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So for those who follow the four year history cycle into the high school years... How do you deal with transcripts and college applications when colleges specifically require: 1 US History, 1 World History, blah blah? I'm sure this sounds like an idiotic question, but this will be my first 9th grader and I really don't want to zip through when there's so much to cover and we could really have fun with it.

Thanks,

High School Newbie

 

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I've been trying to decide on history for my rising 9th graders (and beyond). One approach I've been toying with is what @regentrude used:

Ancient History

Medieval and Renaissance History

U.S. History in a World Context 1500-1900

US History in a World Context 20th Century

I don't know what she did with government and economics. I'm thinking I would sneak government into 11th along with the founding of the U.S. @Lori D. Mentioned finding a lot of synchrony combining government, American History and American lit. 

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Several ways of handling this:

1. Go heavy on Social Studies and lighter/minimum required for Math (3 credits, up thru Alg. 2) & Science (3 lab sciences):
4.0 credits = World History
1.0 credit = American History
0.5 credit = Government
0.5 credit = Economics
   (+ any other Soc. Studies credits of interest as "academic electives": Geog, Philosophy, Pol. Sci, Anthropology, Archeology, Sociology...)
6.0+ = total credits in Social Studies 

2. Integrated option: go slightly lighter on the last 2 years of World History and integrate American History over those 2 years:
9th = 1.0 credit = History: Ancient World
10th = 1.0 credit = History: Medieval World
11th = 0.5 credit = History: Early Modern World + 0.5 credit = American History part 1
12th = 0.5 credit = History: Modern World + 0.5 credit = American History part 2
And work in 0.5 credit each of Government and Economics as it works out -- "summer school"; spread out each over 2 years; add one in each of 2 years; or other option...
5.0 = total credits in Social Studies

3. Overview history: if you've already done 2 cycles of chronological history and your student is developing other interests rather than History, reduce time spent on world history from 4 years to 2 years:
9th = 1.0 credit = History: Ancient & Medieval World
10th = 1.0 credit = History: Early Modern & Modern World
11th = 1.0 credit = History: American
12th = 0.5 credit EACH = Government and Economics
4.0 = total credits in Social Studies

4. Overview + Geography option: reduce world history to a 1 year overview, and do a year of world cultures/geography & comparative religions
9th = 1.0 credit = World Geography
10th = 1.0 credit = World History
11th = 1.0 credit = American History
12th = 0.5 credit EACH = Government and Economics
4.0 = total credits in Social Studies

5. Don't worry about it option -- and do what you want. Of all of the "academic subjects" (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language), college admissions tend to be most flexible/forgiving about not having the *exact* credits of the type they list in their list of "credits required for admission" -- esp. if the student is going in to a Fine Arts field. (Side note: I always do recommend trying to figure out *some* way of doing enough American History to count as 1.0 credit, because that is the credit I see very frequently as required for college admissions.)

What I mostly see wanted for college admissions:
1.0 credit = American History (many colleges)
1.0 credit = World History and/or World Geography (some colleges)
0.5 credit each = Economics and Government (some colleges)

Just about all colleges seem to be very flexible about credits in Social Studies (beyond Amer. Hist.) -- accepting credits in Anthropology, Sociology, Archeology, Economics, Government, History, Political Science, Geography, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Psychology, Political Science, special studies -- like, Native American, Women's Studies, Gender Studies, etc.

There are other options as well. AND... you may find your plans change anyways. We found that once we got partway in to high school, DSs developed other interests, so we ended up NOT doing a full 4-year cycle of world history -- and that was okay, too. It's a good idea to hold lightly to your plans, as your student may develop interests in other Social Studies topics, or special opportunities may suddenly pop up that your student wants to do, or your student may suddenly want to spend extra time/credits on specific History time periods, rather than doing a straight 4-year cycle. So writing your plan in pencil makes it easier to flex and bend with your student as she changes during the years of high school. 😉

And finally: there are lots of great past threads linked in the 2 pinned threads at the top of the high school board:

High School Motherlode #1
page #1 = threads on getting started, planning, scheduling, etc.
page #2 = threads on all of the high school tests (AP, ACT/SAT, etc.)

High School Motherlode #2 
page #1 = threads on transcripts, awarding credit, GPA, etc
page #5 = threads on extracurriculars, outsourcing, tutors, dual enrollment, etc
 

Here are the threads with past discussions on the specific questions you raise (these were from High School Motherlode #2, page 1, about halfway down under the subheading of "Credits".

integrated Great Books courses - how to award credit
The English credit/Great Books/integrating history & lit (how to credit integrated courses?) 
Handling a Great Books or integrated Humanities sequence on the transcript (how to do it so it matches what credits colleges want?) 
How to list a Coursera course on the transcript? (or describe in the Course Description document?) 


BEST of luck as you start researching and planning for homeschool high school! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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What I did was turn it into a three year world history cycle, and then the last year was US History (since Reconstruction).  I threw in a semester of Government sophomore or junior year, separate from History.  I am throwing in a semester of Economics during senior year, again, separate from history.

World History:Ancient

World History:Medieval

World History: Modern

US History

 

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Well, my ideal children would have a 3 year cycle of World Ancient & Medieval and US in World Context followed by a year of Gov/Econ. However, none of my kids have been ideal yet 😉 and have all chosen a different path because history wasn't their passion and they wanted a get 'er done approach so they could concentrate their time elsewhere. 

I looooove to plan, and it's definitely worthwhile to have a goal in mind for high school, but keep in mind your individual kids might have a different idea 🙂

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On 2/10/2019 at 6:31 PM, SusanC said:

I've been trying to decide on history for my rising 9th graders (and beyond). One approach I've been toying with is what @regentrude used:

Ancient History

Medieval and Renaissance History

U.S. History in a World Context 1500-1900

US History in a World Context 20th Century

I don't know what she did with government and economics. I'm thinking I would sneak government into 11th along with the founding of the U.S. @Lori D. Mentioned finding a lot of synchrony combining government, American History and American lit. 

I did a 0.5 cr check-the-box government course. We did not do economics.

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On 2/11/2019 at 7:44 AM, Momto5inIN said:

Well, my ideal children would have a 3 year cycle of World Ancient & Medieval and US in World Context followed by a year of Gov/Econ. However, none of my kids have been ideal yet 😉 and have all chosen a different path because history wasn't their passion and they wanted a get 'er done approach so they could concentrate their time elsewhere. 

I looooove to plan, and it's definitely worthwhile to have a goal in mind for high school, but keep in mind your individual kids might have a different idea 🙂

LOL, I think you are right. My daughter is more of a get it over with history student and I'm the one wishing we could take a slow path through history. I should just buy myself the books!

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My senior next year is going to end up with lots of history/social studies credits. We have done/will do: 

9th grade World History Ancient 1 credit 

10th grade World History Middle Ages 1 credit 

11th grade World History Renaissance to early Modern 1 credit 

12th grade American History 1 credit , state history 1/2 credit (alongside Am. History,) Government 1/2 credit 

We will encompass world history into our American History year a little, but the focus will be on American. Her senior year will include Modern Literature for English and a History of Fashion course for her fine arts credit that lines up with American History, so we are just having a huge history year to wrap it all up. We honestly will do most of all of that all integrated together for a major part of our year.  We have been doing field trips and activities and classes as they have come up all through high school that fit into different categories, like museums or short homeschool classes or online classes related to government or whatever. I will just group that all into her government credit description with whatever we do next year. 

My current 9th grader who we do it all together with just has a different line up. She will have the heavy history year for 10th grade. She has World History Renaissance through early modern this year, American Histoy for 10th grade, then if we stick with the 4 yr cycle she will go back to Ancients for 11th grade and Middle Ages for 12th grade. 

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We simply listed listed World History 1-4 (Ancients, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Modern) and then Civics. They want to see that you are covering the basics, and no one is going to think that four years of world history does not cover the basics! No one had a problem. One admit office did call and say that we might want to submit it differently so that American history was listed, but when they called she already had her official admit letter and scholarship offer, lol. 

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