WUHS Top Picks: High School

This will be my final installment in the Top Picks series.  If you missed them, be sure to check out my picks for Kindergarten, first and second grades, third and fourth grades, fifth and sixth grades, and seventh and eighth grades.  This is also the one in which you hear the crickets chirping conspicuously in the background...as in, if you have any recommendations for high school, I'd love to hear them!

This was supposed to be Brianna's 8th grade year and our practice year for high school.  Mid-year, she decided she wanted to catch up the year we "repeated" in fifth grade (a mutual decision and one of the best choices we made for her as far as school is concerned).  I was fine with that since I really felt that she was doing 9th grade level work in most areas already, only really needing to catch up math, which can easily be done with some summer work.

So, that being said, most of the following are what I plan to use -- or look at -- for high school, not necessarily resources with which I have experience.

Bible.  As I've said before, Bible Study Guide for All Ages gets my vote for preschool through high school, so no changes there.

Math.  Right now, my plan is to stick with Teaching Textbooks through high school.  We'll be doing Algebra I and II and Geometry, with the final year of high school being a consumer math class.  In consumer math, I plan to use Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace to teach budgeting, and also cover things like how to balance a check book, how to save money on groceries using menu planning and coupons, and other practical, math-related life skills.

Literature and Composition.  This will be our catch-all English category and will include daily grammar review with the Ultimate Grammar series, composition with, most likely,  Wordsmith Craftsman and Jump In, and literature selections from Reading Lists for College Bound Students.  We'll also throw in vocabulary and your typical book reports and research papers (which will be history-based as long as we're using Pandia Press since a research paper is included as part of the yearly course work there)

Science.  This is one of my unsure categories.  I'll be looking at Apologia.  If you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

History.  I will, most likely, be continuing with the History Odysseys from Pandia Press through high school.  My other alternative would probably be TruthQuest. 


Health and P.E.  P.E. will be either volleyball, since Brianna is on a team, or working out at the Y.  Health will include books like:

• Nutrition 101 (which I'll couple with practical life skills to cover home ec...if you're interested in purchasing your own copy, you can take 10% off your order through June 30 using discount code: KrisTOSCrew10)
• And the Bride Wore White
• I Kissed Dating Goodbye
• I Gave Dating a Chance
• When God Writes Your Love Story
• Boy Meets Girl

I plan to post more on this particular aspect of our high school classes later (like probably next week).  For now, I'll suffice it to say that the health aspect is going to focus on purity and personal safety, with other topics added as needed.

Foreign Language.  Ugh!  I'm trying not to think about this one.  I had considered Rosetta Stone, but have heard that it may not be enough to count as high school foreign language credits.  My other possibility is doing a co-op or classes for homeschoolers available in my area.  What are y'all doing?

Art.  This will be Brianna's extracurricular class of choice.  We may go the organized class route again.  She took a class a few years ago that caused me to think that I wish we'd saved it for high school because it was high school level caliber.  I wouldn't mind taking the class with her.  Other than that, we'll continue Artistic Pursuits and Terry Holliday's Elements of Art.

I also wouldn't mind doing a photography class with Brianna (as in, both of us taking the class) as an extracurricular class, if I get a decent camera sometime in the near future.  I think we'd both enjoy that.

Economics/Government.  I've heard good things about Whatever Happened to Penny Candy and Land of Fair Play.  Those are two books I'll be looking at.  I've heard that Land of Fair Play was suitable for high school, but I'm not sure about Penny Candy.  I hope to get my hands on both soon.

So, those of you who've been there, done that or are farther along than we are, what are your suggestions?  If you, like me, are just entering this territory, what are you looking at?

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

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