Credit Question

[JoJosMom]

DD, 8th grade, has decided that she would like to continue homeschooling through high school, so I am beginning to construct a four-year plan.  From reading through some of the threads on credits and planning (Oh, Lori D, I so :001_wub: you!), it appears that most people are using Cambridge credit hours, i.e., approximately 120 hours per credit.  Our state, however, defines a credit as equating to 60 hours of total instructional time (or mastery-yay!).  Our state university follows that system for admissions, but I assume that many others will not.

In this situation, would it be wise to create dual transcripts, one using our state’s system and one using the Cambridge system?  Or am I over-thinking this?

 

[JanetC]

You are overthinking this. Pick a credit system, document what you did, and use it.

[emzhengjiu]

If you keep good records of instructional hours and of class descriptions, it would be easy to adjust the credit hours if you need a transcript in a different format.

[J-rap]

I wouldn't worry about it.  I never kept exact records of hours either.  I figured if my child went through the whole math textbook, for example,  and turned in all assignments, I would simply give her full credit for that class no matter how many hours she actually did it in.  So I just adjusted records as needed.

[kiana]

Are you in Indiana, or another state that bases credits off semesters instead of years? That would explain the discrepancy. 

[SebastianCat]

On the transcript that you create, just make a reference to how you are counting such as, "1 credit = 120 hours."    I would use the credit counting system that most closely corresponds to the colleges you think will be involved, and just stick with that.

 

My oldest is in 8th grade, and I don't plan to (and don't have a true need to) count exact hours, but if you figure that 1 hour per day, 5 days per week, for 36 weeks would equal 180 hours, then as long as at least 3 1/3 hours are put into each subject per week, I plan to issue a full credit.   Alternatively, if DS finishes a complete course such as Geometry, he gets 1 credit even if he puts in more than 120 hours of work.   

[JoJosMom]

Are you in Indiana, or another state that bases credits off semesters instead of years? That would explain the discrepancy. 

 

Yes. In our state, in essence, one semester class equals one credit. So, compared to what appears to be the majority of others, DD will wind up with twice the "normal" number of credits. She will likely eventually apply to the state university which uses the same numbers for its admissions requirements, but will likely apply to others which use the other credit system.  Hence my question whether I should keep track both ways. If that clears things up. :001_unsure:

[foxbridgeacademy]

Also in Indiana and if by some chance we're here through graduation (very slim chance), then yes I'll have a transcript with Indiana's version and a transcript like most of the other states.  I actually prefer Indiana's way as it makes it easier to account for 1 semester classes.  It shouldn't be hard though to switch and requires no effort until your DD actually applies to out of state schools.  

 

 

[kiana]

Yes. In our state, in essence, one semester class equals one credit. So, compared to what appears to be the majority of others, DD will wind up with twice the "normal" number of credits. She will likely eventually apply to the state university which uses the same numbers for its admissions requirements, but will likely apply to others which use the other credit system.  Hence my question whether I should keep track both ways. If that clears things up. :001_unsure:

 

Honestly they're used to seeing applications from a wide variety of different sources. Everyone who goes to PS in your state and applies out of state is also going to have a transcript with twice the number of credits they would have had in another state. I wouldn't worry about it -- I'd just indicate somewhere that one credit = one semester. (edit: or the other way, whichever you choose)

[MerryAtHope]

Our local PS uses the semester credit system, but I used the year credit system on our transcript. We had no problems with the transcripts being accepted. (And I didn't even think to specify what 1 credit equals!). In our case, I used 150-180 hours for most credits. Only electives were less than 150. At least one class ran over 180. Anyway--use the system you want for counting and for recording.