Wilson Hill Academy

[cintinative]

One more thing from the meeting. A few people asked about more classes for west coast kids. WHA says there just isn't demand for them - that kids prefer the early morning EST classes! But, they say if there is demand, the new teachers want more sections, so they will add them.

 

I was astonished with the idea of teens wanting the early morning Times (est). I know my kid prefers her classes start no earlier than 11 est. Yawn!

 

 

This surprised me too. I wonder if they have surveyed the parents about the class times, or if they just assume that because the early EST times fill up that means that those are the ones people want.  We live on in the EST zone and I wasn't even sure if my child would want the 8:30 start or the afternoon one. He said the morning, but I am inclined toward the later one because otherwise we are likely doing math and Latin in the afternoon slump.  I'm not sure what to do about that. 

[rdj2027]

The question on the survey concerning times simply asked what times people prefer and only labeled them EST in the heading.  When I filled out the questionnaire I first marked times from 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.  When checking my answers in the end, I realized that no way do I want an 8:00 a.m. class because we live in Hawaii.  It did not hit home initially that if I put down 8:00 a.m. that means 2:00 a.m. for my kids. I changed my answers to 2:00 p.m or later but I would not be surprised if people marked that question wrong.  I wish they had given options for CT or PT because it would have been clearer.

[Omma]

Yea, I had asked my dd which times she preferred and she preferred 8 a.m. slots to late afternoon ones.  She thinks it will help her get on a better schedule next year, but I think it's going to be rougher than she realizes to give a speech in rhetoric class at 8 a.m.!  She also wanted to make sure she wasn't trying to do math in the afternoon. 

 

So, yes, those of us in WHA this year were given a survey last month asking when we were willing and able to do classes for next year.

 

I wonder how they could expand that survey idea to those who were willing to sign the dotted line for next year if only there were better class times available for pacific time zones, etc.  That would be rough to do, but maybe now that they are growing larger and employing more teachers, they will open up more time slots as others have suggested.  We will see...

[lbell]

One more thing from the meeting. A few people asked about more classes for west coast kids. WHA says there just isn't demand for them - that kids prefer the early morning EST classes! But, they say if there is demand, the new teachers want more sections, so they will add them.

 

I was astonished with the idea of teens wanting the early morning Times (est). I know my kid prefers her classes start no earlier than 11 est. Yawn!

Maybe it depends on how many classes a student takes.  My daughter takes 5 classes at WHA.  She likes to be done with classes by 12:30 EST. 

[Omma]

Well, there is one teacher who has to do late afternoon classes since she lives in Australia!  Her Latin classes start no early than 3:30 p.m. which I think is before dawn Australian time.

[yvonne]

Well, there is one teacher who has to do late afternoon classes since she lives in Australia!  Her Latin classes start no early than 3:30 p.m. which I think is before dawn Australian time.

 

And she is one of the best!  I took her Latin in a Week crash refresher course 8 or 9 years ago. My boys took her Omni II class when she was at VP. My daughter is currently taking her GC 4 course.

[Omma]

What?  She even teaches GC4?  Who knew????

 

Yes, she is a very personable, fun teacher.  I watch her Latin II archive recordings every week!  :)

[SoCal_Bear]

I'm the one who keeps posting the PST questions every single time WHA has one of these events. Squeaky wheel you know. There is no way on God's green earth that my son will be doing a class at WHA unless it is 12:30 PM EST or later. He is not at all pleasant in the morning and then asking him to engage thoughtfully in a class! My husband would say...have you lost your mind?!?! I'm sure it will surely only get worse the older he gets with the normal teen circadian rhythm issues.

[ScoutTN]

A few notes I made (mostly similar to RootAnn's):

 

1. Adding for next year AP Computer Science Principles (NOT programming)  and Greek I

2. Hired Kelly Hood, formerly with Veritas to help with course selection/college advising (title is Director of Advising Services)--later in the open house they said they they are working out how it will work (who will get what services) but some services will be open to all and some just for diploma students.

3. Tuition increases will likely happen. I was confused on why they were not more specific on this. Isn't registration in three weeks? 

 

 

Just to clarify, Kelly Hood came from Veritas Academy in Austin, not Veritas Press. 

[SoCal_Bear]

 

So, yes, those of us in WHA this year were given a survey last month asking when we were willing and able to do classes for next year.

 

I wonder how they could expand that survey idea to those who were willing to sign the dotted line for next year if only there were better class times available for pacific time zones, etc.  That would be rough to do, but maybe now that they are growing larger and employing more teachers, they will open up more time slots as others have suggested.  We will see...

The problem is that the survey was targeted to the existing population. They aren't capturing the potential population who live in later time zones but don't choose them because the times are not ideal. Case in point, I opted to go with Schole for Latin because the time was better because no way I could pull off a 1 1/2 hour Latin class at 8 AM PST for my son. 

[RootAnn]

I admit to also including a PST question/comment in the Q&A box even though we're in CST.  :coolgleamA:  I'm all for helping the PST & AKST & HST folks out. 

I'm the one who keeps posting the PST questions every single time WHA has one of these events. Squeaky wheel you know. 

I agree, also, that their survey a few months back only captured the existing population and thus had a flawed premise.

If you want to watch the meeting, they've posted a link under Announcements. 

[mirabillis]

Yea, I had asked my dd which times she preferred and she preferred 8 a.m. slots to late afternoon ones.  She thinks it will help her get on a better schedule next year, but I think it's going to be rougher than she realizes to give a speech in rhetoric class at 8 a.m.!  She also wanted to make sure she wasn't trying to do math in the afternoon. 

 

So, yes, those of us in WHA this year were given a survey last month asking when we were willing and able to do classes for next year.

 

I wonder how they could expand that survey idea to those who were willing to sign the dotted line for next year if only there were better class times available for pacific time zones, etc.  That would be rough to do, but maybe now that they are growing larger and employing more teachers, they will open up more time slots as others have suggested.  We will see...

 

we prefer early classes too, preferably 8am classtime. it's nice to start the day instead of lolly-gagging until class time. but we're west coast, so that means 11am or at latest, 12:30pm EST start time. it doesn't give us much wiggle room. can't do the 8am EST (5am) or 9:30am EST (6:30am). i think there could be more need, but maybe us west-coasters don't make that known we need more timeslots, as i suppose we're just sticking with what works for us and don't squeak about it.

[madteaparty]

I'm debating between CLRC GC 1 (apparently the student has to start from this level?) which includes a load of reading but also writing with detailed feedback versus GC 1+4 or any other GC at WHA with a writing course (we had Lange before and will do a higher level writing course) either with Lange or WHA. I'm trying to get in a GC course if DD goes to a brick and mortar which may not offer such a breadth of reading material.

 

That's my next question, for someone who may not have an opportunity to do all the great GC courses but can only choose one, which one at WHA would you recommend? At first I thought GC 1+4 was a class encompassing all 4 years, but apparently it's just a combo of levels 1 and 4. We've done Odyssey, Aeneid, some Cicero because of Lange and Lukeion.

 

Does a WHA GC class require commenting on 3 other people's comments? I'm sure it's helpful, right?

Do you really have to do the CLRC in order? I didn’t think so but I never asked. I know we wouldn’t do the one that’s so churchy (maybe GBIII?) but I love the looks of IV and am thinking hard how to fit into a future schedule.

[SoCal_Bear]

A little OT, but Schole has a series of Great Books courses for high school. It's 2 hours twice a week with a college profressor. 
http://www.scholeacademy.com/by-subject/great-books/

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by calbear

[Omma]

You know what?  I think we are going to make a big change and have my dd take AP Statistics instead of Latin 3.  Neither of us really like the Latin Alive series (although Mrs. Hensley is a sweetheart of a teacher).  And, honestly, it is me that is really crazy about Latin, not my dd.  She wants to take 4 years of Spanish and, at the end of this year, will have a solid 2 years of high school Latin as well.  Her favorite subject is actually math, and she has had a rather boring year of sitting in geometry classes (minus learning the names of theorems and enjoying making her constructions of angles and such look pretty).  So it just suddenly makes sense to do the following,which she is now quite happy about, for her junior year (all WHA except Spanish):

   Precalculus

   AP Statistics

   Honors Chemistry

   Great Conversations 5

   Spanish 3 (with Sr G)

   Rhetoric 1

And then I would take Henle II-Caesar from Memoria Press on my own as an audit (if they allow that).  Otherwise, it is more than a little selfish of me to tell my dd to take Latin so her mother can listen in, don't 'cha think?!! :smilielol5:  :tongue_smilie:  :w00t:

 

Brenda

  

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by Omma

[Roadrunner]

A little OT, but Schole has a series of Great Books courses for high school. It's 2 hours twice a week with a college profressor.

http://www.scholeacademy.com/by-subject/great-books/

Am I reading the description right that it’s 2 credit units (English and History) yet contains no writing component? Do you have any experience with this provider? Also how religious is it?

 

 

I know CLRC is an Orthodox Christian school, but are they the only secular GB providers at this point?

[SoCal_Bear]

Schole is pretty Christian. 

 

This is from their handbook about thie philosophy of liturgical learning:

2. Liturgical Learning

“Liturgical learning†is a phrase that describes the use of the embodied patterns from church worship and tradition for shaping the way we order time, space, and language in our schools and home schools. We believe that using elements of a liturgical pattern within our classes is an effective way to recover reflection and contemplation as part of learning. We think that it is one faithful application of the classical tradition, and it differentiates us from other online schools.

For example, one could use the following â€œorder of worship†as a pattern for ordering a lesson. This pattern or template is intended as a guide that is not “followed to the letter†but nonetheless shapes the “learning liturgy†of Scholé Academy classes to distinguish them as “scholé†courses. Our faculty embraces and loves incorporating this approach, and we believe our students will too.

Please note, the pattern of a class is determined by the course instructor. Many of our teachers incorporate elements of the following pattern, but the embodiment of “liturgical learning†will vary from teacher to teacher and class to class.

 

• Welcome/Greeting: Students are greeted by beautiful image(s) and music, perhaps with a inspirational quotation or key question, which they are asked to contemplate for several minutes.
• Grateful Acknowledgement: The students and the teacher express gratefulness for the art, one another, the opportunity study some aspect of God’s creation, mind, nature, humanity, etc.
• Confess What We Need: The students and the teacher confess a need for a disposition, a frame of mind, virtue, a heart that seeks and calls out for wisdom, etc. A written confession may be read and/or prayer offered (Key Scripture: Proverbs 2:1-7).
• Teach/Present/Discuss: The teacher leads a traditional lesson, ensuring that students are engaged and participating.
• Confess What We Know/Have Learned: The teacher leads a summary and review, sometimes taking the form of “creedal†confession that edifies.
• Expression of Thanksgiving: The teacher (or a mature student) leads the class in expressing gratitude to God, the teacher, and/or other students.
• Benediction/Dismissal: The teacher gives a prepared benediction written by the teacher or from traditional sources.
• Processional: The students return to beautiful music and images. Students are free to leave immediately or remain for quiet contemplation.

As we seek to recover and renew the scholé tradition of education, we know that we will misstep and veer from this path—after all we don’t know the path nearly as well as we would like. Still, we believe that finding and walking that path will be enriching to students, parents, and teachers. As we seek to recover the classical tradition of scholé, we welcome parental feedback and ideas about how we can better embody scholé in our online classes.

 

[cintinative]

A little OT, but Schole has a series of Great Books courses for high school. It's 2 hours twice a week with a college profressor. 

http://www.scholeacademy.com/by-subject/great-books/

 

 

This is more expensive than WHA correct?

 

Does Schole Academy offer sample classes for this? I am only seeing one for LFC A.

[London]

I'm not RootAnn, but I do have a child in Honors Comp after FOEW last year.  According to the parent meeting as I understood it, Honors Comp is going to change names and become a supplemental class for those who need more work with the essay form after completing FOEW.  Under this new guidance, I probably would not have signed my daughter up for the composition class this year.  

 

I think someone asked if FOEW would be labeled honors at last night's meeting and the answer was no.  I definitely disagree, but I suppose it doesn't matter in the junior high years anyway.

 

What is FOEW?

[RootAnn]

What is FOEW?

Fundamentals of Expository Writing

Also listed under LA4. Used to be taught by the incredible Mrs. Cindy Lange. Not sure how the class is run now that she's not there. Great "learn how to write (literary analysis) essays" class while reading books, learning literary terms, and getting some grammar & frequently-mistaken-words knowledge/review.

[London]

Can anyone who has taken a WTMA science class comment if they have also taken a WHA class as well? I am having a hard time to comparing the two since there are no classes to watch online for WHA.

[London]

Edited since my question is already answered.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by London

[London]

You know what?  I think we are going to make a big change and have my dd take AP Statistics instead of Latin 3.  Neither of us really like the Latin Alive series (although Mrs. Hensley is a sweetheart of a teacher).  And, honestly, it is me that is really crazy about Latin, not my dd.  She wants to take 4 years of Spanish and, at the end of this year, will have a solid 2 years of high school Latin as well.  Her favorite subject is actually math, and she has had a rather boring year of sitting in geometry classes (minus learning the names of theorems and enjoying making her constructions of angles and such look pretty).  So it just suddenly makes sense to do the following,which she is now quite happy about, for her junior year (all WHA except Spanish):

   Precalculus

   AP Statistics

   Honors Chemistry

   Great Conversations 5

   Spanish 3 (with Sr G)

   Rhetoric 1

And then I would take Henle II-Caesar from Memoria Press on my own as an audit (if they allow that).  Otherwise, it is more than a little selfish of me to tell my dd to take Latin so her mother can listen in, don't 'cha think?!! :smilielol5:  :tongue_smilie:  :w00t:

 

Brenda

 

My DS has taken a liking to statistics. Had your DD taken regular stats before this, or are you taking AP statistics as her first stats course?

[London]

 One last question: Are the AP classes approved for credit the way PA homeschooling classes are approved? I dislike the fact that the classes are not live at PA homeschoolers, but don't want to take the test and then find out the class was not AP approved by the college board. I'm sure someone knows the answer to this, just not me :) I didn't see it when I looked up the description of their AP chemistry for example

[lbell]

 One last question: Are the AP classes approved for credit the way PA homeschooling classes are approved? I dislike the fact that the classes are not live at PA homeschoolers, but don't want to take the test and then find out the class was not AP approved by the college board. I'm sure someone knows the answer to this, just not me :) I didn't see it when I looked up the description of their AP chemistry for example

From their webpage: "Wilson Hill Academy offers a variety of Advanced Placement® (AP®) courses approved by the College Board.  Details of the individual courses can be found on the appropriate summary pages" 

 

SaveSave

Edited January 28, 2018 by lbell

[London]

From thier webpage: "Wilson Hill Academy offers a variety of Advanced Placement® (AP®) courses approved by the College Board.  Details of the individual courses can be found on the appropriate summary pages" 

SaveSave

Thank you!

[mirabillis]

We have been debating which Statistics to take (WHA or Edhesive.com). My ds will be taking AP Calc AB next year with WHA, and we had been/are thinking of taking AP Stats too at WHA (as my son loves the Stats teacher) - but they are back to back (only time slots working for a west coast kid). That and the cost of WHA, I'm debating if that's the best choice. So we're looking more into Edhesive.com, where my son took AP Comp Sci successfully last year. Anyway, just my AP Stats 2 cents.

[Omma]

My DS has taken a liking to statistics. Had your DD taken regular stats before this, or are you taking AP statistics as her first stats course?

 

This would be her first stats course.  That is okay to do, right?  Way back when we did Saxon Math 8/7 (which was our first Saxon Math program), they had math activities every so often and I remember her making big, beautiful pie charts and bar graphs...just for fun with perfectly neat lines (and circles), lightly shaded color pencil markings, etc.  Silly or not, it is one reason I think she might enjoy this course.  I don't think she absolutely loved the probability part, though, but hoping the data analysis part will be exciting for her (my only real knowledge of this course is skimming the Table of Contents of the textbook, though, lol). 

 

Anyway, when my ds was a junior, he suddenly got a clue of what he wanted to do, and took three science courses in that one year (biology, chemistry, and a biological research into immunology course that our allergist offered him out of the blue one day).  I think the junior year is particularly important to show colleges that you are 'stepping it up' and adding in something that is noteworthy for you.  I am hoping that the double math courses this year will show that for my daughter, as this is a clear interest for her.

 

[London]

We have been debating which Statistics to take (WHA or Edhesive.com). My ds will be taking AP Calc AB next year with WHA, and we had been/are thinking of taking AP Stats too at WHA (as my son loves the Stats teacher) - but they are back to back (only time slots working for a west coast kid). That and the cost of WHA, I'm debating if that's the best choice. So we're looking more into Edhesive.com, where my son took AP Comp Sci successfully last year. Anyway, just my AP Stats 2 cents.

 

We will be doing calculus this fall, so I wonder if I should wait a year to do statistics after we have done calculus. For the past few months, my son has been reading or listening to statistics books...gotta love hoopla.

[London]

We have been debating which Statistics to take (WHA or Edhesive.com). My ds will be taking AP Calc AB next year with WHA, and we had been/are thinking of taking AP Stats too at WHA (as my son loves the Stats teacher) - but they are back to back (only time slots working for a west coast kid). That and the cost of WHA, I'm debating if that's the best choice. So we're looking more into Edhesive.com, where my son took AP Comp Sci successfully last year. Anyway, just my AP Stats 2 cents.

 

Not trying to hijack this thread, but what was your experience with AP computer science with edhesive? Did he do Principles or A? My DS has some experience with computer science...trying to figure out if an AP class is too much or not.

 

[mirabillis]

Edhesive Computer Science-A was a great first AP - especially for a younger student. My son was 9th grade and he earned a 4 on the exam (he had very minimal previous programming experience, but he's very mathy). Very well-organized materials with video & related activities & tests in modules you work through at own pace. We liked it a lot!

Edited January 28, 2018 by mirabillis

[SoCal_Bear]

Am I reading the description right that it’s 2 credit units (English and History) yet contains no writing component? Do you have any experience with this provider? Also how religious is it?

 

 

I know CLRC is an Orthodox Christian school, but are they the only secular GB providers at this point?

Roadrunner, 

 

WTMA offers that but not as a single course. You have to pair the Lit with the History course to get the integrated GB course.

[Roadrunner]

Roadrunner,

 

WTMA offers that but not as a single course. You have to pair the Lit with the History course to get the integrated GB course.

I know. But, you get double the writing. ☺ï¸

[crazyforlatin]

Ouch, GC is now $880 but it's worth 2.5 credits. CLRC is a bit cheaper at around $325 per semester (?) for 3 credits.

 

Does anyone know 2.5 credits in what areas? 1 for Literature, 1 for history and .5 for writing?

[h2bh]

The half credit is for theology in TGC.

[Roadrunner]

Ouch, GC is now $880 but it's worth 2.5 credits. CLRC is a bit cheaper at around $325 per semester (?) for 3 credits.

 

Does anyone know 2.5 credits in what areas? 1 for Literature, 1 for history and .5 for writing?[/quote

 

I think CLRC is 1 credit for English and 1 for history.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Roadrunner

[crazyforlatin]

 

Ouch, GC is now $880 but it's worth 2.5 credits. CLRC is a bit cheaper at around $325 per semester (?) for 3 credits.

 

Does anyone know 2.5 credits in what areas? 1 for Literature, 1 for history and .5 for writing?[/quote

 

I think CLRC is 1 credit for English and 1 for history.

 

I got the syllabus from fourisenough and the teacher says 3 credits. Given what madteaparty says about the writing, I would think 1 credit for writing is warranted. I know some places are worth the money, but I want to cover more in one GC class. If they receive accreditation this year, I could reconsider because DD will be applying to high schools (partly for the fun of it) and having some online classes that are accredited would support her applications.

[Roadrunner]

ame="Roadrunner" post="7984419" timestamp="1517342805"]

 

 

 

I got the syllabus from fourisenough and the teacher says 3 credits. Given what madteaparty says about the writing, I would think 1 credit for writing is warranted. I know some places are worth the money, but I want to cover more in one GC class. If they receive accreditation this year, I could reconsider because DD will be applying to high schools (partly for the fun of it) and having some online classes that are accredited would support her applications.

I am asking because we will eventually (though not next year) go down that road. I just assumed I would consider it as 2 because local high school writes about that much for their English course but reads probably 1/8th of it. Considering they are writing in history in high school as well and this credit is split into history as well, the biggest imbalance I see is tremendous reading load. I just wonder if it wouldn’t look on a high school transcript as padding if I have English separate from writing.

Is CLRC going for accreditation? I haven’t heard that.

[crazyforlatin]

I am asking because we will eventually (though not next year) go down that road. I just assumed I would consider it as 2 because local high school writes about that much for their English course but reads probably 1/8th of it. Considering they are writing in history in high school as well and this credit is split into history as well, the biggest imbalance I see is tremendous reading load. I just wonder if it wouldn’t look on a high school transcript as padding if I have English separate from writing.

Is CLRC going for accreditation? I haven’t heard that.

You're right, that's something to consider.

 

Not CLRC, but I thought WHA might be perhaps?

[Omma]

Yes, WHA has been a 'candidate' for accreditation since last fall.  They are expecting an announcement any day now regarding accreditation status.

 

A new 'student services fee' has been added, which is a one-time fee of $250 for new enrollments with a 'transition discount' for those already attending WHA.  Looks like we will pay a fee of $100 as my dd already attends WHA and is a rising 11th grader.  But she wouldn't pay another fee as a senior as it is just once and done.

 

A 'college advisor' was added to the academy just last week and she has already sent us a helpful link to a National College Fair database where we discovered a large venue to be held near us in March of this year.

[lbell]

What is CLRC?

[RootAnn]

Classical Learning Resource Center

What is CLRC?

 

[lbell]

Ouch, GC is now $880 but it's worth 2.5 credits. CLRC is a bit cheaper at around $325 per semester (?) for 3 credits.

 

Does anyone know 2.5 credits in what areas? 1 for Literature, 1 for history and .5 for writing?

 

Where did you find the cost of TGC courses?  Do you know the cost of the one credit courses at WHA for 2018-19?

[lbell]

I found the cost of WHA classes this year

 

 

Edited January 30, 2018 by lbell

[Penelope]

Ouch.

[Tranquility7]

Ouch is right. Is it just my imagination, or is that a significant jump from last year?? I thought TGC was closer to $650 or $700??

[Omma]

Ouch.

 

Yes, it is a big 'ouch', especially considering I just wrote a check for $375 to Sr. Gamache at La Clase Divertida for Spanish III next year ($50 off for getting it in before Feb. 15).

 

However, when you compare to paying $1600 or whatever it costs nowadays for a parent-tutor and all associated other costs at Classical Conversations, I am thrilled to have my dd get such qualified master teachers that spend 90 minutes twice a week in live online instruction AND they do all the grading!  :)  Of course, there is always a trade-off, but WHA has been a big blessing to our family.

[Omma]

Ouch is right. Is it just my imagination, or is that a significant jump from last year?? I thought TGC was closer to $650 or $700??

 

It seems to me it was closer to $750 and the other classes were around $650.  But, yes, that was the biggest jump and it was a shocker for sure.  Good thing they warned us in the Open House meeting recently about a tuition hike.  I think they know that WHA is becoming more and more popular and they are needing to hire more teachers...all good things...plus they can probably charge more when accreditation happens.

 

[cintinative]

It seems to me it was closer to $750 and the other classes were around $650.  But, yes, that was the biggest jump and it was a shocker for sure.  Good thing they warned us in the Open House meeting recently about a tuition hike.  I think they know that WHA is becoming more and more popular and they are needing to hire more teachers...all good things...plus they can probably charge more when accreditation happens.

 

 

 

It seems like a big jump but I don't know what the costs are to run a class like this.  It's good to know you all think it is worth it.

[lbell]

It seems to me it was closer to $750 and the other classes were around $650.  But, yes, that was the biggest jump and it was a shocker for sure.  Good thing they warned us in the Open House meeting recently about a tuition hike.  I think they know that WHA is becoming more and more popular and they are needing to hire more teachers...all good things...plus they can probably charge more when accreditation happens.

 

 

I will gladly pay the higher price so they can continue to attract and employ fabulous teachers.  The WHA classes my daughter has taken are far superior to all the schools in my area including the private, college-prep schools in my area that charge 28K a year.  It seems like a bargain to me!