High school coursework - how much to require (compared to college classes)?

[Bambam]

My youngest is using a couple of college textbooks for me for homeschool work. 

Due to various things, I just went to look at the college syllabuses (one is a textbook used in a local class at a 4 year university, the other textbook is used at several 4 year universities).

I found that they aren't covering the entire textbook in the college courses. For one, they are covering 10 out of 14 chapters (Statistics). For the other, they are covering 6 out of 14 chapters (Forensic Chemistry). 

So, would you still require your high school student to cover the entire textbook or would you modify the amount of work required to match what the colleges cover? If you just did what the colleges require in a one semester course, would you consider that equal to one high school credit? 

I'm interested in the opinions of others. I struggle with the idea of lowering my expectations, but there are other factors (dual credit classes, volunteer work, paid work, friends, other commitments, life) in play here as well.  My oldest found college to be much easier than her homeschool work, so I'm wondering if I'm asking too much. 

 

[Penelope]

So far I have based this on looking at multiple syllabi and what is typically covered in these courses. Some textbooks cover two semesters of a college sequence. 

For math and science, I also look at what will come next and what will be helpful for them to learn to facilitate future courses or general understanding. Like for statistics, do the additional chapters cover more esoteric topics that are just an introduction to things that would be covered in future courses she is interested in, or will they be useful for understanding studies she comes across in other disciplines or in real life? 

[Dicentra]

It would depend on the subject and topic but I'm a college chemistry instructor and I don't cover the entire chem text for my classes.  If you're wondering about which chapters out of a textbook are the most important in a particular field, you could probably ask here on the Forum.  There are lots of folks here who are college instructors and professors and are probably willing to share their knowledge. ?

[regentrude]

A textbook is a suggestion, not a law. Most textbooks contain way more material than is suitable to be covered in a semester or year.

For example, in my college physics classes, I omit all topics that have been covered in chemistry, omit topics that are peripheral, and focus on the chapters that cover the essential concepts my students need to master, that are prerequisite knowledge for the later semester, and that are related to the students physics needs.

Just because the chapters are in a textbook does not mean they are essential and must be covered. I much prefer students to master the basics thoroughly, as opposed to a drinking-from-the-firehose approach where students are inundated with material in the hope that something might stick. 

In many subjects there is a standard canon of material that is customarily covered in a course. I would aim to cover that.

Edited October 7, 2018 by regentrude