MTMM in High School

[Juli]

We have been using HOD for years and LOVE IT!!!! With the additions of babies though, we have gotten ourselves a bit behind in the guides. Therefore, my eldest daughter will be working on MTMM in her freshman year (She is finishing up Rev to Rev with extensions this school year-8th grade). I had considered skipping the MTMM guide (simply to make my life easier with figuring out HS credits ), until my daughter strongly protested. She does not want to miss out on this guide! She is my "history kid," so I want to honor her wishes on this (and quite frankly I don't blame her it looks awesome). That being said, if we do the MTMM guide and extensions, how will the credits look? I have tried to search the sight and found several threads, but have only gotten myself more confused. I guess I need it spelled out very simply for my brain to process it. I have also read threads about "beefing up" this guide for high school. Is this necessary if I do the extensions? If so, what is exactly is needed and what would those credits look like? I am embarrassed at my inability to get this, but I am nervous starting this high school chapter of our lives and don't want to end up in the end having to make up for something I left out early on.

PS I have already settled on Math and Science

Any help you could give me will be greatly appreciated!

[StephanieU]

I think the only thing you would need to beef up is Economics if you don't plan on doing that later in high school. It normally would go with late US history (or totally alone). Carrie has it planned for the last guide. There are easy ways to add to what is in MtMM for that. I think the only other things that Carrie mentions for "beefing" up MtMM are when using DITHOR. If you use DITHOR for literature, you will want to make sure you use at least 8th grade level books. Here is a recent post from Carrie for someone using MtMM for 10th grade (after using World Geography for most of 9th). It should tell you what you would need to change:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15156#p106794

[Tidbits of Learning]

Ok, do you mean what would your transcript look like?
Looking at MTMM, this is what credits I would say were there---
US History-1 credit (including the time period and material covered in R2R)
Economics-1/2 credit (add Bluestocking Guide:Economics to go with Penny Candy)
Science-1 credit
English 1-1 credit (Grammar/Comp/Lit combined)
if you split language arts/lit
then
Literature-1/2 credit
Grammar/Composition-1/2 credit
Math-1 credit
Bible or Religion 1-1 credit (I am assuming that the Bible in MTMM plus the Evolution:Grand Experiment study included in the science would give the needed credit)

MTMM=5 1/2 credits
You could also go ahead and pic an elective or 2 and get another credit or 1/2 credit. Here you need 5 credits passed to become a sophomore and so many of them have to be the core classes...so it would provide what is needed. A book that helped me understand transcripts and credits was Creating Transcripts for your Unique Child by Lee Binz. If you do any kind of extracurricular activity, you can probably get another credit for electives easily.

[Juli]

Thank you for your replies. Yes, I am talking about credits for her transcript. I guess what I am looking for is an "official" ruling on the credits.

In the information in the catalog for the World Geography, for example, it spells out the credits for the different subjects very specifically. I have been unable to find something comparable for the MTM. Does such a thing exist? Maybe it is subjective? I am just a very in the box kind of thinker, a hopeless rule follower by nature, so this perhaps may be where my problem lies.

Let me try to give a couple examples of my confusion: Doing the Bible as is (in MTM guide)seems, by some, to be 1 credit worthy, but doing as is plus something else adds to a 1/2 credit by another (I think I read that in another post somewhere)? Economics, I have read I need to add Bluestocking Guide:Economics to go with Penny Candy, but elsewhere I have read I needed to add RC Sproul's Economics for Everybody DVD's with a text and study guide, I have also seen conflicting information on Literature?

Maybe I am worrying for nothing, but again I just don't want to wind up with less credits than I thought I had at the last minute...

Thank you ladies for being there! What a great support network!!

[StephanieU]

The rule of thumb is 120-180 hours of work equals one credit hour. Of course each student is unique, so what takes 1 student 20 minutes to do could take another 15 minutes and a third 30 minutes. So, there is some flexibility. But, if you take the hours that Julie and Carrie have stated as estimates for each box (you can find them under the schedule post for almost every guide), you can use some multiplication to determine approximate hours for each subject. If that is in the 120 to 180 range, then it is a credit. If it is 60-90 hours, then it is 1/2 credit.

Does that make sense?

As for Economics, I think Carrie has a few options she recommends. I know she tries a few things with her older boys before/while writing the guides, so the ones she states are probably ones she has tried or is going to try.
Does that help some?

[Tidbits of Learning]

You need to find out the requirements for credits in your state for your transcript. Some states are different in what is required for diploma. Also, you want to check the colleges you may be interested b/c you want to do what you need to get into the college. The hour rule can be used for most things, but you can actually receive credit without that many hours as well. Credit can be based on content. It really depends on the class you are talking about and where you are at...for us they don't care what we have done or are putting for Bible/Religion. We can have 4 credits in Bible/Religion for high school and they are to be labelled Bible 1-4 or Religion 1-4. It basically just says that private/non-public schools may use 4 of their required credits for Bible/Religion for their total Carnegie units.
We are doing some classes outside of our guides and I used the transcript book that I referenced by Lee Binz to help me decide what is credit worth and how much credit alongside the requirements for 2 states-the state I live in and the state that is my home state. I want to cover both states requirements should we move back ever during my child's high school career or if they want to pursue college in my home state.
You really just need to look up and see if there are any guidelines for hours/content/other criteria for awarding credits in your state. I found all that I needed on the state board of education site for both states.