Some homeschoolers feel The Great Courses classes are college level, so when you complete a big series (48 lectures) they give a full credit of high school work in that subject. Other homeschoolers feel that since it isn’t a “prepared curriculum” you would need to count hours, and 48 hours is NOT enough for a credit. Just for reference, 75-90 hours is worth ½ credit.
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I used The Great Courses mainly as a supplement in areas our boys were interested in, such as science, economics, and music. We would do our Sonlight work, and I supplemented with Great Courses lectures to beef it up. I had the children take notes from the lectures, so they would get practice with college note-taking while still learning something.
I used The Great Courses to fill in gaps, as well. Kevin didn’t get any economics in high school. Since his brother studied economics 24/7, I simply FORGOT that I’d never had Kevin take economics. Once Kevin finished his Economics lectures, I did give him 1/2 high school credit in that class.
I also gave my children full high school credit when they passed a CLEP exam. Because they learned SO much with The Great Courses lectures, they were able to pass quite a few CLEP exams in different topics. Each passed CLEP went onto their transcript as a full 1 credit high school honors course.
You are probably looking for “rules” about The Great Courses. I can’t really give you any hard and fast rule. I can give you my opinion, though. In my opinion, an adult course with 48 lectures, standing alone with nothing else would probably be a 1/2 credit class. A high school level course with the workbook and everything, supplemental reading, would probably be a 1 credit course, because I think it would take about an hour a day to get through the whole thing.
I suggest you just guess and estimate how much time the student spends in the course. Add up all the experiences you are planning, and see if you have 75 hours or more. If you do, then call it 1/2 credit. If you don’t, then say it’s a supplement – they can add it to other music and art experiences to make up their own credit. If it is 120 hours or more, then you can call it a full credit.
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