Jump to content

Menu

Need help, ds will be 9th grd soon


Recommended Posts

Ok, I'm wanting to do a rough plan for DS high school years to be sure all requirements are covered.

 

Are credits needed to graduate determined by each state?

 

What subjects are required?

 

How many credits of each of those subjects are required?

 

What different sciences does he need to cover?

 

Help please!

 

For 9th grade, so far, I think he'll use Applications of Grammar, possibly Integrated Physics and Chemisty from Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum, MOH 2 (were continuing on chronologically)...

 

Other than that, not sure. I'm a little nervous about high school!

 

Thank you!

 

Meredith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends on the state. Here in VA, the state does not issue diplomas to homeschoolers at all. They come completely from the parents. Wise parents who believe in preparing for college will look at the college requirements that may be relevant. A standard college prep would be

4 years English (including lit and composition)

4 years Math (Algebra 1 and above--Geometry, Algebra 2, and Trig/Precalc or higher)

4 years Science (Bio, Chem, Physics, and 1 other--sometimes advanced studies in one of those 3, or something like Environmental Science)

4 years Foreign Language (or 2 years each of 2 different languages)

4 years some combination of World History, US History, and Gov't or Economics

Electives--generally not a set requirement, but could be Art, Music, Music/Art History, Religion-based studies, or others.

 

This is not to say that every college requires the above for admittance--far from it. There is usually a minimum # of credit hours required--for example, Virginia Commonwealth, a large, urban university, requires at least 23 credits. 3 credits have to be in a foreign language (or 4 of two different languages), 4 in English, 3 sciences, 2 world history, and so on.

 

We chose to do about 6 or 7 classes a year with ds. He ended up with 27 credits, including 4 years of Eng, Math, Science and History, with various electives thrown in there, including a CC in Psychology and 3 credits in Bible, and 2 years each of Spanish and French.

 

There are a number of really good books out there detailing standard courses of study for high school, and you can, as I said, look at your state laws and your prospective colleges for more ideas. High School can be nerve-wracking, but it's fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I'm wanting to do a rough plan for DS high school years to be sure all requirements are covered.

 

Are credits needed to graduate determined by each state?

Yes. However, there are no requirements for *homeschooled* students to graduate.

 

What subjects are required?

Generally, English, history, math, science, and electives such as foreign languages, computer sciences, fine arts, etc.

 

How many credits of each of those subjects are required?

Generaly, 4 years (different states award different number of credits) of English, 2-3 years of social sciences (history, geography, etc.), 2-4 years of math, 2-4 years of science, 2-4 years of electives. Each year of Enlgish includes grammar, composition, and literature.

 

What different sciences does he need to cover?

Generally, biology and above--IOW, lab sciences.

 

Other than that, not sure. I'm a little nervous about high school!

It's not that big a deal. :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check your state's requirements. In IA there are none...they're finished when you say they are.

 

Check the entrance requirements of local colleges. That will give you a basic idea how to plot this out.

 

Take into consideration his bent...artsy or sciency or whatever. My dd has an almost full ride scholarship to a music & theatre school. She took science for 4 yrs, but it was not the traditional Biology, chem, physics...etc. Nor did she use those wildly popular textbooks. It took her 1.5 yrs to get through enough Algebra for me to be comfortable, then did some practical life skills maths, then did Geometry.

 

I like Barb Shelton's High School Form-U-La. It helped me to see that my life didn't have to change drastically just because I'm facing college. Some folks don't care for the chatty writing style, so see if you can find this at your library or through Inter-Library Loan to peruse it first.

 

"Teaching" high school is not as hard at the PS system would like us to believe. You cando this, and it will be very rewarding.

 

Teresa

Edited by tajott
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I looked up our state's graduation requirements. This is as of October 2008.

 

Minimum High School Graduation Requirements:

 

Communication Arts 4 units

Social Studies 3 units

Mathematics 3 units

Science 3 units

Fine Arts 1 unit

Practical Arts 1 unit

Physical Education 1 unit

Health Education 1/2 unit

Personal Finance 1/2 unit

Electives 7 units

Total 24

 

So, Communication Arts, what would fall under that? Lang Arts?

Fine Arts and Practical Arts, what would the difference be?

Also if he does an extra year of science for a 4th credit, would that count as an elective or an extra science?

 

Thank you for any help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's one requirement from the University in town:

 

3. High School Transcript or Homeschooled transcript with a minimum of six semesters of work (A final copy is necessary after graduation). GED students should request an official copy of their results from the Department of Education - Secondary Education (DESE).

 

Since they're not specific, as the state high school graduation requirements are, I'll assume I can go off of the state requirements...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Take into consideration his bent...artsy or sciency or whatever. My dd has an almost full ride scholarship to a music & theatre school. She took science for 4 yrs, but it was not the traditional Biology, chem, physics...etc. Nor did she use those wildly popular textbooks. It took her 1.5 yrs to get through enough Algebra for me to be comfortable, then did some practical life skills maths, then did Geometry.

 

He's artistic, enjoys writing comic books, reading, likes science, but lately seems intimidated by the 'new stuff' in science and other subjects...

 

 

"Teaching" high school is not as hard at the PS system would like us to believe. You cando this, and it will be very rewarding.

 

Teresa

 

Thank you for the encouragement! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...