Does Religion count toward HS hours?

[SKL]

In our state, a minimum number of "school" hours are required for homeschoolers.

 

If you live in a state with that rule, and your child studies religion, does religion count toward the hours requirement?

 

I assume I can count the Bible as "reading," etc., but what about activities that don't fall under any other academic category?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[truebluexf]

I don't see why not...it counts at a religious school.

[mommaduck]

We count all religious activities.

[chepyl]

I would assume so. Just call it religious studies.

[go_go_gadget]

I don't see why not...it counts at a religious school.

 

It likely varies from state to state, but I think in most states the private schools are not subject to the same rules that public and homeschools are, depending on what the filing options for homeschooling are. In CA, we can file as private schools and have total discretion from there, but if you register with a charter school no part of charter funds can be used for religious materials and I imagine that you can't count religion-specific hours of study, unless you're doing a multi-religion study in a cultural studies sort of way. That said, you can probably just call it social studies and no one will investigate further.

[SKL]

Everything counts towards HS hours in my mind.

 

So would you count Sunday School (that's an hour a week), or is that pushing it? Would you count church? Neither of those sparked this question, but now that we're on it . . . .

 

I should note that I'm not gettng any funding from the state nor any tax benefits or any of that. Just trying to provide my kid an education which the school system is presently denying her due to her age.

[zenjenn]

I don't think it is ethical for the state to dictate what you do with your time anyways, so I'd count whatever you think of as education.

[Ellie]

In CA, we can file as private schools and have total discretion from there, but if you register with a charter school no part of charter funds can be used for religious materials and I imagine that you can't count religion-specific hours of study, unless you're doing a multi-religion study in a cultural studies sort of way. That

That would be correct: you cannot count that time.

[Scuff]

If I were in a state that required it, I would not count church or ss. They would do that with or without hsing and it wouldn't count towards school otherwise. I would count studies that they do as a part of school.

[9763653]

I would count it.

 

But, out of interest, would you list it as "religious studies" or include it in some other subject, whether reading, writing, social studies, or whatever?

 

And on a separate note, if you were enrolled in a school that required religious studies, or in a country that requires it (as we are, on both counts), how would you report? Religion is at the center of everything we do, so would you use that? Church attendance, Sunday school, watching Biblical cartoons... would you count that?

Edited September 4, 2011 by Dialectica

[mommaduck]

We count it as Religious Education.

 

However, if it's volunteering at the monastery, then it counts towards community volunteer hours. Greek School counts as foreign language (it's modern Greek and there is no religious aspect to it). Liturgy, SS, VCS (VBS), Camp, and any other falls under Religious Education.

[RootAnn]

In our state, a minimum number of "school" hours are required for homeschoolers.

 

If you live in a state with that rule, and your child studies religion, does religion count toward the hours requirement?

 

I assume I can count the Bible as "reading," etc., but what about activities that don't fall under any other academic category?

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

My state requires a certain # of hours per year, but doesn't require us to list them out under the required subjects (Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, etc.). I would certainly count our religious studies towards the total hours, just like I count other non-required subjects (Latin, Logic, Music, etc.).

 

So would you count Sunday School (that's an hour a week), or is that pushing it? Would you count church? Neither of those sparked this question, but now that we're on it . . . .

 

I wouldn't count any religious activity that I am not heading up/teaching. It is a bit of a double standard, because if my kids were in a co-op, I'd probably count those hours even though I wasn't teaching them. I don't count their extra-curricular activities that I don't teach (karate, P.E., gymnastics) towards their total hours.

 

But, out of interest, would you list it as "religious studies" or include it in some other subject, whether reading, writing, social studies, or whatever?

 

And on a separate note, if you were enrolled in a school that required religious studies, or in a country that requires it (as we are, on both counts), how would you report? Religion is at the center of everything we do, so would you use that? Church attendance, Sunday school, watching Biblical cartoons... would you count that?

 

I do plan on including 'religious studies' of some sort on their (high school) transcripts, if we get that far. I would only count actual _studies_ - not just passive attendance or watching a movie. Volunteer time would go under the volunteering category - not as an actual study subject. Just my PPV.

[SKL]

I don't count their extra-curricular activities that I don't teach (karate, P.E., gymnastics) towards their total hours.

 

Hmm, I was thinking that if a specialized teacher was teaching it, it should count at least as much. I am counting my kids' karate, gymnastics, dance, music, art, Spanish, French, etc. which are taught by different people who are certified / professionally trained / native speakers, i.e., know more about the subject than I do and have experience teaching it to kids. Most of the classes are the same ones my other daughter attends as part of traditional (charter school) KG. Ugh, I hope this won't be controversial.

[MamaBearMO]

Not sure what state you're in, but in MO we log hours and religion falls under electives (400 hours a year). In the hours you count toward electives you can count formal classes children take outside your homeschool location, religion you do in your homeschool and other activities related, so going to church. The thing is that it's not a core subject, so most around here go way over on the electives hours anyway.

[mschickie]

My district (in NY) states you may count any legitimate learning experience towards your hours. In their example they even list Church choir. When dd used to go to ss we counted that in her total hours, also VBS counts in my opinion since she is learning music, art, religion and having gym time. Some folks do not choose to count it and that is fine but as long as she is learning something I count it.

[My3Monkeys]

In our state, we have a minimum number of hours with a percentage that need to be in core subjects (math, language arts, science and social studies) while the rest are considered non-core. I would put religious studies under non-core unless it was being done as a part of social studies (history of various religions, etc).

 

Are you required to track hours though? If your child is still too young for public school you shouldn't have to worry about it.

[9763653]

I can imagine counting it as reading, writing (if any writing is going on), and social studies.

 

Religious studies is required in your country? What country is that if I may be so nosy?

 

PM-ed you.

[higginszoo]

It would depend on the state. When I lived in a state that required me to count hours (though I never had to report them), I DID count religious education. My reasoning was that in junior and senior high schools, children of the majority faith were allowed to use one class period to have religious education at a building adjacent to campus in most public schools.

[Hunter]

Unless I was specifically forbidden and individually confronted to not to count religious education as school hours, I would do so. We often did scripture based unit studies. Our history timelines were based on scripture and church history. The KJV Bible was our main literature/reading book. We studied Ancient Greek. When we studied current events we talked about the Bible and missions. It was all so integrated. I usually only logged doctrine and actual Bible curriculum as "Bible".

 

I never counted church as school hours. I can see how it could be though. It never occurred to me :-0 But we were so busy, I didn't need those hours.

[Michele B]

In Georgia, the official 4 1/2 homeschool hours must INCLUDE certain subjects: math, science, etc. I take the word include to mean that I am free to add additional subjects in my official homeschool hours as I see fit. Now counting it on a high school transcript would be a different matter.

[Jenny in Florida]

So would you count Sunday School (that's an hour a week), or is that pushing it? Would you count church? Neither of those sparked this question, but now that we're on it . . . .

 

We don't have to count hours in Florida, but I do keep track for certain subjects once the kids reach high school level. (It's one way to determine a credit.) My rough rule at that point is that I don't count towards their homeschooling hours any activity that a public school student might also do in their non-school time.

 

So, for example, Sunday school wouldn't count for us, because public and private school students attend the exact same classes and don't get school credit. Ditto with dance classes music lessons and so on.

 

Both of my kids have received/will receive credit on their high school transcripts for world religions, but that comes from actually studying the subject as part of school.

[SKL]

So, for example, Sunday school wouldn't count for us, because public and private school students attend the exact same classes and don't get school credit. Ditto with dance classes music lessons and so on.

 

So now I'm curious about how people do phys ed. My kids attend a daycare that has coaches come in during school hours. Soccer, dance, gymnastics, karate, and stretch'n'grow. They have half an hour of this type of activity each day. It's more than just running around; it includes vocabulary, arts, health education, and so on. Since I was never exactly athletic, it seems to me that counting these classes as phys ed makes more sense than my leading them in jumping jacks or whatever - or counting the time they spend at the pool or park with me. Am I completely off base? How is that any different from counting time in a co-op?

 

I kinda thought church was iffy, but Sunday School is actual instruction, which some but not all PS kids get. Hmm. I added a column in my tracking spreadsheet for Religion and I'll log the hours to beef up the total, but I will make sure I have enough hours without that.

[Mimm]

I live in Missouri and we count hours but we differentiate between core and non-core subject (with a certain number of our hours between required to be core subjects). So, I would count any religious study to be a non-core subject. The law defines what is a core subject so no matter how central to our lives I felt religious study was to our lives, it's still a non-core subject. I personally would not feel comfortable counting Sunday school or church activities in general as school hours unless they were involved in an in depth Bible study during a time other than Sunday morning.

 

As far as Phys Ed, I count Tae Kwon Do classes (twice a week) and ballet for my 8 year old (once a week) and any sport that my 10 year old does. I know these are things that public schooled children are involved in as well, but oh well. It's not a huge chunk of hours anyway, and I went over my requirement last year by quite a bit.

[Jenny in Florida]

So now I'm curious about how people do phys ed. My kids attend a daycare that has coaches come in during school hours.

 

Well, in Florida we're not required to follow any particular list of courses. However, for PE high schoolers in public school here have the option of taking a healthy-living-type class in place of the regular PE requirement. And it's available online. So, I'd do that if we did have to satisfy the requirement. Or I might have them document their physical activity through something like the President's Fitness Challenge (or whatever it's called). But, no, I wouldn't count regular extracurriculars or play time for credit.

 

But I may be extra picky.

[My3Monkeys]

I count extracurricular sports as school hours. With all of our outside activities, I'm not sure how I'd ever get in all of my required hours if I didn't.:lol:

[SKL]

I count extracurricular sports as school hours. With all of our outside activities, I'm not sure how I'd ever get in all of my required hours if I didn't.:lol:

 

Right - a lot of what we do is stuff that PS kids can do at the same time. We spend several hours per week at museums and the zoo. Although I make it a point to incorporate science, geography, etc., part of the time is just spent in observation, and I count that too. I'm going to jail, aren't I?

 

When PS classes go to the zoo or museum, they count that, don't they?

[freesia]

Yes, it counts.

 

Catholic and Christian schools have religion class.(Probably Jewish and Muslim schools, too, I just don't have experience with those.)

 

When I student taught in Mass. the kids in ps had release time to go across the street to the Catholic school for religion class.

 

Anne

[MamaBearMO]

Right - a lot of what we do is stuff that PS kids can do at the same time. We spend several hours per week at museums and the zoo. Although I make it a point to incorporate science, geography, etc., part of the time is just spent in observation, and I count that too. I'm going to jail, aren't I?

 

When PS classes go to the zoo or museum, they count that, don't they?

 

They do count that, and your trips to museums, the zoo, etc. also count. I'm not sure what state you're in, but in MO, the core subjects are defined by "in the homeschool location" and "outside the homeschool location" to specifically allow for the time we spend going places and doing things that are not done at our normal location (home).

 

Out of the 600 hours we must do for the core subjects, 400 (or more) must occur at the homeschool location, the additional required 200 hours (or more) can be at the homeschool location OR outside the homeschool location, so anywhere...like listening to story of the world in the car (history), going to a presentation about MO Indians given the next town over (social studies/history), going to the library (LA/reading), visiting a science center in St. Louis (science). What I don't count is the time to get to or from an activity, unless the activity is in the car (like story of the world or doing mental math verbally).

[SKL]

Out of the 600 hours we must do for the core subjects, 400 (or more) must occur at the homeschool location, the additional required 200 hours (or more) can be at the homeschool location OR outside the homeschool location, so anywhere...

 

So if you were doing a lot of travel to learn hands-on about geography, geology, history, botany, zoology, etc., you would still have to have a minimum 600 hours at home? Bummer. I don't know if our state has a rule like that or not. The info I looked at just said you have to commit to doing 900 hours per year, and you can either turn in your curriculum or submit test results.

[MamaBearMO]

So if you were doing a lot of travel to learn hands-on about geography, geology, history, botany, zoology, etc., you would still have to have a minimum 600 hours at home? Bummer. I don't know if our state has a rule like that or not. The info I looked at just said you have to commit to doing 900 hours per year, and you can either turn in your curriculum or submit test results.

 

No.

 

We have a total minimum of 1000 hours a year.

 

CORE

 

600 hours minimum must be in the core subjects of math, language arts, reading, science and social studies.

 

Of that 600 hours for the core subjects, at minimum, 400 must be completed in the homeschool location. The additional 200 hours that are mandatory for the core subjects may be outside the normal homeschool location.

 

ELECTIVES

 

400 additional hours of instruction may be elective subjects OR additional time doing core subjects.

 

These additional 400 hours can be done anywhere - in the homeschool location or outside the homeschool location.

 

----------------

 

So the reality is, that of the 1000 mandatory minimum hours we need to log, at least 400 in the core subjects needs to be at home......200 core hours can be outside or at home......the other 400 can be core or elective and can be anywhere - so really, up to 600 can be done outside the homeschool location, as long as a minimum of 400 are done at home from the total 1000 a year we need to do.

 

Does that make sense?

[NanceXToo]

Everything counts towards HS hours in my mind.

 

I don't think it is ethical for the state to dictate what you do with your time anyways, so I'd count whatever you think of as education.

 

I count extracurricular sports as school hours. With all of our outside activities, I'm not sure how I'd ever get in all of my required hours if I didn't.:lol:

 

Right - a lot of what we do is stuff that PS kids can do at the same time. We spend several hours per week at museums and the zoo. Although I make it a point to incorporate science, geography, etc., part of the time is just spent in observation, and I count that too.

 

:iagree: with all of this. I'm not religious but if I was, yep, I'd count it. We have to count days or hours here in PA and as far as I'm concerned, if it's at all educational, it "counts." Religious studies would count, if we did them. Bedtime stories count. Educational television shows count. Field trips count. Judo at the Y and guitar lessons count.

 

To tell you the truth, I really DON'T officially, formally "count" anything because as far as I'm concerned, my kids are doing something educational or learning something 365 days a year. I just sort of roll my eyes at the "attendance requirements" for my homeschooled kids and go about my life, submitting some sort of statement in my portfolio at the end of the year about how we more than met the required number of days and/or hours. And I don't feel even remotely dishonest doing so.

[MamaBearMO]

So if you were doing a lot of travel to learn hands-on about geography, geology, history, botany, zoology, etc., you would still have to have a minimum 600 hours at home? Bummer. I don't know if our state has a rule like that or not. The info I looked at just said you have to commit to doing 900 hours per year, and you can either turn in your curriculum or submit test results.

 

Here we don't turn in anything - unless we are asked to by a prosecuting attorney. We don't report here, but we must keep records in case we need to prove we are indeed educating our children within the regulations set by the state.

 

It doesn't sound like your state has the same type of set up - you do 900, you record it, you report it. Have you looked at the summary for your state with HSLDA?

[My3Monkeys]

So if you were doing a lot of travel to learn hands-on about geography, geology, history, botany, zoology, etc., you would still have to have a minimum 600 hours at home? Bummer. I don't know if our state has a rule like that or not. The info I looked at just said you have to commit to doing 900 hours per year, and you can either turn in your curriculum or submit test results.

 

Not exactly. You have to do 1000 hours total. 600 have to be in the core areas and of those 600 hours, 400 have to be done in the "main homeschool location." There is no requirement for where you do the 400 non-core hours so 600 of your total hours (200 core and 400 non-core) can be done out of the home.

 

eta: It looks like this was already answered :)