It's hard to believe my baby boy will be entering 9th grade this next school year. It has gone by so fast although some days, weeks and months seemed to drag on like this part of life would never end. But it always does and he has matured into a wonderful young man.
When we decided to homeschool we said we would just take it one year at a time, which we continue to do. For most people I knew who homeschooled, at high school they decided to send the kids to public or christian school because there is a lot of record keeping involved if you want your child to graduate with the school district diploma. Now that we are done with Junior High for Trevor I've been looking at High School and what he needs to do in 4 years according to the state of Iowa.
For High School 9th - 12th Grade students need to complete credits. A credit would be either 2/3 of a public school textbook or 120 hours on a certain subject. They also need to take ITBS and pass at 40% level.
When I look back at my high school and maybe kids in high school now I wish my parents would have known the in's and out's of what was needed to graduate. In many cases kids could graduate early.
I had a full-time summer job that in 6 weeks I could have earned a elective credit for in occupational skills. 12- 40hour weeks at that job and there I have 2 credits of the 8 credits in electives. Summer reading of 120 hours worth would account for 1 credit in English. Doing chores over the years at home I'm sure I had at least 120 hours in to account of another elective credit in home economics. But none of that counted cause my parents were unaware of things like that accounting for credits towards graduation.
One advantage of homeschooling is you do learn about Iowa laws in the education field which is at an advantage to your child/children.
So what credits do your children need in 4 years to graduate, English 4 credits, Social Studies 3 credits, Science 2 credits, Math 2 credits, P.E./Health 1 credit, Electives 8 credits.
Electives are just that, the extra so it can be working, chores, foreign language, music, art, home economics, bible, drama, volunteer work, studying of something they are interested in etc. As I said before a credit is 120 hours on a subject or 2/3 of a textbook.
I found it fascinating that kids only need 2 credits in Math. In a school year I'm sure the teacher gets through at least 2/3 of the text they are teaching and if a student would choose they would only need to do math for 2 of their 4 school years. Same with Science and only 3 years of Social Studies. So as a Senior depending on what your plan in life is you may only need to take an English class in the public school system your last year, if you have fulfilled the other credits plus your eight electives and passed at 40% or higher on ITBS.
Looking at all of this and going through Trevor's 4 year plan he very well could graduate early and get started in his college road to be whatever he has planned. I'm excited about these next 3 or 4 years as he continues to mature from a young man to a man and see where God is leading him.
