What to Teach in Grade 11
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 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory, Physical Science: Chemistry, United States History & Government: Colonial Foundations 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 Algebra II, 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 | Public memory and an independent baseline | Investigating Matter — launch | 1.1 Indigenous Nations, Colonial Regions & Historical Evidence |
| 2 | Identity, selection and narrative perspective | Investigating Matter — connect, calculate and revise | 1.2 Colonial Resistance, Revolution & the Limits of Independence |
| 3 | Movements, poetic voice and source framing | Atoms, Electrons & Periodicity — launch | 1.4 Federalism, the Bill of Rights & Constitutional Change |
| 4 | First analytical essay and Chapter 1 assessment | Atoms, Electrons & Periodicity — connect, calculate and revise | Chapter 1 workshop |
| 5 | Douglass: framing, naming and imposed ignorance | Atoms, Electrons & Periodicity — connect, calculate and revise | 2.1 Territorial Expansion, Indigenous Sovereignty & Removal |
| 6 | Douglass: institutions, violence and a change of setting | Atoms, Electrons & Periodicity — connect, calculate and revise | 2.2 Slavery, Cotton, Abolition & Antebellum Reform |
| 7 | Douglass: literacy, prohibition and contradictory gains | Bonding, Formulas & Molecular Structure — launch | 2.4 Civil War, Emancipation & the Destruction of Slavery |
| 8 | Douglass: resistance and retrospective turning points | Bonding, Formulas & Molecular Structure — connect, calculate and revise | Chapter 2 workshop |
| 9 | Douglass: planning, relationships and limitations | Bonding, Formulas & Molecular Structure — connect, calculate and revise | 3.1 Industrialization, Corporate Power & Federal Regulation |
| 10 | Douglass: the ending, Appendix and Chapter 2 assessment | Bonding, Formulas & Molecular Structure — connect, calculate and revise | 3.2 Labor Organizations, Industrial Conflict & Workplace Reform |
| 11 | Founding rhetoric, identity and Hamlet’s opening | Reactions, Moles & Composition — launch | 3.4 Gilded Age Government, Regulation & Agrarian Politics |
| 12 | Purpose, procedure and mediated evidence | Reactions, Moles & Composition — connect, calculate and revise | Chapter 3 workshop |
| 13 | Competing arguments and dramatic tests | Reactions, Moles & Composition — connect, calculate and revise | 4.1 Progressive Reform: Federal Tools, Expertise & Exclusions |
| 14 | Synthesis, consequences and Chapter 3 assessment | Stoichiometry & Yield — launch | 4.2 American Expansion Overseas: 1898, Sovereignty & Intervention |
| 15 | Hamlet’s ending and argument under uncertainty | Stoichiometry & Yield — connect, calculate and revise | 4.4 Education, Technology & Women’s Political Rights |
| 16 | Trifles: objects, evidence and competing judgment | Stoichiometry & Yield — connect, calculate and revise | Chapter 4 workshop |
| 17 | Rhetorical analysis and sustained argument drafts | States of Matter & Gases — launch | Midterm |
| 18 | Second-quarter portfolio and Chapter 4 assessment | States of Matter & Gases — connect, calculate and revise | Flexible session 2 |
| 19 | Midterm, corrections and a new inquiry | States of Matter & Gases — connect, calculate and revise | 5.1 The 1920s: Consumption, Cultural Creation & Political Conflict |
| 20 | Research questions and Gatsby’s first chapter | States of Matter & Gases — connect, calculate and revise | 5.2 The 1929 Crash: Speculation, Leverage & Banking Risk |
| 21 | Source evaluation, synthesis and Gatsby II | Solutions & Dissolved Particles — launch | 5.4 The New Deal: Relief, Institutions & Constitutional Debate |
| 22 | Citation, integrity and Gatsby III | Solutions & Dissolved Particles — connect, calculate and revise | Chapter 5 workshop |
| 23 | Research argument draft and Gatsby IV | Acids, Bases & Titration — launch | 6.1 The Road to World War II: Neutrality, Aid & U.S. Entry |
| 24 | Narrative craft, memory and Gatsby V | Acids, Bases & Titration — connect, calculate and revise | 6.2 The Holocaust, Refugee Policy & American Responses |
| 25 | Revision decisions and Gatsby VI | Acids, Bases & Titration — connect, calculate and revise | 6.4 Containment, Postwar Institutions & Global Cold War Relationships |
| 26 | Research submission, Chapter 5 assessment and Gatsby VII | Chemical Energy & Thermodynamics — launch | 6.6 Korea & Vietnam: War Powers, Local Aims & American Decisions |
| 27 | Narrative portfolio, Chapter 6 assessment and Gatsby VIII | Chemical Energy & Thermodynamics — connect, calculate and revise | Chapter 6 workshop |
| 28 | Gatsby’s ending and purposeful syntax | Rates & Equilibrium — launch | 7.1 Civil Rights: Organizing, Courts, Legislation & Enforcement |
| 29 | Conventions, quotation and clarity | Rates & Equilibrium — connect, calculate and revise | 7.3 The Great Society: Poverty, Education, Health & Federal Responsibility |
| 30 | Vocabulary, context and conceptual precision | Rates & Equilibrium — connect, calculate and revise | 7.5 Economic Change Since the 1970s: Inflation, Work & Public Policy |
| 31 | Language variation, register and Chapter 7 assessment | Redox, Cells & Nuclear Chemistry — launch | Chapter 7 workshop |
| 32 | Comparative identity and seminar preparation | Redox, Cells & Nuclear Chemistry — connect, calculate and revise | 8.1 U.S. Foreign Relations, Cold War’s End & the 1990s |
| 33 | Seminar, comparative essay and oral presentation | Redox, Cells & Nuclear Chemistry — connect, calculate and revise | 8.3 Globalization, Digital Change & the 2007–2009 Financial Crisis |
| 34 | Comparative portfolio and Chapter 8 assessment | Organic Chemistry & Material Design — launch | 8.5 U.S. History Capstone: Constitutional Change, Evidence & Comparison |
| 35 | Sample examination and targeted teaching | Organic Chemistry & Material Design — connect, calculate and revise | Chapter 8 workshop |
| 36 | Final examination and next-course conference | Cumulative final and chemistry portfolio | Final |
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.