I have two typical high school students. I am trying to figure out what schooling I can do with them. One wants to be a vet and the other is not sure yet just knows that she wants to go to college. I started college three years ago so my college text books are current. So far I have taken math (algebra 1 & 2 and statistics), biology, environmental science, world religions, cultural diversity (would they be a social studies classes), a total of 7 psychology classes (not sure what those would count for, social studies?), Philosphy, english 101 and 102, business communication, and a bunch of social work classes, just to name a few. I am 29 credits shy of having my BS Psychology - Crisis Counseling so I have a lot of classes/material to pull from. I am getting Rosetta Stone Spanish for secondary language. For literature I was going to get the reading list for their grade and have them read the books and do book reports on them and think of some other assignments that tie into the book they are reading at the time. Both of them have been using Microsoft Word for the last 2 years and are fluent in Power Point, and college APA guidelines. We are still working on Excel. I take my classes online so not only do I have all of the books, but grading rubix for assignments, instructions for all of those assignments, and the graded results. I have saved every class I have taken so far on a USB drive. I think where I get confused is how the work they do translates into credit for them and what classes are required. For example one of my classes (all of my classes are done in 8 weeks) translates into 3 hour credits at the college level but how do I transfere that to their records? Do I break it down into longer than 8 weeks? Thanks, Amy
Amy, my suggestion would be 4 English (each to be half grammar, half literature - maybe the business communications in place of some of the grammar but being sure to include some term papers), 4 maths, 4 sciences (at least two with labs) and 4 social sciences (to include American history, world history or geography, and one semester of civics or government and one semster of free enterprise or economics). Based on what you have on hand, I'd probably use an intro course of psychology, an intro course of social work, an intro course of philosophy perhaps, and world religions, as 4 social sciences electives. I don't know what social work courses you have, but perhaps some of it could match up with some of the cultural diversity course? I would tend not to use more than intro psychology or social work courses for high school credits. High schools just don't do that much of those if any. Two years of the same foreign language is pretty much required. I'd try to work in a semester each of art appreciation or music appreciation, unless they're already playing a musical instrument or taking art lessons, in which case I'd prepare a portfolio. I'd try to work in a semester of Health (including nutrition and exercise, diseases including STDs, first aid including CPR, chemical-abuse awareness, and other mental health issues), and at least one year of PE activity. I'd also give them some credit for computer literacy and keyboarding, maybe recordkeeping, at like a half credit each. You wouldn't want the college to think you're "padding the transcripts"! LOL You can check on your state's Department of Education website and see what they require for a diploma, and/or check with the colleges the kids think they want to attend and see what they require for admission.
I agree with Lindina...please check with your state's Dept. of Education on diploma requirements. It will tell you how many credits are required and what subjects (and how many credits per subject) are required for a diploma.
Please check your state's info. Our state requires a few specific classes for social studies (Constitution, US Government, World History). Also look into some spedific colleges. My daughter's top choice requires Alg I & II, Geometry and Trig or Pre-Calc. For yours that wants to be a vet, make sure those lab classes are rigorous, so that there are no questions when it comes to college admittance.
Thanks for all of the replies. A friend pointed out the Running Start program for my girls. It is not home school but instead they attend college starting at age 16 and then when they are 18 (provided they do what they are suppose to) they get their H.S. diploma and their AA degree at the same time. I am having problems figuring out what equals a credit? My state requirements are: English 4 Math 3 Science 2 (1 lab) not sure how to do this one as far as lab. Social Studies 3 Art 1 Health and Fitness 2 (.5 credits of health and 1.5 credits of fitness) World Language 0 Occupational Education 1 Electives 4 They have a section that says approved requirements *not yet in the rule* which changes some of the above. For health I was going to have the girls do the HIV and CPR/First aid training through my state. Again I am unsure how many credits that would be. The state site is a bit confusing because they are changing the requirements. I will continue to check the site though for more changes. We are in Washington. *ETA* I took a Cultural Diversity class so I could use those books, discussion board questions, tests, and final.
You can count credit by hours or by the work done. Supposedly, a whole credit would be 180 hours in a lot of public schools, BUT there is hardly ever 180 hours of work done in public schools. Some homeschoolers count 50 minutes as an "hour". It is really up to you. You can also count it like this: you give requirements to be done and when they are done- they earn a credit. For example: 1. You finish the book and take a certain number of tests- one credit. 2. You take a college clep test, by studying on your own and pass- one credit. 3. You read a certain number of books and do a certain number of projects- one credit. It is really quite flexible in many states, although some states have a minimum number of hours required overall.
Just to make sure I understand this. I could have the children complete the problems, tests and final that were in my algebra 1 class in college and award them 3 credits when they finish. Which is what I got when I finished the class at the end of 8 weeks. That just seems to fast. They would be done with (4 years worth of credit) math in 8 weeks since they only need 3 credits. I must be not understanding something right.
College credits and high school credits are different. A high school credit equals one year of the subject (1 cr=1yr). Your college classes are weighted on a different scale. For college credits to equal a year of high school credit, they would need 6-8 credits (6 for a class like English, 8 for a lab class like the Sciences). So, basically, two semesters of a college class, equals one year credit of high school. Does that make sense?
full year classes are 1 credit, half a year classes re .5 so if you did a full course of say, US HISTORY, that is 1 credit.
Thank you so much. That makes a lot more sense! I was thinking to myself I know this is not that hard but just couldn't get my brain to figure it out! I looked into the Running Start program and am leaning more towards that for them. They wont be old enough to do that program for two years though so we have time to work on the areas that they need to improve. They have to be able to pass placement testing for the community college in order to qualify.
If they finished the requirements for a subject, like algebra, I would give them one credit. High school is done one credit at a time (or half credit for a one semester course). College is done by credit hours, most classes being 3 credit hours and some 4. I think it depends on how much time is estimated that you will spend studying for every class period or something. Like I said, some people strictly go by hours- 180 equals a whole credit. That is fine, but I think if you have a student who can finish and pass a whole algebra book in less time- then give them a full credit. I think if they finish a whole credits worth of work in less time, they deserve a full credit. Also, just to throw something else into the mix, you can count non-traditional things as credit (think electives). Public schools are somewhat limited in what electives they offer, but that doesn't mean you have to be. Does your child love sewing- give them a home ec credit or sewing credit. Does your child love to write stories- give them a credit for creative writing. This can be done for many hobbies that people may overlook in the decision process.
That is a good idea. One of the girls is in girl scouts and made a quilt for me by hand with a little bit of using the sewing machine. The quilt is good sized (fits my queen size bed) and took her 6 months to finish. The other one is a writer and draws a lot. Thanks for the idea. For the art and writing I know that you would keep a portfolio to show the work completed but for sewing would a picture of the quilt work? I think I have some pictures of her sewing it but not many. She did get a badge from the girl scouts for finishing it though, would that work as proof too?
I don't know if I would use the badge as proof. They may look at that as an extra curricular activity. In the public school mindset, there seems to be hours for learning and anything done outside of that is "extracurricular" and not counted as schooling. I don't agree with that and I believe that learning is learning and it doesn't matter when or where it happened.
4 english, 4 math, 3 science, 3 social studies and electives. Now if you do a lesson a day, add in some "writing assignments", read some related books, do a few tests and don't do so much you are burnt out....you have a credit. Or atleast in my book you do. I'm not one to count up hours, If my kids know the material in the book and enjoy reading books on a topic then, I consider it a well learned topic! One thing to keep in mind, most PS only teach about 80% of what's in a book and it's considered a credit!
Justamom, You are so right. Schools rarely (if ever) get through a whole book. Some homeschoolers seem to think that you have to do the whole book- I used to think that, even though we never finished. Right now, my son is doing Algebra I and in the end it will have been about a year and 3 months to a year and a half. So, I am trying to figure out how to count the credit. I am not too worried though, I am a homeschool mom and this is MY school, I can do things differently.
Public schools will skip whole sections in a textbook if it doesn't cover stuff necessary for testing. Teachers basically "teach to the test" and anything extra is pretty much skipped.
Schools count credit as "butt in the chair hours" time, which has absolutely nothing to do with learning or accomplishment, and so-many hours of "bitch" (pardon the acronym) equals a credit. I count credit by the course "completed" -- but my definition of "complete" might vary with the material, effort, and necessity of the content. If we get to the end of a school year with a significant amount of book not covered, then the credit comes with finishing a sufficient amount of the book (all or most) not at the end of the year. Some, we may finish in the next fall, and some we may decide are "done enough" and go on to something else.
