Your Questions Answered: Is There a List of High School Electives?

My student is going into middle school this year. Should I expect him to complete his work independently?

Middle school is a time when students often seek more independence, and busy parents hope that their students can work more on their own. While some middle school students are ready to work independently, many are not. In fact, students in grades 6-8 may need even more of your attention as they complete the higher-level work required in middle school.

During this time, parents must also ensure that students acquire the writing and study skills needed for high school. During these adolescent years, you may even notice a change in your student’s attitude concerning his schoolwork, for better or for worse. While you may be able to allow these students to work independently in some courses, you will still need to help in the areas in which they struggle.

No matter your student’s grade level, when assigning independent work trust, but verify that the work is being completed well and in a timely manner.

Laura Fusto, Academic Counselor

How does a Seton high school student request a recommendation for college or scholarship applications?

Since Seton has thousands of enrolled high school students, we usually do not have the privilege of forming personal relationships with our students. However, we are still happy to provide our HS students with recommendations for their various college and scholarship applications.

In developing our recommendations, we focus on the student’s academic performance, highlight the rigor of our curriculum, and point out the subsequent virtues and strengths the student has demonstrated in completing the courses. To personalize the recommendation further, we ask the student to include a short resume along with their recommendation request.

Email us at guidance@setonhome.org if you need a Counselor or Principal recommendation or an address for use with an online application.

If you need a Teacher recommendation (e.g., English Teacher, Math Teacher), contact counselors@setonhome.org.

Sean O’Connor, Academic English Counselor

Is there a list of high school electives?

Any Seton high school course not required for your diploma requirements is considered an elective.

For example, a student needs three science courses in the General and Academic diploma tracks. If the student takes a fourth science course, that fourth one has become an elective.

Can my eighth-grade daughter take a foreign language in eighth grade for high school credit?

Yes. Seton will allow an eighth-grade student to take a high school course if the student’s grades indicate good grades for the course.

If students cannot finish the course in 8th grade, they may continue taking it the following year.

The student will obtain high school credit whenever the course is completed. The cost for an eighth grader to enroll in the High School Latin course is $230.00, or $270.00 to enroll in a Rosetta Stone Online Course (Spanish, French, or German).

On our MySeton page, some assignments under “graded by” say Parent, and others say Seton. What is the difference? Can I grade everything? Can you grade everything?

The parent grades parent-graded assignments, and Seton graders grade Seton-graded assignments. (On your Quarter Report Forms, these are Part A and Part B.) Seton-graded assignments are required for your students to receive a grade on their report cards.

The parent-graded items are usually more of the day-to-day work your student does, although there are specific assignments (a paragraph or test) in some cases. Grades for these assignments are optional; if you don’t assign parent grades, your child’s grade will be based only on the Seton-graded items.

Regarding Seton-graded items, you may grade these yourself informally to see how the student is doing.

Some parents like to review student work before submitting it to ensure they understand the concepts or have done careful work. Sorry, but we can’t release the answer keys for the Seton-graded assignments for security reasons.

Speaking of parent-graded, what is a “parent-graded” course?

A parent-graded course has no Seton-graded assignments, meaning the parents grade everything. These include Art, Music, and PE for all grades, Handwriting for the elementary grades, History and Science up to Grade 3, and the entirety of the Pre-K and Kindergarten programs.

Besides using the Seton-provided books and lesson plans, you are also welcome to supplement or substitute anything else at your discretion.

You do not need to let us know what modifications you are making. Just enter the grades on your MySeton page or the quarter report forms.

How do I determine the parent grade for my child’s assignments?

Remember, if it’s a parent grade, it’s entirely up to you to determine the grade, but here are some suggestions. If it’s something objective, like a spelling test, divide the number correct by the total number, and that’s your grade. Feel free to give partial credit for any question if it’s something more subjective.

If it’s for the daily work, for example, the workbook pages of the English or Phonics books, you do not have to grade every page and average the grades.

Keep an eye on the work students do every day. Just give us your sense of how you think they are doing in those courses (and yes, attitude counts!). But again, it’s entirely up to you.

Seton Staff