Assigning Credits for high school work

[Kathie in Va]

I'm considering the online forum for Diogenes Maxim Accelerated for my 9th grader next year (& my 8th so they can stay together). Since the older dc will be in high school, I'm trying to determine how this could look on her transcript. I'm guessing the course itself is worth 1 credit (at least ;D). Should this be called Composition or since it actually covers grammar and lit would it be better to title it English? Now what about the additional reading suggestions? Should that be included in the 1 credit or is that additional credit (~1/2?) for literature or something?

TIA,
Kathie

[Lene Mahler Jaqua]

This is a hard one to decipher.

I would either call it "English lit and composition" and give 1 1/2 or even 2 credits, or separate the two and give one credit for lit and one for comp.

It's really impossible to say, and much depends on what sort of follow up you do at home with the discussion and the books.

I gave my 'graduated' highschooler 2 credits for each CW course because of the amount of work he did to complete each assignment. It is possible to squeak by for CW with just 1 hour's worth of work per day (it's all in what you put into it) and if that were the case for my students I would only give 1 credit. Also, some students don't read the assigned reading or do much discussion on the discussion lessons in which case paring it down to one credit may also be reasonable.

That didn't help at all, did it??
Lene

[hiddenjewel]

Not necessarily specific to CW, but I plan on using how many hours they spend on a course to determine how many credits it is worth. Here's one article I use as a guideline:

www.hslda.org/highschool/docs/EvaluatingCredits.asp?PrinterFriendly=True

[Kathie in VA]

Lene, Yes this does help. I'm not sure yet if we will just do the readings or if we will add to the readings with additional discussion as suggested in the Well Educated Mind or Teaching the Classics. I was going to do the Great Books via Omni but I'm now thinking it may be just too much! [I'd want to do additional reading in Streams of Civ for the history so it's all just too much]

Perhaps for Literature we will just stick with the list for Diogenes with additional discussion ... or if that's not enough then I'll add a few more pieces

hiddenjewel: Thanks for the link. That really explains how to determine credits and clarifies the differences between determining HS and College credit

[Lene Mahler Jaqua]

Kathie,

CW's book lists (we're putting our literature lists up on the web this week) will contain the assigned reading for CW as well as supplemental reading suggestions. It should be "sufficient" if you read everything on the list and do the CW work rigorously.

But that's me speaking, and I compiled the lists on the web pages to accompany the CW core books (with book suggestion input from Kathy, who designed the pages). Kathy feels that a great books course is needed in addition. I feel differently but I suppose it depends on your own level of confidence in guiding discussion and how much discusison and essay writing you pull from this sort of reading if you do it on your own.

I never did any outside classes with my kids. First I studied 'a milllion' great book lists (some with lit emphasis, some with philosophy or theology emphasis), then I compiled a list that included both the fiction we wanted to have fun with and the theological pieces that fit with what we wanted as a background in church, and then the rest were just "whichever ones seemed great to us". The most important part of that list is not to neglect the writings from antiquity (Greek Epics, Greek mythology, Greek drama, Plato's Dialogues, Aristotle), and not to neglect the Bible and the early Christian 'orthodox' (as in not heretical) fathers.

After that, it's SO MUCH a matter of who you are and what you find important as to be very difficult to discern. Surely you need to know a bit about scholasticism, about the renaissance and the reformation (and don't be side tracked by those who now claim those 'eras' don't exist...there is material to cover during those years whether you choose to classify them one way or the other).And after the Reformation, it's tough. Catholics go one way, Protestants another, agonostics a third... and so you choose what you value along with trying to have your kids grasp the general historical and philosophical trends.

Part of what I just described is why it is so hard to sign your kids up for a Great Books tutorial somewhere. How much time will this or that teacher spend on Aquinas? How does he feel about Aquinas? And do you share his views or emphasis or lack of emphasis? After the Reformation, which track are you on?? (Because "world views", if so we dare to call them, really really differ at that point.)

For my kids (and some of them are still tortured by me) I use Os Guiness' Invitation to Classics (Os is Anglican, I believe) where it has input on the books we read, and then I just read along with the kids. Half the books we read aloud (like Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Plato's Dialogues, church fathers, etc).. and then discuss with the kids when something puzzle them. The other half the kids read on their own and come to me and discuss as needed.

Sorry this was so long. You can see this is one of my hobby horses. I love reading and always have a stack at my bedside of about 7 books I read a chapter of each night, many of them classics.

Lene

[Kathie in VA]

Lene,

Thanks for the great reply. I didn't see it as too long, it was very informative which is what I need. Sounds like CW (Diogenes and up) can be 1-2 credits alone. Now if I wanted to do history with the Great Books, perhaps as suggested in the WTM/WEM for example, that too is about 2 credits. Could I put all that on a transcript? If the history is listed as a separate credit, then what do we do with the Great Books? Is that now an elective? Or do you state the CW class as English and Composition leaving the Great Books as English Literature? (will they say this is too many English credits?) Kinda makes me think that perhaps I should cut back somehow. Maybe just read the Western Civ text w/ a small collection of the primary sources from the WTM list and leave the lit to the CW selections w/ maybe additional discussion as suggested in WTM/WEM or TTC? This would yield 2 credits for English and 1 for History.... that's at least cleaner (necessary I don't know yet, but cleaner)

I get what you are saying about the various Great Books courses. I think if you follow a plan like the WTM/WEM or the Teaching the Classics seminar ideas I think you can avoid some of the theology diversions. However if you want the world view, then you're right, you need to be very careful whose guidance you pick to follow. I've just ran into World View Academy's theGreatBooks.com website. Not sure how it compares with TTC yet, but it looks interesting. I guess once I've read a few of these I'll feel a bit better about doing these. Funny I have a BS and an MS degree and still haven't read most of the Great Books! (a few yes, but still not that many)

Thanks for your time and help,
Kathie

[Carolyn]

Kathie,

Lene's on vacation at the moment, but I'll be sure to mention your post to her when she's back.

So far as assigning credits, I think you can look at how you spend your time, combine that with what you accomplish, and run from there. It is difficult when classes cross the traditional subject lines. (And since my oldest is just 8th grade, it's easier for me to give advice. I've not been through high school yet!)

Carolyn