Junior Year 2024 Curriculum Choices

So many times, people tell me they are worried about homeschooling, or non-homeschoolers will ask if we are doing public school for high school. I remember when we first started homeschooling, and I was not sure what high school would look like.

However, with my oldest graduated and in college and my daughter going into her junior year, I can say that homeschooling high school is actually easier than homeschooling in the younger years. Students are more independent, and I have become more of a facilitator than a teacher.

My daughter is on a slightly different path than my son, so her junior-year courses look somewhat different from those he took. She wants to focus on her music and work towards an associate’s degree in music (and possibly one in biblical studies).

Therefore, we are taking a few core classes from the community college, some life skills electives, and a big focus on her music. Our plan is for her to complete the core classes when she graduates, which will leave her with only music classes at the community college.

Fall Semester:

She is taking English 111, Public Speaking, and College Success this semester from the community college. She chose to take all of these courses online. High school juniors and seniors can take community college classes for free in our state.

Spring Semester:

She will take English 112 and one or two more courses this spring. She will probably take US History and Music Appreciation, but we will make a final decision once the class schedule is available. Our community college partners with several local schools to provide classes, and my daughter is interested in taking some of the same classes as some friends in a local private school. So, she will make a decision in the spring based on what she needs and what they are taking.

At Home:

This year, at home, she is taking Culinary Arts. We desire for all of our children to leave our home with an excellent working knowledge of cooking, food safety, and culinary skills. We created a course a couple of years ago for my son.

We used Good Eats episodes to teach various skills, had hands-on experience included, and a food safety course. We also added in some activities from SchoolhouseTeachers.com. My daughter will complete the same course, except we traded out a few lessons based on their interests. For example, my son is a hunter and enjoys making his own jerky, so we did a jerky lesson for him, but we are baking more for my daughter.

My daughter is continuing her viola lessons with Practice Monkeys for her music this year. Her instructor, Mrs. VanKleek, is specifically working with her on the skills she needs to be prepared for her time at the community college while also continuing her Suzuki curriculum. In addition, my daughter is working with a local instructor to enhance her piano skills for playing at church. She currently plays in our youth group band but hopes to soon be ready to play for Sunday morning worship.

We are also looking into voice lessons and her potentially joining a new local youth orchestra. In addition, she is talking to several friends about teaching some beginner lessons.

Morning Time

In addition to her for credit courses, she will be joining us for our family morning time. During our morning time we will be doing Bible and World Watch each day. We will also do a rotation of other subjects including fine arts, hymn study, logic, and more.

Since she had plenty of courses for her required credits, we will not be using morning time as a high school credit this year, but you can check out High School Credit for Morning Time Studies to find out how to make it a credit or check out Morning Time Plans 2024 to see exactly what resources we are using this year.