How many credits would you assign for these classes?

[Prairie~Phlox]

I'm wanting to make sure I am on track for my dd, who is college bound.  I am working on her transcript for the last two years (she's a sophomore now.) I have an idea, but I just want to make sure I am thinking what others would think.

 

English Grammar 101

Algebra 1

Human Anatomy

Constitution 101 & 102 (b)

U.S. History (b)

Drama Ministry (a)

Native American History (a)

Keyboarding

Choir

Drama Troupe

PE

 

(a) local co-op,

(b) Hillsdale College course with a few more things added in.

 

Middle Ages Literature (a)

Algebra 2

Biology (a)

Spielvogel Western Civilization Hon

Glencoe World Geography

Economics (a)

Sociology Hon

Health

Home Economics

Drama Troupe

PE

 

[regentrude]

From just seeing the course titles, it is impossible to say. How do the coop classes work? How often do they meet, how much out of class work does the student have?

Some subjects it's easy; a standard math course  (algebra), or a completed science text (biology) would be one credit.

For others, there is no clear cut canon of what is supposed to be covered in one credit. If you go by hours, you could assign one credit for 130-160 hours of work, a Carnegie unit.

 

For artsy subjects, I would only give credit if there is an instructional component to the activity. What is drama troupe and drama ministry? Some  activities may be presented better as extracurriculars/ community service, not as academic classes.

 

I do not give any more credit if the course is "honors" level. I also do not consider an honors designation meaningful in a homeschool.

 

 

[Prairie~Phlox]

Thanks!  I'm struggling because Indiana has a new "Core 40" Which is a total pain.  From what I take it, they want math to count as 2 credits?? http://www.valpo.k12.in.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=499

[Corraleno]

Prairie-Phlox, it looks like Indiana counts each semester as 1 credit, so a typical 1-yr class would be 2 credits. When most people here talk about "1 high school credit" they are generally referring to a full year.

 

ETA: are homeschoolers required to meet those exact requirements?

[regentrude]

Thanks!  I'm struggling because Indiana has a new "Core 40" Which is a total pain.  From what I take it, they want math to count as 2 credits?? http://www.valpo.k12.in.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=499

 

When I said one credit, I was talking about one full year of high school (i.e. one hour of class every school day for one school year). Your state seems to count one credit=one semester.

So, your Core 40 requirement translates into 20 one year courses, i.e. five classes per year. What exactly do you find such a pain about it? I find these very minimal requirements which, in many cases, will not satisfy the admission requirements for colleges.

Are you as a homeschooler even required to follow the state requirements? I would be inclined to not worry about the state graduation requirements and instead look at what the colleges want to see.

[Corraleno]

When I said one credit, I was talking about one full year of high school (i.e. one hour of class every school day for one school year). Your state seems to count one credit=one semester.

So, your Core 40 requirement translates into 20 one year courses, i.e. five classes per year. What exactly do you find such a pain about it? I find these very minimal requirements which, in many cases, will not satisfy the admission requirements for colleges.

Are you as a homeschooler even required to follow the state requirements? I would be inclined to not worry about the state graduation requirements and instead look at what the colleges want to see.

 

:iagree:

 

According to this website, it doesn't appear that homeschoolers are required to have these exact credits and courses. A normal college prep program would meet or exceed the state requirements for an "equivalent education." 

Lack of foreign language seems like a red flag.  Many colleges want to see three or more years of the same language.

[Mom22ns]

Many colleges want to see three or more years of the same language.

 

While I've seen that posted here, none of the colleges my kids are interested in require more than 2 and some have no foreign language (admissions) requirement at all. Granted, my kids are mostly looking at State Universities and moderately selective LACs, not highly selective or Ivies.

 

That said, I would not let my college bound child graduate with less than 2 years of foreign language credit. I think it would harm their application even to less selective schools and would rule out too many colleges. Since she is a sophomore and has no foreign language credit so far, I would move it high on your priority list for the next two years Phlox.

While I've seen that posted here, none of the colleges my kids are interested in require more than 2 and some have no foreign language (admissions) requirement at all. Granted, my kids are mostly looking at State Universities and moderately selective LACs, not highly selective or Ivies.

 

 

Many state schools are getting pretty selective these days, and I'd be cautious not to confuse these "minimal requirements for admissions, below which you will not even be considered" with "transcript which is likely to get you accepted".  For example, my state's flagship public university has a 2 year FL requirement.  However, most of the incoming freshman class this year have 3 years or more of a single foreign language.  I bet there were a lot of kids that met these minimum requirements who were not admitted.

[Prairie~Phlox]

Yes, we have FL slated for the next two years.  We were just waiting for the rotation in our co-op.  She will be taking 2 years of American Sign Language and 1 year of Spanish.  The University that she wants to go to, does count ASL as a FL.  She'll be starting at the CC and then transferring and I do plan to meet with them soon to make sure I have everything covered.

[PeterPan]

Phlox, Lee Binz has terrific info on her site and gives free workshops, books, etc. regularly.  Have you figured out if you're arranging your transcript by subject or by year?  If you go putting 3 social studies credits in one year, somebody is going to look at that transcript and think fuddy ruddy.  I would figure out what she did (general sense of hours spent a week on it, as it a 1/2 or whole) and then let that determine.  Usually, for instance, econ and sociology would be semester classes.  So then did she do a full year (5 days or hours a week) of the geography? Or was that a 1/2?  

 

It really doesn't matter how your state tallies transcripts.  All kinds of schools do them differently, and the clerk will be able to figure it out so long as you're consistent within your own document.  So if you put 3 units of math (1,1,1) then they deduce that you're putting 1 = one school year=1 unit => 1 credit.  Not rocket science, and they'll figure it out.  Even if you're applying in-state, they'll be used to seeing all kinds and figure it out quite readily, no problem.  Just be consistent.

 

Figure out if some of those things are extra-currics and don't even need credits assigned.  The drama troupe could go either way.  If your total credits for a year goes above 7-8, I'd definitely shove that over.  You don't want any doubts about the time she spent.

 

 

I'm wanting to make sure I am on track for my dd, who is college bound.  I am working on her transcript for the last two years (she's a sophomore now.) I have an idea, but I just want to make sure I am thinking what others would think.

 

English Grammar 101-1

Algebra 1-1

Human Anatomy-1

Constitution 101 & 102 ( B)-1/2

U.S. History ( B)-1

Drama Ministry (a)

Native American History (a)-1/2

Keyboarding-1

Choir-1/2

Drama Troupe

PE-1/2

 

(a) local co-op,

( B) Hillsdale College course with a few more things added in.

 

Middle Ages Literature (a)-1

Algebra 2-1

Biology (a)-1

Spielvogel Western Civilization Hon-1

Glencoe World Geography-1

Economics (a)-1/2

Sociology Hon-1/2

Health-1/2

Home Economics

Drama Troupe

PE-1/2

I just put some numbers to get you going.  I have no clue what time she spent.  Those are just my assumptions based on how those courses would typically be.  If you stop there, that's 7 credits a year.  Then you plunk everything else to electives.  Just one way of getting there.  Maybe she spent less time on the geography for instance and it wasn't a full course?  Then maybe it was just a 1/2?  Dunno, wasn't there.  That's a LOT of social studies though and a very academic track.  I wouldn't feel compelled to fluff it up by saying oh yeah she learned to cook that year, kwim?  But whatever, maybe she did.  Or maybe she did some service projects or taught a knitting group or something and can turn it another angle?

 

If those were actual classes at Hillsdale, by all means put the 1 beside them, btw if that reflects time spent.  You want the transcript to reflect her time spent and where her focus was.  

[Prairie~Phlox]

Thanks, I did work on it more and since Indiana changed to the core 40, she needs 40, but some things that would normally be considered 1 credit, are actually 2.  It's screwy.  Some stuff she did over the summer last year, but I'd rather it be broken up by grades.  We'll get there, glad I didn't wait any longer than I have.

 

[PeterPan]

Well even when you do by grades, you're marking semesters.  Well not every homeschooler does, but absolutely schools mark semesters on transcripts.  So a school will typically have 8 sections and each course, grade, and unit assigned.  So in your case, if she did summer work, throw in a summer 2013 or whatever between 9th and 10th.  That would be exceptionally helpful.  Then, if she did the equivalent of say a year of native american history in a summer course like that, by all means mark a 1 or whatever beside it.

 

It's merely an accounting question on the 40 vs. 20.  If you want to go their way, do it.  So then a full year of work (120-180 hours or 5 days a week or worked on it a lot for a year) gets 2.  That means if you are marking semesters, you'll put 1 for the units for each semester.  If you're marking by year, you'll write 2 in the units column.  Then if she did something half that (for a semester or working 2-3 days a week or say for a month intensively in the summer), you'll put 1.  Then if she did something less than that (say 1 day a week for choir) you'd put 1/2 and let the 1/2s accumulate.