Our 10th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices
Inside: A look at our 10th grade homeschool curriculum for 2026–2027, including the courses we changed after the year began, what Marc is using for English, AP Calculus, physics, German, history, and cybersecurity, and why I’m approaching rigor very differently in high school.
We are a few weeks into Marc’s sophomore year, and our 10th grade homeschool curriculum already looks a little different from what I originally planned. I changed two major courses I thought were settled, added more support in another subject, and started thinking much more seriously about SAT and AP preparation.
At this point in our homeschool journey, I’ve also changed the way I look at rigor. For the first time in years, I don’t feel that every core subject has to be equally demanding. Marc has already had strong exposure to writing, grammar, literature, history, math, science, and foreign language. Now I’m more interested in what role each course needs to play in his overall high school curriculum.
Some subjects need to challenge him. Some need to support the direction he may eventually take in college. Others simply need to provide a solid credit without consuming more time than they deserve. That shift influenced almost every one of my 10th grade homeschool curriculum choices this year.
Here is what we are using, what changed after the school year began, and what I think of everything so far.
Our 10th Grade Homeschool Curriculum at a Glance (TL;DR)
Marc’s main high school courses this year are:
- Language Arts: Essentials in Writing Level 10 and Essentials in Literature Level 10
- Math: AP Calculus AB through High School Math Live
- Science: Clover Creek Physics, plus private physics tutoring
- Foreign Language: German III through CLRC
- History: The Nomadic Professor- World History
- Cybersecurity: CodeHS AP Cybersecurity, supplemented with TryHackMe and CyLab Security Academy
- Test Preparation: SAT prep and AP Calculus AB exam preparation
Most of these are online courses, but they vary quite a bit in how they are taught. Some are live, some are self-paced, some rely heavily on video lessons, and others combine online instruction with printed work. That mix has worked well for Marc, although it has also created a few organizational problems that I’ll get to later.
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I also filmed a full video version of this update where I walk through each course, explain the changes I made, and show more of what the curriculum looks like in practice. You can watch it below.
10th Grade Language Arts: Why I Finally Left IEW
English was probably my biggest curriculum debate this year because we have loved IEW for a long time. Marc has used Structure and Style for Students and Fix It! Grammar, and I still think both are excellent programs. Leaving them was not about suddenly deciding that IEW was no longer good. In fact, earlier this year I was convinced I had 10th-grade English figured out: I was going to continue with IEW and build the literature portion around the Telemachos Guided Reading Editions. I even reviewed Telemachos and mapped out The Great Gatsby, Frankenstein, and The Call of the Wild for this year.
But once I looked at the whole workload together, the problem became obvious. IEW is already a serious commitment, and adding a separate literature track on top of Structure and Style and Fix It! Grammar would have made English much heavier than I wanted it to be this year.
This was where I finally decided that I did not need English to be one of Marc’s most rigorous subjects this year. He has already had years of strong writing, grammar, and literature instruction, and I didn’t see much value in creating an extremely demanding 10th grade language arts homeschool curriculum just because I could.
Instead, I chose Essentials in Writing Level 10 and Essentials in Literature Level 10.
So far, the biggest advantage is predictability. Every page tells Marc exactly which day it is supposed to be completed. That seems like a tiny feature, but it makes independent work so much easier. He doesn’t need me to translate a teacher guide into a schedule, and he doesn’t have to guess how much work he should complete. He knows what to watch, what to complete, and when he is finished for the day.
I also deliberately wanted lighter literature this year. Last year Marc took Literature and Composition 8/9 through Aim Academy Online with Natania Cook, and we absolutely loved her. The course was thoughtful, challenging, and very thorough, but it also required a lot of output. There was plenty of reading, analysis, writing, and project work. This year, with AP Calculus, physics, German, and cybersecurity in the mix, I didn’t want English taking that much of his time.
There are some things I don’t love about Essentials in Writing, though. For a curriculum that looks straightforward, there are quite a few moving parts because it combines self-paced video instruction with offline materials, different books, and printed work. Marc has learned the system now, but it took a little time at the beginning.
He has also encountered a few issues in the grammar portions of the writing course. Marc is already a strong grammar student, so this isn’t simply a case of the material being unfamiliar. I sometimes feel that Essentials in Writing makes an explanation more complicated than it needs to be. He became stuck on a section involving noun phrases, for example, and that was one of the moments when I really missed dedicated grammar curricula such as Beowulf Grammar or Fix It! Grammar, where explanations tend to be much more direct.
Overall, I would describe our current English curriculum as practical and not very inspiring or creative. It covers what I need it to cover, it is predictable, and Marc can work through it mostly independently. It is not especially creative or particularly deep from what I have seen so far, but for this stage of high school, I am completely fine with that.
10th Grade Math: AP Calculus AB with High School Math Live
Math was the other major change to our original 10th grade homeschool plan. I had expected Marc to continue with Mr. D Math and take Calculus there because we had already had a good experience with the program and I wasn’t looking for an alternative.
Then two things happened. Bridgeway Academy, our accredited distance school and school of record, told me Marc needed AP Calculus AB rather than the regular Calculus course I originally had in mind. Around the same time, Mr. D had temporarily taken its Calculus course down while it was being revamped.
So I unexpectedly found myself searching for a new math course.
After a lot of digging, I found High School Math Live, and Marc is now taking AP Calculus AB with Regina London. I sat beside him for several classes at the beginning because I wanted to see how she teaches, and I have been very impressed. It’s a rigorous but accessible high school calculus class and I love how much the teacher is there to support kids. She always encourages students to reach out to her with any issues and she even volunteers to stau after class and help kids who are stuck.
I absolutely recommend these for high school and I have added these to my Favorite Curriculum page. They also offer self-paced classes if you prefer it that way.
The class meets twice a week. Cameras and microphones are off, and students use the chat to answer questions and communicate with the teacher. Regina uses OneNote extensively for her lessons, assignments, and returning graded work. She explains the material clearly, follows what students are saying in the chat, and keeps the class moving without making it feel impersonal.
Marc is doing very well so far, which has actually changed another decision I made this year. I initially wasn’t sure I wanted him sitting for the AP Calculus AB exam because math is not a subject he particularly loves. After seeing how well he has taken to the course, I now think sitting for the AP exam next year makes sense.
My only real complaint is the website. Marc found it confusing initially, and I don’t think the organization is particularly intuitive. Once he understood how everything worked, though, the actual course became much easier to manage.
Our 10th Grade Science Curriculum: Clover Creek Physics
For our 10th grade homeschool science curriculum, Marc is taking live Physics with Jetta Seboly through Clover Creek. I was very happy to get him a place because this course gives me almost exactly what I was looking for.
The class uses an older edition of Conceptual Physics, but Jetta adds more math to the course. That balance was important to me. I like the way conceptual physics helps students understand what is actually happening, but I didn’t want Marc taking a physics course that avoided the mathematical side of the subject.
Our college plans also shifted slightly, which made physics more important this year. I swapped chemistry, which Marc loves and has already had more exposure to in grade 9, for physics, which he also likes but has not studied as extensively.
Because of that, I decided to give him some additional support and hired a regular online physics tutor through Preply. This gives Marc someone he can work with consistently when he needs extra explanation or practice. I already have a full review of our experience with Preply, so I’ll link that separately for anyone interested in how we use online tutoring.
The Clover Creek class itself meets once a week, but physics work continues throughout the week. Jetta sends morning messages with the tasks students need to complete each day, and the course includes labs as well. She makes the live lessons engaging, and I really appreciate the way everything is organized in Moodle. Marc can log in, see what is expected, find his assignments, and get to work without needing me to guide him through the platform.
So far, I genuinely don’t have much to criticize here. The combination of conceptual teaching, added math, labs, live instruction, and good organization is working very well for him. And this is another curriculum I’m adding to our Favorites tab!
Because Marc had less exposure to physics and our university plans had shifted slightly, I also decided to give him regular one-on-one support. I found his physics tutor through Preply, which surprised me because I had always thought of Preply mainly as a language-learning platform. I wrote a full review of using Preply for academic tutoring if you want to see how I chose tutors and how the platform works.
German III: Continuing with CLRC
German is probably the most familiar subject in Marc’s schedule this year. This is his third year with CLRC, and he is now taking German III with Robyn Meahl. Before CLRC, Rosetta Stone gave him the foundation he needed to begin working more independently in German, and I’ve written separately about our experience using it as a homeschool German curriculum.
We love her, and one of the biggest benefits of continuing with the same provider is continuity. Marc already knows his teacher, understands the class format, and has many of the same classmates from previous years. Not every subject needs a completely new teacher, platform, and group every September.
The requirements have increased this year, which I consider a normal progression. German III includes more written work than Marc had last year, but the increase feels appropriate rather than abrupt. Because the class structure is already familiar, he can focus on the actual foreign language work rather than figuring out how a new online course operates.
After three years, I still don’t have much negative to say about this course, which probably tells you enough about how well it has worked for us.
10th Grade History with The Nomadic Professor
History is the curriculum I have been talking about for years and can finally say we are actually using. Marc started The Nomadic Professor this year, and I love it.
The format is one of the main reasons I have recommended it for so long. Students have a written lesson that can also be listened to as audio, plus on-location videos that connect the history to actual places. Marc usually listens while following along in the text, watches the related videos, fills in his lesson notes, and completes the quizzes.
He is technically using the basic track, although I adapted it quite heavily. The Nomadic Professor has recently simplified its basic track further, but I haven’t had time to look closely at those changes yet. For our version, I removed the document lessons, extra vocabulary, projects, and timeline activities.
I have become much more comfortable doing that in the high school years. I don’t think a student needs to complete every activity a curriculum publisher includes simply because it is there. For history, I want Marc to understand the historical narrative, retain the important information, and continue practicing structured note-taking. I don’t need history to become another intensive writing course when he already has writing elsewhere.
I also love that I can print the quizzes. With so many of Marc’s high school courses happening online, I appreciate opportunities to put some of the work back on paper.
I have a full Nomadic Professor world history review where I discuss the curriculum in much more detail, so I’ll link that for anyone considering it.
Cybersecurity as a High School Elective
Cybersecurity is probably the subject Marc is most excited about right now, but it isn’t really a new direction academically. Computer science has been a major part of his high-school plan from the beginning. In 9th grade, he took AP Computer Science A and continued using CodeHS on the side, so AP Cybersecurity felt like a natural way to take that interest into a different area.
Marc is using the CodeHS AP Cybersecurity course, although he is not planning to take the AP Cybersecurity exam. My goal here is not to collect another AP score. I want him learning the material and getting more exposure to an area of computer science that might become a serious interest.
The main limitation I encountered was hands-on practice. I didn’t want Marc learning cybersecurity entirely in theory, so I added TryHackMe and CyLab Security Academy to provide more practical challenges and labs.
So far, he loves it. Cybersecurity seems to have become another genuine interest alongside programming, and I am now looking at adding more robotics and Arduino programming so that he can connect coding with physical projects as well.
If you have a robotics or Arduino resource that has worked well with a high school student, I would love recommendations.
SAT and AP Preparation in 10th Grade
This is also the year I finally decided to start SAT preparation properly. I knew Marc had time, so I did not want to begin years of unnecessary test drilling. Starting in 10th grade gives us time to work gradually without turning SAT preparation into a major part of every school year.
I first had Marc take an official practice test in Bluebook so I could see his baseline before deciding what needed attention. From there, he will use Khan Academy for SAT practice, but I also found an extremely organized SAT tutor through Preply who can identify weaker areas and give him a more structured plan.
At the same time, we are also preparing for the AP Calculus AB exam. I had not originally intended to add that exam this year, but seeing how well Marc is handling his math course made me reconsider.
For the admissions path we are currently looking at, AP exams taken before Grade 12 are not particularly important for Marc’s application, so I am not interested in adding AP exams merely for appearance. In this case, though, he is already taking the course and doing well, so taking the exam seems reasonable.
That means 10th grade is our first year managing both SAT preparation and AP exam preparation.
What I’m Learning from Homeschooling 10th Grade
The biggest difference between this year and earlier years is that I am much more focused on what each course actually needs to accomplish. I don’t need every subject to be equally difficult or equally time-consuming.
That is probably the biggest change in my approach to homeschooling a 10th grader. I am less interested in making every course look impressive and more interested in building a high school plan that makes sense for the student actually completing it.
Our original plans have already changed, and I’m sure some things will change again before the year is over. For now, though, this combination of live classes, independent work, online courses, tutoring, and adapted curriculum is working well for Marc.
If you are planning your own 10th grade homeschool curriculum, I would love to hear what you chose this year and what you have already had to change.
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