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What eclectic/ off the beaten trail/ courses have your hs'ers taken...


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and how did you list them on your transcripts. I am still battling around ds's courses for next year...no decisions yet except for his regular scheduled programing....I think he would like something different from the typical High School fare, but not sure what.

 

 

Please share....

 

Faithe

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probably should be Korean History. Ds is working toward teaching certificate in Tang Soo Do/ Moo Du Kwan (a form of Tae Kwon Do). He is teaching 2 classes a week and taking 2 classes a week. This is a Korean based program. Since he was working so hard I decided to make it a course. We got books on the type of martial arts that came out of Korea and their history. We got books on the history of Korea, books on the culture and philosophies of Korea, books on the religions of Korea. I just decided with all the various topics covered we'd call it Korean Philosophy. Just find something your child really likes and buiild a course around it. We even built our own Photography course. My kids are super photographers thanks to that course.

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Peace Studies 1+2: Mine went peace walking in Euorpe and the US for months at a time. I listed it as Peace Studies 1+2 on the transcript. Native American Studies: He went on a three month sacred run from San Francisco to DC. Japan Studies: He studied some Japanese and went on a peacewalk through Japan for three months. Ham Radio: Got his ham license. Nature Studies 1+2: The first bit was MODG's syllabus but then we continued it. Youngest will have Molding on his transcript. Rock Climbing: Bouldered all over the US. And probably Europe although thankfully I wasn't there to know. Snow Boarding: lessons and then applied his gymnastics and made our hair stand on end. I require some sort of academic componant for each course I make a course and not an extra curricular activity. If it is a PE class, I require that they receive some sort of formal lessons. I decide how much credit to assign by looking at time and intensity and then drastically under-crediting it so I don't have to worry.

-Nan

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My daughter has special interests in history and filmmaking so we've done:

 

Historic Costume Construction - included making both period-inspired and period-correct Civil War costumes

 

Web Design I and II - included creating websites for several nonprofits

 

Historical Filmmaking - included a study of the history of movies as well as creating a historical documentary for National History Day and a historical re-enactment film for a film festival

 

This summer she's doing:

Screenwriting - she's writing a screenplay and learning the genre as well as formatting

 

Advanced Filmmaking - will include the completion of a number of short film projects including a re-enactment film, a comedy film, an event video, and a series of entertaining shorts for our VBS

 

A lot of these were things that she began on her own and when she'd put in a designated number of hours or completed what I felt she would have covered had she taken a course with someone else, then I added it as a class. Any time we do classes that are out of the box, I always try to have very specific completed projects that document what she learned.

 

Our family also did a full-length Christian feature film and she was heavily involved in that. But I decided to count it as an internship rather than a class.

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It seems with a little creativity a child's interests can be developed into a credit worthy course.

 

from the transcript of my oldest:

 

  • cinematography
  • technical theater
  • community leadership which included the volunteer hours he put into church and theater

 

for my youngest:

 

  • robotics
  • career exploration -- he spent a semester as an intern for an electrical engineer
  • computer programming

 

The difference between some of these and an extra-curricular was the addition of assigned reading and either writing or other projects. In other words they had to learn more than what is on the surface of their interest and think about how the deeper knowledge applies to the field and to what they specifically are doing during the semester.

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Right now I have it listed under "Social Studies" as "Ancient Studies". My ds read parts of Notgrass Exploring World History, a few chapters in SWB Ancient History book (the one for highschoolers or adults), then about 4 books on ancient mythology (can't remember the titles of them off hand). He wrote summaries and essays pertaining to what he read.

 

For science last year he earned a Zoology I credit by reading parts of Apologia Biology, The Way Life Works, The Life of Birds, The LIfe of Mammals and Of Wolves and Men. He wrote a lot of summaries and a couple of short reports.

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Peace Studies 1+2: Mine went peace walking in Euorpe and the US for months at a time. I listed it as Peace Studies 1+2 on the transcript. Native American Studies: He went on a three month sacred run from San Francisco to DC. Japan Studies: He studied some Japanese and went on a peacewalk through Japan for three months. Ham Radio: Got his ham license. Nature Studies 1+2: The first bit was MODG's syllabus but then we continued it. Youngest will have Molding on his transcript. Rock Climbing: Bouldered all over the US. And probably Europe although thankfully I wasn't there to know. Snow Boarding: lessons and then applied his gymnastics and made our hair stand on end. I require some sort of academic componant for each course I make a course and not an extra curricular activity. If it is a PE class, I require that they receive some sort of formal lessons. I decide how much credit to assign by looking at time and intensity and then drastically under-crediting it so I don't have to worry.

-Nan

 

 

Nan, another post that makes me want to be your kid.

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Our system is not the same, but dd is doing a Cert 3 in Media Studies (6 months full time but taken over 18 months), many leadership and sailing courses with recognised qualifications through Sea Scouts (and being on various committees), and will be doing a Diploma of Mass Communications (one year full time), before finishing year 12.

ETA she has also done an accounting course through her job doing accounts for a local business.

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