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Chanley

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Posts posted by Chanley

  1. How did you ascertain the quality of the CC's departments?

     

    I talk to the older teens that my kids know and kids that belong to my friends. I always talk about school and teachers with them. Plus I live in a very small town, so everybody knows everybody's business.  Many of the older teens that I know who have gone on to 4 year universities complain about their lack of science skills after DE'ing at our local CC. I can list a handful of kids that transferred into liberal arts majors after hoping to be pre-med because they got to the 4 year school and could not keep up with the science at the Jr. level after having freshman and sophomore level science classes at our CC. 

     

    Friend some teens, they love to complain about terrible teachers. I can usually ascertain the difference in complaints between not wanting to do work and not being able to do the work. 

    • Like 2
  2. We are utilizing AP classes and exams as a way of proving ability and a desire for challenge. They will be combined with DE courses as well. But I am not expecting college credit for any of the exams. I also know the reputation of our small, local, community college and many of the departments are not preparing students for university level work when they transfer. For example our local 2 year school where my kids will take DE classes has a terrible science department. We are using AP chem to work around a lackluster DE experience. However, a few of their social science teachers are really great, my kids will take those classes to explore those fields. 

    • Like 4
  3. I am going to go out on a limb here....if your child wants to do an AP course, then I would not choose this one unless you are comfortable without the AP designation on the transcript. Until WTMA gets the syllabus approved from the college board, you cannot call this class an AP class. You can label it as Honors US History. For the money spent, you may want the AP designation on the transcript. Otherwise you are labeling it as honors with the AP test. 

     

    This class was not about rote memorization of factual information. This class taught my child to really look at history from the vantage point of a historian. My kid became very comfortable with reading primary sources and learning how to interpret the information in those sources in the context of what was happening socially and politically. These are valuable skills that improved reading and writing skills. 

     

    *If this information about the class not being approved has changed, I welcome the correction. 

    • Like 2
  4. We used Tablet Class Algebra and I made my kid do another Algebra the following year because it just was not a good fit. If your kid needs to ask "why" a video will not always be able to explain the intricacies. I outsourced the math instruction and have never been happier. There are human beings in charge of answering the "why" and explaining specific concepts that are misunderstood. 

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  5. I second the thoughts re: Heather Quintero. She is terrific, and she is terrific at teaching AoPS:-) If I recall correctly, she used it with her own kids in addition to teaching it. Her explanations are clear, she is available for questions, and the assignments are reasonable... now if only she could cure my freshman boy of his all-encompassing ability to be distracted... :lol:

     

    No kidding! She deserves sainthood for being so cheerful about my son's proof explanations. The kid should get a job writing military code because I have no clue what he means when he explains the problems but she has no issue with it. She handles him REALLY well. 

  6. It is strongly discouraged to do another program WITH Barton because it can be very confusing for the student. I would not do both simultaneously. You are not going to see HUGE improvements in Barton until somewhere in Level 4. Although every kid is different, there is usually a jump around that level. Right now, you are laying the groundwork. 

     

    I would not opt for a program with 4 kids at once because each child struggles differently. One on one is best IMO because you can go at the pace that the individual child needs.

    • Like 1
  7. Barton worked so well for my son, I became a certified tutor!  

     

    If you find that the student cannot handle anymore than 25-30 mins of work, I highly recommend the Spelling Success games to reinforce the rules you are learning. I try to switch gears with one boy that I tutor. He has ADHD and needs to move after about 20 minutes. There is a white board on the wall and I have him get up and stand at the board to do the spelling. This lets him move around and spend the last 15 minutes of every session doing something fun that reinforces what we are doing in Barton. 

    • Like 2
  8. Yup! I almost feel bad that my kid is going through this. But in some ways she finds this easier than the forms that she had to memorize in Latin 1 and 2. We have every intention of her taking AP Latin at Lukeion next year, so we are planning accordingly. She will take fewer classes and the other AP class will be an easier one. We just hope that she goes to a college that will accept an AP Latin for foreign language. If not, she will have great study skills. After this, I think hard classes in college will seem easier and she still has me doing her laundry and cooking her food, things she will have to figure out herself in college with the hard classes. 

    • Like 2
  9. Is the AOPS/Singapore Geometry for advanced students compared to the Saxon Geometry?

     

     

    Anything AOPS is more difficult than a traditional math course. I think there is a type of student who does well with AOPS. I have one kid who does and another who does not. The kid for whom AOPS works is OK with struggling to find an answer, this kid sees math has a puzzle and delights in finding a solution after toying with different ways of solving the problem. This kid dives in before reading instructions and figures things out on the way.  There are few problems but they are much harder. 

     

    My other kid, who loves Saxon but is also very bright, does not ever like being wrong. Not understanding something when trying to do it drives this kid nuts and she freaks out. She reads the instruction manual before she unboxes stuff. She also needs the repetitive workload that Saxon provides. There are SO many problems due every week, it can be time consuming but she feels it gives her the solid footing to feel like she really understands the problems before she moves on.  The AOPS kid would die of boredom and never finish that many problems. 

    • Like 3
  10. As far as I know, the WTMA US History class is not a true AP USH class in that the syllabus has not been approved by the college board. The class is geared toward the AP exam but cannot be put on a transcript as an AP class. At least, this was the case last year when my kid took the class. Perhaps it has changed this year. The teacher is excellent. 

    • Like 2
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