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Creating these homeschool high school literature suggestions for teens is more satisfying now that my teens graduated. Looking back, I know their love of reading came from being exposed to a variety of genre. Also, look at my page How to Homeschool High School.
Having a variety of genre to choose from is just one element of keeping teens reading into adulthood.
Beyond reading to fill a high school credit, use your time with your homeschooled teens to shape and develop their thinking.
Contrary to what some educators think, teens are still questioning beliefs. Their thinking is not fully matured. Issues raised in literature gives you the opportunity to analyze beliefs.
Too, high school and college courses require your teens to interpret literary terms and techniques.
I found this was best done by classic literature.
The point is whether your teen is reading American, British, or World literature he is gaining a greater understanding of the world.
That is something which will stick with him well into adulthood.
This high school literature list will give you a starting point in choosing the best literature for your family.
Moreover, don’t fret if your teen is still not loving to read.
Some of these books will ignite a fire and did I mention some are short?
Whether you have a teen who is a voracious reader or who is an unenthusiastic reader, I have some high school literature suggestions for all.
See, I had to learn the hard way that a teen should have a choice in what he reads.
I remember being in English class in middle school and reading about boring topics.
I was a good reader, but not an enthusiastic reader until I read The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. He’s not an author I thought I would be drawn to as a teen.
However, his stories and poems invoked a love for reading detective stories along with his great storytelling. I loved everything about that poem, the figurative language, the dynamics, and the theme.
Homeschool High School Reading
The point is I would have never picked up his book on my own when evaluating my choices.
So your teen needs your help. It literally takes one book your teen can’t put down for your teen to look at reading differently.
Now as a parent, it is a learned balancing act when each teen got to the high school level.
I tried to find their interests and themes they loved to weave that with other genre they weren’t interested in or thought so at the time.
Also, another way to engage your high school kids is to learn through a theme.
We love history in our house and learning history through living literature has been one of our very favorite ways to learn history.
Why Some Homeschoolers Choose to Read Banned Literature
Next, I also had to decide how I wanted to talk to my teens about sensitive subjects.
A lot of homeschoolers, including myself, reject some modern reading lists.
However, the similarity stops there when choosing literature. Families and teens differ in how they want to handle sensitive topic.
When you research about banned books, the Washington Post stated, “The American Library Association launched Banned Books Week in 1982 to celebrate the freedom to read.”
However, every since then, the topic of banned books sparks controversy for any education.
You too have to decide if you’ll present these banned books to your teen.
It’s been my experience that the sensitive subjects in books allows me the chance to direct my children about mistakes of the past.
I didn’t want to cover up mistakes in history, but to expose them so we learn from them. Most important that we don’t repeat them in the future.
Children relate to everyday things and some kids lives have had painful turns they couldn’t control. Although my kids didn’t experience the sadness of divorce and death at the time, they had friends who did.
Homeschool High School Books
It helped my sons to form a compassion for their friends. Every child has a different maturing rate and I was sensitive to each teen’s emotions.
The point is that you are the only one to know whether you want your children to read banned books or not. Me? I will do the choosing for my family and determine the values; you probably feel the same way.
As you see from this quick list that the books reflect personal tastes of each teen. In the end, you want your child to enjoy reading.
I stressed way too much about balancing the genre when my focus should have been on the short time I had with each teen.
Besides being forced-fed never worked for any reader. So use this list to begin your list for your unique teen.
Lastly, this is by no stretch all that each kid read in high school.
As I pore over my huge amount of books, I’ll update this post for you.
The point today was to get this quick glance to you.
In the end what matters is creating a lifelong reader.
Remember what Francis Bacon said “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few are to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”
Although I feel we need to teach our kids how to write a book report or two, some of the same learning concepts can be done assigning a movie report.
Don’t misunderstand me, I didn’t assign a lot of books reports.
However, a required book report or two helped my kids to prepare for literary analysis in high school.
The same can be done with an oral report. It’s great to have choices is my point.
So I think you’ll love adding this free editable movie report to your language arts curriculum.
Editable Movie Report for Homeschool
Look at how I created it:
There are two versions of the same copy. One version has color and if you need to preserve your ink, one version is grayscale.
Both versions are editable. If you want your kids to practice his beautiful penmanship, just print without using the editable fields.
If your child prefers to use the editable form, type to fill in and then print.
Also, I created more of a book-ish type of report meaning I encourage writers through my form to think deeper than what is happening on the screen. That is how we want to sneak in a bit of critical thinking through the fun of watching a movie.
Movie Review Form
Movie reports are not only fun, but have a way of reviving a love lost in writing or analyzing.
Too, if a child has special needs, he may not able to read without great difficulty or write well. Still, he certainly can be encouraged to express himself in beautiful language.
An editable movie report form can help him to jot down fascinating facts and still think about the elements of literature.
Through a movie, his thoughts can be formed in a visual way instead of reading the pages of a book.
In addition, on the last page I have a place for a writer to draw his or her favorite scene/s.
This page is unnumbered so that your writer can decide if he wants to illustrate more than one scene and print the same page multiple times.
On the other hand, he can divide the last page into 4 squares using his pencil and illustrate more than one scene on the one page.
Your writer decides if he wants to illustrate one scene per page or various scenes on one page, or print one page per scene.
I love options while teaching and I know you do too.
Also, adding the unnumbered last page in this download allows you the freedom of including your youngest learner. He may be at the drawing pictures stage right now.
This way your youngest learner is part of language arts instruction for the day.
Another important component I added to the form to help with older learners is a comparison between the movie and the book.
Because this section simply asks the child to compare the two, you decide which literary elements of the book and which movie parts you want your child to compare.
Lastly, the movie report shares some of the same literary elements or the elements of fiction included in a book report like:
plot;
setting; and
characters.
Another important distinction I made in this form because my kids had a hard time with it too is making the distinction between the plot and the theme.
Teach with Movies
So I have both a Main Idea (more like the theme) section and Plot so that your kids can learn the difference too. It helps them to think critically when filling out these parts.
Some kids do understand the difference between plot and theme until the teens years which I find is normal.
And filling out the section about what is advertised as the main idea about the movie, versus what are the plot and theme (Main Idea on form) can lead to many interesting observations about the movie.
Analyzing literature is something I’ve tried to make fun in our house; analyzing movies is another way to bring fun to language arts.
I hope you’ll love this form. Do you see other ways you can use this form?
HOW TO GET THIS FREE MOVIE REPORT
Now, how to grab the freebie. It’s a subscriber freebie.
That means when you sign up to follow me, you get my emails in your inbox and you get this freebie.
How to choose the besthomeschool middle and high school language arts curriculum can be intimidating unless you have a road map. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school and how to homeschool high school page for more fun tips
Knowing the elements of language arts is important; knowing that not every teen needs the same amount of instruction for each component is equally important.
Using free language arts curriculum before you make a purchase can be especially helpfulfor many reasons:
Budget friendly curriculum allows you to assess problem areas in greater detail without busting the budget;
A free curriculum can be used as a reference alongside a purchased curriculum;
Your teen may need review in just a couple of areas and you can save your hard earned dollars to buy language arts where he requires in-depth focus or help;
Returning to free curriculum resources throughout the middle and high school years helps your teen review quickly; and
Let’s face it. Teen curriculum resources can be pricey, so having many options at your fingertips helps.
Homeschool Middle and High School Language Arts
Let’s start with a language arts road map.
Step one is knowing the language arts components.
Step 1. Identify the Language Arts Components.
The easiest, but most useful definition is that English language arts is any subject to do with written or oral communication, including listening.
Right away you can see that some things are not formally taught or don’t have to be taught in isolation.
For example, from the time your teen was a toddler, you started speaking to him in full sentences.
He learned your language through the art of conversation and discussion. That part still continues in the teen years.
Too, especially at the middle and high school years, teens need to make sense out of what they have been learning.
Combining language arts elements makes language arts practical and gives teens a reason to understand it.
For example, grammar can be revised or used while a teen writes an essay.
Next, let’s dive into the subject breakdown of what is language arts so you know that you’re covering it and that you choose the subjects your teen needs.
Language arts includes all facets of English: phonics, reading/literature, spelling/vocabulary, grammar, composition, and penmanship. In addition, it includes oral speech.
By this age your child has probably learned to read and write.
So penmanship turns to composition and reading becomes literature. Phonics is now spelling.
Step 2. Isolate the Language Arts Components Needed for Middle and High School Teens.
To help clarify this even further, here are the language art subjects for middle and high school grades.
Literature which is reading and could include literary analysis
Grammar
Spelling (if still needed)
Vocabulary
Composition
These subjects are the ones that most language arts all-in-one programs cover.
Next, now that you know the subjects that fall under the language arts umbrella, look at some of these homeschool language arts curriculum for middle and high school kids.
Step 3. Choose the EXACT Components Your Teen Needs OR Choose an All-in-One Curriculum.
Before you choose language arts, pay attention to the details to see if it’s an all-in-one program which covers most of the subjects for language arts OR if it’s just one component.
I have organized the elements for you so you can quickly see the choices for your child.
Grammar Homeschool Curriculum For Teens
Too, some of the resources can be used as a guidebook to assist your teen in his writing.
The first one I’m diving into is grammar. Grammar is the rules of a language.
Your teen has learned some of the rules naturally, so some of these resources can be used as a reference.
Other resources can be used as separate curriculum to shore up any weakness
Look at this list of homeschool grammar curriculum.
Rod and Staff English. Solid no fluff worktext for doing grammar stand alone or use for a reference. The books in the high school years made great reference books for us. It’s a faith-based curriculum, but I found it easily tweaked for faith-neutral approach.
Easy Grammar. This goes all the way to high school. It’s a secular view and a traditional approach.
Although I feel grammar is best covered in conjunction with writing so a teen sees the value, there are some teens who need grammar in isolation.
Before looking next at the composition options, keep a few key points in mind. If a teen is struggling with penmanship remember that he can type his essays.
Try to not make composition always about penmanship. Yes, it’s about doing neat work, but that is for the final draft.
Composition is about learning how to compose his thoughts. So if you have a teen struggling in both penmanship and composition, focus on one or the other until he gets more practice.
Go gentle in what you require of him if he is struggling.
You would think it would be easier to choose an all in one program which covered a bit of most of the components of language arts. It may or may not be.
The problem at this level is that most providers are assuming that your teen has had a fair amount of each component of language arts.
If you’ve switched homeschool approaches or resources, like most of us have, then you want to be sure you’re clear on what is the focus of the all-in-one language arts curriculum.
For example, it’s been my experience that curriculum may focus more on composition, while another one covers more literary analysis.
While yet another resource may focus heavily on grammar.
All-In-One Language Arts Homeschool Curriculum for Teens
So the important point I’m making is look over the scope and sequence so that you make a good fit for your teen.
Next, look at the options for all-in-one language arts programs.
Powerhouse or Acellus Academy.. They are both by same company. However, Acellus academy is accredited and more expensive, but Powerhouse isn’t accredited. Both are online and offer everything.
Step 4. Combine Many Components of Language Arts for Lasting Benefits.
Finally, the most important benefit of teaching language arts to our teens is so that it sticks with them. Understanding the mechanics of the English languages connects our teens to great minds of the past.
In addition, teaching valuable thinking skills is an important part of communication whether verbal or written.
For language arts to have lasting benefit and to teach thinking skills, combining the components of language arts is a superior way to teach.
When a teen works with a piece of literature, he focuses on grammar, writing, vocabulary, and spelling to name a few.
We want our teens to have a solid foundation for language arts whether he chooses a career track or college track.
More Homeschool Middle and High School Language Arts
Whether you’re wanting kids to step away from their devices, looking for a nature-inspired book for a unit study, or you want to inspire your kid’s inner naturalist, look at this roundup of books.
A young girl is left deserted on a pacific island off the coast of California. Karana must forage for food, build weapons for protection, and make clothes for covering.
A story of strength and resilience that will inspire. Beautifully written and perfect taking the readers to an island filled with dolphins, otters, and sea birds.
The sole survivor of a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian Roberson, finds himself stranded in the Canadian wilderness. He must fend for himself.
Brian slowly learns the survivor skills he needs to stay alive, building shelter, making fire, and foraging for food.
This novel takes the reader through a fifty-four-day journey of perseverance that forever changes a young man and his perspective about life and family.
Gary Paulson has many other novels that are set in the wilderness, and spends his personal time split between Alaska, New Mexico, Minnesota, and the Pacific.
Nature Book List for Kids
This book takes readers on an eco-adventure full of everything from the town’s well know bully to potty-trained alligators. There is a movie that would make a fun follow-up too.
A summer packed with outdoor adventure! Follow these kids as they discover the Virginian woods where they find secret caves, rushing waters, and rare treasure.
These books would be awesome for a state study of Virginia, as there are several more in the series that takes the reader to historical sites throughout the state.
16. Riding the Fumeby Patricia Curtis Pfitsch for ages 11 to 13.
Set among the giant sequoia trees in California, the novel is about a young girl faced with the discovery that her sister who died years earlier may still be alive. A must-read!
You’ll be transported by riveting adventure tales from around the globe, like being dragged off by a hyena in Botswana, surviving a Saharan dust storm, being woken by an intrepid emperor penguin in Antarctica, and coming face-to-face with a venomous bushmaster (one of the most dangerous snakes on the planet)—all told in lyrical prose and illustrations that wonder at the mysterious beauty of the wild.
I hope one of these 20 nature-inspired books will teach your kids about nature and revive a love of the great outdoors.
Whether your kids have been in public school where handwriting or cursive was not a priority or your kids are humdrum about the whole penmanship process, I have some tips to help with handwriting in older kids.
First, there are three things you need to decide as you go through your homeschool journey which would have helped me keep things clear as I taught each kid cursive.
If you think there is a learning disability, go slower or cut lessons to half, or switch to typing. Also, check out the checklist below for dyslexia.
It can be a game changer to learn to type when penmanship holds a kid back from essays or composing.
Next, you need to decide what is your standard for what is acceptable penmanship.
My standard was at least one well-written assignment each day. I didn’t exact it on every assignment.
Penmanship for Older Kids
I encouraged a neat standard or my kids best every day, but accepted close enough many times when there was more of a struggle on a particular day.
What I learned was that although I preferred neat on every assignment, my kids set a bar of excellence for themselves once they mastered the neatness of handwriting.
Third, adding to the cloud of confusion, some educators today want to tout that cursive will be a thing of the pas. And it will be replaced by tablets.
That mindset wasn’t the majority when I first started homeschooling, but changing times in education doesn’t always equate with better or an upgrade.
In homeschool, you set your standard for excellence in education.
Me? Because reading and writing have always been connected and I see that connection in my own 20 years of experience, I will continue to advocate penmanship.
I also set standards for legible handwriting. Cursive as the hallmarks of a well-educated man.
In addition, I will support creative ways for kids to express their thoughts who have disabilities.
We don’t have to make a choice of either or in homeschool; we homeschool so we can have the best of both worlds.
Look at these 5 (okay I have a bit more) creative ways to encourage and boost the penmanship in your older kids.
1. Short cards and writing letters still work! It’s not an art of the past.
The excitement of receiving a card or short letter from a friend can still get an older kid giddy.
My teen sons was delighted to get a card from his best friend.
I was shocked.
I thought he had outgrown letter writing, but receiving a card was personal. It works.
Too, because a greeting card can be short, it’s not overwhelming for a kid who struggles with writing to pen a few thoughts.
Knowing that receiving a card was an object of affection I used that short card for easy handwriting lessons.
It was different too when he received that versus a card from grandparents. I think it was because it was his peer. Whatever the case, it worked.
2. Use a fun subject with a skill subject like combining art or science with writing.
Art uses a lot of fine motor skills in a natural way.
Don’t underestimate the value of drawing or studying art while a kid improves his cursive or print.
Art gives a fun slant to what may otherwise be considered a boring skill to master.
Also, look at the series Pictures in Cursive which is a cursive writing program based on picture study of classic works of art.
It’s a useful way to reinforce cursive while not doing baby-ish work.
The different levels of the program correspond to letters and not grades so you can decide the placement for your struggling writer.
If you have a science lover, labeling and working on a science journal gives value to the need to write legibly.
3. Quotes, knock-knock jokes, journaling, and poetry work are all still writing.
A few more things I pulled out of my arsenal are inspirational quotes, knock- knock jokes, and journaling.
If you’re a Bible reader, the Proverbs are filled with words of wisdom and are great for small passages of copywork.
Also, motivational quotes can be powerful for kids who want to succeed, but may feel defeated because of their lack of penmanship.
Tips to Improve Handwriting in Older Kids
This site Everyday Powerhas 300 inspirational quotes for kids to reinforce a positive mindset each day while brushing up on their penmanship.
Like us, kids want to empower themselves instead of always being told.
Then, I had another son who struggled at one time with his penmanship. He is our fun loving kid.
Instead of taking a serious note, I turned to a knock-knock joke book.
They’re short, pretty corny, and just what a kid who is taking himself too serious needs.
Laughing the whole time while writing was worth every bit of him telling me the jokes, over, over, over, and….okay.
Most kids love journaling when they know it’s not going to be criticized. Journaling was one way I could tell how my kids’ penmanship was naturally developing or not.
My kids never knew why I insisted on journaling because I never insisted on grading it.
If I saw a weakness like a letter sloppy or not formed correctly, I could work on direct instruction with them or work on another daily assignment showing correct letter formation and not grade or criticize the journaling which was from their heart.
Journaling stayed fun while giving me a glimpse each year of how their penmanship was truly developing.
Another son of mine loved poetry. Poetry is supposed to be read aloud and it’s meant to be enjoyed.
My suggestion is when you’re not studying poetry formally, then copying favorite passages not only strengthens fine motor skills, but feeds creativity.
The Charlotte Mason approach encourages focusing on a single poet for a year or term.
If your older kid found one particular poet fascinating like mine did with Edgar Allen Poe, then copy the famous works of that one poet.
Handwriting Tips for Older Students
It not only feeds an older’s child’s desire to learn what he wants, but it associates enjoyment with the art of writing.
4. Direct and simplified handwriting instruction is superior..
Coming in sideways is one way to teach, but some kids need direct instruction too. I liked this next resource because it does teach cursive in a more simplified format.
Unlike teaching a child cursive from the beginning, most older kids like adults have already established some form of writing that is normally a combination of print and cursive.
So, teaching traditional cursive to an older child can backfire. A simplified version of cursive can be a better fit for an older child.
This cursive workbook uses a form of cursive that is more free of the extra loops found in most traditional cursive. It’s less intimidating when teaching teens.
5. Lists, copywork, short stories, and topics kids love no matter how silly give value to learning how to write well.
Teaching kids life skills rates high for most of us as homeschoolers. And making lists can be taught as a life skill.
This was one area hard for me because I tend to organize everything in our school and home including the grocery lists or any other lists. I’m a list maker.
I used to create food lists on the refrigerator then that morphed into using lists on my phone. For a while I went back to paper lists so my son could use his writing for a useful purpose.
In addition, we made lists of adjective and verbs to keep in his writer’s notebook as reference pages for his composition.
It was a great way to sneak in more handwriting and way my son felt was useful to him instead of just being assigned some tracing work.
Copywork for Teens
One of the best ways that worked hands down for all my writers no matter what age is copywork.
Modeling is a great teacher. The beauty of copywork is that if your child is not minding the details of handwriting like commas or capitalization, then copywork helps him to look at the details.
Copying beautiful passages or from sources that a kid loves whether it’s history, poetry, science, or even jokes, boosts his spelling, grammar, and the mechanics of punctuation.
When he models the writing of great writers of the past or present, he sees a pattern to follow and can set a standard for himself.
Don’t give up on your older kids or make each day about head-butting.
His lack of skill is apparent each day to him. He needs creative ways to strengthen his fine motor skills and need to pay attention to the details of letter formation while enjoying his everyday work.
Let me know what other creative ways have worked for you!
