A possible high school plan....

[deltagal]

Hi -

I'm looking at HOD's plan for writing and our current needs with our son who will begin High School next year. As I look at the release dates for the guides and what we need to accomplish for high school, I'm wondering if this might work....finish CTC this year, skip RTR and then next year...

Freshman year - new Rev to Rev guide - beef up to get 1/2 credit for American history
Sophomore year - Modern Times guide after Rev to Rev - beef up to get 1/2 credit for American history
Junior Year - HOD's geography guide - use as is
Senior Year - IF HOD writes another high school guide the focus would be World History - use as is to get 1 credit for World History

Is it problematic to do these courses out of the traditional sequence?

We still need to get a 1/2 credit for government and a 1/2 credit for economics. I'm not sure where this would best be placed.

Math (begin with Algebra I) and Science are all credit worthy. I think we're fine there. I need to take a closer look at the language arts, but at a glance we'll continue with Rod and Staff, poetry, whatever the writing curriculums are that are recommended, and the recommended literature.

Any thoughts?

[8arrows]

I thougth that Carrie wrote that the Rev. to Rev. guide would be credit worthy if you added the extensions. So, I may be wrong, but I think you could award a full history credit. I will be watching this thread with you. My daughter will only be in 8th grade next year, but I am currently planning her high school path.

I went searching for what I had read and found this:

Eventually, we'll add a post on ways to make RevtoRev creditworthy too. I will share that for Rev to Rev the history portion will be credit worthy when used with the Extension Pack; the Science will be credit worthy if you choose the Advanced Version and do the Inventor's Study (and desire a physical science credit with lab); the combination of the Worldview Study and the Hebrews Study (along with an additional 20-30 min. daily of Bible reading and follow-up with something such as Balancing the Sword would make the Bible Study credit worthy in Bible); and the creative writing combined with dictation, grammar such as Rod and Staff English 6 or more preferably half of Rod and Staff English 7 (needed as Rod and Staff also includes writing instruction along with grammar instruction), and DITHR (using higher level literature selections appropriate for high school) would be credit worthy for English. The composer study could fairly easily be expanded to give you a semester fine arts credit if desired by adding additional reading material like the Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers and The Gift of Music, along with some additional in-depth listening to some composers of your choosing likely through the inexpensive Vox CD's, and possibly a short paper or two on a composer(s).

[8arrows]

double post

[Carrie]

deltagal,

As we complete the writing of Rev. to Rev. we will have a better idea of what will be needed to award high school credit for each area. This summer, I may post some possible additions to ways to beef up this guide for those wishing to ponder that option. However, I'll give you a good idea right now, for those of you who are on the precipice of high school planning.

To start, I'll let you know that there are two ways to award high school credit. There is the traditional method of assigning credit based on time spent on coursework. Typically 1 Carnegie unit of credit is for 120 hours of work, or 160 forty-five minute class periods. There is also the other option for awarding credit based on quality of work completed, rather than just the time spent. This is often used in homeschool settings, where students may work at faster or slower rates and aren't having to sit in a class for a certain amount of time. This works well with homeschool settings, as the goal is knowledge of the subject taught, not just to spend a certain amount of time on the subject. With our own son, who is a quick worker, we are awarding credit based on time spent as well as quality of work.

Making Rev. to Rev. credit worthy will depend upon what your state requirements are for high school (and also what type of higher education plans you have for your child as to whether that child is college bound, etc).

I'll also repost my general thoughts on high school as well. For a distinguished track high school education, most states are moving toward a 4 x 4 requirement for serious college-bound students who wish to compete for scholarships. This includes requiring 4 years of science (with 3 of the years being a lab science and typically including Biology and Chemistry at a minimum), 4 years of literature study/grammar/composition combo. (with American lit. being a requirement for sure and some leeway in the other literature areas), 4 years of history (typically covering geography a year or at least a semester, world history a year, American history a year, and Economics or Finance/Government each for a semester - although you can do various combinations to reach these requirements), and 3-4 years of math (with a bare minimum of algebra and geometry). There are other additional areas that are typically required as well like speech, fine arts, physcical education, computer, 2 consecutive years of a foreign language, etc. however the 4 x 4 requirements will take the bulk of the time.

If your student is not college-bound or is headed toward community college, you would have more leeway in the requirements and would instead focus on the basic requirements of the state and on fine-tuning a course of study that will guide your child in training for his/her future goals.

In pondering using Rev. to Rev. for grade 9, you would most likely have the hours daily in the guide to award a full credit of U.S. History (up to 1900), however not all of the study is high school worthy. Depending on your goals for your student though, and your state requirements, there is much in Rev. to Rev. that would equal a full credit. You could also add some government to Rev. to Rev.(as it would fit well in this period of history and is required in all states). In the area of government, you'd already be studying the signers of the Declaration of Independence through Rev. to Rev. and reading the Declaration of Independence. Plus, the history readings already in Rev. to Rev. would discuss government concepts too. So, to finish out the government credit, it would make sense to add something like The 5,000 Year Leap for government and alternate reading a chapter of that with reading some of the The Federalist Papers. If you don't have time to read all 85 of The Federalist Papers, just read some of them! Each is an individual paper. If your child also read the Constitution, this would all add up to a semester of government credit (.5), when used in conjunction with what you're already covering within Rev. to Rev. Listing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, some of the Federalist Papers, the research on the Lives of the Signers, and the 5,000 Year Leap, you would have a strong high school government course. You could also award .5 credit up to a full credit for U.S. History (up through 1900) for Rev. to Rev.'s other history content, depending on your state requirements. There is a lot there, especially with extensions. There would be other ways, of course, to earn the government credit. This just happens to be one way to make that work. Another thought for government would be to add Zeezok Publishing's A Noble Experiment. This could likey be done just 2-3 times weekly or done on your free 5th day (doing two lessons) to give you the government credit needed.

For literature credit, you could either use DITHR (with the goal of completing at least 8 classic type literature selections through your genre studies), or consider using something like LLATL Gold American Literature, or Smarr's Introduction to Literature. Any of these paths, when combined with dictation, the vocab. included in any of these courses, the composition and poetry in Rev. to Rev. or the comp. and poetry in any of these courses, and grammar would constitute an English credit. For grammar, we would recommend continuing with Rod and Staff, doing English 7 during grades 9-10 (half each year) and doing English 8 in grade 11-12 (half each year). These two levels are definitely high school worthy in their Table of Contents and in their coverage. You could use any grammar option with which you feel comfortable, although I'd lean toward doing some grammar every year as many sections of the SAT/ACT are a reflection of what is covered under the "English" umbrella. If you do choose to use DITHR for grade 9, here is a link to some classic literature selections you could consider: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7765

For Bible in Rev. to Rev., you could add Bible reading with a goal for your child to read through certain books of the Bible, following up the readings with something like Balancing the Sword. This would add time to that component to make it credit worthy and raise the level of the material, while giving some good thought-provoking questions to go with the Bible reading. Or, you could go in more of a worldview direction, since we'll already have a more basic worldview study scheduled, and you could add higher level worldview material like Dr. Francis Schaeffer's How Then Should We Live? available in book form, on CD, or on DVD. Another option for extending worldview studies would be Understanding the Times from Summit Ministries. The study written into Rev. to Rev. is published by Apologia in partnership with Summit, so the two would cover similar ground. The combination of what is within Rev. to Rev. and any of these extension options would give you a Bible credit.

The science within Rev. to Rev. would be enough on its own for credit, if you choose the Advanced Kit and do the included inventor study. This would award a credit in Physical Science with lab. This would leave room in the following years for Biology, Chemistry, and an advanced science course such as Physics. Much of your decision-making in science will depend on whether your child is continuing on to higher education after high school and if so in what field.

You could also look at beefing up the composer study to be able to award .5 credit in fine arts for music appreciation. One possible way to do this would be to add additional reading material like the Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers and The Gift of Music, along with some additional in-depth listening to some composers of your choosing likely through the inexpensive Vox CD's, and possibly a short paper or two on a composer(s).

Another area to ponder is whether to add some foreign language study. Many colleges require 2 years of a foreign language. It is also worthwhile to check your state standards in this area. With our oldest son we are doing .5 of a credit in Spanish this year and .5 of a credit in Greek (the Greek simply because my son has studied this for years and it is a passion of my husband's). We are using Getting Started with Spanish by William E. Linney. Since I have never had foreign language study prior to homeschooling my own kiddos, this was a straight-forward easy way for me to get my son started. There is also a Getting started with Latin by William E. Linney too.

As far as your thoughts go, Florence, for your high school plan, when we come out with our updated placement chart for Rev. to Rev., if you feel that your son places best in that guide, then it would be fine for him to move into that for his first year of high school. In the long-term, if you did go that route, you would likely want to do Rev. to Rev. for 9th grade, Modern Times for 10th grade, Geography for 11th grade, and then do World History for 12th grade.

One last thought I will mention that won't pertain to Florence's question, but will pertain for those of you possibly thinking of using HOD's younger 4 year sequence of guides from CTC on up for high school instead, it would likely work (with some beefing up as suggested) to give 1 full credit of world history for CTC and RTR together. Then, you could likely give one full credit of American history for the last two guides in the history cycle together, also awarding 1 full geography credit upon completing all 4 guides (with 1/4 credit awarded each year). That would only leave you to add a semester of government and a semester of personal finance or economics to complete your "history" portion of the 4 x 4 plan. Another option would be to just give a history credit each year that you use HOD in high school (as you would definitely have the time needed to earn one credit each year) and just make sure that you cover all needed areas (i.e American, World, Geography, Government/Economics or Finance) within the 4 credits that you award throughout high school for the history portion.

Anyway, hopefully this will get you pondering some possible ways to make Rev. to Rev. work for high school. Should you desire to use RTR for high school, there is a different thread on that particular guide that you may find helpful linked here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7240

Blessings,
Carrie

[deltagal]

Thank you for reminding me of this. I remember now reading it and it had slipped my mind. I'm pulling together a worksheet of our 4 year plan, I'll try to post it by Sunday night.

[Carrie]

Florence,

My post is actually new just today on ways to make Rev. to Rev. credit worthy for high school, so if you didn't get a chance to read it because you thought it was a repeat from RTR... it isn't!

I did paste some of my prior comments on high school in general at the beginning of my post (for those who may not have seen any previous threads on high school on the board).

I answered your question on the sequencing of your son's studies too, it's just buried within my post! Sorry to be so long-winded on Rev. to Rev. In being thorough, I can get long!

Blessings,
Carrie

[water2wine]

One last thought I will mention that won't pertain to Florence's question, but will pertain for those of you possibly thinking of using HOD's younger 4 year sequence of guides from CTC on up for high school instead, it would likely work (with some beefing up as suggested) to give 1 full credit of world history for CTC and RTR together. Then, you could likely give one full credit of American history for the last two guides in the history cycle together, also awarding 1 full geography credit upon completing all 4 guides (with 1/4 credit awarded each year). That would only leave you to add a semester of government and a semester of personal finance or economics to complete your "history" portion of the 4 x 4 plan. Another option would be to just give a history credit each year that you use HOD in high school (as you would definitely have the time needed to earn one credit each year) and just make sure that you cover all needed areas (i.e American, World, Geography, Government/Economics or Finance) within the 4 credits that you award throughout high school for the history portion.

So excited to see this thread and all the updates so early on how to rev-up Rev to Rev sorry could not resist. But seriously I was just thinking about the later part of World history events, things that happen after RTR. This plan does really work well because all the world events after RTR seem to kind of involve the US. I was thinking about how I really like doing American over two years and weave in more detail about the things going on in the rest of the world in that time and some of the worldview on that. Long ago that was my original plan before we knew we would do HOD for high school and now we are back to it. Funny how God had all the details all along. Seems like it really will work well. And even though we are doing the sort of required government credits with RTR by what we added, I really want to go deeper to some of the original sources as the Federalist Papers so I am loving all the suggestions for Rev to Rev and using it on a higher level. We are loving RTR but it is hard not to get excited about Rev to Rev.

[deltagal]

[quote="Carrie"]Florence,

My post is actually new just today on ways to make Rev. to Rev. credit worthy for high school, so if you didn't get a chance to read it because you thought it was a repeat from RTR... it isn't!

I did paste some of my prior comments on high school in general at the beginning of my post (for those who may not have seen any previous threads on high school on the board).

I answered your question on the sequencing of your son's studies too, it's just buried within my post! Sorry to be so long-winded on Rev. to Rev. In being thorough, I can get long!

Blessings,
Carrie[/quote

Yes! It is all new..... I was responding to the pp, and your post appeared in the interim. ] LOTS of great information in your post Carrie. I need to study it and "play" with my 4-year plan a bit. I'll post back later on what I'm thinking it looks like now. But in the meantime THANK YOU for all the good, good thoughts and loads of information.

[Carrie]

You're so welcome, ladies! I know it is a lot to wade through. I know the Lord will be at your side as you plan and ponder.

Blessings,
Carrie

[water2wine]

Or, you could go in more of a worldview direction, since we'll already have a more basic worldview study scheduled, and you could add higher level worldview material like Dr. Francis Schaeffer's How Then Should We Live? available in book form, on CD, or on DVD. Another option for extending worldview studies would be Understanding the Times from Summit Ministries. The study written into Rev. to Rev. is published in partnership with Summit, so the two would cover similar ground. The combination of what is within Rev. to Rev. and any of these extension options would give you a Bible credit.

I just wanted to add for those that like us might want to include Understanding the Times from Summit Ministries. It can be used for college credit as well. http://www.summit.org/curriculum/high-s ... ge-credit/ I called on this because I was confused by some information online about an in person class. This is not required for college credit or even connected to that. All that has to be done is test scores need to be mailed and corrected by them. There is an essay but it is not to be turned into them. There is of course a fee but just wanted to point it out as an option for those considering that path.

[MrsMandy]

So I am new and after much deliberation have decided to move ALL my children to HOD, my oldest will be in 9th and he decided he had enough of MFW. My thinking is that we will do CTC for .5 credit of World History, RTR for .5 credit for WH, RevTRev for .5 American History, NextGuide Modern Times for .5 American History, then our state requires .5 Geography (which will be accomplished using the guides mapping), .5 Government (not sure but may use Clep review to beef up the guides) and .5 Personal Finance course from somewhere for a total of History 3.5 credits.

I will be beefing up each level with some of the books used in MFW matching HS levels for both History and Literature. I will just add these with DITHOR and then begin him on R&S 6 doing it as quickly as he wants and then 7 and 8 the next 3 years. I would like to see him get through 9 and 10 but not sure it will happen. My main issue is getting his writing to a better level (right now it is about 6th or 7th). So 4 English cr. there.

Apologia Biology and Chemistry for science, we have Physical science done this year so there will be 3 cr. for that.

Math will be Saxon Algebra 1, 2 and Geometry for 3 cr. there. I have been doing Latin which we will continue at least in 9th for 1 cr. and then in 10th and 11th probably Spanish for the required 2 cr.

We will add in the .5 cr for Health and 1 cr for PE but not sure what to use, I know I want it to be God glorifying, probably MFW since it uses I Kissed Dating Goodbye and there is no choice in CTC.

All that leaves is Electives which will be 4 cr Fine Arts (2 Photography, 1 Music, 1 Visual Arts), 2 cr Practical Skills (Computer and Life) and 2 cr Bible (If I beef it up 4) for a total of 28 credits.
My son will be going to college and wants to be a photographer. I am worried I can't pull this off and make it rigorous enough, especially with his English. If however, I can and he does well he will have a lot of doors open to him. I would love to hear your opinions and I have looked over some of the other HS threads so if I missed something PLEASE point it out. Carrie any suggestions for me?

Oh and I won't be using the Geography guide as we are using MFW ECC now and want to have his Senior year finish the American History cycle.

[Heather4Him]

Mandy, I'm no expert, but I think your plan looks really good!

We're in 8th right now (with CTC), and we're planning to use HOD through high school, too. I like how you broke down all the credits for each course. We're also using Apologia for science, AND our dd wants to do photography, too! (as well as being a veterinary technician) It will be fun to have this journey alongside of you and your kids!

[MrsMandy]

Thanks Heather,
I am trying to figure out what all I need to put in my shopping cart right now and man is it making my head spin
Also I can not figure out how DITHOR would work with a 9th grader, would I just buy the 6,7,8 student book and use it with the books we choose for 9th?

[water2wine]

No expert either but just peeking it looks good. Only thing I am not sure if it was there or not would be literature and writing. You may have had it and I just missed it. Those are also two things on my brain right now.

[MrsMandy]

No expert either but just peeking it looks good. Only thing I am not sure if it was there or not would be literature and writing. You may have had it and I just missed it. Those are also two things on my brain right now.

Lit and writing I will be adding from MFW AHL. I actually was wondering what you were using and was interested in the spreadsheet you mentioned in another HS thread. I also wondered if you have your oldest do the science in the TM and the seperate HS science or just use the older science level?