He told me he definitely wants to get some tutoring and retake the SAT. We were happy with his scores, but he’s got room to improve them, and it could really help scholarship opportunities. I don’t know if I can talk him into self-studying for an AP. There aren’t any that line up with what he’s taking now. It would mean adding a full course next semester. He is currently taking honors precal and physics, and I was thinking maybe I could get him to study for the math 2 and physics SAT subject tests. He’s going to do all DE next year. I am encouraging him to work hard for another award in his main activity, basketball, that is within reach. He can do some extra service with an organization we’ve worked with, and he is taking on a small leadership role at his co-op. That’s all I can think of, and none of it is mind boggling. I guess maybe I should focus on helping him get the SAT scores up a bunch and keep the GPA up with strong grades. He is planning to take all DE courses next year, so if he does really well in those, I can update his app with first semester DE grades.

This is great, thank you!

We’d like to avoid loans for him, if possible. We have $10,000 per year. We could stretch and do $15,000 by pulling from current earnings. So that’s why I put the price range. We’re in TX so what I’ve done so far is make a list of all the schools in TX, OK, and LA that have decent academic programs and graduation rates. I looked at tuition and scholarships available at those schools, and there were about 10 schools that could come into our price range if scholarships are awarded. His stats are at or above the 75% mark for those schools. For example, OU’s tuition is $27,000 OOS. He qualifies for a $7,000/yr scholarship just based on SAT scores. But they also have a department scholarship that he’s eligible to apply for that is $20,000/yr. If he wins that, tuition would be covered and we could afford R&B. So the list I made has 7 schools that have a scenario similar to the one above - guaranteed money plus competitive university or department scholarships) and 3 schools that are safeties. (For example, he’s auto admit to UTD, can live home, and we can afford tuition.) I was thinking maybe the college consultant had info that would help us maximize his chance to win the competitive scholarships offered by universities. I didn’t tell her our budget, but she did say she thought she could get us down to $10,000 out of pocket. I don’t know whether or not that is something I could do myself or if she has some special secrets. She did mention self-studying for AP tests, taking specific types of dual enrollment courses, and having a certain combination of ECs. Supposedly we’d leave her office with a detailed plan. If I can do it myself, I’d love to save the money. This is our first time through, and I’m finding it pretty overwhelming. I just want to make sure I do a good job for ds.

DS 16 (a junior) is auto admit to most of the universities to which he’s planning to apply, but we really need merit money that brings parent contribution down to $10 - 15k. He’ll be expected to cover books and expenses with summer savings and PT job. A friend recommended a local college consultant who I spoke to by phone yesterday. She’s a former homeschooler, and has been doing consulting for over 10 years. Based on his test scores, she agreed to meet with us to give advice for putting together his package, planning senior year, and applying for scholarships. She charges $400 for a 2 hour meeting, which seems really expensive to me, but would be worth it if it made the difference in getting scholarship money. She seemed pretty knowledgeable, but I don’t whether or not she has any secrets that would make her fee worthwhile. Do any of you have experience in this area to share? DS is NOT looking at any elite schools. His reach schools are state universities that are only reaches due to finances. He would need to win a competitive scholarship to bring them down to a level that’s affordable. He qualifies for some automatic aid at a few of them, but needs a bit more.

Thanks, all! He read a few more pages of LHOTP today and was so proud of himself. I’ll let him continue with it outside of our regular lessons. I’ll ask him tomorrow if he wants to tag team.

It basically attributed the differences between educational outcomes of Asians and Americans to differences in our children’s receptiveness being educated and differences in parents’ views of their role in education. These are generalizations based on research presented in the book, but Asian children come to school aiming to receive information from experts (their teachers) and are less inclined to expect discussions, fun projects, and a discovery based approach to education. They are also raised to value the process of working hard to master material. They don’t rely on parents/teachers to boost their self-esteem. Self-esteem is a by product of having worked hard and achieved. Asian parents don’t believe their children should learn independently. They believe in training their children to acquire knowledge and improve upon their weaknesses in the same way a coach would train athletes to acquire new/better skills. They structure their children’s time, provide resources, and work with their children, especially in areas of weakness. They believe in showing their children how to do things properly, not letting them learn for themselves. Just as a coach has a share of ownership in a team’s wins and losses, Asian parents feel children’s successes or failures also reflect on the parents. Also, Asian parents don’t believe children are either born with the ability to thrive academically or they aren’t. They believe that those who struggle simply need to work harder to achieve mastery. They may need more teaching, drill, etc. The book ends with 7 commitments parents can make to their children if they want their children to excel academically. I thought the book was eye opening and came away with some ideas about things I’d like to do differently.

8 yo ds (turns 8 this month) has been on the slow side learning how to read. He is technically in second grade, but still making his way through the A Beka phonics 1 book. But he’s making steady progress, and I think he is doing fine. I have some Level 1 & 2 readers - Danny and the Dinosaur, Mouse Soup, etc. for him. But he would rather struggle through more difficult books. For example, today, during school he said he likes math, but reading is hard. Then he followed that up with saying he is going to read Little House on the Prairie after lunch. Part of me feels like he should be able to work through it slowly if he’d like. But then, I also feel it would help him with fluency and his feeling that reading is “hard†to stick to the readers on his level. Any thoughts?

I finished this book today, and it was helpful. Thanks for the recommendation!

With Beast Academy, don’t you have to start at the beginning, though?

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks, all!

Oops! This should have been on the high school board. How do I move it?

DS is a junior and currently doing Derek Owen’s Precalculus. Will this be adequate preparation for Calculus 1 and 2 at the community college senior year? Also, he still doesn’t know what he wants to pursue in college. If he decides to go into something like engineering, would it be better to save Calculus 1 and 2 for college and do Calculus at home next year in preparation for those courses?

That’s true. It just goes a little further with positive/negative numbers, etc. I think he could do fine in a prealgebra course next year. I’m just not sure he’d be ready for algebra in 7th grade or geometry in 8th grade, etc. I guess a better question is how do I determine when he should start the formal math sequence of prealgebra, algebra, geometry, etc? Also, if I wait until 7th grade to start that sequence, what should he do in the meantime? The next book in the A Beka math program is pretty similar to what he’s doing right now. It would be mostly review.

I’m trying to think through my options for math for ds who’ll be 6th grade next year. This year he’ll finish A Beka Arithmetic 5. His math skills are solid. I don’t think he’ll need another year of arithmetic. I was thinking about moving forward with pre-algebra, but I’m concerned that might put him upper level math too early. The only other option I can think of is to do fun math for a year (Challenge Math, Mental Math, etc.) then start pre-algebra in 7th grade. Would love to hear your thoughts and advice.

I felt the same! Too chicken!!!

Thank you so much. My heart just broke when I found out how she treated him. He may be a terrible pizza worker, but he’s a great kid. Never gives us any trouble. There were a number of ways she could have let him go without humiliating him. It took everything in me not to call her up and tell her about her own deficiencies. It did introduce him to the real world, though, and the types of people/situations he’ll have to deal with. Glad it happened while he’s still living at home. Also, I just consider it God’s perfect timing that we got his official SAT scores back yesterday. They were good - even better than we expected - so it was a real boost for him and gave us something else to focus on this weekend. Thank you all for the feedback, and thanks, Arcadia, for the links. I’ve checked out some library books dealing with slow processing and executive functioning. Also, dh has a coworker with a daughter who is similar, and they did some pretty intense career skills testing with her to help identify jobs/fields that might be a good match. We’re thinking that might be a good investment for ds.

My husband mentioned that, too.

I haven’t noticed any trouble remembering where things are, but he does seem to lose track of time when doing things. It always takes 3 to 4 times longer than it should.

Thanks for sharing this! I had been thinking he just might not have a knack for front end work. This is something I’ll talk to him about. He needs to choose his next job more carefully.

That is encouraging, helena. Thank you for sharing!

No, I don’t think he does. He’s definitely not hyperactive, and I’ve never noticed any ADD symptoms. His co-op teachers have said he’s not especially talkative in class, but always pays attention and knows what’s being discussed/can answer when called upon. He struggles with being neat/organized, but I don’t think any worse than the average teen. He gets his schoolwork done daily without issue. In addition to moving slowly, he can’t seem to juggle multiple tasks and gets flustered when having to think/move quickly. His issues at his job were not making pizzas quickly or remembering to put ingredients on in the right order. He could never get the cash register stuff down. He handled back end/prep work just fine all summer. When the extra duties were added, he couldn’t pick it up. Said he always forgot something or messed up somehow. Wanted to do better, but couldn’t. The angrier his boss was, the worse he did. :(

Have any of you found ways to help a teen learn to work quickly, efficiently, and with good accuracy? I don’t think my 16 yo has any learning disabilities. His test scores and grades are good. But he works very slowly and doesn’t seem to notice mistakes. He often seems lost in his own thoughts. I’ve tried setting timers. I’ve tried coaching - “Don’t look at/think about the dish, just wash it.†Eventually, I just gave up and hoped he’d mature. Long story, but he was fired from his job yesterday. The store owner (60) and an older co-worker (29) always had good feedback for him this summer - smart, dependable, mature, hardworking, etc. He dropped his hours down to one day/week this fall and got some added responsibilities, and over the past few weeks, the manager he worked with grew increasingly frustrated with his speed and frequent mistakes. He was unable to course correct, and yesterday, she got angry, told him off for his inability to learn, remember, etc. and fired him. He’d had no idea his job was in jeopardy. Anyway, I am not happy with her, but my main concern is that I don’t want this to become a pattern for him. Most jobs require reasonable speed and infrequent errors. What are some ways I can help him?

Wow, that is amazing! Excellent job!!!

So glad you asked this question! I’ve been wondering, as well.

Thank you for the links! It’s interesting that doing the timer that way helped your son. The one time my son finished the reading section in time during our practice session was when I broke the test down into 5 parts with 12 min per section. (Or whatever it works out to be...) I knew I wouldn’t be there with a timer for the actual test, though, so I didn’t keep practicing that way.