Chemistry and Alg. 2 take half a day to do!!!

[Susan C.]

Maybe more.... Anyone else have that issue? I remember when ds took those two together, ugh, they are both what we call time hogs. Dd started school in August, we started chemistry in September w/VHSG. The one to one and a half hours of work added to the one hour of watching class online has literally bumped her Language Arts out, there is no more day left. Algebra 2 has a 45 min. online class to watch plus homework and the struggle to "get it." So, 2 1/2 hrs. chemistry, 2 hrs. algebra, you get the picture. How on earth am I going to fit the rest of her classes in and let the girl have a life?? Her other classes are art, Spanish, Language Arts, US History, PE. Her Language Arts is a mess too because I do an entire grammar program, an American Lit. text, and vocabulary. It seems like too much to me....

 

Dd is a good student, but isn't fast, it takes her awhile to get things, and she studies hard and for a long length of time. She definitely needs the online things to watch. Doing a "core" class (alg., chem., or L/A) three times a week instead of five will probably NOT work. The Spanish and art might be able to be done 3x a week. History, maybe 3-4x a week would work except for a week where there is a test.

 

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Michelle in AL]

You could try switching tutorials. The Dive Cds go with Apologia Chem and are about 20 minute a couple times a week plus time to complete the worksheet and reading. It takes my dd about an hr per day with a different text.

 

For algebra 2 you could try the videos at http://www.hotmath.com. They are very short <5minutes and I was always able to get the concepts from these.

[yinne]

No ideas -- just sympathize with you. Experiencing the same thing here, only with Physics and Precalculus. I'm not sure which one of us is going to crack first!

 

Yvonne in NE

[Susan C.]

Oh Yvonne, I had the same thing with ds!! Two curriculums for physics and three for precalc. It ended up that ds is a liberal arts dude.....(he is majoring in English at college)... duh, that is why it took so long. Dd is the same, but we have to take the alg. 2 and chemistry for college admission. And she needs the longer lessons for time for it all to click. She does get good grades, it just takes awhile for her to do it!!

[regentrude]

Doing a "core" class (alg., chem., or L/A) three times a week instead of five will probably NOT work.

 

I think especially with math and hard sciences it is important not to pile on too much new material too quickly and allow enough time for practice and review. You could accomplish this by having her work with the DVD M+W+F and having her do practice problems and homework on the days in between. This would mean that you would progress less quickly, but then, especially since she needs time to "get" it, this would be the better strategy than rushing through math.

 

My DD is taking a physics class; class is M+W+F, the days in between she does her reading and homework. It still comes down to about 8-10 hours a week, but this was what we expected. We have compensated by scheduling electives lightly and not every day.

[Lori D.]

For our NON-science/math career oriented DS who also struggles terribly with with math due to LDs, we're using Math-U-See for Algebra 2 this year; so far so good -- keep fingers crossed!

 

And to ease the science, we spread the 3 required science credits out over the 4 years of high school. So far he has:

gr. 9 = .33 credit Biology AND .5 credit Anatomy

gr. 10 = .66 credit Biology

 

So at the end of 2 years of high school, he had 1.5 credits of science, leaving 1.5 credits to complete over the next 2 years:

 

gr. 11 = (current year) = .75 credit Chemistry

gr. 12 = (next year) = either .25 credit Chem AND .5 credit Physics -- OR -- just .75 credit Physics

 

Also using Conceptual Chemistry, which is very gentle and backed off on the math equations. A friend whose DS has similar LDs and was not heading towards a math/science career, ended up doing far less rigorous science choices -- he did Physical Science and then Earth Science for 2 credits at home, and then took a Meteorology course at the local community college for his third lab science credit.

 

 

However, that doesn't help you if you need to either outsource, or stick with what you've already paid for. Is there any way to spread out the Algebra 2 and the Chemistry and take them at a much slower pace, taking 1.5 years to complete them? That way you could alternate them -- do the math 3x/week, and the science the other 2x/week, which should free up 2 hours a day to do the subjects you have no time for right now.

 

Also, really think over what your student's interests and potential future college/career path might be -- if she's not headed toward entry into a prestigious college or a math/science type of career, then math and science subjects can take more of a back seat (by using less rigorous programs; stretching the program out into the next school year, etc.) to allow you to really focus on what DD's strengths and interests are... Just a thought! :)

 

BEST of luck in finding the solution that works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Teachin'Mine]

Does your dd need to watch the lectures or can she learn from reading the text? I think VHSG is awesome, but the lectures take a lot of time, and even just answering the questions in the right format so they match exactly takes more time. Maybe she can read the text and do the problems, and if she has any difficulty, then listen to the lecture. That might cut down on the amount of time significantly. Math and science take the most time here too.

 

ETA: I just re-read and saw that she needs to watch the lectures. Maybe she could watch the lectures at night? Then during actual school hours she's just working the problems in the text.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Teachin'Mine

[at the beach]

Maybe more.... Anyone else have that issue? I remember when ds took those two together, ugh, they are both what we call time hogs. Dd started school in August, we started chemistry in September w/VHSG. The one to one and a half hours of work added to the one hour of watching class online has literally bumped her Language Arts out, there is no more day left. Algebra 2 has a 45 min. online class to watch plus homework and the struggle to "get it." So, 2 1/2 hrs. chemistry, 2 hrs. algebra, you get the picture. How on earth am I going to fit the rest of her classes in and let the girl have a life?? Her other classes are art, Spanish, Language Arts, US History, PE. Her Language Arts is a mess too because I do an entire grammar program, an American Lit. text, and vocabulary. It seems like too much to me....

 

Dd is a good student, but isn't fast, it takes her awhile to get things, and she studies hard and for a long length of time. She definitely needs the online things to watch. Doing a "core" class (alg., chem., or L/A) three times a week instead of five will probably NOT work. The Spanish and art might be able to be done 3x a week. History, maybe 3-4x a week would work except for a week where there is a test.

 

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

I'd be distressed, too, if math/science took 4.5 hours a day.:blink: Now, of course, if talking AP classes, I'd feel differently, but for a regular course, IMO, it's a lot.

 

Ways to lighten her load might be to switch to a less intense science/math. I haven't used it but I have heard good things about ACE Paces science along with their science DVDs. I have heard really good things about the biology, not much about the Chemistry, though but haven't used either. Are you using Audio CD's along with Chemistry that Apologia has? That might help. I looked at VHSG and decided it was way too much time for lectures. For Math, what are you using? I'd probably try to find something that was less time-intensive. I recall a mom on here saying when she saw that a program took her kid two hours a day for math, it was time for a switch. Other suggestions if you want to stay the course with science and math (which I personally would not) might be that you streamline the rest of the subjects. Can you combine history and literature into one course? That might help with time management. I would make sure that my child wasn't spending more than appx. two hours total on all language arts and history each day--not counting independent reading. Does she need vocabulary and grammar? If not, I'd get rid of it. If she needs grammar, I'd make sure it was an efficient program that she could spend about 15 minutes a day on.

 

I feel for you. I'm having some scheduling concerns right now with my 13 yo, not with school taking too long, but just figuring out what, for us, is a good balance in online classes versus going it on our own. It's hard to know what path to take at times, isn't it? Homeschooling teens feels like such a responsibility to me. Wishing you the best in working out something manageable!

[Carol in Cal.]

I'l go with a little different tack here.

 

This is high school. You are not necessarily supposed to have time to have a life in high school. I certainly didn't. When I went to high school, the year I took chemistry and Algebra 2 I also took American history, honors literature, PE, and an elective extra English class. I should have been taking 3rd year German, but chose not to go on in it. I started school at 8:30 and was there until 3:20, and then I went home (on the bus) and did homework until dinner time and after dinner until pretty late, every single night. I did homework on weekends and holiday breaks as well. This is what a real, academic high school is like.

 

I've been trying to remember whether I spent 4-5 hours per day on math and science, and I think that if you include weekend time that might actually be a little less than what I did. Math classes were 45 minutes long every day, and science classes were an hour long every day. We had homework in each class--reading, memorization, working out problems, lab reports, concept study. Our tests were really, really hard, and never multiple choice.

 

As a homeschooler you can spread this work over 7 days per week more easily than in a BM school, and spread it over the entire year; and I encourage you to do so. However, I don't think that that workload, in and of itself, is excessive.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Carol in Cal.

[Susan C.]

Thanks all! Carol, I do agree with you and dd is willing to do the work. I am a little afraid of burn out, though. We are looking at doing school 6-7 days a week to keep pace. Dd tries very hard, and gets pretty keyed up and stressed (a perfectionist).

 

We use BJU Algebra 2, which is a step down from Chalkdust, and is more manageable than Chalkdust. (It was probably me that said to change programs when it took two hours/day, LOL). BJU literally has 180 dvd classes, so of course I feel the pressure to watch one a day. But some days (like now with word problems) you really need another day to cement a concept. Then you are instantly behind. This teacher really does a great job teaching the trig. at the end of the year, and I really hoped that we could take advantage of that. Since we are online now, you do get 18 months..... but then it takes from the next year.

 

VHSG is wonderful, we are exploring the option of going offline and slowing it down. That is one of the problems, when ds and I did the chemistry, we were able to do it at our own pace. (I think it took us about 2 1/2 weeks per module instead of the 2 weeks that VHSG takes). But, the course was awful for just me to do, I really need VHSG because it was a stretch for me to teach the chemistry (ds had to wait for me to remember, then I wasn't very good at conveying it being so rusty with it). Dd really likes Apologia and won't consider doing anything else.

 

Teachin Mine, I will ask her if it would help to watch the lectures at night! Good idea. Also, you are using VHSG? What tests do you use, their's or the text's? We did have a terrible time matching their answers, and dd got problems wrong that she shouldn't have because of the confusion of whether to put the answer in regular form or scientific notation.

 

Lori D, the college here isn't that rigorous, but when ds applied, they looked for those three magic sciences, biology, chemistry, and physics, and were glad ds took precalculus. UGH, I didn't have to take so many core classes when I was in high school (different state), and I liked it better. I looked back at my junior year, I remember it being hard, and I didn't have math or science that year..... my other classes were hard though. So I do know dd is loaded down. I took Algebra 2 in 9th grade, and it was not nearly as difficult as Algebra 2 is now.

 

Regentrude, I will check to see if she can do lighter work on the days she watches her classes, but I'm not sure. Her classes are t-w-f, and two days are not enough to read and do experiments, lab reports and study questions.

 

All in all a lot to think about, I really do appreciate the ideas. I am thinking about doing a schedule in blocks of time to even things out (if that is possible). Anyone know how to get a day longer than 24 hrs!!!! LOL

[Teachin'Mine]

Susan my dd had started with the physics class, but is just doing it on her own from the text and using the included tests. She knew the right answers for the quiz, and tried many different ways to get them accepted, but couldn't. She really prefers learning from the text, so I didn't ask how the answers should be given. I'd suggest sending an e-mail asking what format to use for submitting the answers in chemistry.