LOTS of credits...really, how many is not too many?

[AuntieM]

I know home schoolers are typically able to earn more high school credits than what is typically required to graduate. In our local district it's 24 credits. But I can see my son will have quite a few more than that. I do not want his transcript to appear suspect, kwim?

 

So, how many credits are your high-achieving high schoolers earning? I'd just like to know that if he has 8 or 9 credits earned in a year it will be recognized as doable, not a transcript inflation.

[SW in IL]

I went to a public school where they required 40 credits for graduation. Each semester you passed a class, you earned one credit. At the end of my junior year, I was either 1 or 2 credits shy of the 40 credit requirement and I already fulfilled all the other requirements for graduation. At graduation, I had something like 48 credits.

 

With such variations, even among public schools/students, I doubt it would be suspect.

 

I'll be interested in what others have to say about this.

 

Sue

[Julie in MN]

Each semester you passed a class, you earned one credit.

 

I think semester credits are not what the OP was discussing?

 

Semester credits are common, especially because electives are often not year-long. But I think the OP was discussing year-long credits?

 

Julie

[SW in IL]

Not all schools have year-long credits. Taken from the coursebook from our local public high school (the same one I attended as a kid):

6 credits in math are required for graduation. Of that, 2 credits must be in 1st year algebra and 2 credits must be in geometry.

 

Since both the math classes they refer to are a year long, their year-long classes are worth 2 credits, not 1. Which was part of my point.

 

Some places give 1 credit for a year-long course, some give you 2 credits. At the public high school a friend's daughter is going to, you have to have something like 120 credits to graduate. Each course there is worth between 2 and 4 credits depending on the difficulty (most are worth 3 or 4 credits) and they said that most of the high-achieving students there graduate with better than 150 credits (my friend's daughter, if she doesn't change her track, will graduate with at least 160).

 

<shrug>

 

It's all too confusing, having each school/school district set its own "value" on their classes.

 

Sue

[K-FL]

Not all schools have year-long credits. Taken from the coursebook from our local public high school (the same one I attended as a kid):

6 credits in math are required for graduation. Of that, 2 credits must be in 1st year algebra and 2 credits must be in geometry.

 

Since both the math classes they refer to are a year long, their year-long classes are worth 2 credits, not 1. Which was part of my point.

 

Some places give 1 credit for a year-long course, some give you 2 credits. At the public high school a friend's daughter is going to, you have to have something like 120 credits to graduate. Each course there is worth between 2 and 4 credits depending on the difficulty (most are worth 3 or 4 credits) and they said that most of the high-achieving students there graduate with better than 150 credits (my friend's daughter, if she doesn't change her track, will graduate with at least 160).

 

<shrug>

 

It's all too confusing, having each school/school district set its own "value" on their classes.

 

Sue

Sounds like they're going for the college-type credits. Usually 120 credit hrs is what it takes to get a 4-yr degree.

[Nan in Mass]

In our area, 5 credits is given for a year-long course. I didn't use this system for our transcript because I thought 1 credit/year would be easier for colleges to interpret at a glance, but it wasn't until the end when I was deciding what to do with 3 and 4 credit CC classes that I made that decision.

[Nan in Mass]

In the end, I figured out how many classes/day our public high school had, multiplied it by four years, and made sure my son didn't have too many more than that. I could, in good conscience, have given him much more than that, but in the end, I decided that the credits/amount of material didn't matter too much, that what mattered was the types of material covered. I made sure the transcript reflected what sorts of things my son had studied, in approximately the right proportions, and didn't fuss over the rest. In the school profile part of the paperwork we sent to colleges I noted that a credit was worth a textbook or yeah many hours (can't remember how many) and that a one semester CC class was worth 1/2 a credit, but that isn't really how I counted it. How do you count things like walking through Japan for three months? As hours go, it was worth many credits. There was even a textbook involved since he studied some Japanese before he went. In the end, I counted it as one credit of Japan Studies and let a bit of it count towards his geography credit. And I counted the year-long CC Intro Chem, which was a murderous amount of work, finished the whole college textbook, and was worth 8 CC credits, as one credit. A high school education is a high school education, so I gave our local high school education's amount of credits (more or less), but I don't think a transcript really shows what any interesting student, public schooled or home schooled, has learned.

 

That is just what I decided to do, though. I know there are people here who graduated their students with many more than the standard ps number of credits and didn't have trouble with colleges. And Ellie, who has tons of experience, has a different approach. Hopefully lots of other people will answer you.

 

-Nan

[Ellie]

Here's the thing: Regardless of what credit is normally given for classes in your state, you can figure 7 classes per year, for 4 years. There's no point in earning more than that, other than having your dc learn things you think are important. But IMHO, once your dc reaches the "normal" number of courses/credits/whatever that is common (or that prospective colleges might expect), you graduate him, however old he is.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I'm pretty sure that college admission people just adjust credits to whatever system in order to make a year long course a year long course period.

 

Most schools do 6 to 8 year long classes per year. I would want to be within that number somewhere. I wouldn't want to be under 24 because it suggests the student wasn't taking a full load at some point. Unless that was noted and the reason was extraordinary, I just can't imagine doing that. And I wouldn't want to go much, if at all, over 32 total because though it still is possible to do in some high schools, it's just not likely.

 

Anyway, so 24 to 32 unless you have extraordinary circumstances to back up the extreme either direction. Otherwise, I think doing what every other school does is fine.

 

Btw, you might also consider why you have a lot of credits. If it is for an interest, an instrument kid is proficient, a sport, etc, there may be a place, other than the transcript, more appropriate for certain things. I think one thing homeschoolers make the mistake of is devaluing something by giving it a grade and place on the transcript rather than letting it be what it really is, esp if it's a passion or a real strength or interest.

 

I think it odd anyone would claim a single number is normal when certain schools don't allow their students to get that many except by taking summer college courses or something and other schools require more for every student. I'm much more comfortable with a range that covers the majority of schools.

Edited September 7, 2009 by 2J5M9K

[AnitaMcC]

Here's the thing: Regardless of what credit is normally given for classes in your state, you can figure 7 classes per year, for 4 years. There's no point in earning more than that, other than having your dc learn things you think are important. But IMHO, once your dc reaches the "normal" number of courses/credits/whatever that is common (or that prospective colleges might expect), you graduate him, however old he is.

 

 

Basically what we are doing is a Dual Credit Diploma. At least it is what I call it-LOL. The twins will work on high school and associates degrees at same time.

 

On their high school transcripts they will have...

4 credits of Lang Arts (English 10, 11, World Lit (1/2cr), U.S Lit (1/2cr), DC Rhetoric 1&2)

4 credits of math (Algebra 1 & 2, geometry, DC precalc/trig)

4 credits of science (will depend on student and will be DC courses) (currently we are trying to do chemistry but they will end up redoing it at CC as I am finding that it just isn't working out for us to do it on our own at home).

4 credits of social studies (World History, U.S. History, U.S Govt (1/2cr), Economics 1/2cr), Human Geography (1/2cr), World Religions (1/2cr)

3 credits of PE

4 credits of foreign language (1st year at home, rest DC).

1/2 credit of Drivers Ed

1/2 credit of Health.

4 credits (or 8 half credits) of electives (computers, music, math, science, social studies, etc)

for a total of 28 credits.

 

They will continue to be considered a high schooler until they complete all of the required high school credits. Technically they will complete their high school diploma one year early. By the time they are "normally" to graduate high school, they will earn their associates degree.

 

Also Dh and I decided for the DC courses that we will only give 1/2 high school credit for each CC semester.

[Nan in Mass]

combining things like several composition courses, leaving things like driver's ed, health, home ed, test prep, and phys ed off the transcript (I put in one credit of phys ed, though, because that way I matched our ps's graduation requirements), using things like piano lessons as extra curriculum, and counting one semester CC classes as 1/2 credit. Deciding what to count as for-credit, what to count as extra-curricular, and what to skip or combine was a balancing act. I tried to make the transcript reflect who my son is, his strengths, and in which areas he did the most learning.

-Nan

[AnitaMcC]

combining things like several composition courses, leaving things like driver's ed, health, home ed, test prep, and phys ed off the transcript (I put in one credit of phys ed, though, because that way I matched our ps's graduation requirements), using things like piano lessons as extra curriculum, and counting one semester CC classes as 1/2 credit. Deciding what to count as for-credit, what to count as extra-curricular, and what to skip or combine was a balancing act. I tried to make the transcript reflect who my son is, his strengths, and in which areas he did the most learning.

-Nan

 

For Illinois 3 yrs of PE, 1 semester of drivers ed and 1 semester of health are required for a diploma (from what I have been told). A neighbor's child had to make up PE credit, over summer after senior year for failing PE one semester in sophmore year, before he could get his diploma.

 

For my daughter's music credits.. she is doing music appreciation (1/2 elective credit) and music fundamentals (1/2 elective credit) and then her music lessons are another 1/2 elective credit for this year. Next year she will be taking all her music courses at CC (music theory, music ensemble, instrumental classes). But she is planning on majoring in music so it is important to have it reflect on her high school transcripts I think. For her the actual lessons and music classes won't be considered extracurricular, especially since she will be taking them as DC credits. But if she was to join a homeschool band, church band, or get her teen garage rock band going... these would be extracurricular.

[MamaSheep]

Colleges also like to see that kids have participated in "extracurricular activities", so for some things you could list it as one of those instead of as a "credit". Math club, science club, sports...whatever.

[AnitaMcC]

Colleges also like to see that kids have participated in "extracurricular activities", so for some things you could list it as one of those instead of as a "credit". Math club, science club, sports...whatever.

 

 

I figure for Dd, she takes Kung Fu (various classes), assist/teach Kung Fu classes, and participates in tournaments. Some of her PE credit is from the actual classes she takes regularly each week. The assist/teaching of classes and participating in tournaments are extracurricular. Similar to her music.

 

Ds is interested in doing science or math olympiads but we haven't found any that he can join. So we are still looking... Ds does bowling league each week league that counts towards PE. But the tournaments he participates in will count as extracurricular activities. He also does Kung Fu 3 times a week towards his PE credit.

 

Both participate in Civil Air Patrol and they do physical fitness and drills that I include in the PE credit.

 

Also lessons they have each week and the self study they have to do for promotions, count as credit for an elective that I haven't given a title for the course to yet. I just haven't figured out how to give credit yet for CAP. They also will do a lot of public service tasks that will be listed as extracurricular.

 

They also are in Religious Education (they have two years of confirmation classes for 9th/10th grade) that will be counted as extracurricular.

[Gwen in VA]

My high school in the 80's had seven periods, so a student could earn a maximum of 28 credits.

 

My husband and I (since we went to high school together) have similar thoughts on how we do OUR homeschool credits. Basically, a kid takes 5-6 "academic" classes and then about 1 credit of electives, resulting in a total credit count somewhere around 25 - 28.

 

Our kids did take college classes. The classes took LESS time than most of their AP's (even though they were at a respected 4-year school!) so we only counted the classes as 0.5 credits each. Everyone does this differently!

 

We put ALL extracurricular involvement as extracurriculars. Music, volunteering, CAP, debate -- all of that we considered extracurricular and so didn't list them on the formal transcript (though they were listed on the activities sheet).

 

We didn't list driver's ed anywhere. We didn't list any home economics or life skills classes. We wanted the transcript to showcase our kids' academic credentials, period. (Though 1/2 credit PE and and one 1/2-credit elective per year did get listed.)

[AnitaMcC]

My high school in the 80's had seven periods, so a student could earn a maximum of 28 credits.

 

My husband and I (since we went to high school together) have similar thoughts on how we do OUR homeschool credits. Basically, a kid takes 5-6 "academic" classes and then about 1 credit of electives, resulting in a total credit count somewhere around 25 - 28.

 

Our kids did take college classes. The classes took LESS time than most of their AP's (even though they were at a respected 4-year school!) so we only counted the classes as 0.5 credits each. Everyone does this differently!

 

We put ALL extracurricular involvement as extracurriculars. Music, volunteering, CAP, debate -- all of that we considered extracurricular and so didn't list them on the formal transcript (though they were listed on the activities sheet).

 

We didn't list driver's ed anywhere. We didn't list any home economics or life skills classes. We wanted the transcript to showcase our kids' academic credentials, period. (Though 1/2 credit PE and and one 1/2-credit elective per year did get listed.)

 

 

 

It depends on the state requirements. For us we have to do 3 yrs of PE, drivers ed (classroom portion, but not behind the wheel), health are required. So we have to list these on our high school trancripts. We also have to do certain subjects... 4 yrs of English (two years writing intensive), 3 yrs of math, 3 yrs of science, 1 yr of U.S. History, 1/2 yr of government, 1/2 yr of economics or consumer education. There are other requirements but I don't remember the specifics.

[Pamela H in Texas]

It depends on the state requirements.

 

Most homeschoolers do not need to worry about state requirements at all. I'm sure there is an odd state where that isn't the case, but the majority of us can have our kids meet certain homeschool requirements or do whatever we like. I don't pay much attention to what the state of Texas requires for a diploma as that doesn't concern me in the slightest. I do care what the university wants to see but they almost never care about health, driver's ed, or P.E. I'm sure there is an odd university that cares, but I haven't seen any.

[EKS]

The local school here, supposedly one of the "best" in the state, does not allow kids to exceed 22 credits. This is one reason my son won't be attending the local school. Even as a hybrid homeschool/high school student. I asked what would happen if he were doing "contract studies" (which is basically me teaching him at home and them giving him credit) and he were to exceed the 22 credit maximum. "He can't do that!" I was told. Even though I'm the one doing the teaching and I'm the one funding the enterprise. Can't do it.

 

I'm guessing that my son will be earning somewhere around 30-35 credits. We may pick and choose among those when the time comes.

[Pamela H in Texas]

22 seems so low. I know public schools sometimes say 20-22 credits to graduate when they only offer, during regular school times, 24 total. That gives people the opportunity to mess up a couple credits I guess. But I can't imagine topping kids off at that.

 

I HATED how my classes lined up in high school. There was NO way to take Latin, Dance, Orchestra and Math all four years AND still get all the rest of the minimum requirements. And I couldn't decide to try woodworking or something just cuz either. We had no zero hour, no 7th hour, nothing. Our only chance for additional credits was to take college credits during the summer. I'm so glad my kids have more opportunities formally and informally :)

[Chris in VA]

Unless I was counting dual cc credit (in other words, substituting a cc class for one at home), I would have listed the cc courses separately. Had to, anyway, as the university we applied to required a separate transcript from any cc's.

 

I agree with Pam--6 to 7 classes a year, with one semester high school (not cc) classes counting as half a class, for a total of 24 to 28 credits.

 

I look at what the university admissions requirements are, not the state--the state has no bearing on our transcript at all.

[TravelingChris]

My dd will have enough credits to graduate this year but she will still do a senior year since she can still learn more. I think she will have 4 1/2 years of English, 4.5 years of Social Science, 3 years of math, 3 years of science, 2-3 years of foreign language, 2 years of fine arts, 2 years of PE and driver's ed, and probably more by the time the year is done. I will probably have her do less work next year - Math, Science, and Spanish and then let her work or do college work for anything else. SHe had less work her first year because of a severe illness, and this year she is totally loaded up with work and she worked 12 months last year too. I expect her to graduate with about 28 credits.

[Laurie4b]

In our area, there is block sheduling for high school. I think they take 4 courses a semester (each considered the equivalent of a year long), so the typical student would graduate with 32 credits.

[LanaTron]

 

I HATED how my classes lined up in high school. There was NO way to take Latin, Dance, Orchestra and Math all four years AND still get all the rest of the minimum requirements. And I couldn't decide to try woodworking or something just cuz either. We had no zero hour, no 7th hour, nothing. Our only chance for additional credits was to take college credits during the summer. I'm so glad my kids have more opportunities formally and informally :)

 

There is a "zero hour," but, all the required stuff for the college-bound track leaves very, very little room for electives. Maybe one per year? There's no way my dc could do band and lots of foreign language and a sport, as they are doing.

 

Whenever I get overwhelmed and think that I ought to send my dc to ps, I remember how little freedom they would have as teens, compared to how much they'll have at home with me, even with a full course load. At least it will be a full course load of our choosing.

[Piano&ViolinMom]

I wonder if we really need to worry about 'how many credits too many'. I agree that someone can well exceed usual number of credits in high school. Any disadvantages for getting too many credits?

[AnitaMcC]

I wonder if we really need to worry about 'how many credits too many'. I agree that someone can well exceed usual number of credits in high school. Any disadvantages for getting too many credits?

 

 

None that I can think of.... education is just that... an education.

 

I got my B.S degree with 162 credit hours. I went to college after I got out of the military and was married. I just took courses that I wanted (and some not wanted based on what was required -LOL) and finished up with a B.S. in Psychology. I changed my majors three times and went mostly part time with a few years off here and there when I had kids.

 

For high school I had extra credits too... I don't remember how many above what I needed, but 3/4 of my senior year was beyond the # of credits I needed. I just took courses that I wanted and then some. I am one who enjoys taking a variety of courses... my Dh says... "knowledge of many but master of none". If I had the $$ I would be still taking courses. I have taken a few graduate level courses but money is tight so I had to stop for now.

[Piano&ViolinMom]

For high school I had extra credits too... I don't remember how many above what I needed, but 3/4 of my senior year was beyond the # of credits I needed.

 

Anita, you are right. Like you, if someone like to take extra courses even not exactly required for high school graduation, I feel someone well can earn a lot more credits than usual. The question is that how many credits can possibly be seen as too many, and if those kids will get any type of disadvantage for the college admission.

[Gwen in VA]

A few thoughts --

 

1) If many of the credits are non-academic, they may dilute the effect of the more academic ones.

 

2) At some point, an admissions counselor may wonder if your child is REALLY doing all of the work! If your child is accruing 8 credits per year, that means 6 hours of schoolwork EVERY DAY for 180 days!!! (Assuming of course that no course ever had a project or an exam that required any additional time.) That's a lot of time and a lot of hours. Especially if paired with a generous amount of extracurriculars, the admissions counselor may wonder if your child is "for real."

 

3) At least at the honors / AP level, it is assumed that classes will take more than an hour per day. It is assumed that the student will put in whatever it takes to pursue excellence in that class -- which for my kids in certain classes has meant 2+ hours per day for just one subject.

 

If your child is really accumulating that many credits, an admissions counselor may wonder if the course work was really challenging.

 

If your child is accumulating a ridiculous number of credits in mostly academic subjects through outside coursework and he has outside grades and test scores to verify the work, I would say that you should keep the ridiculous number of credits -- your child is just naturally brilliant! :-)

Edited September 9, 2009 by Gwen in VA

[Piano&ViolinMom]

A few thoughts ......2) At some point, an admissions counselor may wonder if your child is REALLY doing all of the work!......Especially if paired with a generous amount of extracurriculars, the admissions counselor may wonder if your child is "for real." ......If your child is really accumulating that many credits, an admissions counselor may wonder if the course work was really challenging.

Gwen, thank you for your input. I see where such worry comes from.

[Nan in Mass]

High schools use them to check off requirements and keep track of amounts of work completed, but colleges also use them to compare students. From that perspective, you need to think about how much work your child did compared to others and make sure that the amount of credits he has is equivalent to that of students who did a similar amount of work. I slanted this a bit by trying to assign credits only for work in traditional academic subjects (even if my son learned the material in a mostly non-academic way, - I say "mostly" because if it didn't have an academic componant, I didn't count it as a class), but I still tried to look at how much time/work my son had put in compared to other students and give him a sort-of equivalent amount of credits. It was a guess because it is difficult to compare apples and oranges, especially if you aren't teaching the oranges, and my own latest academic memories are of my college classes, but I tried. If your child did large amounts more than your average high-achieving high schooler, and now knows large amounts more, then I think you should go ahead and assign large amounts more credit. Otherwise, I would worry that I was misrepresenting my child. Just another way of looking at it...

-Nan

[Piano&ViolinMom]

If your child did large amounts more than your average high-achieving high schooler, and now knows large amounts more, then I think you should go ahead and assign large amounts more credit. Otherwise, I would worry that I was misrepresenting my child.

 

Nan, this thread is very interesting. The question in this thread is exactly same quesion I had in my mind as soon as I started homeschool my son 1 year ago as a 9th grader. My worry came in subjects where you can excel freely like math or science. In a year he ended up getting college credits in Pre-Calculus, Calculus 1, 2 and 3(=Multivariable Calculus). Someone asked him what he would do when there are 3 more years to go in high school. Someone said, he still need to do maths every year and I guess I agree although I am learning the need to slow down in learning with this type of worry.

[Nan in Mass]

If you go look at the accellerated sp? board, there are theads there about what to do for the rest of high school when your child has finished calculus. The consensus over the years has been that yes, you do have to do math every year, but that it is no problem because there is lots of math other than calculus, especially if you begin looking at the applied stuff. Some of it is even lots of fun. Yours is the sort of student I don't have and don't want anyone thinking I have LOL. I don't want my lovely son being a disappointment to anyone. If he blasted through the math with relatively little effort and time, then I might be tempted to give one credit of math for 9th grade and call it Pre-Calc/Calc1-3. I would think that colleges seeing this as a 9th grade class would (rightly) assume that you have one of those students who is very bright in math. He'll have the test scores to back that up. In fact, I would think that if you didn't have 4 years of math (because, say, your student wanted the time to study something else), it wouldn't be a problem in your particular case. You probably just need some sort of outside proof that he knows the material. He's probably going to be exceptional in the eyes of colleges and they will probably be happy to bend their admittance rules for him. I vote you concentrate on educating him and don't worry about what colleges think. They want to know that the student is well prepared and can handle college-level work. And they might not want too much time to have gone by between when the student covered material in high school and when they will need to use it in college (hence their four-years-of-math recommendation). That's what I'm guessing, anyway.

-Nan

[Piano&ViolinMom]

......then I might be tempted to give one credit of math for 9th grade and call it Pre-Calc/Calc1-3.

Thank you Nan, for your great idea of advice.

[AnitaMcC]

Anita, you are right. Like you, if someone like to take extra courses even not exactly required for high school graduation, I feel someone well can earn a lot more credits than usual. The question is that how many credits can possibly be seen as too many, and if those kids will get any type of disadvantage for the college admission.

 

 

I just can't see a disadvantage as long as there is a way to back up the claim. For us we are going to go the route of college courses in place of a lot of their high school courses. Another would be to take the AP or CLEP exams. Some kids are just fast and/or motivated learners.

 

For Ds... math, science, computer, etc courses he will probably earn way more than typical credits. He struggles in subjects where he has to deal with more than learning factual information. But then that is the weakness he has with the Asperger Syndrome. His talents are in the scientific areas. To him everything is black or white. He sure can solve problems and come up with new ideas and technological advances. Just don't ask him to analyze literature or explain his thoughts on why people do things the way they do... unless you want a "computer" to do the analysis-LOL.

 

His way of analyzing is very methodological. His history papers are very interesting when he is to write an essay on why a civilization did something or how the choices people made impacted a civilization, etc-LOL. And chances are somewhere in the essay he will state that the people were idiots or stupid and he will tell in a logical/scientific way of what went wrong and what should have been done differently.

 

In 5th grade he did a DARE essay. The police officer asked the students to write a essay on what they learned in the DARE program and in what ways (or not) how the program helped them in making better choices and the impact they think it will have in their future choices. The first thing my Ds wrote was that he didn't learn anything in the DARE program. That he already knew that doing drugs, alcohol, smoking were stupid and that he already made the choice of now doing either. Ds wrote a three page typed paper showing how much he knew about the topic (stuff beyond what was taught to the 5th graders, stuff he learned from watching the health channel-LOL)... but he sure wouldn't credit the program for the knowledge. He made quite clear that the program was "useless" for him but he had fun and liked the police officer. The police officer cracked up and had Ds's essay framed in his office.

[AuntieM]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You gals are terrific. I knew I could count on you to make observations on every facet of this topic!

 

Gwen and HomeschoolWhy?, you accurately summed up my concerns about recording too many credits. Nan, your participation is greatly valued, thank you.

 

I appreciate every bit of feedback on this question!

 

I am amazed at how many different systems there are for assigning credits. I pretty much figured one year = one credit. Now my eyes are opened and of course, I remember that credits were counted differently in college. I just thought all high schools were somewhat uniform.

 

I have lots to consider now, but most of all you have validated my thoughts that there should be a very comfortable level of "enough" without waving every single flag he'll have earned. That will give him a good listing of extracurriculars.

 

I will carefully consider his top 5 college picks and see that his transcript both reflects the person he is, as well as highlights the specific items those colleges may consider important.

[Nan in Mass]

I had another thought about those math credits. You could call your son's 9th grade math year Calculus 3. Colleges would assume that he had had precalc, calc1, and calc2 previously. The usual board advice for cases when your child has taken math classes in middle school which are normally taken in high school is to just call the 9th grade year Algebra 2 or whatever, and let colleges assume that the prerequisites were taken previously. A third idea, which might be useful if your son doesn't want to do more math, is to list pre-calc, calc1, calc2, and calc3 as separate courses, give them each a credit, and use an undated transcript. Order the transcript by subject rather than by year. (I organized my son's this way because he had some one credit classes that he studied a little bit at a time over the course of years.) Some colleges won't like it, but if they object, you can give them a second transcript showing what you did when. At that point, they will probably see why you listed things the first way. I like the first idea better, though, because it is more truthful and shows how fast your son is gobbling up the math. It also will keep the 10th grade year, when he covers similar amounts of math, from looking strange or unlikely.

-Nan