We have been asked: How many papers should MY homeschool high schooler write?
How Many Papers Should MY Homeschool High Schooler Write?
All homeschool high schoolers need to write.
- College-bound teens need to be prepared with the writing and thinking skills they will use to succeed in higher education.
- Career-bound teens need to be able to train and capture their thoughts so that they can be the culture-changing citizens we are raising them to be.
Often, though, homeschool parents are not sure how many books their teens should read each year. Here is what we advise them:
- There’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school! All teens are different in their abilities, interests and needs.
- However, there are some tried-and-true guidelines that you can follow or adapt to your teens’ needs.
Here are the guidelines we use.
First, you need to determine your homeschool high schoolers’ level. While there’s not a standardized definition of levels, these are the levels that our homeschool community uses. (Here is a post that explains levels.)
Next, adjust expectations by the year your homeschool high schoolers are in? Over the grades 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grades there are increasing expectations.
You will find that writing guides are enormously helpful. 7Sisters Writing Guides coach homeschool high schoolers step-by-step through the writing process, helping learn to distill ideas and express them well. The most important aspect of 7Sisters’ Writing Guides is that they are not intense and contain NO busywork! They are not going to waste your teens’ valuable time. The guides also includes rubrics for grading.
How many papers should MY homeschool high schooler write? Here’s the breakdown by grade and level with the numbers of each kind of paper.
Language Arts 9
Language Arts 9 Level 2
- 4 short papers – whatever the parent feels the student needs
- 2 essays
- 4-page research paper (3 pages + references); must cite sources
Language Arts 9 Level 3
- 4 short – at least 2 creative
- 4 essays
- 5-page paper (4 pages + references); must cite sources
Language Arts 9 Level 4
- 5 short – at least 2 creative
- 5 essays
- 7-page paper (6 pages + references); must cite sources
Language Arts 9 Level 5
- 6 short – at least 3 creative
- 6 essays
- 8-page paper (7 pages + references) or 2 5-page papers; must cite sources
Language Arts 10
Language Arts 10 Level 2
- 4 short papers – whatever the parent feels the student needs
- 2 essays
- 5-page research paper (4 pages + references); must cite sources
Language Arts 10 Level 3
- 4 short -at least 2 creative
- 4 essays
- 6-page paper (5 pages + references); must cite sources
Language Arts 10 Level 4
- 6 short – at least 3 creative
- 5 essays
- 8-page paper (7 pages + references) or 4-page and 5-page; must cite sources
Language Arts 10 Level 5
- 7 short – at least 3 creative
- 7 essays
- 8-page paper (7 pages + references) or 4-page and 5-page; must cite sources
Language Arts 11
Language Arts 11 Level 2
- 4 short papers – whatever the parent feels the student needs
- 3 essays
- 7-page research paper (6 pages + references); must cite sources
Language Arts 11 Level 3
- 4 short – at least 2 creative
- 4 essays
- 8-page paper (7 pages + references) or 4-page and 5-page; must cite sources
Language Arts 11 Level 4
- 6 short – at least 3 creative
- 6 essays
- 10-page paper (9 pages + references); or 6-page and 5 page; must cite sources
Language Arts 11 Level 5
- 8 short – at least 4 creative
- 8 essays
- 2 8-page papers (7 pages + references) or 1 8-page and a 4-page & 5-page paper
Language Arts 12
Language Arts 12 Level 2
- 4 short papers – whatever the parent feels the student needs
- 3 essays
- 10-page research paper (9 pages + references) or 2 6-page papers; must cite sources
Language Arts 12 Level 3
- 4 short – at least 2 creative
- 5 essays
- 10-page paper (9 pages + references) or 2 6-page papers; must cite sources
Language Arts 12 Level 4
- 6 short – at least 3 creative
- 6 essays
- 10-page paper (9 pages + references) and 4-page paper; must cite sources
Language Arts 12 Level 5
- 8 short – 3 creative and 3 response papers
- 8 essays
- 2 10-page papers (9 pages + references) or 1 10-page and a 6-page & 5-page paper; must cite sources
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When you say pages, do you mean single or double spaced?
Good question. We traditionally have our teens double space all their papers.
My student is aiming for Language Arts 9 Level 3 with four short papers, four essays, and one research report. Of the four short papers, let’s say one of them is an essay. Does that mean they should do three additional essays (to add up to the “four essays”) or four more essays on top of the one already completed?
Also, where does literary analysis fit? Would it be considered a short paper, essay, or research paper (assuming they cited sources)?
Thank you!
Hi Kristen,
Good questions. In our 7Sisters opinion, you have a lot of latitude on what you consider a short paper. Our teens always did essays, short story, poetry in varying amounts. Those that wrote a paper on literature analysis usually wrote shorter papers (not research paper length) but if your teen really gets into it and it actually has sources cited- hey, count it as a research paper.
As you know, there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school. So adapt our ideas to fit your teen’s needs and goals.
What’s the best way to determine which level of rigor is where my child is currently at as a starting point? Is there any qualitative gauge for level-appropriateness vs just selecting a quantitative level of desired workload based on our end goals? Thanks!
Hi Karen,
That is an excellent question. There isn’t a qualitative guideline for the levels beyond the subjective knowing your teen’s abilities, goals and interests…which leads to, yes, we have found that setting goals for the year based on those abilities, interests and personal goals will clarify which level for which to aim.
What does “short” mean? Is that a short essay, a short persuasive, a short expository, a short prompt response, etc?
We typically think of a short paper as anything 1-3 pages in length. It could be a poem or personal response that is only 3/4 of a page, or a 5-paragraph essay that takes 1 1/2 pages. A short story or personal mission statement might be 3 pages long . But anything that requires research and citations, or a multi-chapter work of fiction, etc. is a bigger undertaking than what we mean by “short paper.”
Hi Wendy, that could be any paper of any kind. Variety is the best idea. Allow me to share Sabrina’s suggestion: We typically think of a short paper as anything 1-3 pages in length. It could be a poem or personal response that is only 3/4 of a page, or a 5-paragraph essay that takes 1 1/2 pages. A short story or personal mission statement might be 3 pages long . But anything that requires research and citations, or a multi-chapter work of fiction, etc. is a bigger undertaking than what we mean by “short paper.”
Are the 3 bullets under each Language Arts level meant to be a group (*all* done to satisfy the level) or just options (one done of the three satisfies the level)?
Hi Susan,
Our teens did all 3 bullets to satisfy our Language Arts requirements. However, remember, there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school, so do what is best for your teens.
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