German. (She wants to attend university in Germany.)
I teach foreign languages almost entirely from older books in a grammar-based format. My children choose from Latin, Greek, French, and German. In addition to the old textbooks that I use, my children also listen to and watch videos, songs, and podcasts by native speakers, to get a feel for the language. You’d be amazed at how much you learn of a language by watching lyrics videos.
Teaching Reading
Reading selections come from the Robinson Curriculum booklist. She does a lot of extra reading anyway, so all her extra reading assignments are related to her high school extras.
Teaching College Prep
I don’t actually teach college prep. Instead, this is an hour each day when my high school student utilies Khan Academy and Quizlet to practice the SAT. My daughter also goes through the Khan Academy AP classes, because why not?
Teaching P.E., Art & Music, Home Ec, Business and Debate
I don’t do much teaching here, either. P.E. is a ballroom dance class. Art and Music is a lesson in painting, singing, or an instrument. Home Ec uses a vintage text book to make sure that all the dometic arts are covered before she leaves home. Business is one hour weekly spent learning about starting and running a small (usually online) business. Debate is basically speech and debate for rhetoric practice and social interaction every week.
Are You Starting 10th Grade This Year?
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