One thing we really learned this year is 1. She does not to well with most online classes. She did succeed and get an A in one Science class but the rest we have dropped and ended up looking for something else. 2. That’s not to say she doesn’t do well with online interfaces. She used Google classroom for one of her co-op classes and does great, and she used and does very well woth Monarch Online. We switched science halfway through but that was because it was poorly written, so bad that even my son could barely make our what it was saying and he loves Science. Although I post on here about the struggles here are the achievements: 1. She taught herself an entire year of Geometry and is in the home stretch with an A average. 2. She literally has 110 average in her Honors literature class. I watch over all of the assignment s and it’s a challenging course. 3. She is almost finished her second year of ASL and has kwpt up with all of her work even though it’s difficult. 4. For history I’ve been assigning DBQs and reports that are graded by her English teacher and she is doing very well. Her DBQs could use more depth but I’m a hard grader 🙂. 5. She is 100% self motivated. She uses grammerly for all of her work. She makes 50-60 flash cards every week using Quizlet and she turns in all of her co op work on time and stays on track woth self motivation. I do not push, control, coerce, schedule or in any way control how she schedules her time and she functions in this way like a mature young adult. 6. She took a lab class outside the house and was praised for being one of the most self motivated students. She hates science but she was mature and thoughtful about her work and her lab partner was terribly sad to part ways when it was over. We switched up by dropping all the WTM classes In September and we switched that monarch science halfway through but her work ethic and ability seem fine. It’s more that I seem to not have known what would be a good course that fit and what wouldn’t. Obviously I don’t want to make the same mistake again with the DE course .... so my question is, what am I looking for to know she’s ready and it’s a good idea? With my son you could throw him into just about anything and he’s fine, so I haven’t really leaned how to figure out anything except by trial and error woth her. Sorry for typos. On my tiny phone 🙂

Hi everyone, Thanks for your thoughts! 8, unfortunately we don’t have anywhere else that she can really practice using official accommodations. (Turning in your blue slip, scheduling your proctored exams and using your school-issues tape recorder etc) All the co-op teaches will sign an accommodations forms but they already structure the class intentionally for those with LD’s - and all exams and quizzes are done at home online or turned in, so as not to use up valuable class time taking them. So really she’s already at the point where if she’s going to actually use an official accommodation it’ll be at college. At home, She’s always used accommodations that I’ve provided for her since I always knew she had issues. (Grammerly, extra time, speaking out loud, etc) .... This cc is much smaller and caters to a different type of people than the cc my son went to. It’s full of people needing all kinds of help from free busing to free food to the myriad of ESL and remedial classes. I think the teachers there really have a heart to help and we know other kids that have gone there needing accommodations a and done very well. It’s not like doing DE at a big university. The campus is tiny and class sizes are also tiny, the average non nursing major class has about 7-10 students. .... I could wait another semester or until senior year but not sure what would happen between now and then that would change anything except that she’s excited now after meeting with the accessibilities coordinator and meeting the entire office she feels like she can do it. keep in mind she has gifted IQ and is well learned and well read so to be honest she can think and talk circles around most of the kids and adults at this cc without even trying. It’s only spelling that she has issues with and Science -....idk i just want her to succeed, and I don’t want to push her into something she’s not ready for ....but I also don’t want to not give her the practice she needs in advocating for herself. She has the drive and the IQ and the education to succeed. Now she has the accommodations.

Hey I didn't think of that. Sure I will ask her.

My dd has done very well slogging through Geometry on her own this year. She actually likes the actual subject, but just doing it on her own has been a bit lonely. She has completed up to CHapter 11 in Teaching Textbooks, and I know she needs to complete Chapter 12 which includes basic Trigonometry. Chapters 13, 14 and 15 seems to cover: 13: Areas of the rectangle and triangles and how to view one within and while thinking about the other to derive area 14: Prisms, Pyramids, Cylinders and Cones 15: Seems to be merging Geometry with Algebra 2 as it relates to slope/intercept formula (I know she doesn't need this chapter as she did a ton of this at Mathnasium.) She is going back to Mathnasium for the remainder of her high school career so she WILL cover these topics. But I am very careful with my records, and will be printing off her grades from Teaching Textbooks and so obviously at whatever lesson she doesn't cover, I will need to cross out in the syllabus and include an explanation, for my records. I feel like chapter 13 is superfluous as it's kind of obvious. Some of Chapter 14 is not required by my own state's Geometry curriculum. The parts that are, are at the very end of the state curriculum standards. And Chapter 15 is really introducing Algebra 2. ....I know she can skip that....

If she hates math, and is not planning on any STEM related field, you could use something a little bit more user friendly like Teaching Textbooks 🙂 That's what I would definitely do...Saxon takes a pretty extreme amount of patience, which on top of the hard work and concentration that math usually takes, is a steep hill to climb for no real reason 🙂

wait, this is a zombie thread! oops

I think it would be fine, assuming that you're going to do the first half (or is it the first 1/4?) of Advanced Math so that she gets her full Geometry credit. Saxon Alg 2 is an excellent and very advanced book, and if your dd can slog through it little by little she will have a better math foundation, than if she used something easier or less challenging. However, I will say, that it's very hard just on a pure emotional level, to pick up that Advanced Math book knowing you're not going to finish it...my son went straight to community college Pre-Calc and Trig and did great, and spoke with the Dean of the math department who felt he had covered enough Geometry to move forward with math, just after Saxon Alg 2. The dean was right, my son is now into his third semester of Calc and physics and has never had a single problem with not finishing that last bit of Geometry. BUT He FEELS like he should have finished. He tutors at Mathnasium and always asks the other tutors to take the Geometry students because he feels like he would not be the best tutor for them. ...so there's that. Just sharing our journey. We feel like Saxon gave my son an amazing math foundation, and I was so worried about it all the time, but had not reason to be.

They're meeting in the cafe! No one minds and they've brought plenty of money and business so it's great. They're not meeting on the weekend, and slightly off - hours so they've had no problems having enough tables. I think it's important going in that you and dd realize that they won't like everyone that comes and will need to be mature and professional in how to deal with group dynamics. My dd has already learned a lot and is doing very well. I am not in any way leading it, just there for advice for my dd, and the teens seem to like it that it's not being led by a parent.

Sounds like there are only pluses there!

I was thinking I'm sure someone on here has researched this and found it! I've bought and also looked at hundreds of unerwear, long johns and socks, and it seems almost every major company is switching over! I was able to find regular socks (enerwear) and undershirts for the guys (Gildan) as well as old Hanes that are not using the new technology yet (and are not charging more) but I'd really like to find one company for the whole family.

My daughter started one two months ago and it’s doing pretty well. Hers is more about social and enjoying books than about academics. Heres what worked : she advertised with a well made graphic banner to all the local Facebook and email homeschool groups she chose a central location with food and books (Barnes and Noble) she advertised a specific GENDER- girls only she advertised a specific genre- fantasy and the fact that “relatively clean” books would be chosen she advertised for teens 13-17 only - believe it or not the one 12 year old that cane was truly not ready or fitting in-, I think she has stopped coming she is adding outings once a month. Heres whats not working : Theres one bad apple who is complaining about the book choices, and sending weird ans negative texts to the group text. If we could have a do-over id encourage my dd to not let everyone have everyone else’s number or email the same bad apple is complaining about book choices all the time so for next year I will encourage my dd to have a list of about 16 books and have the girls choose 12 of them so they have a voice but it’s within boundaries Hope this helps

My dd and I will be looking for a Friday-only class for her to DE next semester. She has some issues with spelling and focus and met with the Accessibility coordinator and he was great. She now has an IEP with the college, and access to several accommodations and several technological devices as well as a scribe if she wants. Due to her co-op schedule, it would be great if she could attend a Friday-only class, and so far the only one we've seen that seems like a good fit is Public Speaking. I think this would be a great first class. My daughter is a good writer, and has lots of opinions. She doesn't like or enjoy speaking in front of others, but does OK when she needs to - this seems like it would be a nice challenge for her maturity wise without being overkill... (we had her signed up for astronomy as her first cc class but had to drop it due to scheduling issues and a concussion, so this is the second time around with the same question) thoughts?

Congrats!! What a complete relief!!

I think it's important, as with anything to let it be a passion and a hobby that is not an obsession, especially if it's the parents' obsession rather than the students. I feel like very few athletes will be able (just by physical limitation even if all the effort is put forth) to achieve the kind of swimming that would earn that type of scholarship. Using swimming as the example just because I did it in high school, the student gives up all of their mornings, all of their afternoons, many weekends during the season and often will not have the time to pursue too many other clubs or hobbies. If the kid enjoys her team mates and feels cared for and loved by her coach and the parents and other siblings have time to spend with the sibling to work around the schedule AND the swimmer isn't desperate to try something else, then it's great and the scholarships are of course super awesome benefit. BUT it's the working TOWARD the scholarship that is the problem, because many times they just won't come.

One question that I have for you, is at a large Public U (like PennState), how does a freshman go about meeting people and profs so he can get involved with undergrad research? My ds is so excited about the UG research going on there in artificial intelligence and has all the names of the projects and profs and is even spending half his summer re-writing his little homegrown AI app so that he can show he's doing something....but once you actually step foot on campus, and get your bearings, how does it go from a number in a crowd to being able/allowed to work on UG research?

Thanks everyone. Good points. The thing that scares me about having her plan to take astronomy is that is at the community college and I don't know if she can handle the class and the info. We actually have the book they use, so we will look at it and decide. But I wouldn't want her to plan on astronomy and then end up dropping it, because by that time, she will miss her place in the co-op and we have a really good co-op teacher for Chemistry, and it's also "Intro to Chemistry" so it's a bit lighter, as it's not A-G approved, which means it probably is a little less in depth. katilac- yes she just received her formal dx and is all hooked up with the accessibility office at the community college. She also will be presenting her paperwork to her co-op teachers so that we can have a paper trail. We willl have about 6 teachers sign off on accommodations and then file that through our private umbrella school's paperwork, and then we also have hte IEP now at the community college, so thankfully we are creating a paper trail 🙂 I'll encourage her to take one more year of Science, and look into options.

I've always wondered: What happens when a student is recruited but doesn't really earn their college any points or win anything the first year? Do they improve with training year by year because they're now with excellent trainers? Do they kick out athletes if they don't do as well as the coach though they would?

My niece is in Div 1 swimming, and her scholarships are not substantial. It was definitely enough to be very thankful for. She also has the perk of the free training, fame and fun, travel around the country and even out of the country and all the awesome gear. But the actual scholarship was nothing amazing, not even 1/4 of one of the academic scholarships my son received. And, to be honest, a lot less blood sweat and tears went into that 🙂 (Granted not every kid is academic, but it's just a fact that it was a more natural, less stressful process.) My niece is a very good student, so she wasn't worried about that aspect, so I'm not sure that was a big problem or a big factor either way.

My dd is working very hard but struggles with Science. She has two LD's and although she is overall high IQ, Science in particular poses quite a challenge. Just typing / making flashcards for words that she cannot spell takes many hours each week....The fact that she couldn't care less about molecules, moles or mitochondria doesn't help (feeling so clever there!) She has taken two years of Lab Science, and we have all her labs and records to prove them. She took Physical Science in 9th and is taking Biology this year. I was kind of planning on having her take Chemistry next year but in looking at the private colleges she is aiming for, they only seem to strongly recommend two, or even one year of Lab Science in high school. Her major will probably be English and she will be getting accommodations in college to help with spelling on exams, as well as time and a half and tape recorders and some other accommodations, and her colleges offer Earth and Space Science as well as Chemistry, Physics and Biology for student to choose from. ...so she won't be rid of Science just yet. But... She will be starting at community college for dual enrollment next year and I'd rather see her take more classes there, and not worry about Chemistry, but at the same time, I wonder if it'll look very strange to have Chemistry missing from a high school transcript. She is considering taking Astronomy at the community college but we aren't sure how that would go, as she has issues with Visual Memory and we aren't sure yet if that's just with symbols or also with pictorial things.

Wow that seems crazy, that they’d Reject that many of their own students ....

This is a hard decision. I often tell people with older kids, that if your kid has a group of friends and they're not a bad influence, to stick with whatever activity keeps them together!! Finding friends as a solo homeschooler is very difficult, as kids are so spread out among varying activities and classes, and they just don't have one place where they have the time to get to know people. I usually say, if the kids are happy and have friends, to stick with it even if it's not perfect. However, generally speaking, when I give that advice,it's about ONE class, or about a sport or other activity which isn't all consuming to the entire family. If you were talking about one class, or a sports activity such as gymnastics, or something like that I would say, hey it may not be perfect but if they're good kids and your kids have friends, keep it... But in this case, it's very all consuming, and limits your ability to have freedom with your children's schooling, which is kind of the whole point of homeschooling. Additionally, as they get older you may find that they don't fit the CC "Mold" which is SPECIFICALLY designed for : 1. Neurotypical (no autism, ADHD, etc.) 2. No LD's (no dyslexia) (My dd cannot diagram, or memorize grammar concepts due to her LD even thought she is gifted IQ) 3. Bright but not especially gifted (my son was leaps and bounds ahead of almost their entire program- we would look at it year after year and he was three years ahead in almost every area) 4. Not exactly outside-the-box 5. Exactly one age per grade Kids.... I feel like the likelihood of all four of your kids fitting that mold perfectly is super unlikely. With every child you have, the statistical likelihood that one of them would in some way not fit exactly inside that box increases 🙂 I only had two and neither one fit. So my advice, would be to drop it like a hot potato BUT you do have to allow your kids (especially your older two), to explore sports, karate, swimming, or another not all-consuming co-op where they have the possibility of finding friends that they can stick with for the long haul. A little exploration is normal and then once they find something later by the time they're 11 or so, make every effort to help them stick with it..... They may love being together now, and I'm sure they always will but a few good friends would be helpful. As far as what to actually teach them and what curriculum to use, that'll work itself out and I suggest new threads based on your kids actual needs. I suggest keeping them separate in 3Rs but combining the older two in Story of the World for history and doing Science using Science videos from the library, (magic school bus!) magazines (some libraries allow you to check them out! Check first! One of ours allowed checkout and they had all the science and MUSE and cricket brands!).. and a few kits (which also make great Christmas presents). ANd your oldest can learn a lot just by reading well chosen books! Don't let them rot their brain on TV or video games, ever, and you will be amazed how much they will read. For 3R's my suggestion is always CLE or something that is mostly independent, includes all you need and somewhat self instructional, since you have multiple children and a baby. Rod and Staff for grammar and English is also another good choice. If you end up with a kid with LD's then you'd start a new thread for that situation. For math, I recommend Horizons for the kids who like color, and are impatient and quick learners and Saxon for kids who have a little more patience and can do without the color. They're both great. Both easy to teach. I re-read and see that you are doing Horizons. Great. Stick with it 🙂

A bit- which all humor has to have a good germ of truth to be funny.

(posting does not at all mean that I agree) But a nice laugh is good ! https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/an-honest-college-rejection-letter?fbclid=IwAR3FXEa_o_hXFga_29bVE9XH8bTcCB4_i5aQB0_Wz866uMwPTm_aqW7Gwwg

nm

SOunds like great visits! I had fun reading it even though I've never been to the midwest and son is committed to PennState. However, I would point out- with the very important ice cream shop, that your dd will not be there for prime Minnesota ice cream months, eh? 🙂 I mean, I guess September is an ice cream month, and May? But the rest of the year I'm thinking ice cream will not be the food of choice. 😛 I think Careleton sounds great!