Online Homeschool Electives at Miacademy

From kindergarten to senior year, electives are an important part of every child’s education. Electives can take many forms and create diverse and enriching learning opportunities. 

Playing sports, joining a club, volunteering in the community, or taking lessons on a new skill are all great elective options for students of any age! In addition, electives can allow homeschooled students to make new friends and socialize with their peers.

Online electives are a great way to enrich your child’s learning or add deeper meaning to their extracurricular activities!

Why Are Electives for Homeschoolers Important?

Electives are an essential part of a well-rounded education. They can help students explore their interests, increase their confidence, and gain new insights about the world around them. A quality homeschool elective curriculum can help a student…

1. Explore other areas of interest
2. Build self-confidence
3. Make new friends
4. Improve performance in core classes
5. Meet state homeschool requirements

Also, students often simply enjoy their elective courses! Fostering a lifelong love of learning is an essential goal that drives every child’s education. Electives can help develop this in students by showing them the many ways learning can impact their lives. Plus, they can also be a powerful way for homeschool families to share amazing bonding experiences together!

How to Choose Homeschool Electives

When choosing electives, it’s important to encourage your student to use their interests, passions, and curiosities whenever possible. Valuing their input here helps give them ownership over their course schedule, which increases their motivation!

When choosing your homeschool electives, there are a few things to consider:

1. Your student’s goals. For example, if they want to become an artist, try Drawing Essentials or Art Class. Or if they’re interested in traveling, learning a new language is a great option!

2. Your student’s interests. Electives can be a great way to support your child as they develop their interests and explore their passions. If they’re already in a robotics club, learning how to code can be a way to expand their skill set.

3. Your student’s graduation requirements. Some states require that students take certain electives before they graduate. Be sure to plan ahead to avoid any senior-year stress!

Miacademy’s Online Homeschool Elective Curriculum

In addition to a comprehensive core curriculum, Miacademy also offers a wide variety of online electives for homeschoolers. We design our online electives with flexibility in mind to ensure they fit seamlessly with any schedule. Check out some of our elective offerings below!

Music

Our homeschool music curriculum provides many opportunities for students to learn how to read, write, and play their own songs and music. Our elementary and middle school music curriculum nurtures students’ musical interests, allowing them to grow as creators and musicians.

• All About Instruments: In this course, students learn about cultural instruments like the rainstick, didgeridoo, and dulcimer. 

• Song Writing: Let your student’s creativity shine in our Song Writing course! Students will learn to write and arrange songs, including how to compose accompanying music.

• Music Reading: Students in our Music Reading course learn about notes, rhythm, music symbols, and famous composers. Plus, learning to read music has tons of academic benefits for students!

Art

Our homeschool art curriculum appeals to many interests, from mixed media to drawing and art around the world! 

• Art Class: In our beginner-level art curriculum, students will love learning about different styles of art, including painting, printmaking, collage-making, and working with mixed media.

• Art Around the World: In this course, students explore the art and culture of different countries and regions. They’ll have the chance to explore traditional art styles like Chinese watercolor and Indonesian batik.

• Drawing Essentials: Is your student an aspiring artist? In this course, they will learn how to draw, as well as study some of the world’s most influential paintings.

World Languages

Our homeschool foreign language curriculum gives students the opportunity to explore six different languages in a digestible and engaging format. Students will learn vocabulary and helpful phrases to help them build their conversational abilities in their new language.

• My First Spanish Lessons (REVISED 2023): My First Spanish Lessons provides students with an introduction to the language by teaching them greetings, emotions, body parts, and numbers.

• American Sign Language: Our American Sign Language course makes learning ASL for kids fun and engaging! Students in this course will learn basic words and phrases, such as numbers, colors, emotions, family words, animals, and more.

• Beginning Spanish: In our Beginning Spanish course, students will learn advanced vocabulary, including colors, foods and places that will help them hold basic conversations.

• Beginning French: In Beginning French, students will learn vocabulary such as colors, numbers, food, and places that will help them have everyday conversations in their new language.

• Beginning German: Students in our Beginning German course will learn useful German words such as colors, numbers, food, and phrases to help them navigate everyday situations.

• Intro to Spanish: Our middle school Spanish curriculum helps students begin learning more about vocabulary, grammar, and agreement. Students will learn more about greetings, basic expressions, verbs, vowels and consonants.

• Classical Languages: Our Classical Languages course introduces students to Latin and Attic Greek, including vocabulary, verbs, phrases and greetings.

Elementary School Life Skills

Many homeschool electives for elementary school students focus on fine arts and language — but what about everyday skills? Our Life Skills curriculum teaches students how to build their independence, such as by creating healthy habits, getting dressed, making a snack, and more.

• Life Skills 1: Our Life Skills homeschool curriculum can help students become more independent! It explores topics such as organization, hygiene, self-care, shoe-tying, and more.

• Fit and Active: In our Fit and Active course, students will learn how to stay healthy and keep their bodies moving in fun and creative ways!

• Intro to Typing: Typing is one of the most essential modern skills. Our typing course helps students improve their typing speed and accuracy.

Middle School Life Skills

In middle school, students are starting to become young adults and may start considering their future career. Our life skills curriculum for middle school focuses on career exploration and technical skills to help students expand their knowledge and expose them to new possibilities! 

• Computer Skills: In our Computer Skills course, students learn about the different parts of a computer and hardware types, and they get familiar with popular software such as word processors, spreadsheets, email, and more.

• Middle School Physical Fitness: Students are invited to move and learn about healthy habits in an engaging TV show format. Students learn about the seven fundamental body movements and participate in workouts using these movements.

• Career Exploration: Has your student started thinking about their future? In this course, they can learn about different career paths, like becoming a software engineer, a teacher, a zookeeper, a toy designer, or a novelist.

• Intro to Programming: If your student is interested in learning how to code, our Intro to Programming course is a great way to get a head start! Learn basic functions, algorithms, and calculations in our interactive, space-themed coding adventure.

Biblical Studies

Our homeschool bible study course includes lessons about the Old Testament, New Testament, and Jewish Bible. From simple stories to memorizing scriptures, our bible study lessons make learning fun and memorable for students of all ages!

• Bible Stories: Our Bible Stories course teaches young learners important stories from the Old and New Testament in a fun video format.

• Jewish Holidays: Students in this course will study the holidays, traditions, and history of celebrations like Hanukkah and Passover.

• Bible Basics: In this course, students learn the basics of how to use their Bible to find, read, and reflect on different passages.

• Scripture Memory: This course helps students to examine and reflect on scripture.

• Jewish Bible Study: This course will help students learn about important Jewish Bible stories.

• Old and New Testament Study: Students in Miacademy’s Biblical Studies course will learn about stories of the Old Testament and New Testament.

Online Electives with Miacademy

Miacademy’s accredited K-8 online homeschool curriculum offers a large range of electives for all interests. With our all-in-one curriculum, we make planning, organizing, and record keeping a breeze. Our flexible program lets you assign lessons, set your academic term, and even schedule breaks from our powerful parent portal.

All of our lessons are carefully crafted by subject-matter experts to meet the diverse learning needs of each student. We design our curriculum to motivate students and get them truly excited about learning. That’s why each lesson is accompanied by interactive practice opportunities, educational games, and hands-on extension activities that make students eager to learn more! Plus, we’re constantly creating courses and content, so there is always something new to learn on Miacademy.

With permission from your parent account, students can also join an online community of their peers. Our community is fully moderated, allowing kids to share their creativity and learn with each other in a safe online space. Social features like running a virtual business and writing for our weekly newspaper can even supplement what students are learning in both their core classes and their electives!

Ready to start your homeschooling journey with us? Get started with our 1-month trial today, or contact us with any questions! Our amazing customer service team will be happy to help you with anything you need. 

Updated 2/5/2024