* Updated 8/14/13
The time is here… Transcript Time. First stages are unfolding and I’ve found myself with burning eyes from researching online.
So far I’ve come up with a list (which I borrowed from parts of the Florida Department of Education’s course listing of all 9th-12th Grade and Adult Education course names).
Here’s the total list (and how many credits each class is worth):
– note my italic comments below each one, because some just needed to be discussed –
Intro to Art History (.5)
Art in World Cultures (.5)
Art History & Critique I (1)
Art History & Critique II, Honors (1)
Studio Art I (1)
– My kids took a Mixed Media class last year, and I’m counting it as my Studio Art I credit on the transcript –
Studio Art II (1)
Ceramics & Pottery I (1)
Ceramics & Pottery II (1)
Drawing I (1)
Drawing II (1)
Drawing III, Honors (1)
Film I (1)
Film II (1)
Film III, Honors (1)
Visual Technology I (1)
Visual Technology II (1)
Visual Technology III, Honors (1)
Creative Photography I (1)
Creative Photography II (1)
Creative Photography III, Honors (1)
Digital Art I (1)
Digital Art II (1)
Digital Art III, Honors (1)
Portfolio Development – Drawing, Honors (1)
Portfolio Development – Design, Honors (1)
Printmaking I (1)
Printmaking II (1)
Design & Textiles / Fashion (1)
Applied Information & Communication Technology I (1)
Applied Information & Communication Technology II (1)
AP Computer Science (1)
Dance (1)
– there were too many different types of dance for me to even list them, and we aren’t particularly interested in this, other than just for fun –
Theater I (1)
– we did a production Drama class last year, so this would count for Theater I for us –
Theater II (1)
Theater III, Honors (1)
– there were also a lot of technology and behind the scenes classes for Drama, but I am not listing them here –
Driver’s Ed (.5)
Executive Internship (1)
– not even sure what this is… ? –
Voluntary Public Service
– great article about how colleges are looking for community-driven service-minded students if you click over –
Personal Career & Development (1)
Child Development (1)
Accounting (1)
Life Management Skills (.5)
– hahaha! Homeschool kids are going to rack up on these by the zillions! Check out this list of LIFE MANGMT courses offered at one link I discovered while doing research today… –
Personal Health & Safety (.5)
Personal Social & Family Relationships (.5)
– another one homeschool kids will have in the bag, easy –
Parenting I (.5)
Parenting II (.5)
Humanities Survey I (.5)
– according to research, this would be a blend of art, literature, philosophy, architecture, politics, and religion and how these differ by geographical area and through history – namely ancient Greece, Rome, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Romantic periods… and then a study of the six major world religions and how these factors influence politics, social climates and cultures… which sounds like a great course to add Apologetics in with! –
Humanities II, Honors (1)
Religious Studies (1)
Divinity (1)
– pretty sure this is not a high school level course, or that anyone would want to waste precious high school course credit time on it –
Classical Studies (1)
– this had a slew of courses listed beside it, which leads me to believe that if you did your research, you could fancify your transcript to be a “Classical Studies” upgrade if you wanted to –
Applied Communications I (1)
Applied Communications II (1)
English I (1)
English II (1)
English III (1)
English IV (1)
– still not real confident in what makes an English course honors or not, but I’m diligently taking notes –
Semantics and Logic, Honors (.5)
World Literature, Honors (1)
American Literature, Honors (1)
Classical Literature, Honors (1)
Literature & the Arts, Honors (1)
Literature & the Media, Honors (1)
British Literature, Honors (1)
– We took a fabulous course online for this last year, so even though it’s normally a Senior class, we took it in our Freshman year –
Great Books, Honors (1)
Journalism 1-5, 5 being an Honors level course (1)
Social Media (.5)
– seriously? There’s an easy A+ for my teens –
Speech I (1)
Speech II (1)
Speech III, Honors (1)
Debate I (1)
Debate II (1)
Debate III, Honors (1)
Writing I (.5)
Writing II (.5)
Creative Writing 1-5, 3-5 being Honors level courses (1)
Writing for College Success (.5)
Play Writing (1)
Advanced Placement English Language Composition (1)
Algebra I (1)
Algebra II, both regular and Honors levels (1)
Mathematical Analysis, Honors (.5)
Pre-Calculus, Honors (1)
Calculus, Honors (1)
Consumer Math (1)
Geometry (1)
Liberal Arts Math I (1)
– we had a giggle about this course title… sounds like funny math used to skew elections & the economy, am I right? –
Liberal Arts Math II (1)
Probability & Statistics, Honors (1)
– seriously? some people really just need to loosen up –
Trigonometry, Honors (1)
Music Theory I (1)
Music Theory II, Honors (1)
– had no idea you could take an honors music theory class –
Keyboard 1-4, 4 being Honors level (1)
– hopefully Piano counts, surely someone out there has an old fashioned REAL piano still? –
Band 1-6, 6 being Honors level (1)
Orchestra 1-6, 5-6 being Honors level (1)
Instrumental Ensemble (1)
Jazz Ensemble (1)
Chamber Orchestra (1)
Chorus 1-6, 5-6 being Honors level (1)
Vocal Techniques 1-4, 4 being Honors level (1)
Music Technology & Sound (1)
Eurhythmics (1)
– I had to look this up. It’s seriously the most pointless class I’ve ever heard of. –
Peer Counseling (.5)
– another waste of high school time –
Personal Fitness (.5)
Weight Training (.5)
Comprehensive Fitness (.5)
Aerobics 1-3 (.5)
Gymnastics 1-2 (.5)
Self Defense (.5)
Outdoor Education (.5)
– looked this one up, too… found a place online offering a course that interchanged these sports depending on the season: Skiing, Hiking, Backpacking, Canoeing, Spelunking, Kayaking, Fly Fishing, Cooking Out, Snow Shoeing, Tree Climbing, Geo-caching, Survival Skills, Mountain Biking, Winter Camping, Mountain Climbing or Biking, Pool Paddling, Rock Climbing, and more –
Golf (.5)
Swimming (.5)
Tennis (.5)
Track & Field (.5)
Basketball (.5)
Soccer (.5)
Water Safety (.5)
Softball (.5)
Team Sports (.5)
Volleyball (.5)
Physical Education, comprehensive (1)
– according to some research I did, I found a syllabus which covered the following topics as part of a comprehensive PE course: health, stress relief, safety, technology applications, sex ed, sportsmanship, nutrition, family consumer science topics such as the environment, human development, community, & fire safety –
Research 1-3 (1)
– researching just WHAT, exactly, I’m not sure… –
Critical Thinking & Study Skills (.5)
Cambridge Interdisciplinary Investigations & Critical Reasoning Seminar (1)
– name-dropper. –
Global Perspectives (1)
– minus the agenda –
Biology I (1)
Biology II, Honors (1)
Anatomy & Physiology, regular and Honors levels (1)
Botany (1)
Ecology (1)
Zoology (1)
Biotech (1)
Genetics, Honors (1)
Bioscience 1-3, all Honors level (1)
Earth & Space Science, regular and Honors level (1)
Astronomy Solar & Galactic (1)
Environmental Science (1)
Space Technology & Engineering (1)
Integrated Science (1)
– apparently this is just a mixture of different branches of science, and I’m not sure what benefit this course would be –
Nuclear Radiation (1)
Physics 1-3, 2 and 3 are Honors level (1)
Chemistry I (1)
Chemistry II, Honors (1)
Food Studies (1)
– I would have to see a syllabus to figure this out, but it sounds nommy –
Marine Science I (1)
Marine Science II (1)
Astronomy I (1)
Astronomy II (1)
United States History, regular and Honors level (1)
African American History, regular and Honors level (.5)
– not sure why we are segregating history, I’m pretty sure we are all Americans –
Latin American History (1)
Eastern & Western Heritage (1)
– really? –
Anthropology (.5)
Economics (.5)
Economics with Financial Literacy (.5)
– we are going to use Dave Ramsey’s Personal Finance Class along with our Economics Course in the future –
American Economic Experience: Scarcity & Choice (.5)
World Culture Geography (1)
Global Studies (1)
Community Service (.5)
– wow, not sure how many hours a .5 credit is worth, but just imagine the possibilities here! LOL –
Women’s Studies (.5)
– another one I would have to research a syllabus on –
Engaged Citizenship through Service, Learning (.5)
– have no idea what this is, but Texas requires “Good Citizenship” and by my definition, I consider a good citizen one who is morally upright and not apathetic or indifferent to the needs of others – someone who is willing to stand up and do something when it needs to be done, and someone who is going to do the RIGHT thing; that being said, I count a year’s worth of “Good Citizenship” as the following: Bible & Character Training, Political Activism, Current Events Awareness Studies, Service Projects & Community Involvement… and we participate in our community through Teen Court, clubs or groups we are members of and the various volunteer efforts and church involvement opportunities we have –
Multicultural Studies (.5)
– a grouping of History, Sociology, Political Science, and Social Sciences –
World Religions (.5)
Philosophy (.5)
Ethics (.5)
US Government, regular and Honors level (.5)
Civics (1)
Political Science (.5)
Law Studies (.5)
International Law (.5)
Comparative Political Systems (.5)
Comprehensive Law Studies (.5)
Legal Systems and Concepts (.5)
Court Procedures (.5)
Court Procedures Intern (.5)
International Relations I (1)
International Relations II (1)
American Political System: Process & Power (.5)
Constitutional Law, Honors (1)
Psychology I (.5)
Psychology II (.5)
Sociology (.5)
World History, regular and Honors levels (1)
African History (.5)
Contemporary History (.5)
Jewish History (1)
Holocaust (.5)
Business Studies I (1)
– they had some letters besides this course: IGCSE, which I wasn’t familiar with –
Business Studies II (1)
Travel & Tourism (1)
European History (1)
AP US History (1)
AP Microeconomics (.5)
AP Human Geography (1)
AP US Government & Politics (.5)
AP European History (1)
AP World History (1)
AP Psychology (1)
IB Human Rights I (1)
IB Human Rights II (1)
– IB stands for International Baccalaureate (courses for a “rapidly globalizing world”… hmmm…) –
IB Political Thought I (1)
IB Political Thought II (1)
Leadership Skills Development (1)
Leadership Techniques (1)
Study Hall (no credit)
Classical Greek (1)
Hebrew 1-4 (1)
Latin 1-6, 3-6 being Honors level (1)
Spanish 1-6, 3-6 being Honors level (1)
Language & Literature for International Studies, Honors (1)
– this would be language and literature in a foreign language and culture and honors level work –
American Sign Language (1)
– there were plenty of other languages, but I only wrote down the ones we would possibly be interested in –
All goofing aside, eventually these cute kids are going to need to look polished and professional for a college admissions board. They are smart, but I want to make sure they have a lot more good things packed away in those minds and hearts before mama has to watch them roll down the driveway with college stars in their eyes. Sniff, sniff.
Depending on what college your kid is interested in attending, I would check with the general admission requirements and the requirements for a particular major/minor program also. According to one of the links below, most colleges require these basics…
- English: 4 years
- Foreign Language: 2 to 3 years
- Math: 3 years
- Science: 2 – 3 years
- Social Studies (including history): 2 to 3 years
For more information about what colleges are looking for in applicants, how many credits they require, and tips for getting your diploma ducks in a row, check out these links:
High School Course Requirements by About.com
HSLDA High School Academics and Transcript Information / Samples
Lee Binz – The HomeScholar (this is an affiliate link – she’s a homeschool-to-college rockstar!)
Here’s what I am hoping we can list on their transcripts when we are all finished:
Note: M stands for just my daughter taking the course, K stands for just my son taking the course, and H stands for honors level. AP is Advanced Placement, and those courses must be administered by an approved college or fascility and will most likely cost a homeschooler a pretty penny, but might also count towards your college credit. [I’m still looking in to free Texas college credits for some of these classes – will update later!]
FRESHMAN (8.5 Credits)
| Subject | Curriculum/Course Information |
| English | English I – Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar, & Proofing |
| English | Medieval British Literature |
| Science | Apologia – Biology H + Lab |
| Foreign Language | Spanish I |
| Math | Algebra I |
| History | MOH – Ancient, Classical & Medieval World History & Geography |
| Visual Arts | Studio I: Mixed Media / Drawing I |
| Visual Arts | Black & White Film Photography + Lab |
| Theater | Drama I: Production/Acting |
| Good Citizenship | Bible, Politics, Current Events, Service Projects, Teen Court |
SOPHMORE (10 Credits)
| English | English II – Writing, Vocab, Grammar, Creative Writing, Poetry, Proofing |
| English | World Literature/Classical Literature |
| Science | Apologia – Chemistry H + Lab |
| Foreign Language | Spanish II |
| Math | Algebra II |
| History | MOH – Renaissance, Reformation & Nations, World History & Geography |
| Science | Classical Astronomy (K) – with apprenticeship |
| Visual Arts | Printscreening & Printmaking (M) – with apprenticeship |
| Art/History | Art History & Critique / World Religions (Humanities Survey) |
| Music | Piano / Music Theory |
| PE | Personal Fitness |
| Good Citizenship | Bible, Politics, Current Events, Service Projects, Teen Court |
JUNIOR (10 Credits)
| English | English III |
| English | American Literature |
| Science | Apologia – Physics H + Lab (K) / Anatomy & Physiology H (M) |
| Foreign Language | Spanish III H |
| Math | Geometry |
| History | All American History- American History & Geography |
| History | American Government / Economics with Personal Finance |
| Elective | Critical Thinking & Study Skills / Social Media & PR |
| Elective | Speech / Debate |
| Elective | Child Development / Parenting |
| Music | Piano / Music Theory |
| Good Citizenship | Bible, Politics, Current Events, Service Projects, Teen Court |
SENIOR (10 Credits)
| English | English IV |
| English | Great Books H |
| Science | Apologia – Marine Biology |
| Math | Calculus |
| History | Mystery of History – Modern History |
| Technology | AP Computer Science / Programming (K) |
| Life Management | Creative Foods & Nutrition / International Foods / Home Economics (M) |
| Visual Arts | Creative Photography I / Portfolio Development |
| PE | PE Comprehensive, Family Consumer Living, Personal Health & Safety |
| Music | Piano / Music Theory |
| Good Citizenship | Bible, Politics, Current Events, Service Projects, Teen Court |
Of course, we are just starting our sophomore year, so this is subject to change, and most likely will. You know the person at the dinner table who loads their plate (eyes too big for their stomach)? That’s me. Implementing things is harder than planning them out. Life gets smack in your way. However, it was really GOOD to do this planning and find out that we won’t be in deep water if I don’t manage to get in all the electives we love before the end arrives without much warning.
We may or may not go in this same order, but this is probably the order we will list these classes on our transcript because they fit the “norm” better this way. For instance, our history program allows for additional reading of classics and original source materials, and studying period art. I’m going to give the kids a credit course for the history and geography portion, the art history (after enough hours are put in), and the literature (in addition to the literature they read for the writing/English course they take).
If we get most of that covered, I’ll be thrilled. If they finish all of this they will have 38 full credits. I know that seems high, but I really want them to learn all this stuff. It is only fair to give them credit for it if we cover it and they do the work required. I refuse to lower my standards because of public school requirements.
Most colleges that have a minimum course credit total requirement are between 18-20 academic units. They just want to see that you have a broad and interesting high school career, made decent grades, and covered all your basics. Well, that, and it helps to sparkle on the SAT or ACT. Add in a letter of recommendation and you are all set.
Since this process is new to me (and totally out of my comfort zone), I would love to hear your advice on finding a really GOOD conservative Christian college that isn’t too far away from our home near Austin, Texas. We looked at Southwestern in Georgetown and besides the cost, I’m afraid that their motto of being focused on “fostering a Liberal Arts Community” could be heavy on the “liberal” part. I wouldn’t know, so if you have any experience there, let me know. It is relatively close and the campus is gorgeous. Other options my kids are looking at are LeTourneau and Baylor.
Tell me about your high school planning, transcripting, and college searching! I’d love to touch base with others in the same boat or those who have already crossed all my uncharted waters and came out happily on bright shores!
In Him,
Heather
(who needs to get in bed and stop hyper-focusing on high school planning before she gets bloodshot eyes)
I didn’t see horseback riding/equestrian training…but my eyes are crossed so I could’ve missed it. Is it PE, or science or a little of both? My oldest is a Jr this year! SHe is interested in horses for sure. And she makes movies, and edits in imovie. She learned that this year. Not sure exactly what to call it for her credit. She is also a writer (2 nanowrimo books under her belt) and will be working on her One Year Adventure Novel this year. She is so excited she wants to start now even though school doesn’t start for us until September. I keep track of all her volunteer hrs at the ranch. I just have a doc that keeps track of all her coursework and grades for each year when completed. She’s behind in history and math, but hoping to make progress these next two years. She’s done with science (physical and biology—she hates science), and focusing on history and writing and whatever creative arts she is interested in. (also plays piano). It hasn’t been too difficult really. I start with my middle Freshman year next.
I think I started blogging Oct 2005. Crazy how long it’s been!
Wow! I’m glad you posted this because I need to do something similar for my daughter.
I steal pens and pencils. I still like paper…
Yes, I used paper to plan out my history today… but now I’m going to enter it in to our Homeschool Tracker program — so I guess I’m part “low-tech”, part “high-tech”.
How many credits will they have total? At some point it looks like padding the transcript if they get too much.
It would be best to not give credit for every EC or art if it is done for passion, fine, but remember one credit is 120-180 hours. So really was pottery done 1 hour a day 5 days a week = 180 hours?
If all goes as planned right now my older son (gr 11) would wind up with 34 credits.
At the THSC the College Prep Genius speaker (forgot her name) said more than 35 credits raises the padding flag.
You don’t want to over-count EC or art or hobbies then have them doubt if you really did the base work in the core classes.
A friend was having a long kind of heated debate with me because I am using a college text plus 2 Great Courses (college lectures) totaling 150 lectures plus field trips and other readings as 2 US History classes bc I was splitting it as the colleges do by up to 1877 then 1877 to 2013. She said normal high school US History is a survey of all of the time periods and only one credit, ditto for AP US History. She was telling me it was not right to do a 2 credit study that went deeper, to just do deep (250 hours plus) but downgrade it to 1 credit. So we were debating!
It is hard to get into the heads of those who will judge our kids plus do things like satisfy state requirements or in our case, NCAA Clearinghouse, plus do the college pre-requisites plus have total freedom to study what and how we want.
I also find when getting all the required core in, that we barely have time for passion driven learning and even hands on art. My son does 15-20 hours a week of a sport too though.
Oh, and that’s another thing. 925+ hours of one sport (4 seasons) in a year and all that gets put on the transcript is that one sport and it’s an EC, which I am double counting as PE. I could scrape up other phyiscal activity to justify at least 2 or 3 years of PE but won’t bother.
I found a great Child Development course at http://www.7sistershomeschool.com.
Some of this isn’t true at all. Why would economics be .5? And gov classes?
Economics and American Government are only required as a semester course (.5 of a credit). You can take more of it, if you like, but that’s what a college requires for entrance; and as some have already said, if you have too much on your transcript, it looks like padding.
It’s a great list that I’m sure I’ll refer back to for ideas. You may not be aware, however, that your personal comment after African American History (“not sure why we are segregating history, I’m pretty sure we are all Americans”) comes across as racist. When you listed Women’s Studies, you didn’t follow it up with a comment along the same line….not sure why we need that, I’m pretty sure we’re all human. We can’t deny that history as told today is dominated by the perspective of the white European male. There’s nothing wrong with deviating from that perspective and making an active effort to study the history of another subset of the population that has been minimized by society. The role both women and blacks have played in our history has not been well represented, which is why you see these topics listed separately.
I have read about a great many important black and Latino figures in history, and I think it is the opposite of racist to try and include everyone in the same curriculum, bringing people together rather than drawing attention to the fact that there are “different kinds of Americans”. Sorry, just don’t agree with you here. I feel the same thing with “women’s studies”, and my kids won’t be taking that class, either. I think women are represented in regular history classes (at least in my homeschool) and we also study world religions and all the theories on the table in science. I want my kids to see the big picture and come to their own conclusions. We spent nearly a whole year on the Civil War from every perspective there is, from EVERY vantage-point. I am serious about digging deep in to the issues of the heart as a Christian parent wanting to equip my child with empathy and compassion for everyone. I don’t want ANYONE minimized, and certainly CHRIST maximized.
Great list! Only goes to show how easy it is to accrue credit. We live in New York, supposedly a picky place for homeschoolers and paperwork, but there are ways to effectively manage it without losing your mind. I wonder if we could use these for college credit too!
Got a question, my son who is just starting 7th grade is in the middle of Algebra I. Can I count that for his HS transcripts even though he did it earlier than that? My kids are also fluent in ASL because we adopted a non-verbal daughter. So again, they are doing ASL as middle schoolers. How does that work?
I would think that you can count certain high school level credits if you take them in Junior High, but you need to check with your state and the college you are wanting to get in to about it. I’m certainly not an expert. Ask Lee Binz of Homescholar (see her link in the above article) for questions. I’m just starting my transcript days (a little late, actually – since mine are going in to their 10th grade year, should have done this a year ago).
The great thing about homeschooling (depending on which state you live in!) is that you don’t have to follow a specific set of rules and fit in a certain amount of credits or “credit hours”. If a child is a quick learner and can cover a subject in only 80 hours, why should he not receive full credit for it? If a child takes longer to cover that same material (say, 200 hours) you wouldn’t give him twice as much credit, would you? Credit should be based on what someone actually learns/knows.
For those wondering if you can grant high school credit to a junior higher, etc. – the answer is OF COURSE. Many homeschoolers graduate high school early and plenty of high schoolers (homeschooled or not) earn college credit simultaneously.
If your student is aspiring to college, I would highly recommend taking advantage of CLEP tests – they’re not for everyone (what is?), and can be a bit pricey, but if all goes well, you’ll save money and time in the way of college courses.
I found this page a over six months ago and some how couldn’t find it if my life depended on it. I searched for four and a half hours using different key words , not even remembering exactly the contents that you’ve written. All I knew was that I had to find your website because I’m in Florida and I loved how you’ve organized everything. Thank goodness for google I stumbled upon your blog once again. I’m just so eager and have an outline of the thing I need for my son even though he’s 15 months and I know the laws change all the time but it’s good to do research and stumble upon amazing blogs such as yours.Thank you for this lovely blog once more.
Alanda
Mary Hardin Baylor is not too far from you! A fantastic college in Belton, TX:)
Yes, actually just met a nurse from there who said he loved it.
Just wondering what you did or are doing for your photography class. I have been trying to determine what would make a good class. Any help would be great!!!
Shannon – We took a class at the local museum that was offered for black and white photography (film) – which was DOWNTOWN, but it was free (minus the gas to get down there). It had a dark room lab – like the old days. They did photo walks and such. It was a short course, not an entire year long. My kids also have had ample time to learn skills with me as their mom – since I take photos professionally and talk to them about things a lot. And they have instagram accounts and both take great photos, so we critique each other and both of them have even helped me out some while I have taken photos. I figure all that counted for a half credit.
More here: https://sprittibee.com/2013/04/homeschooling-high-school-end-of-school-year-review.html
If you aren’t already a professional photographer yourself, you could start out by picking up a few books (Understanding Exposure) is a good one even though it was originally written for film-photography. It has been updated and would be a good one to read through. I’m sure there are books and blogs and even classes available online if you didn’t want to venture out of the house, too. It wouldn’t be hard to put together your very own unit study or – if you have the money – plop down a little chunk of change to let the kids take a digital course online.
Great plan. Thank you for sharing your information and planning.
The difference between honors and not in FLVS is for the 1st semester (7th grade) they had to read a novel (non honors didn’t) and do an analysis of it and 2nd semester they have to write an extra paper. So, just extra work. Higher expectations I guess.
That sounds about right. How many papers do you think are required for each year of high school? That would be a good blog post topic as I’m sure everyone has their own opinion. 🙂
Great post and great comments! I’m following the conversation. My oldest will just be starting 6th grade in the fall and I started researching high school (homeschooling) probably a year or two ago at least!
Heather, this is a great list. I’ve only just begun homeschooling. Up until this year – I was a naysayer!!! Dead set against homeschooling. The whole…they don’t get enough socialization, they don’t get the interactions and “drama” and learn how to deal with it, there’s nobody to monitor what they learn – short or long, blah, blah blah… Well, I have an autistic granddaughter and the school was just NOT meeting her needs. So, we pulled her out. We have been in “deschooling” status for about 3-4 months now – I’m slowly introducing schooling – a couple of hours a day – all while setting up all the books and papers and a study area, etc. Pretty soon we will be doing this full time and for more than a couple of hours. So I am totally new to all of this. We have her in a home school group, horseback riding lessons (for autism), Girl Scouts, and she wants to join a sport- this all covers the social interaction – plus the Gir Scouts partially covers the citizenship (think service projects and helping out.) I’ve also decided to dig in and we’re going to work both online from a pre-planned program that covers math, language arts, science and social – just to make sure we cover all basses that I might miss being so new. Also because she should be going into 4th grade – and her math level is still 1st grade at best and reading is at about a 2nd grade level – so the online program can get her caught up. (she loves it and really learns from it!!!). I’ve decided to also make time in our schedule for bible study, art projects, science experiments, cool/fun fact finding, beginning spanish and beginning sign, hand writing (it’s not legible right now!!! LOL!), and reading for at least 15.
Ok now I’ve mentioned all that to let you know where I’m going. Since we are in elementary, and I’m like you – plan, plan, plan. Where do you even find the “requirements” to begin with? Like someone commented and said that courses are 120-180 hours in order to receive credit. My other question to that also goes with something someone else asked. My daughter, public schooled/graduated, in fact did receive half a credit for Government and Econics – and yes, they were only semester long courses – among others. How do I tell the difference? If 120-180 makes a full course – then 60-90 makes a half credit? Where are the “rules” (giving that TX is very liberal in its rules.) My daughter is a SeaAggie at TX A&M Galveston. She decided this was where she was going in 7th grade. So we began in 7th grade to take courses geared towards her Marine Biology degree. In high school she took 3 tracks – Child Development (to understand the mentality of children since animals have brains compared to those of kids), Agriculture – the biology/animal track, and Art. She graduated with 33 high school credits and 21 Dual-Credit College courses. Of course this kid knew in 5th grade what her life’s passion was. My granddaughter – not so much! But I want to begin planning now and begin preparing.
So, where do I find “requirements” that tell me what a class should be made up of. How much of what we do outside of “homeschooling” i.e. the horseback and the sports (like another person mentioned) can count towards a credit. I’d like to know this at all three levels – elementary, middle, high school. The other thing – you list all these courses – which is amazing! Thank you!!! But where do we find these courses? Just type the name of a course you listed i.e. Soccer (the sport she wants) or Zoology (this is when it started with my daughter – she wanted animals – my granddaughter is headed that way too!!!) and homeschooling???
I’m sorry this is so long. But I have sooooo many questions. This is all new to a former and converted naysayer praying we made the right choice!!!
Sincerely,
Overwheled!!!!
Wow, what a comment! Love it! I hate to give you such a simple answer, but yes – you can use Google and type in “homeschool” + the class you are interested in and I have also even used terms like “syllabus” or “requirements” when searching. The guidelines for the hours spent on a class on instructions are just that – and in Texas, you are the teacher and there are very little “rules” as long as you are teaching. Your SAT/ACT scores will eventually be the ultimate way you can “grade” your teaching skills. Your kids will need to take those before college. You graduated a student with a ton of dual credit in college and you should be well equipped to handle teaching and graduating your granddaughter. 😉 The fact that you are already researching her high school career now shows that you are ahead of the game.
Super helpful!!! Thanks, Heather! I am trying to pin this but not finding a way. Am I doing something wrong?
I can answer the question about Liberal Arts Math. I was assigned to teach it one year and it was described to me as “Algebra 1 1/2–It was designed for kids who’ve passed Algebra 1 but aren’t yet ready for Algebra 2.”
Hi!
Just thought I’d throw this out there. “Keyboarding” is now offered in the Public Schools instead of TYPING. (NOT the Piano kind of Keyboard). This caught me off guard when my non-musical sister said she was doing well in keyboarding. LOL!!
Anyway, just noticed in your post it was listed in the music category, so figured I’d share.
Hey you forgot computer programming classes. You can take a lot of these courses online at Coursera for free. They teach you the fundamentals as well as the harder stuff. My second son took HTML and javascript for electives. They even had online quizzes.
As for papers we had to write a research paper for both science and social studies classes. It was up to the teacher how many. However, 1 was required in each class. English classes had us writing a research paper in each semester.
Statistics is a full blown course in many colleges and if you check AP tests you will find them there too.My youngest son was taking swim lessons this past spring and I met a Math teacher (he teaches AP courses) who recommends that students take it for Dual enrollment not as a high school course. His statement was why take it twice ; once in HS and a second in college.
Many homeschoolers can get Dual credit at a community college or at a university. Each semester class at either your community college or University counts as 1 full year of that course. So a American History from 1846 – present can count as 1 full year in high school. Another benefit of these courses are that it counts toward your degree. Just make sure that the university your child plans to attend will accept community college credits. Most community colleges are super cheap as compared to university. Some universities will discount tuition for high schoolers at the same rate of the community college. Just be sure to get a copy of their transcript and attach it to yours.
Also don’t forget CLEP exams. These cost $100 and earns your child college credit. Savings of thousands of dollars on tuition can really add up. Just make sure the college you plan to attend accepts them. You can have a copy of all tests taken with CLEP sent to your choice school.