Are semester-long classes "bad"?

[EKT]

I'm probably phrasing that question poorly, lol. My daughter is just about to start 10th grade, but I'm long-term planning and it looks like my daughter will have met most of her college admissions requirements by December of her junior year (that is, if she takes some dual enrollment courses in the fall of her junior year). In other words, all she will "have" to do her senior year is English and math, both of which we do at home. She'll pretty much have the second half of her junior year and all of her senior year "free," to study what she likes. Is it in any way "bad" to do DIY semester-long electives once the core admissions requirements are met? For example, she'll likely take DE Intro to Psychology the fall of her junior year. I'm thinking of immediately following that up in the spring semester with a DIY course at home called The Psychology of Color. (She's an aspiring Fine Arts major, so that sort of elective would thrill her.) I can picture several different one-semester courses like that, that she would love (mostly interest-led stuff, but still super academic). Or just spending tons of time developing her art or opening a shop, etc. I could extend some of these ideas into year-long courses, but I feel like we could explore more topics and interests with semester-long courses. I guess I'm wondering two things:

(1) Are semester-long electives seen as somehow "less than" full-year courses?

(2) If I use college-level texts/materials for a DIY course, can I give one credit for a semester-long course (the way DE courses do), or do I always just give .5 credits for 60 hours of work done at home?

I hope this makes sense! Of course, I might also encourage her to just continue racking up DE courses, but she is a super self-directed student, so I can see her wanting to pursue cool independent studies, like a senior thesis project of her own design that combines artwork and research, etc.

Mostly, I'm just realizing how quickly even a couple of DE courses can check transcript boxes, and I'm starting to consider the possibilities DE opens up. Any advice from those with older students would be welcome! Thank you!

[regentrude]

I cannot think of any reason why semester long electives would be "bad" - nor why the college would even need to know the course is a semester long course. My transcript lists classes in the year they were completed - the college has no idea whether it took us two years or three months to get to that point.

You can give a full credit for a semester-long course if the student did enough work to justify a full credit. It has nothing to do with whether you use college texts or not. For some subjects, there is a standard canon that typically is awarded a credit. If that is not the case, I would use the 120 hours=1 hs credit as a guideline. For only 60 hours, I would only give a half credit and not pad the transcript - unless the student mastered the content of a standard-canon-course in that time. 
 

Edited August 21, 2022 by regentrude

[EKT]

6 minutes ago, regentrude said:

I cannot think of any reason why semester long electives would be "bad" - nor why the college would even need to know the course is a semester long course. My transcript lists classes in the year they were completed - the college has no idea whether it took us two years or three months to get to that point.

This is a good point! (In my mind, I think in semesters as I plan things out, but you're right--on paper on the transcript, it won't be so obvious how things were broken out. That is good news!) 

I guess my main concern was: Will several .5 credit courses look "light" on a transcript (as if our work was somehow less in-depth than a year-long course might be). Thank you for your help!

[regentrude]

7 minutes ago, EKT said:

I guess my main concern was: Will several .5 credit courses look "light" on a transcript (as if our work was somehow less in-depth than a year-long course might be). 

Not for courses that are in addition to the core academic requirements. Lots of half-credit courses in math would look odd, but I can't imagine why it would matter for the kind of courses you describe.

 

[Farrar]

Nothing wrong with half credit courses or doing block schedules and giving a credit for a semester course.

What the semester courses are is the only thing that matters. Colleges want to see more in depth work, interesting courses, rigor, courses that build on each other and paint a picture of a student. If it’s a bunch of random - especially non-academic courses - then that’s not great. If it’s a bunch of narrow topics in a couple of areas of interest then that could be great.

[EKT]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

Nothing wrong with half credit courses or doing block schedules and giving a credit for a semester course.

What the semester courses are is the only thing that matters. Colleges want to see more in depth work, interesting courses, rigor, courses that build on each other and paint a picture of a student. If it’s a bunch of random - especially non-academic courses - then that’s not great. If it’s a bunch of narrow topics in a couple of areas of interest then that could be great.

Yes, this makes sense! Thank you! (I appreciate your advice not to do a random smattering of stuff. I can definitely see how that would weaken a transcript.)

I'm picturing the sort of thing one might do as an independent study in college. The chunk of time she'll have seems like such a good opportunity to direct a huge project of her own design. Or do college-level dives into topics related to her career goals and interest in art (art history, art movements, women artists, psychology of color, a senior art thesis that explores something super interesting and combines artwork, research, extensive writing, etc.). Or getting a certification in something like Adobe Illustrator, etc.

Clearly, I'm not sure exactly what it would be just yet--I know her interests will shift and sharpen between now and then--but I'm trying to imagine the types of things we could do. Since we started high school last year, I've been so focused on making sure we're hitting all the "must-dos." I am eager to look ahead and make space for something truly unique and exciting and remember the reasons we're homeschooling in the first place! (At the same time, I don't want to totally screw things up or steer her wrong, so I like to check in with others!) 😜

[Roadrunner]

We have just that - a set of narrow semester long interest driven and home cooked elective courses that are half credit. They tie into DS’s interests. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Roadrunner

[EKS]

The local high school which is highly regarded has tons of semester long electives.  So I'm going to go with no, not bad.

[EKT]

14 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

We have just that - a set of narrow semester long interest driven and home cooked elective courses that are half credit. They tie into DS’s interests. 

Great to know; thanks!!

[stripe]

Also, most colleges typically have a large number of semester long classes, aside from science and some math classes (like calculus). My mother, who thinks in college terms, assumes my kids’ HS classes are semester long and is regularly surprised that they are “still” taking, say, Biology.

[MJmom]

In my traditional high school experience, I took several semester long electives in my wheelhouse. I took a vocabulary class and a creative writing class that were each half credits. This demonstrated my interest and proficiency in English and was a great way for me to sample more classes. I think the same would be true in your daughter’s case.

[Malam]

22 hours ago, regentrude said:

For some subjects, there is a standard canon that typically is awarded a credit

Like algebra 1/geometry/algebra 2 for math, and bio/physics\chemistry for science?

[regentrude]

1 minute ago, Malam said:

Like algebra 1/geometry/algebra 2 for math, and bio/physics\chemistry for science?

yes.