How do you give high school credit for this?

[Alicia64]

Or do you?

 

My kids will be in 9th in Sept. This summer one son is helping out at two "little kid theater camps." It's only one long week. One camp is from 9:30 to 12:30. The second set of kids go from 2 to 5.

 

My kid is assisting with both.

 

Is this something I make a note of?

Ask the teacher to write a brief note saying he did this?

 

Or is this too small to matter?

 

Second question: my son is busking at the Famers' Market every Saturday morning. He takes his smaller keyboard down, sets up and plays piano for about an hour.

 

Is this something I can make note of?

 

Just trying to figure this out.

 

Alley

[regentrude]

I would count this as an extracurricular.

[Kassia]

I would definitely count the first as volunteer/community service.  Not sure about the second one - probably volunteer or extracurricular.  

[Job121]

Your kids are in 8th grade then? Firstly, I think both actives counted as volunteering. If they continue with dram or/ and music in high school, maybe you can put those twp experiences under extracurricular. 

 

I didn't count any volunteering or extracurricular that DC did before 9th grade on their transcript or resume, unless that is an academic course that deserves a high school credit. 

[chiguirre]

Of course, they'll be in 9th grade this summer once they finish 8th. I'd count the camp gig as volunteer hours and the busking as part of a piano EC.

[EKS]

Extracurricular.

[FriedClams]

It would not occur to me to count that as anything.

[Julie of KY]

Extracurricular as others have said.

 

I ask myself the question - If my kids were in public school and did this, would it be for a class or extracurricular? This is where it "typically" falls. There is no rule that you can't count something as coursework, but in general I try to mirror where it would fall for everyone else.

[katilac]

Extra-curricular, with the first being volunteer hours. 

[SunshineMom]

I would count the theater hours towards a 180hr theater high school credit which would be completed by the end of 9th grade.

[Alicia64]

I would count the theater hours towards a 180hr theater high school credit which would be completed by the end of 9th grade.

 

Thank you Jewels! That makes sense -- because he'll be doing theater throughout high school (I assume).

 

Can I ask you a dumb question? Do kids get one unit per 180 hours of a class? Or is that one unit per semester -- with each semester being 90 hrs. each.

 

How units break down into hours. . . I have no idea. I'm not even sure where to look for this info.

 

Thanks again!

 

Alley

[GoodGrief]

You will have to decide where it will fit in the best on his high school resume. Does he need a fine arts credit, or will there be other courses (like a music theory class) that more neatly fit the bill? The work at the theater is perfect for community service hours and also demonstrates leadership, so I would likely put it in the extracurricular activity. If he is being paid for the piano playing (even via coins tossed into a jar), that could be placed under "employment", which is a nice thing to have on a resume as well. Being self-possessed enough to perform at a community event like the farmers market speaks a bit to his personality.

 

Otherwise, certainly the hours for both activities could be placed toward a fine arts credit of some sort.

[Corraleno]

I would not count a week of summer volunteer work "helping out with little kid theater camps" as academic credit. If your son is really interested in music and theater, then presumably he will have plenty of actual, academically-worthy credits in those subjects during the school year. Don't underestimate the importance of extra curricular activities, especially ones that involve community service and show leadership (like the camp experience). If you try to squeeze everything into academic credits, then the EC portion of the application is going to look really sparse. And if you "double-dip" by listing the same activities as both "credits" and ECs, then it can make the transcript seem padded.

 

As a cautionary tale, a parent on another homeschooling list was determined to give transcript credit for a huge number of hours in two areas that would (in my opinion and the opinion of many other people on that list) have been better listed as ECs. This was an extremely bright student with very high test scores and lots of DE and AP classes. Parent thought that putting *everything* on the transcript "for credit" made the student look more "well-rounded" and highlighted the two areas where the student was most passionate. Instead of having a transcript that highlighted a rigorous academic program, with a long list of intense ECs showing dedication and passion, the kid ended up with a 2 page transcript that looked extremely padded, with the rigorous classes sort of lost in the shuffle. Parent and student were shocked to receive rejections from every college except the safety.

Edited May 14, 2017 by Corraleno

[Jean in Newcastle]

What does "helping out at little kid theater camps " mean? Does it mean herding kids to the bathroom and setting out their snacks? If so, then I would give volunteer hours as an EC but not theater credit. Does it mean directing the kids in actual acting exercises? Then that might count towards a theater credit. But my experience with such summer activities makes me suspect that it will be more likely the former.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[winterbaby]

When people say count it as an extracurricular, do homeschool parents normally provide an official record of ECs or are they written up by the student in another part of the application, as I did 20 years ago applying to college out of public high school?

[Corraleno]

There is a section on the common app for ECs, where you list the activity, how many hours spent, in which years, etc. 

ETA: If you to this website and click on "2016-17 Sample Common App" you can see the section for ECs.

Edited May 14, 2017 by Corraleno

[winterbaby]

There is a section on the common app for ECs, where you list the activity, how many hours spent, in which years, etc. 

 

ETA: If you to this website and click on "2016-17 Sample Common App" you can see the section for ECs.

 

Thanks for the info. I am confused/surprised by the level of parental involvement with college applications (and sometimes even college coursework) I see on here and I can't tell whether it's a homeschooling thing or a times have changed thing.

 

[Corraleno]

Thanks for the info. I am confused/surprised by the level of parental involvement with college applications (and sometimes even college coursework) I see on here and I can't tell whether it's a homeschooling thing or a times have changed thing.

 

 

Well, homeschool parents also have to serve as guidance counselors, so at a minimum I would say the parent needs to do enough research to provide the level of advice that a good guidance counselor would. And anyone who reads CC regularly can see that there are plenty of PS students who do have "professional" guidance counselors, who were not well advised and are not happy with their admission results. If I can prevent that by doing some of the research upfront, I'm certainly going to try.

 

Maybe it's not as much of an issue for kids who intend to go to CC or the local State U and who don't need merit or financial aid, but for students who are looking at selective schools, have specific majors in mind, and/or who need some kind of aid, the amount of information to process would be overwhelming (IMO) for a teenager on top of all the usual senior year pressures and coursework. 

[winterbaby]

Well, homeschool parents also have to serve as guidance counselors, so at a minimum I would say the parent needs to do enough research to provide the level of advice that a good guidance counselor would. And anyone who reads CC regularly can see that there are plenty of PS students who do have "professional" guidance counselors, who were not well advised and are not happy with their admission results. If I can prevent that by doing some of the research upfront, I'm certainly going to try.

 

Maybe it's not as much of an issue for kids who intend to go to CC or the local State U and who don't need merit or financial aid, but for students who are looking at selective schools, have specific majors in mind, and/or who need some kind of aid, the amount of information to process would be overwhelming (IMO) for a teenager on top of all the usual senior year pressures and coursework. 

 

I see. My parents had no role in my applications (except the financial part), and I got the impression from people at school, where there was one guidance counselor for 500+ seniors, that assembling the application was itself one of the tasks by which you proved your merit. Maybe that was wrong, or those were simpler times. But that was for highly competitive schools and I did fine, at least as far as getting in went. (The actual decision I made is another story, and I do fault my parents' hands-off attitude for that.)

[MerryAtHope]

I see. My parents had no role in my applications (except the financial part), and I got the impression from people at school, where there was one guidance counselor for 500+ seniors, that assembling the application was itself one of the tasks by which you proved your merit. Maybe that was wrong, or those were simpler times. But that was for highly competitive schools and I did fine, at least as far as getting in went. (The actual decision I made is another story, and I do fault my parents' hands-off attitude for that.)

 

My parents didn't either, but I also went to school at a time when it was easy to work one's way through school with little or no debt. That's no longer possible. Unless a student is eligible for a full-ride scholarship, even the partial scholarships for strong students leaves one with owing thousands, and usually tens of thousands of dollars per year (even after a Pell Grant, the cheapest state school by us will cost at least 15K for room and board per year). Most families can't afford to leave everything in the student's hands with that kind of money on the line. Plus with the way FAFSA and the system is set up now, it's nearly impossible for a student to be independent (as I was when I went)--the parent has to be intricately involved financially.

 

My kids fill out all of their own applications and do all of their own scholarship essays etc..., but I proofread and am certainly involved in helping them make decisions along the way. I can't afford not to be, and I certainly don't want my kids saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt unless it's for a wise and specific purpose and it's the best choice we can make given our circumstances. (I'm hoping we can avoid that actually...but time will tell how things play out here.)

 

As for college coursework, I helped proofread papers my son's first year, but that's it. It seemed to help him with the transition from homeschooling to classroom student. I've helped a friend's dd with proofreading too. They can do the same thing through the writing tutoring center on campus (which I encouraged my son to do also). 

[J-rap]

If he were to do some other theater-related things too, for example a theater course that could use a little extra support, then I'd use the camp experience as part of that.   

 

I wouldn't count the busking as a course.  If he ends up applying for a music scholarship anywhere, he should put that on his music resume.

[MerryAtHope]

One of mine volunteered with a children's theater group enough to earn a half-credit, but his work involved learning how to run the sound board, how to manage props, and being the back-stage manager (and very little corralling of kids). It sounds like he'll only have about 15 hours for the week--so I guess it would depend on what else he'll do later on and what kind of work he might be doing. 

 

For the performances, if he's doing other piano work (lessons with instruction), you could add in the performance time (I've done that when my kids were doing lessons, but haven't counted performance time when they were not also getting instruction--that was just volunteer hours/fun). 

 

My kids typically had 5 solid academic credits per year, and then .5-1 credit of electives, and .5 credit for PE--so it wasn't tons of extra credits here (and they still had things that were more volunteer oriented that we included under activities instead of as classes). For me, the distinguishing feature was the type of experience (were they just putting in time doing things they already knew how to do or were they learning new skills/increasing their knowledge, or perhaps actually teaching, etc...)

 

For electives, I counted 60-90 hours for a half credit, and 120-180 for a full credit.

 

HTH some!