Is It Realistic...

[rutamattatt]

...to think we can really complete 160 hours of instruction on a subject in one semester?

 

I am trying to figure out how to best make a schedule work for DS who will be a sophomore.  Last year it was a HUGE adjustment going from a middle school workload to the high school workload, and often I felt like we were rushing to get to everything we needed to.  I think we were both feeling flustered a bit by it all.  

 

He is taking Geometry and Chemistry at a tutorial one day a week and will have homework daily from that.

He is also taking US History, English II, German II, and Old Testament each for a full credit.  We are planning on Personal Finance and Photography for 1/2 credit each.

 

I feel like he needs to do German daily all year to retain anything.  Chem and Geometry will be all year with the tutorial.  I'm thinking of dividing the English credit into Literature first semester and writing/grammar second semester so we can focus on each of those better this year.  We'll do one of the 1/2 credit classes each semester.  I'm wondering if it is possible to do all of his US History in one semester and do the Old Testament credit the second.

 

I just don't know what is realistic and what will work best for him (and me).  He can get distracted easily, but I think that comes more from feeling overwhelmed by all he has to do than from the typical fifteen year old boy "squirrel!" thing.   

 

Any advice?  This high school homeschooling is a whole new ball game.  I never felt like we got into a good "groove" last year.  I'd love that to change this year for us both!

 

TIA!

 

 

[almondbutterandjelly]

I think it's important to  remember that some classes are credit based on content and some classes are more count-the-hours.  So, for instance, if you finish your Algebra book in a semester, you still get 1.0 credit for Algebra.  

 

You need to decide what constitutes a credit (or half credit) for each of your non-outsourced classes.  Once those requirements are fulfilled, then you are done.  Take as long or as short as needed, depending on if it's hour-based or content-based.  IMO, U.S. History could be content-based if you are using a textbook that is intended to be completed in a whole year.  If it's a design-your-own thing, then you decide what is needed to fulfill a year's worth of credit.

 

Hope this helps!

[Corraleno]

The hours would still be the same, he'd just be spending 2 hrs/day the first semester on US History, instead of 1 on history and 1 on Old Testament, and the reverse the 2nd semester. The only issue might be whether he could retain all the information if he's moving at twice the usual speed, but some kids do find it easier to focus more intensely on fewer courses at a time. DS did a lot of shorter, more intensive courses, including a couple of online college courses that were 8 weeks each.

 

FWIW, I'm planning something similar for my 9th grader. She'll be doing an online Big History class, which doesn't get into much human history until the 2nd semester, so I'm thinking of doing science in the fall and world literature in the spring.

[letsplaymath]

Did someone tell you that you need to do 160 hours per full-credit subject?

 

Back in the dinosaur days when I started homeschooling, the math went like this:

• 180 school days/year x 5/6 of an hour per high school class = 150 hours of classroom time per year.
• Then assume that at least 10 minutes per day on average goes to administrative stuff like attendance, checking homework, waiting on the teacher while he/she talks to other kids, assemblies, and other non-instructional tasks, not to mention sick days.
• So 150 x 4/5 = 120 hours of actual instruction time.

So our ballpark figure for a full-credit class would have been only 120 hours per semester. Or even less, because independent study and one-on-one work tends to be more time-efficient than a classroom -- we tend to complete the instruction and homework in the amount of time a classroom spends on instruction.

 

To squeeze that into one semester, if you don't take sick days, would take less than an hour and a half per day. Physically possible, but take frequent breaks to keep the brain sharp while studying.

Edited July 16, 2017 by letsplaymath

[regentrude]

160 hours is a solid credit. You can expect to complete 6-7 credits per school year.

160 hours per semester is only doable if you school on a block schedule and don't do all subjects each semester. It is standard for student who, for example, take DE college classes that earn one hs credit per semester.

[Mom22ns]

We did exactly what you are considering. We did math and foreign language credits across the whole year along with a few others, but most of our other classes we did in semester blocks. We made the decision with each class though, so for example when ds did OYAN + NANOWRIMO for a creative writing credit, it was a year long class, just because there was no way to cram that much writing into a semester. Each semester was a little different, but basically a daily schedule looked something like:
 

Semester 1:

Math 1 hour

Foreign Language 1 hour

History 2 hours

English 2 hours

 

 

Semester 2:

Math 1 hour

Foreign Language 1 hour

Science 2 hours

Elective 2 hours (or 2 electives @ 1 hour each)

 

That would be a 6 credit schedule and neither of my kids actually had a year with only 6 credits, but you get the idea. My kids much preferred working 2 hours a day on 4 classes than working 1 hour/day on 8 classes.