2025-26 High School Homeschool Favorites

Read-Alouds:

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whalen

When the flu sweeps through her African village, Rachael Sheridan finds herself orphaned... and abducted by a couple trying to find their way back to England.  The Pritchards' try to use Rachael to get into favor with her "grandfather" so they can return home to the family fortune.  Posing as Valerie, she and the grandfather strike up a friendship.  But when the Pritchards return, Rachael finds that she can no longer keep up the facade.  But what will her confession do to Grandfather?  I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but we really loved it.  The characters were so well written and the storyline kept us engaged from cover to cover. Listening for Lions is a beautiful story about love and loss, growing up, and finding home.  Really great work.

Turtles of the Midnight Moon by Maria Jose Fitzgerald

Twelve year old Barana is fascinated by the sea turtles that visit her coastal home in Honduras.   And she's equally as determined to preserve their nests for generations to come.

Aberdeen is struggling to fit into her life in the states, where she's never quite felt like the other kids.

When Abby gets the chance for a two week visit to Honduras with her father, the girls become unlikely allies in tracking down the poaches that are terrorizing the island.

This is an age appropriate mystery about friendship, preservation, and family, all themes appropriate for tweens and middle schoolers.  We loved reading this one and hope you will too!

PragerU Citizenship 101

I actually stumbled on these through their Youtube channel.  It was good timing as my daughter is taking Civics and Government this year.  I've always wondered at what questions are on the citizenship test, and this series gave us a really good idea.  Plus the site includes a citizenship quiz to access what you know.  Thorough and entertaining, it was a good crash course in the citizenship test. (FREE)

Facing the Facts

Health and Sexuality is just a hard topic to cover with middle school and young high schoolers.  We've tried a couple of different curriculums, and while they were decent, this book was the most thorough resource I've found for this age.  It's honest, accurate, and age appropriate.  It really took the mystery and fear about of approaching this topic with my son, and I wish I had found this book sooner.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Classics for Kids

Trying to incorporate more composer study in our homeschool has been a challenge.  I've loosely used Ambleside Online, but finding Classics for Kids has been a game changer.  I've followed the AO schedule of composers, and when I can, I look up the composer on Classics for Kids.  Each composers has around 4 episodes, each 6 min. long, the perfect length for listening and discussing during Morning Time.  It gives us a good taste of the composers style which we then transfer into listening to their compositions throughout the week. (FREE)

No Sweat Nature Study

I'm sneaking this one in from last year since I didn't do a favorites for 2024-25.  We had the year long subscription last year and loved it.  These bi-weekly live classes are taught by Cindy West who thoroughly researches and presents the information.  Each class is about a hour long and she gets so much information into that hour.  Besides teaching the information, she also leads students in drawing about what they're learning and answering questions live.  Plus if you can't make the live classes, they're recorded and available for later viewing.  The archives are extensive and we would often pair a nature study class with what we were learning in our every day curriculum.  This class is amazing!

World Watch News

World Watch News has been come a daily staple in our house.  As part of our Morning Time, WWN is just the right length to keep my high schoolers informed on major world events, without delaying their day too much.  We also enjoy the fact that news segments don't talk down to our students.  They are treated respectfully.  One of my favorite things about WWN is the Reality Check segment that airs once a week.  This short addition teaches kids to how to look at and think through societal issues using a Christian lens.  I have to confess that it's challenged me a time or two as well.  

Bible Recap

I've used this one in the past couple of years, but it would so be appropriate for high schoolers.  Each day I read 2-4 chapters in the Bible (presented chronologically) and then read the daily Bible recap.  This resource has been invaluable in helping me understand some of the harder parts of scripture.  And even more than that, it's helped me to see different aspects of the Lord that I hadn't previously noticed.  I love the resource and highly suggest it for anyone wanting to enrich their devotions.

All Creatures Great and Small

This one is just for fun.  I had heard good things about this series and convinced my husband to check it out with me.  It's based on the life of James Herriot, a vet in England, and the people and animals that he interacted with.  We've found the dialogue to be witty and playful, and the drama to be just enough to keep us interested, but a delightful escape from reality.  While it's primarily my husband and I that watch, the teenagers drift in and out, and seem to enjoy it as well.  Plus I never have to worry about inappropriate scenes appearing or suggestive dialogue.  Just clean, and family appropriate.

What were some of your favorites from this homeschool year?