CatholicMom Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I have no idea how to fit this into one day, but I don't see anything that can go... What do you think? Anything I should or could condense? 1. Math - Algebra I 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English - Seton English? 4. Reading - Just reading good literature 5. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 6. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 7. Philosophy - I'm thinking Memoria Press Traditional Logic 8. Religion - Faith & Life Series 9. Typing - (why oh why didn't we already do this?) 10. P.E./Art/Music - Probably have to do at least one of these most days Will he have time or energy for an elective after all of this? I was hoping that each year of high school he could take an elective that really interests him which, for my son, might be film-making, British literature, photography, etc. But, wow... Thoughts? FYI, we have been homeschooling from the beginning and now my oldest is going into 9th next year. So after feeling like I finally have things pretty down-pat, I now have that old familiar feeling of "not knowing where to start" and groping my way through this high school thing. I've planned on homeschooling high school all along, but now that it's really here, I must admit it's overwhelming. TIA! Tara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 For typing, once he learns the basic hand position, you can just get him the game, "epistory". http://store.steampowered.com/app/398850/ Unless you start grade 9 soon, he has time to master typing before it starts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirabillis Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 FYI, we have been homeschooling from the beginning and now my oldest is going into 9th next year. So after feeling like I finally have things pretty down-pat, I now have that old familiar feeling of "not knowing where to start" and groping my way through this high school thing. I've planned on homeschooling high school all along, but now that it's really here, I must admit it's overwhelming. TIA! Tara Just wanted to weigh in that my oldest is in 9th grade this year. We too have homeschooled all along, and it's true, everything changes. High school is completely different (at least for us), but it's a natural progression and we're doing great after a crazy jump-into-the-deep end start in September. You can do it, but do know things can change - depending on if you plan to outsource, if you plan to take AP courses, finding places to take PSATs, SATs, ACTs, & AP exams, extracurriculars, volunteer service - and anything else that is necessary for a college-minded high schooler. We find keeping it simple at 6 (maybe 7) credits is more than enough, barely enough to handle. School lasts long after it used to (my ds is doing 'homework' not completed during the school day right now, in fact, at 6:40pm). So think of sticking to the basics: English Math Science History/Geography Foreign Language 1-2 electives (academic or otherwise) 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I have no idea how to fit this into one day, but I don't see anything that can go... What do you think? Anything I should or could condense? 1. Math - Algebra I 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English - Seton English? 4. Reading - Just reading good literature 5. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 6. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 7. Philosophy - I'm thinking Memoria Press Traditional Logic 8. Religion - Faith & Life Series 9. Typing - (why oh why didn't we already do this?) 10. P.E./Art/Music - Probably have to do at least one of these most days Aim for six core credits. that's six hours per day. 1.Math 2. Science 3. English. reading is part of English. 3. Social sciences 4. Foreign language 5. Foreign language. 6. Philosophy and religion. Typing can be learned as part of the content subjects, when the student has to type his assignments. Add one hour for art/music/PE. That's 7 hours of academic work and not too much. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Do you have to do religion and philosophy? Does typing have to be a school subject? Could you cover religion outside of "school" time, like do it a couple of times a week in the afternoons? I'd drop philosophy/logic and let him take an elective that interests him. Maybe do typing this semester and through the summer, so you won't feel so crunched. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) Random thoughts of a non-homeschooler: I would not offer credit for typing - have him learn to type before high school starts. Reading, "just reading good literature," without a specific plan that could comprise a special elective, sounds like it should be a subset of English (1 credit total). (No credit for free reading.) If you are still tight on time with 8 credits, perhaps alternate philosophy and religion so that they are not more than one credit per year; e.g. save philosophy for next year unless you have more religion planned, or do a half-credit of each over the whole school year. I can't comment on the programs you listed for these subjects. Edited January 5, 2017 by wapiti 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 The PP's have given you very good advise. We aim for 7 units and year but that is because we make use of summer including the summer before 9th. We covered health last summer and this summer will be PE and next year summer by God's grace will be art history. We aim for 6 and a half courses during each year. Philosophy and religion can be the half course if you want, you don't want to do too much especially in the first two years of high school. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Has he not had much keyboarding experience? You've had great responses so I won't waste your time on the rest. I did want to reemphasize that typing doesn't need to be a full course. Although I took typing in High School (on a real typewriter :) ) in today's day and age, with word processing software and everything on a computer now it doesn't need to be a High School credit course. All he needs to do is develop basic keyboarding skills on a computer keyboard. He will learn the rest while typing output in other subjects. Start him on a basic typing program right now. There are many out there. If he has any struggles with spelling you might consider Touch Type Read Spell. Lessons are short, typing screen can be configured to whatever the student prefers, it includes dictation once the student is more proficient, etc. Usually for sale through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. If spelling isn't an issue then there are many typing programs out there and most have pretty short lessons so it won't take up much time. Seriously, though, have him start now so that by fall he will have developed some muscle memory/proficiency. Getting truly proficient enough at typing to type papers usually takes time. It rarely happens overnight. Make sure he is hitting the correct keys with the correct fingers until it becomes automatic. Watch for errors in fingering on a daily basis. Once a poor key stroke becomes ingrained it can be horrifically hard to unlearn then relearn the correct way. And make sure the emphasis is on ACCURACY, not speed. Speed will come when accuracy and muscle memory are more solid. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivey Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 For an average 9th grader, I would aim for 7 credits, with 1-2 of them being light/fun "elective" courses. Philosophy, religion, art, music, PE, etc. do not have to be full credit courses. You could do something like: English (including literature) - 1 credit Algebra 1 - 1 credit Physical Science - 1 credit Social Studies - 1 credit Spanish - 1 credit Logic - 0.5 credit (September-January, or 2x/week all year) Religion - 0.5 credit (February-June, or 2x/week all year) PE - 0.5 credit Art - 0.5 credit If you do these courses for multiple years, you can choose to combine them into full credit courses. My 19yo graduated last year with 2 PE credits, which he earned over the 4 years. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) Some of the classes like typing, art/music, philosophy can be done 2-3 days a week. More than likely you are doing those classes as 1/2 credit classes so they can be done less frequently for the entire year or done intensely for 1/2 the year. So you would do typing in the fall and then art/music in the 2nd half of the year. Normally a credit would be around 120 hours (a Carnegie credit) in NYS it is only 108 hours. For most public schools students would complete a total of 21-22 credits (some states only require 20 while others as many as 24) over the 4 years. That would mean that your average student would complete 6 full credits max each year. Now there are many students who complete more than the minimum but that gives you a good basis for how to plan. Many of the high school electives are only partial credit courses. I know in NYS homeschoolers are only required to take 2 credits of gym. If you divide those two credits over 4 years (each year a 1/2 credit class) you only need to complete 54 hours a year which works out to 1.7 hrs a week for 32 weeks. (if you are doing a Carnegie credit it would be 1.9 hours a week). When planning our high school I look at each class and figure how long each course would be and assign the credit value. If it is an elective I look at curriculum and see if it can reasonably be done in either 1/2 a year or 2 hrs a week. If not I then look to see if I want it to be a full credit class and then limit other electives that I may introduce that year. You might want to make yourself a chart where you can list out your required courses and your electives. I have attached the file for my form. I hope it helps you a bit. High School Checklist NYS.doc High School Checklist NYS.doc Edited January 5, 2017 by mschickie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We do our typing practice in the summer - a little each day, with a goal for accuracy & words per minute that go up each year. My kids learn Word, Excel, & Powerpoint as they need to for their individual classes. (I will say that the brick and mortar school that we looked at transferring our oldest into has two half-credit keyboarding/Office/Database type classes they require for Freshmen. With the work we've done, she would have tested out of the first semester, but not the second. So, you COULD give credit, but only if you covered more skills. IMO, best to cover them as you need them as it is less of a time-suck, at least for us.) Math - 1 credit, 1 hr/day Science - 1 credit, 1 hr/day English - 1 credit, might be 1 1/2 hrs/day depending on the program & how much reading you do ** includes reading Social Studies - 1 credit, 1 hr/day Foreign Languages - 1 credit, 1 hr/day Philosophy - 1/2 credit, 1 hr/day for one semester (we didn't find TL to take 5 hrs/week, but we also didn't finish it because it was so boring!) Religion - 1/2 credit, either do it 1 hr/day for one semester or spread it out over the whole year with less time/day PE/Art/Music - choose one & do it in a block one day per week So, you have 5 1/2 hours for your main credits every day plus either Religion or Philosophy (those ARE your electives!) and a block once per week for either art or music. I look at PE like I look at free reading. They should be doing some everyday anyway, so I don't count it as school. Unless you need a "health" class or are required to have PE on the transcript to graduate in your state, I wouldn't worry about an actual class. For your "good literature," you will need to decide if you just let him read or assign him books to be read over the school year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We too had to par down the subjects so we weren't doing too much. A lot of the work was just MORE and we needed time to do it, not rush through. Math is easily an hour a day, sometimes more. English has had short days, but some very long days(writing papers). I'm opting to do Health over the summer. While we did typing previously and they did fine, they dropped the hand position and have become peckers. So they are redoing typing as well this summer. We do : Math English(lit and writing, grammar if needed--I have one kid who needs it, one who doesn't) So next year my 10th grader will do literature year round, and a short grammar class and in spring either more grammar or writing. If he ends up doing both grammar classes then writing will be all at home. I'm hoping one semester of grammar will be enough and he can do one semester of writing. He's doing writing now, but apparently all grammar taught from 1-8th grades left his brain with the growth spurt. Science History Foreign Language Elective(art, music, computer stuff, etc) My younger will have multiple elective credits per year. My older will end up with just enough credits in everything. I'm following the general guidelines for my state and what I see colleges asking for. What isn't listed is test prep. My 9th grader starts PSAT practice tests this spring for the fall test. And then will move to SAT/ACT test prep until he's done testing. No credit, but will spend the time weekly. which is why I'm trying to get little things done over summer. Like PE and Health. History includes Bible, plus we do church, and read some Christian related books together every year. I'm counting it as a small credit when all added up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I have no idea how to fit this into one day, but I don't see anything that can go... What do you think? Anything I should or could condense? 1. Math - Algebra I 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English - Seton English? 4. Reading - Just reading good literature 5. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 6. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 7. Philosophy - I'm thinking Memoria Press Traditional Logic 8. Religion - Faith & Life Series 9. Typing - (why oh why didn't we already do this?) 10. P.E./Art/Music - Probably have to do at least one of these most days Will he have time or energy for an elective after all of this? I was hoping that each year of high school he could take an elective that really interests him which, for my son, might be film-making, British literature, photography, etc. But, wow... Thoughts? FYI, we have been homeschooling from the beginning and now my oldest is going into 9th next year. So after feeling like I finally have things pretty down-pat, I now have that old familiar feeling of "not knowing where to start" and groping my way through this high school thing. I've planned on homeschooling high school all along, but now that it's really here, I must admit it's overwhelming. TIA! Tara I don't ever try and cover more than 7 credits, so I'd probably combine the English and Reading into one "English" course. So maybe something like: Math - 1 credit Science - 1 credit English/Reading - 1 credit Social Studies - 1 credit Foreign Language - 1 credit P.E. - .5 credit Art - .5 credit Music - .5 credit Religion - .25 credit Typing - .25 I spread out some of those extras like Art, Music, and even Gym over four years. I'd probably shoot for getting a total of 2 credits each of Art and Music, 1 credit of Gym, and .5 credit of Computer which would include the typing aspect, learning how to use various computer programs such as Excel, Power Point, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I have no idea how to fit this into one day, but I don't see anything that can go... What do you think? Anything I should or could condense? 1. Math - Algebra I 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English - Seton English? 4. Reading - Just reading good literature 5. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 6. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 7. Philosophy - I'm thinking Memoria Press Traditional Logic 8. Religion - Faith & Life Series 9. Typing - (why oh why didn't we already do this?) 10. P.E./Art/Music - Probably have to do at least one of these most days Will he have time or energy for an elective after all of this? I was hoping that each year of high school he could take an elective that really interests him which, for my son, might be film-making, British literature, photography, etc. But, wow... Thoughts? FYI, we have been homeschooling from the beginning and now my oldest is going into 9th next year. So after feeling like I finally have things pretty down-pat, I now have that old familiar feeling of "not knowing where to start" and groping my way through this high school thing. I've planned on homeschooling high school all along, but now that it's really here, I must admit it's overwhelming. TIA! Tara Well, after just finishing an overloaded first semester of 9th grade, I recommend simplifying your current plan. Some of those are valuable to study, but not worth the stress of trying to come up with a credit's worth of work. And some can be done in a semester rather than all year. From now on I am paring down to four core classes (math, science, English, and SS), two electives (art and psychology), and P.E. We do some work in the summer to get ahead and squeeze in more fun. Typing - start now, work over the summer. Don't worry about a credit. Religion - Faith & Life Series goes up to 8th grade, right? Do you feel you need to put together a high school religion course? What about World Religions? St. Mary's Press has a good program. Philosophy - Maybe look at a Pop Culture and Philosophy book (Harry Potter, The Princess Bride, Star Wars, etc.) Or play the audiobook for A Little History of Philosophy in the car. If you want a formal logic course, you can do it later (we used Art of Argument). I wouldn't do it the same year as religion, though. So for 9th grade, I would recommend: 1. Algebra 1 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English/Literature - Study literary elements as used in literature and write essays about the literature. 4. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 5. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 6. World Religions / Sister Wendy art history (each one semester) 7. P.E. - keep an activity log. Here we need 65 hours for a half credit. Second semester you can do health. Then maybe for 10th grade: 1. Geometry 2. Science - Biology? 3. English/Lit - literature studies 4. Social Studies - World History 5. Foreign Language - Spanish 6. Philosophy / Logic (each one semester) 7. P.E. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Are you jumping into Faith and Life at some earlier point than high school? I think it ends at 8th grade, and whatever level you do, it could simply consist of reading and discussing the text. My kids always did F&L as part of CCD but we never considered it part of school. Typing could also be done without specifically assigning credit. I don't want to deny any credits your student is due, but handling these differently could make it easier of both of you. I would also probably try to do Traditional Logic over summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) On 1/4/2017 at 7:32 PM, CatholicMom said: FYI, we have been homeschooling from the beginning and now my oldest is going into 9th next year. So after feeling like I finally have things pretty down-pat, I now have that old familiar feeling of "not knowing where to start" and groping my way through this high school thing. I've planned on homeschooling high school all along, but now that it's really here, I must admit it's overwhelming. First, welcome to planning for high school! ? I think all of us had that same feeling that we were "starting over" when the oldest child hit high school, so you're in good company. ? To help you get a handle on high school, you might want to browse some of the threads linked in the big pinned thread at the top of this board: "Starting High School, Outsourcing...links to past threads here!" A few threads in particular might be of help: My son is starting high school this year (overview of making a high school plan, and links to more threads)High School "Time Table" (deadlines / what to do and when for high school)High school curriculum -- where do I start? (how to decide what credits to do, and then how to select curriculum)Could you point me to a list (post #3 lists types of classes count for what types of credits)What do "seventh" and "ninth" grade look like to you? (general developmental expectations at the different middle/high school grades) Because high school becomes a rapidly-shrinking window of opportunity, it's important to determine what your top few goals are (what's important to both you and to your student to accomplish or pursue in high school), so that you can make those happen. That's where making a high school plan can help. You'll want to include everything that will take time -- not only the academic credits you need to accomplish, but things like: - extracurricular activities - family time and any special trips or activities - learning life skills (learning to drive, personal finances, nutrition/health, learning to shop/cook/do laundry, etc.) - student part time job - character development/spiritual goals or activities - volunteering/community service - developing personal interests - regular physical activity - etc. Because your time will be tight, you need to know in advance what is important to you and to your student to make sure you schedule time for those things, and balance that with the time required for completing academic credits. A rough guide is to think of 1 credit as a 1 year course, taking about 1 hour of work 4-5x/week -- which averages out to roughly 145-165 hours of work (or the successful completion of a standard high school text or program, regardless of hours). Some students will complete material in less time, others in more, so you need to schedule for *your* student's pace. For example, doing Algebra 1 may take 1 student 50 minutes a day; another student may need 90 minutes a day for the same lesson from the same textbook. Assess your student: stepping up to high school level work (harder material, more material to cover) -- is your student ready for approximately 5 hours of school a day (to complete 5 credits)? Or 6 hours of school a day (6 credits)? Or 7 or 8 hours of school a day (7 or 8 credits)? For example: many people on these boards have advanced students or self-motivated students who enjoyed academics, so doing 7-8 hours of school a day is not a problem for them. However, that was not either of my DSs; we could manage a solid 6 hours a day and then we were *done*. We didn't do homework and we didn't work on the weekends, as it was important to us to have time to explore extracurriculars, personal interests, and esp. some recovery time from the hard work of thinking, math, and writing. So, we could manage 6 credits a year. Some students are still working on transitioning into high school workloads in 9th and 10th grades and they hit their maximum workload at 5 to 5.5 hours of school a day, so 5 to 5.5 credits is what is best to schedule for those students. Knowing how *your* student works, and where your student is in transitioning towards high school work will help you determine how many credits, and what type of credits, are do-able for your family's schedule and for your goals. To keep as many future doors open as possible, many homeschoolers shoot for a "college prep" line-up of credits in high school. While the list of what credits to accomplish is not as flexible as homeschooling in the elementary/middle school grades, you still have a fair amount of flexibility in *how* you accomplish them. 4 credits = English (usually about 1/2 Literature, 1/2 Writing) 3-4 credits = Math (Alg. 1, Geometry, Alg. 2, and often a 4th math that requires Alg. 2 as a pre-requisite) 3-4 credits = Science, with labs (many colleges want Biology and/or Chemistry) 3-4 credits = Social Studies (most colleges want 1 credit as American History) 2-4 credits = Foreign Language (same language) 1 credit = Fine Arts (doing/making of a fine art and/or appreciation of a fine art) 4-8+ credits = Electives (examples: Logic, Computer, PE, Health, Vocational-Tech, Bible, personal interest/passion areas, "Academic Electives" = additional credits beyond the required ones in the first 5 subjects above; additional Fine Arts credits; etc.) In matching up your list with the "college prep" list of credits above, it looks like you have the following lined up: 1 credit = English (Seeton + Reading) 1 credit = Math: Algebra 1 1 credit = Science: Physical Science (Apologia) 1 credit = Social Studies (Eastern Hemisphere study) 1 credit = Foreign Language: Spanish 1 1 credit = Elective: Logic (Memoria Press Traditional Logic) - Religion (Faith & Life series) - Typing - PE - Art/Music Some thoughts about this line-up: English credit Typically at the high school level, formal Grammar instruction is no longer needed, but is applied to the Writing and to Foreign Language study, with an optional light review of concepts as needed. Also at the high school level, Reading is "Literature", and involves more than just reading of classics and good books -- it is also learning about the author/times of the work, literature topics, AND literary analysis, discussion, and writing about the works being read. You can use a pre-made Lit. program, or select Lit. to match up with your History/Social Studies, or have fun and build your own DIY (Do It Yourself) English course around Literature of high interest to your family. For example, one of our most memorable and enjoyed courses was our DIY English credit of "Worldviews in Classic Science Fiction Literature". ? Foreign Language If your student is in the midst of a language study in middle school already, you'll likely want want to keep going with that language to keep momentum. However, if you haven't been doing a Foreign Language, and if your student is not terribly excited about the idea of learning a language, you can delay starting a Foreign Language for a year or two if you like in order to free up space in the schedule for an Elective of interest to your student. Another option would be to wait until 11th and 12th grades and have your student take the Foreign Language as 4 consecutive semesters of dual enrollment that would count as 4 credits of high school Foreign Language AND simultaneously as the 4 semesters of college Foreign Language frequently required as one of the general education credits for a college degree. Logic Logic makes a fine "Academic Elective" (colleges usually list it under the Social Sciences subject area), and it is very useful in helping students analyze for History, Science and Literature, and to think logically to support their communication for Writing or Public Speaking or Speech & Debate. However, if Logic is more of a "mom required" class rather than a personal interest subject for your student AND you find it's taking up your only Elective spot and not leaving time for an Elective for the student's personal interest, one option is to do the Traditional Logic program at "half speed", so you accrue 0.5 credit in 9th grade and the other 0.5 credit in 10th grade, which opens up the schedule a bit for doing 0.5 credit each in 9th and 10th grades for some other Elective of interest to the student. Religion If the Faith & Life series is this one -- that is not of high school level, so I would just make sure to include a regular family devotional time or personal Bible time in the schedule as part of helping your student to build a spiritual lifestyle routine/disciple, and not worry about counting it as a credit. This could possibly be done in the evenings, or, if you have regular weekly commitments outside the home in the evenings, then perhaps schedule time right after lunch, or all do it together first thing in the morning as "together time"... Another possibility: since family devotional time or Bible study is likely part of your daily family routine, you can accrue hours, similar to PE, so you can count time from weekends, afternoons / evenings, and over the summer... Typing I'd work hard to get this done NOW in the spring semester and over the summer, so that your student is "good to go" with typing of papers starting in 9th grade. Typing can be knocked out in 15-20 minutes a day 4-5x/week over the course of a semester, so it shouldn't be too tough to work that into your schedule this spring and/or summer. Here are some free online learn-to-type options: Dance Mat -- for younger children, but the goofy/cheesy aspect might appeal to your studentTyping Club -- for middle school ages and upTyping.com -- for middle school ages and up PE You can add a more formal component to this if you wish, but for many people, it is a credit that is just a "box to check" by accruing the required hours of physical activities (sports participation, dance, time at the gym, hiking and recreational activities, etc.) that are normally done anyways on afternoons or evenings after school, on weekends, and over the summer. That makes this an easy credit to spread out over a full year, or squeeze in around whatever else you're doing. Art/Music Filmmaking or Photography would fulfill the 1 credit of required Fine Arts quite nicely, AND it would double-dip by giving your student a course of high personal interest. If exposure to Art and Music is not a high priority goal for either you or your student, I'd drop that for now and go with the Fine Arts area that IS of interest to your student. If the Art/Music is of high importance, are you thinking creation/performance of Art/Music, or more of a Charlotte Mason/Ambleside type of weekly art/music appreciation through a little history and exposure to artists/artwork and composers/music? If it is the actual creation/performance of art/music, then that would certainly count as a Fine Arts credit; you would likely want to enroll in a class or find a music instructor. If you are thinking more of the Charlotte Mason/Ambleside type of Art/Music, then you could schedule 1 hour a week throughout all 4 years of high school and at the end of the that time you will have accrued enough time for a Fine Arts: Appreciation credit. Extracurriculars Esp. because this will be the student's first year of transitioning into stepping up to high school level work, be sure to leave room in your schedule to explore personal interests, try new things, do volunteering, and just have time for fiddling around with things. From your list of courses, I think you can pretty solidly manage 6 credits (English, Algebra, Physical Science, Eastern Hemisphere study, Spanish, and Logic), AND still have time for extracurriculars and "down time/recovery time". BEST of luck as you plan out 9th grade and your overall high school credits and goals! Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited September 24, 2018 by Lori D. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) I have no idea how to fit this into one day, but I don't see anything that can go... What do you think? Anything I should or could condense? 1. Math - Algebra I 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English - Seton English? 4. Reading - Just reading good literature 5. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 6. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 7. Philosophy - I'm thinking Memoria Press Traditional Logic 8. Religion - Faith & Life Series 9. Typing - (why oh why didn't we already do this?) 10. P.E./Art/Music - Probably have to do at least one of these most days Will he have time or energy for an elective after all of this? I was hoping that each year of high school he could take an elective that really interests him which, for my son, might be film-making, British literature, photography, etc. But, wow... Thoughts? FYI, we have been homeschooling from the beginning and now my oldest is going into 9th next year. So after feeling like I finally have things pretty down-pat, I now have that old familiar feeling of "not knowing where to start" and groping my way through this high school thing. I've planned on homeschooling high school all along, but now that it's really here, I must admit it's overwhelming. TIA! Tara I wanted to specifically address the bolded bc I think it is incredibly important. I want my kids' high school yrs to reflect them. What do they want to study? Do they want to learn about something in particular or explore a subject they haven't studied before? What are their goals for themselves? What do they see themselves doing? I partner with my kids to create courses that meet their particular interests and needs. I try to teach across subjects as much as possible. For example, my current 12th grader loves foreign languages, particularly Russian and French. She has Russian history, communism in the 20th century, French history (read in French), etc. on her transcript. She wanted to dig deep into cultures through fairytales, so she a fairytale course on her transcript for an English credit. She read Perrault's tales in French. For a summer project, she translated a Russian fairy tale into English. I want my kids to have your basic 4 English, 4 math, 4 science, 4 history, 3/4 foreign languages as their basic core BUT what we do within the core (except for math and science which I keep standard courses) is wide open to what we want to cover. If I had a student who might be interested in fim making, I would incorporate some screen plays. (A couple of my older kids and I had a fabulous time with a course built around Inception. It was so much fun!) For British literature and religion, I actually have created a course built aroudn CS Lewis's works. (Not a single one of my kids has graduated from our homeschool without reading Mere Christianity and Screwtape Letters. Add in the Space Trilogy and Abolition of Man and you have some real meat for philosophical and theological discussions. Photography.....incorporate observing ecosystems and creating a visual record. My kids' high school transcripts have all been very, very different, but they have been uniquely theirs. They have utilized high school to explore who they are, what they like, and pursue their passions. It is the beauty of homeschooling. It does not have to be about replicating traditional school at home. Learning happens without it being a box to check off. From my experience, it also leads to learning at high levels and encourages the pursuit of more opportunities to study more and broader subject matter. Edited January 5, 2017 by 8FillTheHeart 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodGrief Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Lots of good advice here. I agree with those who suggest simplifying the plan. It might help to look at some sample high school transcripts to get an idea of the sort of courses students typically do now, especially if this is your oldest. Maybe look at the requirements of a couple colleges, if college is a long term goal. Remember, not everything the student is doing needs to be a course that's listed on the transcript. For typing, I would probably have the kiddo do some work on that over the summer. If they are on the computer very much, I find it tends to be a nonissue. These modern kids know their way around a keyboard. :-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 My 9th grader is doing: Math: Algebra Science: Chemistry. She did the physical science and biology with lab already. Won't get credit for the physical because it was 7th grade. This is just how it worked for us. Latin II History: great books study and WTM style work English PE: she has enough hours a week for a full credit of PE since it will continue through both semesters. Plus she is writing a paper on her sport of choice. First semester electives: Traditional Logic I at home She did a Health class at co-op with work required at home plus a girl scout badge with enough extra work on the topic that she has earned a half credit. Journalism. She did a class at co-op once a week. I don't feel there was enough work yet for a half credit even though the course is finished. This might just be an extra curricular. She did contribute writing to a newsletter that was published. Art/Music: we did projects and reading at home in both art and music history along with our read alouds. Not enough for a half credit yet. But the other electives are finished. So we will add more in 2nd semester. Girl Scouts as extra curricular (badgework, teaching youngers, camping, etc.) so Second semester she will have Art as an elective. and Latin club (studying with a group for national exams) for an extra curricular. Girl scouts as extra curricular We actually really pushed it with 8 credits for the first semester. I think Latin suffered the most for it. It was our first semester of high school besides the two high school classes she did for credit in 8th grade (biology and latin I.) We are cutting some of the electives this semester so her credits will be only 7 hrs this semester. And that's still plenty. Typing is just practice in her other subjects, typing papers and such. She is pretty good on her own, but I do think my next one coming up will need a program in 8th grade to get ready for high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 (edited) Including the following specific info on credit hours as a separate post so as to not confuse anyone. Original Poster: It looks like you are in NY? You will definitely want to look in to what your high school requirements are as a homeschooler, as NY is one of the most hoop-jumping and "sticky" states to deal with administratively for homeschool high school. In her post "upstream" in this thread, mschickie gave you some great info about credit hours and NY requirements. In general, for those not dealing with NY requirements and definitions, the Carnegie Unit refers to the minimum teacher/classroom contact hours for 1 credit -- it is usually understood that there will ALSO be additional work done *outside of class* that counts towards the credit. Per its original definition, the Carnegie Unit is 120 hours of class or contact time with an instructor over the course of a year at the secondary (American high school) level. Strictly speaking, this breaks down into a single one-hour meeting, on each of five days per week for a total of 24 weeks per year. However, knowing that classes usually meet for 50 minutes yields a value of 30 weeks per year. However, further complicating the computation is the fact that American schools typically meet 180 days, or 36 academic weeks, a year. A semester (one-half of a full year) earns 1/2 a Carnegie Unit. — "Carnegie Unit and Student Hour", Wikipedia So 120 hours is generally considered the *minimum* for 1 credit, while 180 hours (1 hour**/day x 5 days/week x 36 weeks/school year) as a *maximum* for 1 credit (** note -- regular homework is assumed to fill up that "50-minute class hour" to a full 1 hour of time). I find this chart (below) of credit-hours helpful in determining a rough equivalency in credits (time-wise, not volume-of-work-wise, or rigor-of-thinking-wise), esp. if making it a "DIY" course, or wanting an "Honors" designation to show greater rigor: . . . . . . . . . minimum . average . maximum 1.00 credit = 120 . . . 150 . . . 180 hours 0.75 credit = 90 . . . 110 . . . 135 hours 0.66 credit = 80 . . . 100 . . . 120 hours 0.50 credit = 60 . . . . 75 . . . . 90 hours 0.33 credit = 40 . . . . 50 . . . . 60 hours 0.25 credit = 30 . . . . 35 . . . . 45 hours In her post above, 2_girls_mommy gave you a great break-down of the types of work they are doing and how much time is being devoted to each subject, and how she is awarding credit based on time. And both her post and 8FillTheHeart's post give you a feel for how you can still pursue personal interests while accomplishing required credits. BEST of luck in your planning! Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited September 24, 2018 by Lori D. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 My third ds will start 9th grade next year. My older boys had schedules similar to what you posted. It my third boy will have a schedule stripped down to rigorous basics. I love the idea of philosophy, religion, etc but for my kids it is just too much. Those extras are far harder to squeeze in than I realized or wanted to admit. While there are so many great potential courses we are all happier and more successful focusing on the basics. The upside is that those are great courses to take de once the basics have been fulfilled and a solid foundation has been laid. While we have successfully completed schedules like that it was not a whole lot of fun and the benefit did not warrant the stress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtomom Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 For typing, once he learns the basic hand position, you can just get him the game, "epistory". http://store.steampowered.com/app/398850/ Unless you start grade 9 soon, he has time to master typing before it starts. This looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 This looks great! My kids really liked the game at first. Eldest has completed it once, Youngest is going through it a second time. This time with limited help. He no longer considers it lots of fun, but he is still willing to do lots of typing. Before we got the game he would want to be done typing after a few words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 My third ds will start 9th grade next year. I keep reading this as, "My third grader will start 9th grade next year." and thinking, "WOOOoooo. Talk about grade skipping!" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 I have no idea how to fit this into one day, but I don't see anything that can go... What do you think? Anything I should or could condense? 1. Math - Algebra I 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English - Seton English? 4. Reading - Just reading good literature 5. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 6. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 7. Philosophy - I'm thinking Memoria Press Traditional Logic 8. Religion - Faith & Life Series 9. Typing - (why oh why didn't we already do this?) 10. P.E./Art/Music - Probably have to do at least one of these most days Will he have time or energy for an elective after all of this? I was hoping that each year of high school he could take an elective that really interests him which, for my son, might be film-making, British literature, photography, etc. But, wow... Thoughts? FYI, we have been homeschooling from the beginning and now my oldest is going into 9th next year. So after feeling like I finally have things pretty down-pat, I now have that old familiar feeling of "not knowing where to start" and groping my way through this high school thing. I've planned on homeschooling high school all along, but now that it's really here, I must admit it's overwhelming. TIA! Tara Our 9th grade this year (both the 9th grader and 8th grader are combined) is very similar to what you listed. Off the top of my head, we're doing: 1. Math 2. American Government 3. Bible studies 4. Geography 5. Logic 6. Art History/Composer studies 7. British History 8. British Literature + Latin roots + writing workshops 9. Latin 10. German 11. Earth Science - we started with Integrated Science and I about had a nervous breakdown, so I narrowed it to earth science 12. PE Do you see the Charlotte Mason influence in there? Lol. I originally modeled our school year off Ambleside Online. Not all of these are 1 credit courses (I have no idea how many credits this is). It has been very overwhelming with so many subjects. But, they have been getting a great education. They are working all day, as opposed to 3 hours and they're bored (like last year). My son (the 8th grader) has made huge leaps this year. I haven't completely decided what we're going to do in the fall, but I feel like (for my sanity) that I need to simplify it. It has been great for the kids, but not really for me. Also, I put all of this together myself, so that's 11 little subjects I had to throw together and schedule out/choose booklists for/etc. Argh!! I don't really have any advice, but good luck! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) Here's our reality: Biology (8-10 hours a week) History (8-10 hours a week) Astronomy (4 hours a week) English (reading/writing/little grammar review) (7.5 hours a week) Spanish (with drive time: 7-8 hours week) Geometry (6 hours week) Bible devotional (1.5 hours a week) Karate twice a week (3 hours) Working at McDonalds (3-10 hours a week.) Baking cookies for the homeless outreach at church (4 hours a week.) Sleeping (10-11 hours a night.) Chores: various amounts of time, but I try to keep it light because he runs out of time. I don't have advice for you, but just wanted to show you how our day goes. Before 9th grade, I always taught 11-12 classes each semester. I've found that I can't do that now. High school level classes take us a long time. I don't know if it's the curriculum we chose or if we just work slowly or what. Adding in some bible, karate, work, and cookie baking, and all his time is gone. It all adds up to be about 55-63 hours a week working on school/extracurricular activities (not counting chores and the 10-11 hours of sleep time he needs in this stage of his development.) I try to keep weekends clear of academic work, but about every other weekend there is work from the week that bleeds over into the weekends. Sunday morning he spends 2.5 hours at church (church and Sunday School.) Edited January 6, 2017 by Garga 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest2 Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) Are you doing that particular religion text because of CCE requirements for confirmation? I would think about adding to this course. Religion is a nonnegotiable here and happens daily. Some of our best discussions have been in this class. We have done some of the MODG religion syllabi, bible study together using this free resource https://stpaulcenter.com/studies/courses/ Tim Staples has some good cds, https://homeschoolconnectionsonline.com/unlimited-access-1 has some great recorded classes. Imo , this is the time to start answering the deep questions, to assign books that have made great spiritual impacts on your family, to understand the whys. We even read and discussed Boundaries in Dating and that kind of thing. Is the social studies class due to an interest on his part? If so, would you want to combine an Eastern Lit class with it? If you don't go that route,is his grammar solid? If you could you add a composition component (like Bravewriter or home2teach or something you come with) to his literature for His English credit instead of doing Seaton and Lit that would save time. Are you planning on four years of Spanish? If not, could Philosophy wait? I think you have had some excellent advice. I would especially check out what you need for future goals when homeschooling high school in New York. Figure out what your core classes are, but also have an interest class for your son every semester. The only way most students know what they want to do after high school is by interest sparked through a class or volunteer/life experience. My favorite memories are the discussions, and learning together (although it wa hard to keep up at times). Hth! Edited January 6, 2017 by Silver Brook 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 I just wanted to chime in and say we did the MP Logic I over the summer as a block schedule. It's a pretty light course at the beginning. The last few chapters get much more time intensive on the students part. This was a pretty hands off class for me. We are doing what Lori D mentioned earlier up thread- we did the first half last summer. We will do Logic II this summer (in theory). Block scheduling has worked really well for us on several classes to get them done in chunks when she isn't in online (or more demanding classes) so that she isn't working on 7 classes, 5 days a week. She can really plug away and knock them out in much less time. Since Logic I is only a half credit, it's perfect for that, if that works out with the way y'all school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Wow, thank you for all the responses! Just want to let you all know I REALLY appreciate it, and will respond as soon as I have a chance to read all of these more thoroughly! Here's hoping that all the kids stay in their beds tonight, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Thank you for all the credit breakdowns and option ideas! It feels like I'm solving a giant puzzle, Lol. Turns out by thinking all of this through I realized that before I even worry about what specific programs I'm going to use (which, thankfully, I'm not real set on), I need to figure out exactly which subjects I need to cover for his 4 years. Since I am in NY, I looked at the Commissioner's Regulations again and mapped out what they require of homeschoolers. They actually only require 18.5 "units." Credits are not spoken of, but since I have to fulfill these units and the number of hours per "unit" works out to about a 1 hour class 5 days a week for 180 days, apparently 1 unit = 1 credit, basically. So if we translate the requirements to credits, they require exactly 18.5 credits total. BUT the kicker is this does not reflect modern college admissions requirements (the regs were written in the 80's - oy). So I have to make sure I fulfill those regulations (including 2 credits of PE, for instance), and also add in what I've been told colleges around here look for: 3 sciences w/labs, 4 yrs of foreign language, and of course 4 math classes (the regs only require 2!). SO that brings the total to 25.5 total high school credits JUST to fulfill the NY homeschool regulations, plus add in the modern basics for college admission. So after a couple hours of puzzle-solving at my coffee table, and several sheets of crumpled notebook paper, this is the map I came up with: 9th - 6.5 credits 1. Eng 2. Social Studies 3. Math 4. Sci w/ Lab #1 5. Spanish I 6. Art (.5), Health (.5) 7. P.E. (.5) 10th - 6.5 credits 1. Eng 2. Social Studies 3. Math 4. Sci w/ Lab #2 5. Spanish II 6. Elective #1 7. P.E. (.5) 11th - 6.5 credits 1. Eng 2. Social Studies - Participation in Gov (.5, NYS required)+Econ (.5, NYS required) 3. Math 4. Sci w/ Lab #3 5. Spanish III 6. Elective #2 7. P.E. (.5) 12 - 6.0 credits 1. Eng 2. Social Studies 3. Math 4. Spanish IV 5. Elective #3 6. Art (.5 required) 7. P.E. (.5) I literally don't see how it can vary a whole lot other than some minor switching around. He will have 3 "true electives" and I had to scratch Philosophy & Religion which doesn't thrill me, but I just could not figure out a way to work it in. So I'm thinking that can be an elective one year, possibly (half the year Philosophy, and half Theology, perhaps). Also, you all were so very right about typing. Way too much to do already, so we will try to accomplish that before the fall. I do want to focus on quality, not quantity... it's just so hard to not feel like I'm neglecting something!However, what say you all on the 4 years of language? I haven't looked at local schools myself, but a friend told me that her child only took 2 foreign language courses and then had to take an extra 2 in college because the requirement wasn't met or something. So her advice was to make sure I get 4 years in. I just took her word for it. Also, I'm wondering: do colleges care whether a "specialty/interest" class fulfills a requirement, as opposed to being counted as an "elective"? In other words, if my son takes a film-making course and we count it as "Art" because it fits in the puzzle better that way, is it less impressive or whatever than if it was an "Elective"? Thanks so much for all the advice. If anyone got through all of this I'm unduly impressed, lol, and I appreciate any feedback. LMK if I made any mistakes. P.S. I laughed about the Faith & Life thing since everyone said it is not a high school course. All I knew was that it was a popular Catholic catechism program and I wanted my son to study some theology. I guess my "convert" is showing, since I've only been Catholic about 4 years. LOL Hopefully we will cover more theology, even if it's "off the record." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) Also, I would love to hear any suggestions for a rounded English program that includes literature. A steady dose of good books helps the grammar go down, lol, so if I could combine reading/writing/grammar that would help him get through it and also kill the most birds with one stone. What I don't want is for him to do "English" every day meaning write an essay here or there and do endless sentence diagramming & grammar, and lo and behold, he hasn't read a good book for 6 months, ya know? He loves reading, and hates writing & grammar. But he still needs to work on grammar. I'm not sure if it's more "exercises" he needs though, at this point, or if he needs to just put it to good use. Anyhoo... Edited January 8, 2017 by CatholicMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) However, what say you all on the 4 years of language? I haven't looked at local schools myself, but a friend told me that her child only took 2 foreign language courses and then had to take an extra 2 in college because the requirement wasn't met or something. So her advice was to make sure I get 4 years in. I just took her word for it. To be very clear, there are two completely different requirements. One is for college admission (which I'd make a high school graduation requirement) and one is for college graduation. So, a person only taking two years in high school may get admitted to a particular college but may need to satisfy additional requirements during college. Both admissions and college graduation requirements vary among colleges - some require more than 2 years in high school as an admission requirement (not even counting competitiveness among applicants at selective ones, where more may be needed). Some colleges don't require any foreign language during college. Sometimes college graduation requirements vary among different programs within the same college. Some students can reach a level of proficiency during high school that satisfies both college admission and college graduation requirements and that is presumably what your friend was referring to. There are older threads discussing this issue. Edited January 8, 2017 by wapiti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 To be very clear, there are two completely different requirements. One is for college admission (which I'd make a high school graduation requirement) and one is for college graduation. So, a person only taking two years in high school may get admitted to a particular college but may need to satisfy additional requirements during college. Both admissions and college graduation requirements vary among colleges - some require more than 2 years in high school as an admission requirement (not even counting competitiveness among applicants at selective ones, where more may be needed). Some colleges don't require any foreign language during college. Sometimes college graduation requirements vary among different programs within the same college. Some students can reach a level of proficiency during high school that satisfies both college admission and college graduation requirements and that is presumably what your friend was referring to. There are older threads discussing this issue. Thank you! I totally did not have this clear in my mind. Knowing this helps a ton. I suspect my son will go into something to do with the arts, literature, or possibly history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) On 1/7/2017 at 11:43 PM, CatholicMom said: ...I need to figure out exactly which subjects I need to cover for his 4 years. Since I am in NY, I looked at the Commissioner's Regulations again and mapped out what they require of homeschoolers... Because NY is so specialized with requirements for homeschoolers, you probably want to talk to some NY homeschoolers (on these Boards, but esp. those in real-life around you) who have actually gone through the entire process and have a homeschool high school graduate, and who are homeschooling current high school ages. Not only will they be able to guide you through some of the hoops, they can also alert you to special opportunities and options in your area that would be available to your high school student. ? For WTMers who are from NY, just start a new post with a title about "Planning homeschool high school in NY, need help". I am NOT a NY resident, and from doing only a quick search online, here's what I'm seeing NY requires -- note, it looks like on this chart that I link below that each SEMESTER is being counted as ONE CREDIT rather than 0.5 credit, so the total of 44 credits is what most other states and what college admission offices would call 22 credits. Just for consistency of comparison, I'm going to cut the NY credits in half, so that in this list below, 1 credit = 1 year, rather than 1 semester. NY required credits for graduation (as of April 2016): Regents . . .Advanced (diploma type) . . . subject 4 credits . . 4 credits . . . . . . . . . . English 3 credits . . 3 credits . . . . . . . . . . Math (at least 1 credit of Math above Algebra 1) 4 credits . . 4 credits . . . . . . . . . . Social Studies 3 credits . . 3 credits . . . . . . . . . . Science, with labs (1 each: Life and Physical Sciences, + add'l Life or Physical Science) 1 credits . . 3 credits . . . . . . . . . . Foreign Language 1 credits . . 1 credits . . . . . . . . . . Fine Arts 2 credits . . 2 credits . . . . . . . . . . PE 0.5 credits 0.5 credits . . . . . . . . .Health 3.5 credits 1.5 credits . . . . . . . . .Electives22 credits 22 credits . . . . . . . . total That absolutely blends in well with the typical required credits for university admission (in other words, not a top-tier college, and not a highly competitive or selective college): 4 credits = English 3-4 credits = Math (Alg. 1, Geometry, Alg. 2, with many colleges requiring a 4th math above Alg. 2) 3-4 credits = Science, with labs (some colleges want Biology and Chemistry, which is a Physical Science) 3-4 credits = Social Studies (many colleges require 1 credit = Amer. Hist.) 2-4 credits = Foreign Language 1 credit = Fine Arts 4-8 credits = Electives (PE, Health, Computer, Bible, Vocational-Tech, personal interest, more Fine Arts/academic courses, etc.) So if you blend these 2 requirement lists together, you get something like this: 4 credits = English 3-4 credits = Math: (1) Algebra 1, (2) Geometry, (3) Algebra 2 -- and possibly (4) Pre-Calculus or Statistics 3-4 credits = Science: (1) Physical Science, (2) Biology, (3) choice of Chemistry or Physics -- and possibly (4) choice of subject 3-4 credits = Social Studies: (1) American History, (2) Gov't & Econ, (3) your choice -- and possibly (4) your choice 2-4 credits = Foreign Language 1 credit = Fine Arts: (1) Filmmaking or Photography -- or, choice of Art, Music, Theater, Dance, metal working, wood working, etc. 4-8 credits = Electives: (1) PE (2) Health (3) your choice: Religion/Theology (4) your choice: Logic/Philosophy -- and (5)+ = your choice22-28+ credits = total On 1/7/2017 at 11:43 PM, CatholicMom said: I literally don't see how it can vary a whole lot other than some minor switching around. He will have 3 "true electives" and I had to scratch Philosophy & Religion which doesn't thrill me, but I just could not figure out a way to work it in. So I'm thinking that can be an elective one year, possibly (half the year Philosophy, and half Theology, perhaps). Hmmm... I don't know, it seems to work out to me to get all in all the NY requirements AND typical college requirements, AND things you listed that were of interest to you, esp. if you just take 2 years for Foreign Language, rather than 4 years: 9th = 6.5 credits 1.0 credit = English: British Literature 1.0 credit = Math: Algebra 1 1.0 credit = Science: Physical Science (Apologia) 1.0 credit = Social Studies: Eastern Hemisphere study 0.5 credit = Fine Arts: Photography or Filmmaking 0.5 credit = Elective: Logic - part 1 (Memoria Press: Traditional Logic 1) 0.5 credit = Elective: Religion 0.5 credit = Elective (NY required): PE 0.5 credit = Elective (NY required): Health 10th = 6.5 credits 1.0 credit = English (your choice) 1.0 credit = Math: Geometry 1.0 credit = Science: Biology 1.0 credit = Social Studies: American History 0.5 credit = Fine Arts: Photography or Filmmaking 0.5 credit = Elective (choice -- more Photography or Filmmaking, or your mom requirement of Philosophy, or other student interest) 0.5 credit = Elective: Logic (or Philosophy) - part 2 (Memoria Press: Traditional Logic 2) 0.5 credit = Elective: Religion 0.5 credit = Elective (NY required): PE 11th = 6.5 credits 1.0 credit = English (your choice) 1.0 credit = Math: Algebra 2 1.0 credit = Science: Chemistry 0.5 credit = Social Studies: Government 1.0 credit = Foreign Language: Spanish 1 (or, 2 semesters of college dual enrollment = 2 credits) 1.0 credit = Elective (choice -- more Photography or Filmmaking, or your mom requirement of Philosophy, or other student interest) 0.5 credit = Elective: Religion 0.5 credit = Elective (NY required): PE 12th = 6.5 credits 1.0 credit = English (your choice) 1.0 credit = Math: Pre-Calculus 1.0 credit = Science (your choice) 0.5 credit = Social Studies: Economics 1.0 credit = Foreign Language: Spanish 2 (or, 2 semesters of college dual enrollment = 2 credits) 1.0 credit = Elective (choice -- more Photography or Filmmaking, or your mom requirement of Philosophy, or other student interest) 0.5 credit = Elective: Religion 0.5 credit = Elective (NY required): PE On 1/7/2017 at 11:43 PM, CatholicMom said: However, what say you all on the 4 years of language? I haven't looked at local schools myself, but a friend told me that her child only took 2 foreign language courses and then had to take an extra 2 in college because the requirement wasn't met or something. So her advice was to make sure I get 4 years in. I just took her word for it. We would have to know exactly what your friend's situation was to be able to know how to respond to her comment. It is possible her student ended up applying to a college that required 4 credits of Foreign Language rather than just 2 credits (2 credits is the requirement for a majority of colleges). Or, she may have been talking about dual enrollment -- that her student took 2 semesters of college-level Foreign Language as dual enrollment, but still needed another 2 semesters of college-level Foreign Language once in college to complete the college DEGREE general education requirement (not the college ADMISSION requirement). quick explanation: college DEGREE requirements Just like in high school, to earn a college degree requires taking certain courses. College degree requirements are college courses required for the college student to receive their degree. The courses taken in the freshman and sophomore years of college are usually knocking out "gen. ed." (general education) required credits in Math, Natural Science, Social Science, and possibly things like Computer, Public Speaking, etc. Then the junior and senior years of college focus on the "core concentration" -- courses in the specific subject area for the degree. These college degree requirements are NOT the same thing as college ADMISSION requirements. (Admission requirements are high school credits that colleges expect students to have taken before entering college). quick explanation: Dual enrollment (or dual credit) This is when a high school student takes college-level courses and receives simultaneous high school credit AND college credit. Because the college coursework moves at about double the pace as high school work, 1 semester of college dual enrollment equals 1.0 credit of high school work, so a student can do 4 semesters of college dual enrollment in 2 years of high school and earn 4 credits on their high school transcript -- AND those same credits count at the college as knocking out the college degree required credits. Anyways, my real point is that 2 credits of Foreign Language for high school will meet the admission requirements for many many colleges. Many people go with just 2 credits of Foreign Language, and it all works out just fine. However, some colleges DO require 3 or 4 credits for college admission. If you think your student might be applying to one of those colleges, then you can still delay starting your Foreign Language until later in high school, BUT, plan on doing the Foreign Language as dual enrollment (dual credit), so that each SEMESTER will count as one YEAR (credit), and your student can rack up the 4 credits in 2 years. On 1/7/2017 at 11:43 PM, CatholicMom said: Also, I'm wondering: do colleges care whether a "specialty/interest" class fulfills a requirement, as opposed to being counted as an "elective"? In other words, if my son takes a film-making course and we count it as "Art" because it fits in the puzzle better that way, is it less impressive or whatever than if it was an "Elective"? Nope, not something that college admission offices stress about. Filmmaking works great as fulfilling a Fine Arts requirement. It also works great as an Elective. If your student has a high interest in Sci-Fi Literature, or British Literature, etc., by all means -- use that to fulfill part of your English credits. If your student has a high interest in journalism or creative writing -- run with that to fulfill part of your English credits. If your student has a high interest in Astronomy, go with that to fulfill one of your Science credits... My only suggestion about how to label things on the transcript is to perhaps group things together as a separate subject area so as to make a "minor" -- sort of like in college, with the major and minor areas of study in the degree -- to make an area of personal interest stand out. It still counts towards Electives, but by grouping, it makes the coursework stronger overall. For example, if the student takes several classes that all relate to the general subject of Fine Arts and also for an Elective of Computer, group them: Fine Artscourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..credit . . . . . . . . grade Filmmaking I . . . . . . . 1.0 credit . . A Filmmaking II . . . . . . .1.0 credit . . A Film Appreciation . . . .0.5 credit . . A Photography . . . . . . . 0.25 credit . Atotal credits/GPA. . . . . . . . . . .2.75 credits / 4.00 Electives: Computercourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . . . . . . grade Intro to Computing . . 0.5 credit . . A Programming I . . . . . .1.0 credit . . A Programming II . . . . . 1.0 credit . . B Electronics . . . . . . . . .0.5 credit . . Atotal credits/GPA. . . . . . . . . . .3.0 credits / 3.66 Electives: Generalcourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .credit . . . . . . . . grade PE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.0 credit . . A Health . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.5 credit . . B Religion/Theology . . . 2.0 credit . . A Philosophy: Logic . . . 1.0 credit . . Btotal credits/GPA. . . . . . . . . . .5.5 credits / 3.72 Edited September 24, 2018 by Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) On 1/7/2017 at 11:50 PM, CatholicMom said: Also, I would love to hear any suggestions for a rounded English program that includes literature. A steady dose of good books helps the grammar go down, lol, so if I could combine reading/writing/grammar that would help him get through it and also kill the most birds with one stone. What I don't want is for him to do "English" every day meaning write an essay here or there and do endless sentence diagramming & grammar, and lo and behold, he hasn't read a good book for 6 months... What do you have planned for this spring semester of 8th grade for Literature, Writing, and Grammar? If your Literature has been very informal reading up to this point, you might to use this spring semester to slowly start moving towards a more formal study of Literature so it's not such a "shock" (lol). For example, pick 3-4 books (1 per month, or 6 weeks) to "go deep" using individual lit. guides, plus spend 15 minutes/day 2x/week and orally together go over 2 lessons a week from Figuratively Speaking to start learning about the literary devices that you use for literary analysis and formal Literature study. And then look for those literary devices as you learn them in those 3-4 books you are "going deep" with. Ideas for individual books and guides: YA books that are great for beginning formal Literature studies: Tuck Everlasting -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide Sounder -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide Island of the Blue Dolphins -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide Maniac Magee -- Progeny Press guide A Wrinkle in Time -- Blackbird & Co. guide; Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Progeny Press guide The Giver -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide; Portals to Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide Across Five Aprils -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Blackbird & Co. guide; Progeny Press guide I Am David -- Blackbird & Co. guide "Classic" books that are great for beginning formal Literature studies: The Hobbit -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide Call of the Wild -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide, Portals to Lit. guide The Outsiders -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Portals to Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide Treasure Island -- Blackbird & Co. guide Where the Red Fern Grows -- Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide; Progeny Press guide Animal Farm -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Portals to Lit. guide The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide To Kill a Mockingbird -- Glencoe Lit. Library guide; Garlic Press Discovering Lit. guide A Christmas Carol -- Portals to Lit. guide For high school, most people go with an "a la carte" method: a Writing program from one author/publisher, and a Literature program from a completely different author/publisher. The reason is that most Literature programs focus on literary analysis and formal Literature study and have writing assignment ideas, but do NOT contain writing instruction, while most Composition (Writing) programs have specific writing instruction, writing assignment ideas, and grading rubrics, but do NOT integrate the Literature in any way and none of the writing assignments are about Literature. Or, programs that are "all-in-one" English a nd integrate both Lit. and Writing just don't seem to work for many people: - the book choices aren't of interest or aren't a fit for the student - the program only uses excerpts, not the full works of literature - the program is too "lite" or too rigorous for the student - the teaching style doesn't fit with the student - the program is too time-intensive for the parent Take this with a grain of salt, but: it looks like you have a larger family (many youngers who need more time from you), and it sounds like your oldest has been working mostly independently as far as Reading. You may wish to look in to outsourcing your first year of English to a good online course so that your student gets solid Writing and Literature instruction, feedback, and discussion time, which would set him on a good path for the rest of high school as to know how to continue to do the English a bit more independently. My experience (with my own boys and with the Lit. & Comp. co-op classes that I teach) has been that high school English actually requires MORE time from mom, esp. if there has not been much formal Literature previously, and ESP. if the student is not a natural writer. Literature requires more regular time from mom for discussion, guiding analysis, and beginning more formal Literature study. And Writing absolutely requires a LOAD of one-on-one time at the high school level to get solid if the student is not a natural writer or doesn't like writing. And it usually takes a good 2 years for the students to slowly grow and develop those Writing skills. So if you aren't going to have a bit more regular time (I'd say at least 1 hour a day 3x/week) next year to devote to 9th grade English, outsourcing can be a very helpful option. On 1/7/2017 at 11:50 PM, CatholicMom said: ... He loves reading, and hates writing & grammar. But he still needs to work on grammar. I'm not sure if it's more "exercises" he needs though, at this point, or if he needs to just put it to good use. Anyhoo... As far as Grammar -- If you've been doing Grammar all along, my guess is that you will be fine at the end of 8th grade to stop formal Grammar instruction. Perhaps at most, you might use something that is a light Grammar review for 10 minutes 2x/week. Most people are *applying* Grammar in their actual Writing at the high school level -- applying good sentence structure as they write, and applying "GUM" (Grammar Usage & Mechanics) esp. as they are doing the proof-editing of their Writing. At the high school stage, you can switch your focus from Grammar to a good Writing program (or even better, to an online course or local class with a good teacher, since students OFTEN are more willing to write, and do better writing, for an outside person rather than for mom ;). Areas that are worked on in Writing (Composition) in high school: - the process of Writing (brainstorming, organizing into an outline/structure, rough draft, revision draft, proof-editing, final draft) - what needs to go into a paragraph (topic sentence; examples; commentary explaining how the examples support your point and build your argument) - solid structure of paragraphs and overall essays - practice all types of writing: * science lab reports * research papers with citations * essays: literary analysis, persuasive, compare/contrast, character analysis, process ("how to") essay, etc. * timed essays from a prompt * personal essays for scholarship applications and college admissions * real life writing: resumes, cover letters, various types of business letters, oral presentation with power-point, etc. None of that helps by giving you specific program ideas (lol). I think we might need a bit more specific information about where your DS is right now in his level/ability and his interests in Literature and Writing. And what you have been doing for English for the past 2 years. AND how much time you as the parent-teacher are going to have to devote to the high school courses, but esp. in overseeing the Writing and Literature. ? Hope something here is a help as you start thinking through how you specifically want to accomplish credits next year. Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited September 24, 2018 by Lori D. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 What I advise other NYers to do is follow the general requirements for the Regents Diploma since that is what most in state colleges will be looking for. 3-4 years Math 3-4 years Science 4 English 1 American History 2 Global Studies (World History or do 2 specialty topics) 1/2 Economics 1/2 Government 3 years of Language other than English 1 art or music 1/2 health 1/2 unit each year of phys ed 3-4 electives. Total credits the way I plan things are between 25.5-32.5 I realize that looks like a fairly heavy load but my college prep high school required 28.5 credits and often jrs and seniors would take a couple college classes in addition to that. Remember you can be as flexible as you need to. You can do classes over the summer if you want or stretch things out if you need to. You know your child the best. Also you can be flexible in subject matter. If you child is not a science person you can do different science I would just make sure a couple have a lab component. You could also just do the 2-3 science classes for them because chances are they are not applying to a STEM heavy school. You can also do that with Math (I always suggest getting through Algebra as a minimum). Then you can focus more on areas that your child is interested in. The great thing with homeschooling is you can be flexible and still they will get into college. That is one reason I recommend doing a College and Careers class in either 9th or 10th grade. This allows you to customize the rest of the high school classes to fit their interests and or to meet the particular requirements for an college they wish to attend. It is better to be proactive then to wait until the last minute to have an idea of what they might need. When it comes to how I plan I listed a general 4 year plan for us. I might move something around, especially if a co-op class comes in that might help fill one of the requirements or if the child really wants to study something in particular. The yearly plan though looks like this for us: 9th 1 unit-English 9 (combo of lit and writing) 1 unit- Math 1 unit- Biology 1 unit- LotE (sd did Spanish, dd is going to do French) 1 unit- Global 1 (I do a two year combo of Geography and World History) 1/2 unit-Physical Education 1/2 unit - College and Careers (elective) 1/2 unit- Logic 1/2 unit- Religion 7 credits total 10th grade 1 unit -Chemistry 1 unit- Math 1 unit- English 10 (combo lit and writing) 1 unit Global Studies ( 2nd part of History) 1 unit LotE 1/2 unit Religion 1/2 unit- Physical Edulcation 1/2 unit- Health 1 unit Art/Music and/or 1/2-1 unit elective (child's choice) 8-9.5 units (our heavy year but some of the classes such as art/music or health are fairly light) 11th grade 1 unit Physics 1 unit Math 1 unit English 11 (normally just lit but with a writing component) 1 unit American History 1 unit LotE (same as previous unless we started in 8th and then possibly a 2nd lang.) 1/2 unit Rhetoric or Debate 1/2 unit Religion 1-2 electives (often 1/2 credit classes) 6.5-8 units 12th grade (some classes done through community college) 1 unit English 12 (I like to do Movies as Literature) 1/2 unit Government 1/2 unit Economics 1 science elective (student's choice) 1 Math (either college level or Consumer Math) 2-3 electives (often 1/2 credit) 5-7 units Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicMom Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Lori D, the homeschool high school requirements for NY are actually not identical to the state requirements for public schools, which is probably why you're coming up with a different number of credits than I am. That said, no "credits" are required at all for NY homeschoolers... just "units" and "hours" and "subjects." Of course, I'm concerned about credits because I want my son to have a good transcript for college admission if he chooses that. So I just want to make sure we will have at least as many credits as the local public highschool (ours requires 22), but also fulfill all the homeschool subject and hour requirements, as well as add in any classes that aren't technically required (e.g. a 4th math class) but may make college admission easier. MsChickie, Yes, the Regents diploma requirements look very similar to the homeschool requirements, thankfully, so I think we will have all of those covered at some point during his 4 years. Thanks for all the ideas! Lori D, I will have to take some time to digest all the things you said about the English/Literature issue. I appreciate all the links & thoughts! I have so much to think about; I have to take it one thing at a time. Right now I don't feel like we can take on a new program. I am accountable to my school district to accomplish what I set out to, so I have to concentrate on that. He is currently doing Seton's English 8. I think the 2nd half of the book is composition (as opposed to the first half, which is grammar), but I'm not sure as he isn't there yet. He also is going to participate in a Battle of the Books soon so he will be reading the books required for that. When the competition is over, he will take up with reading a book line up that is historical fiction, relating to the history he's studying. I think he's one one or two "reading comprehension" type of books in the past, in maybe 5th or 6th. I also have done a lot of read-alouds with him with discussion, but that is the extent of lit "study." I expect it to kick up a notch for high school, of course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saddlemomma Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 We will also have ten classes for our upcoming 9th grader, and I plan to do a block schedule. In fact, I started DD on a modified block schedule this year for 8th just to get her acclimated for next year. Our schedule will consist of 5 classes per day @ 80 mins/class which totals 6.66 hours/day or 7 rounded up. On alternate days she will have the other 5 classes @ 80 mins/class. Week 1 Bible: Mon, Wed, Fri English (Lit/Comp/Grammar): Mon, Wed, Fri Geometry: 5 days/week; (since this class is 80m, 5 days/wk, it counts as 2 classes. DD struggles in math & needs the extra time) History: Mon, Wed, Fri Art/Music History: Mon, Wed, Fri Science: Tues, Thurs Spanish: Tues, Thurs Mythology (elective): Tues, Thurs Studio Art @ local HS (elective): Tues, Thurs - we will follow their block schedule for this class and adjust other classes accordingly. Week 2 Bible: Tues, Thurs English (Lit/Comp/Grammar): Tues, Thurs Geometry: 5 days/week; (since this class is 80m, 5 days/wk, it counts as 2 classes. DD struggles in math & needs the extra time) History: Tues, Thurs Art/Music History: Tues, Thurs Science: Mon, Wed, Fri Spanish: Mon, Wed, Fri Mythology (elective): Mon, Wed, Fri Studio Art @ local HS (elective): Mon, Wed, Fri - we will follow their block schedule for this class and adjust other classes accordingly. DD already learned how to type during the summers of her 4th and 5th grades. You'll also notice there is no PE on our schedule. That credit will be fulfilled through regular daily life. For instance, DD takes To-Shin Do (an Americanized version of Ninjitsu) once a week for an hour year round. If I just counted that @ 36 hrs/yr. over a period of 4 years we would have enough to satisfy one full credit broken up as 1/4 cr/yr. However, we also bike, garden, swim, & take walks during the summer, as well as XC ski and snowshoe during the winter. Therefore, I figure I can give her one full credit for PE over the course of her HS academic years. This schedule should work out for us, as we are doing a similar schedule this year. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I'd decide what you're planning to offer credit for first. Then you're going to want to plan about 4 hours of work per week per credit (that's about 150 hours in a 36 week year--some classes will probably require more time and others somewhat less--just try not to go below 120 hours for a credit). Of what you have, I'd whittle it down to this: 1. Math - Algebra I 2. Science - Apologia Physical Science 3. English - Seton English? 4. Social Studies - Eastern Hemisphere study 6. Foreign Language - Spanish program of some sort 7. Philosophy - I'm thinking Memoria Press Traditional Logic & Religion - Faith & Life Series (if necessary--I'd eliminate if it were me and replace with something your student is particularly interested in) OR 7. P.E./Art/Music - Probably have to do at least one of these most days (I'd pick either art or music and on the transcript give a half credit for PE and a half credit for either art or music) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.