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In my state, in order to graduate from high school, students have to have 4 English, 4 math, 3 Science, 3 History, 2 Foreign Language, 0.5 Health, 1 PE, O.5 State History, and maybe 7 electives.
For HG/PG kids that are advanced, I see a problem with this "box" (what I call it) because some kids do advanced math before high school and "run out" of math courses available. Some kids don't need English 9, 10, 11, 12, but should skip to 11 and then they run out of available English courses. Yes, there is a 2 yr junior college here, but only jrs & srs are authorized to take courses, online courses are discouraged (they like "seat time") and even then they only go up to second semester calculus.
To me we need to be able to get credit for advanced work in middle school or outside of school and graduate early. I understand that GEDs are not well regarded by top universities.
My question is have any of you been able to negotiate the credits issue (other than GED), and if so, how?
My son's middle school grants HS credit for the high school math class he is currently taking in middle school. This was already in place when we got there, so I don't know how it was arranged.
I was given HS credit for algebra taken in 8th grade. Also, I was given credit for foreign language taken in 8th grade. I still ended up taking 4th year German twice because there was no 5th year German. I ran out of math classes to take after I finished Calculus as a junior. My parents had to negotiate with the school. I remember thinking how silly it was to say that someone like me wasn't meeting "graduation requirements"...
Cym, I seem to remember learning (from some DITD parent seminar) that many top universities do not require GEDs or HS diplomas for acceptance. Maybe you could contact some admissions offices to ask.
You also may want to ensure your son gets the honors level Alg1 (if it's not too late). The high schools here do give grad credit for h. Alg1 taken in middle school, but not regular Alg1.
We do allow kids to take Alg 1 in middle school and progress to Alg 2 as freshmen in high school, but they do not get credit toward graduation. Yes, they offer honors for all levels and then AP for calculus. BUT, with DS9 entering middle school next year, they say he's ready for Alg 2. (Complication is his brother DS11 is also ready for Alg 2). As it stands now, they would have to repeat Alg 2 in High school (we're trying to negotiate an assessment that would give them credit toward graduation). Plus the middle school is trying to come up with a course. Plus DS9 presumably could get through pre-calc in middle school and without credit, how would he graduate?
We might have to face that college entrance without HS graduation or GED with DS9. I've been trying (don't ask me why) to get them accommodated through the "system" as much as possible, but I don't think that'll be possible for him.
The normal "high school experience" is over-rated IMO, except to my one high schooler...
Our "honors" track is still watered down. My DS13 wanted to reject honors World History because he said it'd just be additional busy work and stupid projects and pretty posters. I wouldn't let him choose regular World History, but I do understand what he means. He thinks he could teach himself better than they could and in less time without the hassle of colored pencils (understand the sassy teenage attitude!). Historically, people have self taught by reading/discussing (didn't Abe Lincoln do that?). But he's chosen to go the public school route over homeschool or fancy prep school, so I think he has to just buck up. As it is, he does just enough work, absolutely no more, to scrape A's.
I do worry additional projects that he deems meaningless will put him over the edge into underachievement.
Does your state offer college courses paid for by the school system? I know some do, and it solves the problem, plus the child gets some free college credits. It looks like a number of states have some sort of program that allows high school students to have dual enrollment in college courses while getting high school credit for them, too. I'd look for that first.
If your state doesn't have such a program, you might be able to make it happen anyway. There's certainly precedent for it. I found such programs in 3 states (my last 3 links) with just a 3 minute google search, stopping at only page 3.
That would be my first choice, since it not only solves your "no more classes" problem neatly, but it also gives your child some free college credits.
If you don't have a university or community college nearby, you could probably arrange online and/or correspondence courses or independent study classes. I designed the correspondence course for composition at the big state university I worked at, and it was as faithful a representation of the in-class experience as I could make it. Not as good as the real thing, obviously, but the students who completed the course and got a passing grade were definitely better at reading and writing than they were when they started the course. They aren't a waste of time if the student takes the course seriously.
The High School that I am considering for my dd has a great honors research program for juniors/seniors that are advanced in the sciences. This program places students at nationally renowned universities and hospitals in the area.
"Carefully matched with professional mentors, juniors and seniors can explore a wide range of scientific disciplines and gain early fluency in professional scientific literature, learn various basic and advanced laboratory techniques, and interact with experienced researchers as well as scientific experts in their fields. Stretched far beyond any high school Advanced Placement course, students see firsthand the difficulty of producing relevant, valuable data and learn to communicate their results at professional presentations"
They also have a great number of AP courses for which they get college credit.
Since I am not really keen on sending my DD to college early, this high school sounds perfect.
