High School & Secondary School Courses at Planet Homeschool | Spring 2023 To Publications / Articles - High School & Secondary School Courses at Planet Homeschool | Spring 2023

Posted 11/6/22
PHS Leadership Team | News & Updates

High School Courses

for 9th–12th grades = ages 14–19 years

Fridays, 6 January–5 May 2023 at Planet Homeschool

16 weeks — no classes on Fri 17 Feb or Fri 7 Apr

2nd Period (10:35 AM–11:50 AM)

I believe that everyone should know how to put together a meal that’s healthy, delicious, and relatively inexpensive. This course will introduce students to some of the fundamental skills of cooking. We’ll cover food safety, knife skills, pantry staples, basic sauces, sautéing, roasting, and steaming.

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2nd Period (10:35 AM–11:50 AM)

What is Adulting?

Theresa Redfern-Hall

Get ready, set, go! You turn 18 and on the morning of your birthday, you wake up with all the knowledge that it takes to operate in the world as an adult. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? If only it were so easy!

So, how do you figure out all those things that adults know? Well, there are several ways to learn the information. A few of the ways include learning things the really hard way. While that type of learning makes a big impression, let’s see if we can’t find some other ways to figure things out.

Having watched my kids and their friends learn to adult, I’ve noticed some themes that continue to come up. We will start with the basics and move from there. Student suggestions/questions will be incorporated into the class.

Topics that we will cover include decision-making, increased responsibility, finances and budgeting, goal setting, interviewing skills, college, trades, transportation, insurance, and navigating relationships with parents, siblings, friends, and others.

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3rd Period (12:30 PM–1:45 PM)

High School Biology

Dr. Tom Anderson

Learn about the living world. Classes will consist of discussion of textbook material as well as some hands-on lab activities. The spring semester will cover macroscopic biology, including ecology, evolution, and the structure and function of organisms. This course will be based on Biology for AP Courses, which is a textbook produced by the OpenStax project at Rice University. The text is freely available online, and a printed version is also available.

The fall semester explored microscopic biology, including the molecules of life and cell structure and processes. Because of the conceptual separation of the fall and spring semesters, it is possible for students to take the spring semester course without having taken the fall semester course.

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5th Period (3:15 PM–4:30 PM)

Micro Track Smash Tiny Whoop Drone Racing Team

Séa Blake (Eclipse) and Aurora Pass (ShyDragon) with Nic Rosenau

Micro Track Smash is a team competition from Youth Drone Sports Championships. The focus of class time will be on laying down times to submit to YDSC leaderboards and practicing for YDSC Regionals and Nationals. New pilots will begin flying virtually in the VelociDrone FPV Racing Simulator and will progress to flying IRL after passing a simple flight test to demonstrate they have control of their drone.

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Secondary School Courses

for 7th–12th grades = ages 12–19 years

Fridays, 6 January–5 May 2023 at Planet Homeschool

16 weeks — no classes on Fri 17 Feb or Fri 7 Apr

1st Period (9:15 AM–10:30 AM)

Cults and Extreme Religions

Theresa Redfern-Hall

This class provides students with the opportunity to ask and find out “What is a cult?”, “How do cults draw in followers?” and “Why do people join cults?” We will also look at what is an “extreme religion,” and what characteristics separate those extreme religions from other religions.

We will begin an analysis of Maslov’s hierarchy of needs and a brief survey of cults throughout history. We will then move into the present time and analyze cults of the recent past and those currently in existence.

This is a class that encourages students to ask many questions and look deeper into the world around them. Some of the areas/types of cults that we will study include: Doomsday or Apocalyptic Cults, The Heaven’s Gate Cult, The People’s Temple (Jim Jones), extreme fundamentalists in the traditional Christian, Hebrew, and Islamic religions, and how extremists have affected the Middle East. We will incorporate readings, documentaries, and class discussions.

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2nd Period (10:35 AM–11:50 AM)

Freaky Folklore - Exploring Literature's Unusual Twists

Rebekah Jorgensen

Authors have long been writing about the unexplained. In this course, we’ll explore themes in classic and modern literature that relate to myths, folklore, and urban legends. The class will discuss the historical and cultural context of various books and short stories, as well as the themes and truths that one can find in literature - even when the existence of the subject matter can not be proved.

Also offered online on Tuesdays, 12:30 PM–1:45 PM.

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2nd Period (10:35 AM–11:50 AM)

Creative Writing: Fantasy

Tim Hereid

Fantasy is the oldest form of storytelling. From the creation stories of the Dakota to the Epic of Gilgamesh to The Odyssey to Beowulf, we have always found comfort in tales of brave heroes and hideous beasts, of new worlds and ancient magics, of powerful rulers and epic dangers.

In this class, we will read, write and maybe even publish fantasy. We’ll take a look at the most powerful tropes (story types) in fantasy writing, and read masters of fantasy like Alice Bradley Sheldon, Neil Gaiman, and Susanna Clarke. We’ll talk about keeping dragons, casting spells, wielding swords, defeating tyrant kings, encountering the fae, contending with demons, avoiding imps, and defeating wizards. We’ll write long and short fiction, as preferred by the individual student.

Students will write in each class period and have writing homework. In class, we will share our work. We will encourage positive constructive critique that leads the writer to write more.

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3rd Period (12:30 PM–1:45 PM)

Great Decisions: America's Global Affairs

Theresa Redfern-Hall

Using the Foreign Policy Institute’s Great Decisions curriculum, this class will delve into topics such as energy geopolitics, war crimes, China and the U.S., Russia and the U.S., economic warfare, politics and drug policy in Latin America, global famine, Iran, climate migration and climate change, and outer space. We will also discuss local and national news in each class. Discerning media bias, the use of multiple news sources, and fact-checking will also be part of the class.

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Secondary School Courses

for 7th–12th grades = ages 12–19 years

Tuesdays, 10 January–9 May 2023 online

16 weeks — no classes on Tue 21 Feb or Tue 11 Apr

2nd Period (11:00 AM–12:15 PM)

Art and Music as Agents of Change

Rebekah Jorgensen

A look from a historical/current events perspective on arts (music, visual art, etc) and their influence on/response to current events. Depending on student interest, the course may focus on a particular genre/time period but will include discussion/information/examples from a variety of issues and historical events.

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