Okay, I'll be the one one to ask it...(about HS plans)

[avbprincess]

First off, thank you so much Carrie and Co. for deciding to delve into high school! We are all so grateful and excited for the fun to come. But I have a question that I'm sure will come up frequently, so I might as well ask it right away: what does "all areas of language arts, math and science options, and possibly electives" mean? E.g. is Biology going to be studied in the Geography as previously planned, Chemistry in the World History guide, etc, or are we some how going to have the option of picking our science each year while still having the wonderful HOD plans in our guides to follow?

Also, I guess this means that kids who start LHFHG in K and do a guide per year will finish HOD in 11th grade and will need to find something else for 12th (or find something else for 8th and start the Geography guide in HS?

ETA: I want to say again how excited I am about this announcement. The commitment you all have for providing an amazing homeschool option astounds me. We've just begun our HOD journey and I can't wait to spend the coming years with everyone who makes HOD possible, and all the wonderful ladies on this board.

[abrightmom]

Good questions! I JUST realized (after reading your post here) that Geography could happen in 9th (I was previously bummed thinking that my middle guy would miss a guide but now now! ). Hmmmmmm. It's a long way off but worthy of pondering now so any necessary adjustments to pacing guides can be made. There will be a gap year. 8th grade is usually a significant year as it is preparation for high school. It is likely Carrie has taken all of these questions into consideration and will have some wonderful counsel to offer for us to chew on.

HOD. Mmmmmm. Love.

[lharris]

Also, I guess this means that kids who start LHFHG in K and do a guide per year will finish HOD in 11th grade and will need to find something else for 12th (or find something else for 8th and start the Geography guide in HS?

For any moms out there who are "worried" about finishing in the 11th grade -- Praise the Lord! After my first two getting through HS, I have planned for ds8 to finish by 11grade all his requirements, because you will be sooooo busy and stressed studying for add'l SAT tests (in case you need to try to get just a little higher score to meet that next scholarship level) writing colleges, visiting, mentoring, community work, interviewing etc etc. You will need all the time that year before college that you can just to keep yourself from having a mom-meltdown. If you are still finishing up requirements for graduation, that will be more work. Just let the last year be brush up year -- keep a math, literature course to keep yourself from forgetting (repeat HOD guide)-- but it will take away the strain if your transcript is pretty much ready. That's not always possible - but something to dream for...

[abrightmom]

Laura,

Can high school credit be awarded for work completed in 8th grade, if it is high school worthy work? I'm years away from this season but curious nonetheless.

[lharris]

In Indiana, if you take high school worthy courses like algebra, biology etc. designed for HS, you can count it towards a transcript. Many colleges allow you to show 5 years on a transcript but 5 is the max. I use Edu-Track software which I keep records for ds8 now and it will print out report cards, transcripts, etc beautifully. I'm a working hs mom and I don't have time for a lot of planning and recordkeeping but I record assessment and courses quarterly in my program. Also a great way to track time in subjects, makes nice portfolio, beautiful reports and I had one mom who took my advice and come to find out, found herself in a legal dispute with ex-husband and she was able to show judge her records -- the Lord blessed the Judge to rule in mom's favor -- I was amazed when I got her email. Recordkeeping sounds scary but really is very easy -- just estimate your HOD boxes and multiply your minutes (minutes xweeks in quarter) and record minutes, grade and title of your course. So I look at HOD boxes, classify the subjects and record my courses each year. If you want more ideas on this, I will send pm to you.

[8arrows]

If you finish early, community college can be a great option. We are doing community college and high school concurrently to get his general education classes out of the way. It is a lot of work! Melissa

[tnahid]

What do colleges require to see from homeschooled children? Do all the colleges require a high school transcript and diploma? Or are they mainly looking at SAT scores. I am just curious about this. It is quite a long way off, but still I would like to know. Thanks!

[KristinBeth]

I'm confused. I don't understand finishing "early". I'm new to this, but I am still of the mentality that you do 13 years of school starting with kindergarten. I'm not really sure how to reconcile finishing early then I thought you just do more advanced coursework until you've served your time.
I also don't completely understand getting "credits" for courses taken. I can see that some colleges might accept coursework for college credits, but as far as I understand it here in AZ, you don't get high school "credits" or even a diploma if you homeschool, you get a GED (unless you are part of an accredited online high school). Maybe that's a state by state thing. We don't do anything but register with the school superintendent that we're homeschooling and that's it, so understanding a high school "credit" confuses me.

[LynnH]

Most colleges do want to see a transcript and your SAT scores. I know at the colleges my dd is looking at they want a transcript, SAT or ACT scores and an educational reference from someone other than a parent. Some colleges will take a basic transcript that lists courses and credits to make sure you have your 4 years English, 3-4 years Science, 3 years foreign language etc. Some actually want detailed course descriptions with exactly what curriculum you used.

KristinBeth as far as finishing early most colleges want to see so many years/credits of each subject. Usually 120 hours of coursework in a subject equals a credit. You also need so many electives and electives in certain categories like fine arts. If you get those done early then yes you can graduate. I use the public school guidelines for how many credits my dd should have to graduate from high school.

[water2wine]

Can high school credit be awarded for work completed in 8th grade, if it is high school worthy work? I'm years away from this season but curious nonetheless.

HSLDA says yes on their site. Check out under high school. Now some states might have strict requirements that forbid it but it offers it as a blanket statement on HSLDA. Also I have seen transcripts written this way that were successful in getting kinds into college and scholarships etc. Everyone will have to research their own state and laws. If you want to see what I am referring to look here http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000019.asp under Preparing Transcript Records for College Entrance. For my state looked like it would not be a problem as long as it is high school level and taken 8th grade but not below. I would see what my state requirements for high school are. People who do this from what I am seeing tend to do a subject transcript and include dates.

Ooops sorry Melissa quoted the wrong person. I think HOD high school has me a bit hyped up.

[lharris]

I'm sorry if I got the original thread off topic here, and I'm sure Julie and Carrie will address this over the next few months as they field more of these questions, but here goes my answer: It can vary state by state as to specific requirements and what homeschoolers need to do to show proof of schooling, but generally all colleges will look at homeschool transcripts from what I can tell from my research. You may need to check with your state weblinks for those questions and as you approach that stage, check with the college you're interested in attending. Most homeschoolers make their transcripts based on their collected students records. A quick look shows similarities in what colleges want to see -- 4 year record of courses and grades; list of literature read; attendence records; and list of curriculum used. I know many homeschoolers do not want to take a GED but you always have that option; but your transcript will be much richer than a GED. In Indiana, we are considered a non-accredited private school, and the parents sign off on the homeschool records because we are responsible for the truth of the records. SAT scores just back up what you are showing on the transcripts. You have the right and authority to authorize your child's records because you are the administrator of the homeschool. You may check the library for many helpful titles on homeschool transcripts and schooling through high school. Many websites are devoted to this topic. The Lord will lead you through this journey and don't let the "accreditation" worry scare you into moving your child to an "accredited" long distance program or some other such subpar substitute. Carrie's program will be amazing! Don't be tempted to put the child back into school just to get that diploma, and don't be tempted to use a correspondence type program just because of "accreditation." The Lord will be with each of you as you bring your loving ones up!

[8arrows]

Here is our experience if it helps any of you. I am in Illinois. Your state may vary. My son can take dual credit courses at our community college. I can give him college credit and high school credit for any dual credits he takes. All my college required was my homeschool transcript and that he take their compass test (college placement). He did so with flying colors. He will have all his general education requirements taken care of for mortuary science (that is our family business) when he graduates. That way he can enter the accelerated program after graduation. If HOD had already been written and he had finished all the guides, I would have just had him do dual enrollment credits for college at the community college. This is just one example of the options if you finish HOD early. I am finding that there are several different ways to skin this cat called homeschool graduation, and it is easier than I expected. However, it will be even easier for you with HOD writing high school guides and for me with the younger children!

[tnahid]

Oh, Laura and 8arrows, this is very good to know and encouraging. I started thinking today, "Maybe my kids will have to be in some kind of distance program or umbrella school in order to get what they need to graduate with a transcript and diploma!" I don't really want to do that, but I want them to be prepared for college. I don't really want to go the GED route, either. So, thank you for your encouragement. We are possibly moving to TX, so I need to check out their laws there for entering college, etc. Does anyone happen to know about TX? We live in KY now, but I don't think we will be here by the time the children get to high school. Thank you!

[Gwenny]

I just want to remind everyone that you and your husband are "in charge" of your home and your school and your children and what they need to learn and what you want them to learn. It's good to look at guidelines from the school if you are planning on college, but you can determine what you consider is worthy to fit in there. We are not bound to the public schools. Make sure that you use all of the many things your students are learning to fit in the requirements. Life learning is many times more valuable than book learning. For instance, my son worked with a good friend and helped him to completely wire their house, among other things to build their house. I definitely counted that in his "schooling", much better than learning about electricity from a book or even from a kit.
Just a reminder that having our children home to live life with us and learn by doing is so much better and more important than getting all of the credits. We are deciding what is counted as high school for our different children, not something that the government has deemed worthy.

I hope you can all see me smiling and just wanting to give a gentle reminder or something to think about as we are considering all of our high school plans.

Blessings,
Nancy

[Carrie]

Ladies,

This is a terrific thread, and one that is full of such wisdom. This kind of very fruitful discussion is exactly what I was praying would result as we announced our decision to write guides through high school. We desire for you to know that we will partner with you as you seek the educational path the Lord sets before you and that path will look different for each family, even though we may be using the same guides. This is because in a literature-based approach, coverage in specific subject areas is not always as clear cut as subjects overlap, allowing credit to be awarded in a variety of ways and areas.

With the scope and sequence that we have shared for future HOD guides, we see 3 options for families. The first option would be to use a guide a year every year. In this option, those who begin in the middle or upper age range of our guides, would complete a guide a year and make it through all the guides. In this option, those on the youngest age range of our guides will finish high school at age 17. Either way, by the time kiddos reach the geography guide, all subjects in the guide will be high school level material, meaning high school credit can be given for the work. How much credit is given, depends on how you are choosing to award credit, but traditionally 120 hours of work equals one credit. This is roughly equivalent to 160 forty-five minute class periods. There are other ways of awarding credit, and the time allotment route is not a strict requirement as every child works at a different pace, but this gives you a guideline.

So, in option 1, whether an 8th grader or a 9th grader does our geography guide, the guide will be high school level material. It is at that point that you can begin counting credit for high school without any modification to the guide and could graduate your child early, after finishing our 4 high school level guides if desired. These would be listed as the child's 4 high school years on the transcript. Most states have a minimum age requirement for graduation (or a compulsory age for attendance) and a credit requirement for graduation, but I haven't yet seen a state that has a "number of years" of schooling requirement. So to see what your requirements are, be sure to take a good look at your state requirements. Typically, as long as all credits required by your state have been accumulated (which in most cases is a less rigorous requirement than the colleges want to see on transcripts) and the work is high school level work, and your child meets the minimum age requirement, he/she can graduate. I graduated at 17 and headed to college when I was barely 18. I was just young for my grade. It worked well for me! I also have a niece who is in a grade ahead of her age level in the public school and will graduate a year early. She will only have attended 12 years of school, counting kindergarten. So, it is not as uncommon as you'd think.

If you do not desire to graduate your child early, then you have many options as to what to do with your child's final year should your child finish our set of guides early. However, it is likely that year would be an extra year not needed on the transcript, since your credit requirements will have been met in the 4 previous years. This leaves the final year open to pursue an apprenticeship or other career related move, work on college admittance, focus on life skills, do mission related work, etc. The pressure should also be off a bit, as the SAT/ACT should have been taken by then. But, if needed it would allow an additonal year to retake the SAT/ACT more than once. This extra year would be at your discretion.

A second option we see as a path at HOD is to stretch one or more of the younger guides out as needed to accomodate your student's needs, thus traveling at the student's pace. We would recommend this slowing down option only if your child needs to grow into the skills in a guide, but not as a means of just slowing down in order to fill time. This will leave the long-term plan of guides flexible and will allow you to customize your plan as you go. The sequence of guides we have planned could potentially give you a year of breathing room, depending on the age of your child, to use to adjust to your learner's specific needs or to adjust for life's surprises, which is a welcome option. The path leading up to high school also meshes well with the high school path, allowing students who may not get to all of our high school guides to still get be able to get their high school credits in many areas without such major tweaking.

A third option is to keep your older student in the extension range throughout the guides, using our beefing up suggestions on the board that I've already shared to help you award high school credit. This would work as well, as you customize the path needed for your child, but use the HOD guide as your spine or core for as many subjects as possible each year. This would give you a needed plan into the high school years, allow you to combine with younger siblings potentially if desired, allow you to target your family's specific goals as needed, or allow you to have a main plan of action from which you jump off to accomodate an older student. In this option, your child may not get to all of the guides that are specifically "high school level", because you'd be beefing up the younger guides for high school instead. It is also possible in this plan, for a child in the extension range, to move forward if needed by skipping over a guide to get a better placement for the child. We would usually only recommend skipping ahead a guide for a child in the extension range who fits well on the placement chart in the guide ahead, or if the child was combined with a younger sibling and is now ready to go forward on his/her own, or if the child was previous in a guide that was too easy for him/her.

You can see from these 3 options that a high school plan could look different for different families. We have never been a one-size fits all curriculum and will continue to offer the options above to find the best fit for each family.

I know this can be a bit overwhelming, but I want to encourage you that options will hopefully give you confidence that you can do homeschool high school and that we will be here to partner with you as we travel the path together.

Blessings,
Carrie