Volunteer hours for 8th grade and up

[mlktwins]

My boys are in 8th grade and have volunteered at the library all school year.  They want them back next year so I guess they did an ok job :-).  Anyway, we have a few more weeks left and I'm wondering if I need to ask for proof of hours worked?  If so, do I need this for 8th or just higher grades?  Or...is it enough that I know they worked 2 hours a day for so many weeks?  I guess I am asking for college app or any other reasons.  

[Mom0012]

I’ve never asked for proof or even verification of my student’s volunteer hours.  We just track them at home.  You probably won’t use the 8th grade hours, but I’d track them just in case.

[Arcadia]

It’s only tracked for high school because the public schools want a certain minimum number of hours for high school graduation. The school districts here have varying amounts of minimum. My district requires only 20hrs. A neighboring district requires 40hrs. Link to their form which includes counting the summer before 9th grade. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E_COullPWJM0830MbWJnc9KPR3X7oACcxvoBhhftFWE/mobilebasic

[mlktwins]

31 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

It’s only tracked for high school because the public schools want a certain minimum number of hours for high school graduation. The school districts here have varying amounts of minimum. My district requires only 20hrs. A neighboring district requires 40hrs. Link to their form which includes counting the summer before 9th grade. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E_COullPWJM0830MbWJnc9KPR3X7oACcxvoBhhftFWE/mobilebasic

Yes, I started them at the library in the 8th grade in case they went to public high school.  The IB program, where they were accepted, wants a lot of hours and I wanted some of those to be at the library all 4 years :-).  I do want to make sure their home school transcript looks good and I like them volunteering anyway.  If they join the homeschool NHS, they will be required to do public service projects, which I feel is also good for them to do.

[Arcadia]

5 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

  The IB program, where they were accepted, wants a lot of hours and I wanted some of those to be at the library all 4 years :-).  

 

My 26 year old nephew went through the IB program, graduated from industrial systems engineering and went to work in investment banking for a big 5 bank. Their IB school helps facilitate a lot of the volunteer hours and he does his mostly with schoolmates. So it looks like a lot of hours on paper but is really not that much of a time drain.

[Jen500]

18 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

Yes, I started them at the library in the 8th grade in case they went to public high school.  The IB program, where they were accepted, wants a lot of hours and I wanted some of those to be at the library all 4 years :-).  I do want to make sure their home school transcript looks good and I like them volunteering anyway.  If they join the homeschool NHS, they will be required to do public service projects, which I feel is also good for them to do.

Have you gotten any information from the IB program about submitting volunteer hours? Mine did IB (from homeschooling previously), and had to fill out a specific form (with a signature from a supervisor) for volunteer hours, and could start counting the hours the summer before 9th grade. Also, as they got older, they focused volunteer hours on their areas of interest, so it helped lead into a CAS project was a good fit .

[mlktwins]

4 minutes ago, Jen500 said:

Have you gotten any information from the IB program about submitting volunteer hours? Mine did IB (from homeschooling previously), and had to fill out a specific form (with a signature from a supervisor) for volunteer hours, and could start counting the hours the summer before 9th grade. Also, as they got older, they focused volunteer hours on their areas of interest, so it helped lead into a CAS project was a good fit .

 

We are foregoing the IB Program.  They both want to continue homeschooling.

[RootAnn]

I think this depends on your state (Once they are high school age). I believe some states have state scholarships (Florida & others?) that require service hours. I don't know how those work in terms of certifying the hours. 

[ScoutTN]

If your student does many service hours, he or she may be eligible for the President's Volunteer Service Award.

Not as prestigious or as difficult as the Congressional, but still a good way to recognize a student's volunteer hours. The hours must be recorded by a certifying organization. Becoming one is a matter of watching a 30 minute video and filling out one form. Many scout troops or other non-profits are happy to do this.

[Mom0012]

2 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

If your student does many service hours, he or she may be eligible for the President's Volunteer Service Award.

Not as prestigious or as difficult as the Congressional, but still a good way to recognize a student's volunteer hours. The hours must be recorded by a certifying organization. Becoming one is a matter of watching a 30 minute video and filling out one form. Many scout troops or other non-profits are happy to do this.

This is great.  My son would have loved that.  Our county used to have a similar program, but they discontinued it and he was so disappointed.  I may do it for my dd, though.

[mom2scouts]

None of our local schools require service hours, but I wish I'd kept track of my son's hours. He probably has tons of service hours with Scouts, OA, church, and family activities.

[Farrar]

Several people here are saying it only counts once they're in high school, but here and in the neighboring state/district, the hours start counting in 8th grade. The total number goes on the high school transcript.

[arliemaria]

I was a Bonner Scholar in college which had a lot to do with the service I did in high school. Definitely a great scholarship program to look into if your student will have significant hours.

[kiwik]

On 4/27/2019 at 7:47 AM, mom2scouts said:

None of our local schools require service hours, but I wish I'd kept track of my son's hours. He probably has tons of service hours with Scouts, OA, church, and family activities.

Is it a uniquely US thing or is it a new thing?  When I was at school people who could worked outside school hours but we expected to be paid.  With earning money towards university and everyday expenses, homework and extra curriculars doing volunteer work as well seems a lot - and compulsory volunteer work is a bit of an oxymoron anyway. 

[RootAnn]

7 hours ago, kiwik said:

Is it a uniquely US thing or is it a new thing?  When I was at school people who could worked outside school hours but we expected to be paid.  With earning money towards university and everyday expenses, homework and extra curriculars doing volunteer work as well seems a lot - and compulsory volunteer work is a bit of an oxymoron anyway. 

I think requiring service hours for graduation from high school is a new thing in some places. I chafe a bit at the idea that volunteering can be required, but they call it "community service" here, not volunteering (which is what it was called in my day). My whole family "volunteered" (my kids would say that grandma "voluntold" us) at hospitals growing up, and we all had jobs, too. It was hard to squeeze in that and extra curricular (since our jobs were newspaper delivery right after school every day) but we did it.

Lots of time crunches with kids' time now, too. Service hours are required for graduation from one local school but not the other (that I know of). Some get their required hours in during the summer by working for free for a week at a summer camp. Others can fit it in during the school year over several weekends if their sports aren't year round. Some fit in working for pay, too. Others never find a regular job in our area. (Lots easier to find volunteer work vs pay unless you work fast food. But, it can be done if you have a driver's license.)

[Mom0012]

10 hours ago, kiwik said:

Is it a uniquely US thing or is it a new thing?  When I was at school people who could worked outside school hours but we expected to be paid.  With earning money towards university and everyday expenses, homework and extra curriculars doing volunteer work as well seems a lot - and compulsory volunteer work is a bit of an oxymoron anyway. 

I think it is fairly new as a requirement at some high schools, like within the last 5 years. I feel like it started as something the colleges wanted to see for admissions and now it’s trickled down to the high school level as a requirement. What it seems to accomplish is making it harder for people who truly want to volunteer to get those positions. In fact, at the local Girl Scout camp my niece has volunteered at for many years, they actually started requiring the volunteers to pay them! My son volunteered at the hospital.  We were told there were 120 high school applicants and he was one of 8 who was selected to interview!

There seems to be a much bigger emphasis on volunteer work in college as well that I don’t remember from the past.  Both of my kids have always been heavily involved in volunteer work, but a requirement for it irks me. 

[RootAnn]

3 hours ago, Mom0012 said:

 Both of my kids have always been heavily involved in volunteer work, but a requirement for it irks me. 

This is what bugs me, too. I can't remember if I ended up including it on my school profile for DD, but I know I pondered adding a statement about how our school did not require service hours for graduation. This, the volunteer hours she put in were voluntary. I don't think it ended up in the school profile, but I remember feeling strongly about it.

[Farrar]

It's been a requirement here and in the neighboring state (or, at least the districts... it may not be a requirement for the state, but it is for my not-a-state) for so long that it doesn't seem weird to me anymore. I think it's still not the majority of districts that require it. They also call it service, not volunteer. The hours read on your transcript just as basic hours. I don't think it's a bad thing... I mean, this really gets to what's the point of an education and what do schools do. Maybe this seems unrelated, but I think if they're going to require PE or anything non-academic, that requiring that students go out and do something for the world or the community and get an experience working in some form seems fine to me.

Most of the schools here require 100 hours. My friend's dds go to a magnet type school here though that requires a specific number per year that must be completed during the school year. That I find really annoying. Like, come on. Let people knock them all out before that rough junior year.

[JoJosMom]

Do you know whether your library tracks the hours? Ours does, so it might be something to check into.