Updated: Very disappointed w/Landry Academy rescheduling

[MtnTeaching]

I am having a moment of frustration.

 

At the beginning of the year, I signed both dc up for the Landry Academy Chemistry Lab Intensive (fairly expensive).  Thank goodness I did, because I wound up bailing on my original chemistry curriculum and restarting well into the semester.  I was thinking, "Well, at least I know that labs are covered if we are not able to cover everyone that I had planned during the year".

 

Fast forward to last week when I received a very short email stating that they have rescheduled the lab intensive days.  The new dates are absolutely awful for us. Dd is in a Musical Theater production that week and Ds has an AP test.  I am now into the second semester - what do they expect me to do?  Plan and cram a year's worth of labs into this semester?

 

They are willing to give me a refund , but what do I do about the labs?  I was already going to drive to the bottom of our state and pay for two nights at a hotel.  Now I am just miffed.  It is possible for us to do the intensive, but it will put a HUGE time constraint and major stress on us now.  Very unhappy with the situation.  No explanation, just a short note stating they were changing it.

 

Do I try to plan and cram chemistry labs into this semester when we are already behind and trying to catch up?  Or do we try to cram the two days in and add major stress to our lives?

 

UPDATE:  I just wanted to update this in case it gets searched years from now.  Landry Academy has worked with me to schedule other classes with the refund from the Lab Intensives.  They needed to reschedule their lab days.  Things like that happen. It definitely put us in the position of not being able to attend the new class dates due to other prior commitments. It also left us scrambling to figure out ways to fulfill our class objectives.  However, they did apologize and offered me several other options to try and rectify our situation. (And, I have had time to cool off a bit.)

 

Other than this hiccup, we have been very pleased with the classes ds and dd are taking with them this year. 

 

Our family has signed up for a total of 5 classes for next year.  I even signed up for one for myself!

[swimmermom3]

If they will give you your money back, would you be willing to invest in a MicroChem Kit or two and use the same weekend that your originally scheduled to work your way through the labs? Start on Friday and keep it fun with some breaks in the middle. I don't know if your kids would enjoy this series, but it might keep the spark going while they are on their lab marathon:

 

Chemistry: A Volatile History

 

Ds and I enjoyed the series and thought it was well done.

 

Good luck and I am sorry it worked out that way.

 

 

[MtnTeaching]

This looks good.  We may have to do this.  I am just not sure what to do.  I was already feeling a bit stressed over the restart on the chemistry, but was finally feeling we were on the right track.  I was feeling like I had a safety net when it came to the labs.

 

Thank you for the info.  The series looks very interesting.

[kiana]

I'd do your own intensive as suggested above, though I might not do it over a whole weekend -- when you don't have to travel, it's much easier. I see it's 9-5 2 days, with a lunch break -- this makes me think that you ought to be able to do four weekend days of 4 hours each, which would be much less mentally exhausting and split it up a bit.

[swimmermom3]

I'd do your own intensive as suggested above, though I might not do it over a whole weekend -- when you don't have to travel, it's much easier. I see it's 9-5 2 days, with a lunch break -- this makes me think that you ought to be able to do four weekend days of 4 hours each, which would be much less mentally exhausting and split it up a bit.

 

This is a much better suggestion, I just didn't know how much time you had. You could also do the labs that match the material you've covered so far and then intersperse the remaining ones throughout the last semester.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what did you move from and what did you move to (curriculum)?

[Julie of KY]

Alternatively, get a refund and sign up for a new intensive next year. I see no reason you can't finish the class over more than one year unless your child is graduating.

 

Get a refund, take a deep breath and then sit back and decide what you want to do.

[MtnTeaching]

This is a much better suggestion, I just didn't know how much time you had. You could also do the labs that match the material you've covered so far and then intersperse the remaining ones throughout the last semester.

 

If you don't mind my asking, what did you move from and what did you move to (curriculum)?

 

OK - deep breath.  I already have the Home Scientist CK01A Lab Kit.  I sent him an email asking if he had by chance already lined the kit up with the course I am now doing and the sweet man sent back a great list of chapters aligned with the labs.  The interesting thing was that in the information he sent me - the labs were pretty much all scheduled in the second half of the chemistry course.  There may still be hope that we will be able to get this done.

 

Regarding the change in curriculum:

I thought I had it all figured out.  Ds(11th) is not a STEM guy.  He is definitely a humanities fellow.  Dd(9th) is thinking about some sort of science-related (read that as "animal-related") field.  However, she struggles a bit with dyslexia.  I chose "Conceptual Chemistry" thinking that it would be a bit lighter for dd and possibly not as much of a load for ds since he already has a few APs and other rigorous courses.  I was hoping that it would be a good intro for dd's biology course next year and may even be an intro for an AP or Honors-type chemistry course later on.

 

It just did not work for us. The more we got into it, the more I had this feeling that we just were not covering the basic "traditional" chemistry topics that a high school student needs to be familiar with.  The math was not just light, but pretty much non-existent.  Having said that, I do think the course has merit.  I was just getting more and more uncomfortable with the lack of a more traditional track for us.

 

Now, we are using the Georgia Public Broadcasting Chemistry 101 course with additional reading from the CK-12 online text (this is the text that the labs are lined up with).  I supplement with both Zumdahl's "World of Chemistry" and a Prentice-Hall "Chemistry" teacher's text I already had.  We are scrambling, but hopefully we will not have to go all the way through the summer with this course.  

 

I mentioned in another post somewhere that after 9 years homeschooling, I am not afraid to jettison something that is not working and change my curriculum.  I just wish I had not been so stubborn at trying to make the other one work for so long.

[MtnTeaching]

I want to thank all of you.  You are voices of reason and innovation when I am freaked out about this homeschooling stuff.

 

I was hoping to give this aspect to a professional.  But, you know what?  I LIKE doing labs.  I really want to make sure that we do the lab reports correctly, but otherwise, I like the labs.

 

(This will also save me over $500!!!)

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

my son did Landry's Chemistry Intensive the year after he finished his Chemistry course.

Our main reason for insisting on outside labs is our local university. They're very picky on how labs are done, and flatly refuse any labs done at home.

Take that into account, although you're most likely not in a situation like us. Homeschooling in the States is so much easier.

[swimmermom3]

OK - deep breath.  I already have the Home Scientist CK01A Lab Kit.  I sent him an email asking if he had by chance already lined the kit up with the course I am now doing and the sweet man sent back a great list of chapters aligned with the labs.  The interesting thing was that in the information he sent me - the labs were pretty much all scheduled in the second half of the chemistry course.  There may still be hope that we will be able to get this done.

 

Regarding the change in curriculum:

I thought I had it all figured out.  Ds(11th) is not a STEM guy.  He is definitely a humanities fellow.  Dd(9th) is thinking about some sort of science-related (read that as "animal-related") field.  However, she struggles a bit with dyslexia.  I chose "Conceptual Chemistry" thinking that it would be a bit lighter for dd and possibly not as much of a load for ds since he already has a few APs and other rigorous courses.  I was hoping that it would be a good intro for dd's biology course next year and may even be an intro for an AP or Honors-type chemistry course later on.

 

It just did not work for us. The more we got into it, the more I had this feeling that we just were not covering the basic "traditional" chemistry topics that a high school student needs to be familiar with.  The math was not just light, but pretty much non-existent.  Having said that, I do think the course has merit.  I was just getting more and more uncomfortable with the lack of a more traditional track for us.

 

Now, we are using the Georgia Public Broadcasting Chemistry 101 course with additional reading from the CK-12 online text (this is the text that the labs are lined up with).  I supplement with both Zumdahl's "World of Chemistry" and a Prentice-Hall "Chemistry" teacher's text I already had.  We are scrambling, but hopefully we will not have to go all the way through the summer with this course.  

 

I mentioned in another post somewhere that after 9 years homeschooling, I am not afraid to jettison something that is not working and change my curriculum.  I just wish I had not been so stubborn at trying to make the other one work for so long.

 

Actually, I think you are making a very graceful recovery and everything should be fine.

 

I do have one other idea since you like to do labs. Take that weekend and maybe an extra day or two and come play in our "lab." There needs to be at least one adult in it. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

[MtnTeaching]

 

I do have one other idea since you like to do labs. Take that weekend and maybe an extra day or two and come play in our "lab." There needs to be at least one adult in it. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

That would be a blast!!

 

You better beware... we might take you up on it!  My dh has business out your way (I believe I am thinking the correct state) every once and awhile.  He and I headed out there for a late anniversary trip one long weekend.  We had such a blast, we have been talking about taking the kids ever since.

 

I know my Skywalker and your SailorDude would have a blast together

[MtnTeaching]

I just wanted to update this in case it gets searched years from now.  Landry Academy has worked with me to schedule other classes with the refund from the Lab Intensives.  They needed to reschedule their lab days.  Things like that happen. It definitely put us in the position of not being able to attend the new class dates due to other prior commitments. It also left us scrambling to figure out ways to fulfill our class objectives.  However, they did apologize and offered me several other options to try and rectify our situation.

 

Other than this hiccup, we have been very pleased with the classes ds and dd are taking with them this year. 

 

Our family has signed up for a total of 5 classes for next year.  I even signed up for one for myself!