Detailed Child Development Course for High School

I earn a commission from products purchased through links in this post.

Sharing is caring!

One of the things I love about homeschooling is that I can teach my kids what they want to learn. My daughter is considering a future career in either education or social work, so we kept that in mind when choosing high school electives. We thought that a child development course would be a great addition to her 10th grade curriculum plan.

The only problem was that I couldn’t find a child development course that felt appropriate for a high school student who wanted to work with kids.

Most of the child development courses marketed towards homeschoolers felt weak. They covered stages of development . . . but that was about it. That is probably fine for some kids, but not students who anticipate needing a child development course or two in college.

I majored in psychology AND early childhood education, so I spent several college semesters learning about child development. I wanted something detailed, a curriculum that covered:

  • Stages of development
  • Theories about child development
  • Famous research projects involving children
  • Careers related to child development

Initially, I tried to piece together a few popular parenting books that focus on development, articles found online, and documentaries. It wasn’t working for me, though. It was a ton of work to create assignments, and I felt like it was leaving gaps.

Thankfully, I found a child development resource that worked beautifully.

Detailed Child Development Course

Child Development textbook cover above writing that says Homeschool Detailed Child Development Course

After tons of time spent searching online, I stumbled across Child Development by John W. Santrock, 12th Edition. It is technically an old college textbook, but the used book price was right, so I decided to take a chance on it. I’m so glad I did. Sure, this edition is old, and there are newer editions available, but Piaget’s theories of development have not changed. If my daughter decides to pursue child development in college, she will have access to the latest research. For now, I just needed her to understand the major principles of child development.

This textbook covered everything I was looking for.

The chapters, and therefore topics, include:

  • The nature of development
  • Biological beginnings
  • Prenatal development and birth
  • Physical development and health
  • Motor, sensory, and perceptual development
  • Cognitive developmental approaches
  • Information processing
  • Intelligence
  • Language Development
  • Emotional Development
  • The self and identity
  • Gender
  • Moral Development
  • Families
  • Peers
  • Schools and Achievement
  • Culture and diversity

Each week I would assign my daughter a group of pages that we would then discuss. Sometimes I asked her to watch a relevant movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime. By the end of the school year, she had read every single chapter in this textbook.

She also read selected chapters from Welcome to Your Child’s Brain by Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang.

Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College
Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College
$6.13
Buy on Amazon

Last update on 2026-09-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Here is what she did for each chapter, in addition to discussing it with me, of course.

Chapter 1:  The Nature of Child Development           

Chapter 2: Biological Beginnings

Chapter 3: Prenatal Development and Birth

Chapter 4: Physical Development and Health

Chapter 5: Motor, Sensory, and Perceptual Development

Chapter 6: Cognitive Developmental Approaches

Chapter 7: Information Processing

Chapter 8: Intelligence

Chapter 9: Language Development

Chapter 10: Emotional Development

  •  Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: Chapter 18

Chapter 11: The Self and Identity

Chapter 12: Gender

Chapter 13: Moral Development

Chapter 14: Families

Chapter 15: Peers

  • Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: Chapter 20

Chapter 16: Schools and Achievement

Chapter 17: Culture and Diversity

We spent about two weeks on each chapter. This gave my daughter and me time to really discuss and think about the topics.

In addition to the textbook, my daughter virtually tutored a friend’s daughter. Once a week, she would spend one hour on Zoom with her. My friend graciously left the format and topic of the tutoring session up to my daughter. After a little bit of idea bouncing, my daughter decided to teach about a different country each week.

I was always available for help, but she was responsible for planning lessons. I thought this would give her a little taste of the work involved in teaching. She found books about each country and reserved them at our library, planned crafts, made sample crafts, and wrote up a supply list.

Combining reading with hands-on (well, virtual ‘hands-on’) experience was a great way to teach child development. It also reinforced her desire to work with kids one day. I wanted to give her a taste of what her future would include so that if it wasn’t something she enjoyed, she would realize that before paying for specific college classes.

I have no doubt that this child development course prepared her for a future of working with children.

Related Posts:

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Welcome! My name is Jennifer. I am a teacher at heart. Before my children were born I was a public school teacher. Now, I am a homeschooling mom of two.