Is there any point in labeling a homeschool class "honors"?

[Garga]

For homeschoolers, what makes a class honors?  Is there a set criteria?  How do I know if what I'm doing with my son is average or above what everyone else is doing, and therefore honors?

 

The only reason I would bother with the label of honors, is if I realize that the class I'm teaching my kid is pretty hard.  I'd want him to get credit with college admissions people for doing above and beyond the normal course load.  I don't want my kid working super hard and the college admissions people not know it because I didn't tack the word "honors" onto the class.

 

Does it all come down to SAT subject or AP tests to prove the class was honors?

 

[Haiku]

I have seen people give honors credit for DE classes or those where they use college texts even if taught at home.

[SkateLeft]

I didn't label anything honors, even the "honors" labelled English classes my girls took in 9th grade through an online provider. They both did full-time dual enrollment in 11th and 12th grades, and I didn't label any of their college classes honors either. I did note on the transcript that they were taken via dual enrollment.

 

Personally, the only label that I'd use on a homeschool transcript would be AP classes, if I'd used a College Board approved syllabus.

 

[jjeepa]

Do public schools use that label?  I honestly don't know.

[Janeway]

Do public schools use that label?  I honestly don't know.

public schools use the term preAP now but private schools use the term honors.

[teachermom2834]

I used to think there was no point in designating a homeschool class as honors. However, our state flagship recalculates a core gpa for scholarship purposes,  They toss out electives and recalculate gpa weighting honors classes by .5 point and AP and de weighted 1 point. Gpa needs to be 3.8 weighted for scholarships and 4.0 weighted for honors program.  So, if not designating honors classes, students are at a disadvantage.  My kids should have enough de to make up for it but it is a consideration.

 

Many schools use weighted gpa for those automatic merit awards.  I used to think it was silly to call homeschool courses honors but now I see that it makes a difference.  Now what makes a class honors is another issue. My current high schooler isn't doing anything I could call honors.

[Haiku]

public schools use the term preAP now but private schools use the term honors.

 

The only place I have ever heard the term pre-AP is here on TWTM. Around here it's still called "honors."

[Momto6inIN]

I am planning to use it for the courses where my DC take an AP exam but don't take a College Board approved AP course in order to highlight the difference in difficulty level in case they might not realize it's an AP level course because "AP" isn't in the course title.

[regentrude]

No.

[Ggg]

Our  PS use the term - Pre-AP  and private uses Honors - we live in Missouri ;)

[MinivanMom]

Our state's public schools use the term "honors" and weight gpa's an extra .5 for each honors course and an extra 1 pt for each AP course. This is so standard that all in-state universities use the weighted gpa for both admissions and awarding scholarships. A homeschool student without any honors courses, whose gpa was "only" 4.0, would be at a significant disadvantage. 

 

I don't know that there's any standard way to determine what is "honors". In our local public high school, there are basically 3 tracks: AP, honors, and regular. Honors classes here are either classes for 9th and 10th graders that lead to AP classes (taking Honors English II in 10th grade prior to AP Engl Lang in 11th) or they are the middle track for 11th and 12th graders who don't want the challenge of AP (11th graders choose between AP US History, Honors US History, and US History). Our school also designates any class as "honors" if it is a 3rd year class or higher, so Spanish 3 and up is designated as honors as are any other electives (Newspaper 3 Hon, Orchestra 3 Hon, Art 3 Hon, etc). Academic electives that are limited to 11th and 12th graders are also designated as honors (Shakespeare Honors, History of the Vietnam War Honors, etc).

 

Edited July 26, 2016 by MinivanMom

[Arcadia]

Do public schools use that label? I honestly don't know.

Public school use honors but my state universities does not do weighted GPA for homeschool honors. So not a benefit for me to put honors for homeschool classes if my kids are applying to state universities.

[8filltheheart]

Let me offer a different perspective.  Some universities are formula based.  That means that transcript data is entered in and a # is kicked out. That # is used to rank applicants.  (Look up self-reported academic record for an example.)  If your transcript does not match up to the SRAR info, then your student could have admissions rescinded.  If your student doesn't have any courses labeled honors that are actually at an equivalent level to honors in a traditional school, your student is at an admissions disadvantage.

 

When in doubt, contact admissions at the universities your student is considering.  I did not use to label courses as honors.  However, I now do.  Why? b/c for scholarships and admissions I want their transcript to accurately represent what they accomplished in terms that adcoms use.

[MerryAtHope]

I plan to give my dd the "honors" label for Advanced Biology this year, but will specify an unweighted GPA. My kids go to the CC first and then transfer, so the weighted GPA really isn't necessary--I just think she'll be doing honors work and deserves the recognition on her transcript.

 

Lee Binz used Clep tests to verify "honors" for her kids. 

[Renaissance Mom]

When we did a first round of college visits, we had a copy of dd's in-progress transcript including honors designation for multiple courses. The first thing the admissions counselor said was "You are taking a lot of honors courses and are taking rigorous courses overall. That's just what our scholarship committee looks for." Dd ended up being invited to multiple competitive scholarship weekends and ultimately received a full tuition scholarship into a college honors program without a single AP class or test and only one DE course. Her SAT scores were respectable but no where near what I see reported on this forum. Each of the colleges that offered her additional scholarship funds above their standard merit aid (calculated by GPA and SAT scores) said it was the strength of her overall course of study plus her student resume that caught their attention. So, yes, I include honors tags on the transcript and back it up in my course descriptions.

[Mom22ns]

I used the term honors for classes that were taught from college textbooks or that culminated in a CLEP test. I only did it because ds's University used weighted grades for scholarships and specifically told me to weight grades. I weighted grades for all classes that were college level whether taught at home, online, or DE. 

[EKS]

The only classes I labeled honors were the honors math and physics classes my son took through Derek Owens.

 

ETA: Most of his homeschool coursework was honors level, but I decided that my course descriptions would need to convey that.

Edited July 26, 2016 by EKS

[Junie]

I have two high schoolers this year who are taking some of the same classes.  If one of them does significantly above and beyond what I am requiring, I think that the honors designation is earned.

[theelfqueen]

My 20 year old tells me that my homeschooled 15 year old's classes are more rigorous than the honors classes he took in the public school and strongly encourages me to label them as honors. I haven't really given it much thought yet.

 

[Garga]

When we did a first round of college visits, we had a copy of dd's in-progress transcript including honors designation for multiple courses. The first thing the admissions counselor said was "You are taking a lot of honors courses and are taking rigorous courses overall. That's just what our scholarship committee looks for." Dd ended up being invited to multiple competitive scholarship weekends and ultimately received a full tuition scholarship into a college honors program without a single AP class or test and only one DE course. Her SAT scores were respectable but no where near what I see reported on this forum. Each of the colleges that offered her additional scholarship funds above their standard merit aid (calculated by GPA and SAT scores) said it was the strength of her overall course of study plus her student resume that caught their attention. So, yes, I include honors tags on the transcript and back it up in my course descriptions.

So what made them honors? How did you know they were honors?

[8filltheheart]

So what made them honors? How did you know they were honors?

I know my kids courses are honors bc of the level of input/output. I don't believe they have to be using college textbooks or verifying with standardized exams. I base it on the content of the course.

 

For example, my dd's sr yr English course is an independent study on Shakespeare. She has designed it herself. She is researching the current positions on Shakespeare's religious ideology and whether the works themselves contain the evidence either for or against. She will be writing a capstone thesis paper based on her position after researching the multiple points of view. That, for me anyway, is definitely an honors course.

 

In French, she has been reading Les Mis in French. Not typical high school French reading, honors.

 

But even for typical high school courses, honors is a possible designation based on input/output. If a 9th grader is reading/writing more complex works in a humanities course, or completing more word problems in a math class, or doing more research in a science course compared to an avg high school course, I count it as honors. (Doing every word problem in Foerster's, honors.)

 

Fwiw, my course descriptions describe the depth of course, so the honors designation is not arbitrary.

Edited July 27, 2016 by 8FillTheHeart

[katilac]

So what made them honors? How did you know they were honors?

 

Google stuff like "chemistry honors syllabus" and "10th-grade English honors syllabus" to get an idea of what various teachers and schools are doing. I also use the words schedule, assignment, and a few others I can't think of now. 

 

You can also search "high school honors chemistry textbook" to get an idea of what texts are used. 

 

Look at numerous text books; many have different tracks in the pacing guide. I've seen wording like: basic/average/advanced; basic/regular/honors; regular/honors/lab intensive. That's just one aspect of the overall class, but it's helpful. 

 

There is no one standard for "honors." You will find a lot of variance from one school to the next, but, if you are not clear on what "honors" might look like, reviewing a lot of classes labelled that way can help, and also give you some good ideas. 

 

As others have noted, honors classes can be very valuable for scholarships that accept a weighted GPA, and for the inevitable times that people are just scanning the transcript. The fact that this is a homeschool student isn't always at the forefront of their mind, and they don't always read our artfully crafted course descriptions with the care we would wish for. The transcript needs to be as powerful and informative as possible. 

[Haiku]

As others have noted, honors classes can be very valuable for scholarships that accept a weighted GPA

 

Yes. Some of the colleges we have looked at accept homeschoolers' transcripts just as they accept schooled kids. They don't look at homeschooled kids' transcripts more skeptically than schooled kids'; they expect from both that classes/grades/test scores will be reasonably consistent.

[creekland]

Do public schools use that label?  I honestly don't know.

 

The ps where I work has three levels of classes.  Level three is considered solid 4 year college prep.  This includes our DE classes.  Level two is considered general college prep - can head to cc or less selective 4 year schools.  Level one is for kids who need more help and who are unlikely to go to college.

 

To the OP, I did not label anything honors.  I let my kids grades/scores speak for themselves and it worked out just fine with admissions, scholarships, and general merit aid.

 

I also asked admissions folks when we visited schools and most told me they recalculate GPAs anyway according to what they want to see (usually only using the four core subjects and foreign languages).  Some added credit for (or just plain expected to see) AP level.  These didn't consider a course to be AP level unless a (decent) test score came with it.  Others did not care (or said they didn't).

 

NOTE:  Many more selective schools also said the above applies to b&m schooled kids.  For homeschoolers, they put far more weight on test scores or outside the home classes (not co-op).

 

For less selective schools, it really didn't seem to matter.  They just wanted students to apply.

 

YMMV

 

I suggest asking admissions at schools you're interested in.

[daijobu]

For me, AP classes and AoPS math classes are honors.  Nothing else they do really exceeds what would happen in a normal school class.  

[Renaissance Mom]

So what made them honors? How did you know they were honors?

Good question. I live in a state that requires annual evaluation of the student's portfolio and reading list by an individual meeting certain criteria to ascertain "adequate educational progress." Our evaluator is the one who suggested I label certain courses as honors classes based on the type of input and both the quality and quantity of output. I also compared what we were doing to high school honors class syllabi I found on the Internet. In every case, what we labeled as honors exceeded in depth, scope, critical,reasoning, and output any syllabus I examined.