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How glamorous is your life?   Military life overseas isn't always a piece of cake, but it certainly does have some benefits!

April had a question about translating life in Spain into a high school level class.

Dear Lee,
Thank you for your Comprehensive Records program, it is exactly what I've been looking for!  I am already enjoying the Silver membership too.   We are military and live in Spain.  We've had the opportunity to travel here in Spain.  We've been all over the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar), learning about the history, culture, architecture, gastronomy, and language (we use Rosette Stone) of our host country.  This a course! Spanish Language and Culture Abroad I & II.  Our son, Alex, is a freshman this year.  Here's where I need your help.

We travel to other countries as well here in Europe but usually don't spend more than a day and a half in each place.  Since arriving we've walked the streets of Monaco where the Monte Carlo grand prix is run each year, we've seen the leaning tower of Pisa, posed with the great master's statues in Plaza del Signoria in Florence, imagined a gladiatorial battle while seated in the Colosseum in Rome, awed by the vastness of the collections of art in the Vatican Museum including the Pieta in Saint Peter's Basilica, strolled the streets of Pompeii in the shadow of Mt Vesuvius, rode a gondola under the bridge of sighs and along St. Marks Square in Venice, marveled at the engineering of the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens, posed as Apollo on Delos Island (birth place of Apollo), felt the calm of Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque and the cool air of the under-city cisterns of Istanbul, entered the library at Ephesus, seen the catacombs of Palermo, dined in Siracusa, and enjoyed hot chocolate and pastries on Mount Etna.  We've gotten lost on the tram system in Switzerland, rode the Rhine visiting small towns and castles along this mighty river including Strasbourg France and Cologne Germany where we experience the famous Christmas Markets (we did this just last week!).  We've even been to Holland and been in a real working windmill and spent the day in Amsterdam seeing the Anne Frank house and the Rijksmuseum (great works of the dutch masters!).  Still our plans include skiing the German Alps in Edelweiss in February with day trips to see the sights, a Nile cruise in May from Luxor to Cairo, and a week in Paris in July.

How do I make this into a course from our son?  Each country is different, the culture, gastronomy, topography, and language all different.  I do plan on taking all the "art" that Alex has seen from all the museums (I love art but Alex could really care less) and making into an "Art Appreciation" course.  But what to do with all the travel experiences?  I know some can go with his history and geography, but the travel experiences in itself could be a course I think.  Alex did not keep a journal or log, we were just to busy during our travels to do so.  We were more concerned that he really take it all in and enjoy it.  This way he will remember these  experiences more fondly rather than think of them as work.   Any suggestions to meld all this into a course would be most appreciated.
fondly,
~ April in Spain

Dear April,

It's so great to hear from you!  I'm so fond of my military and missionary families overseas!

One of the tips you will learn in the Comprehensive Record Solution is how to find the names of classes like that.  For example, when you get stuck on what to call a class, look at college catalogs, or community college catalogs, and look for similar classes.  At my son's university, I knew they had classes for their study abroad program, so I looked that up.  This is what I found:
http://www.spu.edu/acad/UGCatalog/20101/coursedescriptions2.asp?cat_year=20101&term_year=20101&subj=EUR

On that list, this course seems the closest to your experience: EUR 3500: European Civilization Offered in Europe. Provides a cultural investigation of Europe and an on-site practicum. This course examines contemporary Europe as part of the European Quarter abroad, with special attention to a Christian perspective on the historical growth of European cultures. The language skills acquired by students are demonstrated in intensive programs of living and travel.

That University course can become the basis for your course description. You can call your class "European Civilization" or  "European Cultural Studies"  and put it in the history or social studies section.

Be sure that you don't do any "double dipping."  In other words, each hour of study can only be used one time.  In my opinion, it would probably be a good idea to count one credit in a year for European Studies.  If you have another 180 hours to spend, then a second high school credit in "Art History" might be appropriate.  Your son is still young, so I wouldn't worry about that too much.

I hope that helps!  What do you think?  Is that a good fit for your class? If you like this type of consulting when you are overseas, you might want to upgrade to the Gold Care Club.  I answer a lot of emails like this for my overseas Gold Care Club members who can't call me during my office hours.

Have a great day!  What an exciting location!


Homeschooling is NOT the same as doing school at home.  There is LOTS of freedom!  My Gold Care Club will give you all the help you need to succeed!