Jump to content

Menu

MDL

Members
  • Posts

    179
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by MDL

  1. 11 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

    The truth is that it is very disheartening.  According to the schools themselves, they reject 90%+ of qualified applicants.  It is not an easy path to pursue with possible heartache at the end.  For highly motivated students who would pursue that trajectory regardless of college apps being at the end of high school, it is a path that is not fraught with stress bc it is how they normally function.  For kids who are pushing themselves to the max for the sole pursuit of college admissions, it can be a very poor choice.

    FWIW, I have a couple of extremely high achieving kids who did not pursue top tier admissions.  (We cannot afford our expected family contribution, so need-based aid institutions are not possible for our kids.)  They pursued high merit scholarships instead. (And by high achieving, I mean graduating high school at 400 level college in some core courses.) Our ds just graduated from the University of Alabama in May.  He attend for free on full-scholarship.  It did not hinder his future aspirations at all.  He was accepted to multiple top grad schools for theoretical physics (cosmology) and will be attending Berkeley in the fall.  His younger sister is a rising sophomore at USCarolina.  She is also attending on scholarship and we equally are not concerned about her future opportunities even though she is also attending a lower ranked school.  (Their older siblings have great careers, and they also did not attend top schools.  Their oldest sibling is a chemical engineer who attended a school not ranked in the top 200 national schools.  He has a fabulous career.)

    Thanks for this encouragement. In my heart I know it doesn’t really matter where he goes to school, but more how he applies himeself/uses the opportunity. 

    In all likelyhood, it could be better to hand him $500,000 to seed a business idea after high school vs spending it (and four years!) at college. It will take a long time of hard work to have an investment in (full cost) college education start earning returns. 

    My main goal, as parent and teacher, is to not limit his possibilities. 

  2. 20 hours ago, Mabelen said:

    EU citizenship is irrelevant for tuition fees at OxBridge. It’s residency that counts. My kids can claim British citizenship through my husband. Our oldest is British too and was even born there. They can also claim Spanish citizenship through me.  You have to have residency in the U.K. to be entitled to the lower tuition fees. That means that you have to be a resident there for at least the last three years prior to college admission.

    I am assuming you are in the U.S. If you are in the U.K. or EU, please disregard.

    Well, it still seems less than, or on par with a US ivy, even paying the international rate. I’m surprised their website wasn’t more clear...

    Maybe he can still learn something in a European university, I feel like the US collegiate system is as broken as the school system. 

  3. 22 hours ago, 8FillTheHeart said:

    How many APs do you foresee him completing?  More than Latin?  What is his math trajectory? Science? History?

    His music EC sounds excellent but please be very aware that it may or may not be enough of an EC for competitive admissions.  Competitive admissions can be brutally competitive and kids with "perfect profiles" of extremely high test scores, 9+ APs, 4.0+ GPAs (meaning all As regardless of the scale), excellent LOR, and excellent ECs are still iffy in terms of competitiveness for admissions.  It is just a big unknown even if they check off all of the boxes.

    No Ivy offers merit aid to any student. They all only offer need based aid.

    He is falling in love with math via AoPS at the moment, so he has a good chance at success there. He is very strong in vocabulary and language in general (native speaker in Swedish and English) and I think continued Latin will make other romance /Germanic languages easy to pick up. He loves and excels in History as well. 

    I cannot get him interested in any computer sciences, though. 

    He is 100% teenage boy, though: sloppy, lazy, resistant. It’s worse if I push him. Such a tough job!

  4. Lanny, that is what I’m finding. He is very active (and talented) with his high level choir. I am hoping he will dig deeper into musical instrument (has had a few years with piano, big interest in organ and currently learning/practicing drums). I also hope he is on an AP trajectory with Latin. 

    He wont qualify for any need based FA, and academic scholarships don’t really exist much anymore, so OxBridge is the affordable option at the moment, depending on brexit as he is also an EU citizen. So, full price Ivy is a difficult hurdle to clear in making it worth it. Especially as we are discounting the value based on the liberal indoctrination he will be exposed to. 

    Sorry if my tone is off, I’m being called out the door for family beach day☀️☀️

    • Like 1
  5. Hi all,

    maybe it’s just Friday and soon summer break, but I cannot find anything about how to structure high school at home for high level college entrance. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I’ve been rooting around the forum and google and seem to be stuck in a ‘you can do it! Here are the basic credit/gpa requirements for college” loop. 

    As of now, end of 7th grade boy so take it with a grain of salt, he has his eyes on Oxford. Obviously, I want to set him up to succeed, so I am looking to plan his high school course accordingly. He has already taken a couple of high school level classes, so I am beginning to build his transcript and am finding it vague and somewhat confusing. 

    Which board is the best place to search for info? Any advice from moms who’ve been there/done that?

    thanks!

    • Like 1
  6. I’m interested in this subject too. My 7th grader is doing Lukeion Latin, which is quite intense (level 2 for 8th). We have beed supplementing with Fix-it! (Through book 3 so far), but im hoping we can drop it next year due to time constraints. 

    Why is it so difficult to feel like we're doing enough? 

    • Like 2
  7. 1 hour ago, texasmom33 said:

    For your younger, how fast/fluent of a reader do they need to be for the online portion of the history? 

    He is fluent, but there isn’t much that would be under a time pressure. Sometimes there are timed activities, but they’re not reading paragraphs.  He does have to write some things down to be able to spell them for the quiz/worksheet, though. 

    That triceratops on the ark freaked me out. We skipped ancient/Old Testament because of it, but it becomes a non issue in the CE

  8. I have two boys finishing up 2nd & 7th, and they’ve been doing Rome/New Testament and Omnibus 1. It’s been much better for the younger one. He has loved it, it’s fun, light work and captivating for him. He is also at that delicious age where he is thirsty for facts and information ? Omnibus has been a bit of a bust for the 7th grader. He is only about 2/3 of the way through. He does the lessons, but doesn’t pay full attention and often fails the quizzes. Omnibus asks for a very high level of theological thinking, and if your values don’t align with theirs, you fail. I hope that is a PC way to put it. This boy knows his bible and knows Jesus, but Omnibus has been very fundamental, and we won’t be continuing. I’ve made it optional for him at this point. He loves the history part, but the theology is too heavy (difficult and rigid). 

    We are continuing with the Middle Ages for 3rd, though. HTH

    • Like 1
  9.  Don’t have much advice, but I will wallow with you! I have a do the minimum, prone to cheating child and it is absolutely vexing. We do outsource with some online classes, but that might be giving me a false sense...lol. 

    Since your kids are fairly close in age, can you combine some classes? Mine are five years apart, so not much combining anymore (3rd & 8th next year). Try and not take it personally (very hard for me!) and be patient. Eventually he/she will learn the value of hard work...

    oh, and get a medical marijuana card! ???

  10. I was planning to teach Fix-it! Book 4 next year. But now I am looking to streamline his schedule a bit, and am wondering if the Latin course will teach enough grammar. 

    He he has worked through all levels of AAS, two years of Classical Conversations Essentials (with little to no follow through at home. I found that class unbearable!) and three years of fix it. He is a natural speller and I think he is gifted with language. He dabbled with song school Latin and LFC a for a few years before Lukeion 1this year. 

    His schedule looks like this for fall:

    Lukeion latin 2

    Online G3 Physics for future Presidents

    LToW 1 (Jessica Shao)

    BYL 8 (history of science)

    AoPS pre-algebra into algebra 1

    typing

    and I also want to add in Art of Argument, but I think his schedule is too full. I want to make 8th grade amazing for him!

    so, if you’ve done Lukeion Latin, is Fix-It redundant?

  11. https://melscience.com/homeschooling/' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'> https://melscience.com/homeschooling/

     

    My ds 13 wanted to take chemistry this year so he could “blow stuff upâ€. He is a bit disappointed with The Elements/Carbon Chemistry, although it’s better after we started using Guest Hollow’s schedule. I thought I might spice up the rest of the year for him with some of these boxes, but I cannot find reviews I trust.

     

    Has anyone tried it?

  12. I’m trying to figure out the optimal way to give my rising 8th grader some better study skills. There seem to be a plethora of options.

     

    Great Courses Superstar Student: free from my library, we tried this last year, end of 6th grade. I think it’s great, but my son didn’t love it. He didn’t mind watching the video, looked to be enjoying it, even, but would never admit it. He wouldn’t do much of the book work...He is in a high state of resistance often these days, though. Maybe we try it again.

     

    Victus Study skills: looks good, but I would rather outsource it. Web reviews recommend the DIY student worktext, but since my son is struggling with reliable independent output [emoji23] the author of V3S recommended I teach level 2 to him and his 3rd grade brother.

     

    WTM online class: listening for opinions. He took their Socratic Discussion last year and is comfortable with the format, at least

     

    Any other online class options?

     

    What have you used? What worked and what didn’t?

    • Like 1
  13. Listening along with you as I’m thinking the same for my guy, who will be in 3rd next year. We have dabbled with iew and Brave Writer and, while he was excited to get started, the enthusiasm waned quickly. So, our 3rd grade year is coming together:

     

    WOL 1

    W&R Fable

    Apologia zoology 2 and/or 3

    AAS3-4

    BA online when available plus Primary Math Challenge

    VP self paced Middle Ages

     

    Seems like enough...

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    • Like 1
  14. We have been having a brutal year (lots of failure to complete work and tough on our relationship: complaints, lying, pubescent hormones meet menopausal mother, watch out!), so when I’m not googling boarding schools in Scotland (seriously, The Crown has him wanting to go to Gordonstoun ) I’m thinking we will have a light 8th grade year to try and heal our relationship in case this is our last year[emoji22]

     

    Build Your Library 8 (history of science)

     

    AoPS pre-A into algebra 1

     

    Writing-LToW 1 with Jessica Shao

     

    Latin—Lukeion 2 — we pulled the trigger!

     

    Art of Roman Warfare summer workshop with Lukeion

     

    I would like him to learn typing, but you can lead a horse to water....

     

    Logic—really want him to do Art of Argument, but want to keep it light

     

    Fix-it!—book 4 (finish book 3 if necessary first)

     

    Surely I’m forgetting something critical!

    • Like 4
  15. If he is excited about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I would definitely ride that wave. You could certainly take a break from Bible Heroes to do The Arrow. If you find it works, maybe you don't need to go back.

     

    I wish I had the answer for A Quiver of Arrows; from the website it looks like The Arrow but for gr. 1-2 (shorter, simpler passages for copywork/dictation, meant to be read aloud, rather than independently read). If you were comfortable with that, perhaps you could modify the ones you have to that level?

     

    I know I had the same issues with TWJ - some of my kids' best memories are the exercises we did from there, but I did have so much trouble implementing it, since it was not just open and go. About the most success I had was using it as a fun Friday sort of break from our other writing programs. When I see the new products like Jot It Down, Partnership Writing, and Faltering Ownership, I wish I could try them out, lol. :-)

    Thanks, I’m thinking I’ll try the Arrows I have, maybe just shortening the dictation passages.

     

    And I know what you mean, as far as wanting to buy every new thing!

  16. The biggest difference between Quivers and Arrows are the length of the copywork/dictation. Quivers are about 2-5 sentences per week. Arrows can be a lengthier selection. Look at a couple of the Arrows that you have - if the length of the copywork/dictation seems right, then you're good to go. If it looks totally overwhelming, then you probably need Quivers instead.

     

    The Writer's Jungle - don't try to sit down and read the whole thing. Read a chapter per (week, month, whatever works for you) and implement the ideas from that chunk. When you're good with that part, read the next part.

    Jackie, thank you for the quiver/Arrow comparison, and the encouragement on TWJ!

     

     

    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  17. So, I’m thinking of switching my youngest (in the middle of 2nd) to Brave Writer from Bible Heros (IEW). I have TWJ, but I haven’t read the whole thing and it’s been 4 years since I looked at it. I also have 10 Arrows covering various books. I feel like I should be able to make that work with him, right?

     

    But there is also a product called “quiver of arrowsâ€, special for 1-2nd grade. Has anyone used these? How do they differ from the ‘regular’ arrow? He is excited about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, for which I have an Arrow.

     

    I’m mostly trying to sort this out in my own mind, but I’m inclined to use what I have, unless buying a couple of simplified arrows will make my life easier. I am not great at adapting, and prefer open and go. I’m also wondering how I will find time to review the writers jungle. My guy remembers poetry tea from when he was three and is super excited, and I am keen to ride that wave [emoji305]

     

    Any thoughts?

  18. Lori, thank you!! That is an awesome post with so much information. I’m going to take my time tonight to go through it carefully!

     

    And, you’re right I think he has been too independent, so maybe just finishing up the semester with more input from me will have a beneficial effect.

     

    Thanks again!

     

     

    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

    • Like 1
  19. My 7th grader looooooves Botany and trees in particular. We worked through Apologia Botany two years ago and while he pretty much groaned and resisted it all year, he now says it is his absolute favorite and has a deep passion, possibly wanting a career as an arborist.

     

    He is also a lover of books, so Guest Hollow Botany schedule is appealing to him.

     

    I have two concerns:

     

    1. Will this be too redundant? It looks very similar to Apologia.

     

    2. He is currently using Ellen McHenry’s The Elements and hating it. There could be multiple reasons for this. He really wanted to study chemistry this year, but the main motivation was to “blow things upâ€! So, it’s a bit disappointing for him on that note. Also, I’ve left him fairly self directed and he tends towards slacker. I’m working through Apologia Zoology with my 2nd grader, and just don’t have time to oversee separate science lessons.

     

    What do you think? Has anyone done both? Any other resources for deep Botany study?

     

    Thanks!

×
×
  • Create New...