You may recall from our High School Plans for 2021-2022 article, I wasn’t sure whether to label the 2021-2022 year as Mister’s second freshman year, his sophomore year, or something different altogether. In the long run, I just called it Freshman Year B, since he completed some Freshman classes the year prior. He remains with his age peers in things like AWANA or youth group, but otherwise, we’re calling his school years what they most closely resemble. I’m not really sure how it’s already time to be writing about our 10th grade plans for 2022-2023, but here we are.
10th Grade Plans for 2022-2023
For the last two years, we have used Gather Round Homeschool units as our family core curriculum. I sustained a brain injury in November 2021, the week before Thanksgiving break. Then we did a really relaxed December, because December. January, February, and half of March we used a different student led virtual curriculum because I couldn’t actively teach. It takes me longer to teach things now, so we’re going to pivot, which is what I recommend when the homeschool curriculum isn’t working. For his sophomore year, Mister will be independent with with bulk of his classes. Of course, I’ll provide oversight, and some classes will have labs or instructional periods with collaborative learning days at our homeschool co-op or a local homeschool learning center.
10th Grade Math
Mister will be using Math-U-See PreCalculus Set for his math course. He’ll be attending our local learning center once a week for an instructional period with this math curriculum.
We’ve used other math curricula with Mister for several years, so I’m hopeful that the switch to Math-U-See will work for him. He’s the kid that can generally roll with whatever we throw at him, so I’m 🤞 and 🙏 that this will be the case as well. If this doesn’t work, we’ll do what we always do and find something that will.
10th Grade Science
Mister will be studying chemistry in his 10th grade year. He will be using the Discovering Design with Chemistry Textbook, written by Dr. Jay Wile and published by Berean Builders, for his chemistry class. While we have reviewed other chemistry curricula in the past, Mister wasn’t quite ready for chemistry at the time. He just finished a biology course written by Dr. Wile and liked the writing style of Dr. Wile. Since he is taking this course ahead of his age peers, and currently plans to apply to Missouri S&T, he needs a rigorous course that is college prep but student friendly. As I mentioned earlier, I am recovering from a brain injury, so I need him to have a curriculum that he can use independently. I’m confident the Discovering Design with Chemistry course fits that bill.
He’ll use the Discovering Design with Chemistry Student Workbook as he completes his reading assignments at home.
He will also use the Discovering Design with Chemistry Tests to assess his comprehension of the work.
Finally, in effort to aide him to be as independent as possible, he’ll have the Discovering Design with Chemistry Audio Book, which is a USB flash drive that contains .mp3 files of the book. While he doesn’t typically struggle with reading difficulty, it is a college prep course, so I want him to be able to listen to the audio when he needs it.
He’ll complete the lab component for this chemistry class at our homeschool co-op. As such, I’m not certain which chemistry lab supplies I will need, but we’ll certainly shop the homeschool chemistry kits from Homeschool Science Tools when we get the list.
10th Grade Language Arts
Mister has already completed American Literature and World Literature courses. This past year, he completed a speech lab at our homeschool co-op, and did the corresponding speech assignments at home. I’d intended to have him do debate this year, but he was not keen. So, instead, we’ll spend a year working on his ability to communicate effectively in a variety of formats–from formal to online. We’ll reinforce important grammar rules, construct paragraphs, link them together, build different types of essays, and write papers. He will also be introduced to the basic rules for online writing and how they differ from more traditional writing.
I think this will be especially good for him because he sees little to no point in writing. He’ll have a Grammar/Composition lab at our local homeschool learning center.
He will also be completing handwriting. Again. Because his handwriting needs help. Serious help. Last year, his co-op teachers and I had to agree that for grading purposes, if we couldn’t read it, it was wrong. Periodt. He’ll be using Exploring Handwriting Through U.S. Geography (Cursive Edition) by His Story Handwriting.
Exploring Handwriting Through U.S. Geography (Cursive Edition)
10th Grade Reading Books
I honestly don’t have any specific books in mind for him to read this coming year. He is an avid reader and reads a plethora of books each month. IF we choose to complete the Literature component of his geography course (see below), then he’ll be reading:
- Know Why You Believe by Paul Little
- Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour with David Hazard
- Patricia St. John Tells Her Own Story by Patricia St. John
- A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park – we used this as a read aloud this last year, but he’d need to re-read it.
- The Day the World Stopped Turning by Michael Morpurgo
- Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat
- Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth
- Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine
- Ann Judson: A Missionary Life for Burma by Sharon James
- The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
- Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger
Again, he’ll be doing a full credit in Grammar and Composition, so I’m still undecided if we’ll pursue the literature credit. If I know me, and I’m pretty sure I do, I’ll “strew” all of these, and he’ll read them all anyway. If he does, of course, he’ll get the credit. I just don’t know if I want to add the stress of requiring them.
10th Grade Social Studies
While we HAVE touched on a lot of geography within our GRH Connecting Continents series, I thought it was important that Mister have a more robust cultural geography. For that reason, we’re going to use the Exploring World Geography Curriculum Package by Ray Notgrass / Notgrass Company. With this curricula, Mister will explore mankind’s interaction with the world both in the past and in the present. Once completed, he should be able to answer two main questions: How has the physical world made a difference in what people have done, how they have lived, and how they live today? And, how have people made a difference in the physical world, and how are they making a difference in it today?
He’ll have a weekly lab for this at our local homeschool co-op, as well.
He *can* add a credit for literature if he completes the literature component by reading twelve books assigned in the curriculum. Additionally, he *can* add a World Views/Religion credit by reading assigned Bible verses daily PLUS reading the 5th chapter in the unit each week. As of yet, we’re undecided whether he will attempt either.
Mister will also be completing Foundations in Personal Finance this year. While a semester of personal finance is a public school requirement (Missouri has no laws relating to graduating your homeschooler), we do know that many colleges look for it on the transcript, and it just makes sense to take it.
Foundations in Personal Finance: Home School Student Text
He’ll have a weekly lab at our homeschool co-op that focuses on the basics of saving and budgeting, credit and debt, financial planning and insurance, as well as income, taxes, and giving.
10th Grade Foreign Language
Last year, at Christmas, we’d completed DNA tests to learn our heritage, and it came back that Mister is > 50% North and West European, so he started independently started studying French using DuoLingo — because, homeschooled kid, right? This year, he’ll use the Skills for Success Spanish Workbook Grades 6-12 from Carson Dellosa with DuoLingo to study Spanish. He’ll have a Spanish lab at our homeschool co-op, as well.
10th Grade Electives
Entrepreneurship
All three kiddos will be using The Boss Club Christian Homeschool Entrepreneurship Curriculum to learn about entrepreneurship. We’ll use the two one-semester courses that help students design, launch, grow, and optimize their own business. I’m not sure what business Mister will want to pursue developing, as he has several ideas.
I’m pretty excited about this course, and asked the company to extend some savings to my readers. They agreed, so you can save 10% with code TBC10.
Baseball
Mister has expressed that he wants to play baseball, and I *think* I’ve found a team for him, but it’s in another county, so I have to figure out if it will fit with our family schedule and whatnot.
Aviation
His current field of interest includes engineering, so we’ve looked at both online college and local junior colleges as options for his general education credits. He has also expressed interest in learning to fly, so we’re checking out local junior flying clubs. He’s done some free Young Eagle flights near us as he previously signed up for a Free Young Eagles Membership. The free membership gives him access to the free Sporty’s Online Learn to Fly Course – ground school and flight training in one complete course. He’s been working on it at his own pace and wants more formal training as well. There’s a nearby Aviation Explorers club that he may join, if we can make it work for our schedule.
