Homeschool Curriculum For Middle School & High School Co-op Classes Or Individuals

Our homeschool co-op has classes for all age groups, from preschoolers through high schoolers. During the 2011 - 2012 school year, our middle schoolers and high schoolers took biology, world geography, Latin roots, photography. philosophy, literature, and critical thinking. Farther down this page is the list of materials we used, my personal description or review of most of these materials, and a little information about each class. Whether you are a member of our homeschool co-op, or are a homeschooler looking for curriculum of your own, I hope you'll find this information of some use!

In the photo above, some of our middle and high schoolers are creating a flower garden for the church where they met. This was a very successful community service project! The church loved it, and it had the added advantage of providing gardening experiences, not to mention community service, for our homeschoolers!

"We are all meant to be naturalists, each in his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." - Charlotte Mason

For Biology, we used the Holt Biology textbook, along with a wide variety of labs and other experiences as well! Getting out in nature and exploring the world around us is a fabulous way to learn many of the facets of biology! We engaged in some sort of hands-on lab almost every week.

Students read the assigned chapters from the textbook, watched you-tubes related to the topic, and answered some review questions at home. We did the labs, as well as some nature activities and other experiments or activities, at our co-op.

Holt Biology covers cells, heredity, DNA, gene technology, taxonomy, ecosystems, the environment, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, bacteria, invertebrates, vertebrates, fish, reptiles, amphibians, animal behavior, and many other topics!

As we went through the year, I created a series of webpages with information, videos, and lots of colorful images to go along with what we were reading in our textbook. You can find the first one on Photosynthesis, Mitosis, Cell Organelles, and More here:

Unit 1: Biology Labs, Activities, Study Guides, & Videos About Cells

What You Need For This Biology Class

Each family will need their own copy of the textbook, Holt Biology. The textbook comes either as a book on CD rom, or as a hardback book. Both include the same material, so it depends entirely on your personal preferences as to which you choose. In the section below, I've provided some links to the product on Amazon and ebay.

There may be additional materials needed from time to time for our labs.

My son and I really enjoyed doing some nature study activities out of the Handbook of Nature Study! Nature study fit in nicely with our course on biology! It's nice to include a little class time whenever possible for getting out in nature and exploring the living world around us! The Handbook of Nature Study provides both activities and information about particular nature topics, many of which we also read about in our biology text.

By the way, HarmonyArtMom includes a monthly newsletter of activities that go along with the Handbook of Nature Study for those who are interested! They're a lot of fun, in addition to being educational!

Roll It Along! This was one of our critical thinking activities last year! The youth designed a homemade marble run and are now trying to roll a marble down it (without the marble rolling off!), and get it into the cup below!

The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done - men who are creative, inventive and discoverers. -Jean Piaget

Our Philosophy class was a fun and lively discussion class! The youth completed short exercises to get them thinking, then divided up into teams and discussed various philosophical questions together! We also learned a little bit about famous philosophers!

Our Critical Thinking class involved working together as a team to complete various challenges. This was a very hands-on class, and has been a favorite of the youth in our co-op for several years! The book is huge, with plenty of ideas for several years! Many of the activities we did involved designing their own plans for whatever challenge they were trying to accomplish, carrying them out, testing their model, making adjustments, and retesting! They were busy thinking critically and creatively, learning to work together as a team, and learning a valuable problem solving process, without relying on others to tell them what to do!

What You Need For This Class

Each student does NOT need their own copy of the Team Challenges or the philosophy book. A few copies for the teachers to pass around (to whomever's turn it is to teach) is sufficient.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. - Albert Einstein

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. - Albert Einstein

For photography, we used Oak Meadow's high school level photography class. it includes lessons on light, composition, color (including monochromatic), complementary colors, black and white, frame, landscape, portraits, patterns, narrative, depth of field, and many other things! Each week, the students were given a new section in the syllabus to read (they're short), as well as a photography assignment. They completed the reading and photography and other assignments at home. In class, everyone got a chance to show off some of their best photographs to the group! The kids really loved this class!

What You Need For This Photography Class

1. Each family will need a copy of the photography syllabus. The syllabus contains information, as well as the assignments. (The syllabus is our textbook.) One syllabus per family (instead of per student) will suffice.

2. In addition, each student will need a notebook or journal. The notebook/journal will be used to collect ideas, clippings from magazines or newspapers, dreams or poems, or anything else that inspires you. It will also be used to record information about your photos, such as the date, subject, lighting conditions, etc.

3. Each student will need access to a camera. The camera can be either a 35 mm or a digital. (Obviously, if your child uses a 35 mm, they'll need film as well.) The author of the photography syllabus recommends a manual 35 mm camera, but also says you can use a point and shoot digital, or a point and shoot 35 mm.

Learning Latin and Greek roots increases students' English vocabularies.

Our Latin roots class gave students an opportunity to improve the English vocabulary by learning Latin and Greek roots. During this short class, the students played games designed to help them learn a select set of roots. Each week, little by little, we added to the roots we already knew, while continuing to review those learned previously.

Tip for others planning on doing this class, either at home or in a homeschool co-op: Start with Rummy Roots. If you make it all the way through this deck, move on to "More Roots."

A Trip Around The World!

"The peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas and furnish the imagination with pictures." - Charlotte Mason

"Everything has to do with geography." - Judy Martz

We explored over 30 different countries on our trip around the world! Students learned about various religions around the world, did some mapping, tasted quite a few new foods, experimented with new art techniques, watched videos and read books about various places in the world, and more! This was a great class! Everyone seemed to really enjoy it!

Here's a geography game we played online some.

What You Need For This Geography Class

In addition to library books and movies, we used the following books in our study of geography:

1. The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions

2. Material World (Optional, but recommended)

3. The Usborne Geography Encyclopedia

4. The Trail Guide To World Geography - teacher's manual (if possible) and secondary level notebooking pages

The co-op shared a couple of copies of these (so each student did not need their own copy):

1. Eat Your Way Around The World

2. Geography Through Art

You'll find my personal descriptions and various links to these products below.

The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions is similar to other Usborne books in that it has absolutely gorgeous pages, full of color and pictures, and filled with fascinating information. Most pages contain internet links to the Usborne website for more info about that topic. The Usborne Encyclopedia of World Religions includes information about current world religions, such as Hinduism, Islam, Shinto, Buddhism, Jainism, The Baha'i Faith, Zoroastrianism, Rastafarianism, Christianity, and others. It also covers some past religions, such as the earliest religions, and those of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, the Celtics, Norse, & Germanic people, and early America.

Material World: A Global Family Portrait is full of photographs of everyday people doing everyday things, around the world. Of course, what's everyday to people in Asia, or Africa, might not be so everyday to people in Germany or Australia! Each chapter introduces the reader to a particular family living in that country. For example, in Brazil, we get to meet the de Goes family. We get to see their home, their furniture, their family engaging in their regular activities including how they wash their clothes, what the area is like near where they live, and more.

As I glance through the pages of this book, I feel as if I am there with them, seeing firsthand the houses in Bhutan, the huts in Ethiopia, the nightlife in South Africa, the mountains in Guatemala. In Haiti, I see a woman carrying a pot on her head. In Iceland, I see children putting on a Christmas performance at the elementary school. In Albania, I see a boy on a donkey bringing buckets of water home from the well half of a mile away. In Italy, I see a girl blowing drying the hair on her barbie doll. In Russia, I get a quick glance into a school room.

The Usborne Geography Encyclopedia is another beautiful, colorful, internet linked book. Each page is a work of art! The topics in this book include the solar system, day and night, inside the earth, earthquakes and volcanoes, rivers and oceans, giant waves, climate, rainforests and other ecosystems, people around the world, weather, maps, and more. Because it's internet linked, it's easy to find additional information about most topics on the internet!

In Trail Guide to World Geography, students learn about the physical geography of particular locations around the world. They use an atlas to answer a couple of quick questions each day about the oceans, the continents, a particular country, etc. There are also mapping exercises and other activities.

You can find out more about the program by visiting, Trail Guide To World Geography and Trail Guide To World Geography - Student Notebooking Pages.

What You Need For This World Geography Class

Each student needs a copy of the maps and activity pages in the student notebooking pages. Having a copy of the teacher's manual would be very helpful as well, but isn't as important as the student pages.

P.S. Your student(s) will need an atlas to go along with the Trail Guide to World Geography. Part of the experience for the students is in learning how to use an atlas to find out information. Of course at the same time, they'll also being learning information about the world.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Most of the Trail Guide To World Geography products on ebay are for the teacher's manual. You'll need a copy of the student pages as well. They are available on a CD.

- Not only did we get to learn about the cultures of other places, we got to sample quite a bit too!

Eat Your Way Around the World is a collection of recipes from around the world. Students in our co-op took turns preparing authentic international dishes for their classmates (and parents!) to sample.

What You Need

It isn't necessary for every family in a co-op to own their own copy, but having at least 2 to 3 copies within the co-op would be useful!

You can find a copy of it at on Amazon (follow the link below) or on the Geography Matters Website. Sometimes Eat Your Way Around The World can be found on ebay.

Geography Through Art is a collection of art activities that pertain to other countries. Some of the activities are as simple as making a sketch of something special about the country (Big Ben, Pyramids, Great Wall of China, etc). Some are related to map making (a Pangea puzzle, making a world map, etc.). Others involve using a variety of materials and techniques (batik, Terra Cotta Soldiers from China, Aboriginal stone painting, a model of Stonehenge, Polish paper cutting, and many more).

This book can be found at Geography Matters.

Puzzles and globe activities can enrich your study of world geography!