Cornell also does this. It's a good thing nobody told my brother to stick with his own people before he applied. It was an outstanding educational and intellectual experience for him, and he paid nothing because the family AGI was so low. Now, I *do* agree that relying on getting into an Ivy to pay for college is ludicrous and students should have a backup plan. I also think that students shouldn't spend immense amounts of time doing things that they are not interested in to make themselves more attractive to an Ivy. But there is absolutely no reason why a talented student from low income shouldn't *apply*. Most of them have application fee waivers for families where it would be a genuine financial hardship to apply, so it costs nothing other than the time to write an application showcasing yourself.

Biology, conceptual physical science (physics + chemistry), or earth science should all be completely reasonable. As far as college math goes, the best plan is for her to continue taking some form of math every year. The students who skip math senior year tend to struggle significantly with it at college. How much math she gets through is going to affect which colleges she is eligible for, but do not hurry excessively because of that. If she gets through algebra 2 and wants to go to a college that requires more than that, she should be able to take college algebra + precalc at a community college and apply as a transfer. If she only gets through algebra 1, it would be a bit more challenging and possibly require two years of CC (I would not enroll a struggling student in a summer course).

Man, I thought that was what bartenders were for.

Honestly, I'd post a review of that school on Yelp or something similar as well.

I was thinking more use it to cheaply snaffle up some gen eds, but if all the other courses available are ones that wouldn't even count or transfer, yeah, there's no point in hanging out there.

Do they take the health and PE at the college or at the HS? If they take it at the college, it might indeed transfer -- almost every university (including GFU) requires a health course and a PE course.

Precalc in a quarter is an EXTREMELY rapid pace. It is likely that, if you DID want to enroll at the CC, college algebra and then precalc would be a more suitable placement.

Ah, now I see what you were talking about. My guess, though, is that it's still a conceptual physics but that they had too many people failing it due to complete innumeracy so they put on a must-not-be-in-remedial-math requirement. We were actually talking about putting that requirement on the lowest-level physics course at my school now, simply because people are failing it due to panicking at the first sign of a letter in an equation.

My undergrad had 3 levels of physics: calc-based for engineers, chemists, and physicists, algebra-based for biologists and biochemists, and something about the same level as Hewitt's Conceptual Physics for people who just wanted a general education course.

Are they requiring him to repeat classes or can he substitute a more advanced class at the CC at their expense? For example, does he need to take algebra or can he take calculus? Does he need to take intro to chemistry or can he take general chemistry (for majors)? etc. If they are requiring him to repeat classes I'd tell them to shove off and graduate him myself with the CC transcript. If he can swap out somehow then I'd get the extra year.

Also considered problematic and potentially racist under disparate impact. Now, there were and are some very real issues with tracking. I remember talking to someone who was automatically assigned to the vo-tech track based on her skin color even though she had the highest grades in her class in middle school. She had to raise heck at the school in order to get put in where she belonged. I don't think, though, that we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We should look at various measures ... but use all of them as inclusive measures rather than exclusive. In other words, you should not need high test scores AND a teacher recommendation AND blah blah blah in order to get into the accelerated track.

He can go ahead and take a "high school" level physics class if he is interested -- it won't help him in a physics major but it would get him involved with a person who has at least a master's and possibly a phd in physics, who can advise him. Many CC professors are quite interested in helping a student who is genuinely interested in their subject. My chemistry prof at the CC lent me a bunch of his books to read for fun. This is as opposed to the physics teacher at the local high school, who had a chemistry major and had taken 18 credits of physics. The grade will still follow him and count into his GPA as a general elective. He should pay close attention to the withdrawal deadline. (The only reason I would consider this is to get him involved with someone who has a genuine passion for the subject). With math, there's no reason to take courses before calculus at a college unless you are unable to teach them. Even then, if he has any struggles at all I would recommend enrollment in a high school class rather than a college, because the high school transcript will only follow him until he gets into college. The college transcript will follow him as he applies to graduate schools.

The funny thing is that our expectations are far too high in early elementary and far too low in middle/high.

If she's using the HS sequence she can just do algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2, precalc, so I'm assuming you're asking more about the college sequence. Beginning algebra, elementary algebra, and introductory algebra are all algebra 1. Intermediate algebra is algebra 2. Precalc is precalc. College algebra is algebra 3 and covers the non-trig part of precalc. Trigonometry covers the trig part of precalc. College algebra + trigonometry is also precalc. This is true for pretty much any college developmental sequence, not just Larson. If there are other texts you've found that you don't know what they are for, post them here and I'll tell you what they are and where they fit in the curriculum.

Is this the 8th grader? Did you mention recently in another thread that he had learning differences? I wouldn't go in planning to try and hurry up a student who is already struggling. It would be different if he had just never been instructed, but if he has been instructed and still struggles I think you run a serious risk of ending up with a haste-makes-waste situation. I would go on Saturdays and year-round to help him catch up though, even if you end up going at half-speed in the summer. ETA: It is much better for CC purposes for him to have a solid understanding of pre-algebra and introductory algebra than to have courses on his transcript that he didn't really understand. If he only gets through algebra 1 but understands it, he should place into intermediate algebra which results in only one developmental math class being needed. If he makes it through algebra 2, he should place into college algebra -- but again, only if he understands it. It is far too common for students who have 4 years of college-prep math to place into arithmetic or pre-algebra, because they didn't really understand what was happening in the courses they took.

My mother moved while I was in college. I simply indicated my mailing address as my apartment and my in-state tuition was never questioned. Now I wonder if I was supposed to have paid out of state tuition based on her moving? I'm sure not going to go back and tell them though.

We saw two in the same year. My brother witnessed the second one from five feet away -- she was his little pet and would follow him around, and she pranced up to the wrong cow, took the kick in exactly the wrong place, and broke her neck. She died from the broken neck while he held her in his arms. It was the same day that we pulled all the calves off the cows and went back to group housing with nipples. Maybe our calves were especially delicate, but we will never repeat that experiment.

Electives for advanced students: After the lial algebra: AOPS discrete math courses Statistics with something such as Against All Odds After at least algebra 2/geometry (the geometry is more for mathematical maturity than because it is specifically required): AOPS intermediate discrete math courses AP statistics After precalc: Linear Algebra (most books are calculus-optional) Abstract Algebra (using a more elementary text than otherwisel) Point-set topology (using an elementary text) Number theory Cryptography Combinatorics Graph theory After calculus: Multivariable calculus A more mathematical treatment of probability and statistics Differential equations A more theoretical view of calculus An introductory course in complex variables (not complex analysis, but more application-oriented) Which options you choose depends on the interest and ability of the student and the ability of the tutor.

Does the job you currently have require a degree to continue? If you are this unsure about your degree but are gainfully employed now, it might be worthwhile to think about it for another year rather than end up with only one year left on a degree you don't think you can do.

Yes. I agree with the others. And honestly making sure that your children are fed and have a roof over their heads would rank above making sure that they're home educated in my opinion. A child struggles to learn if their stomach is empty.

It would not count in place of calculus. It would be a book to precede calculus or as a senior year course for a student who planned to take calculus at university. If a student planned to continue in math I would continue algebra and trigonometry review as a separate subject (possibly on alternate days) so that they had not lost the algebra skills they needed to take a more formal calculus class. I think it would be great for getting an understanding of the questions calculus is trying to answer and why we care about this subject.

It would depend somewhat on the subject and on whether they liked it or not. If it were science/history and they didn't like it, I'd just let that subject be over for the year. If they liked it, I'd invite them to choose a fun elective to study for the rest of the year -- basically "choose something you find interesting and read library books about it." For math/english/language I don't really like leaving huge gaps between one level and the next, so the options I'd consider would be: 1) Continue review of the same level using enrichment -- for example, for math, work on games/puzzles while doing arithmetic review once a week, using a summer review workbook or something -- for english, have them read books of interest -- for language, either use an enrichment curriculum or use songs/games/dual-language books to keep skills fresh. 2) Move ahead into the next level of the same curriculum. I'd consider 1) more appropriate for a student who really doesn't care for the subject and has no desire to be accelerated and 2) more appropriate for a student who enjoys the subject or wants to be accelerated.

We used to let the calves nurse on their mothers but we stopped because too many of them died. They'd go up to the wrong cow and get kicked in the head or something similar -- we lost about 20% of them that way. This is pasture-based btw, not an overcrowded feedlot.

Larson's Elementary Algebra is designed for developmental use at colleges. Students who place into algebra 1 at college typically have not had math in many years and/or did not learn what they took in high school well enough to retain it. I am not at all surprised by there being a lot of pre-algebra review at the beginning -- this is quite necessary for their intended audience. I think fast-forwarding through the early chapters and using chapter tests for placement is a fine idea.

Why is she behind? Was it because of learning differences, lack of motivation for doing the work, or just plain not understanding? If it was because she struggled before, trying to hurry up may make it worse. If it was lack of motivation and she is now motivated, then hurrying might work. In addition to the suggestions of others, you might consider Life of Fred. I had a relative who was unschooled -- when he went to take the placement test at the CC, the practice test online put him in arithmetic, and a placement test online put him in 3rd grade. He took a week, went through Life of Fred:Fractions, and then took the placement test for real. He placed into Algebra 1 (so two classes higher than before using the book). I think one of the places that it (LOF) can work really well is with a linguistically oriented student who is behind not due to trying and failing, but simply due to not trying. I'd get Fractions and see if it works for your dd. If it does, I'd follow it up with Decimals and then try the Algebra course.