Logic being that you are not dealing with legality if you are considering why people are sarcastic. Exploiting something is often using legal means. You find a loophole and push it. Peoples opinions are often not based in the legal system. If you are having to get the approval of a dean, then you are dealing with one person's perception not the legal avenues. There are lots of options for a student who is great at French. They do not need to be in a college. If the student is fully college ready, then awesome for them to take French as a class to begin where they feel comfortable. I am saying that you might be getting pushback if you are enrolling a child who obviously is not ready to take College Algebra or Math for NonMath Majors, or World Literature, or Psych 101, or Western Civ. Even if you are not enrolling them in math, English, history, whatever. You might be getting pushback if it feels like you are enrolling a young student in foreign language just to get them in the door rather than if they can fully handle college. Once a student is enrolled, they can take most classes. Whether you are chosing to or not, the door is open. This might also be a reason they would want to see scores like the ACT or the SAT to show college readiness, not just singular ability. I don't know that. That is why our system was changed. Parents did exactly that. They had a kid who could handle a very limited number of classes, had the student take a couple, then pushed the kids until they wound up with the student in classes they could not handle. The kids were not college ready across the board. It dramatically changed the feel and tenor of the school. So they changed it. There is the need for a student to be able to take ANY class, not just opt into a couple so they can become a beginning student. Again, I do not know that. I am only speaking from the experience of why our system has some significant sentiment about how the legal means have been taken too far and really impacted things. I have no idea how ready or not ready your student is. I have no idea why you are chosing the college option other than an online live class, or a high school class, or whatever. I am just expressing that there is a vast difference between my kid can really speak French well and has extreme interest, and my kid is ready to go to college.

I think you just say that. We want him to take a foriegn language (French, right?) class. He already speaks and reads in the language. He needs to be in a class to further his current knowledge. We do not want to place him anywhere but 100 level. Exploiting DE here was people wanting to have their 12 year old begin with one or two classes a year. Something like Tai Kwon Do. Then at 13, have them take health and an 095 math class. Then by 14 have them in a full run of classes they were not prepared for, but their kid was a returning student and going to get into classes before other newer students. While thier younger sister starts Tai Kwon Do. So very choice seats in classes were taken with this group of families (total of about 12 kids). Where all the kids enrolled in the same few classes and then changed the tone of the whole thing. (Now only 15 percent of a class can be dual enrolled at any time.) The parents wanted teachers to communicate to them, not the kids, quibble about grades, have retakes, whole shabang. (There are now forms I have go sign stating I can have no correspondence with instructors as I am not the enrolled student.) The students wanted to use DE funds (free tuition) to take 6 years getting an AA. It was free homeschooling and childcare while parents worked. (The need for parents to be in class). It was a mess. It caused many problems. For many people, the idea that a child can handle the course load, emotional rigor, and executive function of college diminishes the college experience. This instance was people blatantly not respecting the idea that just because you can does not mean you should. If you really only want him to take a foreign language class, and you really feel he has maxed out other local options, then go for it. If you are honestly using it as an easy way for your child to get in the door, because he can handle the foriegn language but cannot really handle anything else college level, then you might run into pushback. Foriegn Language is where Ds is going to start too. Probably just with a single langauge 100 run the first two quarters. However, it is important to me that he is college ready across the board when we have him apply. He needs to be ready to fully be a college student, even if only taking one specific class. If your student is in that place, you aren't exploiting anything.

Yeah. It is complicated here. It did not used to be. Ten or so years ago the CC's had a very large bubble of parents with "brilliant" children who wanted to attend. When it did not go well, repeatedly, far more hoops were put in place. Then people wanted to exploit the DE program. That did not go well. More hoops. I am not looking forward to the meetings in year and a half or so.

Even incredibly devout Muslims allow small children juice and rather blah snack during Ramadan because is now known to be too hard on the body. I am sure God will understand a need for you to take your child's safety into account. Something tells me that might be sort of important to the Creator.

There is a MAJOR difference here with Dual Enrollment and early entry. Dual Enrollment is a program. You get completely free tuition and differnet registration times and all sorts of stuff. However, you have to be a junior in high school to qualify. I would be very careful about looking at your options and exactly what the pros and cons are of enrolling in various way. We are not doing Dual Enrollment until Ds is 16. We are going to start early entry at 14.

Here it did not matter what my son was interested in taking, he had to pass both the English and math portions of the entrance test or he would not be admitted underage. You might want to keep that on your radar. At 16 he could be admitted for one or the other, but not underage. I have to be physically in class with him until he turns 14 due to insurance. I do not have to pay, or be enrolled, or in any way interact (in fact that was openly discouraged), but my body needs to be there. At 14, I just have to be on campus. At 16, I no longer have to be there. (This is the main reason we are waiting until 14. Ds was mortified at the thought of his mom having to be his escort). These are specific to this community college, but are also very similar to others in our area. They appear to be the general norm around these parts. They might be some things to sort of have milling in your brain to feel out. ETA: We are not California. We are extreme Southern Washington/Northern Oregon

I don't see anything wrong with hermit life if everyone is happy. I am very much a person who would work in a coffee shop to be surrounded by people who never talk to me. Lots of people, no interaction. Perfect! Ds loves people. We do church twice a week, outsourced classes twice a week, and I dump him at the library in the off time. Kid could never get enough. He would openly get depressed and have issues without contact. If your not feeling as though your family is in this place, be as hermit like as works for you.

My son has said a few questionable things when allowed to research by himself. My fabulous ideas of being resourceful became quite problematic! Best laid plans! Homeschool Fail! About second grade "Isn't it terrible that Muslim women cannot see. That must be really hard to do life stuff." What on Earth, child?!? My mother was teaching in Dubai. He decided to look up things about Arab nations and their culture. Much interogating later, turns out that he misunderstood that the Burqa was so Muslim women were figuratively "not seen". Not that they could not see. Gracious! I can only imagine where that would have gone in school.

It seems like good prep to me. Mainly, just remember to allow time if it does not seem to be completely seeping in. The time necessary for the information to really be absorbed is not linear. Since you have time, be sure to use it. Everything builds. If the foundation is shaky, it will come back and bite you later. I was always so worried when Ds would hit a glitch that somehow it meant all was lost. Why was it taking so long? We would never finish the book! All sorts of bizarre anxiety. He would come to understanding in his own time and then fly ahead. It all evened out. You might want some fun math in times when the Algebra is stressful. Perhaps something like "From Music to Mathematics:Exploring the Connection" or "Music and Mathematics: From Pythagorus to Fractals." Totally different, but still very much math. We used AoPS Counting and Probability. Essentially, he could step away and let the info marinate. It worked wonders. When he went back, it was no longer Earth shatteringly emotional or terribly hard.

For most that I have heard, AP Language is a check box. It is a way to either get an AP done or it is a way to validate their child's English level. I don't think it is a bad class or even that it does not really help some kids get their ideas out in specific ways. Lots of timed writing has actually helped my Ds (exact opposite of what it did for me in school!). The slower, methodical, classic model definitely has the benefit of providing a much larger, deeper base to of experience. AP's are usually down and dirty, to the point, and very full.

PM dmmetler. Her daughter has given all of us more experience in herpetology!

There was very little AP anything on their forums. It very much so did not seem like the bulk of their business is coming from parents who are even considering much about these style classes. Much more in the K-8 realms. A major bummer. Specific questions to MP are more than likely the route to go.

I will experiment with searches on their forum later this evening. I could not find stats on their websire, so the forums seem the next most logical step.

Derek Owens was the major flop this year. His stuff just does not work with the way Ds' brain works. Too bad. I kinda dig it.

Just sitting in because I am curious as well

Do you have any evidence of him adding two and three digit numbers at home? You would need to allow her to see such a task done at school too, so tat it removes the parent. Many parents severely over help at home and teachers are often leery of the brilliant child who cannot seem to reproduce results at school. (I am not saying that is you. Just giving perspective if she is skeptical. Could you ask if she has openly discussed with him what he is having trouble with, disliking, or in general finds so difficult? I would ask waht accomodations she has tried. If she is so very set on putting him in remedial math, does that involve a different teacher? If it does, it might not be terrible. Hopefully they would see right away that it is not the difficulty which is the problem and send him back. This might be enough of a kick in the butt to actually change something in his traditional classroom.

Wow! Write 45 words a minute and have it look like that? I can type 45 a minute without much trouble, but I do not know about handwritten and gorgeous that fast.

Wilson Hill Academy offers a course called Literary Analysis and Argumentation that is supposed to be quite good, high level, and would have an outside instructor to guide your daughter. You could email the instructor to get an idea of whether the level would be adequate.

This is the major issue with AP tests for homeschoolers. By January a commiseration thread pops up each year as parents spend months trying to negotiate where to find places for their students to test. My son wants to take both music theory and art history, but it is essentially a no go since there is nowhere for him to acutally test. He is learning it still, but it doesn't much show anywhere. Many people drive between 1-3 hours for the exams. Last time I checked for us, it looked like about 2ish hours.

I think that is what I has to realize. Yeah, that one page was total opinion, but I knew the rest was not. I have enough background that I could analyze the actual science content. So, I could discard a wonderfully useful item over a page, or I could really figure out what was bothering me. I chop curriculum to bits all the time, taking what I want and discarding what doesn't work for us. Why was I so freaked out by it in a science text? It was a beginner's chemistry course presented in a conversational, engaging way that met my son's need for dense information presented in a non-textbookish fashion. It met every need we had. Was I really that upset over a page which was misleading? No, I was freaked out that somehow my son was not going to see it as total opinion - and fairly ignorant opinion at that. I was not worried about the text, I was worried my son was going to blindly follow. Part of what we did was to unpack all the layers of implication which went into the badly written paragraph or two about climate change. I just had to teach my son how to look at information. That is a very important skill. People are rarely worried about what they admit to - myself included. If we were honestly upset over misleading or politicized opinions in text books then history would be at the top of the list, followed shortly by nutrition/health books. Science has become an unnecessary battleground and I fell right in. It was a really good lesson for me to look at what I was actually feeling.

The Zinn Project is the online help for A People's History. Other great reads along those lines are Lies My Teacher Told Me by David Lowen, An Indigenous People's History, Blessed Unrest (Read an *entire* story at once. Do not stop or the book is depressing as all get out), and Letters to A Young Activist. If you want your son to really understand social justice, read the real stuff. Do not sugar coat. It hurts, badly. It should. These are people losing their lives and fighting for their humanity. That should hurt. If it doesn't, we won't get anywhere. It is painfully slow. If he begins to exhibit depression on a large scale, pick a single issue and become involved in a larger organization. Activists lift each other up. It is the only way to not get completely destroyed. If he is needing lighter resources, let me know. My son has been actively working in environmental and social justice since he was 4, and regionally public speaking since he was 6. It is a main reason we homeschool.

Do you want fun books or classic books? Classics can be fun, but many very worthwhile books are definitely not "literarure."

Is this an instance where switching to organic could help? I am lactose intolerant and get cystic acne from dairy of any kind. It was suggested to switch to organic first to make sure my body was not responding to the various chemicals instead of the actual dairy. However, I get horrible stomach pains, intestinal issues, and in general complete systemic problems not just acne.

The only questionable page in our young earth Chemistry text was about how climate change is not real because God gave dominion over the Earth to man. Apparently that means that man is infallible and could never do anything to screw up the Earth. That sort of stands in the way of a whole lot of other Biblical storyline, but whatever. I was very pleased with the text we used. It forced me to recognize that I had a strong bias against religious texts which was largely unfounded and based on fear.

There are various procedures. Most people do extremely well in the first 5 years, then weight starts to return. If you read what the studies call successful, it is often a combined loss of 50% of your body fat. You initially lose 200 lbs, but over ten years gain 100 back. That is an extreme example, but essentially of the five people I know who have had the surgery all have gained over 40% of their weight back. This is a small sample, but if you look at the long range data it appears to be very normal. Most data are only talking in the first 3-4 years, many in the first 1-2, where you see large numbers. As a life threatening obesity procedure, it is wonderful. It depends on your personal viewpoint of "successful." It also depends on how dramatic of a long term medical plan you want. It appears continued therapy and nutritionist check ups for the 10 years has been the most successful. There are quite a few studies. You just need to look specifically at what is considered "successful" and measure it up to your expectations.