help-high school kid, what to do?

[mum]

Thanks for the help

Edited May 8, 2011 by mum

[regentrude]

I hope you let me comment even though we have not "done" it but are currently in the process of "doing" it (DD 14, gifted, college level work)

I have three different comments/suggestions:

 

1. Does the charter school specify WHAT materials to use? If not, what prevents your son from doing college level work without being formally enrolled, thus not accumulating more credits that could harm his admission as a freshman?

My DD just completed two semesters of college physics this year for 9th grade without being enrolled; so she has no credit for it, just the knowledge and the satisfaction of doing mildly challenging work.

If you have no university close, you can use open course software for instance from MIT or Yale to get a college level class without formal credit.

 

2. A student I had last semester had been in a similar bind. She had maxed out the high school offerings, "dropped out" at 15, took a GED and was admitted to university at 16. Because the university did not want to house her in a dorm, the parents MOVED to the university town so her kid could go to school - of course that may not be feasible.

 

3. Does your state have an early college program for gifted students? I am in MO; the MO Academy is a residential program for 11th/12th graders who take college classes during their last two years of high school. They are separated form the general college population, which may ease some of your worries about him moving away.

I know that some early college programs admit students as young as 12.

[mum]

Thanks for that, it's nice to hear another that's doing it. Our charter school does require us to use their specific book and they even set the daily assignments, a lot of it busy work-so dissatisfying for a gifted kid.

 

We can't move, I have another kid entering her senior year in ps, and a younger one too. Also husbands job isn't move-friendly.

 

There isn't much around in the way of early entrance, having gone to college at 15 myself and being away from my family, it isn't an experience I would have my child go through. I'm still praying for a miracle.

 

Thanks for writing, it's so nice to not feel so alone.

[8filltheheart]

I think all accel. learner stories are long, so I will try to give condensed version, but I really need help from those of you that have already done it (No offense, but if you haven't already done it, please don't comment). And we are where we are, there's no going back and saying "what if you'd not let him get so ahead".

 

This is a 14 yo boy, officially tested exceptionally gifted, done EPGY, CTY, is in a public charter independent study program so he would have an accredited high school diploma. He's officially 10th grade, though taken some 11th gr. classes this year, including AP chem, all A grades. So, he's sick of high school, CC wont enroll high school students ahead of time now, they will only let them add on the first day if there's room. So the chances are really low of getting a spot.

 

He needs to take Calc 1 and physics next year. Sometimes I feel like having him take the CHSPE and being done with high school, and sometimes I say stick with what we do now.

 

The reason I would stick with this is that he would graduate with an accredited diploma, 4.0+ GPa and (should be) great SAT scores, and he is hoping for a spot at a competitive college and significant financial aid.

 

On the other hand, he already has 12 college units and will have more if he stays in high school, so he wouldn't be going into college as a freshman anyway, which means different entry criteria, and less chance of big financial aid, so he may as well get out of high school now and not play their game, and then at least he can register for CC classes. We live way rural, so no Universities close, and he sure won't be living in dorms at 15 or 16. I feel every road has a dead end, and I have this kid sitting here looking at me, wanting to learn and all these options stink.

 

I'd love to hear any input you have, as well as if there's any professional help you have used/know of that you think might be useful.

THANK YOU

 

Your situation is not totally unique. I know of several homeschooled students that graduated or will graduate with 40+ high school credits.

 

Are you saying he doesn't like the courses through EPGY's OHS? If that is not what you are saying, EPGY offers multiple college level math courses. http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/

 

There are a lot of ways to meet their needs. AP courses are available through PA Homeschoolers online. Opencourseware is another good source for help. Teaching Company videos are good supplements for a lot of courses.

 

FWIW, you do not need an accredited diploma to be competitive at a top university. CC credits might harm their admission. Also, a lot of top universities will not accept CC credits (but some will accept EPGY's) If you graduate him early and then have him take CC credits hoping to transfer, he will lose all opportunities for freshman scholarships (the best scholarships to receive.) AP credits, b/c they are high school related, do not disqualify them from entering freshman status when it comes to scholarship money. Dual enrollment credits don't normally either. (the problem with the CC credits is that they are typically subpar in quality and top schools do not want to see subpar courses on transcripts.)

 

HTH

[EKS]

On the other hand, he already has 12 college units and will have more if he stays in high school, so he wouldn't be going into college as a freshman anyway, which means different entry criteria, and less chance of big financial aid, so he may as well get out of high school now and not play their game, and then at least he can register for CC classes.

 

From what I understand, if he has not yet graduated from high school, the college credit doesn't change his freshman status with regard to financial aid. I would look at this very carefully before you do anything drastic.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Hi mum,

 

I have a couple of eg/pg kids who homeschooled all the way through high school. For various reasons we didn't grade-skip or pursue early college entrance (though my dd was heavily recruited by an early college program following her CTY testing in middle school). We also didn't do any brick and mortar schooling during high school, for reasons of money/time/challenge levels. Our CC would not have come close to meeting their needs by the age of 14 or 15. We found better & more challenging options at home. I don't know much about ISP's - we don't have those here in VA. Do you have to go that route with him? The top colleges really don't care if a homeschooler has an accredited diploma or a mommy diploma, as long as the kids have great scores, interesting accomplishments, and outside evaluations of some sort to back them up.

 

What worked for us was to do a combination of acceleration and enrichment. The kids completed many AP courses (11-12 each), mostly self-study because it allowed them to move at their own efficient pace. I found materials for them by googling top high schools and checking their curriculum lists. I bought texts used through Amazon and other vendors, and lab equipment through Home Science Tools and Beginnings Publishing. We also outsourced a few terrific APs through PA Homeschoolers online school (yay for their English Language and Comp class!). In a few areas, the kids advanced past AP level (math, comp sci, & Latin), so we just continued our self-study at home (I'm comfortable with math and I enjoyed learning Latin with them). My dd outsourced university level math through EPGY, also. They offer many, many post-calculus level math and physics courses.

 

Better than the accelerated learning, though, was the enrichment that homeschooling high school afforded my kids. They both were quick enough learners (& we found that not outsourcing *too* much was critical toward this goal) that they still had lots of down time. We encouraged them to delve into their interests with that gift of time. My son learned many computer languages on his own and enjoyed the USACO training program/contests online from home, along with lots of extra math problem-solving through Art of Problem Solving and math contests like USAMTS and AMC. He's my introvert, so this was plenty for him, besides Boy Scouting (he loves outdoor stuff like hiking and bicycling and we found that scouting tends to attract more thoughtful and interesting boys). My daughter used her extra time to do lots of varied activities: art, dance, reading lots of classics and mythology, and math contests like her brother. She was heavily involved in AoPS, not only taking classes, but participating heavily in their online community, where she met other kids who challenged her to grow mathematically. They even formed teams and traveled to tournaments in real life. Both of my kids also loved, loved, loved going to summer camps that fed their passions and also allowed them to meet similar-minded kids in their interest areas.

 

One note: Are you sure about your son's college credits disqualifying him from freshman status when he enters college? I was under the impression that if you consider those college credits as dual enrollment by placing them on his high school transcript, that he can still enter university as a freshman. My kids know lots of fellow students who came to their schools as freshmen after completing many college credits during high school. For example, MIT's official policy is:

 

"Any course not documented by an official college/university transcript will not be accepted for MIT credit. This includes: Courses listed on a high school transcript, even if they were taken in a college..."

 

We have no regrets! Both the kids and I enjoyed those last few years together tremendously. They really were the best of our homeschooling experience. :001_smile:

 

Besides finding high school at home rewarding in terms of learning and family life, we did find that it paid off to wait in terms of the kids getting into those universities that offer wonderful financial aid for middle class families. We feel extremely blessed with the way things worked out.

[8filltheheart]

If you search the high school board for posts by Kathy you will glean invaluable information. Here is a link to a post that shows some of the courses her kids completed: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1559496&highlight=schedule#post1559496