What we are using for 10th grade English Language Arts

(I am not affiliated with any of the companies or compensated for any of the links in this post)

I have one child left in homeschool. My older two have graduated; one is continuing at the community college where my kids did dual credit, and the other has maxed out her community college contribution to her degree and starts at the local university in two weeks. My older two have done well in their college composition classes, and are decent writers. I feel two things have contributed to this: consistent ELA education throughout their school years and a well-rounded English curriculum.

For both of my older two, we used all three years of The Good and the Beautiful. Did they love the literature selections? Not really. My oldest did not complain, but my middle child said they were boring and predictable. Let’s face it, to stay “safe” TG&TB chooses some pretty tame books. They also felt the writing assignment topics were boring, even though there were choices. I value their feedback. I also value the fact that they both passed the TSI writing test on their first try, so there was something of value in those “boring” writing assignments.

That all sounds very critical of TG&TB, so to be fair, let me explain why I keep coming back to it. It contains reading, literature, literary history, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, plus geography, art, and art history all wrapped up in one manageable package. While there is no perfect curriculum, I feel it is a solid choice.

Enter my youngest child who used TG&TB from 1st grade to 7th grade, and then cried about having to use it for 8th grade. So, we tried something different for 8th grade ELA. She loved it. We did something different for 9th grade. She liked it okay, but not enough to beg to use it again this year, and I felt it was weak in spelling, vocabulary, and light on grammar. I turned again to TG&TB and offered it to her as a suggestion for 10th along with continuing WriteShop II and different literature options. She agreed.

All that to say, here is what we are using for 10th grade ELA:

• The Good and the Beautiful High School ELA Year 2
• WriteShop II
• Six additional historial fiction literature selections

The six additional literature selections are historical fiction set in time periods that correlate to the Modern American History curriculum by Guest Hollow. More on that in another post. The books were not chosen for her reading level, but because I think they would interest her. I was amused at the mixed reactions when I shared these selections on social media. But, I hold fast to the opinion that homeschooling is about what is best for our kid, not what everyone else thinks.

I also made a little sheet to go in her binder so she can rate each book after she is finished with it. Maybe I can convince her to write Amazon reviews, too.

For the core curriculum, I had purchased the PDF files of TG&TB for all three years of high school for my oldest, so I just had to print the Year 2 units. We already have the grammar guide, geography cards, vocabulary cards, and books, also, however we will see if she reads all of them in addition to the historical fiction books, or if we just end up reading selected portions of them.

I printed and placed all 10 units in a binder.

WriteShop works well for my youngest, so we will continue with that writing curriculum instead of doing the Insights Journal assignments in TG&TB. What I love about WriteShop is it systematically takes the student through all steps of writing with each assignment: sample writing, brainstorming, rough draft, student editing, parent editing, and final draft. The lessons do have assigned topics, but we have not had issues yet with her engaging in the assignments. The editing criteria for assignments includes not only spelling, grammar, and punctuation but limiting the use of “be” verbs and boring words. I really love how it makes her examine her writing and provides her the tools to improve her final product.

The teacher’s manual was purchased used on ebay a couple of years ago. I prefer to purchase the student workbooks as PDFs then print them myself to save a few bucks and make them binder-friendly. I like ALL of the ELA stuff in one binder.

To align with with 10 units, I chose to only include lessons 20-29 this year. My ultimate goal is to prepare her to take the TSI in the spring so she can enroll as a dual credit student in 11th grade, and I feel this will give her the preparation that she needs.

I hope our homeschool selections for 10th grade ELA have helped to inform or inspire you! Comment below if you would like to share what has or has not worked for you in high school ELA and what you are using this year.