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Chris in PA

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Posts posted by Chris in PA

    11th grader has decided to pursue Nursing...help?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    This suggests to me that the FIRST thing to do is actually find out if this is a career DD *really* is interested in, or if it was just the *idea* of nursing that sounded good. ;) You really don't want to drastically re-write the last year-and-a-half of DD's high school in a way that would require a HEAVY course load and a LOT of work to make sure to earn high grades -- just for a sudden whim... You want to make sure this is the real deal to be worth the work everyone will have to put in to make this happen.

     

    Discuss the realities of nursing -- long hours, night shifts, dealing with sick people, administering needles and other painful procedures, often poorly treated by physicians... Does DD have a heart for to help hurting people? Or is it some other aspect of nursing that appeals to her?

     

    Discuss what *exactly* appeals to her about nursing:

    - working with people? what age -- geriatric, adults, children, all ages...?

    - medical research?

    - emergency care?

    - overseeing specific medical tests or treatments?

    - facilitating rehabilitation?

    - teaching people how to be healthy or teach about medical matters?

    - missionary work and health care?

    - labor and delivery? (maybe work as a doula or midwife?)

    - can her specific interest be fulfilled better through a related but different occupation?

     

    Sue,

    I totally agree with what Lori is saying. My oldest left nursing school after 6 weeks. She loves children and really wanted to work in a NICU. She shadowed a friend several times and thought this was the career for her. Six weeks in she hated it! She wasn't working with kids but adults (elderly and a terminally ill woman my age that really upset her). Lucky for us the nursing school she attended was affiliated with a hospital and the students were put into clinical 3 weeks into the program. She found out quickly it wasn't what she wanted to do and transferred to the local state university. She is now a psychology major with an emphasis in school counseling. It is a much better fit and she loves it.

     

    So have her shadow someone in the field. Explore the reasons why she wants to be a nurse. If you have other questions, you can PM me. My dd looked into the program at HACC and she was enrolled in the program at LGH.

    Who here is being affected by Sandy?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    We are here. Just waiting for the power to go out and trying to prepare. I have made all the copies of things we need for school this week. Going to watch our Latin DVD in a few minutes.

     

    As far as the house goes, we have all the necessities to survive for a few days. I have done up all the laundry and filled the freezers with gallon sized bags of water. Hopefully the big bags of ice will keep things colder longer. I just made chicken rice soup. Wanted a nice warm meal before the power goes.

     

    Unfortunately I have to head out to work this afternoon. Only planning on being there until 5. Hopefully the commute won't be a total disaster!

     

    Stay safe everyone!

    Conceptual Physics scheduling question

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Not sure which edition you have, but for this one

    http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/academic/product/0,1144,0805391908,00.html

    this is what I would do:

     

    I. MECHANICS (ch. 2-10)

    Fundamental concepts. Must cover everything thoroughly.

     

    II. PROPERTIES OF MATTER (ch. 11-14)

    Can skim; this is covered again in chemistry

     

    III. HEAT (ch. 15-18)

    cover, but not in too much detail; will be revisited in chemistry

     

    IV. SOUND (ch. 19-21)

    Cover; not too much detail needed

     

    V. ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM (ch. 22-25)

    Must cover everything thoroughly

     

    VI. LIGHT (ch. 26-31)

    Must cover everything thoroughly

     

    VII. ATOMIC AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS (ch. 32-34)

    Will be covered in chemistry; interesting stuff, cover if time permits

     

    VIII. RELATIVITY (ch. 35+36)

    Really cool and interesting stuff that will probably never be covered in another class. Not necessary as prerequisite for anything, but just fascinating.

     

    This helps so much! I was thinking we would come back to the units on properties of matter and heat if we had time. We may also do those over the summer.

    Apologia science question

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I think the weakest level of Apologia is Biology. It really needs heavy supplementing in order for students to know what they are expected to know in college. The amount of time spent on evolution and classification in a standard high school text is HUGE! College may not spend that much time, but they will expect students to be familiar with the concepts. You can easily supplement that with another textbook, internet sources or videos.

     

     

    I totally agree with this. My dd did both Apologia biology and advanced biology in HS. When she took freshman biology for non-majors this past semester there were things she had not covered in HS. Thanks for the reminder about that. I am going to pull her biology text out and see what we can add in.

    Apologia science question

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I am trying to decide what direction to take with my ds. He is a 9th grader and definitely STEM oriented. He is doing Apologia biology at our co-op and it is going well. He is taking it there because I like the teacher and the labs are well done. Going forward I am looking at chemistry for next year. I teach the chemistry at the co-op and we use Apologia. I like it for kids that are not strong in math and science. However by itself, it is not enough for my ds. I am considering the class for him because he likes the layout of the Apologia texts and the social interaction of being with his buddies. I can supplement at home with the Zumdahl and Chang texts that I have. One of my issues with Apologia is that all the problems are very similar to what are in the examples. I want to make sure he can apply the concepts when he is thrown something different. Supplementing would help me to know that he can apply what he is learning to different types of problems. Would this sequence cover what it considered a solid college prep high school science?

     

    9th grade: Apologia Biology

    10th grade Apologia Chemistry

    11th grade: Apologia Physics

    12th grade: Apologia Advanced Chemistry and Advanced Physics

     

    If not what suggestions would you have for me?

     

    Thanks so much!

    Writing help needed

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Chris,

     

    Your daughter will learn all the traditional essay components, but Help for High School is accessible for teens. I think your daughter will enjoy it. Julie also has a product for writing about movies, which we have used and enjoyed as well. You could use that after Help for High School.

     

    I looked on the website and didn't see it. Are there any samples to look at?

     

    Thanks!

    Writing help needed

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Take a look at Julie Bogart's "Help for High School." It is a downloadable product and written to the student. It teaches essays with some "creative" exercises. The presentation is engaging. We have used this with two students, and it is one of our favorites. If your daughter can take an essay class with Julie in the spring, it would be even better.

     

    I actually did this last night. I searched these boards and found a previous post from you concerning this program. I went and read about it and read through the sample on the website. I purchased it before bed from homeschoolbuyers co-op. I like what I see and I am praying this works for her. I think she will enjoy Julie's style. I am starting to wonder if maybe she was intimidated by the Kane text. Just a thought this morning over a cup of tea.

    Writing help needed

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I agree that any sort of English major will require endless amounts of essays. I minored in Editing & Publishing and had the opportunity to take several creative writing classes. Those classes exist, but most often as a minor that is usually paired with a typical English degree- one that would certainly demand extensive essays.

     

    At the local state university (where she plans on attending) she can major in English but then needs a focus in a certain area. She is choosing creative writing as there is no option for editing and publishing. Thanks for the advice. :001_smile:

    Writing help needed

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Let me tell you from experience that if she wants to go to college and earn a degree that will lead to editing she is going to have to write essays out the yang. Perhaps that is the way to go. Maybe explain that reality to her and say that while you understand she absolutely hates this type of writing, if she wants to reach her goal this is one of the many (many, many, many, many) things she is not going to want to do but have to do anyway. Have her research the classes she would take at a college if she doesn't believe you.

     

    :iagree:

     

    I have been telling her this. She has to understand that she is going to be taking classes and asked to do things that she really has no interest in. I guess this is my child that has to do things the hard way. No amount of telling her anything gets through to her. I will share the comments on this thread with her. Maybe hearing it from someone else will help.

    Writing help needed

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Hi all,

    I need some writing advice for my dd. Here is a little background. She is a senior and is headed to college in the fall to major in English. Her goal is to be a book editor. She loves creative writing and does not like to write essays. There are several stories on her laptop right now that she is working on. In regards to essay writing, she tells me that she struggles with writing introductions and conclusions. However, I also noticed that she hates the constraints of an essay.

    This week I pulled out The New Oxford Guide to Writing to use as prep for college level writing. Needless to say this has been a disaster. She digs her heels in and refuses to work at the practice exercises. All she keeps saying is, “I told you I hate this type of writingâ€. I have been trying to reason with her and explain that this book can help her develop into a better essay writer but she wants no parts of it. I need help. Is there something gentler that we could use? Maybe this is too overwhelming. I have been trying to have her write short papers for the mythology and history classes she is doing at home. So far that has been going well. Should I forget a book/curriculum and just have her write? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated as this is one area of our schooling where I am the most insecure.

     

    Thanks!

    Rainbow Science -lab reports?

    in Logic Stage & Middle Grade Challenges

    Posted

    This is what I require of my students at the co-op where I teach. I hope it helps.

     

     

    Lab Report Format

     

    When writing a lab report, write as if you are presenting the material to a general audience. Write as if you are presenting original research without assuming that the reader understands anything about what you did. Think about how to present the material in a clear and organized manner. I expect all lab reports to be typed. You lab report should be divided into the following sections:

     

    Name:

    Date lab performed:

    Exp. # and Title

     

    Purpose: What is the experiment intending to show or accomplish? Why are you doing the experiment?

     

    Materials: List of materials used for the experiment

     

    Hypothesis: An educated guess as to what you think will happen in the experiment. This must be related to the purpose.

     

    Procedure: This section should contain a detailed description of how the data was collected. It should be written in paragraph form and NOT be a duplicate of the lab instructions. Write in your own words how you collected data with enough detail that someone could repeat your experiment without the textbook. Talk about how you set up the experiment and how you collected the data.

     

    Observations: This section records all the data you obtained by performing the experiment. This section would include all your raw data obtained as well as any graphs, charts, and calculations. Make sure any charts or graphs used are properly labeled and that you also list units.

     

    Conclusion: This is the section were you analyze the data presented in the observation section. You will tell whether or not your hypothesis was proven correct or not and why. Also summarize what you learned in relation to your purpose. Also identify any areas where errors may have been caused in your results. It is not wrong to make an error during an experiment but it is wrong to falsify or misrepresent results.

    Local PS elem. Principal called me this morning...

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    (as I am certain I included everything AND my evaluator signed off on my portfolio, etc.)

     

    My first call would have been to my evaluator. If she is signed off on the portfolio then she should know the requirements of the law. She should be able to help you address any concerns from the district. I would not provide them anything outside the law. I know many here do not like HSLDA but we had a big issue in our district a couple of years ago. All it took was one letter from their attorney and all the crazy requirements went away. This all occurred because an assistant superintendent took over the portfolio review.

     

    I am sorry this is all happening. It is such a pain in the rear!

    Penn State Sanctions - What do you think?

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    I think the penalties were fair. I thought the way the NCAA president put it was accurate when he spoke of a culture of "hero worship" and "win at all costs". If you followed the information in the Freeh report, they discussed how the AD and the PSU president had come to a decision on what to do about Sandusky. However that evening the AD spoke to JoePa and he told the president the next day that he was no longer sure their decision was the best. Joe had a history of sweeping things under the rug. Here is an interesting story from CNN:

     

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/15/us/triponey-paterno-penn-state/index.html

     

    It highlights a 2007 off campus incident involving an brawl that would have gotten a regular student dismissed from school. However, Joe decided he would handle it and the result was the players would clean the football stadium after home games. JoePa wielded much of the power at PSU.

     

    I live in central PA and this is PSU country. Many folks here have season football tickets. I am not a PSU fan as I have never liked the "god-like" status JoePA has here. I think what saddens me right now is to listen to the local TV sports people bemoan these sanctions and how PSU football will be hurt. It should be hurt. These sanctions are necessary so something changes there. Those young victims needed an adult to be their voice to stop the horrible things that occurred and those adults turned a blind eye so as to not tarnish their precious football program.

     

    I have used this whole situation as a teaching tool for my kids. You take 61 years to build an reputation and with one decision to put football first, everything you built is destroyed. It is sad.......

    What did you use for 9th Grade Ancients

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I am planning on MOH as the spine for my ds during high school. We will be doing the Ancients in 9th grade. Here is what I have planned for him to "beef it up" for high school:

     

    1. He will read the Illiad and the Odyssey and some other historical fiction.

    2. We are also planning a mythology study using Memoria Press materials and TTC lectures on mythology.

    3. I am adding in Famous Men of Greece and Rome.

    4. I have TTC lectures on Pharoah's of Ancient Egypt. I am requiring him to write a paper in King Tut.

    5. In addition he will research several major world religions and write a paper comparing/contrasting them to Christianity. I have several other essays planned as well.

    6. We will also do a timeline and read a good portion of the Old Testament.

     

    I am looking forward to history with him. I want him to enjoy it and retain the information. I think the plan of doing MOH throughout high school will help meet those goals.

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