How many credits for all of High School?

[Garga]

ETA:  I made a mistake.  I double checked and the local high school only requires 26 credits.  I read it wrong originally.  So, I'm not as far off as I thought.  

 

 

 

 

 

I was going to shoot for 25 credits.  That's 6 classes a year, plus one credit of home ec spread out over all 4 years.  We do school for about 8 hours a day.   A lot of the home ec projects are done in the summer.

 

But then I found out that my local high school graduates the kids with 28 credits.  Uh oh!  That's three more than us!

 

So, how many credits do you make sure your kids have when the graduate from high school?  Because now I'm nervous about my plans.  Do I need to have us do 7 classes a year for 10th -12th?

 

He does karate as an extracurricular.  He bakes cookies and cupcakes for homeless people about 4 times a week.  I don't want to count those as classes.  Well, certainly not the baking, but I suppose the karate could be a class, though I'd rather it be an extracurricular.

 

And that's it.  I can't think of anything else I could honestly count as a credit that we do around here.  We're quiet introverts who stay home a lot. 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Garga_

[EKS]

I decided that I wanted to be able to favorably compare our homeschool requirements to those of the local district (which has an excellent reputation) in my school profile.  So I "required" as many or more credits for each subject (as well as total credits) as the local district, and for certain subjects, my son had more credits than I required.

 

My reasoning was that since I was saying in the school profile that a main reason we homeschooled was to give my son a superior academic experience, I needed to give some tangible evidence that our homeschool was, indeed, superior.

Edited December 21, 2016 by EKS

[....]

Our state requires 26.  I didn't realize until this year how many that is!  How do we cover that much without glossing over stuff???  I think we will end up with 28, but we are working over the summer and a couple of their credits will be PE. 

[teachermom2834]

It really depends on the post high school goals/plans.

 

What you propose , while lower than what my local high school graduates kids with, would be just fine for our state universities. However if your goals include more selective schools you probably want to beef it up a bit. Very important to look at a handful of likely college destinations and make sure you meet requirements. With the exception of the highly selective schools, if you meet the requirements and have the target test scores you are probably just fine.

[chiguirre]

Are there schools that require more than 4years each of math, science,English, social studies and foreign language? I know some require specific history or science courses but does any school expect more than 4 years in any subject area or are the extra credits above 20 coming from gym, health, choir, band, shop etc?

[Luckymama]

Are there schools that require more than 4years each of math, science,English, social studies and foreign language? I know some require specific history or science courses but does any school expect more than 4 years in any subject area or are the extra credits above 20 coming from gym, health, choir, band, shop etc?

This is my question as well. The local high school counts gym, health, and various career electives. The Catholic schools count theology as well.

 

D has a minimum of 5 each year (English, social sciences/history, math, foreign language, lab science). The rest of her classes are all purely academic---more math, science, social science, and a boatload of foreign languages.

 

Colleges look at the academic courses. A state university can mandate coursework, academic or otherwise, for entering freshmen. If D applied to somewhere that wanted gym or arts on her transcript, then I would have added it (she danced classical ballet, we visited museums and studied art within our history classes--it would have been easy to write course descriptions based on things we did already).

[MerryAtHope]

First, look at what those credits are. For example, is Driver's Ed a half-credit? Health Class? etc... Some of these things are things you would do anyway but might not be thinking to make them into a "credit." Are you counting PE in what you've laid out? Most schools have PE credits. and so on. In other words, they might not all be "highly academic" classes.

 

HSLDA has a brochure that lays out 24 credits for a college-prep student, and 28 for an elite college-bound student--you could google for that if you want to see a general layout. 

 

Really, though, I'd look at your goals. If you are aiming for a college-prep education, then look at what colleges require in your area or that you would consider. Most will list 4 years of English, 3-4 years of math, 3 years of science (specifying 1, 2 or 3 with labs), 3 years of Social Studies, 1 year Fine Arts, 2-4 years of the same foreign language--that's a pretty general core of requirements, but some schools will specify certain classes (like whether Biology or Chemistry or both are required, US history, World History...) and some may have more requirements, especially if you are looking at elite schools. 

 

I aimed for a college-prep type of education, and my personal school requirements either matched or exceeded what colleges in our area would require, based on each of my students' personal bent as well as things I felt were important. I did look at the classes our local public school requires, and also our state requirements, and took those things into consideration as I decided what my students needed and wanted to do. One ended up with 24.5, and I think the other will have 25 or 25.5.

[learners4life]

I was concerned about this as well, although I never thought about it until it was too late to change anything (senior year). By then, it was what it was. My daughter ended up with 27 on the UC app, not counting P.E., which the  UCs don't want entered.  However, I am changing that on the Common App.  Two years of her English included an online Great Books course in addition to her regular English Composition and Grammar.  For the Common App, these will be split into two different classes.  It is truly more correct, as the Great Books courses alone should be more than one credit.  The bonus is the additional units - she will now have 29, making her transcript a little more competitive.  

 

Do I think it was absolutely necessary? No. Am I glad for the change all the same? Yes. I think that the universities see right through padded transcripts, or transcripts full of classes all over the place showing no clear interests.  I think the latter can happen easily in schools that use block scheduling.  I think block scheduling is bad.

 

 

[foxbridgeacademy]

My state requires 22.  The state I just left requires 40 semester credits (so 20) for regular graduation and 46 (so 23) for Honors. All the Colleges/Universities I've looked at want 20-25 so IMO you should be good (IU, Purdue, MTSU).  Also make sure the schools aren't giving additional credit for labs.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by foxbridgeacademy

[HollyDay]

Our old cover school had various levels for diplomas.  The highest level, adv college prep, required 26 credits:

4 math

4 english

4 history

4 science

1 art

1 computer skills

1 foreign language (although I personally required 2 in the same language)

7 electives

 

I also required 1 health, which also included PE.  Oldest daughter played sports so she could have been awarded PE every year

[creekland]

Yes, we're in the 28 credit (minimum, some kids have up to 32) credits to graduate.

 

Don't forget to add in PE/Health/Driver's Ed, etc.  There should be one credit per year (for three years) from those (not one each - one total - PE + the one or the other each year).

 

I also had mine do Wood Shop, Art History, Music Appreciation and some of those that didn't really take as much time, gave them an "academic break," and are good for humans to know.  They have come back to me since glad that they did those FWIW.

[creekland]

Did you do any high school level courses in 8th? I think that's how many get to a higher number. Here, you can count computer science and health courses that were taken in 8th. 

 

Here, where 28 credits are needed, no credits are allowed from 8th grade - even if it's the same course (Alg 1) that kids take in 9th-12th.  Other states/districts can (and do) differ, of course, but I'm in Garga's county...  We opted to keep our kids on par with their peers.

[8filltheheart]

It absolutely depends on if and where the student applies to college. A local CC....don't worry about it. An in-state university? What are the admissions requirements? How competitive is admissions (acceptance rate)??

 

I would investigate those things first unless you are considering competitive admissions or your instate options are highly competitive. If so, I would research the different schools and see what their minimums requirements are and make sure you surpass them in some areas.

 

Fwiw, I only include academic credits on my kids transcripts with the exception of PE (1 university my Dd applied to this yr actually required a PE credit.) My kids that just applied to your avg instate university had around 24 credits. My kids applying for competitive scholarships (not admissions) had an exceedingly high number of credits but they were pretty self-driven and their credits were determined by them and not me and they often carried 5+ credits up from middle school (my12th grader had 2 Latin, 2 French, alg, geo, and bio from middle school.)

[Garga]

 

 

Our goals:

 

We're hoping he can go to a 4 year college if he wants. We are not shooting for an elite college.  He has no ideas of what he wants to be/do when he grows up. My DH works at a community college and if my son still has no clue what he wants to do by the end of 12th, we very well might just have him start there to save money.  (With my dh working at the college, we'd only have to pay for books and fees...so almost free education!)  But if our sons suddenly realize exactly what they want to do and they need to head off to a 4-year college right away, I want them to be ready.  I don't want any mistakes on my part to hold them back.

 

 

*Edited because I was rambling too much.  

Edited December 22, 2016 by Garga

[wapiti]

FWIW, I don't remember seeing competitive colleges set out a total number of credits but rather numbers of credits for core subjects.  OTOH, state schools may be different.

 

Some high schools around here require 25.  My dd's private school has requirements that total 28:  English 4, Math 4, Theology 4, Science 3, Social Studies 3, Classical and Modern Languages 2, PE 1 (includes 0.5 PE and 0.5 health), Communication 0.5, Computer Science 0.5, Humanities & Arts 0.5, Electives 5.5, Community Service 175 hrs.  Most kids take more science, social studies, and language in the 5.5 credits allotted for electives.  There are no study halls, 7 credits per year.

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by wapiti

[Garga]

Ok--overall, it sounds like our 25 credits aren't bad for our goals.  

 

It's really looking like the PE and Health credit (.5 half credit each) is doable.

 

I also am thinking of getting a few Great Courses about critical thinking and watching them and answering the questions that usually come with the lectures.  We could watch them over the next two years and then assign another credit for "Intro to critical thinking" or some such thing.  It would be a bit of fluff, but I know he'd enjoy that a lot.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Garga

[Garga]

FWIW, I don't remember seeing competitive colleges set out a total number of credits but rather numbers of credits for core subjects.  OTOH, state schools may be different.

 

Some high schools around here require 25.  My dd's private school has requirements that total 28:  English 4, Math 4, Theology 4, Science 3, Social Studies 3, Classical and Modern Languages 2, PE 1 (includes 0.5 PE and 0.5 health), Communication 0.5, Computer Science 0.5, Humanities & Arts 0.5, Electives 5.5, Community Service 175 hrs.  Most kids take more science, social studies, and language in the 5.5 credits allotted for electives.  There are no study halls, 7 credits per year.

 

 

Keep seeing PE and Health coming up again and again.  So I may only need 2 more credits to feel like I'm comparable to the local high school.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Garga

[Julie Smith]

In Ontario Canada, if you are in highschool you require 30 credits to graduate, and 40 hours of community service. They have spefcific requirements for those 30 credits, such as 4 English, 3? Math, 2? French...

 

I have never heard of drivers education counting as highschool credit. You can get highschool credit for previous music experience by passing grade 7 or 8 levels at a royal conservator of music exam. Some people choose to get a credit during the summer before 9th grade by attending summer school. When I was in school, in my middle school they didn't offer highschool credit for any courses. I personally have never heard of a middle school doing so, but then I don't have much experience with middle schools.

 

When I was a kid highschool lasted 5 years. Grade 9, 10, 11, 12 and OAC. They had different requirements for graduation back then, but I now forget what they were. Highschool in Ontario is now only 4 years, but I think at least 20%? of students choose to take 5 years to complete highschool. That last year is referred to as a victory lap. For that reason in Ontario a large quantity of students are 19 when they graduate.

 

One thing that I think is different between our credits, and credits in most USA places is you only need 120 hours to get a credit. If you take a full course load in highschool you get 8 credits in a year. Most students take a full course load in grades 9 and 10, then a slightly reduced course load in grades 11 and 12 when the amount of work per course increases.

[creekland]

For Health, my boys did a Health in the Box thing one year out of their four high school years.  This was 1/2 credit.  Every other year I had them read the monthly Health Newsletter, Nutrition Action, and write about one of the articles, but I honestly don't remember now if I counted that toward any credit or not.  I just wanted them to know the information as Nutrition Action covers the latest in studies, etc.

 

For PE, mine got their 3 (half) years of credit by learning about sports - all sorts of sports.  They were active because we are active (hiking, geocaching, whatever), but that only sort of counted.  We didn't do any written work - just discussions.  All of their "stuff" (like Scuba) counted as ECs.

 

Yes, Driver's Ed is a half credit course done in 10th grade here.  Health is the 9th grade half credit. Fitness and Wellness is the 11th grade half credit - each of these going with PE for the other half.  Seniors don't need the class - unless they failed, of course.  It is a required course in public school.

[Kassia]

Keep seeing PE and Health coming up again and again.  So I may only need 2 more credits to feel like I'm comparable to the local high school.

 

Our high school requires two semesters of P.E. (only counts as .25 credit each for some reason) and one semester of health.  You can use a school sport or marching band (I think) for one of the P.E. requirements.  

[teachermom2834]

We actually end up (per umbrella school/state requirements) with 1.5 credits for wellness and PE. Wellness is a full credit but is made up of half a credit PE and half a credit health. Then we need another .5 of PE.  We also have a .5 credit personal finance requirement and our old umbrella school required 2.5 credits of Bible/ Worldview.  So right there you have 4.5 credits that are (or can be ) light.  Many students also have electives like Photoshop or art/ music, computers, etc.  Lots of variation.

[yvonne]

 Do I need to have us do 7 classes a year for 10th -12th?

 

 

 

Every once in a while I get into a panic about credits, too. I kind of wonder, though, if they're a little like grades.... too subjective/not standardized enough to mean a whole lot. 20 credits from one source can mean something totally different than 40 credits from another source. I'm sure college admissions people look at raw number of credits, but I have to believe that they are savvy enough to know that a "credit" can mean vastly different things depending on the source. I would think this would be especially true of college admissions folks at the more selective colleges.

 

So, I try not to get hung up on number of credits beyond being sure to cover the typical 5x4 that most colleges seem to look for. My students' records, the classes they've taken, the books they've studied or just read, ... will speak for themselves however many credits they eventually accumulate.

 

I would go for quality of credits over quantity. If you're really, really worried about number of credits, the easiest/fastest way to rack up more credits might be to have your students take cc courses, if you're happy with the quality of your local ccs.

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by yvonne

[8filltheheart]

FWIW, I don't remember seeing competitive colleges set out a total number of credits but rather numbers of credits for core subjects. OTOH, state schools may be different.

 

I also don't think that schools care about the number of credits. I think they care what the credits are. Meet their minimums and fill them out with higher sequence level courses....that is what they want, not driver's ed or health (unless those are state requirements that are showing up specifically on their admissions criteria.) Edited December 22, 2016 by 8FillTheHeart

[Julie Smith]

Yes, Driver's Ed is a half credit course done in 10th grade here.  

 

This is another example of things being different in different places. In my area you can't start the driving part of driving Ed till you are 16.

 

Where I live, if Eldest was in a classroom about half the students would be older than him, half younger. He would only turn 16 near the end off 10th grade. (He would turn 16 at the end of May) So not really enough time for Driver's Education in grade 10. Youngest wouldn't even turn 16 till over 2 months into grade 11.

 

Now that I'm thinking about highschool more, I have to remember that "a credit" and even the average age of a student in a certain grade can mean different things in different areas. 

[....]

Our high school requires two semesters of P.E. (only counts as .25 credit each for some reason) and one semester of health.  You can use a school sport or marching band (I think) for one of the P.E. requirements.  

 

Us, too.  When I checked a couple of years ago, PE was actually a graduation requirement here, too.  Also, my two teens are thinking about majoring in exercise science or kinesiology (or something similar), so I don't feel bad at all about having PE on there.

[J-rap]

Our district requires 23.5, but the most you could take would be 28.  Only seven periods (class slots) per day are offered.  It sounds like there are plenty of schools that require more than 28 even.  Here, seven periods run from 7:50am to 3:20pm.  Where would you fit in the extra classes?  Right after school is athletics (which don't count for any credit), and before school are things like jazz choir, jazz band, math club, early work-outs for some athletics, etc. (which also don't count for any credit).  I don't know how schools can squeeze in extra classes?

 

My kids generally had seven classes per year at home, though sometimes six.

[creekland]

This is another example of things being different in different places. In my area you can't start the driving part of driving Ed till you are 16.

 

Where I live, if Eldest was in a classroom about half the students would be older than him, half younger. He would only turn 16 near the end off 10th grade. (He would turn 16 at the end of May) So not really enough time for Driver's Education in grade 10. Youngest wouldn't even turn 16 till over 2 months into grade 11.

 

Now that I'm thinking about highschool more, I have to remember that "a credit" and even the average age of a student in a certain grade can mean different things in different areas. 

 

Our Driver's Ed course (at school) is 100% book learning (and videos/lectures, etc).  It's a required course all students have to take - even if they don't plan to ever get a Driver's license.  One blind student had to petition the state to be let out of the requirement (she won, but still...).  The in-car portion of Driver's Ed is extra, optional, a little bit expensive, not worth any academic credit, and available to anyone who has had their permit for at least 6 months (since one gets their license at the end of that part, so has to be eligible for it).

 

Our district requires 23.5, but the most you could take would be 28.  Only seven periods (class slots) per day are offered.  It sounds like there are plenty of schools that require more than 28 even.  Here, seven periods run from 7:50am to 3:20pm.  Where would you fit in the extra classes?  Right after school is athletics (which don't count for any credit), and before school are things like jazz choir, jazz band, math club, early work-outs for some athletics, etc. (which also don't count for any credit).  I don't know how schools can squeeze in extra classes?

 

My kids generally had seven classes per year at home, though sometimes six.

 

We're on Block Scheduling - as are many schools around the country now.  A student takes 4 classes per semester - meaning 8 per year.  This gives one 32 credits if they take and pass 8 each year for four years.  Seniors can opt to just take 4 if they want (and stay home/work the rest of the day or graduate in the winter, etc).

 

One thing many might want to remember with more selective colleges (NOT meaning just Ivy or equivalent) is that most like to see well-rounded students... esp from homeschooling.  The advantage of homeschooling (to them) is being able to craft who one is.  Yes, 4 credits each from English (and usually) Math, Science, and Social Studies are important, but they also generally want to see Foreign Language, once in a while PE, and Art/Music or similar show an "educated" prospective student IME.  That can give one an edge with merit aid over someone else who just has the basics.

 

My middle son was able to get by with 3 credits in History (during his high school years).  Admissions was ok with that because he was able to explain that he wanted more room for more Science credits.  I think he had 7 of those.

 

A super, super worthy class is Public Speaking.  Mine did that at the local CC.  Kids may never think they are going to do public speaking, but this class helps them understand communication in general and is useful for everyday life as well as admissions or scholarship interviews (something that can end up paying off handsomely).  I recommend it to almost every student.

[8filltheheart]

Our district requires 23.5, but the most you could take would be 28. Only seven periods (class slots) per day are offered. It sounds like there are plenty of schools that require more than 28 even. Here, seven periods run from 7:50am to 3:20pm. Where would you fit in the extra classes? Right after school is athletics (which don't count for any credit), and before school are things like jazz choir, jazz band, math club, early work-outs for some athletics, etc. (which also don't count for any credit). I don't know how schools can squeeze in extra classes?

 

My kids generally had seven classes per year at home, though sometimes six.

 

If you spend any time reading CC, you'll find that a lot of competitive type public/private school kids are taking dual enrollment classes over the summer in order to "get ahead."

 

Our homeschool is the antithesis of rat-race competition. My kids take what they take bc they want to, but my last 2 have had significantly more than 28 credits. My current college student had in the low 40s. He ended up with something like 12 science credits (and only 1 of those was a non-AP or college level science class) and something similar in math. Dual enrollment classes can add credits up quickly.

 

Garga, in addition to making sure you meet admission thresholds, honestly, the next important thing to focus on is the almighty test score. It is ridiculous from my perspective, but scores are one of the top filters.

[AngieW in Texas]

I didn't have my kids do as many credits as the state requires for ps and I didn't have any issues with college admissions.

 

Texas requires 26 credits for most kids to graduate from ps. In order to graduate with just 22, you have to be on minimum plan, which also requires you to go to community college before you can go to university. This is mostly going to be for SpEd students, although some others will be able to graduate on minimum plan as well. I worked at a dropout prevention school and the principal had a maximum percentage of students allowed to graduate on minimum plan each year (although I think that maximum percentage was because of the charter, not the district). All of the SpEd students at the dropout prevention school were on minimum plan. And all of them needed to be on the minimum plan.

 

My kids all had 25-25.5 credits and all of them got accepted to every college to which they applied and got scholarship offers as well.

 

At my high school, kids have 8 credits they take each year. A huge percentage of our freshman this year are still going to be freshmen next year because of failing grades. This year's freshman cohort just doesn't understand that they have to actually pass their classes and won't get moved along like they were in elementary and middle school. In my study hall class, half of the students are failing at least one class. One-fourth of them are failing at least three classes. They have a lot of opportunities to bring up their grades. We are required to give them until one week after the unit test to turn in missing work from that unit. We cannot take off more than 20% of the points for late work turned in before the final deadline (and most of us just cap the grade at 80% rather than giving them 80% of the earned points). We are required to give them the opportunity to do corrections and/or retest on any major grade that is below 70% so that they have the opportunity to bring it up to 70%. We have tutorials before and after school. We have a required study hall for all 9th and 10th graders for the first 30 minutes of school Monday-Thursday. In study hall, we pull up their grade report and go over it each week and contact their teachers to find out what is missing and what the final deadline is and get them new copies of any missing assignments. Most of the teachers give them time in class to do the work. Algebra is one of the very few classes that actually has a short daily homework assignment (it should only take 20 minutes, but many of them are not doing it). In my IPC and Chemistry classes, everything should be completed in class, although they can take it home to finish if they don't get it done in class. 

[Jan in SC]

My kids will have between 30-32 credits at graduation. They are in Catholic school, so four are theology. They are required to have a speech and research class, along with the usual science, history, math, and and English. They also have to complete a certain number of service hours, which is similar to the public schools here. All seniors present a project that they complete during that year.

 

Eta- I'm not sure our state offers driver's ed anymore. I know the schools near us don't.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Jan in SC

[Serenade]

NM -- point was made further down thread.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Serenade

[GoodGrief]

I also don't think that schools care about the number of credits. I think they care what the credits are. Meet their minimums and fill them out with higher sequence level courses....that is what they want, not driver's ed or health (unless those are state requirements that are showing up specifically on their admissions criteria.)

 

I'm just seeing this post now (I think...lol, sometimes I find I have posted to something previously and don't recall!), but I was thinking exactly what 8FillTheHeart said. The colleges aren't counting up numbers for the most part; different schools probably even have different ways of figuring credits. But they do want to see is what your student did for his high school education.

 

There are exceptions, of course. But for the most part, your student should make sure the basics are covered, and document what additional learning he did beyond that.

[swimmermom3]

I decided that I wanted to be able to favorably compare our homeschool requirements to those of the local district (which has an excellent reputation) in my school profile.  So I "required" as many or more credits for each subject (as well as total credits) as the local district, and for certain subjects, my son had more credits than I required.

 

My reasoning was that since I was saying in the school profile that a main reason we homeschooled was to give my son a superior academic experience, I needed to give some tangible evidence that our homeschool was, indeed, superior.

 

This is what we did as well.  I was already adamant that ds have 4 English, 4 math, 4 science, 4 foreign language, and 4 social science credits. That's already 20 credits for core classes, but he had 5 for foreign languages (summer intensive) and 5.5 in social sciences (3 history, 1.5 econ, and 2 government - his area of interest). He also had a couple of electives from the semester that he went to public high school - time he said at the end, he wished he could get back.  We had one Art History credit that extended over 4 years and coincided with history.

 

By the end, nearly all of his classes were advanced and he could manage no more than 6 at a time and even then, it could be a challenge.