Mallorie Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I have some questions that came to mind regarding this thread. Some background quick: My son has been homeschooled the last two years, this would be our third. He has been thinking he'd like to go to public high school, he'd be a freshman. His reasons for this are the electives that they offer, some of the clubs and extra-curriculars (though he's not a sports kid). We have an appointment set up for Saturday morning with the guidance counselor. What questions would you ask? After reading threads like the one I mentioned "My class is not going well..", I wonder if I should be asking for the results of their testing, how the kids coming out of this school are scoring? I'm really struggling with this decision, and if anyone has any advice on how to choose, I would really, really appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 What questions would you ask? After reading threads like the one I mentioned "My class is not going well..", I wonder if I should be asking for the results of their testing, how the kids coming out of this school are scoring? Before asking those questions at the meeting, I would make sure to find all the information public schools are required to report publicly on the internet. That includes average scores on standardized tests (both state tests and SAT/ACT), percentage of students going to college and university, student-teacher ratios, teacher qualifications (perctentage of teachers with masters degrees in their fields, stuff like that) ... thoroughly scrutinize the school report card. I would ask about: classes available and proposed sequence, method of deciding placement in class, availability of AP courses, percentage of students scoring with 4 or 5 on the AP test, possibilities for dual enrollment and flexibility to take classes at another location, highest level math and sceince classes available at the school. If you student is ahead or behind, either completely or in a specific subject, I would ask how his specific situation will be accommodated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I dont konw what to ask, but here's my thought - kids get out of school what they put in to it. Since your son has been homeschooled, he knows you have high expectations for his learning. If he doesnt understand something, he will ask, right? He knows he cant get away with shoddy work, right? So he'll probably do fine. My daughter was not homeschooled, but she did well in school for the most part. She went on to do her last 2 years of high school at community college, where she said usually the highest grades in class went to her or a homeschooled kid. She's transferring in to a great program. the school makes some difference, but the parents and the kids make more difference. as long as you and your son keep on top of his work, he should be fine. the problem imo is years of kids feeling trapped by a system which doesnt care if they understand or not . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I would ask about: classes available and proposed sequence, method of deciding placement in class, availability of AP courses, percentage of students scoring with 4 or 5 on the AP test, possibilities for dual enrollment and flexibility to take classes at another location, highest level math and sceince classes available at the school. . I wished I would have asked these questions before we moved into our district. I relied on ACT/SAT and state test scores, when these scores do not tell the complete story. I would also ask the following: How many students get their first choices when scheduling their classes. For example, many students due to scheduling conflicts, full classes, etc. can not take all of the AP classes that they desire. I know in my district AP Physics and AP Chemistry are offered at the same time, so students have to decide which class they will not take in high school. AP English Lang. and AP Econ are also always offered the same time slot. Ask for the College Board Summary Report. This will give you a break down by teacher of how the kids score on the AP exams. If your child is into math and science, ask if the school participates in the Math and Science Olympiads. Imo, this speaks volumes about the math/science department if they do not since the cost is minimal for the school. Ask how many papers the honors level English classes write in one year. I know from a friend that the 10th grade honors level English class (the highest level offered) that her son took last year only required 3 short papers for the entire year. No paper was ever returned, so obviously the kids received no feedback. Everyone did, however, get an "A". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Ask how many papers the honors level English classes write in one year. I know from a friend that the 10th grade honors level English class (the highest level offered) that her son took last year only required 3 short papers for the entire year. No paper was ever returned, so obviously the kids received no feedback. Everyone did, however, get an "A". The guidance counselor may not have all this information. I suggest you peruse the school website and look at the teachers' pages; many have syllabi, book lists, grading schemes and number of writing assignments listed. The OP might be able to find out quite a bit from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 The guidance counselor may not have all this information. I suggest you peruse the school website and look at the teachers' pages; many have syllabi, book lists, grading schemes and number of writing assignments listed.The OP might be able to find out quite a bit from that. You might look at the summer assignments for different classes (both freshman/sophmore meaning and honors/AP meaning). I would try to get a sense of not only what is theoretically possible, but what is probably and typical. Just as an example from years back, I did my teacher practicum at a school that had teaching teams. The team I observed had four classes of students. One was honors. However, to get into the honors class, a student had to meet the honors requirements in both reading and in math. So a student who was way ahead in one or the other, but not both was out of luck. This example isn't high school level, but it shows the difference between the ideal (honors is available) and actual (only for 1/4 of the students in the team). I would ask specifically what his classes would look like and ask for an outline of what his four year course of study would likely be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorie Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 Thanks everyone, i'm taking notes and doing some digging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorie Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 I found a few things, but what stands out to me is their average score for the ACT is 23. From what I know about ACT (which is limited at this point) I would want my son to score higher than that. But what does that kind of score say about the school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I found a few things, but what stands out to me is their average score for the ACT is 23. From what I know about ACT (which is limited at this point) I would want my son to score higher than that. But what does that kind of score say about the school? It does not say anything unless you know what portion of students take the test. If only college bound students, then it is not particularly impressive. If the school pushes all students to take it, even the ones not interested in college, it is pretty good. This is a question the guidance counselor should be able to answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorie Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 53% of students took the test (2010-11 school year) with an average composite of 22.4. They had 23 listed on their flyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Just for thought....is he committing to PS for the rest of high school? If not then you can try it out and see how he does. My DD chose to come back home after her freshmen year. She was frustrated by the wasted time in school and decided she learns more in less time at home so this year she is participating in band at the high school but doing her work at home. EDT just meaning he does not have to stay in public school just because he goes this year. He may find he loves it and thrives or he may find it is not to his liking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 53% of students took the test (2010-11 school year) with an average composite of 22.4. They had 23 listed on their flyer. What percentage of students go to a four year university after graduation? What percentage of kids take the SAT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorie Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 We went to the meeting this morning, the counselor was very nice. However, she has only been with the school for several weeks, and informed us that she was hired because she came from a school that had a virtual school. So her job is to get the virtual school up and running for our district. From there, it was a selling pitch on participating in that program. My son was considering the school because of three things: art (drawing), drafting and writing. He can't do the drawing until he has a year of fundamentals, drafting he could do, they don't offer the creative writing he wants until his junior year. He also can't participate in those program areas unless he is enrolled full time, or enrolled in the virtual school. After looking at the course descriptions, he's just not interested in their core curricula when compared to what he could do at home. So, we're continuing on with homeschooling high school. It's been a stressful week, but we've come out a lot smarter. I am more aware of what our district does offer, i've taken a closer look at their curricula as well as what we chose for homeschool and compared them, which gave me more confidence in our choices . I am also more aware of how much some of these areas of interest mean to him, so am motivated to find sources to help him achieve his goals. I'll be starting a new thread for help on those. :) Thanks for the help everyone. We're staying the course of homeschooling, so you'll see many more posts from me. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 We went to the meeting this morning, the counselor was very nice. However, she has only been with the school for several weeks, and informed us that she was hired because she came from a school that had a virtual school. So her job is to get the virtual school up and running for our district. From there, it was a selling pitch on participating in that program. My son was considering the school because of three things: art (drawing), drafting and writing. He can't do the drawing until he has a year of fundamentals, drafting he could do, they don't offer the creative writing he wants until his junior year. He also can't participate in those program areas unless he is enrolled full time, or enrolled in the virtual school. After looking at the course descriptions, he's just not interested in their core curricula when compared to what he could do at home. So, we're continuing on with homeschooling high school. It's been a stressful week, but we've come out a lot smarter. I am more aware of what our district does offer, i've taken a closer look at their curricula as well as what we chose for homeschool and compared them, which gave me more confidence in our choices . I am also more aware of how much some of these areas of interest mean to him, so am motivated to find sources to help him achieve his goals. I'll be starting a new thread for help on those. :) Thanks for the help everyone. We're staying the course of homeschooling, so you'll see many more posts from me. :) For creative writing, I've been quite pleased with using Nanowrimo and especially the workbooks in their Young Writer's Project. A couple other books I think are good for creative writing are Writing Down the Bones, Bird by Bird and What If? I've seen these often in libraries and used bookstores. (NB: What If? does have more mature writing samples, so you might want to preread that one. I used some of the exercises in my writing class last year, but didn't give out the adult themed examples for that reason. Also, I thought this was more of an issue with the newer revised edition than with the older edition I had from the 1990's.) Are there any art courses he could take through your local adult learning center or community college? In our area, these are often part of the local rec center offerings. This drafting book caught my eye a few years ago. I've often thought that it would be a great book for one of my kids. The Complete a Sketch books are another set of books by the same author. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallorie Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 (edited) Thanks Sebastian! I really appreciate the resources you've listed, and will be taking a look at them. :) Edited August 20, 2012 by Mallorie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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