List of electives ideas?

[Night Elf]

My ds14 has Aspergers. He is a very factual, non-creative type individual. He doesn't easily think outside the box. We use Keystone for high school and he's tried two electives so far and we've hated them. Come to think of it, my dd18 tried their marketing course and we hated that too. We've dropped every elective we've tried with them!

 

He's taken Game Design (too creative, even asking for art work), and Life Skills (he is having trouble understand specific goals when he has only 1 or 2, and the instructions and assignments are totally vague).

 

He loves video games (obviously) and can talk extensively on them. He is not a big reader. He doesn't often watch movies. He does any work I set before him. I just need some ideas on what to try next.

 

We're doing the Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings as his 9th grade English. Maybe I should call it an elective and put him back into Keystone's English class. Ugh. Graduating him might be more difficult than I imagined.

[JennW in SoCal]

Several questions popped into my mind.

 

Did you or some outside source offer the game design and life skills courses? Things might work better for electives if you are the one giving the assignments. I did cooking with my aspie one semester, and he did perfectly well. We watched the Food Network, he made dinner several times with me there talking him through each step, he grilled steaks and burgers with dad, made cookies and quick bread and we went grocery shopping for all of it. He's been living on his own since January, and while he isn't cooking for himself (the deals on frozen dinners at Walmart are too good for an 18year old to pass up), he can find his way around a strange grocery store -- a daunting prospect for an aspie.

 

We also spent a semester on basic personal finance. Keeping a checkbook, learning about the stock market by following the ups and downs of Disney and Apple. He read business articles about those companies, too, and started researching careers and figuring out what he needed to do. I didn't have him use an ATM enough before he moved away -- I got a frantic phone call from him one day when the ATM gave him an unfamiliar prompt.

 

Have you seen the book Game Programming for Teens? It has a cd-rom and a step by step book. Both my kids have used it. OH! And does your family still play WoW? My younger son has a big fat book on programming add-ons for the game. You might start looking into area community and vocational colleges to see if there are game industry related courses. I know I was useless in helping my kids when they got stuck programming. You could also have your ds start learning about the business end of his favorite games -- read trade publications, look to see if they are publicly held and find their stock symbol.

 

One last question -- I may be clueless here, but if your ds is doing Keystone, does the elective have to be approved by them? If it doesn't, then you should come up with some semester-long life skills classes of your own as your ds is going to have to function in the real world before long. Maybe make a course for researching careers and interests. Researching information is a critical skill in the 21st century, and if he lights up at the thought of writing code for Blizzard for the rest of his life, then help him see the path that is before him.

 

By the way, I've been playing WoW with my 15yo for about 6 months now. He has a character dedicated to playing with me and we're now at level 37!! I'm a Night Elf hunter and have a second character I don't play too much, a level 12 gnome mage. I'm stuck with her in a land of stupid quests, so am hoping Cataclysm will bring some fun back into low-level play!!

[FaithManor]

Have you looked at the MIT opencoursework website. There is a lot to choose from and you might find something that fits him well. MIT offers the curriculum/resource lists, syllabi, assignment descriptions, etc. for free....you have to decide how to implement it and do the grading. I think that you might be able to make some of these courses work for you Aspie. There are a lot of logic based - not too subjective - courses available. Kitchen Chemistry, Introduction to Astronomy, Introduction to Geology, etc. all come to mind.

 

Faith

[*~Tina~*]

Some ideas I've collected from various resources :)

 

Career Development

 

Woodworking

 

Art

 

Sociology

 

Psychology

 

Business

 

Economics

 

Logic and Philosophical thinking

 

Worldview Apologetics

 

Missions

 

Christian Anthropology

 

Intro to Computers

 

Journalism

 

Debate

 

Bible

 

Graphic Design

 

Home Economics - Chores around the house count as home-ec. At this age, it's not just chores, but helping the child anticipate when something is going to need to

be done, take responsibility, and plan for it. How much is it supposed to

rain this week? How will that affect when you need to plan to cut the grass

next? You get the idea.

Boy Scouts - complete the Eagle award. Look at the service hours,

badgework, project management, economics, speech, and civic planning that

goes into it.

Police Explorer program - an elective in Law

Enforcement.

Fire Explorer program - Fire Safety elective.

 

Sea Cadets - there was a message about that recently.

 

Civil Air Patrol - I don't know whether the kids fly anymore, but at

least they would get a healthy dose of ground school. That's a pretty solid

course.

 

4-H - that would be a course in agricultural management or something

along those lines

 

Junior Achievement - business management

 

Lifeguard training

 

Take up a new sport, either a team sport or an individual sport -

karate, figure skating lessons, etc. - things you can be a beginner in at

any age. That's a PE elective.

 

Volunteer at a nursing home or be a candy-striper at a hospital. That's

a healthcare services elective.

 

Run the sound system at church for a year - sound technology.

 

Have a family business - business management, or participation at some

level. Own a restaurant, then hours your child works, whether for pay or

not, count. Be sure to expose your child to all areas of the business.

 

Consumer Finance - let your older high schooler manage the family budget

for a quarter - with guidance of course.

 

Computer Repair

 

Microsoft A+ Certification

 

HTH!

 

Blessings,

¸.·´ .·´¨¨))

((¸¸.·´ .·´ -:¦:-Tina ~

-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*

http://seasonsoflearning.blogspot.com/

[LBS]

He can learn about the largest number of useful and/or interesting things in the span of the merit badge system. Nature, outdoors! Leadership training as you travel the trail to Eagle is better than any available to youth today. Research your troop choices, call your council and talk to DEs (District Executives) about their troops within their districts (pick those geographically close then work out). Find out who the commissioners are for the troops and talk to them....visit a meeting first before presenting 2-3 good possibilities to your son, if you wish to filter a bit.

 

My eldest just Eagled, and I can honestly say, this one program has been more beneficial, opened more doors to travel and adventure and learning, than any other in his life.

 

LBS

[AngieW in Texas]

My Aspie loved using Philosophy of Mind from The Teaching Company as the basis for a one semester elective course. The booklet that comes with the course gives suggested supplemental reading. I was nearly always able to find half or more of the suggested readings free online. I know she spent at least 90 hours on it, so it was worth a one-semester credit.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Here are some more ideas:

What's a good elective for 9th grade? I think I need another credit.

[Mom22ns]

Here is the list I've made for my kids to choose from so far. Many of the ideas came from this thread http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203730&highlight=box

 

Computer Programming (ds already did Alice, that might be a good choice for your son)

Psychology

Astronomy

Archaeology

Meteorology

Mythology

Forensic Science

 

We will also do personal finance and health, but those are pretty standard.

[Teachin'Mine]

World Geography might fit the fill. It's very factual and it will introduce him to different cultures and all. If he finds he likes it, and memorizes things well, he may even want to take an AP test in it later on in high school. But I'm not sure if this is the type of elective you're looking for. I'm inclined to think that anything that gives practical life skills is great - such as cooking, personal finances, etc..

[ThelmaLou]

For my oldest ds, these are what he's planning. The list is short, but I'm sure it'll grow.

Electronics

Meteorology

Computer Programming

Finance

[Night Elf]

Did you or some outside source offer the game design and life skills courses?

 

Whew! This is the first chance I've had to get back to the boards. No, those two classes were with keystone. I'd still love for him to get some sort of elective centered on video gaming in some regard, simply because it's his passion.

 

Have you seen the book Game Programming for Teens? It has a cd-rom and a step by step book.

 

No, but I'll look into it. It sounds interesting!

 

And does your family still play WoW?

 

Only dd18 is playing right now. I don't have any extra time now that I'm in school full time, and ds14 lost interest a long time ago.

 

One last question -- I may be clueless here, but if your ds is doing Keystone, does the elective have to be approved by them?

 

I just asked them that question yesterday. They do prefer to preapprove so there is no question about accepting it. But they will evaluate any course, whether it's pre-approved or not.

 

semester-long life skills classes of your own as your ds is going to have to function in the real world before long.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking. I'm going to use the syllabus I still have from Keystone's Life Skills but I'll be the one creating and grading the assignments which is going to be better than someone who doesn't know my son.

 

He has a character dedicated to playing with me and we're now at level 37!!

 

I loved it when my children played with me. But ds14 and dd12 lost interest and dd18 shot way beyond me when she hooked up with a group of friends and they spent way more time playing than I did. So, I'm a solo player pretty much. :)

[Night Elf]

Wow, you ladies are awesome! I'm going to print these out for our high school folder first, and then show the list to Jeffrey. Now we'll likely worry about having too many to choose from!