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pgr

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Posts posted by pgr

    Is the school profile always best written as "just the facts"?

    in The College Board

    Posted

    I'm working on our school profile and some parts of it are reading as prose or our family's personal essay, especially the "why we chose to homeschool" (and, to a lesser degree, "how we school".) 

    Obviously, this is an official document, not a writing contest. At the same time, every story is unique and I want to tell ours - even if it's short and sweet. There's much more to it than "we chose to homeschool because the public schools here are subpar and we wanted to raise our kids according to our own values". 

    I don't, however, want it to come across as unprofessional. Thoughts?

     

    Biology

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    My DD used Novare Biology (Christian worldview) at home for honors bio, and took AP Bio at Wilson Hill Academy. For the Novare text, the lab book must be purchased separately - there is a dissection lab, but also others if you don't want to do that. I don't think you can buy a separate lab kit to use, but the labs require pretty basic supplies (e.g. using M&Ms to model evolution/ecology). For the WHA class, the teacher created a list of supplies needed and provided labs - all I needed to do was order the supplies.

    Ways to show competency besides AP exams

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    50 minutes ago, Farrar said:

    That's going to be a pretty selective school. I would just say... consider getting some outside eyes on just how competitive. Whether that's someone you hire or by posting an outside of key stats and asking here or in another group. Many of the FB groups allow for anonymous posting (mine does, for example) if you feel you need anonymity. I've just seen lots of homeschool families who thought their kids were well positioned for schools they simply were not likely to get into. Thinking that schools that are reaches were actually safeties for their kid. And it can lead to some heartbreaking outcomes for everyone involved. Even here there have been some "but how could this happen!" attitudes about some decisions. Hopefully you're right and everyone will be bowled over by how competitive your kid is. But in the case that you've missed something key about the process...

    This is something I should do. Can you please elaborate on what type of FB groups you're referring to? Homeschool groups? Prospective college groups? Which is your group? Thank you!

    This seems like a great idea (for math) - in theory.

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, regentrude said:

    The struggle is EXACTLY why AOPS works. Both my adult children told me recently that they appreciate that we made them use AOPS,  because they found they have a huge advantage compared to their fellow students: they have learned to wrestle with hard problems that don't easily "click".

    The AOPS problems are meant to make the student struggle. That's how they learn problem solving as opposed to rote reproduction of drilled routines. 

    Perhaps explaining this to your DS might help. Strong students are so used to being able to understand everything without effort that they get frustrated when they can't immediately figure out a problem, so being made to struggle is a tremendous gift.

    Yes! THIS is exactly why I don't want to ditch AOPS. My DD16 understands that the struggle has a purpose and is continuing to thrive with AOPS. I have explained to my DS that this is how (and why) AOPS works. The difficulty with him is that he's a bright kid, but also verrrrry sensitive. It doesn't take much for his emotional fuses to blow, which he's learning to manage, but in the meantime it makes it harder to get past the frustration to a place where learning is happening. Also, thank you for weighing in. Everyone's advice is appreciated, but I've been here long enough (though I tend to be quiet) to know that you definitely know math... ❤️  

    • Like 1

    This seems like a great idea (for math) - in theory.

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    14 hours ago, regentrude said:

    You say he struggles with AOPS presenting multiple approaches.  How is adding yet another textbook going to help with that?

    You're right - I need to rephrase my question. With AOPS he generally understands the teaching, but sometimes it "clicks" with the exercises, and other times he feels like he should have been able to figure out the "fancy" approaches they offer. I hesitate to ditch AOPS entirely because it's so solid and, when it does click, it's wonderful. He's not fighting AOPS, he just feels like he should be able to do the problems more easily and he gets frustrated when it's a struggle.


    So what I was considering was to follow the sequence through the AOPS book. If a topic is one that clicks (for lack of a better word) for him, great. However, if he's struggling with a topic, then we can switch gears and look at it from another book rather than keep at it to the point of pure frustration. DD16 would put the problems aside for a bit and would figure them out afterwards, DS doesn't do that.

     

    This seems like a great idea (for math) - in theory.

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by pgr

    I posted earlier about my math conundrums with DS13; basically he understands the concepts of AOPS Pre-Algebra, but struggles with the presentation - he feels overwhelmed with how they present different ways to approach a problem. I think there's a chance he might grow into it with time.

    On the recommendation of the Hive, we bought Foerster's Algebra 1, which he's done very little of so far but deems mostly OK, as he does Jacob's (which I had bought used for his older sister at some point). He has sometimes watched Khan Academy videos and liked them. The Arbor Center for Teaching books (Jousting Armadillos so far, now Crocodiles and Coconuts) were the best fit by far. It was the only one that sparked interest and did not elicit groans.

    There's definitely no sense in doing a bunch of different books all at once, but I've been trying to find one source that's really "just right". If there was one resource that clicked with him the way Jousting Armadillos did, I'd go that route and forget about the rest. But as things stand, I'm wondering if maybe we could manage to use AOPS as a "spine", supplementing the teaching, topic by topic, as necessary from the other sources? Has anyone tried anything like that? 

    • Like 1

    Help me think through SAT/ACT, please

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Thank you, everyone. The only prep she's done is taking practice tests and she actually enjoys taking tests. I think the only downside of the actual test-taking process in her mind would be the risk of potentially exposing her grandpa to COVID (though she'll be wearing an N95 and this is more of a theoretical risk, I'm just detailing her thought process and which part of it all would make her hesitate jumping to take all the tests she can).

    Help me think through SAT/ACT, please

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    DD16/grade 11 is interested in genetics/molecular and cell biology/molecular biochemistry. She's very organized, motivated, very strong academically, and has taken all her science classes online and gotten straight A's (honors Physics, honors Chem, and this year - Chem AP and Bio AP). Other than a few writing courses and Latin, her other classes have been at home (so no DE, etc).

    She has signed up to take the PSAT this fall and the SAT this spring. She's done well on the practice tests: SAT 1520 (math 770, r&w 750) and ACT 31-35 (science 31, math 33, english 35, reading 33). She did the practice ACT after hearing that a lot of kids in her Bio class took the ACT and not the SAT.

    Would it make sense for her to take both the SAT and the ACT? I'd normally think it would be overkill, but the ACT does have the science section... Also, I'm not sure taking a bunch of tests is the right approach here, but my worry is that she doesn't really have much to show as far as extracurriculars and I guess my reasoning is that the tests would help highlight her academic strengths. I know many colleges have shifted their focus away from the SAT in the last year, and that subject tests are no longer available. 

    I hope we can somehow demonstrate that she's a well-rounded person.There was a HS co-op for a number of years, and she played field hockey through 8th grade and danced from 1st through 9th, but with the pandemic, that all stopped. We have a high risk family member and we have a small business. For better or worse, for our family that has translated to hunkering down to avoid COVID as well as all hands on deck to keep the business afloat. Ugh. I'm kind of derailing my own question, but it's all related in my mind.

     

    • Like 1

    Foerster Algebra 1 solutions manual?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I know this is an oooold thread, but I can't find a solutions manual in stock anywhere. Yikes! I just bought the Classics Edition (2006) of Foerster's Algebra 1 for my DS. Any idea where to find a solutions manual? Almost all of the out of stock ones are published in 1995, and I have found a mention of one printed in 2006 only once:  https://www.textbooks.com/Algebra-1-Classic-Edition-Solution-Key-3rd-Edition/9780201861006/FOERSTER.php 

    Any ideas where I might find a solutions manual or teacher's text compatible with the Classics Edition student text?

    Any suggestions for a math sequence that's advanced but not AOPS?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    8 hours ago, MissLemon said:

    We're jumping into Foerster's Algebra 1 after Jousting Armadillos.  I think we made it through 4 chapters of AOPS Pre-A before throwing in the towel. I don't know if there's a Pre-A for Foerster's, but I think you've covered enough Pre-A concepts from JA and some AOPS pre-A that you can jump into Algebra 1. The first chapter or two will be mostly review of concepts you've seen in JA and the AOPS pre-A. 

    Thank you, that's reassuring! What edition do you have? I don't know how much the edition matters. 

    Any suggestions for a math sequence that's advanced but not AOPS?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    OK I'm looking at (for) Foerster and now realized that, while I was able to get my hands on Dolciani and Lial through interlibrary loan last year, Foerster was one that I could only find for purchase and that's where the search stopped. I haven't actually held it in hand. 

    This time I'm going to buy it used and actually give it a shot. DS has completed SM, Jousting Armadillos, three chapters of AOPS Pre-Algebra, and four chapters of Jacobs Algebra. 

    Should I go for trying Foerster's Algebra 1 from here? There isn't a "pre-algebra", correct? Does it matter which edition? I found the Classics Edition (2006) used.

    Any suggestions for a math sequence that's advanced but not AOPS?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    1 minute ago, kokotg said:

    Yes--it was a bad fit for my super perfectionist oldest because he was used to math being easy; being SUPPOSED to struggle to answer all the questions did not work for him. My youngest is my other mathy kid, and I'm hoping he'll fare better with AOPS because he'll get there through Beast Academy, so he'll be used to it. 

    Yes! He's a perfectionist, and that's exactly the issue he's having. 

     

    Any suggestions for a math sequence that's advanced but not AOPS?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, wendyroo said:

    I have such mixed feelings about this.

    Peter did work through AOPS Counting and Probability this past year. And I think it was good conceptual material that isn't often covered at this level.

    OTOH, he hated it. He LOVES math; he thinks and breathes and adores math, and yet he dreaded that AOPS book. And now he says that math is "bland" and "confusing". When I asked him what additional subject he wanted to add to his schedule this week (we are ramping up to the full fall lineup), he chose history over math. Huh? He hates history and has almost always delighted in the whole plethora of math resources we have used.

    The last time he was down in the dumps about math was when he finished AOPS pre-algebra and started AOPS algebra. It got so severe then that I switched him to a different algebra. This time, though, we soldiered on because there wasn't another good C&P resource. But I'm not sure I made the right choice. He is just so turned off and disheartened by math right now, and I lay most of the blame on the AOPS style of textbook.

    I do think they are a good repository of problems, but I can just use Alcumus for that. That is what we did for Geometry. I chose a couple strong, interesting, conceptual, but straight-forward, explicitly taught geometry resources. Throughout the year I also had him work through the Alcumus geometry sections to ensure that he was tackling more challenging, rigorous problems that forced him to integrate concepts and think outside the box.

    I can definitely relate. Sometimes it's so hard to know if something is going to ultimately have been the right path. 

    Would you mind sharing what algebra and geometry resources you ended up using? 

    Any suggestions for a math sequence that's advanced but not AOPS?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    3 hours ago, mathnerd said:

    Could you explain how he has tried working with Dolciani and AOPS. Is he self-directed and struggling with the language and text heavy pages or is a parent directing the learning by teaching each chapter or is it in between? I am guessing that he has not yet adjusted to the high school textbook format.

     

    3 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

    Any idea what was going wrong with AoPS? 

    It intimidates him. He's very self-directed in general (really, he resists any parent directed teaching of math), but with AOPS I think he feels like the explanations are less of an "aha!!" moment (as they were for his older sister) and more of a "duh, you didn't figure out the super clever way to do it, ya ding-dong" moment. He's been leery of AOPS since his sister started the pre-algebra book. Even Beast Academy, which he liked, made him "feel like an idiot" at times. I don't think it's a matter of the language or the text - he's worked through other text heavy materials without any issue. I think it's a preconceived mindset that he's not going to grasp concepts immediately and therefore it's not even worth trying as he's "already failed". 

    As for Dolciani, he just really didn't like the text at all. The little he completed was through clenched teeth and it didn't feel like he was internalizing any of it. 

    To be fair, he's my most sensitive kid. He's very bright and his personality is fairly mature, but if a curriculum doesn't fit him, there will be a LOT of resistance to working through it and, I've learned, there will be very little learning. 

    • Like 2

    Any suggestions for a math sequence that's advanced but not AOPS?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I've searched and researched and asked but I still keep hitting a wall. My 13yo flew through and really liked SM when he was younger, and more recently also flew through and *loved* Jousting Armadillos, but has balked at AOPS Pre-algebra. He's crawled through (clawed through?) a small handful of chapters over the course of a year, with some Jacobs sprinkled in. I feel he's definitely capable of the actual math (and does understand and perform the computations) but the format seems to freak him out and he just feels overwhelmed. We're at the point that just pushing through is getting counterproductive. 

    Any suggestions for a strong math sequence that's not AOPS? FWIW, I've also tried Dolciani, but that didn't work. Nor does online coursework. I feel like Goldilocks here but math is important enough that I really want to get it right. 

    Scrambling to find an online Rhetoric + Senior Thesis

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    On 2/10/2021 at 4:08 PM, Mom21 said:

    Perhaps another but relatively independent/self-paced option could be: 

    just purchase the Rhetoric Thesis set – https://classicalacademicpress.com/collections/rhetoric-alive 

    as well as a tutoring package from Scholé Academy – https://scholeacademy.com/tutoring-center/ 

    This is what we might just end up doing, thank you!

     

    On 2/10/2021 at 10:46 PM, lbell said:

    Mr. Althage is a favorite of the students I know. Mr. Bradley, who is teaching Logic 2 next year, is also a favorite. My daughter did Logic 2 (Mr. Vierra), Rhetoric 1 (Mr. Colvin), and Rhetoric 2 with senior thesis (Mr. Vierra) at WHA. All of the classes and teachers were fabulous. I would definitely recommend doing a senior thesis. It was a growing experience that put her ahead of her peers in college. AP Art with Mr. Colvin was also a highlight of her senior year as well as Modern Literature & Thought with Mrs. Crawford.

    Thank you for the feedback, this will be very helpful if we decide to go with WHA - either this year or next.

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