Highschool credits

[Mumkins]

I'm wondering how many hours is a credit for HOD?

I'm also wondering how that will play out for us. We require 30 credits for highschool, each one being 110 hours. 8 credits a year in 9 and 10. Seven credits in 11 and 12.

We plan on using WG for 9th. That will leave us 1 1/2 credits short. We will add 1 credit of Canadian geography and increase the language credit to 1 full credit and use French.

Highschool credits have always thrown me for a loop as we do things differently. Our math is integrated. Our science is integrated for 9 and 10. 11 and 12 you can choose biology, chemistry or physics. Then you can do it again in grade 12, more advanced. But, then you've spent 220 hours on a specific feild of science. I'm not sure how to show on a transcript that they'd be ready for say, university biology if they only have 1 biology credit and grade 12 university biology is required. (We have open, college prep or university prep credits in 11 and 12. Academic or applied in 9 and 10. When I was in school, it was simpler, with just general or adavanced courses)

Also, are my kids going to be totally swamped when I need to add 1-2 credits every year to have enough?

[StephanieU]

In the US, a credit is 120-180 hours normally. Julie said the WG guide took her 6-7 hours a day. If you multiply that out, you get 130-150 hours per credit (6.5 credits, 35 units, and 4 days per unit). I know the Foerster's Algebra they recommend 1-1.25 hours per day, so that is at least 140 hours total.

As for the math, there are options out there for integrated math, even in the US. The Singapore high school program is integrated for example. But, the norm is still Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry separate (those would be the 3 combined in the US). For science, I would say what Carrie has planned for 9th and 10th is probably similar to what is included in Canada for 9th and 10th. PACE isn't an advanced Biology by any means. But, it is enough for anyone not going into Biology-related fields in the US. You would still have 2 yours to do other sciences like in Canada. I am going to guess the Chemistry Carrie will pick is going to be a solid program, and the last guide will have a strong science or list of options probably as well.

[MelInKansas]

I'm guessing that the hour(s) discrepancy is that public schooled kiddos obviously go to school 5 days a week and the guides are only planned for 4. Day 5 is your option, so I would think it would not be too difficult to get another 1.5 credits if you did school 5 days a week (spread out the WG to 5 days and add something else daily or several days/week). Given that the child is finishing school, including all homework I assume, in about 7 hours, and 4 days of the week, this is far better than they would do in a public school, where they attend for 8 hours and then come home with 2 hours of homework every night (if they want to get good grades). Even though I know the HOD guides are very full and packed with info and learning, it is so much more intensive than in a school setting and you can get it done more quickly.

As to the types of math and science I can't help you there. You may need to consult other Canadians and see what they suggest.

[Tidbits of Learning]

I don't think 1-2 more credits will swamp them. dd will be doing German for a full credit this year as well as a State Study for an elective. She will also do music including piano lessons for credit alongside music theory on the computer. So at the end of the year she will have at least 8 credits. I am keeping an hour log for our outside activities that could be counted as electives. I have a form that I made on google docs. If you want me to share it with you on google docs pm me and I will gladly share the editable form I use. As for math, we do integrated maths as well and personally I like them better and I don't think it is hard to find something for it. Here Eureka math is integrated and free online. Another good free integrated maths is MEP. Lots of printing and ink required though.
Science is a bit harder since you have a different sequence. Can you outsource or is there an online option available in Canada for the science? Here some colleges have open courses online that we can access for free to use. Or by the time the kids are 15 they can dual credit with the community college for higher sciences. Is that an option for you in grade 12? Our co-op is also having a Biology course offered for labs this term. I plan to have her do it so that she has the "class" experience with labs. Maybe you could look for those type of options for science.
For us our extra credits over HOD will come mostly from outside classes in a co-op/classroom setting and dd will keep an hour log for at home hours for the class as well.

[Rice]

Just to throw another idea out there, our provincial homeschool liaison said that any homeschool credits awarded are useless since their not accredited. (A HS mom was asking about keeping track of hours and awarding credits on a transcript.) Basically it's more useful to list which courses they've completed and compile a portfolio of their work, but that since HS credits aren't standardized it's comparing apples to oranges for the admissions department and not worth the effort of trying to figure out.

Not to say you shouldn't ask about equivalencies, but you might be further ahead if you find out the specific entrance requirements for the university(ies) of choice and cater your course load (not necessarily credit hours) specifically to that, instead of going by our provincial guidelines. Universities here (like they already have in the States) are becoming more and more homeschool friendly and look at far more than just credit hours (like community involvement, sports, the Arts, etc. - basically a well rounded, self-motivated person) for admission.

That said, this is coming from someone who's oldest is just entering Jr. High so hasn't started compiling a High School transcript or portfolio yet.

Blessings,

[Mumkins]

Thanks everyone!

I'm still trying to stick with going for 30 courses. My oldest is going into 8th this year. There's only 1 university in ON offering what she wants. The prerequisites are 12 English and 12 math suggested. I called and was advised to keep a portfolio and we'll go in for a meeting before acceptance. I'm shooting for a transcript, a brief paper with course name and description as well as the portfolio. I'll also have a more in-depth paper with detailed descriptions of course content and all books used. I'll only pull that out if asked.

The rest of my kids are too young to know what they want to do. One option is to do 4 or 6 grade 12 on-line, I forget. (I'd add the HOD electives) You go to your local school and get assessed to see if they can handle grade 12 work. If so, they can enroll and, while not possessing a diploma, they can use the credits to apply to university. I think I'll only go that route if it's a very academic or competitive program they are applying for. Something I think they'd fare better with applying in the traditional way.

I applied to 3, got scholarship offers for the first 2 and didn't even get accepted at the 3rd, lol. I'm a little nervous for them. But, I guess if it's God's will, they'd get in anyway.

Rice- Are you in ON? I've never heard of a Provincial liaison. Wondering if that's something I should look up.

[Rice]

Thanks everyone!
Rice- Are you in ON? I've never heard of a Provincial liaison. Wondering if that's something I should look up.

No, we're in Manitoba. There are two for the province (basically one for Winnipeg, one for rural) and that's who we send our registration form to in September and reports January & June.

Blessings,

[Nealewill]

Have you contacted the University and asked them what classes they expect to see on her transcript? Because the credit hour balances differ significantly, it will end up adding quite a bit of time to your schedule to add in the extra courses. Can you count the Living Library as something separate? This would at least give you 7 credit hours for the first year. I also wonder with Logic if you could count that for 1 full credit rather than 1/2. Each books state that it could be used for .5 credits. My guess is that Carrie used the book a little bit differently and so that is why it is only listed as 1/2 a credit rather than a whole credit. But if you look into it, maybe it could be counted as a whole credit instead. That would bump you up to 7.5. And does your child play any instruments? You could do 1/2 credit for music if you do. I read that for Ohio, if my kids play sports for 1/2 the year, that can count for 1/2 credit of PE. I couldn't believe it. But hey, I'll take it when they get older

[Mumkins]

Rice- We have no regulations, so I guess that's why we don't have one.

Nealewill- I called for my oldest. There's no mandatory pre requisites, just 12 English and math suggested. Everyone else os too young. 18 credits are mandatory, so, just 12 electives. 4 of those will be bible. Grade 9 needs a Canadian geography. Or it could be 10, but I think it would go better with the world geography course. I was going to go with Canadian history in grade 10, which is normal here. But the course I chose said 10 or 11, so I think I'm going to bump out the early US history from whatever guide is after WH. I still want to do the modern US history for grade 12. I think that's important for understanding our times.

What I have so far is:

9

English
Math
Science
World geography
Canadian geography
French
Bible
0.5 world religion
0.5 logic

10

English
Math
Science
World history
French
Bible
Art
Health & physical ed. (Adding a 0.5 of PE to the HOD health)

11

English
Math
Science
Canadian history
Bible
French
0.5 civics
0.5 career studies
(Mandatory and I think will go well with HOD's government study)

12

English
Math
Science
HOD's history
Bible
French
Economics and finance (HOD has it listed)

I'll drop the French if HOD has some electives in there that we want or an interest pops up that they want to study as we only have 1 credit mandatory.

[Nealewill]

I looks excellent. I think HOD has Spanish through out each year but obviously, where you live French is much more common. So if it were me, I would keep the French as long as you can. Do your kids already know some? I am not too familiar with Canada and know that some areas have more French than others. But when I went to Montreal, I was surprised that so much was in French!

[Mumkins]

Quebec, where Montreal is, is French. The East Coast has a large French population. There's pockets here and there. It's mandatory from grade 4-9. I remember very little, lol. I just remember conjugating verbs. Plus, all our labels, for food, anything in a box, etc, must be dual language, so I know common words that would appear there. I can read French much more than speak or understand verbally. I can't really write at all. Seems like such a waste as I took 6 years! I spoke with my kids French teacher and she says they teach differently now, because most had the same problem. Even my DH, who took it for 9 years isn't bilingual. I've bought all 5 levels of Rosetta Stone. I plan to do it myself. I'm not thrilled with it though. I may check out the French version of the Spanish program Carrie listed. It's suppose to be released soon. You have to be bilingual for almost all government jobs and it's an asset when applying virtually anywhere. It would be nice, IMO, if schools taught it from junior kindergarten through 12, with a focus of being truly bilingual by graduation since we do have 2 official languages.