TarynB
-
Posts
1,564 -
Joined
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by TarynB
-
-
After you pay the registration fee, Mr. Owens will set up your student's login and then send the ID and password to you by email. It takes a day or two - business days, not weekend days. (Although my son has often received graded work back from the TA's on weekends.)
If you registered more than a few days ago, you might send an email to inquire about it.
Going forward, you will receive an email from DO's bookkeeper each month when your monthly payment is due, along with instructions on how to pay the monthly payment.
-
That's wonderful! Congrats to your DD. I'm sure that is a huge relief.
-
1
-
-
Derek Owens' physics offers an honors option that others have given very positive reviews. (Unfortunately he doesn't offer AP Physics.)
-
My son took biology with Dr. Underwood at FundaFunda Academy and had a fantastic experience. Dr. Underwood is wonderful to work with. She accepted my son into her class midway through the year and she was very welcoming, accommodating, and flexible. She gave good feedback on assignments, assigned relevant labs, and DS thought she was a great instructor. Her class is based on the Miller-Levine book. We felt it was a thorough, very solid high school biology, but not overly-challenging nor too time-consuming - which was what we needed. I'd suggest you email her about how her class works and see what you think. The class is asynchronous (does not meet live) but has weekly deadlines to keep your student on track. The class starts Aug. 20 this year.
https://www.fundafundaacademy.com/product/biology/
If you're interested, here's a link to another thread about FundaFunda's biology class, in which I also shared a bit of our experience. https://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/633010-fundafunda-biology/
-
7 hours ago, RootAnn said:
FundaFunda has some classes that aren't live where the homework & projects are graded by teachers or teacher assistants. I think there are deadlines, but I'm not sure as we haven't taken any of their classes. They are mostly high school level stuff with quite a few elective options. The founder is actually on here (a WTM Hive Member) and really nice. Email her through the FundaFunda site if you have questions.
YES! I wasn't thinking in that direction in my earlier reply since OP said she was looking for self-paced, but my son has taken several FundaFunda courses (Scratch, photography, computer applications, Python, and biology) and we highly recommend them!
Note that most of their courses (or at least the ones DS has taken) do have weekly deadlines to keep kids on track, which to me seems easier to manage than daily deadlines or multiple deadlines within one week. And there is also some flexibility to work things out if you have a particularly busy week or illness, etc.
Do email them if you have questions about the courses - Meryl is super friendly and easy to work with.
-
2
-
-
Kolbe Academy and Homeschool Connections both offer pre-recorded self-paced courses with teacher grading (along with the typical live online, scheduled courses). I haven't used either of them, but they might be worth checking into. (BTW, both are Catholic providers, in case that matters.)
-
Congratulations!!!
-
1
-
-
If she finishes a section with time to spare, she should check her answers. Other than that, they just have to sit silently and wait until time is up.
Wear layers and/or take a light jacket/sweater. The room might be cold or hot - you just never know.
Take the ACT admission ticket and an approved form of ID. Check the ACT website for ID forms that are accepted.
DS left his phone at home and did not bother taking a drink or snack. At drop-off, I was told approximately what time to expect him to finish so I could be there on time to pick him up.
Be sure she knows where the bathroom is. (DS took the ACT at a high school that he'd never been in before.) Use the brief break time to get up and stretch even if she doesn't have to go.
Be sure her calculator is one that is acceptable. There's a list on the ACT website. Take some sharpened #2 pencils, of course.
I'll ask DS if he has any more tips. He just took the ACT 3 weeks ago and took the SAT today.
** ETA: DS also wore a plain non-digital watch (no alarms, etc.) to pace himself, since he wasn't sure if the exam room would have a clock. He said the watch ended up being very useful because the wall clock was at the back of the room and he would've had to turn around to see it.
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, redquilthorse said:
Hmm. This is a consideration. I don't know for certain whether we will do DE, although it is an option where we live and it would be free. It's possible we would do it. But if we don't it would be nice to not have to switch teachers yet again. I feel like we have done that a lot. But I guess that's normal for high school. I don't think I had the same math teacher twice at my public high school.
True, I didn’t either. But within a math dept at a school, there’s (hopefully) someone with oversight monitoring to make sure there aren’t gaps in coverage, or too much overlap, from one class level to the next. That’s a concern for me with switching providers.
-
It looks like Mr. D math only goes up through pre-calc. Derek Owens' program includes calculus (AP Calc AB). Progression/continuity might be one thing to consider in your decision-making process. . . Although some folks outsource upper high school math to dual/concurrent enrollment for calc and above, so continuity maybe not an issue for you.
-
3 hours ago, Garga said:
Actually, I think I just didn't understand physics until this thread. I don't want Conceptual after all. Regentrude's post cleared up my confusion about why some people say DO is too "mathy."
My younger son was slow to warm up to math, so maybe when he's in 9th, I'll try to get him into Clover Creek then, so thank you for the feedback. Perhaps for him, we'll do conceptual physics in 9th, then chem and bio after that, so the feedback is still useful.
Just a heads up, Clover Creek uses Conceptual Physics by Hewitt as the textbook spine, but it is NOT just a conceptual physics course. The instructor has crafted it to be an algebra-based physics course. It is a fantastic course taught by an awesome teacher (one of the best courses DS has ever taken, and he's done quite a few!) and is a great "first" or "only" physics course, but is not just conceptual.
-
5
-
-
FYI - Those classes are offered by Greg Landry, who ran Landry Academy online until it closed suddenly in late 2016 due to some questionable business practices. He's starting over again on his own with the new website that you linked. If you search that name you'll find lots about it.
-
2
-
-
Me too! Testing . . .
-
OP, I don't have anything else useful to offer, but I just wanted to say I applaud what you're planning.
IMHO, the goal of "Physical Education", really is, or should be, learning how to maintain lifelong health through physical activity, and why it is so important to our wellbeing. Here at our house, its not just logging activity in the short moment the class is being "taken" and it is not just checking a box because someone says we should.
FWIW, we used Oak Meadow's Integrated Health & Fitness course, and it covers many of the things you mentioned. I'm not saying you need to use a formal course, just that you're not alone!
You might want to consider also having your daughter read a book that OM schedules in their course: Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by Ratey. It's a great read about how physical activity affects our emotions, mood, etc. We do cover these things at home as part of "parenting" but somehow having DS read it in a book made it less of a nag thing LOL.
I think the type of course you're planning could have a real, positive impact on your daughter for a very long time. :thumbup:
-
2
-
-
Thanks for the ideas!
I don’t think this kiddo would love an online version. She much prefers books.
I’m going to look at Abeka and Total Health. And I didn’t know Oak Meadow had one too! I’m going to check that one out.
I thought this would be the perfect thing to just get done one summer. It seems really silly.
And I have a feeling I will probably disagree with many of the options if they follow the regular food pyramid. We eat differently and we also have food allergies so I get really tired of some of that stuff. Oh well!
I didn’t want to cobble something together on my own because I just don’t want to spend that kind of time on health. I’d rather put my effort into other subjects!
Same here, regarding the bolded. Oak Meadow worked well for us. It seems to be actually based on good, recent research. (Unlike the food pyramid, LOL.)
-
1
-
-
We used the one from Oak Meadow. It was actually really good. DS and I both liked it.
ETA link - https://oakmeadow.com/news/courses/integrated-health-and-fitness/
You can see a 24 page sample at the link above.
It schedules Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Ratey) and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (Pollan), which are both great reads on their own.
Also, we did the fitness portion separately from the nutrition portion (at a different time - summer) and it was easy to separate it like that.
-
1
-
-
Awesome! Congratulations to your son!!!
-
1
-
-
Also check out Bravewriter. Their classes run in 6 week cycles.
-
They had a hefty penalty, so I am not sure how that worked. Does it cover grants too?
Yes, grants and scholarships are treated the same for this.
They would have had to pay income taxes on the 529 withdrawal up to the amount of the scholarship/grant; they should not have paid the additional 10% penalty. Perhaps the people you're talking about are interchanging the terminology and mistakenly referring to the income tax as a "penalty". I'm sure if they weren't expecting it then it might have felt like a "penalty" to them.
-
I totally agree. It really was the kind of nitty gritty conceptual concept stuff I did in early college comp sci classes that you need to learn solidly at some point. But I think it could have been wrapped up much prettier than it was. There are many ways to teach about looping, arrays, conditionals, etc!
I always though comp sci was not where this kid would end up anyway, but he is math/stem strong and it is too bad this class turned him off. Even without going in that direction in college, strong tech skills are always a plus.
I don't know anything about the Edhesive class or what is expected in an AP-level computer science course, but I wanted to chime in here and mention a class that my DS is taking. FundaFunda Academy offers a one-semester Python programming class that teaches these concepts and DS says it is not dry at all. The instructor (a former programmer) uses videos and fun exercises to teach the concepts. It is challenging for DS but he says he is enjoying the format and learning a lot. (He previously did Scratch programming as well.)
This past week one of his assignments was to write a program for a hangman game. It turned out really cool!
https://www.fundafundaacademy.com/product/python-programming/
From the course description linked above:
The classes will include video instruction, exercises, quizzes and small programs to write. Students can work at any time, but they do need to meet deadlines. By the end of this course, students will be familiar with loops, conditionals, lists, tuples, dictionaries, manipulating strings, functions, classes and some beginning graphics.-
3
-
-
We opted not to do 529s.
We have had a couple of friends get burned with them. One family had 2 kids. One didn't go to college and the other got a full ride.
Another family had two kids. Neither went to college.
They had to take the penalty.
We just saved in IRAs and savings accounts. But we haven't touched that yet as I we are trying to cash-flow college with me going back to work.
In reference to the bolded, if a student gets a scholarship, a 529 withdrawal up to the amount of the scholarship can be taken by the account owner with no 10% penalty (but income taxes will still apply), i.e., the 529 money is not lost or "wasted" just because a scholarship is awarded.
-
4
-
-
NPs used to be primarily very experienced nurses, as they are "advanced practice nurses." But, the industry has changed tremendously with many direct entry NP programs for people (like me) who already have a bachelor's degree in another field. In a direct entry NP program, you would generally do a nursing program in 12 months (vs 2 years), and then another 2-3 years for the NP/degree. Some of these direct entry programs confer a second bachelor's (in nursing) and some do not (you just get the terminal nursing degree -- either a master's or doctorate). Like the PA direct entry programs (BS/MS), these programs are very competitive and very expensive.
Another option is to get the RN (whether via an associate's or bachelor's) in nursing, and then go to NP school while you work. Again, it used to be that you needed years of experience to be an NP, but with the advent of online programs, this is no longer the case (pros and cons to this, btw). Some NP programs (usually in acute care, pediatrics, and midwifery), as well as nurse anesthetist programs, do usually require a year or two of related experience (ie OBGYN experience for midwives, ICU experience for acute care or anesthetists). But, for most programs these days, you can go straight to NP school after you become an RN (most schools assume that you are working as an RN during their program). This is the option that I will be doing because it is substantially cheaper than doing a direct entry NP program (the DE programs we have in SD run 80-110K). In contrast, nursing school here at the community college is under 5k. Because you really need a BSN to work in hospitals in my area, all of the community colleges have RN-to-BSN programs through the local 4-year universities here. In my case, because I already have a bachelor's, I can do an RN-to-MSN/NP program instead. Again, for super cheap, if you stay away from private schools.
So, while it would be tempting for me (and my ego) to just do a direct entry MSN, I am loathe to drop another 100k on my education (I already spent 190K to become a lawyer, so BTDT). I am taking the slower path to save money and to be sure that this is really what I want to do as a second career.
Around here, volunteer experience is perfectly fine for nursing school, and, as was mentioned, is also fine for direct entry PA programs (they don't expect kids out of high school to take a GAP year to go work as an EMT). It is the graduate level PA programs that typically want more meaningful/paid experience, and this varies by school. Some don't require it; some allow volunteer hours -- research the programs of interest to see how they vary. My year of experience volunteering at UCSD gave me extra "points" in my nursing school application, which is typical for nursing school admissions.
From my perspective, nursing is really the way to go unless you do a direct entry PA program as an undergrad. As much as some MDs may prefer to work with PAs, PAs don't really have physicians on their side. Increased billing rates by PAs and NPs have undercut MD reimbursement, and there is a bit of a turf war going on at the legislative level. But, the bottom line is that there aren't enough MDs going into fields like primary care and psych, and NPs are being used to pick up the slack, particularly in more rural areas or in places like the VA (where NPs now have full autonomy).
Probably more than what you asked for; hopefully some of it is useful. You might hang out on Allnurses to get greater insight into the profession. That's what I have been doing, especially right now while I nervously wait for decisions on my applications. :)SeaConquest, THANK YOU so very much for this information! I will also definitely check out the Allnurses forum and encourage DS to start reading there.
I'm so excited for you!
I hope you'll keep us posted on how it goes for you.
For the OP and anyone else reading, in addition to the nursing forum referenced above, there's also a forum (naturally!) for PAs and future PAs at physicianassistantforum.com
-
Funny warning -- do make sure someone will be in a position to spend it!
I have a friend whose child is attending more of a trade school and it is not accredited. 529 funds can't e used for it. Her younger sibling went ROTC and so didn't need any aid. Thankfully her oldest got married and the spouse is going back to school and so can use the money, but for a bit they thought they were really going to lose that money completely!
That's great that they could use it for school after all - but just to clarify for anyone else reading, they wouldn't have lost the money completely.
They could have withdrawn the money and used it for anything (non-educational purposes), they just would have had to pay income taxes on the gains plus an additional 10% penalty. So, not as good as using it for school, but not lost completely.
529s can also be transferred to future grandchildren. :thumbup1:
-
4
-
-
Yes, I am a lawyer, but I don't practice anymore. I decided to go to nursing school vs. PA school for a couple of reasons:
1) We live and own a business here in San Diego, and we don't have any PA schools within decent commuting distance;
2) You need the aforementioned clinical background to be competitive for PA school, which I don't have;
3) The prerequisites for PA school would take longer. I knocked out all my nursing school prereqs in a year. PA school required more. The tradeoff is that PA school is shorter than nursing school + NP (but, I can work as a nurse during NP school);
4) I want more autonomy -- a PA is always going to hang her license on a supervising physician. That is because they are both a part of the medical model of healthcare. The NP model is moving more towards autonomous practice. In many states (not yet CA), an NP can operate completely independently, and can open her own business (or in partnership with other NPs);
5) NPs have an extremely powerful lobby because nursing organizations work on their behalf. There are a bajillion nurses vs. a tiny number of PAs, and physicians most certainly are not lobbying on behalf of PAs; and
6) PA school is very expensive; I can go to nursing school for peanuts by comparison.
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much, SeaConquest! This is super helpful to me and I appreciate you sharing this. Many things here I had not thought of or come across in my researching so far.
DS and I have been under the impression that becoming a PA was "easier" due to it having a more direct career path, assuming one can get into PA school in the first place. And that NP was "harder" to achieve because they want applicants to have so many years of direct nursing experience working as an RN, i.e., getting BSN, working full-time for X number of years, then stopping work to go back to school to become an NP. Is that even accurate?
So, if you don't mind another question, would you say the the clinical experience for either PA or NP need to be as a full-time working professional? As in, get a BS (either RN or some other related field), work for a while full-time, and then go back to school full-time? Or can the clinical experience be from part-time or even just volunteer work achieved during the undergraduate years? Is there any value (does it "count") to do hospital-volunteer work as a high school student, beyond just the inherent value to the student as far as personal development and feeling out the field for suitability for that student? (DS currently volunteers one afternoon per week in a nursing home and has applied/really wants to volunteer at a hospital, but he's only 15, almost 16.) Thanks so much for any additional thoughts you may want to share.
Writing classes
in High School and Self-Education Board
Posted
https://www.writeathome.com/
https://bravewriter.com/online-classes/