I got interested in this question b/c my best friend lives in Illinois. Looking at the links provided in the other thread (the poll about when do you leave your kids home alone), it seems that 14 is a guideline, not a law. This Illinois site linked from the site that lists all states provided in the other thread has the following info: Illinois law defines a neglected minor, in part, as "any minor under the age of 14 years whose parent or other person responsible for the minor's welfare leaves the minor without supervision for an unreasonable period of time without regard for the mental or physical health, safety or welfare of that minor." Juvenile Court Act, 705 ILCS 405/2-3(1)(d) How long may a child be left alone? What is appropriate under certain circumstances may be considered child neglect in other circumstances. While recognizing that many factors may apply, Illinois law lists 15 specific factors to be considered when deciding whether a child has been left alone for an unreasonable period of time. This makes it *seem* like 14 is just a guideline in Illinois, but the list of states doesn't have an asterisk by it, so ... ?? And I'd think people in Illinois would know. My best friend's son is still very young, so it doesn't matter yet. I'm just interested b/c I'm guessing she didn't know there may be a law. I did just leave my 13-year-old son home alone for two hours because the rest of us all had places to be, and frankly he was much happier to be home ... Round about age 12 my sons started wanting to be home rather than tagging along with me on errands, AND by that age I trusted them not to do shenanigans :001_smile: And like Pamela H says, they're ready for responsibility. I (and my son!) would find it absurd & annoying if the state told me I couldn't leave my 13yo home alone.

Wow! As other posters have said, your son is so articulate and focused. I'm definitely having my younger son watch the clip, and I'll show him your son's blog, too -- great food for thought! (My son is an ardent Apple fan, as you can see from my siggy ;-) Thanks for sharing! ~Laura

We were able to put together a last-minute MathCounts team this year with three of my son's friends. We had three "math club" meetings before the city-wide MathCounts school round in January. My son LOVED being there with his own team (usually he has to do these kinds of contests on his own, and form a team with other "loose" kids). The other boys all enjoyed it, but were not available or interested in doing subsequent contests. (We're keeping our fingers crossed that my son will be able to join the local high-school math team this fall -- the teacher wants him; she just has to get "admin" approval. That would transform his high-school years ...) What was really interesting is that my son's three friends were indifferent about or even hostile toward their math schoolwork until they were asked to be part of a TEAM. That was really motivating for them! Their moms tell me that they now say they "like math," a total change! Two of them apparently do their math homework without grumbling now :D I hope you can find enough kids to do MOEMS. We also loved that program and it was our first introduction to timed math contests. What was cool was seeing the improvement in kids from year to year. One of my son's friends went from getting maybe one problem right out of five each test to getting 3-4 right each test this year! Since my son will be a 9th-grader this fall, next year will be our first year without MOEMS ... and MathCounts ... ~Laura

Surprising, isn't it? And for a whole year (except that I was pulled out mid-year, grumble, grumble). Well, it was both Asia & Africa one year, then "just" Europe for another year. Not sure if they still do in NY ...

Hey, so did I! and graduated in CA in 1980. Maybe we knew each other! :) Long answer: I started 9th grade in western New York, and loved it. History was a two-year sequence -- half the 9th-graders took Asian & African History, and the other half took European History, and you switched in 10th grade. I was initially disappointed to have Asian/African (I was more interested in Europe), but enjoyed the class once it started. I still remember filling in detailed maps of Asia with landforms, political boundaries, etc. And we were learning history, dates, etc. -- real CONTENT. I also started Algebra 2, had a rigorous English class (we'd had tracking since 7th grade), and (I think) physical science w/lab. Then my dad got a job in CA and we spent October driving across the country (very educational, btw, for a 13-year-old!), and in November I started 9th grade in CA. I was put into a geometry class, since that was the sequence after Alg. 1 here; I guess I caught up. Honors English. Remedial science (not sure why; maybe the C I got in science in jr hi?); I soon got onto the college-prep sci track. But the biggest shock was history -- er, "social studies." All we studied were *concepts,* such as "conflict" :confused: I didn't learn a darn thing all year. (I'm still bitter, haha. Seriously.) They used a 5th-grade textbook, whereas in 8th grade in NY we used an 11th-grade textbook in History (b/c we were tracked) and it wasn't a textbook so much as a collection of primary sources; we read those and had "seminars" with our chairs in a circle (this was the 70s!) where we discussed, yes, concepts, but we were basing it on our readings of Locke, Rousseau, Jefferson, Hamilton, etc. So frustrating. And this was a relatively good high school. We had an awesome calculus teacher, so some of us took AP Calc BC, whereas the neighboring high school had no calculus at all; we had Latin & Greek (although in NY in 7th grade my Latin teacher had a PhD; in CA Latin wasn't offered in junior high at all). Sorry for ranting. I knew I shouldn't have replied ;-) Short answer: 1976-1980. ~Laura

Thanks for the reminder! We'll be there today!

Yes, that was definitely a factor for us, too! That would be great -- thanks!! It's certainly skewed, isn't it ... my son did make it to state, but quite possibly only because our chapter is an "easy" one. Certain regions are really, really tough to qualify in, leading to a real mix of kids at state. I know the goal of the MathCounts organization is to promote math at all levels & at as many schools and programs as possible, which is good, but it's tough when kids like your son (and plenty of scary-bright kids we know of) are left at home for state MathCounts. Same with nationals, I guess ... some states have *much* stronger teams than others. ~Laura

My son is going to Math Zoom (in CA) this summer. He's very excited. It seemed like a better fit for him than MathPath (although we looked hard at it because Kathy in Richmond's kids loved it, IIRC). In fact we hope to meet Kathy soon so we should be able to give her/you a full report afterward! Are you thinking of sending your son to the Math Zoom camp in NC next summer? I think so ... my son's AMC 8 score qualified him automatically, which saved us a bunch of paperwork, including a teacher recommendation. I'd be happy to report on these boards how he likes it! ~Laura

Hi, Beth! Both of my sons are currently taking English 2 at Potter's. To prepare, they did ... English 1 at Potter's, so I'm afraid that's not much help ;-) But both of my sons are enjoying the class, and it's less work than we'd feared, if that's any reassurance. We've actually found there is a lot less "busy work" in Eng. 2 than in Eng. 1. Eng. 1 had weekly grammar exercises; this year they've had only a few. They've filled out "logs" (daily record of English work) for only a few weeks this year. There seem to be fewer, but more focused, writing assignments, also. But ... as you're anticipating, if you've never taken a class through the Potter's School, there will be a bunch of things to get used to in the beginning -- navigating the class page, uploading scores, procedure of taking a paper from the first draft (which they call "D1") through to the FC (final copy), etc. They will make available a giant parents' handbook which should have all the info about such topics you will need. Don't worry -- after a few weeks you'll be a pro. I'd be happy to give you any specific advice you need, too -- just pm me. I don't know how much help your daughter will need, but I didn't do any proofing for my boys -- one nice thing is that the first draft of any paper is commented on by the teacher and the student gets full marks just for turning it in. That takes some of the pressure off! I've heard that in English *3* you just turn in a paper; it doesn't go through several drafts. My boys will miss that! And one of my sons had Mr Gray for a programming class. He's excellent -- a good teacher, really cares about the kids, called me to discuss my son's future classes ... the only thing is that he teaches a *lot* of classes -- logic, math, programming -- and sometimes he didn't answer his emails; I think they got buried and I had to be persistent. The English teachers we've had always responded quickly, often the same day. hth! ~Laura

:iagree:

Annie, was the NGE administered through OSU? I was interested in this and asked at our local school, but they're cutting their German program next year :glare: I was about to look farther afield, but it would be great if OSU gives these tests ... I called AATG and they said the NGE needed to be proctored, and to ask at local schools. We're doing the NGE1 on our own, but I was looking for a place to take NGE2 next December. My kids have gotten Sabine a few times for the weekly tutoring session, and she talks to them in German, explains things, etc. - just wonderful. (The other "tutors" are students and are good, also; it's just that Sabine is a native speaker and, like you say, is passionate about teaching.) To the OP: OSU German is perfect for our needs! I speak German and have lived in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, but don't have a clue how to teach German! It's so well planned and easy to use, and the weekly tutoring helps keep us honest ... plus it's flexible (we're taking two weeks off right now because of an extra-heavy load in other areas). We *did* have a problem where the graders (who don't see the students' names) thought my son was copying or doing a dictation, because he wrote so much (like Annie's dd), but a quick email to Sabine and the matter was settled. A friend in town doing the program also had this problem and it was also settled within a day. I had heard about this on these boards, but didn't think it would happen to us! Sabine said they've had a rash of internet translations recently, and the graders are frustrated. I would recommend doing a board search for OSU German -- there's a lot more info in the archives. ~Laura

Yes, that's it -- thanks! LOL! Love it. :001_smile:

must have been on these boards -- it's where I get all my info! -- that the College Board is planning to introduce a third calculus AP exam in a few years, and that it will cover multivariable calculus. I wonder what it will be called -- D? CD? ABCDEFG? :001_smile:

xxxx

I just heard today that Art of Problem Solving plans to offer computer science classes starting this fall. I emailed Richard Rusczyk about something else but mentioned these classes, and he wrote back: "We should have details about the programming/CS classes available by the end of June." These courses are mentioned at the bottom of this page. My son can't wait!! & I thought some of you would be as excited as we are :001_smile: ~Laura

Thank you so much for this story. It is worth WAY more than 2 cents ;-) How wonderful that your son is thriving. That is what we all want for our children; and they follow all sorts of paths. What a heart-warming story. ~Laura

I'm glad it all works out for your daughter! And I'm delighted to be "useful" -- I've learned SO much from these forums ;-) ~Laura

October 9 -- see above.

They're here (it's a pdf). I was curious about this too and wanting to plan, so I found this a few weeks ago. You have to poke around a bit on the "professionals" section of the College Board site. (Kareni had helpfully posted the link to the AP dates for next year when I asked recently -- I hadn't ever (duh!) thought to go to the "professionals" part of the College Board site; I always went to either parent or student part!) ~Laura P.S. Oct. 9, Nov. 6, Dec. 4, 2010

I had heard such glowing reviews of the Henty books from some homeschoolers, and I wondered if my boys would like them -- seemed like a great way to learn some history. Well, they had to read In Freedom's Cause for a class, and although it started or cemented one son's current obsession with all things Scottish, they both found it really far-fetched. The fictitious boy character, Archie Forbes, apparently saves the day many times. My sons still laugh about how Archie Forbes should be a bigger hero than William Wallace or Robert the Bruce. They haven't wanted to read any other Henty books. I should add that my kids are pretty suspicious of historical fiction in general (heaven knows I've tried -- they've read The Bronze Bow, Eagle of the Ninth, etc.) ...They prefer either straight history (textbook or primary source) or all-out fantasy (Lord of the Rings, etc.).

Stanford has the quarter system, and has since at least the early 1980s; Caltech also is on a quarter system (except they call them 'terms' :D). In 1966 all campuses of the University of California changed to quarters, but UC Berkeley (alone) changed back to semesters in 1983 (to save money, IIRC). Most (but not all) of the 20+ Cal State universities are on the semester system. As someone said above, quarters have some advantages. I went to school under both systems and much preferred quarters! Semesters are long :001_smile:. ~Laura P.S. I got interested in this question and googled it -- here is a list of universities on the quarter system -- probably not exhaustive (& doesn't have Caltech), but ... it's not a long list!

Not at all, I think. Some kids start with the "easier" ones like Human Geo in 8th grade. Kathy in Richmond posted a link to the College Board's AP data. You can see that last year, 96 pre-9th-graders took the AP French Language exam (while only 2 pre-9th-graders took the AP French Lit exam -- no longer offered, anyway). So, a small but nonzero number of younger students took AP French Language.

I don't think it's cheating! I say, go for it! ;-) At the Northern California state MathCounts competition last month, *15* of the top 16 kids were Chinese-American. Many of them speak Chinese at home, attend Chinese school (complaining all the time) on Saturdays, and spend part of their summers in China (complaining about the lack of access to Facebook and Google). I expect that most of these super-bright kids will take the AP Chinese exam in a few years. Yes, they have a big advantage over someone who doesn't speak the language at home, but I also don't think it will be a complete walk in the park for them, since it has "culture" questions and also (I think) writing. Same with native Spanish speakers ... anyway, don't feel guilty! ;-)

Here's what Oxford wants to see from U.S. applicants: We would also expect Grade 5 in three or more Advanced Placement tests in appropriate subjects or SAT Subject Tests in three appropriate subjects at 700 or better. (Obviously Oxford is for exceptional students, and UK students have had more years of specialization than the average U.S. kid, but it gives an idea of what a foreign univ wants, like Great White North posted.) When I was in school (a long time ago!), yes, one or two was the norm; everyone science-minded took AP Calculus BC, and then maybe one other one, such as AP Physics or AP US History. But now ... kids are doing more. Bright kids seem to do between 2 and 5. Super-bright kids, of course, do more -- a friend's daughter did 17 APs and went to Harvard; another local girl did 20something APs and went to Stanford. So these 'elite' schools are seeing amazing numbers of APs, and I think some kids/parents are feeling pressure to do a lot. ETA: Obviously not every kid at an elite school did 17-30 APs, nor does doing that many guarantee admission! I just threw in that 'anecdata' because *I* wouldn't have thought it humanly possible to do that many ... but some kids are outliers, like Luckymama's son and other kids on this board. For me, I plan to do as many or as few as my kids want to or can handle, which means that for one of my sons, he will do two in 9th grade, aligning with his interests (Comp Sci & Calculus), and other AP classes each year after that, so he will end up with at least 8. However, my other son will do Calculus in 10th and then who knows ... he is "bright," but a slow reader & a deliberate writer, so I don't foresee *any* of the history or language ones in his future, but perhaps a science one -- but not until 12th grade. That just feels right for him. ~Laura

bumping, because I posted this over the weekend. Just in case someone could use the info & didn't see it!