Homeschool Credit for Special Courses

If you’re struggling to evaluate your student’s courses, and how to assign credit, you’re not alone!  A lot of parents have a particularly hard time figuring out how to evaluate special courses, such as the culinary or fine arts.  One approach is to think of all the different skills that your child demonstrates. In culinary arts, sometimes people come up with things like shopping, meal planning, and menu creation. Other times people will list general skill areas like baking or frying. It just depends on what you want to evaluate.

Another way is to think about what your child did today that you would call ‘school’. For example, if she went to the grocery store to do shopping, she learned school because she learned the value of the dollar. You would then know that shopping for resources is one of the ways that you can evaluate your student.

The fine arts present challenges sometimes too.  A parent once asked me, “Would piano practice be considered a music credit? My son plays two hours a day but he gets just one credit, right?”  It’s true. When a child practices piano for two hours a day, it usually indicates that they’re at a fairly advanced level, but they still are earning one credit of piano.  Of course, if you have different musical experiences, like your child plays the piano and sings in a choir, then you could have two credits of music: one would be piano and one would be choir.

What special courses have your students completed?