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High School Graduation Requirements

I cannot go into detail about state requirements because states vary, and in your homeschool, it is your responsibility to research your state's requirements. You can ask a friend who has homeschooled and graduated her children, but high school requirements change too often to risk not checking this yourself, so please do.

Check state requirements and college requirements for courses and credits.

Get the information from your state homeschool cover school or group, otherwise, go to your preferred search engine and type these search terms:

high school graduation requirements +credits +your state

High School Requirements Examples

In your search for your state's high school graduation requirements, you should look for something like the lists below. You might see that some lists have "minimum" requirements and some will have lists suggested for students headed for college. If you look at college web sites, you might find that they have their own requirements that might be more than your state's minimum. For my children, I used the college requirements (college route).

Two Examples

Number of Required Credits

States vary on the number of required credits. The amount is generally between 19-26 credits. While looking for graduation requirements, also take note of how many credits or units your state requires.

Credit Rule of Thumb

"Generally" one credit is a *two-semester course (*a full school year) and 1/2 credit is a one-semester course. Some states determine credits in hours. Please consider that the one-year = one credit is a rule-of-thumb. Check your state on the credit question.

PE Exception

Check how your state counts PE. One year of PE might be considered 1/2 credit by some states, so in such a state that requires one credit in PE - that is two years of PE.

Fitting In the Courses

When making your child's course of study for grades 9-12, first slot the required courses. After the required courses are slotted, add enough electives to meet the credit requirements. See course of study and planning for more help and forms for charting the four-year plan.

Curriculum

While searching for your state's graduation requirements, be sure to check minimum curriculum requirements as well.

For instance:

• Math could mean that your student should study Algebra I & II and Geometry.
• Science typically requires at least physical science and biology and at least one of those must include lab. College bound wants more science.
• Social Studies might include certain courses as well such as - one-year of American history, one-semester of American Government, one-semester of Economics (note: economics is not consumer math), and one-year of world history.