Q/A: Old Western Culture Credits without Reading

There was a question from a parent asked in the comment section of a YouTube video (embedded below) that I think might benefit other families that use Old Western Culture.

Q: Thanks for the video! How would you recommend assigning credits if the student only watched the videos?

A: That’s a great question! It opens up the somewhat complicated question of credits altogether. I will answer in two ways.  

First: While how this is enforced may vary by state, we would strongly affirm the fundamental rights of parents to be primary educators and decision makers for k-12 education. Often homeschoolers are held to a far higher standard and don’t realize it. In public school, untold hours are wasted in stupid ways, but “logged” as “school hours.” And yet homeschoolers worry that they’re fulfilling enough “credit hours.” So, my first big picture answer is, “that’s up to you!” Wisdom and what you want them to receive would dictate the rest. 

Second: We recommend a full two credits (two “integrated humanities” or 1 history and 1 literature or social studies), whether students are doing the full reading load, or the “Essentials Schedule” (a reading load paired down to roughly 25% of the honors load). While there is an incredible amount of material in the lectures themselves such that a parent would be well-justified to give credit for just watching, we do recommend some reading (and audio books count!), as well as using the workbook questions as either written or oral discussion guides. Choosing even one work, or part of a work, would give students a taste of the text that I think is well worth it. 

So watching can count for credit, but we really do recommend the Essentials Schedule reading, and incorporating discussion. I hope that is helpful! One note about the Essentials Schedule is that the very first unit is the heaviest, as it is the entire Iliad, and half the honors-level reading load, vs the typical quarter or less reading load of the other units.

Video: Old Western Culture Walk-through: How Does the Curriculum Work?

by Daniel Foucachon on Posted on

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