cbollin
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Posts posted by cbollin
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I didn't see this mentioned: https://ea.asu.edu/courses/the-living-world-bio-100/
4 credits at Arizona State University. online course . virtual labs. different approach. My youngest (with learning disabilities) was able to do this as post high school student in a beta testing group. At that time, it was called "bio beyond". Thankfully ASU updated the course title. Here's some info on syllabus https://homeschoolingforcollegecredit.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/bio100-biobeyond-syllabus.pdf
it's 8 week course for a college semester worth. expect to do a module a week and devote time. I liked how they let you do it again to get more points and learn the material. That was helpful for my youngest. maybe with the high school group they allow more time. not sure. don't know.
to see what it's like, try here https://inspark.education/biobeyond/
module 8 was fun with the trip to mars.
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4 hours ago, mom31257 said:
Thank you all!
I'm sorry I didn't make it clear that I will be teaching this to the student. I was hoping to hear personal experiences with the options out there.
With my youngest, I taught from PaceMaker Practical Math for Consumers. I got it used, but I think the preview should still be here? https://www.wiesereducational.com/products/practical-mathematics-for-consumers-gf3221.htm
This was nicer to use with my youngest (who has disabilities) as it was not as wordy as the Abeka book . I didn't have the AGS book to compare. It's possible pacemaker is going out of print and may be too simple for your needs. I needed a 4th math course for this student with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She went on to technical certificate (Microsoft office skills) at community college with no math required. She's not going to be running a business either without serious supports. kwim?
Easy and straightforward to use. only had the text. no workbooks. probably too few problems. most likely out of date prices, but that was easy to do with real life and didn't bother me. I read the text out loud. We did the problems. I liked that it was not wordy. I liked it to the point.
I also used CSM Learn to do some more critical thinking skills in math as review for final semester. https://www.csmlearn.com/
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Our grandparent visits were few and far between. different states. Oh, and now, one grandma moved to costa rica because that's a thing now that her generation does for cost of living issues. Another one has passed away. oh the visits were so rare. It's not like they live in the same city.
I can remember needing to have a "Must Finish by such and such date in May" a few times for reasons (such as graduation, etc) and yet needing to record the full 180 days (90 semester). That was when it hit me, oh yeah, if I need 10 more days, go back and look at what we did accomplish on weekends and can we do some "school/educational" time on weekends. Church took up time each Sunday. count it plus other stuff that day. Field trips. Workout. "life skills"/"adulting" time. And yes, that was during high school credit counting too. We got our school work done. But sometimes needed the legal days. That was when we did non routine/non traditional classroom approaches.
definitely became about learning instead of "core credits". never an issue to meet the legal days (180 for me) even with "delight directed learning" in summer. or "productive but unstructured time" (ala charlotte mason". Think outside the worksheet on this when counting those few extra days. what? 10?
hug em' while you can.
or wait? are you talking that you have to skip outside classes or something?
But if that happened over here, (and ha ha ha ha ha.. what's a vacation for adults? ha ha ha... sorry we have special needs children), and grandparents were visiting, oh my. We'd count the visit days if needed (by doing what others have already said), or look back and plan to count summer free style learning.
I was legal. oh and as I was typing I remembered that usually the grandparents weren't in the house the whole time either. Or grandpa liked to nap in middle of day. so some quiet time of school work was done then too. (read a book and let grandpa rest, or draw him a picture.... ). Listen to their stories and that is a form of history (first person narrative, yes?)
Also, I'd work on rescheduling the visits so they aren't back to back. That's personal in our case. Because it would be too much for too long to deal with that. I'd need recovery time.
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On 2/13/2021 at 1:50 PM, My4arrows said:
I have not used the older edition and just grabbed the newest General Science to use next year. The only disappointment I have looking through it is that the text is soft cover like a workbook. I can’t see it holding up well being used daily and by multiple children.
oh wow. thanks for update. That's a change from when I bought it in 2019. I have hard cover text. oh collector's item for me.
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On 2/13/2021 at 10:33 AM, Tammy Texas said:
I’m glad to read the comments on Apologia biology. However I don’t share the positive sentiments on the updates. Yes, update the science but this book has taken biology to an extreme. Level. Chapter 4 has 72 definitions!
Respectfully pointing out that the original topic of this thread was not the High School Biology book. It was Middle School General Science book. So any "positive sentiments" about General Science edition changes weren't talking about biology. I have not done 3rd edition Biology to comment.
Edit to add: other reviewers out there agree with you Tammy Texas that biology 3rd is too much, too fast and too much. so it's not just you.
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With the jacobs geometry we used (whichever edition number is sold by mfw is the one we used), I read the text out loud along with my middle dd and we worked through together. I used answer key for details. Oldest didn't need me to teach the text to her. And it was better for oldest if dad went through answer key issues with her. engineering brains and math people the both of them. I didn't work through the text more before the lesson. But there was something in reading/teaching out loud that helped me explain as needed and helped middle dd learn.
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@alisoncooks you have me laughing now. I had never thought of her as a college freshman before because it's a one year program. But yeah, let's go with that. I like that. Makes me feel proud. happy squeal! oh oh and I can make it sound really awesome too. She's on full scholarship. There's a state grant that pays community college to the last dollar and she did the hoops for that with filling in the paperwork and 8 hours of community service. giggle. they cover it all except for a minor fee to access the course material through Cengage. Some days around here it feels like she still is in kindy. The other week she started to play the teletubbies theme song (on her keyboard by ear and adding in some background stuff with it) to some stuffed animals as her students. I thought what? no. why? no no no. not that. please no. Then, she kicked it up like a college freshman in music theory and said "let's try that in another key, maybe a minor key this time. Ready,! everyone sing!". Went through all of her keys (major and minor with stuff that I dont' have a clue what she does) and next thing I know, I'm in the kitchen doing the dishes and dancing while singing along. felt like old times. LOL. thanks for the smile and memories. blessings -crystal
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RE: "not double dipping". Around here in group schools, there is no credit given for "extracurricular" marching band. And, it's not double dipping when the public high schools give the PE credit and the student still lists it as activities. I was sure that was a bad thing. I was terrified that it was somehow wrong and bad things would happen or something, so I did the split the hours thing that Lori is describing for EC archery and PE archery (and stage musical stuff). Pretty much the awards with archery those were "EC activities" but the hours on the range with class time. To me double dipping was more about not turning in the same paper for two academic courses, or "reading bible time" as both "bible class" and "literature". that is a big no no.
not really the issue, but wanted to share that weird aspect from my life.
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@Clear Creek: my youngest was in grade 9 for pre-algebra. Therefore it was high school credit. Maybe that’s not the norm on this forum but it was an acceptable path with our cover school. right there with ya. just saying...
My oldest is academically strong but didn’t have AP, CLEP on transcript, DE or even a co-op course. No world changing activities either. Course work was not bare bones though. Did fine in college. Has job,
Middle is average. Same course work as oldest. ACT 24. nothing wow on EC. Did community college, with clep, and is finishing last course for a bachelors at Thomas Edison (homeschool for college,) Don’t know how work will go for her after that with pandemic issues. Lives at home. That’s fine. slow path, non traditional. life is good.
Youngest: she was my bare bones academics. Things like Walch Power Basics were the norm for her. Her course work was originally special ed level right on the border of vocational/general diploma. cover school called it "general level". Currently working on technical certificate at community college online. who knew? She can do all kinds of things in excel and word and power point with those Cengage books.
A comment was made to the effect that: things will fall into place once.....
yep, that’s where I’m at with youngest. She has intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). You probably aren’t dealing with that. But I think when some stuff reopens with fewer covid restrictions, she’ll have some work with things she likes to do with some job coaching. Right now, she’s become a leader in her Special Olympics stuff and will be a panelist in a few days on a webinar sharing about health challenges with IDD. Yes, she’ll live with us a long time. Not your situation. But wanted to share that she’s falling into place in things that interest her. She might end up on worship team on piano with the adults with disabilities class at church. That, or be a minor youtube personality sharing her music and preschool teaching of Bible.
Average is well, average. But lots of stories share are about non average, and that's ok. that's not a bad thing. Or it is average but told with a good marketing spin. I know with the thing my youngest is doing with the webinar it sounds really fancy. and maybe it is. It's a huge accomplishment for someone who was in speech and language therapy from age 16 months to 18.5 years. But the reality is I helped her write answers to the questions and she'll just read them. But yes, things are falling into place in the paths that interest her.
so be encouraged.
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quote: Do colleges look at that on a transcript and think, "That isn't a class that is an extracurricular"
I don't think most colleges are going to get nit picky on PE vs extracurriculars based on how the public schools do that around here. It's a state requirement and there are ways to meet it with traditional PE class, or being on sports team, marching band, and other options are given. The high school where I'm zoned, has options for more than 1 credit in PE as the student's "career elective option." Was never an issue for my oldest or middle about PE. Middle gal, as a college student not high schooler, took a PE credit course at community college worth 2 college credits. It changed my perspective on what counts as a credit. Walking for Fitness. logged 60 miles over the 8 weeks and tracked heart rate. read an easy book (Fitness Walking for Everyone, by K. Davis) and took the multiple choice tests open book.
What I personally did:
PE: kept a close enough count of hours. My cover school wants to see 150 class hours in an activity to call it a credit. They allow .25 a year over 4 years as one way to do that. oldest - archery counted. middle - cardio videos. youngest: can one major in PE in high school? she did a homeschool PE class several days a week plus special olympics with tournaments every year of high school.
Health: even though we experience that with life, I used a textbook for health credit. Two of mine used Total Health. Another used high school health from Monarch. I personally find it helps to have structured information at that stage of learning as part of getting ready for "adulting". Neither of those were major time consumers. I went with the textbook for credit approach. both were listed by the publisher as high school.
Fine arts with music: oldest did Discovering Music by Carol Reynolds. Middle hmmm... oh yeah, she was in the big production at the mega church with the huge stage. she was among 200 high schoolers with the choreography. about half of them were there to get their homeschool fine arts in. LOL. One of those productions was fine art credit and the other years were EC. edit to add: wait a minute, she also did Mark Kistler's 3D drawing for art (at the time it was a subscription class)
However, "including music" was not a requirement in my state/cover school. If I had to, I'd go with music appreciation with composers, or at least have a unit with the art with something about music history in my area. No, I would not try to make it a full class. I would just "include" it. If OP is looking for ideas here is one that was fun and easy to include in our free time https://www.mfwbooks.com/item/15603/Sousa-to-Satchmo/ would it meet "enough" to say you are including music in your fine arts? sure, I guess but I'm not in your state to know that. But I wouldn't be sweating it based on what you wrote. Include it.
Youngest is a piano player and music is her language. so that's not help the OP.
hope some of that been there ideas are helpful to someone
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just checked for today... one little fluff has hatched. such fun joy on this winter day!
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Pip watch is on!!!!!
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I pick taste over looks.
That means I'd lean toward crock pot for pulled pork for sandwiches or fajitas.
We did the cranberry stuffed roll thing at Christmas and it wasn't really that outstanding. Looked pretty but less tasty than we hoped.
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6 minutes ago, Quill said:
I simply cannot not attend. It would be a huge stink and my dd’s wedding is one month apart from niece’s. I would like to be able to tell my niece I think this is the wrong thing to do, but it wouldn’t change anything and is not worth the flare-up. And it is true that my ds will not really care; it’s my issue entirely.
I get that. No one else cared in my situation. It was my issue. It still felt like slap in the face when ultimately it didn't matter. My husband simply could not be absent from his half-siblings' weddings, and I was glad to stay home in another state with the un-invited. No one missed me and I didn't miss them. The sting from the slap wore off quickly. life went on.
and I'm sorry you have to deal with this. I think I got over it by reminding myself it was just an event. just a party. no different than if I hadn't been invited to a birthday party. That might not work for you. But it did for me. Ultimately it was just a fancy dress up party.
put it in perspective? my brother got married in the house of justice of peace. We live about 800 miles apart and he said "don't come in for this. It's a 5 minute ceremony followed by a slice of cake". They called us and had phone on in background and sent photos. LOL. My parents went. My sister in law's parents were too far away to attend and they listened from another phone. LOL. no one was really invited except my mom and dad. of course my brother was in his 40s....
hugs and happy feelings to you.
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43 minutes ago, sassenach said:
I'd be seriously tempted to call them and say, "Hey, not sure if this was intentional or a mistake, but did you mean to leave ds off the the invitation? It seemed odd to me with him not really being a child anymore and I thought maybe you just forgot that he's 16 now."
I know my husband's brother did that with asking their half sister if 17 y.o nephew was left out by mistake. (and I did same about my children) Oh, we all found out it was intentional. Before making that call, be sure to ask ones self "am I ready to be told it was intentional and no is the final answer"?
the nephew did feel left out, but ultimately didn't care. "cool. mom and dad are out of the house... game night for me!"
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here's your just agree with you. Been there too. I get it that the bride and groom get to make the decision and have to have cut off line somewhere. That's cool. I get it. can't invite everyone. but intentionally omitting some of the family when it's older teen is just awkward!
The good thing is that I called it right on it when I said "it's ok girls. Aunt Emily will be divorced from this jerk in a few years." Aunt Em and her now ex-husband did not even allow the infant son of groom's brother to be invited. (would have been 6 weeks old) Well, groom had to get another best man as his brother chose to stay home (in another city) with wife and 6 week old. oh my ! so it wasn't really about us. it was about them!
But yeah, that one wedding was a weird situation. Bride had to allow her 17 year old brother to attend. But refused to invite 17 year old nephew. Bride allowed preschool aged niece to attend (daughter of her full brother who lived out of state), but did not allow my kids who were nieces from half brother who lived out of state (ages 15 and under). Groom's brother who was original best man and lived out of state could not bring infant, which meant he stood up for his wife and child and stayed home. and all of bride's sorority sisters who lived in town ? Ghosted her. LOL. they didn't show or rsvp. LOL.
The day of rehearsal we get a call from husband's dad asking if any of us were attending the rehearsal dinner that night. It was the first notification that it was an option. Guess what? it wasn't just my husband who was invited to that. It was me and the girls. what??????? but we couldn't change husband's travel plans on a dime and there was no way I was going to drive that day to a bowling alley party. Oh, I stayed home out of state with my daughters while my husband went to his half sister's half baked wedding (joint decision we made).
people are just weird with weddings.
The not necessarily agree with you. Your kid probably won't care. Mine didn't.
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18 hours ago, Mom21 said:
Does anyone want to share their list of easiest to hardest CLEPs taken?
PS: yes, test centers will make sure you don't take in stuff you can't use. Middle gal didn't have to remove jewelry. But did have to store purse and ID in test center provider locker.
Also, I'm looking for the list that's out there that mentions more about overlap and suggested order on a handful of exams. For example, if student takes US History 1 and 2, then they tend to feel even more prepared for the Am Govt exam as there is some overlap. One still needs to do prep work on the Gov't exam. I'm just saying the other two exams are the pre-prep for it. And I can't remember the time test suggested order with Humanities and Literature ones... I'd have to go back and find which order middle gal did those in. But that was a case of more overlap. And she benefited from the InstantCert flashcards as part of prep for both of those. If I find that list somewhere, I'll be back with it. Can't remember if it was on dualcreditathome's workshop, or over on cook-derosa's blog homeschoolingforcollegecredit. or where.. where did I learn that?
edit to add: can't really find the info about all of that other than this: Literature CLEPs, most people take Analysis and Interpreting before Amer or Eng because it's more of reading comprehension than specific stuff. My middle gal had reasons for not doing that and it was all about what community college accepted. long story. US History can help as part of prep work for Govt'. math is sequential by name of course. Natural Science -- should have some biology and chemistry done before clep. In several homeschool circles, it is common to do US History 1 or Analysis/Inter Lit as one of the first clep exams.
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Yes, a CLEP score of 70-80 is really really really good. Many people think of that as getting an A in the course on most exams with that score.
regarding experiences of easiest to hardest, there is a list out there that seems to reflect majority of experiences. Here http://www.free-clep-prep.com/clep-difficulty-list.html
That person's list goes back many years. Some of prep materials on that site may or may not be current if exams changed... blah blah blah.. But person made a rough idea of easy to hard and put levels on them (1-5 with 1 being easy). With that said, my middle daughter got a score in the 60s on Amer Govt (a Level 4 hard), and a high 50s (57? 58?) on another Level 4 hard (Pre Calc).
At the community college and ultimately at Thomas Edison, she needed score of 50 and higher on all of the exams she took in order to receive credit toward degree. They give CR for credit. But did not give a letter grade. This is similar to my personal experience in the 1980s with my university not giving letter grade for AP scores.
However: College Board has a list of "grade of B level equivalent scores" on its site that some college might use or might not. ACE (American Council on Education) recommends college credit at 50 and up (in other words if person got a C in the class). There are even reports out there of some colleges granting credit for a handful of exams with 47 and up. That's rare but I mention it to show the point that colleges can do what they want with it. But it still is general advice with yeah for 50 and up.
Here is the link to the "grade of B level equivalent scores" https://clep.collegeboard.org/develop-your-clep-program/create-a-clep-policy/ace-credit-recommendations/b-level-score-recommendations
This is another list out there from an unofficial source with other cut offs.
Steve Gloer, the person in charge at InstantCert (which has subscription service for CLEP prep), has an article about CLEP pass rates. That might give some insight into "easy to hard" but has some limitations to. here https://www.instantcert.com/articles/article-CLEP-Exam-Pass-Rates
If you use the REA practice exams, they have a score list that gives you an idea if you are going to pass. Same with Peterson's. You'll know if you're working it right and ready. Or at least that was middle gal's experience. And she is not a hot shot super genius first born homeschool academic queen. ACT of 24 reflects accurately on average ability but college ready.
Hope some of that helps. I know it was a lot to read.
14 hours ago, Mom21 said:I've modified my original question, looking for the experience of others, not advice on what we should do.
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2 hours ago, Seasider too said:
Bless your heart can go either way, snarky or sincere. It’s all in the delivery and who says it to whom under what circumstances. I think it’s one of those phrases that got used in a movie in a sassy way at some point, then picked up by popular culture as an always snarky thing. I remember several of my aunts and dear grandmother saying this with love and concern.
eta thank you @cbollin, I posted before seeing your reply above.
It's all good.
besides, I wanted the excuse to post the other "bless your heart" video. LOL. It's such a southern life comedy channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQOorA2EeS0
have to pause it and read the screen a few times. LOL.
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2 hours ago, Kassia said:
I didn't know about the Southern "bless your heart" until a few years ago. My MIL (we're in OH) says it all the time, but she only says it when someone does something nice.
For those who dont' know.... Bless your heart has multiple meanings in the southern culture. It's all contextual as Scarlett's post says. I think this short video will help with the translation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4nRIw_ATJA
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opinion: I'm with the ones saying that "Watch Yourself!" may be why she over reacted. It does not sound polite or friendly where I live.
Reminds me of the comedy sketch out there The Perfect Horn for Southern Drivers. A funny skit for the Happy Horn, a fake item in the south to represent the many ways a car horn honking can be meant. Sometimes it means get the F out of my way you moron, and other times it mean "hey neighbor across the street, how y'all doing?"
(edit to correct the title of the comedy ad from "It's a southern thing"
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3 hours ago, Mom21 said:
Is there some sort of catch that I’m missing with the Modern States free CLEP vouchers, or am I being overly skeptical?
adding with the others. It's too good to be true, yet it really is. When middle gal did it, there was no catch and every.thing. meant watch the videos and answer the multiple choice questions. and I think it was some threshold to get a certain percentage of them right for the overall course. If I recall, there was some wording that mention reading the text as part of everything, but not really. If you're concerned on that, open the text, scroll. But it's all in the multiple choice questions with video. use the video tools and on screen transcripts to help.
I was skeptical at first too. When middle gal started, there was funding for the first 10,000 vouchers. Then, some chatter as it got closer to that number that more funding came around. Well, I forget which exam it was, but my middle daughter had voucher number 10,001. I gulped, but it went through and we got the code, and so did the ones that came after. I don't know when the funding will expire. (eta: the voucher number is internal with MS and is not the same as the code one enters at registration. that will make more sense when one does the process)
There's even links on College Board CLEP site to modern states if that makes it feel more official. https://clep.collegeboard.org/pdf/modern-states-flyer.pdf
The only catch right now is whether or not a test center is open near you. Some are closed or very limited due to pandemic restrictions. and it varies. apparently the community college near me is closed, but the state university is open (masks required).
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back this morning and realized something. Modern States course plus practice exams was enough for psychology clep. Middle gal did not have a psych course in high school. And it did give her the prep needed for other courses in psych in her college degree path. (creative development had some cross over stuff, industrial/organization psych, stress management, psych of sports and exercise... ) . I have no way to say if MS is enough for all courses. But that one worked out well.
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1 hour ago, cintinative said:
I am able to access the possible test sites, but the information about how often they offer them is not on the CB site. Where do you typically find this?😃
How often a specific test site offers can be found at the test center site, or call directly.
how does one know when exam is available? When is determined by individual test centers and you'll have to check with a center near you.
The link to locator tool was given to help find the center. (where). my apologies for not being more clear.
nm
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Since he is repeating grade 8, don’t worry about US history crash course before that. Social studies does not have to be history as you noted.
Yes it was a tough year in your house. That’s ok. Play time in summer is important.
To meet requirements with review, you have a good idea. I don’t know what that means in your state. If I had to prove something quickly for reviews and such and need less stress approach, I would find a short workbook on the topic. I’d probably go with State studies or state history and pick a resource on something like teachers pay teachers. Nothing wrong with world religions either. But for this situation, I wouldn't try to make a unit myself. I'd go with something short and premade. For state histor/state studies, I liked statehistory.net for stuff like that. there were even "condensed" lesson plans to get stuff done. get some photos of things around state (travel brochure, or internet).