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:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: (To creekland and others who are experiencing bumps in the road and turns in the path...)

In short, AP courses are a forced march through a preordained subject, leaving no time for a high-school teacher to take her or his students down some path of mutual interest. The AP classroom is where intellectual curiosity goes to die." That doesn't come close to describing my daughter's AP experience. The more I read about some AP classes, the more grateful I am for the experiences we've had with them. Thank you PA Homeschoolers! (And thanks to many families on this board. I'm sure my daughter has had classes with several of your students. They've been wonderful, inspiring classmates.)

Thanks. I've noticed on a few online school webpages that satellite connections are not recommended, so I'm wondering if anyone has had any success with satellite, even though it isn't recommended.

Is anyone using satellite internet for live online classes? Care to share your experiences?

She is in 10th grade and is working toward the Silver Medal. The E/E would be difficult during the school year, so her goal is this summer.

My daughter discusses her thoughts and plans with me before meeting with her advisor. (I want to make sure she is respectful of his time and has a framework for the discussion.) Her advisor helps her brainstorm goals in some areas and just offers feedback in the areas he's less familiar with. Sometimes even in those areas he has come up with some great suggestions. He offers good insights and ideas she probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise. He definitely pushes her to step outside her comfort zone. --- She has spreadsheets for all the hourly categories. She just has the validators sign when she is ready to turn in a record book and needs the documentation. She has steady, long term connections to all the validators and some of the organizations she works with have their own record keeping. Asking them to sign each time would be over-the-top in our situation, partly because the hours are already tracked within the organization. I still don't know if I believe it. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in my surprise! Thanks! Her plan for now, unless we find out there's been further confusion, is to go from the Bronze Certificate (which she already has) to the Silver Medal. She needs just a few more hours in one category and the E/E. She will need to discuss her new plan with her advisor, but this will most likely be what she does. Thanks, Penguin. I was really hoping someone else might contact their coordinator to confirm. There's always the possibility there was a miscommunication when my daughter asked. I agree. It moves the finish line quite a bit. I have mixed feelings...

My daughter double-checked with someone at the Congressional Award office. All the E/Es are NOT required if you skip levels. I was truly surprised. This new information will most likely change my daughter's approach. I had presumed the only difference in applying for each level as opposed to going straight to a higher level was the extra paperwork. Apparently that's not the case, there are more E/Es too. Apologies to anyone I've confused! I've deleted a couple of my old posts related to the EEs in a different thread. Sorry for any confusion! If anyone has been told something different by the Congressional Award office, please let us know!

Here are the relative sections from the website's FAQ : (I'm not sure that it's clear either way. Do all the E/Es leading up to the Gold need to be done or just the E/E at the Gold level if one goes straight for the Gold? I don't see anything that says you must do the E/E for the level you are applying for PLUS all previous levels of E/Es. ) Can I skip levels? You may begin with any level that you choose. We consider every participant to be on the road to the Gold Medal, and we’ll give you everything you earn along the way. Simply submit a Congressional Award Record Book for the level that you’d like to pursue once you fulfill those requirements. Once you’re approved, we’ll be sure to also send you any lower levels that you qualify for. For instance, if you choose to start with the Silver Medal level, we’ll send you the Bronze Medal and all three Certificates as well. However, we strongly recommend that participants start at one of the lower levels. As the work is cumulative, the only cost will be the short time taken to fill out a Record Book and the money for postage. Plus, if you submit at a lower level, you can be sure that you understand the Congressional Award’s program requirements. Are the days and nights for the Expeditions cumulative? Do they have to be consecutive?At the Certificate levels, the Expedition activities are cumulative and carry over from one level to the next. However, for the Medal levels, please note that the required overnights must be consecutive. Therefore, you can not add your overnights together from previous levels.

If it's the case that the early levels of E/E don't need to done if a higher level is attempted first, then someone that does each level would end up doing 8 days and 3 nights more than someone who goes straight for the Gold. Not to mention the hours and hours (days and days) of planning and prep for each E/E that would be above and beyond what would have been required had the Gold been the first goal. It would be hard to believe the award is set up like that -- with a built in shortcut/loophole. (Although maybe I shouldn't be surprised. :glare: ) It certainly would take away some of the incentive for doing each level individually. Hmm.... Not sure what to think.

Am I correct in understanding that your impression is that the single day E/Es are NOT required if you go for a medal first? It's quite possible I've been confused in thinking that the single day E/Es still needed to be done. If I've misunderstood, then it actually requires more than just extra paperwork to do every level individually. My daughter will most likely get in contact with someone at the CA to confirm, but can anyone here shed light on this?

Thanks Penguin and nutella08! Very helpful!

For anyone who hasn't heard of The Congressional Award, here is a link to get you started: Congressional Award

I thought it might be a good idea to start a fresh thread since this one started in 2013. Here is the new thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/634455-congressional-award-discussion-questions-updates-etc/ It also occurred to me there are some really good updates and questions in the recent posts of this thread. I reposted my question in the new thread. Feel free to repost updates and questions! Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts and experiences!

This is a new thread to continue the recent conversation found here: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/482072-congressional-award-do-you-know-kids-whove-been-involved/ (That thread was started in 2013 and the date might keep some people from reading through the old posts to find the new ones.) I'll start. :) I'm hoping someone might be able to answer this question: For those that went straight for one of the medals, did your teen submit several goals and signed papers for each category? For example, in the physical fitness category was there a signed sheet with one goal for the bronze certificate, a signed sheet for silver certificate, etc.? Or for each category did your teen just submit one paper with one significant goal with all the hours up to the medal? I'm asking because my daughter has been accumulating hours in all categories, but needs to get caught up with expedition/explorations. She could technically skip a couple levels at this point. If she is able to do the expedition/explorations relatively close together, it seems it would make the most sense just to send in for the highest level she qualifies for at the time. (Her goals build, so she could submit the smaller goals on various pages, or just list the overall goal and the smaller goals together on one sheet.) Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Do you mean for the Bronze or has he done one for the Bronze certificate and one for the Silver?

I don't think anyone is suggesting that it's a good idea not to have clear and reasonable expectations for a given child. I think the issue at hand is that it's sometimes difficult to tease out what is reasonable for a given child, which then makes it impossible for expectations to be clear. Also, as regentrude said -- some kids are not pushable. Some freeze. They refuse to do any school work. at. all. Consequences be cursed. Some rebel. They start hanging out with the wrong crowd, get into trouble with the law, etc. Some turn to self-harm to cope with the feelings of lack of control. Some see death as the only way out. "Let them be" is deceptively complex. Context matters. For some, it means never doing anything that resembles requiring anything of the child. I doubt many people on this thread (or on this board) advocate that as a good approach to educating a child. For many on this thread and on this board "let them be" most likely means expecting a great deal and providing a world of opportunities to the child, but acknowledging that ultimately the child must be the one to act. Yes, there are many posters whose children rise to parental expectations. There are also parents visiting children in mental health wards and parents sobbing at their children's graves. It reminds me of finding the edge in yoga...The idea is to stretch the child, taking care not to break the child. Any less is not enough. Any more is too much. Find the edge and let them be.

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APs are a good fit here because they provide the level of challenge needed in some courses without the risk of a bad grade in a DE course that will be on the record forever. Getting college credit isn't our main goal. For us the AP classes, in and of themselves, have been invaluable. College credit is just icing.

Looks like a good plan!

The advisor plays a more significant role than the validators. I would suggest finding someone who has a genuine interest in helping your teen long-term. In my daughter's situation, one could quickly tell from responses to inquiries about being an advisor or validator who viewed the process as just another item on their long list of students needing help for college applications and those who were mainly concerned about making a difference in the life of a teen. That helped my daughter make her decision. Good luck!