Interest Led Electives

[DoraBora]

Sorry, I meant to post this on the High School Board...

How do you assign credit for electives?  Do you require your student to complete written work for each one?

I ask this because ds (a junior) is very interested in fitness and nutrition.  He has learned quite a lot about training and sports nutrition because he is interested in it.  Is reading books and putting what he has learned into practice enough, or should I also require him to prepare a presentation, complete some kind of project, or take a test?

He also loves computer hardware (building computers and robots, etc.).  Same question...  Is reading, research, and practical application enough for high school credit?  (I would base credits on the number of hours spent on each.)

 

Edited October 13, 2018 by DoraBora
wrong board

[freesia]

I would think putting into practice is a project. 

To answer your question--yes, for a few electives I didn't ask for more than you have above. We have 2 credits of PE and I expect no written work. My two high schoolers have also had a handful of credits that were as you described  

For myself and our house, I probably would limit that type of class to one to one and a half credits a year. But I could be talked out of that if I had a child would pursued passions with depth and clearly was learning and sharing new information and had clear output as long as I knew they were writing regularly and learning study skills and test taking skills in other subjects. 

[DoraBora]

I hadn't thought of PE in that way...  of course!

Excellent point about limiting this type of "class"...  for this student, I would only add these two credits for all of high school.

Thank you for your input.  It's very helpful! 

[elegantlion]

I gave ds a credit in computer science that he basically unschooled. He did all the research and shaping of the "course." I tracked hours and he had to make me a few projects and explain it to me (a non-programmer) so that I could understand. I took that from Einstein who said that you didn't really know something until you can explain it in its simplest terms. I think part of that credit included building his own computer. He has since built me one too. 

The course served him well. He still programs, is a math major in college, and  did an independent research project over the summer with one of the computer science professors, who said ds knew some things they don't learn until grad school.