A curriculum plan for parents of 8th graders (those almost-high-school students)

Hopefully, those of you who have 8th graders this year have been thinking about your curriculum plan for the upcoming HIGH SCHOOL YEARS.

The very basic thing that I enjoyed finding out first about high school curriculum was that my students needed only SIX, 1-credit classes each year in order to fulfill the 24-credit requirement for graduation! What a relief (I thought) to go from 7 to 10 subjects down to a mere 6! Happy days are here again.....????maybe we can continue with the 7-10 subjects and finish high school in three years??? What was I thinking!
Well, once I received the first of the 400+ page textbooks, I realized the quantity of information was greatly increased and I was thankful that I only had to complete 6 of those credits each year. Whew!
Thankfully, by the time my eldest entered high school, there were plenty of high school packaged curriculum programs available that covered the "basic four" yearly subjects with some "electives" to choose from. Hopefully you can use this list to get yourself thinking about what you need to accomplish by the end of your child's twelfth grade year.

Typical College Prep High School 4-Year Program


English

4 credits
Composition, American Lit, World Lit, British Lit, Rhetoric,
Creative Writing, Speech, Journalism, etc.

Math

4 credits
Algebra 1&2, Geometry, Trig, Pre-Calculus, Calculus

History

4 credits
Essentials: World History, American History, Am. Government
Consider: Economics, Geography, Constitutional Law, etc.

Science

4 credits
Physical Science, General Science, Earth Science, Biology,
Chemistry, Physics

Foreign
Language

2-4 credits
French, Spanish, Latin, German, Russian, etc. (at least two years
of the same language are required in AL)

P.E.

1-2 credits
Physical education—many options are available

Fine Arts

1-2 credits
Art, Music, Drama, Photography, etc.

Electives

4 credits
Practical Arts, Life Skills, Computer Skills (required 1/2 credit),
Religion, Church History, Logic, etc.

These subjects are some things I considered for my college bound kids. These "credits" are a guideline created by using the basic requirements for high school grads in Alabama public schools. There is a listing on the OLG website for further reference.

Let this be some "food for thought" as you begin your student's high school curriculum plan.
Enjoy,
Angelle