COURSEWORK AND CREDITS
The State of Georgia requires public school students to accumulate a minimum of 23 credit units in order to be awarded a high school diploma. Homeschool students are NOT required to comply with this requirement, but many accumulate more than 23 credits. The homeschool parent decides how many credits are required for their child to graduate.
As a reference, incoming freshmen at the public colleges in Georgia must meet their Required High School Curriculum (RHSC), which is a minimum of 17 specific credits. If college is in your child's future, or could be down the road, it is advisable to have your student complete at least 23 credits before awarding a diploma.
Most high school courses are considered to be one-credit courses. This makes planning relatively simple. If your student takes six one-credit courses over four years, they will graduate with twenty-four total credits. Many students have a mixture of one credit and half credit courses.
The typical course of study for high school includes four years of English, four years of mathematics and four years of science. This would total twelve credits leaving eleven credits for your student to achieve twenty three. Whatever total credits your students earns, chances are that three to four of them will be for history or social science courses such as economics or American government. Two to three credits could be for physical education or fine arts. Most colleges require or like to see two credits of a foreign language.
The remaining credits can be courses that will help your student achieve their personal goals. The goal most often sought by students is entrance to a specific college or university. Research into what a preferred college is looking for in their entering freshman will go a long way towards helping you plan your student’s high school course of study.
Below is a chart that will give you an overview to help you begin planning your student’s coursework.
Four Year High School Plan
Grade Level | 8th (only list high school level courses) | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Core Courses | |||||
English (4) | |||||
Math (4) | |||||
Science/labs (4) | |||||
History/Social Studies (3) | |||||
Foreign Language (2) | |||||
Elective Courses* | |||||
Physical Education (1) | |||||
Other | |||||
Other |