State Requirements for Graduation

[Pronghorn]

I am wondering if other people who live in low-regulation states have their children take all the same courses that the state requires for the diplomas of schooled children. Things like physical education every year, certain history courses instead of the course of choice. (New Jersey seems to require two years of American History, for example.) Or do you just look at what colleges seem to want. I wonder -- has anyone ever been turned away from a college for not taking physical education or for taking only one year of American History? My child has so many things she wants to learn, and taking everything required would certainly limit the electives.

[8filltheheart]

No, I do not follow state courses.  I look at what most colleges want to see and make sure we have the general framework covered, but that is it.  

[snowbeltmom]

 I wonder -- has anyone ever been turned away from a college for not taking physical education or for taking only one year of American History? My child has so many things she wants to learn, and taking everything required would certainly limit the electives.

I don't know what my state's graduation requirements are.  I base my requirements on what colleges recommend while taking my kids' individual interests into account.

 

I can't imagine a college caring about physical education.  My kids only take one year of American history, too.

[Amateur Actress]

Most colleges do not need 4 years of math, science, or history, unless your child is going into any of those; 3 years is good. I use our local school districts' requirements as a guide but don't follow everything, just make sure what the colleges want.

[DebbS]

I live in a state with few regulations for home schoolers but followed both the state requirements for graduation and the college admissions requirements. My state does not require anything other than the core subjects that the colleges wanted to see, with the exception of a one semester health course,thus we didn't have to spend our time on nonsensical coursework.

[Matryoshka]

Most colleges do not need 4 years of math, science, or history, unless your child is going into any of those; 3 years is good. I use our local school districts' requirements as a guide but don't follow everything, just make sure what the colleges want.

 

A lot of colleges do require 4 years of math now.  Even the state school dd is going to with an almost 70% acceptance rate now requires 4 years of math.

 

Check college requirements ... on the other hand, I couldn't give a hoot about what the high schools require.  Youngest is not going to end up with any PE, looks like.  Oh, well.

[rocassie]

I live in a low regulation state.  Personally I would look at what the college wants because my state wants to the bare minimum.  When I have looked in the past, all the colleges/universities wanted more than what my state requires.  The only difference was wanting a unit on state history and government, but that was at an elementary level not even high school.

[Reefgazer]

My state requires no particular courses for homeschoolers, and I don't even look to see what they offer, so no, I don't follow them.

[J-rap]

I follow them loosely, because I know our ps is careful about making sure their college-bound students have the required courses to get into most colleges in our state.

[Lori D.]

Low-reg state here. We worked to meet university admission requirements rather than high school graduation requirements -- although, there's a lot of overlap and the high school requirements are not rigorous, so not difficult to meet both sets of requirements.
 

On 4/1/2016 at 5:23 PM, Pronghorn said:

I am wondering if other people who live in low-regulation states have their children take all the same courses that the state requires for the diplomas of schooled children. Things like physical education every year, certain history courses instead of the course of choice. (New Jersey seems to require two years of American History, for example.) Or do you just look at what colleges seem to want. I wonder -- has anyone ever been turned away from a college for not taking physical education or for taking only one year of American History? My child has so many things she wants to learn, and taking everything required would certainly limit the electives.

Most universities only want 2-3 credits total of Social Sciences, with 1 credit of American History frequently being one of those credits. Most universities want Math at least up through Algebra 2 (although some accept just through Geometry), and many also want a 4th higher math with Alg. 2 as a prerequisite. The majority of universities (non-competitive/selective/top tier) tend to require the following for admissions:

4 credits = English
3-4 credits = Math (up through Alg. 2, sometimes a 4th math above Alg. 2)
3-4 credits = Science (with labs -- sometimes Biology and Chemistry preferred)
2-3 credits = Social Science (frequently 1 credit American History required)
2-4 credits = Foreign Language (same language)
1 credit = Fine Arts
4-8+ credits = Electives

Your DD could easily meet these university required credits, even add a few high school required credits, and still have time for 6-8 electives (1-2 classes a year) to follow her own interests. ?

ETA: Many universities are flexible about their admission requirements if the student is lacking just one credit. Schools may be esp. flexible if the student has highly desirable qualities in other ways, such as high GPA and high test scores, or has projects/studies in an area the school wants, or even if the student is a "demographic" that the school needs for their statistics. Subject areas universities are more willing to bend with would be Fine Arts, Foreign Language and Social Sciences. Schools may also be more bendable with Math and Science if the student is applying for Fine Arts. So while I wouldn't COUNT on universities being flexible, it can happen. ?

As far as state high school graduation requirements, those are far less worrisome. If there is a chance that you think your student might end up going to a local public, private or charter high school, you might at least keep one eye on what their requirements are so your student wouldn't be so "off" in credits that it would require an extra year at the high school.

(That will be a moot point if you live in a school district that will not transfer in a student partway through high school, or requires the student to take and pass their end-of-year test for every single class for the credit to transfer…  :thumbdown: )

The other reason you might want to at least consider looking at the state regs is if you are pretty convinced your student will be applying to a state school where the overwhelming majority of students accepted are state residents, and all follow a rigorous high school program -- such as the case with University of VA, and the situation in this past thread. You mentioned you're in NJ, so not an issue.

Just in case you're interested, you can check acceptance rates and statistics for individual universities at College Board's Big Future college search function -- once the page for the specific school is pulled up, click on the "Print Complete College Profile", which gives you loads of useful statistics about incoming freshman -- your student's competition.

ETA: JMO: because you're in NJ, I really don't think you're going to have any problems if you skip Health and PE as some of your electives in favor of things more of interest to your DD. Just because so many colleges require it, I personally would work to get through at least Algebra 2, do 3 years of lab science, do 2 years of the same Foreign Language, do 1 year of American History, and do a 0.5 credit each of Gov't and Econ. That should still leave your DD plenty of room for Electives of her interests. ?

BEST of luck in planning your high school credits in such a way that meets requirements AND allows for exploration of interests! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Lori D.