<p>D1 needs to take Life Skills in order to graduate this June. However, her high school won’t be offering the class spring semester. :mad: She is far from the only student in this predicament, and her GC is heroically trying to find ways to deal with the issue. </p>
<p>In the meantime, I figured I’d ask y’all if you have any suggestions for
*online courses (especially cheap ones; I’m really not interested in paying $300 for something we her parents have already taught her)
*self-study programs
*home school programs
*other possibilities that will magically make this go away. ;)</p>
<p>The backup plan is for D1 to take Life Skills over the summer and not walk at graduation. This would actually be OK with us (we take D1 and family out for fancy dinner regardless), except that I fear that the district will end up not offering the summer course and D1 will be left without a diploma, which would be Very Bad for college matriculation purposes. </p>
<p>9th grader D2 just finished Life Skills, a pity it can’t just be shared for credit within the family. :)</p>
<p>In our district, the course is available through the adult school program – even as independent study. If I was in your position and knew that many others were in the same position, I would take action. I’d gather up the parents and go to the principal and then beyond because if they make it a requirement they are a) obligated to make it accessible and b) the counselors should be watching out that no kid gets this late in the game with no access. Also, check the district guidelines. For a while, our school was making the kids take a computer course. I went and checked and found out that the district has to allow the kids to test out of this requirement. Our school was out of compliance.</p>
<p>Do they have a test out option? Many schools have test out options for many courses.</p>
<p>If your other child has materials/study guides/textbook leftover that could be a source for self study. S2 was in the same situation. They had a study guide which I went over with him. He took the test and passed. It was mostly easy common sense stuff that he needed to know anyway–how banking/checking accounts/credit vs. debit cards work, how to balance a check book, what insurance is and how it works, how to create a budget. I sent him to the Internet in some case and made up my own main points he needed to know for others. I think he only missed one question on the test.</p>
<p>I’ve been poring through the state ed code, our district Board of Education rules, and the parent-student handbook, looking for anything about testing-out options, modifying graduation requirements, legalese about guaranteeing access to graduation requirements. Nothing. This is the final year when Life Skills will be a requirement, which makes it especially difficult to find the class. It’s not available in the Adult School or as independent study. </p>
<p>I agree that D1 and her compatriots should be waived from the requirement if the school cannot provide a way to take the course. The GC is working one specific angle, and should know soon if that will work. If not, we will bump the issue up to the principal and ask for a waiver or other accomodation.</p>
<p>A last-ditch option would be for D1 to take the California High School Proficiency Exam, which is the equivalent to a high school diploma. It’s a 3.5 hour test, which is less time then she’d spend taking Life Skills, AND she’d be able to get out of taking Health as well. More expensive than a community college class, but significant cheaper than other on-line options. I still need to check with D1’s college to ensure that they’ll accept the CSHPE.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you live, but you might consider calling the local newspaper and seeing if they have someone who covers education and getting them to call attention to the issue of solid students being threatened with not graduating over the district not offering a requirement that is obviously not essential in the first place (since they are no longer going to be offering it I am assuming that. I am also assuming it since my kids learned absolutely nothing in their life skills course.) This kind of thing infuriates me. I cannot tell you how much time, as the president of our high school’s parent organization, I have had to spend on this kind of thing. It’s ridiculous when one has to state the obvious and when students are penalized for the lack of foresight of those in charge. Is there a neighboring school district that offers the course and could she maybe test out of it there or do it independently and have it be accepted at her high school?</p>
<p>Check the courses offered by BYU (maybe you can find something in there that would fit the curriclum) - it was the program that DD’s school used in the past and coursework was accepeted for HS credit (I paid $130 per course or so)</p>
<p>BB, thanks, I did look at the BYU options since you mentioned this about a year ago when I was last agonizing with the issue. I think they do have something that would work, but the CHSTE thing is cheaper. </p>
<p>mimk6, the go-to-the-media option is one I’ll use only if we get no help from the school, or the district local school board member, or the GATE district office. There are neighboring districts, but I think trying to deal with taking a course at one of them is going to be more bother than it’s worth. </p>
<p>D1 was supposed to take the course last summer, so I initially bowed out of the issue when it looked like the consequences were going to be ones that would affect her, not us. If she was going to have to do boring summer school or take the class during the school year or miss walking at graduation, we the parents didn’t care. But we are really concerned about the possibility of the district saying to take it during the summer, and then budget issues killing that choice off at the last moment and possibly mucking up her college plans. So I am stepping back in.</p>
More expensive than a community college class, but significant cheaper than other on-line options. I still need to check with D1’s college to ensure that they’ll accept the CSHPE.</p>