What credits--music, ballet, etc.?

[KeriJ]

DD takes 3 1/2 hours of ballet per week. She takes piano lessons and sings in a choir that rehearses weekly and performs semi-regularly. She also participates in artist and composer studies with the family.

 

What credit could be assigned?

[katilac]

Piano, music lessons, and choir I would keep as extra-curriculars if she is planning on college. 

 

The family studies could be a fine arts credit. 

 

 

[JanetC]

My kids got one credit of "fine arts survey" when they did a bunch of different things to add up to one credit. They received a full credit for mucic or art when the amount of work warranted it. They did dance for PE credit.

 

There are others who say to "save" some things for extracurricular activities and don't give credit for everything, so depending on how many other credits they are earning per year, zero is an acceptable answer. There will be an activities section on the college application to put things done for joy rather than credit.

[J-rap]

We put together a variety of physical fitness type activities, including homeschool group gym time, family exercises, bike rides across our state for charity groups, family hikes, and ballet classes for a total of 1 credit (spread out over time).  We would not have listed anything over 1 credit, because that was not necessary.  We also listed ballet in extra-curricular, because they did so much more than a partial gym credit.

 

We did the same for art.

 

If you feel half a credit of musical activities would be helpful to have on your transcript, I don't see what the problem is in using it for both if it's something they have become passionate about and do much more than just a homeschool requirement.  We know many PS students who took choir and music classes throughout their high school career, but they've also gotten very involved in other choirs and music training way beyond that.  The classes they took are listed on their transcript of course, but they list related activities under extra curricular activities as well.

[learners4life]

Agree with Katilac.  I didn't give any credit for piano lessons, choir, orchestra, etc, except for AP Music Theory.  We listed them as extracurriculars.  Those extracurriculars are important; don't underestimate them!  

[TracyP]

This (minus the ballet) sounds just like my rising 9th grader. I might put the composer/artist studies into a Fine Arts credit - counting each year as 1/4 credit. I'll see if that makes sense once we get to the final transcript point.

 

My plan has been to list the piano/choir under extracurriculars. Lately, though, I have been second guessing that. My dd has started writing lyrics and composing music to go with them. She isn't about to get signed by a record label ;) but she is putting in a huge amount of hours. If this continues, I might end up reconsidering. Or I might give credit for the piano (practice/lessons/theory/recitals) and then listing her other musical interests (composing and choir) under extracurriculars.

 

Maybe you could give credit for the music, but list ballet as an extracurricular. Or vice versa. If you do decide to give credit for the music, this thread has helpful advice about awarding music credits.

[StephanieZ]

Fine Arts -- 1 credit, call it a day. :)

 

My kids each did *tons* of music study, so in high school, I gave them credits for Music 9, Music 10, Music 11, and Music 12. 1 credit each year (probably averaged 500-1000+++ hr/yr of music study per kid). 

 

Since your dd has smaller time commitments to multiple areas of fine arts, I'd just call it Fine Arts and be done with it. :) That is, if you *need* the credits. If you don't need the credits, then I'd just leave it off the transcripts. 

 

If the time commitment is more like 10+ hr/wk, then I'd lean towards putting an "extra" on the transcript. I've done that for music, and I did that for FIRST Robotics as my son put in many hundreds of hours each year on that. 

[GoodGrief]

Most of that I would put as extracurriculars. As someone else said already, the extracurriculars are important on college and scholarship apps. Keep track of hours, because many applications will ask you for the weekly time commitment.

 

I would make the composer studies a fine arts credit (or call the course something else, but put it under the fine arts umbrella.) The number of credits will be dependent on how many hours you are spending over the course of the semester/year on the course.

[chiguirre]

Do you need a fine arts credit and PE on your transcript either because they're required by a cover school or you want to mirror the ps requirements? If so, ballet can count as PE (my local high school gives credit to dancers who do 3 hrs/week at a studio and also offers a ballet class for PE credit) and piano can count as your fine arts requirement. If you don't need to list them, IMHO I'd keep them as ECs.

[Mabelen]

Do you need a fine arts credit and PE on your transcript either because they're required by a cover school or you want to mirror the ps requirements? If so, ballet can count as PE (my local high school gives credit to dancers who do 3 hrs/week at a studio and also offers a ballet class for PE credit) and piano can count as your fine arts requirement. If you don't need to list them, IMHO I'd keep them as ECs.

Wow! Your school gives credit for 3 hours of dance a week? In our district, at the high school level, you must do 15 hours/week minimum, plus provide proof of being a serious performing or competitive dancer. Even in middle school, the minimum number of weekly hours is 10. They do not award any credit for recreational level activity. Otherwise, you have to do the 5 hours a week of school P.E.

[Donna]

Dd receives credit for music theory courses but practice, performances, etc...will all be extracurricular. 

[zaichiki]

DD takes 3 1/2 hours of ballet per week. She takes piano lessons and sings in a choir that rehearses weekly and performs semi-regularly. She also participates in artist and composer studies with the family.

 

What credit could be assigned?

 

I think it depends -- what do you want her transcript to look like?

 

I have just started dd's transcript, as she has just completed her "freshman year." The first thing I did was ask myself what sort of transcript I wanted her to have. If she was in school, what type of school would it be (in my imagination -- but I did have her older brother's school transcript to go on, as he just graduated). And in that type of school, how would those types of activities be tracked (what sort of credits)? Dd has a ton of friends who attend schools (public, private, and professional children's schools) as well as a few who homeschool, so I spent some time this year chatting with other parents and finding out how their kids' schools track these things.

 

As it turns out, kids who take a few hours of ballet as week and go to school do not have this activity listed on their academic transcript, but do list it on the applications as an extracurricular activity. Same thing with piano lessons, practice, and singing in choirs (unless the choir or orchestra meets at the high school daily, during a class time, and many do - then they get academic credit for that). Many kids in school do take a year of art or music theory. They get academic credit for that.

 

For my dd -- I'm currently designing two transcripts because I couldn't decide which way I wanted to design it. Ha! Well, I will sort that out when she graduates.

*First version does not list her music education at all. It will be an extracurricular activity. Her Saturday music school, though, provides a transcript with grades and will award her a diploma upon graduation. This transcript will accompany her academic transcript.

*Second version of the academic transcript gives one credit for music theory. I'm also giving an art credit based on artist studies at home, art techniques she practices at home, and "field trips" taken to art museums.

 

FWIW Dd's music education looks like this, so far--

(at her Saturday music school)

four years of ear training

four years of music theory -- currently beyond the AP level

four years of weekly orchestra rehearsals  plus three orchestra concerts a year

four years of weekly chamber music rehearsals plus four concerts a year

four years of weekly lessons with hours of daily practice

choir, additional classes such as psychology of performance, music history, etc.

(outside of music school)

6-12 performances a year with a community outreach organization, including mentoring underprivledged and inner city youth

chamber music festivals (weeks at a time of all day rehearsals, lectures, workshops, masterclass participation, and performances)

 

I think you have some flexibility with this.  While you want to make sure to give her credit for her hard work, you also want to make sure her transcript doesn't look padded (she should get similar "credit" as schooled kids would get for the same activities/time and effort).

 

Good luck!