What, to you, would constitute listing a course on the transcript as "honors"?

[Mad Jenny Flint]

I am interested in seeing the criteria you use for designating honors courses for your homeschool. We are entering the first year of high school for my son, and his schedule is pretty beefy, but I am not sure whether his great books course should be considered an honors course or not. I realize that the honors distinction is purely an on-paper one; I just would like to give that designation if it is deserved, now or in the future.

 

TIA!

[Gwen in VA]

We didn't list any of uour "at-home" courses as honors.

 

Honors is a comparative title -- in a school, it means that the course is more challenging that the advanced or regular version of that course. Since our courses are specifically taylored to our kids and I have no "regular" classes to compare our classes to, we left off the honors designation.

 

We were also concerned that the college admissions folks would find the designation pretensious.

 

In our school description that we submitted to colleges, I did point out that the at-home courses were rigorous enough to thoroughly prepare the kids for a wide range of AP courses and college courses. If they get an A in a college class or a 5 on an AP exam, it makes sense that their earlier courses were pretty rigorous! :-)

 

Other people will have handled the honors question differently, but that's what we did.

 

JMHO!

[LoriM]

We used the honors distinction for courses taken at the CC, and awarded 5 GPA points for an A in those classes (as does the local PS system). Had I taught Pyschology at home, it would have been "regular" Psych, but since she completed the course in one semester at the college level, it was "Honors" (high school) Psychology. I don't think I had any fully-at-home courses that I called "Honors."

 

I'd also like to add that I didn't award *every* CC course the honors distinction. As the guidance counselor, I evaluated the course descriptions and scope and sequence, and only if the course completed what would be the typical high school course plus additional "college" level assignments, and did it all in one semester, did I award the "honors" distinction. (Some of her CC courses didn't even earn a full credit, let alone honors level in my estimation. So, she got 1/2 credit for some things, and we also didn't consider them honors.)

 

We did beef up some of the weaker CC courses with home assignments, too. ;)

[TravelingChris]

I was going to be more strict about honors but I want my dd to compete with locals. That means we will be designating more classes honors. I was already counting her honors Psychology at the CC an honors class. SInce it was at CC, she got an extra 1 point towards her GPA. I also designated a class she took at a homeschool academy and she was at least a grade younger than the others and did the most work on time very well as an honors class. I do know that in this area, most kids going to competitive colleges have racked up lots of honors classes. I will be looking over the work she did before and certainly planning on making sure that this years work is all honors level in the subjects that she shines in. I wouldn't give child honors in subjects that they have problems with.

[Jane in NC]

Jenny,

 

It might be wise to ask college admissions officers this question when you begin that process later. I did ask one who bluntly told me that he felt homeschool "honors" distinctions were meaningless for the reasons that Gwen stated.

 

To me this is a case where a homeschooled student's reading list and course descriptions tell a more complete story than the word "honors".

 

My two cents.

Jane

Edited July 28, 2009 by Jane in NC

[Storm Bay]

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering about this myself, and was coming to the conclusion that it wouldn't mean anything to most admissions officers coming from a homeschooler.

[Janice H]

Also FWIW, Kolbe Academy, which does designate some of their courses as "Honors", does not weight them more heavily in the GPA than other academic courses on the Kolbe prepared transcript.

[Corraleno]

I intend to use the "Honors" designation for courses my son does at home where he uses college/AP materials but doesn't take the AP exam. (If he passes the AP exam, obviously I would list it as an AP course.) I won't weight Honors courses differently for the GPA, though, as I don't think colleges would accept that for homeschool courses.

 

Jackie

[In The Great White North]

(If he passes the AP exam, obviously I would list it as an AP course.

 

I don't think you can do this. The College Board has copyrighted the AP designation and if you want to call a course an AP course, you have to get the course, text, syllabus, etc blessed by them ahead of time.

 

How well they actually do on the test has nothing to do with calling the course an AP course.

[Janet in WA]

I am interested in seeing the criteria you use for designating honors courses for your homeschool. We are entering the first year of high school for my son, and his schedule is pretty beefy, but I am not sure whether his great books course should be considered an honors course or not. I realize that the honors distinction is purely an on-paper one; I just would like to give that designation if it is deserved, now or in the future.

 

TIA!

I designated a couple of courses "honors" on our son's transcripts. I did so because I knew the content of these courses met or exceeded those at the local public high school that were also deemed "honors" or better. If I had not had this information, I would not have used the "honors" designation myself.

 

If I had my sons' transcripts to do again today, I might skip the "honors" thing entirely. I seriously doubt that this has any positive impact whatsoever on a homeschool transcript. If the course was taken at the cc, that is already noted on the transcript (at least it was on ours). Also, I included course descriptions, so the content of those courses was already noted, and didn't need a further label.

[LoriM]

Jenny,

 

It might be wise to ask college admissions officers this question when you begin that process later. I did ask one who bluntly told me that he felt homeschool "honors" distinctions were meaningless for the reasons that Gwen stated.

 

 

 

I really didn't build my daughter's transcript to meet the needs of an admissions officer, but instead to accurately reflect the level of work she'd done. So, it would be disrespectful of her effort and diligence to NOT label that coursework as "honors."

 

Now, it would be disingenuious of me to say that I built her transcript without taking into *some* account the application process, but the idea that our homeschool courses' distinctions are any more or less "meaningless" than the PS counterparts is ridiculous to me. Having tutored numerous "Honors PreCalculus" students, and edited dozens of "Honors English" papers, I cannot believe that any honors designation anywhere can be more meaningful that the ones we agonize over as homeschoolers! LOL!

 

Frankly, I am willing to bet that MOST of our children (and by this, I mean every child of every reader of this board) would be placed in honors classes had he or she attended PS. Quite a few of them would have easily navigated the six pieces of literature (!) or 8 chapters of a textbook they were required to cover for "honors" credit. Use the honors label when appropriate. Ultimately, the transcript belongs to your CHILD, and no one will care later what it says more than he or she will.

 

As far as I know, several of the universities that reviewed (and admitted) my daughter may never have known she was homeschooled, but thought she may have simply attended a small private school. And in NC at least, that is how it should be...a very small private school. :)

[Corraleno]

I don't think you can do this. The College Board has copyrighted the AP designation and if you want to call a course an AP course, you have to get the course, text, syllabus, etc blessed by them ahead of time.

 

What about homeschoolers who do use an approved text and syllabus? :confused:

 

I thought the restrictions on using "AP" in the course title mainly applied to schools and businesses who were essentially offering (or selling) their services as providers of AP courses, prep materials, etc. If my son uses AP-approved texts, does the suggested AP labs, follows an AP-approved syllabus (published on the AP website), and passes the AP exam, then I would certainly want to list the work as "AP Biology" (or whatever) on his transcript. I guess I could always add an asterisk and an explanation.

 

I know that NARS will list a course on the transcript as Advanced Placement if the student uses AP-approved materials and passes the test. They will also list a course as Honors if you use a college textbook and pass either the exams provided by the publisher or a CLEP/DANTES exam.

 

Jackie

[AnitaMcC]

What about homeschoolers who do use an approved text and syllabus? :confused:

 

I thought the restrictions on using "AP" in the course title mainly applied to schools and businesses who were essentially offering (or selling) their services as providers of AP courses, prep materials, etc. If my son uses AP-approved texts, does the suggested AP labs, follows an AP-approved syllabus (published on the AP website), and passes the AP exam, then I would certainly want to list the work as "AP Biology" (or whatever) on his transcript. I guess I could always add an asterisk and an explanation.

 

I know that NARS will list a course on the transcript as Advanced Placement if the student uses AP-approved materials and passes the test. They will also list a course as Honors if you use a college textbook and pass either the exams provided by the publisher or a CLEP/DANTES exam.

 

Jackie

 

This is what I am wondering. My twins are using a World History text that is listed as "AP" by the publishers. Also I was thinking that my son will likely do AP science courses from the start (depending on the math needed) if we don't go the CC route from the start. I wrote down what the college was using for their courses and figured I would get the same text and use a syllabus from the college board AP listings.

 

Otherwise, how do homeschoolers get their course AP approved?

[Jane in NC]

 

Otherwise, how do homeschoolers get their course AP approved?

 

From the College Board's AP website:

 

How can homeschool educators label their courses AP?

 

If you are a home school educator wishing to label your courses "AP," you can create an account on the AP Course Audit homepage at http://www.collegeboard.org/apcourseaudit by clicking the "Create Account Now" link, then selecting “Home School Providerâ€. Once you have created an account, you will be able to submit your Course Audit materials. If you do not have an account and would like to contact us, please use the "Contact Us" link on the Course Audit homepage or call 877-APHELP-0.

[Jane in NC]

 

Frankly, I am willing to bet that MOST of our children (and by this, I mean every child of every reader of this board) would be placed in honors classes had he or she attended PS. Quite a few of them would have easily navigated the six pieces of literature (!) or 8 chapters of a textbook they were required to cover for "honors" credit. Use the honors label when appropriate. Ultimately, the transcript belongs to your CHILD, and no one will care later what it says more than he or she will.

 

 

 

Sorry, Lori, but this seems a bit "fuzzy" to me. I do not use the same texts that are used by my local public schools. I choose a method of education which is different from the local school system, that of classical or semi-classical education. Apples and oranges, really. Of course I think that our methods are superior--otherwise I would not have chosen them. But I still cannot see appending "honors" to our class descriptions. "Honors" implies a step above the standard bar. At my school, there is no standard bar or honors bar. My son really has no choice.

 

I suppose that my decision is based in part on the girls college prep school which I attended. There were no honors classes. It was assumed that we would all attend college, that we were all honors students.

 

Ultimately we all must do that with which we are comfortable. I am not comfortable with the "honors" label, but if you are, so be it. That is the beauty of homeschooling, is it not?

 

Jane

[Corraleno]

From the College Board's AP website:

 

How can homeschool educators label their courses AP?

 

If you are a home school educator wishing to label your courses "AP," you can create an account on the AP Course Audit homepage at http://www.collegeboard.org/apcourseaudit by clicking the "Create Account Now" link, then selecting “Home School Providerâ€. Once you have created an account, you will be able to submit your Course Audit materials. If you do not have an account and would like to contact us, please use the "Contact Us" link on the Course Audit homepage or call 877-APHELP-0.

 

Thank you for posting this! It seems that if we use an already approved syllabus/text/labs, etc, there shouldn't be a problem with approval -- I'm so glad they've officially made this available to homeschoolers!

 

Jackie

[Mad Jenny Flint]

I appreciate all the feedback, and particularly from you ladies (you are some of the posters I look to most often and whose feedback I value a great deal).

 

We will likely not be using the honors distinction. People with eyes will be able to see what we have done. :)

 

Thank you!

[Lady Lorna]

I had not planned to label any courses as honors courses, although I did plan to indicate that they were rigorous. However, the distance math courses my daughter has taken through Johns Hopkins CTY are labeled either as Honors or AP courses. Does this make my non-labeled courses look less rigorous if I don't do likewise?

[LoriM]

Ultimately we all must do that with which we are comfortable. I am not comfortable with the "honors" label, but if you are, so be it. That is the beauty of homeschooling, is it not?

 

Absolutely! I made a transcript that perfectly matched my first dd, and I'll make an entirely different transcript that perfectly matches my second dd. :) I don't call my school an "academy"...we are a high school. And their diplomas are very traditional in appearance. And it works beautifully for us.

[AnitaMcC]

From the College Board's AP website:

 

How can homeschool educators label their courses AP?

 

If you are a home school educator wishing to label your courses "AP," you can create an account on the AP Course Audit homepage at www.collegeboard.org/apcourseaudit by clicking the "Create Account Now" link, then selecting “Home School Providerâ€. Once you have created an account, you will be able to submit your Course Audit materials. If you do not have an account and would like to contact us, please use the "Contact Us" link on the Course Audit homepage or call 877-APHELP-0.

 

 

Thank you Jane!!! I didn't see this when looking at the AP site. I was looking at sample syllabus's and AP exam information. I will look more in depth...

[Susan C.]

I designate honors courses with the guidance of my umbrella association. In general the criteria is completion of the text, and extras which can be a variety of things, reading several books in addition to the text, reports, projects, etc.

 

It is necessary to do this in my state because homeschoolers are allowed to be ranked by GPA for state scholarships. Honors courses add to the GPA. An honors A is 4.5, a class taken at college under dual enrollment graded as an A is 5.0.

[Blue Hen]

I labeled quite a number of my DS classes as Honors. I see listing the classes as Honors on the transcript as a method to quickly send the message to the Admin that this child did a rigorous program. The course description document describes the course content including the textbooks used and additional books read. In our Homeschool Profile I defined the designation.

Classes are designated as Honors classes when college level textbooks are utilized or extensive additional reading, reports and/or projects were undertaken outside of the normal textbook.

 

This coming year DS will prepare for 3 AP tests without being in an AP class. Since I do not wish to go through the College Board audit process I am designating these classes as Honors classes. In the course description I am including a line to the effect that the course will prepare DS to take the AP test.

 

 

Carole

[Storm Bay]

It is necessary to do this in my state because homeschoolers are allowed to be ranked by GPA for state scholarships. Honors courses add to the GPA. An honors A is 4.5, a class taken at college under dual enrollment graded as an A is 5.0.

 

 

Thanks for this information. I better find out if that's the case here or not, because that will make a difference in what we do. If it's enough to warrant an honours designation and will help in light of scholarships, then I'll do it.

 

 

....secretly grumbles about more research work to do...

[tookshire]

I found in our homeschooling community that "honors" is thrown about quite loosely. For us, unless the child took a dual enrollment course at the community college (college level material, in otherwords) then we didn't label a course honors. If they pursued something at a greater depth we simply added I, II, or III after the course title.