Is anyone doing Government AND another full history credit?

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Jenny in Florida]

I have TOG's Year 4 Classic here ready to go (left over from my curriculum junkie days), but I'm wondering if it is too much to expect to do Government (0.5) AND Modern History (1.0). Would that be padding or overloading the transcript? Plus, does Modern History fill the World History requirement or would he need a full year World History survey too?

 

Other than history, ds will be doing BJU's Spanish, Algebra I, English, and Physical Science. If we went with TOG for history, he could do their literature rather than BJU's anthology.

 

Any thoughts? Anyone else planning something similar?

 

We're planning for my son to do Modern U.S. History (full credit) and American Government (half credit) next year.

 

He'll also have English, chemistry, Spanish II, Algebra II and five other half-credit electives.

 

Yes, every now and then I think we're insane.

 

I'm working on writing out lesson plans and weekly goals now, and sometimes I look at the workload for a week and panic. But, every single one of those classes made sense when we put it on the list. And some of them he's really looking forward to doing. So, I think we'll be okay.

 

As for how it looks on a transcript, I have no idea. I know my daughter had very credit-heavy years on her transcript, and was fine. But she also went an atypical route to college.

 

I'm choosing not to worry about it.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

We will add in Government when ds is in 12th. He will do it alongside his US History course using Paces for Government studies.

[regentrude]

We will do a 0.5 credit government to coincide with election time and 1.0 credit history in the coming school year. We do history chronologically, this year will be 1600-1850, half of it World, half of it US (and the same next year for 1850-present).

[TammyS]

Plus, does Modern History fill the World History requirement or would he need a full year World History survey too?

 

 

 

Well, I would look at it this way....if have or will do any medieval/renn/ancient history that is all world history. If you do modern history, you can't help but include world history or it doesn't make sense. So I think you're covered either way. Add to that US history at some point and it's all there.

[Lori D.]

First, what are your state's Social Studies requirements?

 

- Will you *need* a year of Geography? Can you just skip it entirely?

(many states only require 3 years of Social Studies (1 credit = American History; 1 credit = World History; 0.5 credit = Gov't / 0.5 credit = Economics), which you can spread out over all 4 years of high school to help ease the "credit crunch")

 

- Does your state require a full credit (full year) of Government, or only 0.5 credit (0.5 year)?

(if only 0.5 credit, that gives you flexibility: spreading it out over a full year, doing it over the summer, involvement in a mock legislation extracurricular as part of the credit, etc.)

 

 

re: World History requirement

Yes, the Modern segment of TOG would count for your 1 credit World History Survey. As far as I have seen on this Board, as long as the history studies cover the world, *any* time segment is well accepted (by all states and by all colleges) for a World History requirement -- whether ancient world, 20th century world, medieval world, or the speed-through-all-of-6000-years-in-one-year world history survey. :)

 

 

re: is anyone doing Government AND another full history credit?

Yes! When DSs were grades 10 and 11 we did the 1.0 credit of American History and the 0.5 credit of Government in the same year; it worked well as the two studies fit very well together and complement one another -- the Constitution and legislative branch are perfect to study during America's early years, and the executive branch and the judicial branch and Supreme Court key rulings are perfect to study during the post-Civil War to the present period of America's history.

 

 

re: would this be overloading the transcript?

No. Looks like you are planning on about 6 credits, which is do-able, especially if you do an elective or something a little more "lite" for the last 0.5 credit:

1 credit = Spanish

1 credit = Algebra I

1 credit = English

1 credit = Physical Science

1 credit = History

0.5 credit = Government

0.5 credit = choice of: elective, Fine Arts, PE, etc.

 

 

re: would this be padding the transcript?

No, it would not look like padding on a transcript to do more than one Social Studies in a single year. Especially if you organize your transcript by subject rather than school year, I doubt anyone will even notice.

 

 

re: Bob Jones or TOG

Not personally familiar with either, but it seems to me that it really comes down to which do *you* think you and DS would connect best with, and which Literature selections would you enjoy more? Both are solid programs, and neither will give you troubles on a transcript, so it's more a question of personal preference at this point. :)

 

 

BEST of luck as you finish up your high school planning! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[Lori D.]

Shari, no need to bang your head! :) Take a breath, and just take it one step at a time. :)

 

Your student is about to enter 9th grade, and typically the ACT is taken in 11th or 12th grade. You have plenty of time to prepare. And to help you relax: the ACT does not have a History component. The Reading section does include passages that are from the subject areas of Social Studies, Science, Literature, and Humanities -- but the passage is on the test and the questions have to do with understanding and inference. Nothing to have to study for in History! :)

 

 

Sounds like your state requirements and local university requirements give you plenty of flexibility to cover Social Studies in the way YOU and your DC would like! So, what would you LIKE to do? :)

 

Warmest regards, Lori D.

[katilac]

Yes, dd is entering 9th, and I want to do the gov't course for the same reason (election year). So we will be doing that and Ancient History.

 

I figure that it's not really adding a ton to the schedule, b/c we will be watching some debates and having plenty of discussions no matter what (and those are the most time-consuming aspects).

[Wendi]

We're planning to do U.S. History (1 credit) and Government (1/2 credit) this year. We'll do English, Algebra I, Japanese, and Logic (1/2 credit), too.

 

Wendi

[ereks mom]

We're planning for my son to do Modern U.S. History (full credit) and American Government (half credit) next year.

 

He'll also have English, chemistry, Spanish II, Algebra II and five other half-credit electives.

 

Yes, every now and then I think we're insane.

 

I'm working on writing out lesson plans and weekly goals now, and sometimes I look at the workload for a week and panic. But, every single one of those classes made sense when we put it on the list. And some of them he's really looking forward to doing. So, I think we'll be okay.

 

As for how it looks on a transcript, I have no idea. I know my daughter had very credit-heavy years on her transcript, and was fine. But she also went an atypical route to college.

 

I'm choosing not to worry about it.

 

EK and SJ are going to do Modern American & World History (full credit) and Civics (half credit) next year.

 

SJ (10th/11th) will also have Algebra 2 and either Spanish 1 or Latin 1, while EK (12th) has College Algebra and an SAT prep course (Semester 1) and then Economics (Semester 2). Both girls will also have History, Literature, Worldview & Apologetics, Health & Human Physiology, and Home Economics together. We won't do all courses all year long, and some won't do every day, but I think I have it all scheduled out so that it will work and we'll be finished by 2:15 every day. :001_smile:

[Seshet]

My eldest will be doing Gov (half credit), Econ (half credit), World History (full credit), and World Geography (full credit) this next year. This is mostly because, years ago, I gave her a list and said "This is what I require for your high school graduation." She looked at the list and replied, "That's fine. Here's what I want to add."

[Quiver0f10]

My daughter is doing TOG year 1 and will do Notgrass Government and economics as separate courses. She will earn .5 credits for each gov and economics course.

[TheApprentice]

Ds is going to use Oak Meadow's World Geography as a history credit and he'll do .5 credit of Government in the fall to align with the election. They are such different focuses, I didn't mind combining the two. He chose World Geography and Government is a "git-er-done" to fulfill the requirement.

[Shelly in VA]

We will do a 0.5 government credit this fall to coincide with elections, 0.5 economics credit this spring, and 1.0 history credit (Middle Ages/Renaissance) throughout the year as well. I don't think it will be a problem, as the material covers such different focuses.

[Chris in VA]

We did Moderns with Sonlight 300 and added in Gov't For Dummies (or Idiot's Guide, I can't recall) like SWB says. It was really good to do the two together. I had ds read some primary sources and discuss--it was light Gov't, but it worked for us. We probably didn't write enough, but he served as a VA Senate page in 8th grade, so he'd seen a lot of government-in-action up close, and so I felt our coursework was adequate.

[SS in MD]

First, what are your state's Social Studies requirements?

 

- Will you *need* a year of Geography? Can you just skip it entirely?

(many states only require 3 years of Social Studies (1 credit = American History; 1 credit = World History; 0.5 credit = Gov't / 0.5 credit = Economics), which you can spread out over all 4 years of high school to help ease the "credit crunch")

 

- Does your state require a full credit (full year) of Government, or only 0.5 credit (0.5 year)?

(if only 0.5 credit, that gives you flexibility: spreading it out over a full year, doing it over the summer, involvement in a mock legislation extracurricular as part of the credit, etc.)

 

.......

 

regards, Lori D.

 

Lori,

I thought (was told by another hs mom) that b/c we homeschool we don't need to follow our state requirements for graduation.

 

Can you clarify??

 

Thanks so much!

Sangita

[SheWhoWaits]

We did American history and government together my youngest's senoir year. And Econ too. We didn't intend it to work out that way, but got so far behind because of procrastination issues and a house fire that we had to do them all at once or skip one. It worked out pretty good. American history and government complement each other well.

[Lori D.]

Lori,

I thought (was told by another hs mom) that b/c we homeschool we don't need to follow our state requirements for graduation. Can you clarify??

 

 

A few states have homeschool regulations which DO dictate what credits are required for homeschoolers (as well as public school/private school students) for high school graduation. Ours does not. It looks like you are in Maryland; here is the list of MD requirements for homeschooling. As you scroll down, you'll see included in the list the public school high school requirements for graduation, BUT, then this note, which looks like it means MD homeschoolers do NOT have to follow public school requirements:

 

"Important Note: State Graduation requirements are not necessarily the best guideline for homeschoolers to use. They have been included here as a guideline for what a typical public school student would need to complete in order to graduate. A more important guideline may be the College Entrance requirements for where your student would like to attend college. While colleges have differing requirements, there are many colleges that publish requirements for homeschool graduates."

 

 

Because so many colleges have entrance requirements that closely parallel many states' graduation requirements, it's not a bad idea to at least keep those requirements in mind as you plan your student's coursework for high school.

 

If there are any concerns, it is always best to check with your state's homeschooling laws and then look towards the requirements of potential post-high school institutions. BTW -- looking at the public school class requirements can be helpful in suggesting topics you may want your student to cover at some point before high school graduation (i.e., computer skills; health; driver's ed; civics; personal finance; etc.).

 

Hope that clarifies! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Lori D.

[SS in MD]

Lori,

Thanks so much for the post & link - great to know where I can go and see the info in writnig! (and direct other MD homeschoolers too). I'll also check college requirements that she wants to apply to. Thanks so much your posts are always very helpful!

 

Take care

[Lizzie in Ma]

We are doing Notgrass Exploring America and Abeka Government as well this year, so not crazy I guess.