How We're Hybrid Homeschooling for Junior High

Homeschooling for Junior High can feel intimidating as your child gets older and starts navigating more complex materials, which is why our family has chosen to do a hybrid model going into this school year. It's working well for us right now, and we're hopeful for what the rest of the school year will bring.

How We're Hybrid Homeschooling for Junior High:

Doing a hybrid approach where we do half public school and half homeschool was something we were interested in during elementary school, but our district was not very accommodating. We knew the options would increase when we left elementary school because of the nature of changing classes. It's much easier to make your child's schedule fit into the scheme of a school day rather than having an elementary teacher rearrange their entire day to accommodate your one child.

We simply called our local junior high, asked them what the options were, and how to get started. We went into the office, picked out the classes Kyle wanted to take in school, and then signed one paper saying we would be responsible for everything else at home.

What we do at home is completely up to our discretion, and there are literally zero checks and balances we need to go through with the state to account for what we're doing. It's a bit of the Wild West, but I do like the freedom that it gives us to do what we want on those other days.

Junior High Class Schedule vs. Homeschool Schedule:

Our local junior high has an A-day, B-day schedule. We were able to set up Kyle's classes so that he goes to school every A-day, and he is home each B-day. He has four classes he takes at the school on the days he is there and then is free to do what we decide on the other days when he is home.

Which Classes We're Doing at the Junior High:

Right now, Kyle is taking Math, Honors English, Honors Science, and Honors History through the junior high. I love that he is getting all of his core subjects there, meeting the state requirements for those things, and being challenged in a way that he likes (it was his idea to take the honors classes, and I was the parent in the office telling him 100 times he did not have to take all honors classes).

What We're Doing for Homeschool for Junior High:

Because we homeschooled last year, a lot of what we're doing this year is a bit of a copy and paste with just a few changes.

Bible Study: Kyle has a goal to read the entire Bible, so right now he is reading five chapters per day (he is my speed reader, so this is a 10-minute endeavor for him), and he comes and tells me something interesting that he read. He will also have a Bible study from his church group that will be starting soon, which he will add to this time as well.

Handwriting: Right now, Kyle is finishing this book that we used over the summer, but when he is done, we will be doing The Good and the Beautiful's level 6 handwriting book.

Typing: This has been a pain point for a while, but we purchased a membership to Typesy last year, and he has been doing it daily since March. We purchased the homeschool membership for $67, which gives you unlimited access for five years for up to four students, so it's something we have for a while and plan to continue with until he is fluent in typing.

Exercise/PE: Kyle is running cross country this year through a local running club in our county. He won't be attending the practices but has the ability to show up for the races to compete. His race distance is a 2k, and I'll be coaching him and making his plans to be able to race those well. He is also playing soccer this fall, so we're definitely not worried about his fitness levels by not getting PE in school.

20 Minutes of Reading: Kyle reads far beyond this amount each day because it is something he enjoys, but it feels right to have it on the daily schedule for some reason.

Smartick Math and Coding: This is something new that we are trying this year. It's an AI-powered tutor for math and coding. Your child takes an initial assessment, and then it levels your child and bases future lessons on how well they do or don't do on the material from the previous day. I'm excited to see how it goes and will definitely be reporting back on this!

UPDATE: We love Smartick and they have given my readers 15% off with code Paige15 at checkout.

Spanish: I saw one of Kyle's friend's schedules, and it had a foreign language on it. Then I had a panicked moment where I realized Kyle should start learning a language. I know Duolingo is not everyone's favorite, and it's not super flashy, but he'll do a lesson each day he's home this year.

While all of this sounds like a lot of work, Kyle had all of this done in under three hours. That is the one thing I really love about homeschool is that it is self-paced and so much work can be done in such a shorter amount of time.