Going to high school in the US...

[HSHS]

I know this is a board for home-education but I've heard some of you have hosted foreign students, etc so I was wondering if you could offer some advice? DD has always wanted to go to college in the US, but now she's debating staying here instead now. But now she's decided she'd like to try high school in the US. We found out that the Youth For Understanding exchange program to the US would cost more than £5000 and although that's cheap for a year (still too expensive for us) I doubt she could stay for any longer than a year so therefore... we were thinking scholarships. She tried the practice test on the SSAT site and got 84% when she was thrown in cold and did it really half-heartedly so I've no doubt she could do well on the test so merit based scholarships to save all of the income messing-around would be better.

 

Any ideas anyone?

[elfgivas]

can you say more about why? and where? would you be coming with her?

 

from our limited experience, we would pick canada, england, scotland, australia, for high school over the usa (probably in that order, australia last only because of distance). (primarily based on the violence rates, us having four daughters, and the education quality), we've had kids go to school in all five places.

 

i probably wouldn't send a teenager on their own away to school, and certainly not here....

 

when our dds came here from canada, at ages 11 and 14, they were horrifed at the barbed wire, the drug sniffing dogs, the low standards, the violence, the... well, the list goes on and on and on. they went from being able to go out at night alone to having to be in a group, or accompanied by an adult when they were out at night. they were Not Pleased. (an example of difference in standards that we experienced, and noting that california is near the bottom of the usa in public schooling results: our dds first grade 9 compulsory reading book was on our book shelf because it had been her sister's grade 5 compulsory reading book - in English as a Second Language in canada. we were, well, quite frankly astonished....)

 

and so we homeschool. the older two both went to college in the states, and one loved it (stanford) and one didn't (UC Santa Barbara, Sierra college and now San Jose State, which may be at long last a keeper).

 

however, for us it is worth noting that when dd1 did her third year overseas, she was put into 2nd year at the University of Edinburgh, rather than third year - and that was coming out of stanford! stanford considered the courses equivalent to their third year courses.

 

if your dd is headed for a top tier university, then there are some great choices in each country. if she is headed for a middle tier school, that may not be so true.

 

all that said, the multicultural experience is worth its weight in gold. at her age, there may be other ways to get it. but if she wants to emigrate, then a student visa is easier than a lot of other ways to get started. but there are other ways to do this.

 

this is a hard choice; good luck!

ann

[keptwoman]

Have a look at AFS too. I suspect the prices will be similar but I can vouch for it being a great organisation to host through and know a number of kids who have been sent and have been very well supported.

My DS is keen to go overseas for his final year of school, he really wants to go to France but with AFS you aren't guaranteed your first choice. He wants French speaking, so it's likely to be France, Canada or Belgium.

[HSHS]

DD's always been interested in american high schools & the way they work differently. I'm not sure why. England was 2nd on your list, Ann and that's where we live already. DD attended school here from aged 3 to 14 and at no point did she not sit in a lesson thinking 'I already know this' which is worrying. I'm just sorry I wasted 11 years of hers. I think she's also interested in the amount of homework and the whole 'grading' system. Over here, the homework was rare and when it was given it wasn't for any reason (it was rarely marked, never returned & she had a list of excuses for not doing it that were as long as the great wall of China).

 

I wouldn't send her to a public school, though it is impossible anyway, I think. I was hoping to send her to a boarding school & obviously we wouldn't just send her anywhere. We'd be looking into the school, the area & the academic standards of course. I wouldn't send my DD anywhere :]

 

Thanks for the suggestion of Monte Vista but DD's actually agnostic but once again, thank you so much for the suggestion. (:

 

Perhaps we do need to consider somewhere other than the US though... is your experience unique to that area because my cousin visited the US a year ago and really enjoyed it? She's actually hoping to move there herself in the future so she definately did enjoy it.

 

-------------

 

Right, I had DD read your message because I didn't think she'd take it seriously if I told her. She's now doing some research on an exchange to France since it's the only language she can read/write relatively fluently. She's also read about how rigorous french schools are which had her keener. I'm glad to see school hasn't dragged that all out of her. And if we do go ahead with this, I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

Thank you for your messages. (:

[Laura Corin]

She's now doing some research on an exchange to France since it's the only language she can read/write relatively fluently. She's also read about how rigorous french schools are which had her keener. I'm glad to see school hasn't dragged that all out of her. And if we do go ahead with this, I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

Thank you for your messages. (:

 

I think that an exchange to a country which uses a different language is a good thing for a bright child. We lived overseas until recently, and it was a wonderful experience. The following notes are not to put you off, but just for information.

 

I taught in a well-rated (but not private) French high school and didn't find it to be advanced compared to the UK school I had left only a few years previously. For example, the upper high school students were not studying whole English novels - instead they were working on gobbets torn from texts. The French system also 'holds back' students who don't pass exams in a particular year, so you get 'children' of enormously varying ages in a class, some of whom have been through the same curriculum before and are very disaffected. I'm not sure if this is a worse system that the British one (where failing students just leave the minute they reach 16) but it definitely produces a different atmosphere.

 

French schools (in my experience) have very little social/community life beyond the classroom. At lunch time, many of the children went home to eat - the lunch break was long. After school, there were no clubs or optional activities, so the place was suddenly deserted - teachers taught their classes, but didn't organise anything else. I don't know if a boarding school would be different.

 

All the private schools that I have heard about in France are religious, but there might be others.

 

Good luck with providing such great opportunities for your child. What are your plans for exams/qualifications?

 

Laura

[HSHS]

Hi Laura,

 

I wish I could have provided for DD what you have for your children where they experienced a foreign way of living but we've never managed it.

 

Are there any places you think are more rigorous than the UK education-wise? DD hated it in school here because it never challenged her.

 

Qualification-wise the plan is money-depending basically. I'd prefer DD to try GCSEs that don't have coursework as well as those with a little amount of coursework whereas DD would rather do the GCSEs without coursework and IGCSEs but I doubt we'll have the money for IGCSEs.

 

We can't afford distance learning courses

 

DD's cut me off here. We might actually have a plan! ;D She's calculated that from doing the GCSEs without coursework (she reckons there's at least three) and pulling together the £150 for an ICS GCSE course then doing the ECDL (and praying they accept it) we might be okay...

 

She's already decided that basically, if they don't accept her based on that then screw sixth form college, she'll do it herself but... I'm still worried & I have no idea why. Haha!

 

We do have next year as well but the internal assessment rubbish starts then which is bad news. We might just pull this off though...

 

We have spoke to the 14-16 coordinator at a local college (or rather, DD has xD) and she was very helpful with DD and DD was very happy & suprised that the woman didn't speak to her like a child and she told her that she knew there was a chance DD could get onto the GCSE course but she'd be liable for the fees which were £3000+ so we can't afford that but she told DD that she knew there were some formal qualifications available for home educators and that DD should try her best to secure them to make she she didn't end up in a level 1 course when it's not her 'true academic level'. I was suprised to hear that myself, to be honest! She told DD about the diplomas they had available that they'd be more than happy to have DD on but they were based in schools & DD doesn't want to go back into a school setting just yet.

 

Anway, I've rambled enough to you, sorry about that. (: I was just getting ideas sorted in my head as I typed. Hehe.

 

Jo

[Pixie]

I think that an exchange to a country which uses a different language is a good thing for a bright child. We lived overseas until recently, and it was a wonderful experience. The following notes are not to put you off, but just for information.

 

I taught in a well-rated (but not private) French high school and didn't find it to be advanced compared to the UK school I had left only a few years previously. For example, the upper high school students were not studying whole English novels - instead they were working on gobbets torn from texts. The French system also 'holds back' students who don't pass exams in a particular year, so you get 'children' of enormously varying ages in a class, some of whom have been through the same curriculum before and are very disaffected. I'm not sure if this is a worse system that the British one (where failing students just leave the minute they reach 16) but it definitely produces a different atmosphere.

 

French schools (in my experience) have very little social/community life beyond the classroom. At lunch time, many of the children went home to eat - the lunch break was long. After school, there were no clubs or optional activities, so the place was suddenly deserted - teachers taught their classes, but didn't organise anything else. I don't know if a boarding school would be different.

 

All the private schools that I have heard about in France are religious, but there might be others.

 

Good luck with providing such great opportunities for your child. What are your plans for exams/qualifications?

 

Laura

 

This is true but in my experience it is VERY different than religious schools in the US. I attended a catholic school from 4th through 12th grade and the religious influence is very slim. From 4th to 7th we had one hour of religious education per week (that you could skip if you weren't catholic). In high school (10, 11, 12th) there 1 mass a year, last day before Chritsmas vacation (not mandatory either, I don't think I ever went).

As far as the curriculum if you pick one that is accredited it will be the same one than any other public high school, no religious texts.

 

Also if you pick a high school that offers only the "general" branch of study rather than both general and technical you can mostly avoid the large age difference. Most kids who have failed twice don't go into the general branch.

 

My school was both a day school and boarding school and there was some activities in the evening for the boarders but Laura is right there was nothing for the others. Once school is done, you go home.

[shea]

when our dds came here from canada, at ages 11 and 14, they were horrifed at the barbed wire, the drug sniffing dogs, the low standards, the violence, the... well, the list goes on and on and on. they went from being able to go out at night alone to having to be in a group, or accompanied by an adult when they were out at night. they were Not Pleased. (an example of difference in standards that we experienced, and noting that california is near the bottom of the usa in public schooling results: our dds first grade 9 compulsory reading book was on our book shelf because it had been her sister's grade 5 compulsory reading book - in English as a Second Language in canada. we were, well, quite frankly astonished....)

 

 

 

Certainly this is not indicative of all high schools in the US. Not one of the schools in my area has barbed wire, and to have the drug sniffing dogs come through the schools would not be an everyday experience (unusual actually). Don't let this discourage you and your daughter from choosing a school here. With so many states to choose from, I'm sure you could find a school that is suitable.

 

Sue

[LibraryLover]

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Edited September 12, 2009 by LibraryLover

[Laura Corin]

All it took was a text book and some old papers. A local private school was keen to show that it was providing public benefit (for charitable status) and only charged us what the exam board charged them: about 35 pounds. Still not chicken feed, but a lot less than a distance learning course.

 

There are good text books for maths, bio, physics and chemistry IGCSE. I'm happy to give more details. There's also a Yahoo group for HE people who are considering exams. Here is their Wiki.

 

You might also look into selective private schools in your area - many of them provide scholarships and the expectations might stretch her more.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

 

Also if you pick a high school that offers only the "general" branch of study rather than both general and technical you can mostly avoid the large age difference. Most kids who have failed twice don't go into the general branch.

 

 

When I taught in Perigueux, there was a separate technical school, but I taught in the general school, which still had the big age disparity. That was in the 1980s.

 

Laura

[HSHS]

Ah, the conflicting views S: Haha! I suppose it's like anywhere really, isn't it? Some schools are good, some are bad.

 

The school DD was attending was supposed to be the best school in our area but it seems it all went downhill within the few years she was there. A fire was started in her form tutor's classroom, one of the children two years above her murdered another from the school & smoking and drinking was a casual and everyday thing. The results went down so much that it was a failing school.

 

I've always encouraged DD to travel. I wish I'd have done it when I was younger. She wants to, at the very least, volunteer over in Uganda in the orphanages there and I've no doubt she'll do it. She's always been one of those charitable people. <3 I think you've got to be over 16 though, or possibly over 18 so she wants to do it when she finishes school or when she finishes sixth form. She's also keen to intern with invisible children & wants to volunteer for citizens advice over here because she's very interested in helping people with debt management, etc.

 

She was also interested in psychology too but doesn't think she'd be able to do it. She likes predictability, for the most part, and that's definately not a career where you can get that.

 

Qualification-wise, we actually have the books we need for IGCSEs but it's the cost that's an issue. We've got these:

 

CIE First Language English - the book & the workbook

Longman Business Studies for IGCSE

Biology (the M Jones & G Jones one for IGCSE?)

Religion & Life

A Complete Course In Business Accounting

 

DD could work through all of these except Biology I think. She hates science, with a passion. But she wants to go into computer science? She's a complicated girl. Haha! So she knows she has to do it, but she finds it really hard to get into her head. She read the first page of the biology textbook & had a headache from it. ;D

 

I've no idea what to do about that? Kinetic Books Physics is supposed to be equivelant to A Level so would definately equip her for GCSE but I don't know whether I should get her to do Biology which is supposed to be easier or Physics where it's not just a dry textbook.

[Pixie]

When I taught in Perigueux, there was a separate technical school, but I taught in the general school, which still had the big age disparity. That was in the 1980s.

 

Laura

 

I graduated in 91. When I was in middle school (6th -9th) there was a 3-year age difference in my class (from those who had skipped a grade to those who repeated twice) however once we reached high school there was a few people who had repeated once but the huge majority were just right on track. Maybe my experience comes from being in a private school? (but my middle school was that same private school)