Planning for HS...

[WagsWife]

This is going to be the first of many post over the next few months. I have been homeschooling since my oldest dd was in 2nd grade...I have always been confident in what we are doing, but I am starting to freak out over HS.

 

Right now, I am working on English and would like help on credits, course load, and some info on honors classes.

 

This is What I am planning for this year (9th)

 

Season 3 of Analytical Grammar

Lightning Lit (not sure which ones yet)

IEW Continuation Course B

IEW Spelling

Vocab from Classical Roots

 

My questions are:

How is this as far as an English class course load?

How many credits would you allow for this course load?

What would you add if you were going to make this an honors class?

 

If I have her take an honors English class...is it expected that her other classes would all be honors as well? Specifically math. She is not a math person...but does well with TT. She will be taking Algebra II for 9th grade...but I am sure that will not be considered honors level.

[EKS]

I am also planning 9th grade and my plans are similar to yours:

 

Spelling: AAS (remedial)

Grammar: MCT Magic Lens 1

Vocabulary: MCT Word Within a Word 1

Composition: MCT Analytical Writing with The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing and 501 Writing Prompts

Literature: Gilgamesh, Genesis, Job, Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid in depth in the WTM manner, as well as selections from The Bedford Anthology of World Literature

 

I'm not going to list things as honors, but I might indicate where college texts were used. In looking at the plan above, I'm guessing that it will amount to about 2 hours of work per day, split down the middle between the literature and the other things, but I'm not sure if I should give one credit for English or one credit for English Composition and a second one for Ancient Literature.

 

I completely understand about the freaking out thing.

 

Also, TT is not considered honors level. We have been using TT Geometry this year and I've had the opportunity to compare parts of it directly with Jacobs Geometry, which is considered honors level, and the difference is marked. I don't think it's necessary for all course work to be honors level.

[JennW in SoCal]

From what I understand, I don't think your designating a course as "honors" is as important as is outside corroboration from either community college courses or standardized test scores such as SAT IIs, CLEPs or APs. Others who have been there/done that will have more specifics for you, but that isn't an issue you need to worry about at the moment. I hope others will also chime in on what makes something "honors" or not.

 

It looks like both of you are doing the right things by planning for the child in front of you. If he (or she) can rise to a challenge in a subject, then go for it. If you need a "get her done" level of math, don't worry about that either. Give your kids opportunities to explore their interests through volunteer work or travel or other avenues, and highlight that on college applications.

 

For my 10th grader, his English course includes grammar and vocabulary, but it isn't the "meat" of the course. Reading and writing are what matters, and it all adds up to a full one-year credit. We homeschool through a charter school that has NO courses designated as "honors", so I am counting on other factors to help him stand out in a crowd of applicants.

 

Kai -- you are planning what I'm doing with my ds this year. I'm using MCT language arts and have a self-made reading list. I've added a history component to it so he will have a credit in English and in World History. The history component is inspired from the context pages SWB describes in the Rhetoric section on English. My ds has to read about the history of the period of the works he is reading, and then make connections to the modern world. He writes context pages and essays for both courses.

[Storm Bay]

Homeschoolers designating courses as honors isn't necessarily accepted by colleges, but they will look at what you've done and corroborating scores (as Jenn mentioned.) However, in the local ps there are students who take only one or two honours courses and then there are students who take all honours courses.

 

I would definitely get corroborating scores somewhere during high school for math, since it's a newer program, but also for everything important to colleges because there are some homeschooling parents who give easy A's, etc.

[bugs]

I have been homeschooling since my oldest dd was in 2nd grade...I have always been confident in what we are doing, but I am starting to freak out over HS.

 

Glad to know I am not alone....

:lurk5:

[Kareni]

I have a new college freshman this year. We elected to not label any of her courses as Honors. Some of her classes were outside the home AP courses which did bear that designation, others were community college classes, others were taken at home. All of these had equal weight on her transcript.

 

In general, I also only gave one credit of English each year for a combination of writing and literature. The only exception to this was when she took community college classes. I gave one half high school credit for each of her quarter long college classes. Thus when she took three composition and literature classes in 11th and 12th grades, she received one and a half high school credits each year.

 

Best wishes as you plan!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mama Lynx]

For 9th grade I am planning Classical Writing, Great Books reading, and writing about the Great Books.

 

There will be some grammar and analysis with the Classical Writing.

 

We may do remedial spelling.

 

We may add in some extra poetry work.

[Heather in VA]

For 9th grade I am planning Classical Writing, Great Books reading, and writing about the Great Books.

 

There will be some grammar and analysis with the Classical Writing.

 

We may do remedial spelling.

 

We may add in some extra poetry work.

 

Yep this is what we do too - although I use Omnibus to help me with the Great Books thing. We don't do spelling but we do Classical Writing poetry and additional literature via Classical writing. We finished AG before high school.

 

Heather