Taking 4 years to teach one class

[Garga]

Most subjects for high school need to be taught every day for many months in a row:  biology, English, language, etc.

 

But there are some things that don't have to be taught all at once.  Elective-type classes like photography or home economics could be taught little-by-little, maybe over the summer.  For example, we could do 20 hours of photography each summer during high school until we had 80 credits and count it as a 1/2 credit course at the end of 4 years.

 

So far, all I can come up with for classes that can be taught little-by-little with year-long breaks between sessions is photography and home economics (and not even sure I want to teach that.)

 

Does anyone have ideas of what sort of topics/classes could be studied little by little over 4 years, and that at the end of 4 years could be put on a transcript?

 

I know people must do some things this way because some people don't write up a transcript by years, but rather by subjects.  I'm pretty sure that sometimes they do this because some subjects span over a couple of years.

 

So....what subjects do well spanning over a few years?

 

 

[Miss Mousie]

Well, I'm not sure health "does well" spread out, but that seems to be how it's turning out in practice for us.  I just don't get to it as often as I intended to, and then there are a few topics that might be better left until DS is a year or so older, so it looks like health will be 1/2 credit split over 2 years.

 

PE I'm planning to spread out over all four years, with most hours racked up over the summers, and end up with one credit on the transcript.

 

Formal logic is a 1/2-credit elective that we will take a year to complete, and probably the same with Python next year.

 

Art and music will be spread out, too, probably ending up with more art than music, but probably not more than 2-3 credits total.

 

Having some subjects scheduled this way (or, rather, not scheduled much at all!) makes it easier on us day-to-day.  If I have an extra hour to fill, great, I have just the thing!  If we have a jam-packed week, fine, that other thing can wait until next week.

 

 

[Lori D.]

Well, any subject that has discreet units to it would work. So, even some of your core classes could be spread out over 4 years:

- Social Science: Geography (study one area of the world each year for 0.25 credit/year)

- Social Science: History (one historical time per year, at 75 min/week = 0.25 credit/year)

- Geometry might work this way, too, by tacking on 15-20 min/day, 4x/week, onto whatever other Math you're doing, so total Math time is not more than 75-90 min/day; by the end of 3-4 years, Geometry would be finished

- English: Literature portion (a 0.25 unit of related Lit. per year -- like Geometry above, since you need 4 credits of English, this would be in addition to the 1.0 credit per year)

- English: Writing portion (spread out a unit of related material over a year -- same as Geometry and Lit above)

 

Some core subjects work well spread out over 2 years:

- Computer Science

- Logic

- we did a total of 3 years of Science (not 4), spread out over 4 years, doing 0.75 credit per year (did 0.75 of Biology in 9th, finish it in 10th along with 0.5 of Chemistry, etc.)

- I have known families who just do NOT click well with Foreign Language spread out a total of 2 credits of Foreign Language over 4 years, so they do 0.5 credit a year

 

Some 0.5 credit subjects easily spread out over 1 year (so, doing 0.25 credit per semester):

- Gov't

- Econ

- Health

- PE

 

Other easily "spread-able" credits:

- Fine Arts (either "appreciation" type class, or creation of art type of class)

- Elective: Bible/Religious Studies

- Elective: PE

- Elective: Health units

- some personal interest electives

 

 

I know you're asking a specific question here, but I'll just also toss in these additional ideas for anyone trying to squeeze more credits into the high school schedule that's full of required credits:

 

Saxon Math integrates Geometry AND Algebra II, and if done in one year, that's 2 math credits at once, freeing up credit space in a future year.

 

Don't forget "condensed credits" as an alternative:

- summer school (either spread out a credit over several summers, or complete a full credit in summer, or accrue PE hours in the summer rather than during the school year)

- dual enrollment (1 semester college course = 1 YEAR (1 credit) high school)

- some people do the Landry science lab weekends -- so, all of the science labs for an entire 1.0 credit Science in two 8-hour days -- that would definitely free up your weekly schedule a bit, only having to do 3-4 hours of Science a week when all the labs are done in one weekend -- and that extra time per week could be filled with one of those "spreadable" credits

- theater group participation has the bulk of hours in the weeks just before the performance, so most of the credit is earned in a short time, freeing up most of the rest of the semester for other credits

 

Also, you can "bring up" 1-2 credits accomplished in 7th-8th grade:

- Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2

- Biology, Chemistry

- Foreign Language (if of high school level, and continuing with the next level(s) in high school)

 

Edited January 22, 2016 by Lori D.

[happypamama]

We will probably do that with music.  DD wanted a music history class, so I created one using a big overview book (DK, I think) and corresponding youtube videos.  She reads a couple of pages and watches/listens to a video about twice a week, so at that rate, it will take a while to get through the whole book.  My intent for high school is to have her continue that plan and maybe do a small research paper on the subject each year, while keeping track of how much time she actually spends on it.  Depending on how time-consuming it actually is, she might do it every day or a couple of times a week, and we may lump it in with guitar/keyboard playing and singing, or we may make it its own small course.  I might award a quarter credit or something each year, or I might just award one full credit one year, haven't really decided yet.

 

The same might be said of art and/or art history.  They would lend themselves well to electives done a little at a time.

 

A computer skills/programming class could work that way.

 

Shop could work that way, as could drafting or the like.  (I say that because if any of my kids get interested in DH's line of work, they could start apprenticing/working with him a bit and earn a little elective credit that way.)  

 

Child development could work that way.  Read some books throughout the four years and work off and on with small children in a church nursery or daycare or as a mother's helper.  (Hahaha, I should tell DH that we need to have a sixth child just so that DD can get high school credit for child development; she's already pretty much a pro at babies and toddlers.)

 

An elective science, literature, or history class could work that way too.  If your child has a particular interest in, say, church history, or poetry, you could have him/her study a little throughout the four years, separate from the usual biology, world history, and language arts.

 

Creative writing, separate from a regular LA class, might also work.  I know the last year or so, DD has been doing WWS1/2, and after every four lessons, she does a lesson from The Creative Writer.  If her other LA work was extensive and solid, I could see counting creative writing as a small class.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I expect we'll do this with PE and Creative Writing, for sure.  Other classes won't fall into the neat september-to-june package.  For some reason we are usually finishing something up, and wanting to start something new, in March or April.  I suspect that for some subjects I will count hours and award credits during the year that a sufficent number of hours & a chunkable amount of content is covered, and then move on to something new. So I could see ending up with some odd credits or half-credits accumulated throughout high school, as well as intentionally deciding to spread things over multiple years.  FWIW, I'm strongly considering doing Geometry and Algebra 2 in parallel over 9th and 10th grades. I think that's a little different than what you are talking about, but it's another variation on the exception to 9 months/credit that is standard.  

[regentrude]

I do that with many electives.

DD covered art, music, and computer skills as four year classes, earning one cumulative credit for each subject.

I give a 0.25 credit each year on the transcript and explain the cumulative courses in tne course descriptions.

 

[Guest2]

I didn't do this, but am considering this for my younger two. I can really see it working for history and government. For government, reading and discussing a text with supplemental readings, then adding practical applied experience such as volunteering for a candidate, watching trials,attending city council meetings,visiting the state, or national capital. History could be much the same. I think you could study the material,, participate in reinactments,visit historical sites. Output could be papers, tests, presentations, videos, projects, maybe even creating a video game.

 

Edited for spelling

Edited January 22, 2016 by Silver Brook

[Carrie12345]

I can tell you that my high school transcripts from public school reflect a "full year" of Health by taking 1 quarter a year (including a quarter of Driver's Ed.)  That's how most NJ schools do (or did) it. Can't see why it would be an issue with other non-core classes.  

[J-rap]

Well, we certainly did that with fine art and gym credits!

 

 

[Pegasus]

We did a social science elective on current events this way. DH or I would assigned articles to read from papers and magazines we subscribe to and then discuss.  We gave 0.5 credit for 4 years of discussing current events.