Math and Science Recommendation Letters

[jhschool]

What do people do for recommendation letters?

DH teaches DC Science & Programming.

DC did A Beka math on his own last year.

 

What would colleges think of DH writing the

recommendation letter? Would they think it was worthless?

 

DC has a nice teacher for Latin at Co-op where DC gets very high grades,

but I don't think that will cut it if DC is interested in Math and Engineering when

it's time to go to college.

DC has several mentors in life (religious, martial arts, music) but none of them necessarily know his (high) math and science abilities first-hand.

And I looked at some

recommendation letter forms--they want the recommender to:

"Please describe the nature of his or her math or science ability, intellectual and social maturity, creativity, potential and any other factors that you believe we should take into account."

What say the hive?

Edited September 4, 2012 by jhschool

[regentrude]

From what I understand, the homeschooling parent always writes one letter in his/her role as the guidance counselor. I would address his math and science abilities there.

For any other LORs, I would use outside teachers. It will never be the case that one teacher can address all the questions that are asked; when I have to fill out recommendation forms for students, there are always some fields where I have to check "no info" or "N/A".

If you specifically need a math and science recommendation, I would have him take an outside class so that he has an independent instructor who can attest to his abilities. Also, if math and science are really important, I would make sure to have some outside validation in form of test scores to back up DH's statements in the counselor's letter.

For us, this is one of the reasons we are doing dual enrollment in a science and a humanity, so that we have somebody with documented subject expertise and reputation DD can ask for a LOR.

[Gwen in VA]

I second the importance of having outside classes so your student has a source of recommendations.

 

My dd2 is starting her junior year. We already have planned which profs/teachers she will use for recs. (They don't know it yet!) If she doesn't do as well in those subjects as we think she will, we will adjust -- we have a backup plan!

[In The Great White North]

I didn't write a letter. Ds got one from the Boy Scout Leader, the CAP Squadron Commander and the local high school swim team coach. No teachers at all. All of the colleges he applied to accepted them, even the ones that specified a "math/science teacher".

 

I recommend asking the college.

[JanetC]

Are his math/science test scores strong? Since you don't have an outside class, you're just going to have to have a letter from a parent. The test scores will help corroborate what you say in the letter. I would only have one LOR from a parent, though. If DH writes one, you should not write one, too.