Thinking creatively about English credit

[JennyD]

We will be spending the next spring semester living in a foreign country and DS14 (rising 9th grade) is probably going to go to some sort of school or language program for the bulk of that time.  The plan is to double up on science during the fall and I'll assign history and foreign language credit for what he does in the spring.  Math will be yearlong.

But I am stuck on what to do with English.  We can't manage to do a double credit of English in the fall, but I am also not sure that I will be legitimately able to characterize much of what he does in the spring semester as "English."  

Any ideas?  I was thinking of having him keep a journal while we are away, and it might be possible for me to assign a paper or two once we get back (although because of the way the school years line up, his summer 'break' next year will be only about 4 weeks.)

[Garga]

Does he like to read?  In his own time?  If so, could he just read a bunch of books while you’re there and you guys discuss them?  That could be the literature side of his English credit.  Then, in the fall, you can work on composition.  Maybe use the Lively Art of Writing for the composition part of the credit.  

For me as a kid, I read every second I could (eating breakfast, brushing my teeth, on the bus, etc), so I could have blazed through a bunch of books in addition to regular school, because reading was my hobby and I did it for fun every chance I got.

But if he doesn’t like to read, then that might not work.  My son doesn’t much like reading and is slow at it, and so it wouldn’t have worked for him to read a bunch of books while also doing a school or language program, because he wouldn’t have had time to read a bunch of books on top of that.

 

[Lori D.]

Personally, I'd skip the non-core credit of History, and for 9th grade I'd be sure to finish the core academics of 1.0 credit each of English, Math, and Science before leaving on the big trip. And then accomplish the Foreign Language credit while abroad. Possibly consider also doing 0.5-1.0 credit of History while abroad in the spring, IF it fits in with your travels. In the fall semester, you could also do a couple of easy 0.5 credit courses an Elective (maybe Health, Computer, Logic or PE?), and Fine Arts, for example, for a total of of 5.0 credits for the year, and that also leaves plenty of time to enjoy this incredible opportunity of being abroad.

Ideas for shifting English, if that is the most desired choice:
- Knock out 0.5 credit of English right now in the rest of your summer as summer school, and complete the other 0.5 credit in the Fall?
- Do 0.5 credit in the fall before leaving, and then the other 0.5 credit in the summer when you return?
- Do block scheduling? So, complete 1.0 each of English, Math, Science this fall, and then complete 1.0 each of History and Foreign Langauge while abroad in the spring?
- Wait and do 2.0 credits of English in 10th grade? (Or 1.5 credits of English in each of 10th and 11th grades?)
 

ETA

1 hour ago, JennyD said:

... I am also not sure that I will be legitimately able to characterize much of what he does in the spring semester as "English."  ...
...  I was thinking of having him keep a journal while we are away...

Just me, but I would not count informal personal writing (journaling) towards an English credit. The Writing part of the typical English credit for high school usually has a formal composition component (instruction in structure), and includes practicing all stages of the writing process: brainstorming, outlining, rough draft writing, revising, proof-editing.

Things that are commonly counted towards the writing portion of an English credit:
- speech/public speaking
- journalism
- creative writing (novel, short story, poetry)
- technical writing
- research paper writing
- essay writing

Edited July 1, 2019 by Lori D.

[Miss Tick]

I like @Lori D.'s idea to get some English done now, as much as you can in the fall (maybe two separate sessions must days with different foci?), then try to read a few literature books with discussion in the margin like @Garga suggested. I wonder if you could use a shorter (younger) book and compare the English version to a translation (or the other way round). Frog and Toad, Emil and the Detectives, The Little Prince - Depending on his fluency in the other language. I wouldn't count on getting all the .5 credits while you are gone, but perhaps you can get closer to the 1.0 credits for the year.

One last thought, there is a book about using movies for literature. If your ds doesn't care for our brilliant plan to have him reading for literature in his few precious moments of downtime, perhaps watching movies (multiple times) would be more palatable.

[JennyD]

2 hours ago, Garga said:

Does he like to read?  In his own time?  If so, could he just read a bunch of books while you’re there and you guys discuss them?  That could be the literature side of his English credit.  Then, in the fall, you can work on composition.  Maybe use the Lively Art of Writing for the composition part of the credit. 

 

 

This is actually the perfect solution and I don't really know why I didn't think of it.  DS reads constantly and I was already thinking about putting together a reading list for the two of us of literature (in translation) from the region of the world in which we will be living.  I, uh, just wasn't thinking of it as school but just as fun 🙂  

I'll have to think more about how we might do composition as a standalone subject in the fall.  That would certainly be ideal from a scheduling perspective.

[HeatherL]

14 hours ago, JennyD said:

 

I'll have to think more about how we might do composition as a standalone subject in the fall.  That would certainly be ideal from a scheduling perspective.

 

You could use essentials in writing 9.  It’s a stand alone program.  We do one lesson per day and it’s pretty fast.  You could easily do more each day to get it done in a semester.  It’s video lessons and then a workbook for the writing assignments.  I’ve heard they offer a grading service now, but we’ve never used it.

[katilac]

On 7/1/2019 at 6:28 PM, Lori D. said:

 Just me, but I would not count informal personal writing (journaling) towards an English credit.  

It's very common to do so in many schools, so I wouldn't think twice about doing it if he likes the idea of a journal. If he hates the idea of a journal, I wouldn't sully the time abroad with it, lol.  

I know two kids who spent a year traveling in the states, one in middle and one in high school. They did not do a single 'standard' writing assignment the entire time, everything was interviews, vlogs, and journaling (and the written journaling was quite a small portion of what they did). They both went into the next grade with no problems 'catching up' on writing and no one questioning their English credit. 

On 7/1/2019 at 8:22 PM, JennyD said:

I'll have to think more about how we might do composition as a standalone subject in the fall.  

Don't overthink it. It's perfectly okay to be light on writing for the English credit for one year. I'd fit in a bit of writing, sure, particularly if he's not a strong writer or not that familiar with academic writing, but writing does not have to be X percentage of his English course every year, particularly in a year when the reason for a somewhat different schedule is a magnificent opportunity to live abroad! I've posted before about how we were fairly light on formal writing assignments in both English and history, while still maintaining rigor (long story short, a kid who is constantly participating in strong discussions can skip a lot of the more tedious or 'knowledge checking' writing assignments). 

He might enjoy doing some imitative writing of local authors, either their general style or specific devices they use. Like some magical realism if you'll be in Latin America, or his personal levels of hell if you'll be in Italy. Keep it fun and informal. If you can attend an author's talk while there, that would be cool also. 

Embrace the differences of this year, don't try to work around them! Do what makes the year amazing. 

[JennyD]

18 hours ago, katilac said:

He might enjoy doing some imitative writing of local authors, either their general style or specific devices they use. Like some magical realism if you'll be in Latin America, or his personal levels of hell if you'll be in Italy. Keep it fun and informal. If you can attend an author's talk while there, that would be cool also. 

Embrace the differences of this year, don't try to work around them! Do what makes the year amazing. 

 

This is a genius idea, and I so appreciate this perspective!