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beachnut

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Posts posted by beachnut

  1. Sooo bummed about DS's score (and I feel very guilty because it's a good score...188). BUT he DROPPED 8 points from last year's score after a fair amount of test prep.

     

    Last year, as a sophomore, he scored a 196 and I was thrilled, thinking that with some test prep, he's close enough to the cut off that he just might achieve it in his junior year. I knew it was very possible to increase your score by 10-20 points from year to year. Well, his score decreased this year and I'm SO disappointed. Trying hard not to convey this to my son.

     

    And please know that I realize it is a good score and I should be proud of my son. And I am. But I truly never expected a DECREASE, esp. after all the time we took out of our school schedule and during the summer to devote to test prep. I am not really into the "competitive high school race" that so many parents are into (no AP courses here, except an AP Art Drawing Portfolio course), but I always expect to see improvement from year to year. Worst of all, his scores decreased in Critical Reading and Writing...his two strongest areas.

     

    Feeling very frustrated and doubting my decision about curriculum we used, about homeschooling through high school, etc.

  2. For a strong student who is a poor test-taker, dual-enrolled classes at a CC or university are probably a better option than AP or CLEP exams.

     

    Brenda

     

    He's not a poor test taker -- just not a great one. He's done pretty well (but not great) on PSAT & ACT. But in actual course tests (perhaps at the end of a chapter), his grades can range from A-D, mostly in the B-C range. (We've been brushing up on test-taking strategies this year, so maybe that will help.) But I was just curious if taking a CLEP exam after a low AP test score was a possibility. I really don't like the idea of a one-time-only test determining whether or not you get college credit for a whole year's worth of work. DS will do a mix of a few APs, a few more CLEPs and mostly CC courses. I don't want to rely on any one credit-earning method, although his 1st choice college accepts all three.

  3. DS16 is smart but not a great test-taker. I want him to take at least a couple of AP classes, but I'm worried he might not score well enough on the AP exam to earn college credit. So I'm wondering...if a student gets only a 1 or 2 on an AP exam, can he then go and take a CLEP test on the same subject and still earn college credit? Is this frowned upon? Is this breaking any kind of rule that I don't know about? I'm just trying to have a back-up plan in place in case the test score is low. (He's going to take AP classes in his areas of strength, so I know he can handle the content.)

  4. I would absolutely encourage her to be involved in the play, but I would dangle that as the carrot to fuel her motivation to get her schoolwork done. "If you do this, this, and this by this date, I will be happy to drive you to and from auditions, play practice, etc." That way, you are not rewarding her for slacking off, and you are showing her that you want her to pursue her passion and you will help her do it. But I think it needs to be a win-win for both of you.

  5. I absolutely LOVE Lee's webinars that she has available on her website. Each one costs $15, but she often has a few on sale for $5. Right now, I'm listening to Homeschool High School Record Keeping , and it is VERY thorough & includes some helpful handouts. I think she's a fantastic resource for all things high school related. I'm a big fan and would highly recommend her webinars (which are found in her Store under "Parent Training a la Cart"). I have not yet tried any of her new Kindle books, but at $2.99 each, they seem like a bargain for all the practical advice she usually gives.

  6. I posted this a few months ago on the high school board, but in case you didn't see it .... There's a fabulous series of free, in-depth study skills lectures on YouTube by Professor Scott Brueckner of Long Beach City College. While the lectures are geared toward college students, most of the info is applicable to middle & high schoolers as well.

     

    There are 14 lectures, each about 45-50 minutes, that cover the following topics: Habits of Successful College Students, Organizing Your Study Time (Parts 1 & 2), Improving Your Listening Skills, Taking Better Lecture Notes, How to Predict Test Questions, Preparing for Tests, Test-Taking Skills, More Test-Taking Skills, How to Remember For Tests, Memory Tricks, More Memory Tricks, Great Ways to Study, & More Great Ways to Study. Many of them include helpful printable handouts. DS12 & DS16 have watched 8 of the 14 lectures so far, & they've been incredibly informative. I highly recommend watching these with your kids. Did I mention they are free? :hurray:

  7. Have any of you read any of these books and found them helpful or not helpful?

     

    Socially Curious, Curiously Social: A Social Thinking Guidebook for Bright Teens and Young Adults

    Preparing for Life: The Complete Guide for Transitioning to Adulthood for those with Autism and Aspergers

     

    DS15 is reading "Socially Curious" and says he likes it -- gives him a better understanding of social expectations and how he thinks differently.

     

    I bought "Preparing for Life" and plan to use it soon with DS. It looks really good & covers the following topics: nonverbal cues/body language, dealing w/ anger/frustration, dealing w/ anxiety, conversation, building & maintaining friendships (and dealing w/ roommates), dating, dealing w/ school & family demands, employment skills, money matters, preparing for emergencies, transportation. There are a total of 73 lessons under the major topics. (Note: the last 3 topics are only briefly covered.) It's written in an easy-to-use format for every lesson, where 1st you read about the topic (rationale, real-life examples, what to do about it). Then there's an activity page (teaching, generalization priming, facilitated practice, review). It's a tangible, step-by-step approach that looks very doable.

  8. I'm here with you. My son was diagnosed at 14, and I feel like we lost so many years. He is very resistant to learning organizational & time management skills - I don't even know where to begin to get him there.

     

    I cross-posted this on the high school board a few months ago, but in case you didn't see it, there is a great series of 45-minute lectures here given by a college professor teaching study skills. He's really good and addresses the followiing topics: Improving Listening Skills, Habits of Successful College Students, Organizing Your Study Time, Taking Better Lecture Notes, How to Predict Test Questions, Preparing for Tests, Test-Taking Skills, How to Remember For Tests, Memory Tricks, Great Ways to Study, The website also includes some printable handouts you can use. My DS is very resistant to MY attempts to organize him, but this guy seems to work for DS.

  9. Oh, I am so glad that article helped you. I am feeling especially at a loss today. My 14 yo is so resistant to any academic study at all. I am worn down. Today he goes into to shadow at a school because I seriously do not know if I have the energy to continue to homeschool him. He is very unhappy with me right now. The school is especially for kids like him. It is horribly expensive but we do have a college fund which we can use. We are thinking he'll never get to college if we don't do something about things right now, so the money may be better spent on high school anyway. But we are not a happy household right now.

     

     

     

    Aw, hugs! Had one of those days just this week. It can be VERY frustrating.

     

    My husband & I have contemplated sending DS back to public school for 11th & 12th grades, because my frustration levels have been so high. But really, that would benefit ME more than my son. Academically, he's capable of handling challenging courses (he's taking pre-calculus and chemistry honors right now, earning a B in both). However, taking these same courses in public school would mean lots of nightly homework, rigid schedules, lots of different deadlines, assignments, papers, projects, & tests, with no wiggle room to accomodate for his weak executive functioning skills. So our flexible homeschooling has allowed us to focus on learning strategies for planning, prioritizing, time management, scheduling, study skills, etc.

     

    Is your son willing to do any online courses (thus taking the burden from you & holding him accountable to someone else's deadlines and requirements)? My DS takes 2 courses thru Florida Virtual School (actually, the math & science courses noted above) and does well. I still have to help him with some organizational tasks (planning, scheduling, time management, etc.), but all the course content, labs, tests, etc., are out of my hands. If he doesn't like something within the course or the school/teacher policy, I tell him to call his teacher & tell him about it. (That always stops the complaining. He realizes it's not ME setting the requirments.)

     

    In the end, you've just got to do what you know in your heart would be best for your son at this time in his life. If he's very resistant to anything you want him to do, it's hard to get past that.

  10. Faithr, I haven't been on this forum in a while but just saw your message. First, let me thank you for the link to that awesome article. It's one of the most helpful things I've read so far, and I've been doing TONS of reading up on Asperger's this past year. Second, I'm in the same boat -- just found out last summer that DS15 has Asperger's. It's been very emotional (mostly for me, not so much for my son) and very frustrating (again...me) trying to readjust our approach to high school, re-think our DS's plans for college, etc. It feels very over-whelming many days, trying to juggle typical high school/college planning stuff and therapy appointments, social skills training, etc. Would love to connect with you -- and any other parents of Aspie teens -- to share insights, resources, frustrations, etc. Some days all I need is someone to talk me down from the ledge. :p

  11. I wanted to share these Coursera writing classes that are starting soon, since they both look amazing! You can read details here.

     

    English Composition I: Achieving Expertise

     

    Denise Comer (Duke University)

     

    You will gain a foundation for college-level writing valuable for nearly any field. Students will learn how to read carefully, write effective arguments, understand the writing process, engage with others' ideas, cite accurately, and craft powerful prose. We will create a workshop environment.

     

    Writing II: Rhetorical Composing

     

    Susan Delagrange, Scott Lloyd DeWitt, Kay Halasek, Ben McCorkle, and Cynthia Selfe (Ohio State University)

     

    Writing II engages you in a series of interactive reading, research, and composing activities along with assignments designed to help you become a more effective consumer and producer of alphabetic, visual and multimodal texts.

  12. I wanted to share these Coursera writing classes that are starting soon, since they both look amazing! You can read details here.

     

    English Composition I: Achieving Expertise

     

    Denise Comer (Duke University)

     

    You will gain a foundation for college-level writing valuable for nearly any field. Students will learn how to read carefully, write effective arguments, understand the writing process, engage with others' ideas, cite accurately, and craft powerful prose. We will create a workshop environment.

     

    Writing II: Rhetorical Composing

     

    Susan Delagrange, Scott Lloyd DeWitt, Kay Halasek, Ben McCorkle, and Cynthia Selfe (Ohio State University)

     

    Writing II engages you in a series of interactive reading, research, and composing activities along with assignments designed to help you become a more effective consumer and producer of alphabetic, visual and multimodal texts.

  13. I just wanted to throw out an additional option: "Think Again: How to Reason & Argue" from Coursera https://www.coursera.org/#courses. It's a free, 12-week, online course taught by a Duke University professor. It started already back in Nov., but I think you can still register & proceed at your own pace. Here's a description:

    About the Course

     

     

    Reasoning is important. This course will teach you how to do it well. You will learn some simple but vital rules to follow in thinking about any topic at all and some common and tempting mistakes to avoid in reasoning. We will discuss how to identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments by other people (including politicians, used car salesmen, and teachers) and how to construct arguments of your own in order to help you decide what to believe or what to do. These skills will be useful in dealing with whatever matters most to you.

     

    I will also be using 2 of the books you mentioned, combined with this Coursera course, to create either a one-credit course or 2 half-credit courses. I also own "Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning" by The Great Courses, which I'll probably incorporate as well.

     

  14. Help! My mom's birthday is this weekend, and I thought it was her 74th. Turns out it's her 75th birthday! Who can give me some great ideas to make her day extra special -- keeping in mind I only have 1 week to pull it together? No time to pull together a lifetime collection of photos or videos, no time to order a really special, customized gift.

  15. Thanks

     

    If your son wants to do competitive chess, don't wait, there is no magic level where they are ready for tournaments.

     

    At this level, you goals should be learning

    Very basic Principles of chess

    Very basic endgame

    No opening what so ever until your rating is well over 1300

    A lot of tactics and I mean a lot.

    Thinking process, this one is hard but a must

    Analyzing your games with a coach or computer engine

     

    Chessmaster is a good software to play chess with the computer for beginners, it has different personalities. it does a decent analysis of game.

    tchess pro for ipad is good

     

    No matter what software you use, you need to understand that it will not help him improve a lot unless he is learning on the side using books, training CDS, and DVD lessons. If you have a coach it is even better. Most softwares after Friz and Chester are desinged to play and analysis chess games rather than teach chess.

    Russian Chess School by Roman Lab series

    Chess training CDs through Peshk

    Chess book recommendation

     

    Wow! Thank you SO much for your awesome recommendations and links to other resources. As you can probably tell, I am out of my element here, so I really needed some specific guidance. I didn't know about any of these books, websites or other resources. Thanks again for sharing your expertise! :)

  16. He isn't into competitive chess (yet), so he doesn't have a rating. And, although I know the basics of how to play chess, I'm no chess expert, so I don't know what level he's at, except to say he beats me every time. I guess he's beyond a beginner, maybe at a low/intermediate level, where he knows some opening/closing moves and other strategies, but would like to learn more to be able to participate in chess competitions. He doesn't spend hours a week playing chess, but does attend a weekly chess club for about 2 hours w/ some friends. I believe they just play chess without anyone teaching them any strategy, and a few of the friends are pretty good, so they've been informally showing my son some strategies. Does that help give you an idea of his level?

  17. Just brainstorming here. My oldest is 13 and one who might be similar is only 11. So I'm not there yet, just studying and thinking for my crew.

     

    I'm thinking I would work on cause and effect. I might start with something more concrete like a factual comparing chart of Plymouth vs Jamestown. This is how TOG does it at the D level. Then explore with, "I wonder why Plymouth had greater success and less starvation." I wonder statements and lots of time with me silent 3+ minutes. Or I wonder how Galileo might have thought differently if he had been born in blank time and been reading blank while looking at a timeline we've been building.

     

    In general difficult skills need to be practiced with easier material. In literature analysis with junior high, we start with familiar picture books.

     

    In looking through 4 years of TOG at D and R level, I saw a lot of venn work, comparison charts, timelines, plays with philosophers. I'm guessing that all of this concrete work each week prepares the way for the discussion time. I'm just beginning with the 13 year old. I ususally pick one or two connections I want to lead this student to discover. The following week one of these discoveries turns into a paragragh that has a thesis statement and 2-3 supporting points and why these points explain the thesis.

     

    Hugs and hope for more feedback as I'm learning here too.

     

    Thanks, Heartsjoy, for giving me some great ideas to try. Hopefully they will be a jumping off point for some greater, more in-depth discussions. Really frustrated with the one-word word answers or "I don't know" as a response to my questions.

  18. My 15yo Aspie loves to read and is a really good writer (esp. fiction), but our literature discussions, as you might imagine, our sorely lacking. It's very hard to follow the WTM suggestions for reading literature chronologically and having Socratic discussions with an Aspie. DS is not much for deep conversation in general, let alone a literary analysis of a medieval piece of literature. Any ideas on how to get more out of reading/annotating/discussing any of the Great Books during any historial period? Our discussion in both 9th & 10th grade have been so underwhelming. (Ditto for our history discussions.)

     

    Lisa

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