Online G3 and Athena

[Kathy G]

Experience with Online G3 and Athena's Advanced Academy? We tried one class from each (Chem with AAA and Horrible Egyptians and Romans with OG3) NOT impressed. We ended up doing the readings and going more in depth on our own assignments. We do like the webinar discussions, but the weekly assignments do not seem to be that advanced. The forums seem to be a joke and we are now skipping those as well. Is this true for all the classes or did I just happen to pick some duds? I had liked the idea of farming out some subjects, but this is ending up being very shallow and busywork.

 

Tell me if you took specific courses and liked the depth, how far advanced did you place your kids?  I would really like for this to work in the future, but if I am paying money and just having to keep revamping the depth each week it isn't really worth it.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Kathy G

[SierraNevada]

Agree. We did Athena's last year, including chemistry and were not impressed. The chemistry book was very simple and the assignments very low level and lots of busywork. But it is good for class discussion. We have taken now about 5 Athena's classes and they were all that way. We stopped. I'd consider them great for 5-8 years olds who are advanced but not advanced in their output. We haven't tried G3 yet.

[Dmmetler]

We have not done anything but history, literature, and writing with Athena's or G3, and have only taken classes with Kirsten, Suki and Guinevere. I don't think the format is well suited for science at all, so we haven't even attempted those.

 

Of the two, Athena's is better for social. In some ways, I think 5-8 is a little young, even if the content fit is good, because the strength of the class comes from discussions with other kids, and if your child isn't comfortable getting into those detailed discussions, on the forums, in the chat windows after classes, and through PMs, you miss the main benefit. In DD's case, that really didn't happen until age 9 or so, and it's been in the last year that she has really taken off. At this point, the class is an afterthought, but she adores the shared writing and discussion, so she's keeping a class for that reason. Suki's writer's workshop is really awesome, and DD is a "frequent flyer" there. I have never used an Athena's or G3 class as my sole resource. The writing is light, and since no feedback is provided (in most classes) it really is up to the parent to go beyond. If you want a hands-off, all in one provider, this isn't it. But for giving DD other kids who understand (for example) why she was upset that the Swiss Family Robinson killed a turtle to get it's shell to cook in, it has been invaluable.

 

DD is enjoying the literature discussion in G3 as well. I set my own writing assignments. She finds G3 much less social, and the forums less interactive, but again, a big part of the joy comes from swapping Shakespearean insults and from finding people to connect with.

 

Honestly, I'm to the point where I don't expect any class, from any provider, to meet DD's needs. So for me, finding something that provides that social, interactive, fun piece with other kids who are passionate and also want to have fun with the subject is invaluable, even if the assignments are on the light side. I can make the assignments more on DD's level much more easily than I can provide her a dozen kids close to her age who thrill over Shakespearean English.

[Vida Winter]

We have signed our kids up for many classes at both academies. My kids liked them in general, and some were big hits. A favorite at Athena's was Mythology prep for national mythology exam. At G3 my young teen enjoyed history through movies (science fiction & society and one of the American history courses). The G3 movie courses were particularly engaging because we would watch the movies together. I consider these courses electives to provide a balance with our more traditional coursework.

[madteaparty]

I consider these courses electives to provide a balance with our more traditional coursework.

 

This. They are great electives. I picked DS's literature class, and he picked his ;)

[Jackie]

DD (6yo) is taking her first Athena's class this semester and loving it. She's doing their first level Lit class, which chooses books at about a fifth grade level. The level is a good fit for her - the reading is easy level but the content more complex than she normally reads independently (about the level we usually use as family read aloud), the assignments are usually a good fit though it takes me prodding her to think more in depth for her answers, the class discussion is right up her alley and she loves participating. I doubt I would use them for anything other than discussion-based classes, because the chances that any place would hit that "just right" level of depth in content is so unlikely. Plus, DD mostly wants to participate to have a chance to be "in class" with other kids.

[Runningmom80]

We are much happier with G3, the age of the students is a tad older and it lends to more mature conversation skills.  Athena's had a lot of really young kids who didn't know proper etiquette for speaking out of turn.  I also didn't feel like they went deeper into the subject.  (It was SOTW 3, so there really wasn't time to go deeper I guess, in a semester course.)

 

DS is REALLY enjoying his Scratch workshop.  The workload is good, and the depth is perfect for him.

[lamppost]

Mine is doing Aristotle Leads the Way this semester and I think it's really good. You can do the bare minimum, which is reading a couple of chapters each week and doing a short writing assignment, or you can do the many "Highly Suggested" and "Optional" assignments. This class is taught by the founder (Dr. Kirsten) and she includes about 30-40 optional assignments and resources for every week of class. So you can keep it shallow or go deeper, depending on what you have time for. 

Agreed that the main draw is having other kids to discuss the ideas with. Some of the kids in this class have really gone above and beyond with completing their assignments, so that's good for my kid to see.

You might look at The Potter's School for something more hands-off. Tried an upper-elementary writing class this summer that was a dud, but we might try again in the future.

 

 

Here's a recent assignment from Athena's:

 

•  

  Conflicting Cosmologies
•  

  On p. 109, our book mentions that Aristotle (384-322 BCE) was very important in biological scientific advancements including taxonomy which is the classification/organization of organisms. Aristotle's classification system didn't quite work for all types of organisms. Later scientists used the classification ideas to come up with more comprehensive taxonomy or classification systems.

  Carolus Linnaeus (1707 - 1778) was a Swedish scientist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of taxonomy - the Linnaean classification system. Explore the links about Aristotle's classification and the Linnaean classification system in the Highly Suggested section to discover their differences and then answer the question in the forum below.

   

  Knowing what you know about Aristotle, how do you think he would respond to the Linnaean classification system? Do you think he would agree or disagree? Why?

  Answer these questions in five interesting sentences.

  After you post, read through your classmates' ideas. Respond and ask a question to at least one of your classmates about what s/he wrote. You may also write about what you liked about their post. 

 

[eternalsummer]

DD11 is taking the mythology class this semester; it is her first online class (she takes it asynchronously as she is in school during the day).

 

Even with kids to talk to in school all day, DD misses conversation with other bright kids about things that interest her; that is what I was hoping she'd get out of Athena's, and it has been great.  I don't know that I would use it for science or math (though it would be a *great* supplement to a more thorough course in a science topic) but for on-level discussion with other bright, interested kids, it is vastly superior to B&M school right now.

[SeaConquest]

For those that have done the CTY courses in elementary, I wonder how those compare to Athena's?

 

Sacha took Geology at Athena's last year, and loved it. He was a new 7 yr old at the time. He is taking literature and physics this year, and also really enjoys the webinars. We have had to do a bunch of them asynchronously this year, due to schedule issues that arose, and he still really enjoys listening to the webinars. The homework assignments don't always thrill him, and I have been more hands off with him than I likely should be at this age, but the discussion with other kids has been worth it for us. He gets really excited when he hears/sees his friends in the webinars each week. 

Edited October 20, 2016 by SeaConquest

[Tsutsie]

We have only done classes with Athena's. We found it very "young" and DS11 did not enjoy the discussions at all. Homework was a waste of time because the other kids were often off topic or their comments were not conducive to conversation. 

 

We are now doing a class with Lukeion (Witty Wordsmith) and Jetta's physics class - both are fantastic and perfectly challenging. 

[SunshineMom]

My dd took Athena's Literature classes when she was in early elementary. The book choices were good as well as the guided discussions from "Athena" however I don't remember any intensive writing assignments. We used Athena's classes so my dd could have an exchange of ideas with other kids on a regular basis.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Jewels