Who has English credits vs. English AND Literature credits

[krisperry]

WTM awards both English and Literature credits each year. It seems more common to have just an English credit.

 

Can yall share which method you chose, why and what you used to comprise the class?

 

My general understanding is that English I, II, III... is primarily literature and composition. If you add spelling, grammar, punctuation and whatnot... you now have English on top of Literature.

 

Or do you just award English even if it takes a lot more than 180 hours....

 

Here is my plan. Do you see English or English and Literature?

 

Lost Tools of Writing

World Literature (my list is here) - discussion, analysis, and papers

 

Vocabulary Study

Analogies III

Poetry and Plato from MCT (my daughter's favorite)

Killgallon Sentence Composing

Something to brush up on punctuation

[Jenny in Florida]

Or do you just award English even if it takes a lot more than 180 hours....

 

Yes. That's exactly what we do, mostly because my kids always have plenty of credits and I don't want any college to assume we're padding the transcript.

 

Here is my plan. Do you see English or English and Literature?

 

Lost Tools of Writing

World Literature (my list is here) - discussion, analysis, and papers

 

Vocabulary Study

Analogies III

Poetry and Plato from MCT (my daughter's favorite)

Killgallon Sentence Composing

Something to brush up on punctuation

 

It does look like a good amount of work. I'm sure there are enough raw hours to justify more than a single English credit.

 

I know my son has put in far more than 180 hours this year and will do so again next year, doing both literature study and grammar/composition. Next year, in particular, he'll be doing more review of spelling and puctuation, because it has become clear this year that he needs it. He'll still just get the one credit, though. (Shhhh. Don't tell him!)

 

I guess another reason I get twitchy about giving more than one credit is that I kind of think my son should have mastered those mechanical skills some time ago. The fact that he's reviewing them at the high school level somehow doesn't feel like it should entitle him to a "reward" in the form of an additional credit.

Edited April 10, 2012 by Jenny in Florida

[Michelle in AL]

One year I awarded both lit and english credits, but according to several colleges that dd talked to, they don't want to see this. They expect one "english credit" per yr, and more would just count as an elective.

[krisperry]

Dang, I forgot spelling. She is a terrible speller and I refuse to give up :tongue_smilie: Her father despite being a lawyer and being very well-read is a terrible speller. Definitely an uphill battle. Still, my husband hates being such a poor speller and wants her to work hard on it all the way through high school. I agree.

[krisperry]

One year I awarded both lit and english credits, but according to several colleges that dd talked to, they don't want to see this. They expect one "english credit" per yr, and more would just count as an elective.

 

Huh. Do they do that for all subjects? So if you do 4 years of science and then 2 extra science classes. The 2 extras are listed under electives?

 

It would make sense for my daughter to have electives that are in the language arts / social science arena. That is where her interest lies.

 

Thanks!

[Melissa B]

We will have one year of Composition (probably 9th) and three years of Literature. Any grammar work we plan to do will get rolled into the literature credit.

[krisperry]

 

I guess another reason I get twitchy about giving more than one credit is that I kind of think my son should have mastered those mechanical skills some time ago. The fact that he's reviewing them at the high school level somehow doesn't feel like it should entitle him to a "reward" in the form of an additional credit.

 

 

This is where I am. Is it "fair" or "right" that she get another credit because she is still working on spelling, punctuation.... But then, the analogies and vocabulary and poetics are more "legit". Ugh, I just don't know.

 

Where is the wall to bang my head against? :lol:

[Briartell]

The college my daughter is looking at has a recommended high school course transcript that they prefer. They show the minimum course load to apply as well. We will be following the course load they prefer. Maybe you can look at what the colleges are looking for and model your courses after that.

[elegantlion]

This is where I am. Is it "fair" or "right" that she get another credit because she is still working on spelling, punctuation.... But then, the analogies and vocabulary and poetics are more "legit". Ugh, I just don't know.

 

Where is the wall to bang my head against? :lol:

 

:banghead: Here it is. I'll bang mine too. I'm looking at our English credit for 9th. Ds needs another year of grammar, he's a remedial writer so we'll be doing at least two years of writing instruction.

[krisperry]

UNC-CH:

 

All applicants must present the following minimum units from high school in order to be considered for transfer admission:

 

4 years of English

3 years of mathematics (algebra I, algebra II, and geometry or a higher level math course for which algebra II is a prerequisite)

3 years of natural science (one biological, one physical, and at least one laboratory)

2 years of social science (one must be United States history)

2 additional years of electives in the academic areas listed above, preferably foreign languages and mathematics.

[Melissa in CA]

Our umbrella school says that all "English" work: spelling, grammar, literature, composition, etc. be listed under English. I can list it as either English I, II, III, IV or English 9, 10, 11, 12. We must also study American Lit and British Lit at some point in our high school studies...both of which also go under the English subject heading. It is assumed, I believe, that most high school students are no longer studying spelling and grammar and that their English credit consists of literature and vocab studies with composition. But even with just those three an English credit can far exceed 1 hr a day. That's just the way it is. :tongue_smilie:

 

But, having said that, I have every intention of giving my ds an extra Literature elective credit next year (10th). We will be using MFW WHL which includes composition, and British Lit and I will be adding in CLE grammar. That will be his English 10 credit. But, he will also be completing Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings next year and for that I plan to give him an elective credit...either a 1/2 or a full credit...I have not decided.

 

So all that to say...yes, unless you are completing two separate full literature programs, you would award one English credit for what you have planned, even if it takes you 3 hours a day.

[Teachin'Mine]

We are using Seton, so all the English courses are assigned and designed by them. In 9th there's 9th grade English and a separate credit for Grammar and Composition. 10th and 12th are just English, but 11th requires an additional credit of American Literature. World Literature can also be taken as an elective in 10th or 12th. If the amount of time and workload qualify for a separate credit, then I don't see any problem listing them separately. I'd make sure there's extra credits so if college admissions decides to combine them for their calculations, your student would still have enough credits. And if they decide to count "extra" English courses as electives instead, I don't see any harm in that either.

[yinne]

Depends on the child and what they have done. My oldest has done TOG and she has done ALL of the literature and all of the papers. In addition she has worked on other compositions, grammar studies and vocabulary studies with other texts. I have no problem at all awarding her two credits.

 

The other two have not done the amount of literature that she has done so I will probably combine their credits. However in comparison to their cousins at the local public school they have done at least twice as much;)

 

Yvonne in NE

[Kendall]

I have given 1.5 credits each year for a course titled English 9 with Ancient Literature. Or I could have listed it on the transcript as English 9- 1 credit and .5 credit Ancient Literature. I did this because I wanted a full writing course and a lot of literature. It wasn't quite enough time for 2 credits, but plenty for 1.5. We did the course for the entire year and they had 1 hour 45 min of class time (and sometimes homework). Others on this board may disagree with me, but I gave it more than 1 credit. It doesn't really matter whether it counts as an elective or an English credit as long as you have the minimum English credits needed. I did a small amount of grammar and vocabulary, but mostly writing and literature.

[Lori D.]

We've done enough Literature so that I count some of it towards the Literature portion of the English credit and the rest towards a partial elective Great Books credit. However, our time got more limited the older DSs were, so that by grade 12, we were just doing enough and a little over for the English credit, but not enough over to count towards an additional Great Books credit.

 

Our English credit includes:

- Spelling/Vocab (grades 9-11)

- Grammar -- light review/grammar usage & mechanics (grades 9-11)

- Writing (grades 9-12)

- Literature (grades 9-12)

 

In determining how much Literature is enough for the English credit, I tend to think of the English as overall 1/2 Writing and 1/2 Literature (I throw in the spelling, vocabulary, grammar as extra because we do them at a "lite" level by high school). That means we need about a 1 semester program to equal the Literature portion of the English credit -- programs such as Windows to the World; LLATL: Gold (Learning Language Arts Through Literature); Lightning Lit (high school levels); etc. are all 1 semester (0.5 credit) courses, so that would take care of the Literature portion of the English credit. Anything done over and above that can be counted towards an additional Great Books credit.

 

BTW: I do NOT count historical fiction works as Literature; we don't do a lot of historical fiction -- probably an average of 4 works per year of high school -- but what we have done I count as supplemental History. And for History, in high school we use a textbook, some primary source readings, some documentaries, a few historical fiction books and feature films set in the time period. In addition, we read things like Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin or Frederick Douglas as part of the History credit, not as Literature; essays by Thoreau and Emerson I counted towards the Worldviews credit. When I say Literature or English or Great Books, I'm talking about authors/works listed in WTM, WEM, Invitation to the Classics, etc. (In NO way saying that to be "elitist" or "snobbish" -- just trying to clarify what we do and how we count it. :) )

 

At least that's how I've awarded credit. :) In case it is of help, below is what we have done for Literature for both the English credit and for additional Great Books credit. BEST of luck in your English/Literature adventures! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

Grade 9 -- Older DS

- 1.0 credit = English 9 (Lit. portion = LLftLotR)

- 1.0 credit = Elective = The Great Books: Ancient World Literature (read, discuss, write about 8 works)

 

Grade 9 -- Younger DS

- 1.0 credit = English 9 (Lit. portion = LL8)

- 0.5 credit = Elective = The Great Books: 20th Century World Literature (read, discuss, write about 5 works)

 

 

Grade 10 -- Older DS

- 1.0 credit = English 10 (Lit. portion = Worldviews in Classic Sci-Fi -- 8 works)

- 0.5 credit = Elective = The Great Books: 20th Century World Literature (read, discuss, write about 5 works)

 

Grade 10 -- Younger DS

- 1.0 credit = English 10 (Lit. portion = American Lit. -- poetry, short stories, plays, novellas, novels)

- 0.5 credit = Elective = The Great Books: American Literature (read, discuss, write about 5 works)

 

 

Grade 11 -- Older DS

- 1.0 credit = English 11 (Lit. portion = American Lit. -- poetry, short stories, plays, novellas, novels)

- 0.5 credit = Elective = The Great Books: American Literature (read, discuss, write about 5 works)

 

Grade 11 -- Younger DS

- 1.0 credit = English 11 (Lit. portion = British Lit. -- poetry, short stories, plays, novels)

- 0.25 credit = Elective = The Great Books: British Literature (read, discuss, write about 3 works)

 

 

Grade 12 -- Older DS

- 1.0 credit = English 12 (Lit. portion = British Lit. -- poetry, short stories, plays, novels)

- 0.25 credit = Elective = The Great Books: British Literature (read, discuss, write about 3 works)

 

Grade 12 -- Younger DS

- 1.0 credit = English 12 (Lit. portion = World Lit. -- short stories, plays, novellas, novels)

Edited April 10, 2012 by Lori D.

[Mom22ns]

This year ds will get credit for English and I am also giving credit for Creative Writing (OYAN). Ds has logged almost 300 hours of LA so far this year and still has 5 weeks to go.

 

I do think you have to be very careful about giving double credit for what would normally be called one class in public school. It can make a transcript look padded and questionable. I think that literature and writing both belong under the heading of "English" and constitute one class and one credit in general. Exceptions are possible though. :001_smile:

[Julie in MN]

I would NOT give an extra credit in grammar or literature or composition or any of the things that should be included in English. That would look "remedial" in scope, since high schoolers should not need entire credits in those areas.

 

However, I do think a "specialty" course as an elective or extra English credit is perfectly usual. It should go into depth in a certain area, which is a different skill set than general English. It could be on poetry or creative writing or British Lit, or specific subsets of those subjects even, but should have more depth and breadth than the intro to poetry or creative writing or British Lit that is expected in a high school English credit.

 

I think most folks are saying parts of the same thing here.

 

Julie

[Jenny in Florida]

This year ds will get credit for English and I am also giving credit for Creative Writing (OYAN). Ds has logged almost 300 hours of LA so far this year and still has 5 weeks to go.

 

I do think you have to be very careful about giving double credit for what would normally be called one class in public school. It can make a transcript look padded and questionable. I think that literature and writing both belong under the heading of "English" and constitute one class and one credit in general. Exceptions are possible though. :001_smile:

 

Right. My son will get his regular English credit next year for:

 

- a home-made dystopian literature study. Currently, I have 14 books and some short stories on the list. We'll do the usual research and discussion for each work.

- writing about his reading.

- grammar and composition review, as well as some systematic spelling study, since he apparently still needs it.

 

In addition, he'll get a half credit for a creative writing elective, because he plans to participate in NaNoWriMo in the fall. I've already downloaded their curriculum for high school participants, which we'll work through in addition to his regular English assignments.

[chepyl]

I would NOT give an extra credit in grammar or literature or composition or any of the things that should be included in English. That would look "remedial" in scope, since high schoolers should not need entire credits in those areas.

 

However, I do think a "specialty" course as an elective or extra English credit is perfectly usual. It should go into depth in a certain area, which is a different skill set than general English. It could be on poetry or creative writing or British Lit, or specific subsets of those subjects even, but should have more depth and breadth than the intro to poetry or creative writing or British Lit that is expected in a high school English credit.

 

I think most folks are saying parts of the same thing here.

 

Julie

 

 

:iagree:

 

Most schools in our area do vocabulary/spelling, lit, grammar and composition as one English class. Elective credits at my high school included creative writing, comparative analysos of books with movies made from them, some schools do speed reading, I am teaching a Shakespeare class at coop(could be a half credit in depth Shakespeare study), and other schools offer specific lit studies. If you do something in depth, it could be an elective.

[southcarolinamom]

I've called high school English "English 9, 10, 11 and 12" on high school transcripts.

 

Per South Carolina homeschooling rules, I make a progress report twice a year and keep it in a file, in case it's ever asked for ...(which it never has been). I list the curriculum I use each school year with each child, and give a progress report for each child's subject, what they've accomplished in that subject, the grade, etc. That's where I put the English curriculum - literature, Vocab, Grammar, etc. - all lumped together under an "English" heading.