How to Combine Homeschool High School Subjects into One Class
[Today’s post How to Combine Homeschool High School Subjects into One Class was written by guest contributor Michelle Habrych.]
If you have ever wanted to think outside the box in your homeschool, then you’ll love today’s blog post about How to Combine Homeschool High School Subjects into One Class! I think you’ll be inspired by new ideas and ways of doing things for your homeschooled high schoolers. ~Gena
Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.
Unit Studies
Early in my homeschooling, I was drawn to unit studies for my kids. They brought together all of the traditional school subjects in a way that was fun to study them.
In fact, the first “official” homeschooling I did with my son, age 4, and daughter, age 3, was to do a Winter Olympics unit study by Amanda Bennett. We had a great time learning about the history of the event, the countries involved, geography, and sports as we used math to tally the medals for each country. The study likely included higher-level math, but I did not pay attention to that with my young students. The prepared study met us where we were and we used it to fit our needs.
Combining School Subjects
Whenever possible, even if we weren’t doing a full unit study, I combined subjects in our homeschool. It just made sense to me. For example, in my Young Artist class, I taught the students at our homeschool co-op a bit about the artist’s life (History) and then had them mark on a map where he or she was born (Geography). Occasionally, we read a children’s picture book about the artist (Literature), and then created a project in the artist’s style (Fine Arts).
For more on teaching type of Young Artist class with your own students or at a co-op, read my post here.
Creative Ideas to Combine Homeschool High School Subjects
However, as my students got older, it became increasingly difficult for us to fit in a full unit study around their other curriculum and co-op classes. I still believed in combining homeschool high school subjects for better retention, so I looked for ways to do that which would work for our family. Here are some ideas I used which may lead you to ideas of your own.
History and Other Subjects
History naturally lends itself to cross-curricular learning. Throughout the years, we enjoyed radio dramas to learn about historical events. One of the favorites was Horizons West, an 11-part series that chronicled Lewis and Clark’s journey to explore the Louisiana Purchase. It was entertaining and informative. It was also a dramatic representation, which would count as including drama in your homeschool! To learn and experience more, we also went on field trips to see things from that era, including visiting the Lewis and Clark Boathouse in St. Charles, Missouri, during a weekend celebrating the expedition. Nearby stands this awesome statue of the explorers. It features Seaman, the dog who joined the expedition.
Since we had read The Captain’s Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe by Roland Smith, this was particularly fun for us to see. This enchanting story, told from the dog’s point of view, was a wonderful way to learn more and include some literature in our history study.
The Lewis and Clark Adventure Game, a board game, provided another way to explore Lewis and Clark. From Educational Insights, this game is great for ages 8 and up. Basic yet fun, the game provided reinforcement on what we studied, as it developed critical thinking and memory skills. There are many other ways to take history and teach it across the subjects. This is just one example I used during the elementary years.
Combine American History and American Literature
While teaching high school classes at my homeschool co-op, a friend and I thought it would be good to teach American History and American Literature in the same school day, back-to-back for those students who wanted to deepen their understanding of how the subjects could work together. The next time I taught the class, my friend had moved on, so I combined them into one three-hour class instead of two separate sessions which did not have to be taken together. See more about it in Learning High School American History and Literature Should Go Hand-in-Hand. I found that the project-based learning I planned for the history part is very popular with homeschool parents.
American History Projects Freebie:
Download this freebie of American History projects for high school!
For more ideas to bring history to life, read Ten Great Ways to Teach History.
Have you found a creative way to combine homeschool high school subjects? Please share in a comment below!
Michelle Habrych is a recent homeschool “empty nest” mom of two, having just graduated her last student after 16 years of homeschooling. She fell in love with history as a homeschool mom and taught at her homeschool co-op for many years.
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