Choosing a high school curriculum can be a daunting task. For me, high school language arts and social studies were easy choices, but choosing the science and math curriculum was another case. So let me guide you through my high school curriculum picks. I hope these selections might help guide you!

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High School Curriculum

Now the beauty of high school is that you are not constrained to any one curriculum or any particular course catalog to select your classes. The sky is the limit!

I have done months of research to select my recommendations for our high school students as they choose their high school classes.

(Have you heard that A One-Room Schoolhouse now serves high school students? Check out our high school page here.)

Language Arts

The first category was easy. Language arts will be selected from the offerings of The Good and the Beautiful. The Good and the Beautiful has an excellent language arts curriculum going through the high school years. This curriculum fosters excellent writers, in-depth readers, profound grammarians and amazing artists.

One of the benefits of The Good and the Beautiful high school coursework is that students will receive one credit of language arts, with the option to complete honors credit, AND they also receive half a credit of geography and half a credit of art. This is a two-for-one kind of class receiving two credits for one piece of coursework!

Social Studies

Social studies was another easy curriculum pick. Students will continue to participate in our one-room schoolhouse-style instruction through The Good and the Beautiful social studies course. These courses are designed to be taught in a multi-age style classroom with individualized assignments according to grade level.

Our high school students will continue to receive enrichment readings and historical writing instruction through these courses. Every year students will receive half a credit of world history and half a credit of U.S. history. High school students will be encouraged to complete The Good and the Beautiful History course with the rest of the schoolhouse in both 9th and then 10th grade.

Then, beginning in 11th grade, they can have a choice between concurrent enrollment classes, AP classes or another curriculum to best suit their needs as they begin their college transition process.

Finally, students will also be encouraged to take a government and economic course traditionally done in the senior year of high school. Government and Economics course are offered on our electives days on a rotation with other elective offerings.

Math

The next curriculum piece was a little bit harder than language arts and social studies: math. Since I am a former math teacher, I’m a bit of a math snob when it comes to math resources. I am excited that our elementary-age students will be able to continue using math from The Good and the Beautiful, but was would be best to do starting in the middle school years? I have two great suggestions!

Denison Math

Denison Math stands out as an excellent choice for traditional learners. Denison offers a comprehensive curriculum tailored to meet the needs of diverse math students. Their approach includes an array of resources, including engaging video tutorials, extensive math study aids, and an impressive textbook enriched with graphical support. The Denison Math program adopts a gradual progression, with Algebra One, Geometry, and Algebra Two spread over three years before advancing to Advanced Math with Trigonometry in the fourth year. After completing Advanced Math, Denison students have the opportunity to pursue further courses such as College Algebra, Consumer Math, or Precalculus, providing them with a solid foundation for their future academic endeavors. Denison also has a “success” math course series for student with learning disabilities or other math difficulties.

Saxon Math

For students that want a more rigorous approach to mathematics, I have selected the Saxon integrated program.  This is a three-book series specifically designed for homeschoolers that integrates geometry into algebra one, algebra two and advanced mathematics (Pre-Calculus).

This three-year series provides students with a rigorous, honors set of coursework. In just three years of coursework, students will complete the required materials for algebra one, algebra two, geometry, precalculus and trigonometry. So again, this is a situation of more bang for your buck, as in three years of coursework these students will get four hones math credits. (Click on this link to see the credit breakdown.) Students who are using the Saxon course series will have video lectures available through Nicole the Math Lady and a classroom teacher.  

Science

Finally, science! This is the curriculum choice that took months to research. I spent dozens and dozens of hours researching different high school science curriculums. The biggest question you need to ask yourself when it comes to high school science is: Do you want a secular or religious curriculum?

Secular or Religious… this is the question!?!

Besides religion, the curriculums available are diverse in many other ways. In my search, I also wanted to consider the laboratory experiences, cost, rigor, and availability of video lessons.  Furthermore, we are a Christian homeschool support organization but when it comes to the origin of life and the age of the earth we leave this matter up to families and pastors.

A One-Room Schoolhouse never wishes to debate doctrine or become your pastor. I want to offer curriculum choices that could meet all our students’ needs and, of course, support students in a rigorous scientific laboratory high school experience.  Of course, they can always choose their own coursework if these do not fit their family’s needs, but these are going to be my recommendations for our high school students.

Science Picks

Number Two: Friendly Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Anatomy

The next curriculum selection is from Friendly Physical Science, Friendly Biology, Chemistry, and Anatomy. This curriculum has both Christian and secular textbook options. I would lean towards the Christian selection in these textbooks. Neither covers creationism or evolution as that is left as a separate study, but the Christian textbook does give credit to God.  

These textbooks and workbook combination with video lectures by the author. There is no pre-assembled lab kit for this course as this is a more homestyle laboratory experience, with the laboratory materials being common household items. I really enjoy that they video model the dissections by the author. The authors of the Friendly series both about have a background in veterinary medicine so the dissections videos are done by a professional.  This is an affordable science curriculum, keeping the yearly high school science bill just under $200, and it well prepares students to go on to either an AP course or a concurrent enrollment selection.

I should mention that over the past few years, I’ve made efforts to enhance our lab experiences in the classes I teach. In Physical Science, I’ve introduced various building kits to complement our lab work (see here and here), while in Biology, I’ve incorporated a comprehensive dissection sequence into our curriculum (see here). To aid in the dissection process, I utilize instructional videos to facilitate our learning journey. Additionally, in Chemistry, I’m fortunate to have a student’s father, who happens to be a college Chemistry professor, leading our chemistry lab sessions. His expertise allows us to explore a wide range of fascinating experiments during our weekly lab sessions.

So what do you think?

Comment below and let me know what you think of these selections. If you like these options, head over to our 2024-2025 application and send it in today. We still have a few secondary slots open!

A final note… what about electives? Well, the sky is the limit! What do you want to learn about? Let me know and we will design a course for you!