DebbS
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Posts posted by DebbS
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Both of my kids took honors literature from an academy and read and analyzed at least 18 substantial books per year. Some books took 2 weeks and some took just one week. I don't think that's too many - mine found time to read other books just for enjoyment also. The literature courses were similar to one that their professor taught at the college level.
I am not familiar with Excellence In Literature, but if you think that 18 books is too many, could you just do the honors track for some of the modules but not all? In addition, to prove an honors course, regardless of how many books you choose to read, passing the AP Literature test would confirm the honors designation.
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I felt like I will definitely fail him.
The biggest way that we as parents can fail our children is to not love them well. Love is the primary power that we have over their lives - whether we gave it or withheld it is what will make a difference.
We might miss teaching them something, we might over-teach and we will certainly make mistakes in all sorts of areas. But our children have a lifetime worth of choices that will be theirs and those choices will lead to their successes and their failures. They'll have both.
If you love him, you haven't failed him.
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Good luck! I bet you'll impress them.
My final homeschooler dual enrolled this year for some courses. It was a really good experience because she gained confidence in her ability to do college level work. Homeschoolers often don't know where they stand compared to other students entering college.
For me though, it's bittersweet when my children take the next step toward growing up and leaving home. I sometimes have to go shed a few tears alone because I certainly don't intend to guilt trip them or hold them back. As parents, we raise our children to become responsible adults and then (darn them!), they go and do that!
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You see more posts about kids applying for top tier universities here than the number of kids actually applying would warrant. Keep in mind that these universities aren't great for every student - even those with the elite scores. Both of my kids would fall into the category of kids with the scores who might apply to an ivy league school - though not necessarily get in. But neither even wanted to experience that environment. Not all kids thrive under those conditions.
It's best to help your son or daughter find the right environment for them, regardless of how other people rate their choices. I'm not saying not to apply to the top tier schools, but I am suggesting to get a realistic idea of the pros and cons of applying to and attending a full range of schools. Knowing that they can get an excellent education and have a great college experience at a school that they are likely to get into would be a good first step to being prepared for a top-tier rejection.
It seems that some parents set their sights on the ivy league early on without regard for what is a good fit for their child once they reach college age. Being so focused on a particular outcome and then being rejected feels like a life-failure to both themselves and their child. That's not the truth nor is it fair to set your children up to feel that way.
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My kids did math 4x per week and they block scheduled the other subjects across 4 days. This just happened naturally as both of them preferred working a long time on a few subjects rather than shorter period of time on many subjects. Although the number of hours they spent per course was about what is recommended for a credit hour, I judged completion of the course based on the material covered rather than the hours spent.
One day/week they attended an academy for 2 to 3 of their courses, but they stayed all day and took study hall when they weren't in class. Often study hall was an enjoyable social time for them.
They spent per week:
3 to 4 on math, but did it during the summer also. This was their choice.
15 to 20 on history, lit and writing combined
3 to 4 on science
3 to 4 on foreign language and about an hour a week in the summer
3 to 4 on an elective
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That's a nice thing. Our son is 4.5 hours away by car so it's pretty much impossible to arrange for a weekend visit home. The bus trip is 12+ hours each way, so that doesn't work either. We end up driving a day to pick him up and day to drop him off.
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From my experience it was better for my kids to continue with their math, even if at a slower pace, over the summer. That way, they didn't forget what they learned. Here's a few ideas. I show what we actually did with my soon to graduate daughter in italics.
9th Grade - 1 semester Pre-algebra (call the other courses you did prep-work). 1 semester Algebra I. Finish up through 1/2 of the course this summer
10th Grade - 1 semester Algebra I, 1 semester geometry or combine them and make it integrated Algebra/Geometry. Again, keep going through the summer
11th Grade - 1 semester Geometry or if you combined, finish up both the Algebra and Geometry the 1st semester. Then you could move on to Algebra II and work through the summer if needed. We added some statistics in at this point.
12th Grade - 1st semester finish Algebra II, 2nd semester something like Statistics, Number Theory or pre-calc if you think she's headed toward a STEM career. My daughter is taking dual credit math this Spring to get her college math requirement out of the way.
BTW, dd had absolutely no trouble getting accepted into college with the math plan as described above.
If you combine Algebra and Geometry, you'd want to cover several chapters in Algebra and then several in Geometry. Look for logical changes in direction to know when to switch to between the two. Usually we were at least a month in Algebra and then a month in Geometry. Sometimes longer. As you move between the two, be sure to take some time out every few weeks for review of whichever you aren't working on at the time. It might slow you down, but actually, it helps the concepts to stick.
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I wouldn't have her do highschool for 5 years. Most colleges would only consider the last 4 years anyway. If it isn't a state requirement, then you might just look into what potential colleges allow. Many require a particular level of the language by high school rather than a specific number of courses. According the college board AP Latin web site, "The AP Exam presupposes four to five years of Latin language instruction." So, if you get through the AP exam, you have proof of several years of Latin in or before high school.
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I depends on the kid whether that's too much or not. Maybe you could get a copy of the syllabi for the courses and get a better idea of what will be required.
I'm wondering why she would need literature if she's taking an novel writing course. You can divide up English in high school such that this year would be composition with the novel writing and the pick up literature another year. Also, you could hold off on the in-person art course until Spring if she takes Adobe Illustrator in the Fall. It isn't clear to me if the Forensic Anatomy course is just for the Fall or if it is a full year course. Either way, since history will be taken at home, you could cover a less(or none) in the Fall and more in the Spring. So, her year could look like this:
Fall - Geometry, Adobe Illustrator, Novel Writing(composition), Forensic Anatomy, History
Spring - Geometry, Art,Novel Writing, Forensic Anatomy, History
Obviously, only you can determine if this is doable. If you feel that you need more credits, you could add something easy like PE and Health.
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I have the Rabbit Emu version (runs on PC). Is there a pure online version? Please post path. thanks
Sorry....I am mistaken. She downloaded the app. She uses Wabbit which runs on Windows, Mac OS X and also on Android devices.
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We don't usually use a graphing calculator, but when one is needed, my daughter uses an online version of the TI-84. Works fine without the additional expense.
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Child 1 - 1
Child 2 - 1
Both were their first choices, both got early decisions, both are in our price range, both have good programs for their majors.
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I am self-employed so can speak from experience concerning self-employment and the FAFSA. They will use the profits reported on line 12 of the 1040 which comes from your schedule C or C-EZ. Thus, it's income minus expenses. The number that the FAFSA uses for their calculations is your adjusted gross income (Line 37 of the 1040) so you'll also get a reduction for about 1/2 of your self-employment taxes - soc and medicare.
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I would suggest that your son talks with his professors to see if they can give him extensions on projects and maybe even allow him to take his finals sometime during the summer. If necessary you could step up a level in authority and discuss this with somebody like the dean of students.
I hope he recovers from this in short order.
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I'll admit that this is the #1 reason ds is in college. He needed the safe place to grow up a little more that I think the college environment provides.
If you consider the college environment a 'safe place to grow up a little more', you must not be talking about the university where my son attends. We had him take a gap year to grow up a little more before enrolling so that he would be mature enough to make good decisions in an environment where bad decisions seem to prevail.
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Three observations: 1)There is more to journalism than writing. 2) Writing is a learned skill. 3) Writing tests often have very little to do with ones ability to write.
IMO, the test results mean much less than your son's passion.
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I live in a state with few regulations for home schoolers but followed both the state requirements for graduation and the college admissions requirements. My state does not require anything other than the core subjects that the colleges wanted to see, with the exception of a one semester health course,thus we didn't have to spend our time on nonsensical coursework.
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I don't know much about most of the curriculum choices, but the ones that I am familiar with seem appropriate. it looks to me like you have all of the bases covered.
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I don't see the problem with a teenager walking a mile to the bus or being at home alone. I would work on ways to make that doable and comfortable (equip her with a cell phone, find a neighbor to be an emergency contact, practice a few times, etc.).
I depends on where you live. I don't have a problem with a teen being at home alone nor walking a mile to the bus stop, but at least around here, the winter wind whipping across the farm fields in the rural areas often create below zero wind chills. It can be very dangerous to be outside and that far from home. In addition, many buses pick up while it is still dark outside. I wouldn't have my daughter walk alone before dawn in the country.
For more regular/safer conditions, maybe giving her a cell phone for checking in with the family would alleviate some of the issues.
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There is, but it would be about a mile walk. And I don't like her doing that when no one is around. I am the only one of our 4 neighbors who is home during the day. We would be gone before the bus and back after it. I don't like the idea her walking to/from the bus with no one around. If the weather is bad, it would be tough. If we were in a neighborhood, it wouldn't bother me.
I wouldn't be comfortable with that either. Have you checked to see if the school has early arrival programs where they feed the kids breakfast. And then afterschool programs for kids with working parents. Or maybe there's somebody that does childcare where you could drop off your daughter early on co-op days, she could take the bus to school and back from there and then you could pick her up afterwards. Just a thought.
Obviously, being a homeschooler, I'm pro-homeschool. That said, it's difficult to work with a child at this age who simply does not want to work with you so you have my sympathy. We had the opposite with my oldest. We threatened to send him to public school if he didn't follow through on his homeschool work. He had friends at the ps and had heard the horror stories.
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This is a very difficult and possibly impossible essay for a 9th grader. I think it would be overwhelming to determine the "potential impact of <any information> at formative life stages" while in formative life stages. IMO, I wouldn't put my kid through that in 9th grade.
But a research paper on a disease and the genetic test for that disease might be more reasonable. Then you could follow it with the question - "If you could find out today whether you carry the genetic traits for this disease, would you want to? - Why or why not." Although, it's a similar question, framing it so that it only applies to your student doesn't carry the heavy of burden of the ethical considerations. The essay question as stated seems like it would require a level of maturity way beyond high school.
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She sounds quite a bit like me. I'm a systems analyst/programmer. I never did top down design...the whole thing just comes into my mind at once, database design, screen designs, how to program it...everything.
I am dyslexic and ADD.I have a very difficult time multi-tasking and often find normal everyday tasks overwhelming. Yet I can focus on a programming or writing project for 8 to 10 hours at a time and even forget to do things like eat.
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My daughter took Biology I, Biology II and Chemistry. Three lab sciences was all she needed.
Check the colleges that your student might be interested in and see what they require for admissions and then also what is required for programs that you might be interested in in terms of direct-admit with a declared major. Often times, a student is admitted without a declared major and then selects(or changes) their major in their sophomore or junior year. In this case, the high school courses won't even come into play because it's the college work that will matter.
BTW, I think physical science is fine for 9th grade. Especially if you plan on some kind of combination that includes something from Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Environmental for 10th through 12th.
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Looking at the math required for the Marketing degree at the 4-year she's looking at, they want Business Calculus OR Finite Math (?). No Stats, but they do have a required course in Quantitative Analysis. What is that? Is that akin to Stats, or something else entirely?
The Marketing degree would be very different from the Economics degree as Econ will require much more math. Quantitative Analysis though will be one that it does require.
Quantitative Analysis is math modeling usually used in business to predict outcomes of business decisions. It applies Probability and Statistics, Finite, graphing equations, and other math tools, so you'll want her to have a background in all of these core areas that are often missed in the Algebra to Calc math track. You may want to consider dual credit Stats and Finite courses at the CC even if it's at the expense of calculus. Calc can wait until college while Stats and Finite will give her a math skills that she'll use even at the higher levels in college. Honestly, most of the time, Calc is taken and forgotten unless it is actually used and most people don't use it.
Some people on this forum have considered Finite remedial, but it really isn't. It covers topics that most Algebra curricula don't cover. It could be taken fairly early on because it only really requires Algebra I knowledge. Probability and Stats could be taken after some Algebra II depending on when you cover equations for curved lines and areas beneath the curve. Most colleges, even CCs, will have the student test in to make sure that they're ready for any given math course, so you'll know what your daughter is ready for.
Eng. Comp I and II in same semester? Thoughts or btdt?
in The College Board
Posted
Usually if a test score over-rides the pre-req, then you don't have to take the pre-req. For example, both my kids tested out of the first composition course with their AP scores so they can go ahead and take the advanced writing requirement. I would be surprised if that isn't the case at the college where your daughter attends. Has she discussed this with her adviser?