How to homeschool high school, one year at a time

Plan high school as courses instead of grades, keep a transcript from the first semester of ninth grade, and let your teen take on more of the work each year. You teach less of it out loud than you did in the younger years. You plan more, check more, and keep better records.

It feels like a bigger leap than it is. Most of high school is reading, writing, math and science done steadily, four years in a row.

Think in courses and credits

In elementary school your kid does "fifth grade math." In high school your teen takes Algebra I, or Biology, or American Literature, and each one finished earns a credit. A credit is usually a full-year course, often counted as about 120 hours of work, or about 180 for a lab science. Check your state's rules, since a few set their own requirements, and the colleges your teen might apply to.

A common four-year plan looks something like this:

• English every year, with a lot of reading and a lot of writing.
• Math through Algebra II at least, and further if your teen is headed toward a math or science field.
• Science for three or four years, with at least two lab courses. Biology is the usual first one.
• History and government, often world history, U.S. history, and a year of government and economics.
• A foreign language for two years, if colleges are in the picture.
• Electives that fit your teen, from logic to music to a trade.

Keep the transcript as you go

Write down every course as it ends: its name, the credit, and the grade. Save a short description of each course with the main books and materials. You'll be glad you did this every semester. Rebuilding four years from memory in the fall of senior year is miserable.

Labs at home are possible

Biology is the science most families start with, and a good share of it works at the kitchen table: yeast in warm water, a potato in salt water, strawberries pulled apart for their DNA. Keep a lab notebook from the first day, with the question, what you did, what you saw, and what it means. For chemistry and physics, many families add a lab kit, a co-op class or a community college course.

Hand over the work slowly

A ninth grader still needs you most days. Go over the reading together, talk about the essay before it's written, and check the math the same day. By eleventh grade, many teens work through most of a week on their own and sit down with you for an hour to go over it. Arbor plans each high school course as lessons you teach together, with the student doing the reading and writing alone, which is roughly the balance most families land on.

Outside proof helps

Grades from someone other than a parent carry weight with colleges. Dual enrollment at a community college, AP exams, outside online courses and standardized tests all give your teen that. One or two of these by senior year is plenty for most applications.

You don't have to know all of it

Most parents don't remember chemistry. You can learn alongside your teen, use a program that does the teaching for one subject, or trade with another family. What your teen needs most is someone who keeps the year moving and notices when a week went sideways. That's still you.