If you have poked around the AP Central site, you probably have seen this. The College Board keeps changing the links though, so just when I think I have them all safely tucked away . . . AP Bio Exams I don't know about the changes to the AP Bio exam, but these samples of student tests and scores were always very helpful to us. Best of luck! ~Brigid

It just means that the school will get the benefit of your ds's scores in their cumulative totals. It doesn't have any effect on your ds. You will still get the scores sent directly to you, and you will see them online in the normal fashion. You don't need to worry. :001_smile:

I also thought this article was excellent -- thank you for posting it, Laura. I'm interested in reading more along these lines, and wondered if others who have read Academically Adrift have also read other books that they might recommend. Right now I am reading Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. I'm only 30 pages into it -- so not far enough in to recommend it (or not). Any suggestions for further reading? Thanks! :)

We found ourselves overwhelmed with info, and we made huge charts too. If you know how to hyperlink, that is handy in an excel spreadsheet. Don't forget to record your student's id and password for each school. We found that at some point the chart-approach broke down in its usefulness. We were trying to get too much in one place. So we also made a notebook with a different tab for each school, and put anything and everything in this. There was some order to it. For instance, we were very interested in the variations in course requirements for the college major my ds was interested in, so the first page behind each tab was a print out from each school showing the semester-by-semester courses required for his intended major. It was helpful to have a physical notebook (of course THE CHART was at the very front of it :)). It was a big relief to me when I figured that out. ;)

Wow! At first glance, this looks excellent! Has anyone used this? Opinions?

:iagree: I think this makes all the difference, too. Once the "road map" is established, it becomes less of a "chore" -- less of an academic exercise and more of an exploration. I just love it when my ds comes to me with snippets of research and shares "Mom, did you know . . . ." Helping my ds move beyond that initial outline "speedbump" disperses the tension around our house. :)

:lol: I love that!

We used Apologia from General Science through Physics, for both dss. We used the Advanced Chem for one ds. We went away from Apologia for one year in Chem, and realized that Apologia worked best for our family. So in this science and math-y home -- with an English teacher who did NOT want to teach science, Apologia was used very successfully by two guys who learned science mostly on their own -- and then went on to CC and college classes and felt well prepared. :001_smile:

That's wonderful! Thanks for sharing this! :thumbup:

I heard him talk at a conference in SC this year and I was very impressed with his specific, helpful advice. I remember him saying that the same mistakes are made in a short research paper that are made in a long research paper -- so rather than assigning one big research paper during a school-year, assign several smaller research papers. It will be a greater help and reinforcement, as they learn from their mistakes. I'm sure this is a Duh! to most -- but the huge research paper seemed like an annual rite of passage to me. No so much now. :rolleyes:

Working on school plans for next year, I stumbled upon writings of Joseph Conrad that seemed to resonate as we question the how and why of analyzing literature: "A work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line. And art itself may be defined as a single-minded attempt to render the highest kind of justice to the visible universe, by bringing to light the truth, manifold and one, underlying its every aspect. It is an attempt to find in its forms, in its colours, in its light, in its shadows, in the aspects of matter and in the facts of life what of each is fundamental, what is enduring and essential--their one illuminating and convincing quality--the very truth of their existence. The artist, then, like the thinker or the scientist, seeks the truth and makes his appeal. . . . My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel -- it is, before all, to make you see. That -- and no more, and it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there according to your deserts: encouragement, consolation, fear, charm -- all you demand; and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask." Peace. :)

:001_unsure: This was exactly the same response of a dd of an acquaintance who left ps in 10th and did all her homeschooling on-line. The young lady was bored and lonely, and ended up dropping out of school that year, with the goal of just getting a GED (which has not happened yet). I think if mom (who had to work -- and had the best of intentions) had been home during the "school day" the online format might have worked for her. It was just too big a swing in the mode of schooling for it to be successful for this young lady.

:iagree: I also suggest the family try to get connected with other homeschooling families -- and find at least one or two local high school classes that are taught in a co-op, so that the young man will begin to develop a new network of friends (which probably won't happen at a CC). Co-ops often have weekly or monthly payment plans, so the cost might be affordable. I think this is huge consideration. I've seen this situation happen close by. The parent and child both underestimated the loneliness. Finding connections and activities with other kids his age will enrich his next year or two. :) Best of luck to your friend!

We have always had "tracks" aligned with grade/skill levels. But our co-ops have not been only for 9th and 10th -- they have spanned 9th-12th, and some years middle school. Having a parallel middle school track of classes made the co-op much more appealing to families with multiple students in the middle/high school years. We had separate rooms for the moms who brought their elementary age students, where teaching or studying could take place simultaneously with the co-op classes. We tried to schedule classes so that no two classes of interest to a student would be offered at the same time. For instance, all science labs might be from 9-10AM and all the writing classes (level A, B, or C -- tied to IEW levels) from 10:15-11:45. That way, there is a self-selection/elimination process. It IS a bit like putting together a puzzle. :)

Such thorough posts already! I agree with everything that has been said and will try not to repeat. We found that Monday or Friday were the best days for a co-op -- particularly if students are taking multiple classes. The problem with Monday co-op is that students use the weekend as more than a safety net. They begin to rely on getting work done on Saturday and Sunday -- so it takes away from a weekend "break" from school. A mid-week co-op might mean (it did for us) that there is never a sense of closure for the school week. Lots of balls in the air -- always. What worked well in our experience: science labs, writing instruction, foreign language instruction (you might consider this core, though), art (hands-on and appreciation), history discussion/critical thinking. We also included barter in the compensation arrangements (trading co-op instruction, meals, grading papers). Best of luck to you! A co-op is a lot of work to organize, but well worth the effort.

:iagree::iagree:So true! I think we could fill a thread with all of our ds and dd's successes, just like these! There is oh-so-much evidence that homeschooling works!

This English-y mom has a rocket scientist and a mathematician for students. :w00t: There came a point at our house when the "teaching" role needed to transition to a "facilitating" role. I think we are fortunate that there are so many resources available to us as home schoolers today. The key is, we are carefully selecting the curriculum and instructional modes that work best for our "class of one." No public school can meet that. I had to chuckle at your friend's premise, though. My goal has never been to meet the rigor of a public school. ;) We've all had these sorts of conversations with well-meaning friends. Best of luck!

:hurray:<--for you! You should be very proud of yourself too!

:iagree: I see my role as teacher and guidance counselor. My job is to find the resources my guys need to perform and succeed at their level. Sometimes the teaching resource is me, sometimes it is another mom/dad/tutor with expertise in an area that is not my strength. "Trading" the teaching of classes -- in a co-op mode -- has been an incredibly rich component of our homeschool journey. :) Community college classes have been a blessing to us in the later high school years.

My older ds began taking flying lessons when he was a senior (17). I was wary at first, but my dh and I found that the safety rules were stringent and unwavering -- so my biggest concern (CRASH!) was much reduced. Some kids are passionate about horses, others about computers. If you have one who is passionate about flight and aerospace, and you have the means to help cultivate it, I'd go for it! My dh met with the instructors (it was a flying club) and we were impressed with their credentials. The instructors that my ds has flown with have been former military, with a gazillion hours of flying. I'd ask about the instructors' backgrounds, to give yourself some peace of mind. My ds, in trying to persuade me, said in all seriousness, "Mom, don't worry, Mr. XX has never lost anyone." :001_unsure: Okaaay. Kids have a funny sense of what persuasive appeals work sometimes. Good luck!

I'll take a stab at this . . . Literary analysis is not very valuable if it is just a scavenger hunt for literary devices. What makes it helpful is if it is approached as an inquiry into meaning: What was the author trying to communicate and how did he/she do it? So it becomes a useful exercise if you think of it as the identification of a meaningful theme, and then the investigation of the literary tools (diction, imagery, symbolism) that the author used to reveal that theme. Just as in non-fiction we study rhetoric to understand the various ways that writers craft their writing to persuade us, in fiction writers are also trying to impart or reveal something that is important (to them and usually to us). Through literary analysis we look at what it is that they want us to see -- to take away -- and then just how they got us there. :)

I had a hard time with the lit selections in years 1 and 2 -- so we did not follow TOG to a great degree in those years. Year 2 is VERY academic. I doubt there are many students who would say they "enjoyed" that year -- although many will be quite proud of themselves for the accomplishment. The reading is at a VERY high level, and certainly not at a typical 10th grade level (if you are following a 4-year TOG plan). But years 3 and 4 are quite different. We loved rhetoric-level lit in those two years. While I made some modifications to the reading list, I thought all of the TOG reading was rich and rewarding. The pacing is quite challenging -- much more rigorous than a typical high school English class IMO. So unless you have an avid reader, don't expect to do it all. I used TOG years 3 and 4 as a spine for co-op English classes that I taught, and my students really enjoyed the selections. One of the things I like most about TOG is it gave me "permission" to stretch the kids. Without the TOG selections (and pacing), I would not have assigned some (and as many) of the books that the students I taught actually loved. Good luck! :)

A new study just released by Georgetown University might be helpful to our high schoolers and college students, as they ponder the different college majors available to them. The Economic Value of College Majors is food for thought. :)

A new study just released by Georgetown University might be helpful to our high schoolers, as they ponder the different college majors available to them. The Economic Value of College Majors is food for thought. :)