My youngest will be in 10th grade next year. In 9th grade, her course list included English 1, Early American History, Algebra 2, Biology, Spanish 1, PE, and Theater. In 10th grade, we are continuing with English 2, Modern US History, Geometry, Chemistry, Spanish 2, Health, and Photography. This week, I got serious about the calendar for the school year, selecting curricula, and beginning to plan out courses.
If you have been following me for any period of time, you probably know that I am an eccentric homeschooler- I pull a little from here, a little from there, even if I am starting with a “complete” curriculum. It is just my teaching style. So, I will describe my course planning process, but this is just the way that works best for me.
First, I review my child’s high school plan. Since this year is mostly a continuation of last year, it was pretty easy to select her courses. It will become a little trickier next year when she is eligible to start dual credit classes and we start looking at a degree plan to help choose her classes. (This planning page is from my NSHR high school planning packet)
Next, I list her classes and brainstorm which curricula we will be using as the spine for each course. As always, I will pepper in other things, like games, videos, field trips, projects, etc. during the planning phase, but this is just to get the ball rolling. (This planning page is from my NSHR homeschool planner and gradebook)
With a list of classes and base curricula listed, I look at the calendar to see how many weeks we will be in school. This year, our calendar will be based on her two older sister’s college schedules, so we will start Aug 17, 2026 and plan on ending May 14, 2027, with a big fat break December 14, 2026-January 8, 2027. I mark all of our school weeks with highlighter, and will go back in later to mark days off for holidays and field trips. (This attendance page is from my NSHR homeschool planner and gradebook)
Now for the actual course plan. For this post, I will use Spanish 2 as the example. We are using BJU Press Spanish 2 along with my NSHR Spanish 2 Lesson Plans. The plans already have each day’s textbook and workbook assignments scheduled each day, I just add the “extras” in the notes section. The lesson plan will require 30 weeks at four days per week as written, so will fit well within my academic calendar of 34 weeks.
I have scheduled in some Spanish games that I purchased from TeachersPayTeachers and a chapter a week from a Spanish easy reader chapter book. My child also does Duolingo Spanish daily, so between the curriculum, Duolingo, flashcards, and activities, it is a very full course plan with an abundance of varied learning activities to keep my student engaged and learning.
Things to keep in mind while planning a course:
- What courses does your high school student need this year? Keep the number of courses realistic for time constraints but enough to meet minimums required by your state.
- What does the academic calendar look like? Number of weeks, number of classes? How many days does your course plan need to have, or need to be limited to?
- Include considerations for your teaching style and your child’s learning style when planning the course. Include assignments and activities that will engage your student but be realistic for you to implement in your homeschool.
- Plan a variety of learning experiences for the course. Just doing x-number of textbook pages per day, everyday, for the whole year will bore your student and lead to burnout.
Even boxed set curricula needs planning in order to implement it effectively. Consider your student’s needs and your teaching style and plan the course accordingly.
