Daily Plan Guide, Grades 9–12
How to use this guide
High school is independent study with adult oversight. The student owns the schedule, works from this page and the tracker, and brings finished work to a fixed weekly review; the parent checks products, not seat time. Credits form naturally when the year's outcomes below are met. Everything runs offline from printed or bundled texts.
At a glance
- About 4½ hours of independent work across eight blocks, reading included — deep work goes first
- Roughly five days a week for a transcript-worthy pace; credits form when outcomes are met
- The parent checks products, not seat time; the student owns the schedule
- If a day collapses, cut composition and history before mathematics and reading
- Lab discipline: never combine bleach with vinegar or ammonia — toxic gas follows
Daily rhythm — about 4½ hours, reading included
| Subject | Minutes | What a typical block looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Bible & Apologetics | 25 | Passage study (method below); one serious faith-and-reason chapter across the week |
| Mathematics (Alg→Geo→Adv) | 55 | Lesson, problem set, self-check against the key, error log |
| Literature & Rhetoric | 45 | Read and annotate an older classic; track argument as well as story |
| Composition | 35 | Move a paper through research question → outline → draft → revision |
| Laboratory Sciences | 45 | Reading plus a household-lab investigation with written data |
| History & Civics | 30 | Document study: source, context, bias, narration onto the timeline |
| Economics & Life Skills | 20 | Budget line items, practical skill practice, contract reading drills |
| Independent reading | 15 | Free-range pages beyond assigned literature — any worthwhile book |
A transcript-worthy pace needs roughly five days of this per week. If a day collapses, cut composition and history before mathematics and reading.
The year at a glance
Outcomes that mark a completed year. The student should be able to demonstrate each without notes.
Literature & Rhetoric
- Reads demanding older prose — epic, drama, essay, speech — and tracks its argument, not just plot
- Analyzes an author's appeals, structure, tone, and intended audience in a short analytic essay
- Contributes to a discussion with citations from the text rather than impressions
- Traces a primary source's bias: who wrote it, for whom, what it leaves out
Composition
- Writes a sourced essay of five paragraphs or more with real citations in one consistent format
- Runs a multiweek pipeline: research question, outline, draft, revision, final proof
- Shifts register on demand: lab report, persuasive essay, business letter, application statement
- Cuts a draft by ten percent without losing meaning
Mathematics (Alg→Geo→Adv)
- Advances through Algebra 1 → Geometry → advanced Algebra at mastery pace, not calendar pace
- Solves linear systems and quadratics; manipulates radicals and rational expressions cleanly
- Writes geometric proofs citing the postulates and theorems used
- Models real situations — loans, mixtures, motion — with functions and checks units
Laboratory Sciences
- Designs a household-lab investigation: hypothesis, procedure, control, data table, error notes
- Reports in standard format — aim, method, data, interpretation — from a bound lab notebook
- Reads labels like a scientist: concentrations, hazards, incompatibilities
- Explains core physical and life-science laws from evidence gathered, not authority quoted
History & Civics
- Narrates cause-and-effect chains across eras instead of isolated dates
- Summarizes founding documents and landmark speeches with their original context intact
- Corroborates any contested claim against a second independent account
- Explains how lawmaking and the levels of government interact, using a current example
Economics & Life Skills
- Keeps a written personal budget; explains interest and compound growth working for and against you
- Compares cost per unit before buying and plans a meal, repair, or project to a price
- Demonstrates durable skills: cooking, mending, first-aid refreshers, a working résumé
- Reads a sample contract or lease and lists its obligations before "signing"
Bible & Apologetics
- Studies passages with observe–interpret–apply, cross-checked between translations
- States another author's argument in its strongest form before answering it
- Gives reasons and evidence for core beliefs while representing opposing views honestly
- Separates essentials from preferences in discussion; disagrees without contempt
Materials — austere household edition
- Printed open-licensed textbooks for math and science; public-domain rhetoric and grammar texts
- Bundled classics and documents from the Book Library, printed or on screen
- Bound lab notebook, composition notebooks, graph paper, scientific calculator (solar if possible)
- Household lab stock: jars, funnel, measuring cups, thermometer, baking soda, vinegar, salt, sugar, oil, yeast; garden soil and seeds; safety glasses if obtainable
- Sample forms for life skills: a practice lease, a job application, blank budget sheets
- A printed dictionary and a style sheet; citations checked against books, not memory
Laboratory discipline
Kitchen chemistry is real chemistry: goggles on for reactive demos, no sealed containers over heat, and never taste results. Never combine bleach with vinegar or ammonia — toxic gas follows. Heat work obeys Heating & Cooking Safely; water purification labs obey Water Treatment; soil and garden work ends at the sink per Sanitation & Hygiene.
The weekly shape
| Day | Center of gravity | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Full core | New math block; literature annotation begins; composition assignment issued |
| Tuesday | Laboratory | Science investigation with full written report; document study in history |
| Wednesday | Research & discussion | Primary-source seminar, rhetoric practice, co-op or family discussion night |
| Thursday | Full core | Essay draft reviewed by parent or peer; memory work; lab notebook audit |
| Friday | Economics & life skills | Personal-finance module, a practical project, weekly review led by the student |
The student plans the week every Monday morning in ten minutes and closes it out Friday afternoon; parents attend both ends, not the middle.
Assessment without tests
- Written narrations: after readings, summarize from memory in a paragraph — the fastest honest measure of comprehension.
- Self-checked problem sets: work against an answer key; every miss goes into the error log with the reason it happened, then gets redone cold.
- Portfolio review: essays, lab reports, and projects collect dated in one folder; the monthly review is presented by the student.
Essay rubric detail
| Criterion | Developing | Proficient |
|---|---|---|
| Claim & thesis | Position unclear or shifts mid-paper | Precise claim up front; nothing strays from it |
| Evidence & citation | Support asserted, thin, or unsourced | Specific sources cited consistently; quotes integrated |
| Organization & flow | Paragraphs read as separate islands | Order argued; transitions carry the reader |
| Language & mechanics | Errors distract sentence by sentence | Precise, varied prose; conventions clean |
Bible & apologetics block
A passage-study method: observe, interpret, apply
- Observe. Two slow readings. List actors, structure, repeated terms, tensions. Record only what the text says — interpretation waits its turn.
- Interpret. Establish what it meant to the first hearers: compare translations, follow cross-references, note genre, then compress the main point to one sentence.
- Apply. One concrete change in belief or behavior for the week, written down. Honest application is downstream of honest observation.
An apologetics reading approach
- Understand before judging — restate the author's case in its strongest form first
- Sort each text into claims made, evidence offered, and assumptions carried
- Trace sources: check at least one citation yourself before accepting it
- Write the best counterargument you can, then answer it in writing
- Discuss to understand: represent opponents honestly, concede true points, keep tone warm
Rhythm: one substantial chapter or article per week with a one-page response, and one discussion night a month where a hard question gets aired fairly from both sides.
This week — print and check off
Where to go next
- Book Library — bundled classics and documents for reading blocks
- Progress Tracker — student files, records, and credit summaries
- Grades K–2 plan, Grades 3–5 plan, and Grades 6–8 plan — earlier bands
- Faith & Bible — multi-translation reader for study and comparison