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What credits can be earned in 8th to put on high school transcripts? Thanks!


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My upcoming 8th grader will start these subjects this Summer/Fall:

 

CD Alg 1

Latin 1 (high school level)

Intro To Logic (Nance)

Omnibus 1 w/ online class (possibly considered honors?)

 

These seem like high school level courses and should be eligible for high school credit. Please correct me if I am totally off base here. Thanks a million!

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Hi Beth,

 

Here in NC we are not supposed to give credit for courses taken in the middle grades--even if they are of high school content.

 

My son took Latin II and Geometry in 9th, so the assumption is that he had Latin I and Algebra I previously. I did not list these courses on his transcript nor do I wish to. It seems that many college bound students now take Algebra I in 7th or 8th--expected in some circles.

 

My son wants to study Latin in every year of high school, so he'll still have four years of Latin without including Latin I.

 

It has been noted that some parents get around the grade year that a class was taken is by listing coursework on transcripts by subject--not year. At present, my son's transcript is more traditional, listing courses by year.

 

By the way, if your son is having a solid year of 8th grade coursework, imagine all the credits he'll have by the end of high school. Do you really need to list all of those credits?

 

Jane

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many here have reported that colleges to which their dc applied specified that all credits had to have been earned during the immediate 4 years preceeding graduation.

 

Of course, you could choose to have your dc graduate early, and then you could count those credits.

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I agree with Jane. My son's 8th grade courses were all high school level, but none of those classes will show on his transcript. He doesn't need them, anyway! He will have 4 years of Latin on his transcript--Latin III - VI, so it should be obvious that he took Latin I and II in earlier years. My understanding is that colleges are looking for the courses/credits that a student took in the four years of high school--grades 9-12. This isn't a hard and fast rule, and some colleges will accept earlier credits for certain courses (math?), or will not question transcripts that are organized by subject instead of year, but I think they might look a little more unfavorably at humanities credits from jr. high school. A 7th or 8th grader taking literature (or history, for that matter) will probably have a different level of critical thinking than an 11th grader (at least that's what colleges will be thinking).

 

Also, Omnibus 1 is technically targeted to 7th grade according to Veritas Press.

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My upcoming 8th grader will start these subjects this Summer/Fall:

 

CD Alg 1

Latin 1 (high school level)

Intro To Logic (Nance)

Omnibus 1 w/ online class (possibly considered honors?)

 

These seem like high school level courses and should be eligible for high school credit. Please correct me if I am totally off base here. Thanks a million!

 

 

I think it all depends upon your perspective. You might think of a transcript as a listing of everything "high school level" that your child ever accomplished. In that case you'd list all high school level stuff-regardless of the year it was completed.

 

I prefer to think of a high school transcript as including those things my child accomplished in high school. That would start in 9th grade and end in 12th grade. Therefore I would not add anything from younger grades. I think I could reasonably expect a college to understand that a 9th grader taking Latin II has already completed the Latin I class earlier. I would also believe they could understand that a 9th grader taking Algebra II has already completed Algebra I.

 

I also prefer to think of a transcript as in the same class as my IRS tax forms. I would not like to raise any red flags! I do believe that colleges would wonder at students showing 5 or 6 years of work in a typically 4 year transcript. I, personally, believe that it is asking for trouble.

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Thanks, gang. Our local middle school offers Algebra 1 and Foreign Language and allows students to "bring up" those credits to high school transcripts. So hundreds of local kids have that benefit. Is that a normal procedure or unique to my area? I was hoping to do the same. But maybe in the long run it wont matter.

 

The University of Washington admissions website says this:

 

"A foreign language course taken in the eighth grade may satisfy one year of the requirement if the second-year course is completed in high school."

 

And this regarding math:

 

"Three years of study are required, at least at the level of algebra, geometry, and second-year algebra.

 

An algebra course completed in the last year of junior high school may partially satisfy the requirement if the second-year algebra is completed in secondary school."

 

Kathleen, you are right. VP says Omnibus 1 is a 7th grade program. But so many use it for 9th and include on transcripts.

 

I'm obviously thinking ahead to make our high school years as efficient as possible.

 

Does anyone else have experience/insight w/ this issue? Thanks!!

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Another Washingtonian chiming in--it does seem to vary by state, and here locally many students get high school credit for math taken in middle school. A smaller number take high school-level science and foreign language for credit. (Some of them walk from the middle school to the high school every day for these classes!) My 9th grader has algebra I and biology on his transcript from last year. My 7th grader is working on geometry now and he'll have two years of high school math completed prior to actually starting 9th grade. Even though my kids are working ahead in English and other subjects, though, I am not giving high school credit for those. They still have to do 4 years of English in high school, so it doesn't matter. For example, my kids are both taking a logic class at our co-op. They do several hours of homework a week and I have no problem giving my 9th grader a credit for completing it. My 7th grader won't get a credit for that though--partly because he just doesn't need it and partly becasue, to me, it is a more "subjective" course and an elective. I'm only putting the core math & science from jr. high on the transcript because I want people to know he completed them. I don't think there is one right way--it is a personal choice. Even if I don't give my younger child a credit for algebra taken in 6th/7th grade because he was so young, I will still list Algebra I on his transcript as completed.

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Kathleen, what are you using beyond Latin III? Online courses? What text?

 

I don't think you can put courses taken in 8th grade on a high school transcript here, either. All they count for is fulfilling prerequisite requirements, so they count for something important ... but not the transcript.

 

Robin

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We are allowed to take hs level classes in 8th or before in some cases, but the credit itself doesn't apply toward high school. The student is simply able to take more advanced level work in high school this way.

 

Isn't it a bummer? But then again, our ds has more credits than he needs anyway LOL

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I have one son and one daughter who have graduated from our home school. I listed their coursework by subject on their transcripts, not by year. Both students wanted to go to an in-state school and both schools accepted this type of transcript. I've heard some colleges do not accept the subject-listed transcript, but I don't have any personal experience with that.

 

So far we haven't needed to count any middle school courses for our children. I did our transcripts by subject because my kids' schoolwork is "messy." It never fits neatly into one year! We start classes in January, end in November...I just thought subject lists were a neater, more realistic way to do a transcript!

 

My 8th grade daughter is completing a high school level Spanish 2 class (private class), but knows she has to continue to take a foreign language in high school. The teacher is offering a Spanish 3 class in the fall and then my dd will take the SAT II test next spring. After that she'll have to go to the community college to keep going in Spanish.

 

So bottom line is this: If you need the 8th grade course work and the colleges you are applying to are willing to let middle school classes count on the high school transcript, then go for it. If you're not sure about middle school classes being counted by a university, look into listing courses by subject instead of year on your transcript.

 

Happy planning! :D

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Our state regs here are beginning to change now, so check out rules for your particular state. If you hs all the way through, it really shouldn't matter (unless the college your child goes to is in-state and also follows the guidelines of the high schools - check on this, too, as not all colleges follow the same guidelines set down by the high schools!) There is no uniformity within our educational system.

 

Most of the colleges I've spoken to tell me that I can submit my transcript for my son for the time he hs'd, in addition to the transcript from the private school he now attends. They only granted him passes on enough credits to make him a sophomore - not on all the work he's actually done, and they show no grades for the work that transferred, so my transcript must be consulted in order to see those actual grades. I have my transcript organized by year, with no grade level listed.

 

Regena

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Beth, I can tell you that our sons applied to (and were accepted to) several universities here in WA. The University of Washington was the toughest one on this issue. They were very specific that "high school" meant the 4 calendar years preceding graduation. And they expected all high school credits to have been earned in those 4 years with very few -- and very specific -- exceptions (Algebra 1, one year of high school level foreign language, and maybe one or two other things). If your students are interested in UW, I'd check out their admissions requirements early, because we found that they were pretty tough.

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For example, my kdis are both taking a logic class at our co-op. They do several hours of homework a week and I have no problem giving my 9th grader a credit for completing it. My 7th grader won't get a credit for that though--partly because he just doesn't need it and partly becasue, to me, it is a more "subjective" course and an elective. I'm only putting the core math & science on the transcript becasue I want people to know he completed them.

 

I've actually hunted high and low to figure out where to put Logic on transcripts. I was thinking it would be considered and elective. You are putting Logic in the math section of your transcripts? Which logic program are you doing in the co-op?

 

Also, what Bio did you use in 8th?

 

Thanks!

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Unless you are with a public school program then I would say only Algebra 1 & WA State History. Look at your local school district as well. We are using a ps program and my ds will have 2 credits on his transcript from the school district this year. He is an 8th grader.

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If your students are interested in UW, I'd check out their admissions requirements early, because we found that they were pretty tough.

 

Yes, Janet. UofW is on our horizon. I consider it the gold standard as far as public colleges in WA. We will at least meet or exceed their requirements, although I have no idea where my kiddos will attend. I just want to be prepared. I was just reading TWTM again today regarding preparing for college. SWB says 'plan ahead' -- (a terrible thing for this uber-planner to read) :)

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DD took 2 on-line official grade 9 provinicial courses when she was chronologically in grade 8. She did algebra I in grade 7 and geometry in grade 8.

 

I plan to put all of the above on her transcript. In the States, people might know that if she took algebra 2 in grade 9, she had already had algebra 1 and geometry. They won't necessarily know that here because the math system is different. Her early grade 9 work will show up on the partial provincial transcript I will include with her "homeschool" transcript.

 

DD will still have 4 years of true high school math, English, history, French, etc.--so I suppose, if needed, I could put her early high school work in a "for information, not counted as credit" section. Many kids do a full or partial 2nd year of grade 12 here, so Canadian high schools must not have "only the past 4 years" rules. Maybe someone else has info on this?

 

My question: how do you handle "only courses taken in the past four years" if your child takes a gap year to travel or to take a few university credits and work?

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Yes, it can depending on the school district. Other districts just note that it has been accomplished and don't credit it (I think that is because they also offer it in 7th). The public school program/partnership that I'm in allows all 8th graders to earn high school credit for high school work. I'd go ahead and put it on the transcript and let the colleges do with it what they will.

 

Have you thought about how you want to create your transcipt? Are you saving tests and papers to show a prospective selective college? They may not ask but having documentation to back up mommy grades can only be a good thing.

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My question: how do you handle "only courses taken in the past four years" if your child takes a gap year to travel or to take a few university credits and work?
Well, I can't speak for anyone else's experiences, but I didn't have any colleges say "only courses taken in the past four years" (before applying to that college, I assume you mean). What we experienced was a reference to "the 4 calendar years preceding high school graduation." The gap year, I assume would come after high school graduation, so wouldn't affect those 4 calendar years before high school graduation. Does that make sense?
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If you're not sure about middle school classes being counted by a university, look into listing courses by subject instead of year on your transcript.Happy planning! :D
We organized our transcripts by subject, too. But since we also applied to UW, I can speak from experience on this one. While the by-subject transcript might help you get around some colleges' requirements, it won't help you with UW. UW has the most exhaustive application we've ever seen. They require the student to list ALL of his credits BY GRADE right on the application. So you can't fudge on when those credits were earned, unless you just plain lie on the application.
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I've actually hunted high and low to figure out where to put Logic on transcripts. I was thinking it would be considered and elective. You are putting Logic in the math section of your transcripts? Which logic program are you doing in the co-op?

 

Also, what Bio did you use in 8th?

 

Thanks!

Beth, we organized our transcripts by subject, but not by category. We just had one long list of credits in which all credits of a particular type "fall together" on the list. In other words, we listed all the English credits together, followed by all the math credits, etc., but we didn't actually label them "English" or "math". I didn't think the colleges needed for us to hit them over the head with a "label" in order for them to recognize a math course or an English course. And I didn't think I needed to label anything as an "elective" that didn't fit neatly into a core subject category. "Elective" is really a meaningless label anyway. Things that didn't seem to fit anywhere else just appeared at the end of our list.

 

I got this approach from Cafi Cohen, whose whole approach to high school -- as well as her approach to transcripts -- fit us very well.

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I don't know where to put logic, actually. We are using Traditional Logic I and II by Martin Cothran (Memoria Press). They probably won't finish the second book by the time our school year is over in may but I may try to have my kids finish it up over the summer. We'll see. I think it is worth one credit without finishing the second book because they've done a number of extra writing assignments and projects in addition to the exercises in the book.

 

That was a little confusing the way I phrased that in the post above. I am only putting the high school level math and science done before 9th grade on the transcript--not English or social studies, for example. No reason other than it makes sense to me.:D

 

I'll probably list Logic as an elective. I've also considered listing it as a social studies course. I don't know! :confused:

 

Last year ds used the A Beka biology text and took a weekly lab class taught by a community college prof/homeschool dad. It was excellent. Ds has always liked biology but now he thinks he would like a career in microbiology. They did tons of dissections, but his favorite lab was the one where they looked at water samples from a wastewater treatment plant under a microscope.

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I understand where you're coming from, Beth, and I appreciate your desire to plan ahead. My rising 7th grader has started algebra now, for example, and there's this niggling feeling that it should some how "count". But the reality, as others have pointed out, is that this coursework is leading somewhere. It isn't as if our children, should they choose to attend college, are going to be lacking in credits. To that end, I don't feel compelled to list work completed during the middle school years on a high school transcript.

 

Having said that, I do sometimes feel as if students on an advanced track (for lack of a better description) are in essence "punished" for studying some subjects earlier than the norm, if that makes sense...

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According to our advisor at Clonlara, we can't list 8th grade classes on my son's high school transcript. However...we can list work done in the summer before 9th grade, and we can "meld" stuff--he's using Videotext for algebra, which has six modules for Alg 1 and 2, and, even though we'll finish the modules associated with Alg 1 this year, apparently, it may be able to count somehow...magic.

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I do sometimes feel as if students on an advanced track (for lack of a better description) are in essence "punished" for studying some subjects earlier than the norm, if that makes sense...

 

Yes, Colleen, that makes sense. To start Algebra early (for a not-so-mathy kid -- like mine) just means a tough go of it in 11th & 12th to meet the math requirements. So what's the point? :) My dd 10 is due to start CD Pre-Alg by December and I think that's too early, for her anyway.

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To start Algebra early (for a not-so-mathy kid -- like mine) just means a tough go of it in 11th & 12th to meet the math requirements. So what's the point? :)

 

We were up against this, too. My youngest son was studying algebra 1 in 7th. He did fine with it, but since I knew he wasn't going to be a math or science person, what to do to make sure he had at least three years of math during grades 9-12? So, he did algebra 2 twice, in 8th and 9th grade--same book. It did wonders for him in solidifying the concepts, plus he gained the maturity he needed in mathematical thinking (or whatever it is). Since we knew he was only going to study through precalculus, I even had him use Aleks for geometry for part of one year (he had geometry through Saxon). I think this made a huge difference for him and is one of the reasons he did so well on the SAT math (he did do focused study for that as well).

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I finished ps high school in three years. The school allowed me to use 8th grade science, English, and Algebra I as credits on my high school transcript. I believe they were labeled as "8th grade" on the transcript. No college batted an eye.

 

In Michigan, it is permissible to use middle school foreign language credits on the high school transcript, to document foreign language study for colleges. Since algebra I, II and geometry are requirements for graduation in Michigan, they *must* have some mechanism to put those on the transcript if completed prior to 9th grade.

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We organized our transcripts by subject, too. But since we also applied to UW, I can speak from experience on this one. While the by-subject transcript might help you get around some colleges' requirements, it won't help you with UW. UW has the most exhaustive application we've ever seen. They require the student to list ALL of his credits BY GRADE right on the application. So you can't fudge on when those credits were earned, unless you just plain lie on the application.

 

Well, I certainly wouldn't advocate lying! :eek: I knew there were places like this. I could have done a "by grade" transcript. I would have just had to decide what year to count courses that crossed the neat "year" boundaries! :tongue_smilie: For some reason with one son we seemed to always start new math programs mid-year. And then there was the Earth Science course done over the summer...

 

Blessings

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We've come across something similar here in North Carolina. When a good friend's son was researching colleges, he talked with an engineering school adviser at NC State. He told the adviser of his plan to take courses at the community college and then transfer. The adviser was not only supportive, but enthusiastic. She said the courses there were at least equivalent for the same reasons you spoke of..small class sizes, access to equipment, and instruction by a professor instead of a graduate student. In North Carolina, the "college transfer track" classes at the community colleges also use the same books, syllabus, and course materials as the universities.

 

Acceptance to the state school is pretty much guaranteed in NC if the student takes the college transfer classes and meets admission requirements.

 

Blessings

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Well, I certainly wouldn't advocate lying!
Oh, Carrie. I'm sorry if I seemed to be implying that you were advocating lying. Your comment wasn't what I had in mind. But when I've shared this information about UW's application with some homeschoolers, they said they'd just "do a little more xyz in 9th grade" so they could claim their student "completed xyz" in 9th grade even though their student actually did all the course work in 7th or 8th grade. My response to them is that they would need to do what their conscience allowed them to do, and I'd have to do what mine would allow.
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UPDATE :)

 

I spoke w/our local school district yesterday and they said Alg 1 and high school level foreign language WILL be eligible for high school credit even if taken as early as age 13 and/or 7th/8th grade. It is an option available for parents as late as the senior year -- to 'bring up' those credits from middle school. She warned that you can add those credits at any time until graduation -- but you can never remove them once you've added them (so make sure its a good grade).

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After talking with a lot of professors (at both UW and some local colleges), I got the very clear impression that some local 2 year colleges provide far better instruction in the math and sciences than UW does *for those first two years*.

 

I've heard this from others; it's my impression as far as most classes are concerned, actually. I really can't fathom taking those courses at a huge university what with the student-teacher ratio. That's one of many reasons why UW was my "last resort" school!

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Yes, Colleen, that makes sense. To start Algebra early (for a not-so-mathy kid -- like mine) just means a tough go of it in 11th & 12th to meet the math requirements. So what's the point? :)

 

Yep, that's exactly what I meant. Almost makes me feel like I should be slowing my younger guys down during the elementary years just so they don't start Algebra and Physical Science in 7th, which is what's happening with my oldest.:001_huh:

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We were up against this, too. My youngest son was studying algebra 1 in 7th. He did fine with it, but since I knew he wasn't going to be a math or science person, what to do to make sure he had at least three years of math during grades 9-12? So, he did algebra 2 twice, in 8th and 9th grade--same book. It did wonders for him in solidifying the concepts, plus he gained the maturity he needed in mathematical thinking (or whatever it is).

 

I really do wonder about this, with regard to most of my guys. So far my second and third are pretty much working at the same pace as my oldest. That puts them in Algebra 1 and Physical Science in 7th. I seriously doubt most of them will be oriented toward math/science, though, so getting in enough of those subject credits during the four years of high school could be tough. I hadn't thought of repeating a course altogether. How did your son feel about that?

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I spoke w/our local school district yesterday and they said Alg 1 and high school level foreign language WILL be eligible for high school credit even if taken as early as age 13 and/or 7th/8th grade.

 

I know the same is true of our district, but to me, the question still exists as to whether it will meet a particular university's requirements. You mentioned an interest in UW, for example, which apparently requires a listing of coursework completed in the four years preceeding college entry. So I understand that the courses you mentioned can count toward high school graduation, but I'm not clear as to how that's viewed by universities. Clear as mud?;)

 

Okay, I'm editing...I just went back and reread Janet in WA's post and she did say: "They [uW] were very specific that "high school" meant the 4 calendar years preceding graduation. And they expected all high school credits to have been earned in those 4 years with very few -- and very specific -- exceptions (Algebra 1, one year of high school level foreign language, and maybe one or two other things)." So I can see how it would work as far as those classes are concerned. It still means courses like upper level science or logic or Latin aren't "eligible" unless taken during high school. Kinda a bummer for bright 8th graders!

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Kathleen, what are you using beyond Latin III? Online courses? What text?

 

Sorry, Robin! I didn't see this until today. My son has studied Latin with Scholars Online since Latin III. Latin IV was AP Vergil, Latin V (this year) is Latin literature (Catullus/Horace), and next year will be medieval Latin (he's very much looking forward to that!).

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Thanks so much, Kathleen! I'm looking for resources for my dd, preferrably online courses, after either Latin II or Latin III. I am glad to know that your son transferred into this program at Latin III... I wasn't considering Scholars Online since we weren't using them for years I and II, and I just assumed that would disqualify us from the program. So this is very helpful.

 

Thanks again,

Robin

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a couple of places where the subject label is useful. One of them is French Lit. If it appears under Foreign Languages, colleges will know that my son is reading the lit in French, even though no other French classes appear on the transcript (since he will already be speaking French going into high school).

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I have a couple of places where the subject label is useful. One of them is French Lit. If it appears under Foreign Languages, colleges will know that my son is reading the lit in French, even though no other French classes appear on the transcript (since he will already be speaking French going into high school).
The way I'd handle that on our transcript would be in the course descriptions, noting the book titles and authors and that they were read in French. I'd probably also do something with the course title so that there was no doubt that it represented a foreign language credit (such as "French III").
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