Ever given credit the year the subject is finished?

[Joan in GE]

ETA - I should have said "finally finished". Most people are giving credits when they are finished - lol.

 

I'm working on the transcript and want to do two types, the "by the year" and the "by the subject" formats. (I'm thinking that "by the year" is what they are used to seeing over here).

 

But when I do the "by the year" style, I have a 1/4 American History in 9th, 1/2 American History in 10th, and a final 1/4 American History in 11th. (This mess happened since I now want to get a diploma through a US umbrella school and so have had to separate out of our history studies, the part that is actually "American" and give a separate credit for the other part - which is then just as messy - for "World" history).There is the same problem for Fine Arts - except it is 1/3 FA 9th, 1/3 FA in 10th and 1/3 FA in 11th.

 

I am wondering if it immoral to just give the final credit when it is actually finished - both being in 11th grade? (Except then I note that he will be getting 2 credits of history in 11th grade)

 

Then there is a slightly similar problem for German II except it is the reverse. It was 95% finished at the end of 10th at the end of June, and he finished it up at the end of the summer, but in actuality, that is already counting as 11th for our school years. On the paper from OSU, the only date they give is when the letter is written with the grades. I had wanted to put it in 10th since most of the work was done then. He did German I entirely in 10th. And is now doing German III in 11th - and that should be entirely finished in this school year. He may even end up starting IV....This is messy when they can work at their own pace.

 

So it is not like I can really apply the same rule to all situations.

 

I do have to say that my son's international school diploma where there was this mixture of 1/2 or less credits all over the place because of the way they do the mixed science and social studies looks like a real mess (he then just did a regular US diploma).

 

Thanks for input!

Joan

Edited October 12, 2010 by Joan in Geneva

[rieshy]

I've done this- especially with History.

 

With my oldest two we followed/and are loosely following Ambleside. My oldest dd took several years to go through all the history reading, especially Churchhill's 4 volume history of the English Speaking Peoples- I just organized the courses into titles that would make a traditional American transcript. I mapped out 4 years ahead of time to make sure they would hit all the required courses. Mostly it worked out but a few times I've given credits when they finished instead of in the year where the bulk of the work was completed.

 

The only alternative for me was to teach much more traditionally- but history is a passion for our family and I didn't want to water it down so that the courses would fit more rigidly/traditionally.

 

I don't feel like it is immoral at all. I'm not giving credit for something they have not done.

 

In fact, they've studied quite a bit that I'm not giving credit for. For instance, my daughter is studying Art History this year. I'm not planning to give credit because she is already carrying a full load. I've been warned by our umbrella school that if her transcript has too many credit hours above and beyond the required, that colleges start to look askance because they assume that you've been giving Mickey Mouse classes.

[Joan in GE]

The only alternative for me was to teach much more traditionally- but history is a passion for our family and I didn't want to water it down so that the courses would fit more rigidly/traditionally.

 

It is true too that it is wonderful to have flexibility and helps make homeschool empowering esp to children who thrive on getting to work ahead, or those who need more time with a certain subject.

 

Joan

[romeacademy]

I've also got a few courses where 1/2 was completed in one year and 1/2 the next year. For us it's math because dd started Algebra in Jan of 8th grade, and that put Geometry mid-way through 9th grade. Throw in my grandma's illness and death last fall and some things just got out of whack. As you said, I don't want to end up giving too many credits for the same subject in a given year, so I'm giving the credit in the year the course was started. And since she's actually done the work, I don't see anything wrong with formatting the transcript in a way that is familiar to admissions folks.

[regentrude]

I do not see any problems with it. After all, the work was done. Why should it matter how that was achieved?

In many ways I find it preferable to work on more subjects simultaneously over a longer time, rather than compartmentalizing everything into neat one year slices.

[Mejane]

My daughter took two years to finish Algebra 2 at home because she was so busy with ballet and college. It worked out well to put it on her junior year because she had taken a math in her sophomore year at college as well. I agree this flexibility is one of the major advantages of homeschooling.

[Cedarmom]

That is what I did. I didn't consider it immoral, I just considered it writing in a langauge they understood. I had to do years, and I couldn't say we started in the middle of one yr and finished the next. It just seemed easiest for the college to understand. The important thing was, he had done the credit. I don't think they really care what year, it is just how some applications are set up.

[Joan in GE]

Thank you all.:001_smile:

 

Joan

[Ellie]

I never give less than half a credit, so in my house, those subjects wouldn't get credit until they were completed.

[Joan in GE]

That sounds like a good way of looking at it...

 

Thanks,

Joan

[lakotajm]

So if she did not finish Biology until 10th grade, I enter the credits for 10th and then it just looks like she did not do any science in 9th. Is that right? Would that not look odd? Are they used to that sort of thing?

Lakota

[bobbeym]

I put the credit where it looks like it "belongs" and don't worry about when it was actually completed. The only thing that is important to me is that it was completed and they learned the material.  DIL's transcript would be a complete mess if we didn't do it that way.

[Mom22ns]

I give credit for when the majority of the class was done. I don't think they want to see 1/4 here and 1/2 there.

 

This is exactly what I would do. Ds started Algebra 2 last year and did 1/4 of it. He will do the other 3/4 this year. He will get credit this year. 

 

Dd didn't quite finish algebra last year and is doing the last two chapters this year before moving onto Geometry. I'll put the credit for Algebra in 8th because that is when 3/4 of it was done. She'll have a geometry credit this year.

 

I've never spread a class over 3 years, but I would put the credit where the most work was done. I would also flex that to make sure one year didn't look too light though.

[klmama]

I gave ds his half credit for music appreciation this past semester. That's when he watched the TC lectures and took the quizzes, but I amassed his huge pile of programs for recitals and concerts over the previous three years. He's gotten dragged to a lot of things for his sisters... :lol:

 

Margaret, did you write up the quizzes yourself, or are they something that came with the lectures?

[regentrude]

I give credit for when the majority of the class was done. I don't think they want to see 1/4 here and 1/2 there.

 

I have a few electives (music, art, computer skills) that are covered on a continuing basis throughout high school, with one credit being the cumulative result. My students earn  1/4 credit each year; listing three full credits in senior year would be a gross misrepresentation.

I use a transcript format that has columns for years and groups rows of courses into subject blocks, similar to samples posted in other threads.

For each of those electives, I list the course title and 0.25 credit on the same line in each column for each year of high school - the format makes it rather self-explaining. I also describe it in the course descriptions.