What to Teach in Grade 10
A full school year across every subject, week by week — thirty-six weeks, laid out so you can see what Monday looks like before September starts.
The year at a glance
Thirty-six weeks, five days a week. Three subjects are planned here in detail — English 10: Choices, Conscience & Consequences, Life Science: Biology, Global History & Geography II: c. 1750 to the Early 21st Century — and each is a complete year's course with its own lessons, practice and exams. For mathematics at this grade most families use Geometry, though placement depends on the track a child is on rather than on their age.
You do not have to follow the weeks in order or at this pace. The plan exists so that there is always an answer to “what now”, not so that falling behind means anything.
The thirty-six weeks
| Week | English | Science | Social Studies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Establish evidence and a reading/writing baseline | Investigating the Chemistry of Life — launch and foundations | 1.1 The World Around 1750: States, Trade & Labor |
| 2 | Motivation, pressure and qualified characterization | Investigating the Chemistry of Life — connect, practice and revise | 1.2 Enlightenment: Reason, Rights & Political Debate |
| 3 | Imagery, poetic form and the limits of accounting | Investigating the Chemistry of Life — connect, practice and revise | 1.4 French Revolution & Napoleon: Rights, Conflict & Rule |
| 4 | First analytical essay and Chapter 1 assessment | Investigating the Chemistry of Life — connect, practice and revise | Chapter 1 workshop |
| 5 | Jekyll and Hyde: witnesses, doors and reputation | Cells, Membranes & Exchange — launch and foundations | 2.1 Latin American Independence: Coalitions & New States |
| 6 | Jekyll and Hyde: comfort, violence and documents | Cells, Membranes & Exchange — connect, practice and revise | 2.2 Nationalism, Unification & Political Membership |
| 7 | Jekyll and Hyde: refusal, distance and crisis | Cells, Membranes & Exchange — connect, practice and revise | 2.4 Economic Systems: Markets, Ownership & Socialism |
| 8 | Jekyll and Hyde: retrospective explanation and responsibility | Cells, Membranes & Exchange — connect, practice and revise | Chapter 2 workshop |
| 9 | Poetry, performance and whole-work interpretation | Body Systems, Signals & Homeostasis — launch and foundations | 3.1 Reform: Labor Organizing, Suffrage & Public Services |
| 10 | Comparative essay and Chapter 2 assessment | Body Systems, Signals & Homeostasis — connect, practice and revise | 3.2 New Imperialism: Territory, Extraction & Colonial Rule |
| 11 | Information, historical argument and Macbeth’s opening | Body Systems, Signals & Homeostasis — connect, practice and revise | 3.4 China in the Nineteenth Century: War, Rebellion & Reform |
| 12 | Evidence, audience and competing measures of success | Body Systems, Signals & Homeostasis — connect, practice and revise | Chapter 3 workshop |
| 13 | Mediation, changing knowledge and consequences | Body Systems, Signals & Homeostasis — connect, practice and revise | 4.1 World War I: Crisis, Global Mobilization & Warfare |
| 14 | Nonfiction synthesis and Chapter 3 assessment | Matter & Energy in Living Systems — launch and foundations | 4.2 Russian Revolutions: War, Competing Authority & Civil War |
| 15 | Claims, rhetoric and a public/private crisis | Matter & Energy in Living Systems — connect, practice and revise | 4.4 Interwar Dictatorships: Institutions, Ideology & Coercion |
| 16 | Equivocation, vulnerable voices and rhetorical structure | Matter & Energy in Living Systems — connect, practice and revise | Chapter 4 workshop |
| 17 | Endings, responsibility and tragic interpretation | Matter & Energy in Living Systems — connect, practice and revise | Midterm |
| 18 | Argument portfolio and Chapter 4 assessment | Cell Division, Reproduction & Development — launch and foundations | Flexible session 2 |
| 19 | Midterm, corrections and a second-semester question | Cell Division, Reproduction & Development — connect, practice and revise | 5.1 The Holocaust: Escalation, Evidence & Jewish Lives |
| 20 | Research proposal and A Doll’s House Act I | Cell Division, Reproduction & Development — connect, practice and revise | 5.2 1945 & the Postwar Order: Nuclear Weapons, Trials & Reconstruction |
| 21 | Source credibility and the end of Act I | Cell Division, Reproduction & Development — connect, practice and revise | 5.4 China After 1949: Revolution, Campaigns & Reform |
| 22 | Citation, paraphrase and constrained performance | DNA, Inheritance & Gene Expression — launch and foundations | Chapter 5 workshop |
| 23 | Synthesis and a complete research draft | DNA, Inheritance & Gene Expression — connect, practice and revise | 6.1 South Asia: Independence, Partition & State Building |
| 24 | Act III, turning points and narrative craft | DNA, Inheritance & Gene Expression — connect, practice and revise | 6.2 African Independence: Ghana, Algeria & Varied Paths |
| 25 | The complete play, endings and substantive revision | DNA, Inheritance & Gene Expression — connect, practice and revise | 6.4 Korea & Vietnam: Local Histories in Cold War Conflicts |
| 26 | Research submission and Chapter 5 assessment | DNA, Inheritance & Gene Expression — connect, practice and revise | Chapter 6 workshop |
| 27 | Narrative portfolio and Chapter 6 assessment | Evolution, Ancestry & Biodiversity — launch and foundations | 7.1 Globalization: Supply Chains, Trade & Unequal Effects |
| 28 | Syntax, emphasis and an editing portfolio | Evolution, Ancestry & Biodiversity — connect, practice and revise | 7.2 Human Rights: Declaration, Institutions & Implementation |
| 29 | Punctuation, parallelism and clear argument | Evolution, Ancestry & Biodiversity — connect, practice and revise | 7.4 Latin America, 1959–1990: Revolution, Dictatorship & Democracy |
| 30 | Diction, register and fair representation | Evolution, Ancestry & Biodiversity — connect, practice and revise | Chapter 7 workshop |
| 31 | Vocabulary in context and Chapter 7 assessment | Ecosystems & Conservation Decisions — launch and foundations | 8.1 Migration, Displacement & Public Health in Global History |
| 32 | Whole-work comparison and seminar preparation | Ecosystems & Conservation Decisions — connect, practice and revise | 8.2 Rwanda & Bosnia: Genocide, Institutions & Accountability |
| 33 | Seminar, comparative drafting and presentation design | Ecosystems & Conservation Decisions — connect, practice and revise | 8.4 The 2007–2009 Financial Crisis: Credit, Risk & Responses |
| 34 | Final comparative portfolio and Chapter 8 assessment | Ecosystems & Conservation Decisions — connect, practice and revise | Chapter 8 workshop |
| 35 | Sample exam and targeted re-teaching | Ecosystems & Conservation Decisions — connect, practice and revise | Final |
| 36 | Final exam and year-end conference | Cumulative final and course portfolio | Flexible session 2 |
Each cell names what that subject covers that week. Open the course for the lesson itself, the practice and the printable version.
How much time this is
Each course plans about five sessions a week for thirty-six weeks — roughly 180 sessions a year. Three subjects at that rate is about fifteen sessions a week, plus mathematics. At forty-five minutes a session that is somewhere near four hours a day, which in practice is less than it sounds: a session is not a school period, and most families find the work takes considerably less time at home than the same material takes in a classroom.
What this does not cover
Health, physical education, art, music and world languages are not taught here. Several states require some or all of them, so it is worth checking what yours asks for — the requirements for all fifty states and DC — and planning them separately. Families commonly meet them through sports, lessons, clubs and documented family activity.