Questions about interdisciplinary courses and the transcript, etc. (Beautiful Feet)

[EKT]

I'm considering some of Beautiful Feet's high school history courses. (Example.) I've never used their curricula before, but I do love that the courses are literature-based. It says on their site that the World History course can count as either 1 American History OR 1 Modern World History credit AND 1 Literature Credit. How do you handle this on the transcript and in your course descriptions? The reading for the course definitely seems robust, so it seems clear that the course would legitimately count for 2.0 credits total, but I'm worried about it looking like I am "double dipping" on the transcript. 

If you've done an interdisciplinary course (of any sort), I'd love to know how you counted it and how you represented it on your transcript/course descriptions. Thanks!

Also, if you've used Beautiful Feet before, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I think a literature-based program would work great for us, though it might be almost too much literature, since I have tons of language arts stuff that I want to do as well. Trying to figure out how I would weave it all together.... 

P.S. Why is it called "Beautiful Feet Books"? I find the name kinda bizarre. 

[Lori D.]

re: company name
Beautiful Feet is a Christian company with Christian perspective throughout their materials. The name comes from this verse in Isaiah 52:7: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" 


re: counting credits
Just like with classical courses or programs, you can list as an Integrated study in the course title, or just list each as a separate course (examples below). Either way, then you go on to explain in the separate Course Description document.

2.0 credit = Integrated Modern World Studies: History & Literature
or
1.0 credit = Integrated Modern World Studies: History
1.0 credit = Integrated Modern World Studies: Literature

or
1.0 credit = Social Studies: Modern World History
1.0 credit = English: Modern Literature


ETA:
PS -- The company's web address is "www.bfbooks" -- DON'T type in "beautiful feet" in the window for web address, because you get foot fetish images and websites... Alas, I learned this by accident MANY years ago when looking for the website... 😩😵🤮

Edited April 12, 2021 by Lori D.

[EKT]

51 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

re: company name
Beautiful Feet is a Christian company with Christian perspective throughout their materials. The name comes from this verse in Isaiah 52:7: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" 


re: counting credits
Just like with classical courses or programs, you can list as an Integrated study in the course title, or just list each as a separate course (examples below). Either way, then you go on to explain in the separate Course Description document.

2.0 credit = Integrated Modern World Studies: History & Literature
or
1.0 credit = Integrated Modern World Studies: History
1.0 credit = Integrated Modern World Studies: Literature

or
1.0 credit = Social Studies: Modern World History
1.0 credit = English: Modern Literature


ETA:
PS -- The company's web address is "www.bfbooks" -- DON'T type in "beautiful feet" in the window for web address, because you get foot fetish images and websites... Alas, I learned this by accident MANY years ago when looking for the website... 😩😵🤮

Thank you for the examples! So the course descriptions will probably be redundant, but this makes a lot of sense. I love the different ways you've laid them out.

Thanks also for the Beautiful Feet explanation! Like I said, I am new to Beautiful Feet, so I didn't realize it was a religious curriculum provider. (In the "About Us" and the FAQs that I read, there wasn't mention of religion, aside from a Charlotte Mason viewpoint.) We are secular homeschoolers, but Cathy Duffy's review says it's not specifically a Christian course, so I think it could still work well for us.

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by EKT

[regentrude]

I have done many of our English and history courses as self designed integrated courses and awarded separate credits for English and for Social Sciences.

Here is an example of a course description:

Quote

World Literature: Ancients / Ancient History

1.0 credit English, 1.0 credit History

 This is an integrated course combining history and literature of the Ancient world, with a particular focus on Greece and Rome. Major works of literature studied include The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Herodotus Histories, Greek tragedies, Sappho Poetry, Ovid Metamorphoses, Plato Trial and Death of Socrates. The course has a strong composition component; the student wrote essays about literary and historic topics and gave an oral presentation.

Textbook: A Short History of Western Civilizations by John Harrison and Richard Sullivan

 The student listened to the following audio lectures by the Teaching Company:
The Iliad (12 lectures), The Odyssey (12 lectures), The Aeneid (12 lectures)
 Greek Tragedy (11 selected lectures), Classical Mythology (24 lectures)
Each college level lecture is 30 minutes in length and taught by Prof. Elizabeth Vandiver

 

[EKT]

2 minutes ago, regentrude said:

I have done many of our English and history courses as self designed integrated courses and awarded separate credits for English and for Social Sciences.

Here is an example of a course description:

 

Oh, this is great, too! Thank you so much for sharing the description! Super helpful. 

[Farrar]

The only thing I'd note is that it doesn't work very well to have integrated courses if you do a subject transcript. You sort of have to break it up, though you could still put it together on the course descriptions. But on a yearly one, I think it's fine. Follow the good advice above.

[regentrude]

22 minutes ago, Farrar said:

The only thing I'd note is that it doesn't work very well to have integrated courses if you do a subject transcript. You sort of have to break it up, though you could still put it together on the course descriptions. But on a yearly one, I think it's fine. Follow the good advice above.

I did subject transcripts, and it really wasn't a problem. I listed one credit for each subject area ("World Literature: Ancients" for English, "Ancient History" for Social Sciences) and explained in the course descriptions that they came from one integrated course. That way, the transcript easily speaks for itself without the course description.

[EKT]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

The only thing I'd note is that it doesn't work very well to have integrated courses if you do a subject transcript. You sort of have to break it up, though you could still put it together on the course descriptions. But on a yearly one, I think it's fine. Follow the good advice above.

Thank you for raising this point! Good to keep in mind. I haven't thought that far ahead yet, so I'm not yet sure if I'll organize her transcript by year or by subject. (Is there a particular benefit to doing it one way over another? Do colleges prefer one? I'll make a note to search the High School Motherlode to see if there is a discussion of the pros and cons....) Thanks! 

[lewelma]

25 minutes ago, EKT said:

I'll organize her transcript by year or by subject.

I and others did it by both.  Hopefully someone can link you to what it looks like as it is hard to explain.  You have a grid: categories down, years across. and you put the credit in the correct box by category and year.  Quite tidy.    

[Lori D.]

27 minutes ago, EKT said:

... (Is there a particular benefit to doing it one way over another? Do colleges prefer one? I'll make a note to search the High School Motherlode to see if there is a discussion of the pros and cons....) Thanks! 

I used to be a big fan of listing by subject, because we had spread some credits over more than 1 year, and it tidied it up, by just listing completed credits by subject. BUT, then I saw that some people list by subject (far left vertical column down a "portrait" oriented sheet of paper), and also by grade/year (across the top by row). So best of both worlds! 😄  (Although, the graphic designer in me winces a bit, because it is also probably the "busiest" looking layout...)

Some colleges request or require transcripts done by year. If that is not the case for any of the colleges your student applies to, then listing by subject is the most tidy and streamlined way of helping admissions officers see exactly how many credits for each subject the student has -- which is really the bottom line for admissions.

[lewelma]

6 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

BUT, then I saw that some people list by subject (far left vertical column down a "portrait" oriented sheet of paper), and also by grade/year (across the top by row). So best of both worlds! 😄 

Haha. I beat you to it!

[lewelma]

.

Edited April 13, 2021 by lewelma

[EKT]

1 minute ago, lewelma said:

Haha. I beat you to it!

I love it! Thank you both! 

[EKT]

32 minutes ago, lewelma said:

 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by EKT

[lewelma]

49 minutes ago, EKT said:

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Edited April 13, 2021 by lewelma

[EKT]

22 minutes ago, lewelma said:

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by EKT

[regentrude]

@EKT, here is that genius transcript template we're speaking of, that is both by subject and by year. (Credit goes to a lady named Dori from one of the yahoo homeschool forums from years ago, I believe - we've all been passing it around). I have removed personal info and grades, but left in the course names to give you an idea.

Excel_transcript scrubbed.xlsx

Edited April 13, 2021 by regentrude

[Farrar]

I have seen that one, but I have to admit that I like it cleaner - for the same reason Lori said. 

But the only thing colleges prefer is that everything be clear and not confusing. Beyond that, it's all good.

[EKT]

15 minutes ago, regentrude said:

@EKT, here is that genius transcript template we're speaking of, that is both by subject and by year. (Credit goes to a lady named Dori from one of the yahoo homeschool forums from years ago, I believe - we've all been passing it around). I have removed personal info and grades, but left in the course names to give you an idea.

Excel_transcript scrubbed.xlsx 24.25 kB · 4 downloads

Thank you so much! You ladies are awesome!!

[MamaSprout]

Here's another version. I had trouble with the Dori one.

Subject Transcript.doc

[EKT]

3 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

Here's another version. I had trouble with the Dori one.

Subject Transcript.doc 81 kB · 1 download

Thank you!!