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Brigid in NC

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Posts posted by Brigid in NC

    Spring Math Class after Algebra 2 - Statistics or start precalc or Algebra 3 or ???

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    I think just having folks to chat with about it is helping me :thumbup:

     

    May I join the chat? :) Coming in a little late on this, and it may have already been mentioned--but we found a tremendous side benefit to the Statistics class my ds took. Lots of Excel graphing. I used to think I knew Excel, but my ds is light-years ahead of me now. I know all stats classes aren't configured the same way, but I just thought I'd mention that this was a plus for us. Good luck with your decision! I can't help much with class recommendations because we did math through the CC and took it in a fairly traditional sequence.

    :-) ~Brigid

    ACT - thoughts?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    My son did.

     

    In NC, homeschooled students are supposed to take an annual standardized test. I did not see the point of giving the ITBS or something similar when the ACT served a dual purpose, i.e. fulfilling the state requirement and offering some extra prep for the real deal.

    :iagree:Yep. My two, too.

    Really, really, really tired

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    Cindy, let me join the :grouphug: too. Home schooling high school is a different kind of hard than the journey there. If it helps to know you are not alone in the kinds of things you are experiencing, do know that. I feel your pain and hope that you will be encouraged that others are thinking about you and praying for you and your dd. ~Brigid ;)

    Transcripts - list each semester, or just final grade?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by Brigid in NC

    I listed letter grade only-- no "+" or "-"

    :iagree:It was waaaaay too complicated for me to do anything else. I have not heard of a college questioning this.

     

    Does the "+" or "-" help or hinder the gpa, or is it dependant on the actual grades?

    If you go this route, the + and - will change the GPA. If it's important to you to give your student the credit s/he deserves for earning lots of A+s, B+s, etc., you might want to just "prove" the benefit by calculating one year's GPA. It might be more trouble than it's worth -- or maybe not!

    If your dc got at least an 8 on the ACT essay...

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by Brigid in NC

    I'm not sure one should worry too much about the ACT writing score.

    :iagree:

    While we want our kids to perform well on these tests, the ACT essay is not factored into the student's ACT "English" score, or ACT Composite score. So for those who are not strong writers, or for those who just can't quite figure out what the readers "want," the ACT is more forgiving than the SAT (which adds the essay score into the 200-800 "Writing" score).

     

    Our approach integrated counterarguments within each main support point:

    1. Intro Paragraph: a couple of sentences about the topic (not a restating of the prompt) to establish context, then a thesis that takes a clear position.

    2. Body Paragraph: 1st (weakest) reason for opinion, with 2-3 examples/supporting evidence (including a counterargument and rebuttal if there is one).

    3. Body Paragraph: 2nd (stronger) reason for opinion, with 2-3 examples/supporting evidence (including a counterargument and rebuttal if there is one).

    4. Body Paragraph: 3rd (strongest) reason for opinion, with 2-3 examples/supporting evidence (including a counterargument and rebuttal if there is one).

    5. Conclusion: echo thesis (not the same wording as the original) and a universal insight.

    Because the ACT prompts tend to be about "real world" high school issues, we read about and discussed current issues in high school before each ACT, so that a context could be established in the intro, and so that a pool of examples would be fresh and available.

     

    Best,

    ~Brigid

    Being the guidance counselor

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    But I still do not see why would the optimization problem not be the student's responsibility as well. I think it is the student who should sit the parent down, not the other way round, and ask questions, ask help, if parents have professional expertise with that; that it is they who should be comparing syllabi, reading acceptance criteria, googling who are the lecturers and what they are working on, considering research opportunities and mobility opportunities, and so forth, ultimately making the choice based on all they manage to inform themselves about while consulting with parents about the finances, and then dealing with further application and post-application process.

     

    This is not to discourage anyone from researching things indepedently, like Violet explained before. I am just really surprised with the importance many people in this thread attribute to other people in the process, rather than the student. I am still trying to wrap my mind about that and about whether I do have some additional responsibilities here I had not considered.

     

    Boy, how many times did I wish that my ds would step up and own this. I think for some kids it is just not going to happen soon enough. My older ds had so much going on academically and with extra-curriculars, I wanted him to focus on those. He had NO idea where he wanted to go to college in 9th, 10th, or even 11th, and I really did not want him spending time thrashing around (which is what it would have looked like :)). I know some students who have done just what you described, but I know far more who are clueless in the early high school years. I think for many students, considering college options is utterly overwhelming. They (like us) have no idea where to begin.

     

    Just our experience.

    Best,

    ~Brigid

    Being the guidance counselor

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by Brigid in NC

    See, these are the things that give me palpitations because I have no personal experience with all of this. I did go to university but it was 30 years ago and I did not do any of these tests etc. Some of that may be because I was applying from overseas and did not have access to all of them.

     

    I want my children to have OPTIONS.

     

    I agree with this. Concern about "options" is why I started planning in 9th for the "end line." My ds had no idea where he wanted to go to college, so I wanted to make sure that my school planning did not find him deficient in the college admissions hoops he was going to have to (or might have to) jump through later.

     

    I really think that it is important to plan early, if we want to make sure there are no doors closed because of our lack of awareness of college admissions expectations. That doesn't mean in 9th grade that we need to know where our students want to attend college--or what major they will pursue--but there are some schools that have requirements for all students and for homeschoolers, if students are to be competitive for admission. For example, Princeton wants to see four years of the same foreign language (from everybody) and Georgia Tech wants three SATII tests (from homeschoolers). I'm sure some students get around these, but that's what they say they want.

     

    So looking at the possible schools that our students might be interested in will help take some of the stress out of the high school years. If you have the kind of student who might be interested in Princeton, you don't want to begin planning in 10th or 11th grade. If you have the kind of student who might be interested in Ga Tech, you want to help them plan their testing schedule in high school so that everything doesn't hit all at once, or so that you can help them understand what the junior year will look like when testing can get pretty ugly.

     

    I actually think doing some of the "guidance counselor" leg work early eases the the stress on us. It's the unknown that can be so stressful IMHO.

     

    Best,

    ~Brigid

    Being the guidance counselor

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    The most useful thing we did was to actually visit colleges.

    I completely agree, also! You learn so much by visiting schools. Don't stress over developing a perfect list of schools. Just start visiting schools that hold *some* interest. By getting out and asking the questions you've posed here, I bet you'll be surprised at the responsiveness of the staff and faculty at most colleges and universities.

     

    Good luck! :)

    My college boys are good for my ego

    in The College Board

    Posted

    DS#2 is living in the dorms this year and has to eat in the cafeteria. It is an amazing cafeteria, but according to ds it has some definite drawbacks.

     

    They arrived home around 8 last night and had not eaten. I had some leftover enchilada casserole. It was good casserole - anything is good with fresh roasted Hatch green chili - but definitely not gourmet. When ds was eating it he said, "The food in the cafeteria looks so good, but it just doesn't taste like this. Why can't they make food that tastes like this?!?"

     

    Warmed my heart! They *do* become more grateful when they are away.:D

    I had a similar experience last night. Nothing fancy -- just spaghetti with meatballs, salad with real bacon bits, and home-made sweet tea. My junior inhaled it all and thanked me profusely. It DOES warm the heart, doesn't it? ;)

    Do you offer extra credit to make up for low test scores?

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted

    i asked him if we could offer her extra credit and he said to come ask the hive.

    I have always offered this. It seems to me that "extra work" is never a bad thing, especially if the student is willing and motivated. I have not found that the opportunity for extra credit (translated: more work) has been a crutch. My guys always wanted to be done and move on, not back up and redo. So I found little downside to this.

    Good luck!

    ~Brigid

    Common ap-course descriptions

    in The College Board

    Posted

    A single pdf. That's what we did a few years ago. It was tricky, and I don't remember how I did it (because the transcript was portrait, and the course descriptions landscape), but I created a single pdf that contained the one-page transcript, followed by the course descriptions. Good luck!

    ~Brigid

    Transcript question

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by Brigid in NC

    So...do you think I need to ask each admission counselor how to list it for each college?

     

    No. :)

     

    If your student takes an AP course from an instructor who has gone through the audit process and has an approved syllabus, you can list the AP class on the transcript. The course and the exam are decoupled. A student can take an AP course and the exam. A student can take an AP course and not the exam. A student can take the exam and not the course. It sends no mixed signals to admissions officers. All of these scenarios are legitimate.

     

    If your student has taken an AP course, he or she deserves the transcript "credit" for taking a challenging course that is well defined and understood in college admissions offices. Additionally, if you are weighting grades, you will want to list an AP course on the transcript so you can give the added weight to the weighted GPA.

     

    Best,

    ~Brigid

    When everyone around you is stopping...

    in High School and Self-Education Board

    Posted · Edited by Brigid in NC

    I'm wondering how you respond to these types of comments, or maybe no response is wiser? ;)

     

    Things I've been told lately by hsing friends:

    "I would never limit my kids by hsing high school."

    "It wouldn't be fair to my younger kids, it's their turn now."

    "College is too important, I can't mess that up for them."

    My stock remark through the years: (with a smile) "Yep, homeschooling isn't for everyone." And then I move on. :) [Edit: But I guess this is a response I give to the never-homeschooled. Probably doesn't fit for former/partial homeschoolers.]

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