Ok for Govt/Econ to be whole year?

[Joker]

A few months ago I posted about homeschooling dd for senior year and we are definitely doing it. She attended the local PS for 6th-11th grades. My question is about credits. She needs 47 total credits for the Honors Diploma, which was the track she was on. She currently already has 46. The classes she has to have are English, a math, French, and Govt/Econ.

She is enrolled to take College Algebra and a Psychology class at the local CC in the fall and plans to take Finite and Speech in the Spring. We will do French, Literature, Government, and Economics at home.

I know Govt/Econ are usually only a semester each but is it ok to take all year? She doesn't need anything else and she plans on getting a part time job so I don't want to add classes just because. I have the Magruder's American Government textbook as well as a Glencoe Economics textbook. Would I still only count them as half credits since that's what they usually are and we will just be taking it slowly through the books to last the year?

 

ETA: Also, I have a question about art. She will be spending a lot of time completing her portfolio. It will be completely self directed though and I will have nothing to do with it. She's taken at least one art class every year and the past two years had two of them. She's still undecided if she is going to actually major in anything art related because it's so personal for her and she feels it's getting a bit competitive, which she doesn't like. But she will be doing the portfolio just in case. Can I include that since she will be spending so much time on it or is that not ok since it is self directed?

Edited June 22, 2019 by Joker

[RootAnn]

1 hour ago, Joker said:

She is enrolled to take College Algebra and a Psychology class at the local CC in the fall and plans to take Finite and Speech in the Spring. We will do French, Literature, Government, and Economics at home

Fall:

College Algebra (1 cr @ CC)

Psychology  (1 cr @ CC)

French (1/2 cr)

Literature (1/2 cr)

Gov (1/4 credit)

Econ (1/4 credit)

Art portfolio

Spring:

Finite (1 cr @ CC)

Speech (1 cr @ CC)

French (1/2 cr)

Literature (1/2 cr)

Gov (1/4 credit)

Econ (1/4 credit)

Art portfolio

I would personally just concentrate on one at a time & get Econ done in a semester & then Government (or vice versa). Some Econ & Govt courses are a full year, though, so I wouldn't feel bad giving a full credit if she puts the time in.

I have no idea on the portfolio.

[Corraleno]

I would give credit for art, especially if she is considering an art major or minor. I don't think the fact that it's self-directed makes it any less worthy of credit. 

Four DE courses + a full year each of French, Lit, Art, Govt, & Econ = 9 full credits. That's a lot of work, especially considering she'll be working part time as well. I would do Govt & Econ as half-credits (1 per semester) and just cut down on the output. Read, discuss, do end-of-chapter quizzes orally, and write a few essays (or some other output that would be of more interest to her). Done.

[klmama]

I would cover government one semester and econ the other, rather than stretch both out over the year.  

[Joker]

Thanks for the input. I do think I will just schedule them for a semester each. It's been a while since we've done this and I think I get too caught up in going deep enough. Really, though,  we talk so much on a daily basis about these topics that it's not something she doesn't already have a good grasp of so these classes really are just ticking a box for a diploma and college. 

[Garga]

Nm—misread the OP

Edited June 24, 2019 by Garga

[Joker]

Is it going to look bad/weird if she goes from having 14 credits per year to just 10 or 12 senior year?

Our high school gives 1 credit per class per semester so she has had 14 credits every year for 9th-11th. This year she would have 10 (12 if I count art). I found information online that states the dual credit courses would only count as 1 credit unless it was foreign language. If she was attending this year she would just take an elective that works with her schedule but she doesn't want to take another class just because if it's not a big deal.

Like I stated above, she already has 46 credits listed on her transcript for high school because they also count her foreign language and algebra from 8th grade. She only needs 47 so the electives aren't necessary at this point but I'm just wondering if it will look odd. 

[Pistachio mom]

I would include art in her course of studies and count the hours like Carnegie credits. Naming it portfolio 1 and portfolio 2 could work, or independent studies, or name it whatever style of art she is doing. The Lee Binz Delight Directed Learning from her coffee break series might be helpful in organizing the course description and helping your student be productive.

https://www.amazon.com/Delight-Directed-Learning-Homeschooler-HomeScholars-ebook/dp/B00BOB0ZRW

https://www.homehighschoolhelp.com/delight-directed-learning

I will be helping one of my children prepare an art portfolio too in the next few years. It will involve researching what she needs, current college admission requirements, her interests, and helping her set goals to stay on track.  For my family, I will require her to do some career exploration activities as part of this, maybe an internship too. Another idea, is to experiment with a specific area of media for parts of the year such as advanced drawing, watercolor techniques, acrylic/oil painting, printmaking, fiber arts, sculpting, ceramics, illustration techniques, etc... the list can go on and on.

For my senior who just graduated, we did first half of the year government, second half of the year economics. But I named the course Honors Govt and Economics for 1 high school credit, because some of the reading and resources applied to both courses. For the honors credit in my state, this was the best way for me to organize her work.

Best Wishes as you organize your plan!

[Corraleno]

22 hours ago, Joker said:

Is it going to look bad/weird if she goes from having 14 credits per year to just 10 or 12 senior year?

Our high school gives 1 credit per class per semester so she has had 14 credits every year for 9th-11th. This year she would have 10 (12 if I count art). I found information online that states the dual credit courses would only count as 1 credit unless it was foreign language. If she was attending this year she would just take an elective that works with her schedule but she doesn't want to take another class just because if it's not a big deal.

Like I stated above, she already has 46 credits listed on her transcript for high school because they also count her foreign language and algebra from 8th grade. She only needs 47 so the electives aren't necessary at this point but I'm just wondering if it will look odd. 

I would definitely count art — that would give her 7 full-year credits for 9th-11th and 6 for 12th, which is reasonable. When you say that DE courses only count as 1 semester, is that the school's policy or a state-wide policy or something else? Assuming you are graduating her from homeschool and doing her final transcript yourself, you can generally count DE credits however you want.