Non-traditional courses & sequence

[ondreeuh]

We are moving to the Alaska Bush this summer to teach in a tiny village. Because it is so small, the school is multiage and ungraded. The students work through levels based on standards. Teachers (dh!) have a lot of flexibility in the curricula they use, and if a student wants to take an online/home study course or CC course, the district will pay for it.

 

Upon graduation they convert the standards to Carnegie Units. It's easy to say that the student finished the Algebra 2 book so they get a credit for Alg. 2, but it gets more interesting when you convert the science or history into a CU. Their science is integrated until biology. If dd wants to take a traditional chem or physics, we will have to plan that on our own. Social Studies is integrated as well, split between civics/government, economics, geography, and history each year.

 

For the transcript, perhaps the school doesn't sort by grade but instead by subject? So they could say that in four years, she took 1 credit of Civics/government, 1/2 credit Economics, 1 credit Geography, 1 credit U.S. History, and 1 credit World History .. or however it breaks down. Is that an acceptable method?

 

The school definitely veers more towards vo-tech than college prep. They have a lot of amazing opportunities for real-life learning but I don't want dd to be at a disadvantage. I suppose she will have an amazing college essay that will help her overcome any perceived shortcomings, and I don't want her sitting inside with her nose in a textbook when there are so many other ways she could be learning (with peers!). On the other hand, I'd always assumed she'd take a traditional path through high school and I don't want her college options limited because her transcript had 3 years of "general science."

 

Here's an example: one of the programs they're going to offer is a Maritime/Nautical science course. They will cover:

 

 

• Nautical mapping training
  
• Survival Craft training
  
• Aquaculture/Hatchery training
  
• Seafood processor orientation and safety
  
• GPS training
  
• Nautical Geo Caching
  

 

That's a 3-month program, I believe. I was thinking she could do that and Miller & Levine's Biology, just doing the first 18 chapters (human bio) for a Biology credit.

 

Any input is helpful! Honestly, I'm very excited that that school teaches this way, especially for my boys. The school pushes for students to create their individual learning plan and set their own goals for what they want to work on each quarter. It's just my rising sophomore who I worry about adjusting to this new way of doing things with college coming up so soon.

[In The Great White North]

I wrote ds's transcript by topic not year. None of his colleges had a problem with it.

 

However, there have been some colleges mentioned here that do require it by year.