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Does anyone ever count Eng. Comp and Lit as separate courses?


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My oldest will be starting high school in the fall, so all of this transcript/credit stuff is new to me. When I looked online at some high school course catalogs, it seemed that everyone includes literature and composition together as one course. My son will be studying World Literature, which I feel is a complete course in itself. However, he will also be using Warriner's and IEW for English Composition. So if I separate them on the transcript, would I put World Literature (1 credit) and English Composition 1 (1 credit) or should the comp class only count for half a credit?

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I would call one English 9 (or whatever grade it is) and the other World Lit.

 

We used Omnibus this yr and truly had one credit for Great Books and one for English 9 which was made up of reading, writing, grammar and vocab.

 

Here's my grandiose course descriptions (don't laugh):

English 9: This yr long course covers composition, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension and literary elements. 9 novels by C.S. Lewis are read and analyzed along with various short stories. A unit on the elements of poetry is also included. 1.0 credit

 

Great Books 1: This class covers some of the great books of ancient history including Genesis, Exodus. 1st and 2nd Samuel, The Epic of Gilgamesh, portions of the Code of Hammurabi, The Odyssey, books 1,2 & 7 from The Histories by Herodotus, Oresteia by Aeschylus, portions of Plutarch’s Lives, Oedipus the King and Antigone by Sophocles, The Last Days of Socrates and The Aeneid. 1.0 credits.

 

I have heard that some colleges don't like to see too many English electives, but so much effort was put into these two classes, I couldn't give it just one credit.

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English includes grammar, composition, literature and vocabulary.

If a student does a great deal of literature or a specific study of literature in addition to that, they get a credit for literature.

 

So you might have English I (which included some literature) and _____ Literature which included a half or full credit worth of litertaure on top of what was done in English.

 

That would be the way that would be closest to the way that any school I have ever seen has done it and the way I'd do it.

 

I think it's reasonable to do English Composition and World Literature, each for a credit IF you make sure you are doing a FULL credit of each. I really tried to make sure we did enough work to be counted as a credit, not shortchanging any claimed credit.

Edited by 2J5M9K
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Thanks so much to everyone for your input.

 

Michelle - your course descriptions were really helpful!

 

Pamela - I agree that I definitely want to make sure that I have a full year's coursework planned for each course if I'm going to count each as a credit. I really need to look at adding to the English course. Thanks for the advice!

 

Veronica - I looked at the Kolbe website. Their sample course plans really helped me see how to do each separately. I'd like to hear your thoughts on their English courses. Do you like the texts they use?

 

Well, back to planning! Thanks again!

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My oldest will be starting high school in the fall, so all of this transcript/credit stuff is new to me. When I looked online at some high school course catalogs, it seemed that everyone includes literature and composition together as one course. My son will be studying World Literature, which I feel is a complete course in itself. However, he will also be using Warriner's and IEW for English Composition. So if I separate them on the transcript, would I put World Literature (1 credit) and English Composition 1 (1 credit) or should the comp class only count for half a credit?

 

 

I took College Composition in high school as a one semester course.

 

I am having my twins do World History, World Geography, World Literature as three separate year long courses. My plan is for them to do all three by historical periods. So when they study ancients in World History they will also study ancients in World Geography and ancients in World Literature. I am not sure if this is do-able... will try though-LOL. Most likely they will cover the material (from ancients to modern times) over 1 1/2 to two years. They will do Language arts (grammar, vocabulary, composition) as a separate course as English 9 and 10. This is for their 9th and 10th grades.

 

I have a question though about their Language Arts, so I hope someone will know what I am to do...

 

Both my twins are in 8th grade, and they are in "accelerated language arts" using 9th grade curriculum at the public school. But (officially by the school district) this course does not count as high school credit. They were to take 9th grade English again (honors level) as freshman.

 

But since we are homeschooling them for high school, I was thinking...

 

Can I count the 8th grade accelerated language arts as 9th grade English on their high school transcripts and just put them into 10th grade curriculum for freshman year (I expect they still have to complete four more years of language arts)? Or do I have them "re-do" 9th grade English like the public school would do (but do I use 10th grade curriculum?)?

 

Anita

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Anita,

 

You do whatever you please as you're a homeschooler and can :)

 

If it really is 9th grade, I'd give them the credit for it since this is one of those subjects they will need all four years.

 

Just for example, my son will not be completing each year of each component of English at the same time. He still gets the credit even though he'll complete the 10th grade grammar before he manages to complete the 9th grade writing and literature, for example. It all works out in the end. It's kinda like saying one has digested a healthy diet over a week, but in a single meal, you can't possibly have gotten every nutrient you need.

 

IMO, your twins will have had 9th grade English. Who cares that it was a year early? I don't personally see it any different than doing Algebra in 8th grade.

 

But if you DO do 4 years of English IN high school, then it's not necessary. For example, if an 8th grader takes Algebra but only goes through Algebra II or Trig, they may need to count that 8th grade Algebra class. But if they take Statistics and through Calculus II, they have more than enough credits to leave off the Algebra I class.

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Anita,

 

You do whatever you please as you're a homeschooler and can :)

 

If it really is 9th grade, I'd give them the credit for it since this is one of those subjects they will need all four years.

 

Just for example, my son will not be completing each year of each component of English at the same time. He still gets the credit even though he'll complete the 10th grade grammar before he manages to complete the 9th grade writing and literature, for example. It all works out in the end. It's kinda like saying one has digested a healthy diet over a week, but in a single meal, you can't possibly have gotten every nutrient you need.

 

IMO, your twins will have had 9th grade English. Who cares that it was a year early? I don't personally see it any different than doing Algebra in 8th grade.

 

But if you DO do 4 years of English IN high school, then it's not necessary. For example, if an 8th grader takes Algebra but only goes through Algebra II or Trig, they may need to count that 8th grade Algebra class. But if they take Statistics and through Calculus II, they have more than enough credits to leave off the Algebra I class.

 

 

Yes it is 9th grade curriculum. I substitute teach in the district and one time when I was subbing for a 9th grade English teacher, I looked over the literature text, workbooks used for grammar, vocab, etc and found them to be the same ones my twins are using in their 8th grade accelerated LA class.

 

I figure what I will do is, get 10th grade curriculum for my twins. My son says he refuses to repeat 9th grade English-LOL. Then once they finish high school, I will decide how to list this on their transcripts. I will just make sure I keep a list of the exact curriculum they have been using this year and the novels they have been reading.

 

They are also taking algebra 1 in 8th grade and that counts on their high school transcripts at the public school so makes sense to me that their language arts this year should count as 9th grade English too.

 

Anita

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