sewingtruth Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 This is my first time posting on this forum--thanks for your patience! I have a daughter who is doing her first year of high school. Just trying to gauge how much is a realistic work load...What subjects are non-negotiables? Currently, she is working about 8 hours a day on curriculum/5 days a week. Is that realistic for homeschooling? Is it too much? We live in New Zealand and that is more than the average student here in school. Her courses are as follows: Logic/Thinking Skills French Algebra Grammar & Writing History Literature Art Technology Biology Religious Studies In addition, she plays 3 instruments (bassoon, piano, and violin). She is a very gifted girl--particularly in the arts and language. :-) Just trying to figure out if she is being lazy, or if there is too much being required. Thanks for any help! sewingtruth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 We just finished the first year of high school for my two boys. They did: English (literature and composition) Biology (at co-oop) Spanish 1 - online Geometry (online) - one boy Algebra 1 (onine) -one boy History P.E. - heavy schedule of competitive basketball Here in the US, the literature and writing would be combined into one credit of English. In my opinion, that is a pretty heavy schedule with a lot of different courses. Are some a half credit? I am unfamiliar with your system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Her courses are as follows: Logic/Thinking Skills French Algebra Grammar & Writing History Literature Art Technology Biology Religious Studies In addition, she plays 3 instruments (bassoon, piano, and violin). She is a very gifted girl--particularly in the arts and language. :-) Just trying to figure out if she is being lazy, or if there is too much being required. Thanks for any help! sewingtruth My oldest did more than 8 hours/day 5 days/week, youngest did a bit less but was a competitive athlete. That said, you have a long list of subjects. My non-negotiable are Math, English (lit & writing but totaling 1 credit), History, Science, and 2 years of foreign language. My kids did both play 2 instruments each, but they weren't super talented and did it for fun, so there wasn't a ton of practicing. If your dd is spending a lot of time on 3 instruments in addition to 8 hours of school, I can see where she would be overwhelmed. Logic, Art, Technology, and Religious Studies would have been negotiable here, they are electives. Technology was incorporated into all subjects and was never a subject of its own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) IMHO, it is too much. I'm in NZ so can help guide you as to the requirements but I'm on my phone so can't type out a lot. Not all of the classes you have listed can earn a student credit in the NCEA system, and for some subjects like maths and science you need to switch to an integrated algebra/stats/geometry or you are going to get really off kilter with the exams in a couple of years. Also, if you are looking to do well in the exams/asseasments for technology, then it is a very prescribed class, in fact there arw three poasible classes you coild be doing. Finally, with three instruments, music could be a core class because your dd has a second instrument, so if she is doing theory or composition you are getting upward of 18 credits. So its not exactly a hobby really. I'll write more when I get home later tonight. Ruth in NZ Edited May 16, 2016 by lewelma 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Logic/Thinking Skills French Algebra Grammar & Writing History Literature Art Technology Biology Religious Studies In addition, she plays 3 instruments (bassoon, piano, and violin). I've been around high schools that had 6 courses per semester and those that offered 7-8. I've never seen 10. At minimum, Grammar/Comp & Lit would be one course (about 90 minutes/day) Algebra French History Biology The above are considered "core" courses, and at minimum would take roughly 5 hours of work every day (5 days a week) Art Technology Logic & Thinking Religious Studies If the above are "lighter" courses and only require 30 minutes a day (5 days a week), you're up to 7 hours of school per day, plus music practice of at least 30 minutes per instrument, so 9 1/2-10 hours of daily work. That's definitely on the heavy-end. If the above are not really "lighter" courses, but still require nearly 1 hour to complete a day...she's looking at closer 12 hours of daily work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 What subjects are non-negotiables? For me, non-negotiable subjects are math, history, science, English, and a foreign language. I think 6-7 credits per year is reasonable. For my dd, that would be five core classes and 1-3 electives (depending on whether the elective are full-year or semester classes). I would not be happy if my kids were spending 40 hours a week on school (and neither would my kids). That goes against one of my main reasons for homeschooling (which is for my kids to have time to devote to their own interests). Perhaps you have other reasons for homeschooling, but I would not call a 9th grader "lazy" if she was not interested in spending that much time on academics. It looks to me like you have five core classes and five electives. If Grammar/Writing and Literature are separate courses, I would combine them into one. Along with math, history, biology, and French, you have a good core. I would choose one elective to go with that. Ten classes plus three instruments is, in my opinion, too much to manage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) My non-negotiables are four core classes and a foreign language, about 45-60 minutes a day spent on each. My rising ninth grader is taking the following: -Biology -- plus a couple of hours a week for labs and lab reports. -Medieval history -Geometry -Writing and medieval literature -- this may be closer to 1.5 hours a day. -Spanish -- may take her less than an hour a day Then she has chosen two electives, and I may or may not award a full credit for each, depending on how much time she actually ends up spending on them. -Latin -Music -- including music history, some music theory, possibly a Coursera class on songwriting, singing, and playing keyboard and guitar. I don't want her spending 8 hours a day on bookwork. She loves languages and music, so Spanish, Latin, and Music, even if they're work, I think will be mostly fun for her. But I don't really want her spending more than 4-5 hours a day most days on the core four subjects; I want her to enjoy herself and have some fun too. Edited May 16, 2016 by happypamama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) In NZ, the core courses in year 9 are: math (integrated Algebra, geometry, stats) science (integrated Chemistry, Biology, and Physics) social studies (integrated history, geography, government) English (grammar, writing, literature, film analysis) Student then pick TWO electives, for a total of 6 classes. By year 11 for the NCEA exams, there are only 3 core exams: maths, science, and English (history is no longer required). Out of your list you can also take exams in French History Art Technology (3 different kinds) Music There are no exams for logic/thinking skills or for religious studies In year 9, the typical school student does math, science, social studies, and english, and TWO electives. Most kids with three instruments would be counting that as one of the electives. Now as a homeschooler you do not have to follow the year 9 standard curriculum, and in fact you don't even need to do the NCEA level 1 exams, so you could just be aiming for the year 2 exams when your dd is 16. I assume she would enter the correspondence school then (when it is free), unless you are in Auckland where they have a strong Cambridge Exam program with which I am less familiar (although we did consider it, so I can speak to it). My boy did not follow the typical year 9 course path. He does not like integrate math or science, so I have done what you appear to be doing with Algebra and Biology. But you need to be aware that by the time your dd is 15, she needs to not be on the typical American path for maths or she will not do well on the exams. So you really need to switch to NZ curriculum by year 11 at the latest, preferably by year 10. Science is more flexible, and I don't think it matters too much if you do Bio, then a combination year of Chemistry/Physics for year 10, and then integrated bio/chem/phy for year 11 exams. If you student is strong in the sciences, you can skip the year 11 exam and just do level 2 in Biology, or another single science subject. Also, you may not be aware that although some subjects like Chemistry or French, require level 1 to take level 2 and 2 to take 3, other subjects that are more writing subjects can be mixed and matched. So you can take History level 1, Media Studies level 2, and the geography level 3, because there is an understanding that what you are learning is more about analysis and interpretation and writing than about the actual content. So the subjects can be prereqs for each other. My point is that your dd does not need to take everything she is interested in NOW. In your place, I would sit down with dd and choose 6 subjects for year 9 (these can change in year 10, so she does not have to be wedded to these for her entire high school career). So something like Core classes: Math English Science 3 electives chosen from these 4: History Music art French Personal studies would include Logic and Religious Studies. They are not high school subjects here, so they could be done outside of school official hours as a part of your family time. Although you can take a Cambridge exam in Thinking Skills, so if you want to work towards this formally, then put it as one of the electives to choose from. As for Technology, if you are doing this using the NZ curriculum, then it is a written design/planning class with 50 page design/implementation documents and production being only a fraction of what you are learning. This can be a computer science class, or a visual media class, or metal/wood/fabric class. However, if you are just doing this as 'how to use computers' then I would integrated it into all the classes and not call it a class. Otherwise it is one of the electives that you would choose from. Hope this helps, Ruth in NZ Edited May 16, 2016 by lewelma 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 She is a very gifted girl--particularly in the arts and language. :-) Just trying to figure out if she is being lazy, or if there is too much being required. I also need to speak to this. My ds is also very gifted. He does 5 hours of work during the day (math, science, english, mandarin, music), and reads at night for 1-2 hours (literature, The Economist), and he plays music for about 5 hours on the weekend. But from his point of view he is working from 10-4, and the late night reading time is just a joy. So he does the hours, but the long slog during the day is manageable and does not take over. And one other thought, it was also people on this board who helped me think through what it means to be gifted. I can't say it as well as they have, but something like gifted kids have ownership of their own goals and achievement. Just because someone is gifted does not mean that they *should* work more. Not sure if that is a part of the issue here, but it certainly was for me, and I am trying hard to back off and let ds decide his own path. Ruth in NZ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 I would take it back to English (literature and writing instruction), math, science, history, and French and see how that goes. Then add back an elective if there is room in the schedule. If there isn't, I'd make music into a fine arts credit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingtruth Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 Thanks, All! You have been helpful. I think some of the "subjects" aren't quite as intense as they may be elsewhere....for instance, the French takes her no more than 30 minutes a day (that's a stretch). Her Algebra also takes maybe 30 minutes a day. I think the only thing that would take a longer time would be her literature--and she loves reading (which is what takes the most time). Also, her music is a lot--I keep waiting for her to ask me to drop an instrument. She hasn't--even though we did suggest. Also, the subjects are mostly her own choosing. I'll keep guiding her and see how things go. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EppieJ Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 We belong to a parent partnership program (Washington state) and are required to show 30 hours a week (in the learning plan) for high school students, and around 24 credits for graduation. Although, since you're not in the states, I'm not sure how helpful this is as a gauge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 In Belgium we have a longlist of subjects, but not every subject is a full credit according the American school system. We expect in grade 11/12 a work load of 32-48 hours per week. This does not include sports, arts or music. Art or music tracks exist and then art instruction, or musiclessons are part of those hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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