Summary: Assigning high school credit to your homeschooled teen is NOT hard to do. Here are 3 ways to high school credit, and ALL of their work counts Tips for getting started planning your high school homeschool are included as well, and what is in my easy-to -read guide to high school. Are you worried about making homeschool transcripts, writing course descriptions and college? It is ALL in there! #assigninghighschoolcredit #homeschoolhighschool #homeschooltocollege
What is a credit, anyway?
What is a credit, anyway?
And when we get in the business of assigning credits to our kids, where will that lead us? Will we lose the very benefits that led us to homeschooling in the first place?
Many parents who are contemplating homeschooling high school wonder just how they would go about assigning credit.
And whether it would interfere with their chosen homeschool style.
We found that was not the case.
Assigning High School Credit
Researching around the web, we found that there are 3 easy ways to assign high school credit.
Assigning high school credit is not hard to do, even for those of you who haven't done it before!
And, no, you don't have to count every hour that your teen works on their studies.
Assigning high school credit is not hard to do. And there is a way to assign credit for all of the work they have done, and some of their activities, too.
At first assigning high school credit seemed so daunting to me. Would we have to finish every textbook, cover to cover, or calculate every quarter hour and record it on a form....? And could we still make our own homemade courses for some subjects?
Well, we found it to be a lot easier than we first thought. We found that we could assign credit and still keep our homeschool style.
Below are three ways to approach high school credits, and we used all of them. We needed to ramp up our recordkeeping, but still kept our nurturing, homeschool flavor, .....well, most days, anyway!
1. the TEXTBOOK METHOD
- When your child is working in a textbook or online program for one year, then she has earned 1 credit.
- Then, for one-half credit, an academic course (such as American Government) typically would require one semester or one-half year to complete.
Here's more on this from HSLDA:
"If your child completes a high school-level text by a reputable publisher in an academic area (math, science, English, foreign language, or history), consider the material covered to be one credit. A one credit course typically requires one school year to complete."
It doesn't require that you check off every page, but that 75% or more has been covered.
"Covering the material in a textbook does not necessarily mean doing every problem, answering every question, or reading the book from cover to cover, but you should diligently cover the material presented. Some authors calculate teaching 75% of a textbook to equal one credit, but the bottom line is, don't shortchange your child."--------HSLDA
Our cat always likes to help with our online courses.
This method of assigning credit can work just as well with an online course, from an established publisher, such as SOS, Tapestry of Grace, Oak Meadow, IEW, AmblesideOnline, or Time4Learning, etc.
We used this method for our Oak Meadow Literature and History courses, and also for our science and math.
My teen worked for a year in each of these courses, but there was always room to focus more on one topic than another, and adapt it to her interests and needs.
But what about courses that are interest led, or homemade?
2. the HOURS METHOD
Here is a question that I often get - "What about homemade courses, such as homemade Lit courses, where your child reads their choice of classics, and writes essays about them, that you have assigned?"
In this case, a rough calculation of hours spent can give you guidance in assigning credit.
from HSLDA:
"For courses that do not use a standard high school-level textbook (perhaps you are putting together your own unit study, or you are using an integrated curriculum), log the hours that your child spends completing the course work. One credit is approximately 120-180 hours of work. The upper end of this range (180 hours) is usually appropriate for lab science courses, while 150 hours is the average for a year long academic course such as English or History."
They go on to say that this doesn't mean that you have to calculating every 15 minutes spent on the subject..!
"Don't become legalistic in keeping track of each minute, but generally, when evaluating credit for an academic course, a good rule of thumb is 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 36 weeks, for a one-credit course. Logging hours is a good method of determining credit for elective courses such as art, music, sewing, carpentry, web page design, and homemade courses in core subjects, too."----- HSLDA
So then, a half credit can be earned by working, say, 2 times a week, for approximately 36 weeks.
The"hours method" is used as examples in these 2 homemade courses:
1. Speech and Debate -Keep a running tally of hours spent in Youth and Government meetings, etc.
Youth and Government activities can include public speaking practice and debate at their regular meetings and later at state wide meetings. We calculated a total of 90 hours, so this became a half credit course.
2. Visual Art - Doing art project two times a week for a year, ie, 36 weeks, which gave your teen one half credit.
Whether your teen has mastered the concepts or skills over the course of a semester or even just during the high school years, credit can be awarded for mastery of that subject.
Say, your child wants to study drama. She signs up for a drama activity, gets a part, and participates in practices and a production. This shows a beginning level of mastery in drama, and could be half or full credit based on the length of time spent in learning.
This method could also apply to an apprenticeship. For example, you might award your child credit hours in based on working with someone skilled in, say, auto mechanics.
Once she shows mastery, as determined by the skilled mechanic who is doing the teaching, she can receive high school credit for her work.
Assigning credit is a tangible sign of all the work that she had accomplished.
So I leave you today with some encouragement from Let's Homeschool High School:
"College preparation doesn’t have to be complicated. For homeschoolers, it is simply a series of planning stages that parents and students go through to make sure they are on the right track." ----LHSHS
And it is still possible to stay on your own homeschooling path.
It just needs to be adapted for the process of "homeschooling towards college", with the emphasis on homeschooling....and you are on your own wondrous journey!
Homeschoolers are being widely accepted by colleges, especially when they have good course descriptions and quality reference letters coming along for the ride.
1. Speech and Debate -Keep a running tally of hours spent in Youth and Government meetings, etc.
Youth and Government activities can include public speaking practice and debate at their regular meetings and later at state wide meetings. We calculated a total of 90 hours, so this became a half credit course.
2. Visual Art - Doing art project two times a week for a year, ie, 36 weeks, which gave your teen one half credit.
What if my child demonstrates that she has learned something, and we haven't counted the hours?
3. The MASTERY METHOD
Say, your child wants to study drama. She signs up for a drama activity, gets a part, and participates in practices and a production. This shows a beginning level of mastery in drama, and could be half or full credit based on the length of time spent in learning.
This method could also apply to an apprenticeship. For example, you might award your child credit hours in based on working with someone skilled in, say, auto mechanics.
Once she shows mastery, as determined by the skilled mechanic who is doing the teaching, she can receive high school credit for her work.
Assigning credit is a tangible sign of all the work that she had accomplished.
So I leave you today with some encouragement from Let's Homeschool High School:
"College preparation doesn’t have to be complicated. For homeschoolers, it is simply a series of planning stages that parents and students go through to make sure they are on the right track." ----LHSHS
It just needs to be adapted for the process of "homeschooling towards college", with the emphasis on homeschooling....and you are on your own wondrous journey!
Homeschoolers are being widely accepted by colleges, especially when they have good course descriptions and quality reference letters coming along for the ride.
Now that we have covered assigning high school electives, how do we then plan for homeschooling our teens? What else is involved?
Planning High School at Home
Homeschoolers are being widely accepted by colleges, especially when they have good course descriptions and quality reference letters coming along for the ride.
My friend, Vicki has great information on record keeping for homeschooling high school. Click here for more information:
My book/ebook, Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, is on Amazon and is both a guide to high school and a help for college, too.
- Lays out 10 easy steps for going from homeschool to college, covering everything you need to get your teen into the college of their choice.
- Including the top sources for scholarships, the Common Application and much more! Create your own unique and nurturing high school program and showcase their accomplishments to the colleges!
- Lays out 10 easy steps for going from homeschool to college, covering everything you need to get your teen into the college of their choice.
- Including the top sources for scholarships, the Common Application and much more! Create your own unique and nurturing high school program and showcase their accomplishments to the colleges!
There are 12 downloadable high school homeschool planning printables plus a transcript form for you to just fill in. The kind of transcript form that the colleges are used to seeing.
This book is recommended by Lessa Scherrer, a certified college counselor
Thanks for stopping by BJ's Homeschool,
Betsy
Betsy is mom to her now college grad, whom she homeschooled through high school. She blogs at BJ's Homeschool, about the early years, highschool,
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition, She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting, and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.
college, gifted/2e and wrote -Homeschooling High School with College in Mind, 2nd Edition, She offers homeschool help through messages at BJ's Consulting, and has had some of her articles picked up by the Huffington Post.
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Thanks for the informative articles. I have learned a lot from your blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, and leaving your kind comment, Debbie,
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