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3browneyedboys4me

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Posts posted by 3browneyedboys4me

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

     

     

    You can, 'cause you're the boss, but if you do, then you really shouldn't use it as an extracurricular, i.e. no double dipping.

     

    I haven't personally used music lessons on the transcript because it was tough to write a good course description for them, I'm very lazy, lol, and it just wasn't that much like a real "credit" class. Your mileage may vary!

     

    My youngest will have at least 1 credit in music on hers because she is doing history/ theory stuff at the CC. Lots of time and book-work involved, though.

     

     

    Georgia

     

    I still have so much to figure out b/c I think piano would be great on a transcript.

     

     

    Really? :confused1: This just mystifies me. We are musically inclined here. My daughter spends a lot of time on her piano, over an hour every day. She also participates regularly in recitals, play for weddings and church. Right now she is working on a Beethoven sonata. How is that less academic than a PE or health credit? But then, I don't give credits for PE or Health.

     

    Me too. I need to think on this and do a little research on transcripts. Seems perfectly acceptable to me.

    Notgrass

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    DD is using Gov't this year and said it's easy to understand and follow. They'll both be using the US History in the fall for History and English credit. We're supplementing English with an undetermined grammar curric.

     

     

    Oh, this is good to know. I am definitely adding easy grammar 9th, essay writing, and lit analysis.

    Notgrass

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I plan to add Easy Grammar and a couple Progeny Press guides to count as a full English credit. I also plan to have my dd work on a research paper of sorts, but will probably tie that into the history credit.

     

    Yes, this is what i plan on doing as well. I'm pretty excited about it. I am adding pretty much exactly what you are doing. I think it will be perfect.

    One doesn't have to buy the lit pack. We found all but a couple of books through our library system. Some had to be obtained via the inter-library loan system, but they were still free. The couple we had to buy were found inexpensively on e-bay.

     

    I agree. I actually own a few of them!

     

    We've used World History and Government here. Both were very "readable" and my high schoolers didn't complain. We used World in conjunction with MFW WHL so we only used it for History. Next year our co-op is using Exploring America for high school US History and America the Beautiful for middle school US History. I like how the books are already scheduled for the middle school and that there are Map and Timeline activities. For high school, we will use it for History but only my ds15 will use it for Lit and Bible as well. I can't see counting it as a full English credit w/out adding in something else like grammar and the Bible credit looked a bit "simplified" to me as well. I'm going to add in more for Bible (just not sure what yet, lol).

     

    I'm going to include the studies my son does on his own and with his youth group. I think that in addition to what they offer will be enough for a credit.

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I wouldn't even mark piano as a music credit. Lots of people take piano, and it's an extra-curric. Where I worked, if we saw the music was piano, we marked it off and didn't count it. And yes, I would get that PE in for 9th. You might also be able to sneak in art or econ. I still have to balance our schedule and see where we're at. I found some cool stuff for econ and art this weekend at the convention, so I'm all in a flutter about it, hehe.

     

    Why shouldn't I mark Piano as 1/2 credit elective? To me, it's the perfect elective. He's learned so much during his 7yrs of piano lessons.

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Your cleaned up version looks great!

     

    About the Bible...consider giving the course a name. My cover school requires 4 credits of Bible for graduation, so it is going to appear on my kiddo's transcript. For 9th grade, my son is taking "Old Testament Survey" (whole credit), and for 10th he will take "New Testament Survey" and "World Religions" (each 1/2 credit). Then I am considering courses such as "The Letters of Paul" or "Bible in Literature" or the like. It just seems more interesting to have titles for the courses instead of Bible 1, Bible 2, etc. :)

     

    ETA: I just realized that the "Bible" you are referring to is in the Notgrass course. You might find it to be quite light...not really worthy of a whole credit. To make it a credit, you may want to add in something else. Or just forget the credit. You don't have to decide now...when you get going into the program, you will know if what your son is doing is worth a credit or not.

     

    Ahh! Yes, that is true. I love the name idea for the specific study. I was also thinking of including his independent studies from youth and church as more meat to help with his credit. I figure if he's doing the work, he should get credt.

     

     

    You may also find that Rosetta Stone alone is not going to meet your goals for foreign language. There are some things that RS does an ok job on, like helping students get over the stumbling block of constantly comparing another language to English and feeling like the target language is wrong because it is different.

     

    But there are also some significant weeknesses in RS (at least up to version 3, which is the most recent I've owned). In particular, there wasn't as much active generation of the language orally or in writing. I also think with German that there may be some frustration with understanding the way that articles and adjectives change depending on how the noun they modify is used in the sentence. Because the student is left to construct this paradigm on his own from the lessons, it may seem more confusing than it really is.

     

    I haven't found the perfect homeschool German course yet. (My ideal would be German taught in a format similar to Lukeion's Latin courses.) But you might want to look into German Online from Oklahoma State University. I think they accomplish quite a bit more in a year than one level of Rosetta Stone does. (There is a discount for homeschoolers, so email and ask about the price.)

     

    This is great b/c we aren't familiar with Rosetta Stone. It just seems to be the 'go to' for foreign language in the homeschool community. I really appreciate your help and will definitley look into the online programs. He is passionate about German and learning it. I've let him make the decision since he will have to learn the language. I figure if he really loves it, it might make the work worthwhile.

     

     

     

     

    I was looking for something that would better illustrate the scope and sequence I'm envisioning for a language. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of states have gone to listing things like "exchanges greetings" or "is familiar with major cultural festivities" but not listing goals for grammar like tenses that should be mastered at each level.

     

    I did find some drills and practice sets from Goethe Institutefor students working toward their Goethe Zertifikat exams.

     

     

    Thank you so very much! i really appreciate this!!!

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    The cleaned up version looks good, though I'm not familiar with Notgrass. Like Regentrude, I only do one English course per year, and don't offer separate credit for literature courses, unless they were earned through dual enrollment.

     

    I called my English courses things like "American Literature and Composition" instead of English 9, English 10, etc.

     

     

    This is great and creative. I'm looking into HomeScholar for advice on names and such for transcripts. I definitely need help with that. I love your ideas!

     

    My state requires 2 credits of PE, which most people do in 9th. I know...it should be all four years, but this is our state requirement, so you might want to check yours. My son plays travel hockey so that counts.

     

     

    Yes, we are required to have PE credit as well. I'm fortunate to have a great class here in my area. I might add that for next year. It's a good idea! Thanks for mentioning that. I think 9th is a better year to do that while academics are still less demanding.

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Starting to click with me! My cleaned up version is:

     

    English-

    American Lit, Essay writing through Notgrass, Vocabulary through assigned reading, Easy Grammar for review.

     

    Math

    MUS Alg. 1

     

    History-

    Notgrass American History

     

    Religion-

    Bible Studies

     

    Science-

    Apologia Biology

     

    Foreign Language-

    Rosetta Stone German

     

    Logic/Piano-

    Electives

     

     

    = 7 credits Freshman year

     

    I feel better about this and appreciate the insight. If anyone else has suggestions, pls let me know!

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Regentrude, you make a good point. I appreciate the ease of just keeping good records and not focussing so much on the transcript part yet.

     

    Vocabulary and spelling...hmmm... well, he is not the best speller. I think it would hurt for him to practice in the area without being bogged down with an extensive program. Vocabulary, you are right. I think I will just work through his assigned reading for the literature portion and create my own 'thing' for him. I like that idea!

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Oh, that's a good point! And, you are right about the piano. I should make that a half credit and add Logic as the other half.

     

    Piano 1/2 credit

    Logic 1/2 credit

    ~ Thinking toolbox, Fallacy Detective

     

    Ok, question about the literature. When it comes time to adding up the credits and you need to have some additional elective courses, why would it be a bad thing to add Amercian Literature? I realize how it might look, but at some point, don't you need the literature electives to add to your credits?

    9th Grade Plans, would you take a look and give advice?!

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    This is as far as I've gotten in my limited research and planning, but I'm feeling pretty good and would like to know what others think.

     

    English: 1credit

    Easy Grammar 9th grade

    Writing- papers assigned in Notgrass

    Vocabulary and Spelling- undecided, recommendations?

     

    Literature: 1 credit

    Notgrass assigned reading books

     

    Math- 1 credit

    MUS Algebra 1

     

    History- 1 credit

    Notgrass History- American History

     

    Foreign Language- 1 credit

    Rosetta Stone German

     

    Music- 1 credit

    Piano Lessons

     

    Science- 1 credit

    Apology Biology

     

    Does this look correct? Did I forget anything? Is it ok that separated the Literature from the English as a separate credit? I thought about making that one credit but it truly seemed like so much work for just one credit. I appreciate your thoughts.

     

    Thanks!

    Getting in Grammar/ English in HS..credits?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I believe each state would be different. Most equate the credit with the number of hours studied during the year. I'm not sure there is an actual suggested course of study. Most simply say composition with strong grammar skills. So, that would, in my opinion, include:

     

    Reading, Writing, and Grammar

     

    Although, you could just include the writing and grammar and have the Reading as a Literature credit. I'm not sure.

     

    HTH

    Notgrass

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I've been researching High School curricula and just ran across Notgrass. I realize they are not new, but for whatever reason, I've never looked at the program. It looks great! Can anyone share with me their experience using this program? I'm looking at American History for my Freshman and also, the younger history looks pretty good too?

     

    Can anyone give me their opinion. This really looks perfect for us! I'm so excited!!

     

    Thanks~

    MFW grammar/English

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Yes, I see what you all are saying. Unfortunately, we've spent more than enough time on the ancients. We study history classically and do to changes in curriculum we've spent an extra yr in Ancients. I feel like the Jews and want to be freed in the Exodus! :) So, that will not work for us this year. I'm now looking at the Notgrass curriculum. This looks like it might work. Though, I've just begun reading; I am hopeful!

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