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Awana is a wonderful program, and a great way to get Bible credit naturally in a fun activity. I know it take a LOT of work. Because it takes so much time and effort, I usually suggest including it on your high school transcripts. In private schools and many homeschools, families include Bible on their transcript as a regular subject area – just like math, or science, or physical education. On my transcript, I had Bible listed every year, and I gave my boys 1/2 credit each year based on the topics we studied.
To determine the credit value or your class, estimate how many hours they have spent doing Awana. If it takes about 5 hours per week, give them 1 credit each year. If it takes 2-3 hours, give them 1/2 credit each year. You can combine your normal religious studies with Awana to create that high school credit. I don’t recommend giving more than one credit per year.
To determine their grade, decide if they met your expectations. The expectations in Awanaare quite high, really. If they meet expectations, you can give them an A. If they win the Citation Award, then they certainly deserve an A!
To determine the class title, you can simply call it “Bible 1″. If possible, try to be more specific, and call it “Bible: Old Testament” or “Biblical Discipleship” or something like that.
To write a course description, look online for the descriptions provided by the program. You may find a full one paragraph description. If you don’t, I’m sure you’ll find enough words and phrases to combine them into a full course descriptions.
To determine grading criteria, if you are adding that information to your course description, list each topic and supply a grade for each task your children performed. So you might have a grades for each of the following: reading Romans, memorization, public speaking, analysis, application, competition. In fact, your could use those grading criteria for EACH book of the Bible they memorize.
You can list this on the transcript as an elective, or put it in a separate category called “Bible.”
You can mention Awana in the activity list on your transcript as well. In my high school, I was involved in Choir. My public high school transcript said “Choir” for all four years of high school. It also had “Choir” listed as an activity for all four years. I encourage you to do the same with your transcript – both a class and an activity. When you list it on your transcript, your activity might say something like this: Activities: Awana 9, 10, 11, 12 – Citation Award 12. (Other activities would follow, of course.)
This whole technique will work with Boy Scouting, Speech & Debate, 4H, and other activities as well.
At the high school level, sometimes it can see like math takes FOREVER! It can simply take a LONG time to complete math when you are working at a high school level. Kids get slower after they have worked for an hour or more, so it makes sense to break it up into two pieces. Some kids need more practice and some need less. Each child only NEEDS to do the number of problems necessary in order to learn. Perhaps you can try to do odds or evens in math for a while, and see how the chapter tests go. If a student doing well, that may be all the practice that is needed.
The Comprehensive Record Solution provides the training and templates and real life examples of successful high school records.
When is the PSAT?
How do I find a College Fair?
Should my freshman take Physics before Biology?
But other questions are very big, and very complicated. Sandi asked a big and complicated question on my blog the other day.
Hi Lee. I have 5 kids, 3 remain to be homeschooled. All high school age. My 17 yo has had some issues with seizures since Spring. As a result he has fallen behind somewhat in his work. He will be 18 in Oct and should graduate in June of 2012. How do I catch him up this year? He has fallen behind in math and Eng comp. He has so many credits in all the other subjects. Should I just focus on these 2 subjects this coming year? Also, he wants to go to art school. He has been taking art lessons at a studio who will also help him with a portfolio. He just loves it. Any suggestions you have i would appreciate. ~ Sandi
I would LOVE to help, but each issue is not a simple yes/no question or quick fact. Instead, each of these issues is complicated. Here is what I was able to give Sandi.
Dear Sandi,
I have quite a few Gold Care Club members that just need support for handling homeschool while facing unusual issues just like this. These are complicated issues that can’t be answered by a quick email, I’m afraid. Briefly, here are some options to consider:
Complete high school in 5 years;
Take one more year but only count the final 4 years for high school;
Focus on math and English, but don’t double up on those subjects;
Evaluate to see if he is truly behind in those areas, or if you just *think* he is behind;
Find an art school by going to a college fair as a first contact; Learn about junior year and senior year tasks.
If your child struggles with learning challenges, you are not alone! Read my article “College for Struggling Learners” to hear about other teenagers with learning problems. These are the resources listed in the article, linked so you can easily access the information.
Learning Disabilities Association of America
Typical learning difficulties include dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia – often complicated by associated disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Learning Disabilities Association
Tips for College Admission
Learning Disabilities – 8 Tips For Effective College Registration For Students With LD or ADD. Read the 8 Tips
JoAnn also recommends “An adaptation of the Orton-Gillingham approach for classroom teaching of reading.” This method is discussed on this website, with other resources as well. Read more.
The Slingerland Institute for Literacy is recommended by JoAnn. Visit their website here.
“Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder” by Richard Louv is recommended by Joelle. Read the
book.
All About Spelling is multi-sensory, approaching spelling through sight, sound, and touch. You can check it out here: www.allaboutspelling.com/homescholar
Free Audiobooks: LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. The goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. The ability of the readers will vary, but the price is right.
What happens when REAL homeschoolers grow up? You know, the kids who have to actually WORK to learn? I’ll tell you what happens – they succeed! This is a letter I recently received from a friend willing to share the ups and downs of her journey – and their ultimate success!
I just have to share what happened today. My oldest child, Rhett age 16 and in the 11th grade, won the National Guard Outstanding Achievement Award. They give our one per state and only 100 in the world. He won it for having the highest GPA in Automotive Technology.
He was also the first EVER first year student to be invited to participate in national competition and he’s been asked to participate in two. He won the Star Student Award several weeks ago for having the highest GPA in the college. He’s only in his first semester and he’s already been approached by several technical institutes (such as WyoTech) about a full scholarship.
What makes this so amazing is that this child has ADHD and a serious reading comprehension issue for which there is no cure. This is the student that the public school told me was unable to succeed because of his reading problems. I’ve been ridiculed and degraded for choosing to homeschool my children and this feels like a sort of vindication to me! I’m so proud of him and of all he’s accomplished. God is so good!
Just wanted to share all of this with you – many of you have kept my head above water over the years…and I wanted to share this success with each of you. Let it also be an encouragement to all of those starting out that you CAN do it!
Emily
I asked Emily to encourage other parents dealing with learning challenges. Hopefully others will be able to glean helpful tidbits for their own children.
I never did anything special curriculum wise – he is a math/science/history whiz. He can memorize anything and remembers the most inane details about things. Our only special resource was prayer, our belief in him, and his belief and determination to succeed. He never gave up or even considered for a moment that he couldn’t or wouldn’t succeed. The only issue he ever has had was reading – and it was a HUGE issue – but God saw fit to bless him with talents that put him head and shoulders above the rest in spite of his comprehension problems.
I will say that seeing Casting Crown in November of 2007 changed his life. The lead singer, Mark Hall, gave his testimony. He talked about his struggle with ADHD and dyslexia and how people always told him he’d never amount to anything, but God didn’t believe that. We stood there in that coliseum, my husband, myself, and my son (13 at the time) with tears streaming down our faces. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God had intended us to be there. The impact that made was incredible.
We always planned college. I’ve never doubted his ability for one second. I doubted mine plenty of times, though! Lol. Thankfully, I have a wonderful godly man for a husband who has always believed in me and our children. I always knew that Rhett going to college would mean work for us – if he was going to succeed, we were going to have to continue to be willing to give. The amazing thing? He hasn’t needed our assistance on anything since beginning classes in August! He quickly excelled about the others and is, in fact, helping the instructor by teaching many things to the other students.
Rhett decided last year that he wanted to take automotive technology at the local college this year. Neither he nor we thought that he’d make a career choice out of it (we didn’t have objections, but while he’s always had an incredible interest in automotives and anything technical, he viewed it more as a hobby). Within a two weeks of classes starting he was talking about it in more and more. By the mid-quarter mark he knew that this was his calling and what he wanted to pursue with his life.
His plans are to attend a technical school after high school graduation and after finishing there he wants to attend a school for diesel mechanics as well. We know that with God’s help he will continue to succeed.
The thing I want to say most to parents everywhere is this: “Never, ever, ever believe what someone else tell you about your child’s abilities. God gave your child to YOU. Our children will live up to our expectations so set the bar high and be there to help them reach above and beyond. Believe in your child and his dreams and do everything in your power to make sure he can achieve them.”
Again, thank you so much. This journey has been long and hard and has contained MANY tears and sleepless nights. I’ve been ridiculed, degraded, and talked about in the most cruel ways. But in the end, I wouldn’t trade one tear or sleepless night or hateful word, because it made me and Rhett who we are. Who God wants us to be. What else matters?
In Lake Wobegon all the children are above average, but in the real world some kids struggle. What is a parent to do?
I have a son with fairly significant learning disabilities. He is dues to begin high school this fall. He is on a sixth grade level in math…so we keep going…do I give him high school level credit for the math we do next year? His writing looks like a second grader’s ~ do we continue on and give high school credit for his English work? He is 15 and says he really wants to go to college and I want to prepare him to do so, which means an intelligible but honest transcript. thanks!
~ Carol
Hi Carol,
Yes, he can be in high school and yes, you can give him high school credit. I have an article about College for Struggling Learners that you may enjoy here.
Your question about high school credits is answered more fully in my free one-hour homeschool training webinar.
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