Dianna
11-01-2005, 05:52 PM
I'm posting another question I've received lately. Please feel free to jump in with your own answers (or more questions!). :smile2:
Question: I know that in regular public middle school a child can earn credits for certain things in 7th and 8th grade. I also know that a homeschooled student can have things count for credits. How do I know what qualifies for a middle school credit towards high school?
Answer: There's been an increasing trend for the public schools to start awarding credits earlier and earlier. However, there also seems to be corresponding trend for colleges to count only the credits that are awarded in the four years previous to graduation.
Middle schools seem to grant credits for upper-level math, foreign language, and "honors" courses. There are several things to consider before awarding credits for your middle school students, depending on the reason you're requiring upper-level work earlier than the traditional high school years.
1. Are you requiring upper-level work in middle school in order to decrease your child's load during the high school years? If so, this may work against you. Admissions committees may see this as a sign that your child can't handle a normal work load and may hesitate to admit them or award them scholarships.
2. Are you granting high school credits in middle school in order to show colleges how much your child can accomplish? That's fine, but they'll already know how much they have accomplished by granting credits in the high school for higher-level courses than normal. If a child earns an Algebra II credit in the 9th grade, admissions folks already know that your child took Algebra I in middle school. So an extra credit really isn't necessary.
3. Are you granting high school credits in middle school in order for your child to have more than the usual number of credits so they'll be more likely to get scholarships? Again, this may (and probably will) work against you. Colleges have received transcripts from homeschoolers with tons of credits. In some cases, they tend to look at the parents/students as dishonest (no well-rounded student could handle 15 1-hour classes every day for four years and still be mentally sane afterwards. Even adults see 8 hours as a normal workday). In other cases, they see the student as having sub-quality courses (that's the only way the student could have gotten through so many courses - they must not have been very challenging).
4. Are you granting credits in middle school in order for your child to graduate early? If so, you may want to rethink this. In almost every case I've heard of, parents have regretted sending their child to college early due to the college environment. It's been a culture shock, at the very least, and the parents admit their children would have been better prepared if they waited until the normal age (or even an extra year). Dual enrollment during high school has worked well in many cases (where the student took a course or two during their senior year), but not full enrollment.
Now I'm not saying that you can't grant credits in middle school, but think through the issues above before deciding what kind, and how many. I personally wouldn't have a problem granting an Algebra I credit in 8th grade, and a foreign language credit in 8th grade (my son will have earned 1 credit in Latin by then), but that's probably my limit. It doesn't have to be your limit, though.
Once you read through this, let me know what specific courses you're interested in granted credit for and I may be able to help you determine what kind of work your child would need to do to qualify for the credits.
I hope this helps, and I hope others will jump in to share their perspective with you, too. :smile2:
Warmly,
Dianna
Question: I know that in regular public middle school a child can earn credits for certain things in 7th and 8th grade. I also know that a homeschooled student can have things count for credits. How do I know what qualifies for a middle school credit towards high school?
Answer: There's been an increasing trend for the public schools to start awarding credits earlier and earlier. However, there also seems to be corresponding trend for colleges to count only the credits that are awarded in the four years previous to graduation.
Middle schools seem to grant credits for upper-level math, foreign language, and "honors" courses. There are several things to consider before awarding credits for your middle school students, depending on the reason you're requiring upper-level work earlier than the traditional high school years.
1. Are you requiring upper-level work in middle school in order to decrease your child's load during the high school years? If so, this may work against you. Admissions committees may see this as a sign that your child can't handle a normal work load and may hesitate to admit them or award them scholarships.
2. Are you granting high school credits in middle school in order to show colleges how much your child can accomplish? That's fine, but they'll already know how much they have accomplished by granting credits in the high school for higher-level courses than normal. If a child earns an Algebra II credit in the 9th grade, admissions folks already know that your child took Algebra I in middle school. So an extra credit really isn't necessary.
3. Are you granting high school credits in middle school in order for your child to have more than the usual number of credits so they'll be more likely to get scholarships? Again, this may (and probably will) work against you. Colleges have received transcripts from homeschoolers with tons of credits. In some cases, they tend to look at the parents/students as dishonest (no well-rounded student could handle 15 1-hour classes every day for four years and still be mentally sane afterwards. Even adults see 8 hours as a normal workday). In other cases, they see the student as having sub-quality courses (that's the only way the student could have gotten through so many courses - they must not have been very challenging).
4. Are you granting credits in middle school in order for your child to graduate early? If so, you may want to rethink this. In almost every case I've heard of, parents have regretted sending their child to college early due to the college environment. It's been a culture shock, at the very least, and the parents admit their children would have been better prepared if they waited until the normal age (or even an extra year). Dual enrollment during high school has worked well in many cases (where the student took a course or two during their senior year), but not full enrollment.
Now I'm not saying that you can't grant credits in middle school, but think through the issues above before deciding what kind, and how many. I personally wouldn't have a problem granting an Algebra I credit in 8th grade, and a foreign language credit in 8th grade (my son will have earned 1 credit in Latin by then), but that's probably my limit. It doesn't have to be your limit, though.
Once you read through this, let me know what specific courses you're interested in granted credit for and I may be able to help you determine what kind of work your child would need to do to qualify for the credits.
I hope this helps, and I hope others will jump in to share their perspective with you, too. :smile2:
Warmly,
Dianna