Carnegie Units....

[OneStepAtATime]

DD is not a history fan but she seems to have been enjoying periodically joining in with DS using Veritas Press SP Greeks and Romans.  She has asked to do VP Middle Ages with DS and we have already ordered it for both of them (during the sale) to start in the Fall.  She will be going into 9th grade.  We talked it over and we will be adding additional readings, some projects and some DVDs.  She seems happy with this plan.  Now I am uncertain about credits.  

 

She will be doing High School level World Geography next year for a full credit but with the VP Middle Ages material, since it is geared more for upper Elementary and Middle School, and only covers the Middle Ages, not all of World History, even if I beef it up, should I just give her a quarter credit?  She is required to do World History for a High School credit in our state.  

[PeterPan]

OneStep, I'm being fast here, but have you actually looked at the VP MARR?  How committed are you to geography next year?  I would do VP MARR, round it out with other things (either during that year or in other years) and call it your World History with an Emphasis on the Middle Ages.  You've got something in the VP SP that seems to be fitting her, and their MARR is particularly well-done for a time period that is particularly hard to do.  I see NO issue with adding in some high school level projects and extras (videos, audiobooks since she's dyslexic, etc.) and using it as a SPINE to create a high school level course.  Of all the courses, it would be the one most conducive to that.

 

I think in the past we've talked grade adjustment, and that's another option to consider to give her more time with her reading instruction.

 

Here's my concern.  If she does both, is it pulling away from her time to work on Barton?  If she does just the VP SP MARR, one card a week, that's already 2 1/2 hours.  It's not fair to give her 1/4 credit.  Carnegie units are by hours.  There's nothing wrong with the content of the VP MARR, and in fact if you looked it's probably the same content from something like the BJU World History I have lying around.  OK, it's not exactly the same, but it's not trying to be.  What's different at the high school level is synthesis, analysis, putting two and two together.  If my dh had had VP MARR before his grad school Church History class (which of course focused on the middle ages), he would have been a lot better off.  Dd went in and thought it was a breeze, totally understood what was going on.  MARR is half secular, half religious, but of course it's a religion-heavy time period.  Learning those events will create a solid foundation for future study.  You just have to bump up her exposure to the original sources, movies, and themes she's ready for that a younger student wasn't. (Les Mis, all sorts of movies, etc.)

 

I was trying to be fast here and I'm not being creative at the moment.  My advice is think it through such that the VP work joins with something else and becomes that World History credit.  I'd rather see a kid do most of the year on medieval but do interesting *projects* with it or one project or something really passion-driven, kwim?  Does she have any passions or things she likes to do?  Then think about what kind of output she might like to do that would show she's thinking.  Or merge things together, if she has say an interest in art.  I just don't know what she likes, kwim?

 

I'm saying the same thing here I said in your lit thread.  You can't take what she likes, what she's interested in, and say "You may have that, but only at these times because *I* know what you need to learn and when and how."  There's just not TIME or ENERGY for that with disability kids.  That's grand that somebody else with their "my kid did calc in 10th grade" kid can do both.  Our kids can't and we have to eat that and own that and not be embarassed about it.  We have to take the things they ARE passionate about and ready for and compile the hours across all four years to present them in a way the college transcript clerk will understand.  You DON'T have to recreate the ps high school.  You DO have to take the stuff SHE wants to do and translate it into something they'll understand.

 

And I say things she's READY for are what you should be doing.  I say things she's HUNGRY for are what you should be doing.  The thing you push a year early might have come naturally the following year.

[PeterPan]

Just as a total aside, do you have documentation getting you out of foreign language or are you attempting that next year?  

[OneStepAtATime]

Just as a total aside, do you have documentation getting you out of foreign language or are you attempting that next year?  

She is planning on doing ASL.  She has already started working with ASL you tube videos for fun.  I don't think ASL will be an issue for her if she takes it slow (DS is learning, too, but it is harder for him).  There is a local option for ASL that I can outsource and am looking into getting a small group of peers to do it with her since it can be more fun and everyone gets more practice if it is in a group.  

 

She also very much wants to learn Spanish so we will attempt Conversational Spanish once she finishes Barton.  If that goes well and she is still motivated she will try for full blown Spanish her Junior and Senior year.

 

As for making MARR the spine and doing World History as a full credit if I add in other resources/output, etc., I am definitely not lacking in resources and could easily do that.  My parents were huge history buffs, especially Dad.  They have accumulated a LOT of history materials that I have access to at any time.  In fact, the year Dad found out he was dying he bought a lot of history resources trying to read through or watch videos of all the things he had interest in that he hadn't gotten around to studying yet.  Gave him something to focus on besides all his health challenges.

 

She loves Art/Drama and is starting to dabble in costume and set design, too, so I could certainly incorporate Art and Drama, etc.