Why You Need A Four-Year Plan to Homeschool High School

You’ve made the decision to homeschool through high school. But now what?

How can you ensure you and your child can successfully make it through the high school years?

How do you know what they need to study? What if you miss something vital?

This is where a four-year plan for high school comes in.

What is a Four-Year Plan for Homeschool High School?

Think about a college major. The college has certain main classes that are required to show proficiency in the subject. In addition, they have a certain number of extra credit hours they require–electives–that are your choice. These aim to make you a more rounded person and allow you to pursue other areas where you may have an interest. But the college doesn’t just make up the required classes you need have to every year. They are laid out so you know what you need to take and what order you need to take them in. Some may have alternative choices, while others require the exact class.

When homeschooling high school, you are looking at doing something similar. A four-year plan is your student’s pathway toward graduation and their post-graduation goals. It eliminates the guessing game of wondering what else your child needs, panicking at forgetting or missing needed subjects, and clearly sets out how to reach the end goal: graduation.

How to Begin Your Four-Year Plan for Homeschooling High School

To begin, think about what graduation requirements might look like for your child. What are their goals, passions, hobbies? Are they college-bound? Looking at a technical school or mission? Are they an entrepreneur? These questions will help direct the pathway for your child. A good rule of thumb, if your incoming high school student is undecided, is to prepare as though they will be attending college post-graduation. It is much easier to switch from a college-prep track than it is to switch to one.

I find it is a good idea to look at the incoming requirements for freshmen at your state universities and to look at the graduation requirements of your local high school. This will help to give you a starting point.

Next, you need to decide how many credits your child will need to graduate. How many of these need to be from core subjects (required by you) and how many from electives (chosen by them). Most public high schools require 24 credits to obtain a diploma. As a homeschooler, typically you get to decide how many credits they need. It could be more or less depending on their post-graduation goals.

Next, pull up a spreadsheet, or section a piece of paper into four sections. Label the sections: Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, & Senior.

What to Include in Your Four-Year Homeschool High School Plan

Once you have an idea of what end goal you are aiming for and how many credits your child will need to graduate, the next step is to plot it all out by year. This is where your spreadsheet comes in.

Begin by plugging in all the required subjects. This can be as vague as writing English down all four years or more detailed. Perhaps, you require that one English class be on Shakespeare, for example.

Typically, the core required subjects for most (not all) public schools and ones that Universities want to see are: English (4 years); Math (4 years); History (3 years); Science (3-4 years with at least one lab science); Foreign Language (2-4 years for college-bound students).

Again, these can be vague-you know your child needs math every year-or detailed-they will take Geometry, Algebra II, Trigonometry, and Finance.

The key is that you have it mapped out. That you know each year what you need to fit in.

Once you have placed your core required subjects, divide up the remaining elective credits needed to receive a diploma between the four years. It is possible your child may only take one elective during their Freshmen year and more in later years. They may also choose to earn more credits than necessary for graduation if there are more subjects they want to study.

The elective credits are the ones most likely to change as your child narrows down their goals or as goals change. The important part is knowing how many they absolutely need.

What Makes a Homeschool High School Credit?

The typical rule of thumb is one homeschool high school credit is the equivalent of 120-180 hours of work. This roughly correlates to an hour, 4-5 days a week for two semesters. A half-credit then would be 60-90 hours or one semester.

Benefits of a Four-Year Plan for Homeschooling High School

For many parents, homeschooling high school is the first time they actually have to keep track and award grades. The thought of creating a transcript is nearly enough to have them re-thinking public school.

However, if you begin with a four-year plan for homeschooling high school, then your transcript work is already half done. Each year, you will replace your placeholder subjects with the actual subjects, grades and credits earned. And if you *gasp* forget to do it right away, your four-year plan can easily trigger your memory.

You Can Still be Flexible with a Four-Year Plan for Homeschooling High School

Creating a four-year plan before you begin homeschooling high school is meant to serve as a guide, not a written-in-stone-can-never-be-altered contract.

At the end of each year, while planning for the next, you can re-evaluate to make sure it is still meeting the needs of your child. If science suddenly becomes their passion, they may decide they want four years of science instead of three. Or maybe they want to fit in five science credits. With the structure of a four-year plan in place, you can easily see where changes or corrections could be made to help achieve their goal.

Allow it to be a living document while keeping the integrity of its purpose-to clearly outline the pathway toward graduation and post-secondary education.

What if We Started Homeschooling High School Without a Four-Year Plan?

While the ideal time to map out a four-year high school plan for homeschooling is before you begin, that is not always the reality. Maybe you didn’t start homeschooling until partway through high school or you hadn’t heard of a four-year plan, but now want one.

If this is the case, no need to panic.

Sit down and look at what has already been done and what needs to still happen. Take your sheet divided by grade and plugin everything that has already happened. Next, look at your graduation requirements and plan out how to get the rest accomplished. (Remember, you set the requirements and can adjust accordingly.)

Homeschool High School with Confidence

With a four-year plan in place, you can homeschool high school with confidence you’re meeting the criteria your student needs to succeed. No waking in the middle of the night wondering if they have enough English classes. A clear path is outlined from the beginning to guide you as your child progresses toward graduation.