Accellerated 11th and 12th grade

[BadgerNate]

We have a student who is motivated to accelerate their 11th and 12th grade into 1 to 1.5 years, if possible. Is there a good way to combine or extend US History 1 into a 11th and 12th grade curriculum? If not, has anyone gone down this track and do you have an ideas as to how this works, or if it's not a good idea? The student has done well in reading, writing, grammar, history, and science and takes a bit more time to grasp math concepts. Thanks for the thoughts and ideas!

[StephanieU]

I would look at what credits you need for graduation (if required by law) and college admission. It might be that you don't need the history in US2, so you would just do US1 and then economics and personal finance from US2. Similarly, you might find you don't need 4 credits of science or that you don't need to do everything for LA in both US1 and US2.

But I would also consider why your student wants to graduate early. Is it to get a head start on college? If so, see what dual credit options are available. It might make more sense to take the full 2 years to graduate but to cut the load the last year to do dual enrollment or work.

[BadgerNate]

Thanks for the reply. As far as our state requirements go for High School graduation, HoD meets nearly all of it by the time he will finish the World History I text. We're working through that and it appears that he'd only need 1 credit of English and the 100 question Civics Test, using the 2008 citizenship test. As always, we're impressed at the thoroughness of HoD.

As for his reasoning to graduate early, it's to get into the trades earlier. Our student loves to work with his hands and doesn't love to sit in the classroom, though he's a quick learner. Dual credits obviously wouldn't be needed in this situation, but we are looking at classes available for free to HS seniors at our local tech school.

[StephanieU]

My boys may end up in trades as well. Currently, they both say they want to be in construction management (building or remodeling houses). In our state, vo-tech at a community college counts for dual enrollment! I know some people who have graduated with associates in culinary, welding, and other trades at the same time they graduate from high school (homeschooled). And tuition is completely free! There are normally course fees and materials (books) that families have to pay, but it is still a savings over taking the courses later.

[chillin'inandover]

My son accelerated his learning so that he could take advantage of a program in my state that pays for college classes junior and senior year. My son did trade school welding for those 2 years. His final semester was traditional academic classes, but the other 3 semesters were welding. It was a wonderful opportunity to graduate college debt free. During the summer he worked on government, personal finance, Speech, and logic. He earned high school credit in 8th grade. He was ready to be done with academic classes. HOD was an excellent education and he had a smooth transition to college as a high schooler earning A's in his academic classes.
He works full time as a welder and is happy with his career choice. It is amazing to note that he chose the welding career based on his research paper in WH Essentials in Writing. We are thankful that HOD used this resource and included it during a pivotal time in my son's education. The Personal Finance course also had an impact on his future as he is now saving money for 20% down-payment on a house. Speech, government, and health were beneficial towards earning his Boy Scout Eagle award. He truly utilized all the HOD courses in an efficient time frame.