Have you used an academic counselor? Need help mapping LT plan

[freemanfamilyof6]

Has anyone used an academic counselor?  If so who?  Would you recommend them?  Was it worth the cost?

 

I am needing help to solidify a long term plan for my 11 year old accelerated learner.  I feel like I have a good grasp on long term plans for my other 3 children, but I feel I need help with this child.  She excels at pretty much everything in life, but her area of giftedness is Language Arts and Music.  I know she is easily capable of getting her associates degree by 18, if not sooner.... but I am not quite sure which route to take.  Community College locally or online major University?  AP classes yes or no?  When can they start these?

 

Any parents who can offer suggestions on paths for middle school through high school including AP classes and college credit?  We are a Christian homeschool family and I want options that respect out worldview.  

 

 

 

 

 

[regentrude]

The best counselor I can think of is this board. I homeschooled two gifted children through high school, and everything I needed to learn I learned here.

I invite you to come over to the high school forum and peruse the pinned threads; they are a gold mind of information.

 

Whether CC, AP or DE at a 4 y university is the best option for your student depends on so many factors: interests, personality, availability, financial situation.

People here have done all of the above. 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2018 by regentrude

[Dmmetler]

We’re going the CC route. DD isn’t sure if she wants to pursue a degree or not, but it’s serving a role now. We went CC due to a) DD’s need for classmates and a “schoolâ€that online wasn’t serving

b) that DD was a lot more comfortable with the relatively small (and, since only a subset of students are present at any time) and relatively uncrowded CC than the state U, and many of the profs teach the same classes for both, so there wasn’r a major academic difference for lower division, gen ed coursework.

c) price-since DE money doesn’t pick up until Jr year/age 16, it’s 1/3 of the price.

 

However, CC is not filtered for younger kids or to match a Christian worldview. I haven’t found anything that I particularly object to, but I know of parents of 17 yr old DE students who have at the same CC in the same classes, so I’d definitely look into that before going the CC route.

 

I know Azusa Pacific was trying to put together an online program for AL’s to do classes in a cohort online, but I don’t know what came of it. BYU has a reputation for being welcoming as well. Neither would be a good fit for my family’s worldview, but might be OK for yours.

[Black-eyed Suzan]

I hope I'm not hijacking your thread, OP, but how does one begin to evaluate the rigor of the available options?

 

It's my understanding from perusing the High School board that AP or honors classes can be more rigorous than a similar CC option. But how does one tell beforehand since it varies?

[SoCal_Bear]

You can't technically tell, but it's true IME. I used CC to get easy A's for credits that I didn't want to work that hard for at Cal. Why take a weeder Biology class with pre-meds when I can do it at CC for an easy A? I worked much harder in my AP courses than I ever did for my CC courses. The students in  AP courses will tend to be of similar level academically and generally speaking with similar long term goals. CC is a far broader population of students. That being said, CC is by far and way, the most affordable route. If you are going to do online AP courses, that's usually running about 800 to 2,000+ per course.

[Elastimom]

Hi!  English is my second language, so I apologize for grammatical errors in advance...

 

I agree with everything above posters said.  It all varies, even if it's the same CC, AP, or other university courses, whether it fits to your child depends on your child personality and numerous other factors.

I have DS14 who takes some DE classes at our local CC. We choose this route by talking to family friends (with experience), examining his future career field, and reading every section of CC's website as well as my DS's "would be nice to get in" colleges' websites.  Familiarize yourself with each college's requirements give you some ideas of what needs to be done during middle school and high school years.    

 

That being said, OP, I also have DD11 who is very similar to how you described your DD.  She wants to go to a college eventually, but she has no idea what she wants to study. Yes, I know she's only 11, but it would be much easier if she shows some interests in something!! She dances most days a week at pre-professional level and she plays piano at high level as well. But she knows she won't be a professional dancer nor a music major student at college. All she wants to be at this point is a stay at home mom and homeschooling her children.  Although that's so flattering to hear as a mom, I feel very lost in planning her academic career.  So, I spend a lot of time coming here and read, read, and read more :)

[8filltheheart]

The best counselor I can think of is this board. I homeschooled two gifted children through high school, and everything I needed to learn I learned here.

I invite you to come over to the high school forum and peruse the pinned threads; they are a gold mind of information.

 

Whether CC, AP or DE at a 4 y university is the best option for your student depends on so many factors: interests, personality, availability, financial situation.

People here have done all of the above. 

 

I agree.  You can also just continue to homeschool at home.  Language arts is probably one of the easiest areas of work at a student's level without enrolling in a college course.  

 

My current college freshman immersed herself in languages.  Somewhere around 12ish, epic poetry and Shakespeare became 1st loves.  She did things like memorized Edinburgh after Flodden simply bc she wanted to.  She bought an 1800s copy of Marmion with her own $$ and it is one of her prized possessions.  The world of literature is wide open when you homeschool. 

[Arcadia]

My DS13 who is also my oldest recently asked for career guidance counseling. He did the Meyer Briggs a few times out of curiosity and he is kind of tired with being a generalist. I think academic/career counseling needs some buy in from the child to be useful. This kid has always said that he wants to be self employed eventually but don’t mind working for someone else first. However he wasn’t interested in counseling at 11 years old and it would have been a waste of time and money to bring him to an academic counselor. When I was his age, I would not have benefited from an academic counselor but would have benefited from a career counselor. My high school teachers, kind as they were, could tell me what my academic strengths were but not what jobs would have played to my personality. Took me two ill-fitting but well paying jobs to find where my personality and job requirements mesh the best. My husband’s first job bore him to tears so it might have helped him too to have career guidance counseling.

 

I did bounce off ideas with his CTY JHU SET counselor because of privacy reasons. It’s easier to discuss quirks with a counselor (giving more detailed information including our zip code, family income, school district issues, insurance coverage for testing) than putting too much private info online. We are neither poor enough nor “earning enough†and we live in an academic powerhouse area so it can sometimes be helpful sounding things out with someone familiar with that kind of combination of factors.

 

My younger boy DS12 has zero interest in academic or career counseling. He just want the easiest path to a college degree at the moment. When and if he ask, we would look into it.

 

Edited for typing errors.

Edited January 19, 2018 by Arcadia