Looking for a standard, either online or pretty open-the-box, us history course. Dd has enough AP’s and de classes planned for next year, this one doesn’t have to stretch her. Prefer to avoid overtly religious curriculums (unless it’s interesting and off the beaten path. I could get behind a USH course published by Zoroastrian Press, for ex.)

Most AP Bio classes require that you have taken chem and a previous bio class. Most ap chem classes require that you have taken a prev chem class. It can be done without that, but the classes are already a full load and a lot of work even with the pre-requisites.

There's articles around (and it makes tons of sense) describing how the COVID situation will accelerate the carnage of colleges and programs within those colleges. I'm trying to peer at least a bit down the road and estimate the likely stability of choices DS is making about where to go to school. I've seen endowment #s from 2ish years ago. I wonder if that's really the best thing to look at?

I have been known, on occasion, to grouse about a few online class providers (that post will come in a few weeks....). So it seems fitting that I should also mention when someone really does a standout job and provides something exceptional. Connie, from CloverValleyChem, has done just that. 100% recommended. DD16 is taking honors chem. She started with some serious chemistry fears and dislike. She tried to take it along side her big brother (diff provider) when she was in 8th grade. She had the math for it then, but not the intellectual maturity otherwise. She flamed out hard and was left with some serious fears and belief that chemistry was just awful. I made her take some chemistry class this year. She opted to take the honors because she knows the colleges she's looking at will expect a difficult course load. But she was super nervous. CVC has totally come through. The course has been hard. Possibly the most challenging class she has yet taken. But the teacher, Connie, is fantastic. Her video lectures are great, she's accessible at frequent office hours, the homework and tests are solid and Connie grades submitted work quickly. DD is now wondering about taking AP chem next year. 'it's hard, but I think I'm kinda good at it and it's fun to understand how things work.' awesome-sauce. If you're looking for an async online source for chem or honors chem, this one has my endorsement.

It feels a bit early for this, but looking ahead is helpful to DD, so....I'm looking for feedback on the PaH AP Physics classes. DD is currently taking CalcBC (AoPS is the text, I am teaching) and Clover Valley Honors Chem (+1 for Connie, who is awesome. that class rocks. Cannot recommend strongly enough). We do want it to be a class that someone else teaches, grades, etc. There's a choice of teachers - I'm interested in feedback on one vs the other. Also, there's a PhysicsC Mech-only that spends the whole year on mechanics or the option to do mechanics the first half & E&M the second half of the year. Any feedback on how challenging that schedule was for your DC? Finally, I think the HS Physics thread that's stickied is a bit out of date. It looks like the PaH classes have switched texts. https://www.aphomeschoolers.com/cgi-bin/choose.pl?class=physics3 suggests he's using Physics C Mechanics: University Physics now. Jack Kernion's class description says: "The backbone of each course is self-study based on a wide variety of clearly defined sequential activities, but students will also have the support of the instructor through a discussion forum and through live (optional) video sessions held every other Wednesday at 12:00 noon (US Eastern Time). " that sounds maybe TOO limited in teacher interaction? What are the assigned HW's like, how much teacher engagement is there, etc? Jeff Lanctot's course sounds a bit more teacher-involved, but that might just be the description?

I would read this as 'we may not be able to open in the fall, in which case we'll open in January for the usual term that begins in January and we'll do the classes we had planned in the fall during the coming summer (summer '21)' I can see why that makes some sense, but what about classes that are a sequence, where you need the first term to be able to take or understand the 2nd? You can't just flip those around and do them in the reverse order.

of the list of things OP mentioned as possibilities, the only two I see that are really hard to switch INTO are Music (BFA) and CS. Both are effectively trade schools and at many Universities you have to apply specifically to them at the outset and you have almost no GEs. I have a CS degree and my GEs were essentially 1 english and 2 philosophy classes - everything else was math, physics, more math, and CS/EE classes taught by the department. Even the math and physics classes were specifically for Math/Physics/Eng majors. BFA programs, as I've learned this year, are often run as tracks where you have no choices in what you take - all the courses are specific to the major. I suspect that for most kids, if you're a fit for that sort of program you KNOW. Most everyone else who 'likes computers' or 'enjoys music' should look at taking some classes here or there and making this a great hobby or weekend gig (which is fine!). The rest of those majors (heck, most majors) have a decent chunk of GEs in common that you can take without loosing a year of progress while you sort it out.

Swimming is cancelled indefinitely, the play was cancelled a week before opening night and there won't be a summer one, and school is all wonky. With everything shut down, the org formerly known as the BoyScouts of America has been a total godsend. If you're looking for some structured activity for your DC (it's coed now), I totally recommend it. Adult scout leaders have been awesome. Youth scout leaders have organized zoom-based troop meetings and teaching sessions for rank advancement. Last week DD's troop held a virtual camp-out where everyone camped in their own backyard (or living room) and they discussed the usual things via zoom. DD has a list of probably a dozen merit badges she's working on and she's currently leading her troop as they work through the Emergency Preparedness badge (lolz). It's the most structured and engaging thing we've got going on here. On an interesting note...the current situation seems to have accelerated the total removal of gender barriers that I figured would take many years. The boy's and girl's troops here used to meet separately (but at the same time/place) and have separately planned activities. That's gone - the pair of youth leaders jointly plan and run meetings, scouts of any gender teach and signoff requirements for any other scout, etc. I suspect the kids did that on their own, w/o intervention from their leaders, because it was just easier. Will be interesting to see if it sticks once they can meet in person again.

Dd is currently taking asl2 w opentent and loves it.

https://www.amazonfutureengineer.com/free-courses Hello everyone. I'm an engineer, working for Amazon (Web Services). The above link was just sent out internally, with instructions that we're free to share it. I haven't actually tried any of the courses, though if you do and you have feedback please send it to me and I'll make sure the right people see it.

at least on my team, all internship & full-time offers are still extended. We're all working from home, wherever that is, as are the new interns. I feel for the new kids. Many of them are starting their first real job on a team where they've never actually met anyone - but we're making it work. We had a fresh grad start a month ago, just after Amazon went all work-from-home. We noticed over the video chats that he was sitting in his empty new apartment working on boxes, so we approved expense $$ for him to order a desk + chair delivered from IKEA immediately! If you know of someone whose Amazon offer was pulled let me know. I'll find a new home. Every team I am aware of is honoring all extended offers and hiring at least as much as planned, if not more.

so sorry for all the all the stress, fear, and uncertainty this is causing everyone and yeah - I do worry for kids graduating now/soon. I do expect we'll see a follow-on economic hit very similar to the '08 issue, which was caused by massive real-estate loan defaults because I expect we will again see massive real-estate loan defaults. I can offer that Amazon is hiring - not just the warehouses, but corporate offices an development on both the retail and WebServices side. Certainly, if you or your graduating DC are SW engineers, math majors, data scientists, or MBAs feel free to DM me and I'll see if I can route them to the appropriate place. Amazon employees a crazy number of types of people, in a huge number of locations. For all other job/degree types, I encourage you to check the website. I can personally confirm that Amazon is aggressively hiring for pretty much everything.

our process was a bit different than many, because DS decided music theatre was the thing for him. We knew absolutely nothing about the process going in. It's insane and involves both academic acceptance to the university & also via auditions. The academic acceptances went quite well. Accepted at: Michigan (w/ a decent scholarship, though their OOS tuition is insane) FSU (w/ scholarship that waves OOS tuition) Carthage (LAC north of Chicago, w/ full tuition scholarships) Minnesota (full tuition scholarship) NYU (academic scholarship, unclear amount) He got auditions onsite @ Mich, FSU, NYU, Carthage. He did not get into the BFA programs @ Mich or FSU. Haven't heard from NYU. Didn't get an audition at CMU. His options are narrowed down to: BA in Music w/ focus on MusicTheatre @ FSU BA in MT from Carthage. They have a Masters in Music Pedagogue (teaching) and he's confirmed that given the volume of AP scores he's coming in with he could get both the BA and MS in 4 years. Carthage is considerably closer - 1.5 hrs driving. FSU is certainly the bigger name w/ better NY connections. Carthage has decent connections to Chicago, and tbh he'd be happy if he could consistently perform there. It's the dream, ofc, but he's not 'Broadway or this is a waste' focused. Unclear what he'll do at this point. The uncertainty of where he'll be next year is killing his mother. 🙂 He seems uncharacteristically un-worried about it.

+1. +2 even. 'but...I knew how to do this 4 months ago!' yes, but that was 4 months ago. 'but...I didn't keep the reply emails w/ the test feedback from chapter 2!' un-huh. that was silly, and I told you that @ the time. 🙂 DD16 taking the honors course @ CVC, and yes - we love Connie. And Chemistry Mole. Highly recommend the class (honors or otherwise). Honors, at least, is time consuming. but providing many benefits.

I cannot say enough good things about CVC. seriously. DD, a sophomore, is taking the honors version. She came in with some fear/grumbling towards chem, and is not pre-disposed to love something w/ so many rules/memorization/exceptions, but it has been awesome. It's her most time-consuming class - regularly 1.5 hrs / day. Her willingness and ability to show her work and be more careful has improved markedly. The class is well run and clearly presented. I'm a fan.

(all the below is IMO. I'm a career SW Engineer, fwiw) - any of the various modern languages that are typed and have a notion of class will do fine (Java, Python, C#)..avoid scripting languages (javascipt, shell scripts). Among the big widely-used languages, it 100% does not matter what you pick as a first language (except that the AP test is in Java, if you care). - I strongly (very strongly) suggest that the student have access to an actual person who gives them feedback on every program. Doesn't have to be the teacher - they can go through a self-teaching or automated program to learn the syntax and get the assignments + grades - but it's really important that you have a person, who has written a good amount of code IN THAT LANGUAGE, that provides them feedback. Why? Because programming is about reasoning, breaking down hard things into smaller things, finding commonality in ideas and 'factoring' it out, and communicating. Even when you're just learning the print and for-loop syntax. Yes, the 'grammar' of the language is confusing at first, but it is by far the easiest part of writing even modest programs. Learning how to name variables, organize code on the page, follow conventions that help readability, define functions that you can reuse, minimize odds of errors, and write code you can debug is the biggest challenge and I've yet to find a non-human process that can teach it. It's important that the person have written a decent amount of code in the student's language because each programming language has different natural and un-natural (but legal) ways of expressing things, and learning that is part of learning to program. Learning to program w/o a human teacher is like learning to write essays w/ only a spelling and grammar checker. You can produce legal, or even correct, programs - but you won't really learn how to program.

we're just back from the on-campus auditions. It was a great experience for him, regardless of the outcome (odds of getting in, even if you got to the audition stage, are about 7%, so no one is holding their breath here). Everyone - the dean, the auditors, current students, others auditioning - were SUPER nice. He loved every bit of it. He did end up picking a shorter song that met both the 32-bar and 60-second limits. Feedback on how much the num measures matters was mixed. He just picked something else rather than risk it. Almost none of the students reported being asked any questions during their auditions. Everyone was very understanding, bordering on overprotective, about his knee and the dancing. He went to the dance call - which wasn't really an audition, more like a group class - and just did as much as he comfortably could. During the Dean's opening talk, and looking at ads for classes on the boards in the hall, there's a definite focus on student physical health and taking care of their bodies in the theater dept, and their care for his healing knee was consistent with that. We all know he's unlikely to get in (at UMich, or any of the other remaining auditions he has), because everyone is unlikely to get in...but wow - would it be a fantastic opportunity for him.

oh - and process questions. how do these run? A group of auditioning students all sitting in the room & they call you up 1 at a time? or everyone out in the hallway and they fetch just you for your turn? Typically standing on a stage by yourself in a auditorium, reviewers sitting in audience chairs or...something else?

feedback on questions they typically ask? Just looking @ what kinds of questions he should think about in advance and be prepared for. He injured his knee (ACL & MCL strain) in early Dec. He's mostly healed, but hasn't been dancing on it in a month, and is still using a brace + cane to do stairs. They offered to let him opt out of the live dancing and just use his submitted video, but that seems like a very bad idea unless he just really can't do it at all. Or...better to rely on the video unless he's equipped to do awesomely? Dancing will not be the thing that gets him in, but it's not totally dreadful.

thanks for all the pointers. The more I look @ this, the more tragically unprepared I feel. It's unfortunate that Mich will be his first, but nothing we can do. We have questions about everything! The guidelines say '32 bars or 60 seconds'....but what if the song is written in cut time? 50 bars == 54 seconds. Acceptable? Or he should adhere to the letter of the guidlines. He's never auditioned for something quite so intense before.

DS has an on-campus audition for Music Theatre at UMich (AnnArbor) next week. He’s wondering what kinds of interview questions to expect. Anyone have a dc that’s auditioned there? Advice about interview questions from auditions elsewhere? This is his first on-campus and it’s the place he’s most like to go.

+1 We used AoPS Intro to Counting and Prob, and it was well received. Doesn't have to be done in the 'student lead' approach they suggest. you can teach to it as well.

much of 'pre calc' classes is more advanced Alg topics, trig (again and in depth) and similar. Generally doesn't include anything from stats, so you'd have to pull that from someplace else, but it's a fairly slush-bucket class anyway, so you could just go with that.

if the PSAH charter helps you, that's great. But you don't need it. We've HS'd in CA for 13 years now (since K. DS is now a Sr). You just file a simple form with the state and declare yourself your own mini private school....and you're done. No one checks on anything, you don't have to file or prove anything, etc. In exchange, you get no funds from the state. Personally, I'm good with that.

+1 for dropping. you & DD made the effort, attempted to accommodate and also to talk w/ the teacher to resolve the issue and it's not working. If she wants to continue further with ASL there are other alternatives.