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I will be doing a correspondence course next year but also plan to do some of my own classes. I want to do Chem. Lab and photography but am trying to figure out if I should do those each for half a year. I also would like to do Greek literature studies for at least half a year, I am just worried that colleges would think I was lying because I was taking so many classes. This is my planned Junior year schedule:

 

Pre-Calc (Honors)*

English III*

American History II or Ancient History (Haven't decided yet)*

Chemistry*

Italian III*

Health Science*

British Literature*

 

Photography (1/2 year)

Chem. Lab (1/2 year)

Greek literature study (1/2 year or full year?)

 

* means outside course

 

Would a college think I was lying if I put this on my transcript? I could prove it to them with school work and such but I would prefer not to go through such a hassle.

 

Also, out of the last three, should I do them all half year or should I do two half year and one full or one half year and two full?

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If you are planning to put together your own courses, you need to make sure they are well documented if you want them to be on your high school transcript. For example, you need to find a sample of these courses from an accredited school and base what you will do in your course around that. You need to come up with a course description and a syllabus. In other words, they need to be just as well-documented as those that you take via correspondence.

 

That said, Chem Lab would be a normal part of Chemistry and would count for less credits than Chemistry. You should do a lab course for every semester you take Chemistry.

 

Photography and Greek Lit. would normally be semester courses with Photography counting as an art credit and Greek Lit as an English elective (or foreign language if you are going to be doing the reading in Greek.

 

You have a very heavy load planned and it is easy to burn out two months (or two days) in. I was home-schooled in high school many years ago and used mostly correspondence type courses. It is very, very easy to let them pile up until you are completing calculus in a weekend because you've let assignments pile up for weeks. I speak from experience! :glare:

 

By the way, the Greek Lit would go very well with Ancient History.

 

Good Luck!

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Pre-Calc (Honors)*

English III*

American History II or Ancient History (Haven't decided yet)*

Chemistry*

Italian III*

Health Science*

British Literature*

 

Photography (1/2 year)

Chem. Lab (1/2 year)

Greek literature study (1/2 year or full year?)

 

* means outside course

 

 

 

It looks English heavy to me, what do you plan for English III? When I was in high school, by junior year, I was doing just lit, one each semester. If your English III includes a semester of literature (I'm betting it does, probably American), then the other two lit. classes may be too much. You might be able to do one this summer if you want to.

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Literature is normally part of your English class, so it typically doesn't get additional credits.

 

Chemistry lab is normally part of your Chemistry class, so it doesn't get additional credits.

 

That would mean that you have:

1.0 Pre-Calc (Honors)*

1.0 English III* with Greek literature

1.0 American History II or Ancient History (Haven't decided yet)*

1.0 Chemistry* with lab

1.0 Italian III*

1.0 Health Science* -- this is typically a 1/2 credit course, have never seen it given a full credit

1.0 British Literature*

 

0.5 Photography (1/2 year)

 

I have seen British literature listed as a separate credit when it is done in addition to a full English course that already has its own literature component, so I can see marking that as a full credit.

 

That would 7.5 credits, which is quite a full load.

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It's easy to be excited about the coming year and find things you really want to take! :) However, realistically, this is your first year of homeschooling coming up. It's WAY different than going to school! There will be adjustments to be made, a learning curve as you get used to schooling on your own. Sometimes, after the newness wears off, it's hard to keep yourself motivated, and, as Heather pointed out, things can start piling up. With a heavy schedule, it could get a little overwhelming to keep up. Sooooo, you may want to keep this year a bit lighter to allow for those adjustments. If you get in a groove, and are doing well, THEN you can add in something if you feel you want to.

 

Another good suggestion was doing one of the 1/2 credit courses over the summer to get it out of the way.

 

I'm not saying you CAN'T do this, it's certainly doable. My ds16 did 8 hours his Freshman year. However, he had always homeschooled, and I'm a stay-at-home mom, so when his motivation lagged, I nagged! :D No, I helped him work through it, as I knew it was stuff he REALLY wanted to do! If you have a strong support person or people, that will help tremendously!

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The Health course from them is full credit which I also thought was odd.

This year I got 1/2 credit for Biology Lab and then 1 full credit for Biology so a full 1.5 credits for Biology all together so I think I might list them like that again just so I don't confuse myself or my transcript.

 

Also, I am not entirely sure if Health is even required. The woman downtown was looking at my subjects list and told me she didn't see Health and that I needed it. She doesn't know much about home schooling so was she in the wrong telling me I needed Health or do I need Health? I took it in 6th and 8th grade and while that won't be on my transcript I really doubt colleges would not accept me for lack of a high school Health course.

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Find a homeschooling association for your state to see if it is required for graduation. In SC, you need one year of PE OR Health. We do PE :) Homeschooling law sometimes is different than what the schools require. And, you may be able to use the 8th grade Health for high school credit. You are allowed to pull two eighth grade classes for high school credit if they are high school level.

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Have you thought about tying in your literature to your history studies? It's really helpful to study the time period and the lit at the same time--you can see how history influences the lit of the time, and sometimes, vice versa.

 

Most colleges do not want to see separate credit for science labs--they are a part of the expected science courses. Also, lit is rarely given its own credit--sometimes, but rarely.

 

So I say, decide on your history time period, and do the lit that most matches it. You could do ancient history, and read from around the world--some Greek, some ancient British (like Beowulf), some Roman, some early Church, for example.

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