Curriculum

Online High School + English Language Training Curriculum

Before starting your online high school classes, you’ll take an English assessment through EnGen to decide what English language lessons you need. Depending on your score, you may then have lessons to help you improve your English speaking, writing, and reading. Then, your online high school diploma program consists of 16 core credits and you choose 5 elective credits. Find more information about the high school classes you will take at Penn Foster below.

High School Diploma + English Language Training

Diploma 12 months As low as $55/mo

Full Program Overview

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Curriculum Stats

16 core credits
5 elective credits

Estimated completion time:

Fast track = 12 months
Average time = 21 months

With Penn Foster, you can learn at whatever pace works best for you. Some learners will be more comfortable moving faster, and dedicating more time, and the fast track estimate will apply to them. The average track will apply to most learners who can dedicate a few hours per week to completing their coursework.

In this course, you'll explore the amazing potential of your personality. The course begins by defining personality and showing its effects on your life. You'll learn some famous theories about personality and the possible ways that personality is formed. After taking a personality test, you’ll reflect on your results to understand more about yourself and your traits. Finally, you’ll decide how your personality can help you to build better relationships, excel as a leader, benefit your community, and succeed in your High School program and beyond.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Define personality and its effects on your life
- Explain three theories that contribute to the development of one’s personality
- Describe one’s own personality type and individual strengths and preferences
- Examine personality characteristics that can be influential to learning, leadership, and career success
Diversity Through Visual Art offers an overview of important works that increase awareness, understanding, and acceptance of individual and group identities. Students will explore diverse artists and works of visual art that affect our societal and human interactions, such as gender identity, race, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, culture, and national and ethnic origins. Through these different lenses, students will be able to gain a greater understanding of inclusivity by evaluating the experience of these groups as perceived through various art medias.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Explain how visual art is an expression of identity and culture
- Investigate the role of visual art as a means of communicating cultural values
- Analyze the meaning of visual art according to principles of expression and aesthetic qualities
- Evaluate visual art through an aesthetic and cultural lens
In this course, you'll learn how to build your digital literacy skills and become a strong digital citizen. You'll learn to use technology to find information in ways that are ethical and effective. You'll be able to recognize how to protect your digital privacy during online activities and describe why it's important for everyone to have access to technology. You'll also learn to think critically about sources of information and determine the best methods to research and communicate ideas. By the end of the course, you'll be able to identify appropriate methods for using technology in education, the workplace, and daily life.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Recognize how to use digital technology ethically and effectively to obtain information
- Describe the importance of access to digital technology to communicate and perform tasks
- Explain how to protect digital data and safely use digital technology for commerce
- Use effective communication and research skills in education
- Interpret visual information and effective communication in a professional environment
- Carry out research related to personal, local, and global issues
A study of the fundamental operations with whole numbers, fractions, and decimals, preceding the more advanced topics of weights, measures, ratios, proportions, and percents.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Solve real-world problems involving whole numbers
- Solve real-world problems involving fractions
- Solve real-world problems involving decimals
- Compare the English and metric systems of measurement
- Explain ratios, proportions, and percents
Covers the rights, freedoms, and responsibilities of American citizens. Reviews the roots of American government and studies the modern U.S. government—its branches; the Constitution and Bill of Rights; the roles of federal, state, and local governments; political parties and elections.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Analyze the US government’s functions
- Interpret the US Constitution
- Identify the levels of US government
- Explain the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the political process
In this course, you’ll learn different reading strategies that can be used to help with comprehension of information, including workplace writing. Organizational structures and reading strategies work together to reveal key details, and to effectively deliver informational texts. You’ll learn different organizational structures, and how these structures are used for writing. You’ll learn how point of view and purpose shape the content and structure of multiple text passages. You’ll analyze information to learn how to distinguish between fact and opinion. You’ll examine the basic conventions of English grammar, usage, and mechanics. This course also discusses how to identify the main themes, key details, and literacy devices in poetry and short stories. You’ll be introduced to drama and learn about different theaters throughout the history of drama, the different genres of plays, and reading strategies that will help you when reading a play.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Identify close reading strategies that can be used to comprehend informational text passages
- Analyze different types of writing including historical, informational, fact, and opinion
- Apply basic grammar rules, punctuation rules, and proper writing practices to workplace writing
- Apply basic conventions of standard English grammar, usage, and mechanics in narrative writing
- Identify main points, key details, and literary devices in poems and a short story
- Summarize central themes and supporting evidence in plays
A study of the scientific method, the formation of the solar system, the moon’s phases, the movement of the birth, plate tectonics, the formation of the oceans, and erosion. Also looks at chemical principles, rock and mineral analysis, soil formation, and weather patterns.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Explain the basic principles and methods of earth science
- Discuss the various surface processes on Earth
- Identify features of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans
- Explain the causes of geologic activity
- Describe the impact of human activity on natural resources
- Explain the formation and properties of the solar system and universe
This course covers a wide variety of topics to help students understand the principles of physical fitness. Topics included are nutrition basics, developing healthy eating habits, the functioning of muscles, posture, the heart and lungs, strengthening body parts, flexibility training, preventing injury, and stress management.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Create fitness goals
- Explain good nutrition
- Describe healthy techniques for energy balance and weight loss
- Outline a comprehensive cardiorespiratory fitness routine
- Develop fitness plans to prevent and recover from exercise-related injuries
- Identify symptoms of stress and stress-reduction techniques
Study simple ways to apply mathematics to the everyday areas of life, most of them involving money; employment, purchases, home, car, insurance, savings, and investments.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Apply basic math skills to everyday life
- Determine best practices for money management
- Analyze financial areas of your life
A review of basic mathematical skills provides the foundation for more advanced topics such as order of operations, factors, multiples, powers, roots, equations, and inequalities. Introduces geometry by covering the study of points, lines, surfaces, and solids.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Solve problems using basic operations, factors, multiples, powers, and roots
- Solve equations with variables, signed numbers, and inequalities
- Classify angles, polygons, and polynomials
- Classify triangles, cubes, cylinders, and rectangles
Discussion of people, events, and sociopolitical forces that have shaped America, from its discovery to the present. Shows how American history affects today’s events and global conditions.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Describe settlement of the colonies in America
- Identify events from the American Revolution to the ratification of the United States Constitution
- Recognize expansion and industrialization in the United States during the early 18th century
- Describe the causes and lasting effects of the American Civil War
- Analyze how the events leading up to World War I shaped the United States
- Discuss the effects of the Great Depression and World War II on the United States
- Recognize changes in America from the 1960s through today
A study of matter and energy: their nature and the relationships between them. Explains the role of atomic structure in chemical and nuclear reactions. Emphasizes problem solving skills and discusses the relationship be- tween science, technology, and the environment. Covers topics such as water, the chemistry of building materials, fuels, natural and synthetic rubbers and plastics, energy in relation to motion and force, machines, sound, light, electricity, and magnetism.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Explain how objects move when forces are applied
- Describe the effects of heat energy on matter
- Analyze waves and radiation
- Apply the principles of chemistry
- Determine what scientific principles apply to electricity and electronics
It can be said that the pursuit of knowledge drives humanity to become better. Every day, people subconsciously consume an abundance of information from the environment around them. However, not all of that information is meaningful. Most knowledge consumed daily may not mean anything in the long run. Today’s weather has a very small impact on making plans for tomorrow. How do you sort through all that information you take in around you into what’s meaningful or not? How can you gain new information, even though it may not have been in your environment or part of your experience? In this course, you’ll gain and apply close reading skills to help you sort through all of the information around you.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Apply close reading strategies to make inferences in nonfiction texts
- Apply basic English language conventions in nonfiction texts
- Use evidence from informational texts to support a position on a topic
- Recognize the use of figurative, literal, and non-literal language in poetry and a short story
- Restate details and examples from the text when explaining how characters develop and interact in a novel
- Apply theories and styles of nonfiction writing to create effective personal and professional writing
This course will provide a broad survey of the history of the world, from the earliest humans who emerged from Africa to the modern peoples and nations that exist today. You’ll learn how people adapted to live in different environments, developed tools and technology, created political institutions to govern, and spread ideas as they interacted with one another. By following the stories of different peoples and cultures through time, you’ll observe how key developments and events that took place over thousands of years have shaped the world today.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Recognize features and achievements of ancient civilizations
- Recognize features and achievements of the Byzantine Empire, Middle Ages, and Europe during the Renaissance and Age of Exploration
- Compare society and politics of world regions during the period of 1500–1800
- Explain causes of revolution, impacts of industrialization on society, and factors leading to development of global empires during the late 1700s to the early 1900s
- Describe how the Great War, Great Depression, and nationalism affected world regions
- Describe how World War II, the Cold War, and economic globalization affected world regions
This Biology course begins with a presentation on the topic of ecology. The cell and its processes are examined in detail. A discussion of genetics and evolution follows. The course provides a detailed description of the biology involved in the structure and function of both plants and animals. The course ends with a lesson on human body systems and disease.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Describe the characteristics, chemistry, and ecology of living things
- Analyze cells and their processes for obtaining energy and reproducing
- Explain how traits are passed on from one generation to the next
- Explain how different species of living things have evolved and are classified
- Identify the characteristics and behavior of plants and animals
- Summarize the anatomy and physiology of the major systems in the human body
In this course, you’ll analyze and cite evidence to support analysis of history, social studies, science, and technology-related texts as well as their graphics. Next, you’ll review the use and impact of word choice, tone, and figurative language in a play. You’ll then explore the theme in literary narratives. Finally, you’ll summarize key details, events, and characteristics in a novel and write a structured argument with relevant evidence to support a claim.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Use evidence to support analysis of history or social studies texts and paired graphics
- Cite evidence to support analysis of scientific or technology-related texts and paired graphics
- Analyze the use and impact of word choice, tone, and figurative language in a play
- Infer a clear central idea or theme in somewhat challenging literary narratives or their paragraphs
- Summarize key details, events, and characteristics in a somewhat challenging novel
- Write a structured argument with relevant evidence to support a claim
In this course, you’ll review foundational history texts and conceptual science and technology texts using US primary source documents and multimedia or quantitative formats. Next, you’ll draw simple, logical conclusions about more challenging world literature passages. From those literature passages, you’ll analyze how an author’s word choice and structure shape meaning, style, and tone. You’ll then explore a cultural experience in world literature, citing text to highlight key details and themes. After that, you’ll study one act of Shakespeare, using close-reading strategies to explain character relationships and thematic structure. Finally, you’ll write an informative assignment to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:
- Use multimedia to support academic presentations and writing
- Draw simple, logical conclusions about more challenging world literature passages
- Recognize how an author’s word choice and structure shape meaning, style, and tone in more challenging literature
- Examine one act of Shakespeare, using close reading strategies to explain character relationships and thematic structure
- Analyze primary and secondary history, science, and technology texts
- Apply content area literacy skills to craft a research paper

Electives: Vocational

Electives: Academic/College Preparation

American Literature is designed to help you navigate the works that helped to shape America, particularly some of history's most notable texts and writing. The speeches, poems, and prose that you'll read in these pages helped to shape not only American writing, but also the way we read and think today. As you read through your assignments, consider how these texts are still having an impact on us, from literature to pop culture.
Note: Reproductions of paintings in the text and online supplements include nudes; these pictures may be offensive to some students. An introduction to various forms of art throughout history, from prehistoric to modern; also discusses elements of design, symbolism, and purposes of art to enable students to evaluate the meaning and quality of individual works. Learn about the most important artists of each era, as well as the cultural influences that shaped their approaches to painting, sculpture, or architecture.
In this course, you’ll learn about the composition of matter from the subatomic level to the molecular level to the macroscopic level. You’ll see how the same building blocks can be rearranged to form countless substances. This course will help you predict properties of different substances and the reactions that they undergo. You’ll learn about chemical bonds and phases of matter. You’ll see why water is critical to life on Earth and examine various types of chemical reactions that happen in solutions. You’ll be introduced to branches of chemistry like thermochemistry, electrochemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and nuclear chemistry. You’ll discover why chemistry is critical in biology, engineering, and everyday life.