Our College Placement Test experience (and a bit of a ramble about 10th grade plans)

[Sunshine State Sue]

Hs'ers may dual enroll at CC here in 10th grade for free. This has been the light at the end of the tunnel for me. I don't feel very confident to homeschool high school. Ds is bright, but unmotivated, doesn't really pay attention to detail, and has teenage bad attitude syndrome. I was stressed out when we went. We had gone over the samples with much eye rolling and grumbling as I tried to explain why he wanted to do well on the test.

 

The best part is that he scored as I hoped/expected. They have 4 sections. Here are his scores: I'm not 100% certain what they mean other than they are decent:

Reading Comp 93 (needed 83 to take college level classes)

Sentence Skills 111 (needed 83 to take college level classes)

Elementary Algebra 93 (needed 72 to take Intermediate Algebra)

College Level Math 37 (needs 41 to take College Algebra)

 

I had a doc appt while he took the test, and he was done and waiting for me when I returned. The first test is free and is considered a practice test. If they do well enough, you have the option to immediately accept their scores and they don’t ever have to take the entire battery over again. They had talked with him about accepting the scores because they were good enough and suggested returning to take CLM again to see if he could get into College Algebra. He agreed.

 

When I called later with a question, they told me if he retakes the Reading Comp and scores 100+ he can take honors classes. He expressed interest in that as well. Surprise! I wish I had thought quick enough to ask for advice on the best way to improve that score.

 

Earlier this year, ds expressed an interest in taking classes at the public high school. He‘s on the basketball team there. If it was completely up to me, I would not allow it because the academics are never ever bragged about there. However, dh disagrees and so we compromise. Ds will take a foreign language and an elective at the high school. I had been somewhat concerned about him trying to take a foreign language at CC because he’s had no Spanish (4 years of Latin but only 1 semester at high school level), foreign languages are not a strength, and I’ve heard the teacher is tough. So, I guess I’m okay with it. Though it makes me feel like I've wasted the last 10+ years of my life homeschooling for academic reasons.

 

The best laid plans…

 

I’ve come to a peace with what I think is his schedule next year. We’ve done quite a bit of negotiation with it:

 

• English and History online
  
• Science online in fall, at CC in spring
  
• Foreign language and elective of his choice at high school
  
• The College Experience at CC in fall. This is a class that our evaluator always recommends. It teaches time management, note taking, research skills, and more. It would be good for ds and he might be more receptive to the information coming from someone other than mom. I have a friend who tells me it will be a waste of time for this bright boy. It is a class that is required for those who score low enough on the CPT to need remedial classes.
  
• I had been waiting for his scores to make the math decision. We have plenty of options now: Algebra 2 with Foerster at home, Int Alg with CC text at home, Int Alg at CC (with a teacher I know and admire) in fall, study and retake CLM for College Algebra at CC (I bought the CC text and there are 3/12 chapters we haven't covered already). I’m fine with leaving the decision to ds on that.
  

 

His proposed schedule means 7 classes in the fall and 6 in the spring. I would prefer to keep it to 6 and 6 because basketball takes a chunk of time and I like to add some literature to the history (online English will be HS Composition) and I don’t want to overload and I have a bit of a tendency to do that. I think I’ll just allow him to drop the elective of his choice if it’s too much provided he’s taking a math class at CC or postpone history until 2nd semester. I’d really like for him to take 2 at CC and the 3 online. I’d like to do math at home, but he needs to get started on the foreign language as well. He’d like to take 2 at the high school, and I'd like him to take 2 at CC, so I feel like it’s the best we can do.

 

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I have few people IRL to share this with, and I wanted to share our experience with CPT and my thoughts about next year. Please excuse the grammar. I know I could clean this up, but I just don't want to spend the time. He took the test a few weeks ago, and I've wanted to share since then, but dh and I have been on vacation (in Rome!) while my in-laws stayed with ds.

 

Comments welcome.

 

Rambling along...:leaving:

[Melissa B]

Hi Sue,

 

I always love to see how your son is doing. Since we hope to follow a similar plan, you and your son are like my online mentors. :) Congratulations on the great scores!

 

Since you have your son take online classes, is there an specific reason you do not use Florida Virtual School? Our current plan is for my dd to take Honors Physical Science (starting this month) followed by Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry through FLVS before heading to the CC. The science classes she wants to take at the CC require the student to have taken high school level Bio and Chemistry. They haven't said that they will not accept parent grades and I do have the PH books with Kolbe syllabi, but I don't want any issues. Dd wants to start an art class through FLVS this month as well. If you've heard anything negative about them, I'd love to know - you can PM me.

 

If your son takes the Intermediate Math class at the CC, I'd love to hear what you think of it. My dd wants to skip it because it can only be used as an elective here - not an actual math credit. But I worry about her jumping straight into College Algebra. She is a strong math student, but I think the speed of the class might be too much.

[Teachin'Mine]

Sounds like a good plan. :)

 

Ok now for what I really want to know - tell us all about Rome!!!!!! :D

 

Seriously though it sounds like a good compromise and a really challenging and exciting year ahead. :)

[Sunshine State Sue]

Since you have your son take online classes, is there an specific reason you do not use Florida Virtual School?

I am not a big fan of FLVS. Actually, I'm not a big fan of online learning in general. Ds took keyboarding through FLVS in junior high. It was "okay". I'm an academic snob, and I'm just not convinced of the quality of the curriculum. For example, when I was researching Algebra texts, I found that there was a whole spectrum - from easy to challenging. Because FLVS creates their own curriculum (at least for Algebra), there is no way to tell beforehand where on that spectrum it lies.

 

:rant:

 

The #1 reason most people I know use FLVS is that it is free. Then there is the fact that I don't trust the quality of Florida public education. Yes, ds will be attending CC, but I look at that as a decent high school. I don't really care if he gets college credit for CC work. In many ways, I would prefer that he does not. It is ludicrous to me that any math class before Calculus (taken at CC or FL university) count as college credit. Selective universities wouldn't accept it.

 

:rant:

 

OTOH, I have a good friend who uses FLVS, and she has convinced me that it is generally decent quality. For example, she says that her 8th grader who is taking Spanish 1 through FLVS is learning more than her 11th grader who is taking Spanish 1 at a public "fundamental" high school. I have also seen other people on these board who use it and are happy with it. Certainly the fact that it is "accredited" means that acceptance from colleges, universities, and the NCAA will not be a problem.

 

Finally, I work 30hrs/wk, so I have more disposable income to use on curriculum that I have researched and deem academically rigorous.

 

Probably more than you ever wanted to know. :tongue_smilie:

[Sunshine State Sue]

Seriously though it sounds like a good compromise and a really challenging and exciting year ahead. :)

I remind myself regularly that it's a good thing for me to model compromising for my son. It will be useful in his own life.

Ok now for what I really want to know - tell us all about Rome!!!!!! :D

 

Dh and I traveled to Rome as a special event between my 50th birthday and his 60th birthday. I think we've only been away without ds a total of 5 times and never for more than a weekend. The last 2 times we've been away without ds were work-related trips. So, it was nice (and kinda weird) to be a couple again. We stayed at a hotel near the Pantheon and were able to walk or take a bus or train where ever we wanted to go. We walked out feet off. Saw the Pantheon, Coliseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the Vatican, Borghese Gardens, and many fountains and churches. We took a day trip to Pompeii. Rick Steve's travel guide was incredibly helpful. I am very self-conscious about not speaking the language, but we muddled through. We were there for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II (we're not Catholic) and it was quite the event. Based on police and secret service presence, there were some foreign dignitaries staying at our hotel.

 

I'm glad I went to Rome. It was wonderful to see all the historical sights. The churches were amazing. I gained a better appreciation for artists like Michaelangelo, Bernini, Raphael. The food was fabulous. The gelato was awesome. I love using my feet and public transportation. I don't plan on going back again anytime soon. I'm much more of a nature girl than a crowded city girl.

[K-FL]

 

If your son takes the Intermediate Math class at the CC, I'd love to hear what you think of it. My dd wants to skip it because it can only be used as an elective here - not an actual math credit. But I worry about her jumping straight into College Algebra. She is a strong math student, but I think the speed of the class might be too much.

 

Just our experience: Interm. Alg--it's state wide that it's not a math credit (that's matriculation for you), but I thought of it as Alg II for college credit. :D Dd#1 took it and it worked well for her. She'd never used a graphing calculator and a lot of the "how to" was covered in Interm. to get you ready for College Alg. Made the transition much smoother.

[Teachin'Mine]

Sue it sounds like an amazing trip!!! You saw a lot!!! :)