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Last year was our first year with HOD. I combined my 7th, 5th, and 4th grader in PHFHG and it went well. (Of course, we tweaked some for the 7th grader.) Next year he will be doing RTR for 8th grade. Here's my question:

I have a high schooler who will be doing other things for his core classes (English will be at the local high school, he's finished his high school math and science classes, and I have a separate program for government and economics.) So basically, he needs electives. We are doing some Bible, PE, and Family Life/Relationships, which I am putting together myself, but he needs one more elective, so he has asked to do Medieval History as an elective (because my 8th grader is doing RTR). Since he is in high school, I will get the extension pack to increase the level of the history, but I'm thinking that since it is only an elective (not a Social Studies/World History credit), that is probably enough. Probably have him do a paper or something, but not sure what else I would need to add. What do you think?

My other question is how to you grade? Do you just grade the narrations and History Projects?? Most of the high school curricula I've used has come with assignments, quizzes and test, which are fairly obvious when it comes to assigning a grade. How do you grade HOD (just the history section)?

Michele
DS 11th Ecclectic (RTR History)
DS 8th RTR
DS (special needs) 6th Bigger
DD 5th Bigger w/ extension

Hi Michele! I don't have a high school student yet, but here are some threads that should help...
Beefing up for High School:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6571

Here are a few ideas on grading:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9430&p=68943

Testing vs. CM Approach within HOD:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4693&p=34480

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

Just thinking about this and I think maybe a good way to describe how you can grade things that are not as finite as say math, is thinking of it like a writing assignment. So if you were to look at it for quality and content that might give you a way to grade. I look at what should I expect for their level and also maybe mostly are they giving it their best. Truly when I put a grade on things that are not absolutes I am looking at did they do it to the best of their abilities and give full effort. Also I think written narration is a wonderful way to "test" for comprehension and that can also be graded. Hope that helps!

Also as far as what should you have, I think of 8th grade and JR high as preparation for high school. So more than what do they have I would look at if you are going to add things are they similar to what you might expect of them in high school in terms of skills but on a lower level. I really worked on that with my oldest and I found that was the absoulte best thing I could have done with her. She is fairly independent yet knows what is expected adn just delivers it the first round. So if I could suggest any thing it might be that it;s not so much what you add for credit it is how you add it and will it lead them to be helped skill wise to handle a high school level. That I get from HOD. It's easy to see how one guide leads to the next and I know HOD will lead to high school level with each guide until it finally is written for that level. So as we get some of that in the current guides and use them with older children I feel like that is something to mirror in what we do with the older kids.

Hope that helps a bit. Happy planning! We have loved beefing up RTR and I can't wait to plan out Rev to Rev when the guide book comes. It's really low stress having HOD as the base, I know it will be great!