DebbS
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Posts posted by DebbS
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It's obvious when it's mastered, and doesn't have as much of an emotional load as other areas. You don't generally have a kid melting down over the injustice to the numbers the way my DD did in history (she ended up being ready for SOTW 4 at exactly the age of the typical 4th grader). You don't worry about explicit scenes the way you do in literature. (Or science. My DD10 is far too informed on all the bad things that can go wrong hormonally during pregnancy due to atrazine-and exactly what this does to male organs not normally seen in public). And math is more independent. You can't really accelerate in history and writing beyond a student's language arts level, and you can't accelerate in science beyond a student's math level, but you can accelerate in math even if science is lagging behind, and you can go pretty far into secondary math without being a strong writer (or, at least, could before common core), and can pick a less "wordy" math text if reading lags behind math a bit.
I think that's why often math is accelerated-and, perhaps more important, why parents (and schools) are more comfortable saying definitively that their child is accelerated in math.
This. My son worked only about one level above the norm in math but was very accelerated in language/reading/writing/critical reasoning, etc.... Yet, he still had the maturity level of his age group. Honestly, I was relieved when his social life became more important to him than academics because that reduced the number of challenging, yet age-appropriate resources I had to find for him.
He's in college now and doing very well both academically and socially. :cheers2:
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My daughter spends 5 to 7 hours/week over 30 weeks for sciences that she takes at a co-op - Biology, Human Anatomy & Physiology and now, Chemistry. I think that's about the norm for 1 credit/year.
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I think it depends where he goes with it. Right now, just keep track of what he did and what resources he used. You can decide what to do with it later.
In a similar situation, my daughter took some on-line sewing courses and completed several projects in 10th grade. These alone were enough hours for a full credit course. But, with those skills she volunteers sewing costumes for local theater productions. She also sings/acts in theater productions. Since she has plenty of hard-core credits towards high school graduation, I have chosen to put the sewing courses, volunteer sewing work and performing in theater productions in her ECs because it reveals her interest in theater in general and shows how she uses sewing, singing, dance, etc, towards that end. Another plus is that I don't have to justify a grade for a sewing course.
You don't really have to make a decision about credit for the course until his Senior year.
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If the college or your state requires a PE course in highschool, then I'd fulfill that with the water safety course and certification. I think I'd put the gun course and certification as an EC and maybe the horse stable as EC work experience. Just my opinion though. At most colleges, admissions will look at the core courses while scholarship and department decisions will be based on both the core courses and the ECs.
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I'm not sure we'll keep the foreign language. The college she has her eye on states that if a student doesn't have foreign language, to list why, and I'm pretty sure her dyslexic status would make it so that it wouldn't count against her (not having it). With that said, I feel like Latin would help her with vocabulary and spelling, so I want her to try it.
Have you considered American Sign Language as a foreign language? My son is taking it for his world languages requirement in college. I don't know if all colleges count it as a foreign language but some apparently do.
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I am not familiar with the particular curricula you are referring to, nonetheless this still applies. Never skip up a level in math! Especially so if it is a difficult subject for your child.
Using Pre-Algebra in 9th grade is just fine. If you find that he already knows the information in a chapter, then you can do a quick review and/or test and skip the busy work. You'll get through it pretty quickly that way and move on to Algebra I yet this year. If he doesn't know much of the material, that's okay too. You still have plenty of time to get through Pre-Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II.
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That's a pretty heavy schedule if each of the courses is worth a full credit. Even if you combine the lit and comp into one course, it's still 7 or 8 credits. Could some of the courses be 1/2 credit such as Religion, Economics and/or Art? We found 6 credits to be about right and 7 to be a bit too much. With 7 my kids were finishing a course or two in the summer. I'm just putting this out there for you to consider should she find this too heavy of load.
The courses do look solid for high school. As a dyslexic, I understand the difficultly of writing. It helps to read aloud what I write so that I can hear my mistakes with sentence structure, missing/wrong words (where and were for example), etc. Also, in high school and college I found that I had to spend more time on my reading assignments than many other students....just another thing to consider.
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I think your 9th grade plan is sound. Since your daughter isn't indicating any passion towards a STEM career, I wouldn't worry about how much math there is in her science curriculum. I actually find it rather ironic how much of our current educational focus is on STEM. If you do the math, even though the STEM careers show the highest percentage of growth, since they account for a smaller percentage of total jobs, most new jobs created in the foreseeable future will still be non-STEM related jobs!
If she is learning from MUS then I would stick with it. Although Algebra II is one of those basic jump-through-the-hoop college requirements, you have 4 years to get there. Sound learning is better than fast learning. I have a STEM career and rarely if ever use concepts learned pas Algebra I and geometry.
Given her interests, I'm wondering if a food sciences course would be a good choice for fulfilling one of her high school science courses. Another idea you might find interesting, especially if your state has a health education requirement, would be a course that focuses on nutrition. I think cake decorating or any other culinary arts courses/seminars are a great idea whether they be actual courses or extra-curricular activities.
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My son is using the living room as his staging area, forcing me to deal with it every time I walk by. I noticed that he had my favorite travel mug amongst his things. It had gone missing a year ago apparently because he took it to college last year. I took it back but then felt so guilty that I bought him a new and better travel mug plus some personal supplies, Ramen and even some Dino-Egg oatmeal. The leaving for school thing sure messes with this Mom's emotions.
We will be driving him down tomorrow for his second year. I'm sure going to miss him. :crying:
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AP tests are given in high schools all across the nation. They are given in the Spring near the end of the school year. You can look at the College Board web site to find the date. Each test is scheduled for a specific date and time no matter where it is administered.
You'll need to contact the counseling office at your area high schools to see which tests they are giving. If they are already going to administer the test, they have to allow you to take it according the college board. You may have to contact several high schools to find one that is giving the test if your student is planning on taking one of the less popular tests. I have found the high school counselors in my area to be very helpful. One of the schools will give the test even if my child is the only one taking it.
You don't need to act on this until after winter break. Most high schools start thinking about it around that time.
Debb S.
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I would definitely bump up the Geometry to 9th and maybe even the Biology. The reason is that most colleges will want to see at least 3 sciences with two of them lab sciences. Since Biology is usually a 9th grade course and your son took Physical Science in 8th grade, I wouldn't hesitate to move it up.
Of course, you can make these final decisions somewhere around his Jr/Sr years when you have to finalize your transcript for college admissions.
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Who knows what goes on in the mind of a 15yo boy! I sure don't. But I did have a 15yo unmotivated boy once. He's now a 20yo college student carrying a 3.9 GPA! Things do change.
I began homeschooling my son at age 14. He had gone to a Montessori school up to that point but that school only went through 8th grade. I didn't want to send him to either a public or private school after that because an issue in Montessori was that he didn't do a lot of the stuff he was supposed to do but did other things instead. He is intelligent, thus his teachers were not particularly concerned as long as he was learning something. Usually this was research into subjects that he found interesting. He is very quietly stubborn, so it didn't cause issues in the classroom.
We struggled with homeschooling until we found an academy with extremely qualified teachers (college profs) who expected a great deal from their students. The courses were the same that they had taught at the 200/300 college level. My son had a great respect for these teachers given he considered them more knowledgeable than himself (he was a bit arrogant), and he got to work! Even though he didn't take all of his courses at the academy, the change in attitude seemed to flow over to the courses that he took at home.
So, for him, it was offering him something interesting and challenging that made all of the difference. And probably growing out of the hormone induced confusion that is adolescence helped too!
If your son completely messes up high school, there are other ways to success and even college once he decides to get serious about it. I've know many successful people whose stories start with I flunked out and/or dropped out of high school. So, even while you have to keep at him because you are a parent after all, don't worry too much about his future. Today is hard enough!
The whole high school/college system makes us believe that much of our future is dependent on what we do in our teen years. That's really crazy when you think about it.
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I think scuba is worth some PE credit. I took a 1 hour credit scuba diving course in college many years ago and it's still taught as a college course today. Earning a certification and a few open water dives would easily account for .5 credits. You could make it 1 credit with more open water dives and maybe even an additional certification.
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For instance, he took over paying his phone bill. I want to buy him a smart phone - he doesn't even have texting on his plan now.
Have you looked into Republic Wireless? My son's plan costs him less that $10/month. It uses the internet if it's available and since my son is on campus most of the time where there is wireless internet everywhere, he doesn't need to pay by the minute for use of a cell tower.
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I have the same dilemma trying to figure out what's normal. Although my parents could afford to help me and did help my brother through college, they did not approve of my major (computer science) nor the college that I transferred to, so at age 18 I was paying for college and living expenses on my own. My parents kept claiming me on their taxes though and then moved out of state, so along with not qualifying for any need based financial aid, I also had to pay out of state tuition. I felt not only abandoned, but punished. I don't want to do that to my children.
Those were very hard times but the lessons I learned had much to do with my successes later in life. The problem I have is striking the proper balance between helping my kids and giving them the opportunity to learn some important lessons by not helping them.
We have pretty shallow pockets given my husband has been disabled for several years now and we are aging out of the workforce. My son is not having the rich-kid college experience. He did take a year off after high school to earn some money and works 50 hour weeks in the summer and during breaks, but he also pays for much of the basic expenses such as room and board and tuition. He/we cannot afford for him to have a car at school nor do we give him an allowance, but we do help him when we can. We pay his medical expenses, haircuts when he's home and send him gift cards/care packages etc.
My parents made me pay room and board at home after I graduated from high school and when I came to live at home one summer, but I won't do that to mine. I want my kids to know that they can always come home and that they have a safety net while transitioning to making it on their own.
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It looks like 7.5 credits, so I think it's a full load. The History of Science, as mentioned above, should be an easy course for a 10th grader, so you could make that one .5 credits if you want and still have a full load. I do think it's a course worth taking.
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During the year we just studied the subject with whatever curriculum I thought was the best available - I didn't worry about how close to the AP exam it was. Then for the last 2 weeks we used the review book to "study for the test". That way my kids enjoyed the year, learned in a meaningful fashion - but still did well on the tests. I did not want to spend an entire year as a slave to an AP exam.
We used this approach also and got 4s and 5s on the tests. At least for the colleges my kids attend and/or are looking at to attend a 4 is as good as a 5.
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I have Singapore NEM (it's a little more mathy than DM) 1, 2 & 3. I will be selling them all next year when my daughter graduates.
Have you tried to find NEM used?
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We don't give our college student an allowance. My son works during the summer to pay for his tuition, room & board, etc. He began saving for college while in high school and took a gap year before starting college to work full time. He also earned some academic scholarships. We have pitched in for some tuition and room & board, but mostly, it's up to him.
His 'extras' last year amounted to less than $200. He takes advantage of the free stuff on campus and spends time with friends for entertainment. He doesn't have a car nor does he need one. We do replenish his toiletries and food supply whenever we see him (4x during the school year) often buy him gifts to help him along.
I figure that college is a transition into adulthood and adults don't get allowances. They get jobs.
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I'm not sure I'd practice the math and the critical reasoning sections more than once sometime before the test unless you think she needs to improve her abilities in these areas. If she just works at her pace, she'll probably do fine and you'll get a good academic measurement. That said, I don't know what's riding on this test.
You might want to practice the essay. The SAT graders are looking for specific items and she'll lose points if she doesn't follow the directions. For example, my son had trouble with his essay because he tends to weigh both sides of an argument. He included points and counterpoints. Although this is part of his thinking process, they want you to come down firmly on one side and not consider the arguments on the other side. This is often a difficult exercise for complex thinkers. In addition, they want a certain number of arguments (no more, no less), an introductory paragraph and a conclusion. In pen no less.
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We dropped grammar after middle school. Both of my children received high critical reasoning and writing scores on their SAT and got 4 and 5 on the AP literature exam. My son, now in college, has received As on all of his essays so far. IMO, unless your child struggles with grammar, don't focus on it in isolation. Just address grammar issues in the context of writing and speaking.
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We helped haul all of the stuff to our son's dorm room early in the afternoon. After that we left him alone for several hours to unpack and mingle with the other people moving into the dorm. My husband, daughter and I took a walk around the campus during that time. Later we met up for supper and then left for home.
This worked out well for all concerned.
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We asked my son to call us once a week. He would usually tell us ahead of time when he planned to call but sometimes he just called randomly too.
At first, he balked at our request for communication, but soon into the school year, he was voluntarily communicating with us a few times a week. A few text exchanges and a phone call once a week seemed to happen naturally. And sometimes he even called to ask for advice or just because he wanted to talk to us!
I think it helped when he finally understood that it wasn't about trust or judgement of his ability to cope or helicopter parenting, etc. - it's just that we love him and miss him and really enjoy spending time with him.
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We used AOPS Introduction to Algebra and Counting & Probability. I had my ds do about 1/2 of the problems so that if he ran into trouble we could fix them and then try some new ones. Usually he did 1 or 2 challenge problems and sometimes we worked them together. It's the challenge problems that make AOPS a more advanced math course but, you can also skip them to make the course more normal for the high school level. It just depends on what your child needs and, to a great degree, their natural math abilities. Even if you skip ALL of the challenge problems, you still have a very solid math course with AOPS.
Opinions needed - which of these would you choose?
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
I can't tell if dc is a dd or a ds. It does make a difference when it comes to which books they might enjoy. I turned my nephew on to reading by loaning him my copy of The Three Musketeers. It's got some action which is very appealing to young men. I would not torture my son by forcing him read Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre though my daughter loved both of these books.
So, for a boy I would tend towards The Three Musketeers, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. For a girl I would probably suggest Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and one of the others. That said, in general, I let my kids pick out their own books. Which ones appeal to you dc?