The first week of homeschool started for us on Monday, 8/17/26. My youngest is now my only child in homeschool, as her two older siblings have graduated. She is taking English 2, US History 2, Geometry, Chemistry, Spanish 2, Health, and Photography this year. As in previous years, I have scheduled the lessons for my 10th grader in Google Classroom so she can see exactly what we are doing each day, and I keep the first day a bit light.
On Monday, we started the day with 8am yoga, then we went through the components of her English 2 course (American literature, WriteShop 2, and The Good and the Beautiful Year 2). We worked through the pre-writing portion of the first writing assignment, she started reading her American Literature book, and went through the introduction to TG&TB Unit 1. For Geometry, she logged into Nicole The Math Lady and printed the notes for her current math book, Saxon Advanced Mathematics, and started the Life of Fred Geometry book. For Chemistry, we read through the first few sections in the textbook about the history of chemistry and modern applications, and did an online lab safety activity that included a video, notes, and game. In US History, we reviewed major events of the late 1800’s leading up to where we left off in our textbook. In Spanish 2, we played Spanish Clue after going over the textbooks, flashcards, and Duolingo expectations for future classes. We finished the first day of 10th grade by taking a trip to a snow cone place in a nearby town with her sisters. It was a great first day!
The rest of the week, we started with 8am yoga or stretching, then she started Geometry. After math, she ate breakfast and then we did Spanish 2 together. English was usually started before lunch and then finished after. US History and Chemistry are done in the afternoons.
It was a smooth week. Although waking up early for 8am stretch has been hard for her. During the summer, she had a teen sleep schedule. Waking up early is not her favorite. She did not complain, but would get very sleepy around lunch and took a nap during that break a couple of times during the week. We finished between 3-4pm each day. It will be interesting to see how long it will take for her sleep habits to adjust!
After the 2 year break in The Good and the Beautiful, I was expecting some resistance, but there was none. She is perfectly fine with the work load and appreciates continuing with WriteShop 2 instead of doing the Insights Journal in TG&TB units. The use of the American Literature books to tie literature to the time periods as we go through the year was also well received.
Math, US History, and Spanish are basically a continuation of what we did last year, so there was no adjustment period there, as we basically kept doing what we did last year but just using the next level up.
Chemistry will be similar to biology was last year in that we are using the K-12.org online textbook and YouTube videos along with activities, labs, and tests that I created. It was fun pulling out chemistry activities from my classroom teaching days for ideas. The first unit, Chemistry Unit 1, is completed in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here if you are curious what we are doing for the first few weeks.
Health and Photography will be half credit courses and will be integrating 4-H curriculum materials and learning experiences outside of school. For example, there will be 2-day 4-H Junior Master Photography training this fall, field trips and photography contests throughout the year, and a state-wide photography judging contest in June. Health and Photography will be done on Fridays, along with Life of Fred for math and an easy-reader Spanish novel with written chapter summary. I like to keep Fridays lighter so it is easy to take those days for field trips if needed, too.
I realized while writing this that I only did a “What we are using for…” post about English 2. Posts describing my selections for the other high school subjects are forthcoming, I promise!
Hope you have a great start to your homeschool year, too!
