Need a little confidence boost and some insider tips? Here’s how to homeschool high school English.
How to Homeschool High School English
Among us we have taught 26 kids of our own plus the many kids we have homeschooled in community in learning co-ops and homeschool day school programs. When you homeschool for that many years, you find some favorite curriculum options and strategies. In this post we’ll share each sister’s favorite resources to successfully homeschool high school English.
In general terms, a high school English class should include literature, writing and vocabulary. For LOTS of good details, check out these posts:
- Why is Language Arts Such a HUGE Credit?
- Authoritative Guide to Homeschool High School Literature
- How to do Language Arts with a General Interest Teen
- Check out this Homeschool Highschool Podcast Episode on How to Plan Language Arts
Here’s a quick video overview to get you started:
BTW, this is not a sponsored post – none of the curriculum we mention here has asked us to review or advertise their materials. Because we just like to share with other homeschoolers what has worked for us over the years. Here are some things we have done for Language Arts!
How to Homeschool High School English from Kym
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In our literature studies 7Sisters study guides are our pick, used in classes with Mrs J (that’s Sabrina!), the best Literature teacher I know! This subject has been challenging for one kid, my very literal thinking child, and exciting for all of us when those light bulbs go off! Some of my kids have been able to just run with literature and not require help. Others have required help for some of the works. The most exciting part is when they eventually list one of their most challenging works as their favorite.
Again for writing – Mrs J rocks! Since I am a better editor than writer, I have put my kids in classes with teachers who are passionately great writers and who love sharing that passion with others. My kids have done a combo of classes and 1-1 with mom according to the needs of each child. Two youngest will be working in a very small co-op this year.
I think all the Sisters love using Free Rice for both English and other vocab! We also use works of literature they are studying and what is going on in our lives – relevant vocab is so much “stickier” for the brain. Again we have done a combo of classes and 1 -1 with mom. We’re all pretty fascinated by the some of the Free Rice and all of the relevant words. The assigned stuff is neither an issue nor a joy. We just do it.
How to Homeschool High School English from Allison
Literature used co-ops and day school classes were our method of choice for all three kids. They used study guides and group discussion. They got a lot out of the passion of other teachers and the discussion groups.
Essays and short paper assignments were pulled mainly from literature.
How to Homeschool High School English from Vicki
We love literature. My group has done co-ops and group classes. My oldest kids first learned literature with their mom, but we found that we liked the group feedback. In the groups, there is discussion and good feedback. We tended to use teacher-created materials as study guides. 7Sisters literature study guides are the direct result of many happy years with books in our homeschool literature groups.
We love to write. My kids are good with capturing words and thoughts. Again we tend to do writing projects in group settings. That way my kids receive peer feedback and teacher guidance. We used study guides (some of which I wrote).
Vocabulary is important to us. We enjoy learning and using new words together as a family (mostly in silly and natural ways). My kids have used A Beka vocab when the kids were in elementary school. We tried a couple of years with Wordly Wise, too. In high school, my youngest is now using words from his literature study guides, SAT word lists, and freerice.com. He does this official vocab on his own.
How to Homeschool High School English from Sabrina
Umbrella school and co-op classes have been a great format for discussing literature with others as we read. One year each of British Lit, World Lit, American Lit and a specialty year (Shakespeare, Great Christian Writers, CS Lewis, etc.) made for well-rounded high school English. We read each book with a study guide and have lots of great discussions. Literature is a passion for me. 3 out of 4 of my kids are slow readers. However, one of those is also a word-geek who loves to read and write, he just reads slowly. 2 of my 4 don’t really like to read all that much, but they enjoy class discussions and projects based on books they are assigned to read.
My kids have integrated writing with our literature somewhat. Essays about topics and characters in our lit books, a research paper every year (ideally working with Allison as the teacher for that), and creative writing of various kinds inspired by the type of literature we are studying or by subjects that the kids are interested in and passionate about. Because being passionate about the subject always seems to produce better writing.
Vocabulary: We pulled vocab from our literature via study guides, and supplemented with online vocab like Freerice and the SAT word of the day.
How to Homeschool High School English from Sara
We’ve used a lot of Progeny Press Study Guides at home until we started co-op classes and homeschool umbrella school literature classes. These classes used 7Sisters Literature study guides. Although some books were just for ‘reading,’ not for ‘studying’ per se. I read aloud to my boys through son number 3’s graduation; then sons #4 and #5 were in umbrella school Lit classes and worked independently.
My family used Format Writing by Jensen for five-paragraph essays. The kids liked co-op assignments, day-school class assignments, and wrote research papers at home and at our day-school (I much preferred Allison teaching it for me!).
We liked Wordly Wise and also studied Latin Roots. I also pulled vocabulary from literature studies and used freerice.com.
How to Homeschool High School English from Marilyn
This has mostly been handled through co–op or homeschool classes. In high school (co-op or day-school classes), my children have studied Poetry, Writings of C.S. Lewis, American Lit., Peretti Lit, British Lit, and Movies as Literature.
In high school, most writing was handled in co-op or day-school classes. This would be a combination of Creative Writing, Essay Writing, and Research Paper.
This has mostly been done with Wordly Wise and word roots (Latin and Greek).
Wondering what to include in a Language Arts credit? Click here to learn more.
How to homeschool high school English
Click here to see what teachers say about language arts components.
I also did much reading aloud to my older children, which phased out somewhat as we got busier with outside classes. Now, I am reading aloud to my youngest child. A couple of my children did some of their books on audio because they seemed to get more out of the books that way.
Yep, Marilyn, same with us on the audio books. One son, though a good reader, reads rather slowly. That makes those long books very difficult for him to handle, especially when needing to keep up with a co-op class or day-school class schedule. Audio books worked very well in those situations.