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dual enrollment- please allow me a mom brag

regentrude
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regentrude

regentrude

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I am so proud of my 15 year old daughter. She took two courses at our STEM university this semester, French and calculus based engineering physics, a weed out course with a scary reputation. She worked very hard, and it payed off: they posted the physics grades today, and DD has enough points for an A without having to take the final exam and the mini test over the material of the last two weeks. Only 6 out of 440 students in the course managed this feat.

 

Thanks for letting me brag. It was a stressful and tense semester, and I am just so happy. Now we can all breathe again. She learned so much, not just physics and French, but also how to manage a large work load, follow up with assignments and deadlines, communicate with instructors, work with a lab partner... I am not worried about her going off to college.

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Nan in Mass

Nan in Mass

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That is wonderful! That first dual-enrollment semester is soooo scary and it is such a relief when your child gets through it. Congratulations to you and your daughter.

 

I agree about all the other things that are learned as well. Mine had to learn things that kindergarteners in public school learn (like going through a cafeteria line) at the subject matter and all the things one learns the first semester of college. Watching them made me so grateful to the cc for giving them a chance to learn all this while still living at home and not dealing with the dorms and a full course load as well. I know homeschoolers do it and even do it gracefully, but I'm glad mine didn't have to. We were glad we had started ours with a few easy classes at 16yo lol. Kudos to your daughter for managing to start with two hard classes at so young and doing so very well!

 

My youngest is finishing his 5th semester and only just now tackled calc-based engineering physics (along with intro bio and calc). He was looking forward to getting to discuss physics, but unfortunately the experience has turned into a learn-to-deal-with-a-difficult-prof one instead. As far as I can tell, she is making him think, which is a relief, but she has not proved to be interested in answering questions either in or out of class. She either tells him that the question is beyond the scope of the class or (if it isn't) to figure it out for himself and will not see him during office hours. We are guessing that either she has her hands full with the less able students or it is a cultural or ESL problem. He's doing ok in the class and she is making him think and she is going through his work with a fine tooth comb and taking points off for any missing units or steps, even if he has the right answer (and units), so we are telling him he is lucky it isn't worse, but he is naturally somewhat frustrated. Dealing with an uncongenial prof while balancing 3 4-credit classes is good experience for university, but not exactly fostering his curiosity. Oh well.

 

How did your daughter do with the labs? Mine went through several lab partners before he found a few that were either competent or would let him do all the work. He was relieved that the prof had them write their own lab reports rather than one joint one. More learning. I was relieved that we apparently hadn't done a bad job of teaching him to write one or to design an experiment (something that has been useful in the chem and bio classes). We worked hard on that at home before he began taking cc science classes.

 

Did she have to do any power point presentations for her classes? That is something that worries me a bit because we haven't worked on it much. It seems as if the students in our high school are always doing these, and my older two have had to do them for college. So far, youngest has been given a choice of power point or a display board. He does a lovely job with the latter (having gone to a number of extra credit industry fairs for chemistry and having seen what professional ones look like), he is good at making a presentation, and he tackles new technology fearlessly, so presumably a power point presentation won't be a problem, but that doesn't keep me from worrying.

 

Not that any of this really belongs in your happy thread... Is your daughter going to take physics 2 next semester? How did the French go? I remember that you were working on that at home.

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! Well done!

 

Nan

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Wildcat

Wildcat

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That is fantastic! I'm so happy for her, and for you.

 

The feeling of knowing they can handle stuff at the college level is fabulous!! It lifts such a weight from our shoulders!! :D

 

Regentrude, pat yourself on the back while you are patting your daughter's. You deserve it, too! :thumbup:

 

:party: :party: :party:

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Lanny

Lanny

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Kudos, to your daughter and to you! That is just incredible! Many of the students who enter that STEM university, are probably in remedial Math courses, to prepare them for that Physics course.

 

Well done! Wow! :-)

 

My DD is a Distance Learning student, in the Texas Tech University ISD Middle School. I'm hoping that when she is older, she can take some Dual Credit courses, and get credit in Texas Tech University, as well as in the TTUISD High School.

 

Your daughter and you get Gold stars for your foreheads! 6 out of 440.....

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TranquilMind

TranquilMind

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I am so proud of my 15 year old daughter. She took two courses at our STEM university this semester, French and calculus based engineering physics, a weed out course with a scary reputation. She worked very hard, and it payed off: they posted the physics grades today, and DD has enough points for an A without having to take the final exam and the mini test over the material of the last two weeks. Only 6 out of 440 students in the course managed this feat.

 

Thanks for letting me brag. It was a stressful and tense semester, and I am just so happy. Now we can all breathe again. She learned so much, not just physics and French, but also how to manage a large work load, follow up with assignments and deadlines, communicate with instructors, work with a lab partner... I am not worried about her going off to college.

 

That's awesome! Good for her!

 

:hurray: :cheers2:

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regentrude

regentrude

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Thanks for all your congratulations. the credit belongs entirely to DD, I did not do anything ;-)

And yes, she is proud - but she will take the Final anyway because she wants to get a higher A!

 

How did your daughter do with the labs? Mine went through several lab partners before he found a few that were either competent or would let him do all the work. He was relieved that the prof had them write their own lab reports rather than one joint one. More learning. I was relieved that we apparently hadn't done a bad job of teaching him to write one or to design an experiment (something that has been useful in the chem and bio classes). We worked hard on that at home before he began taking cc science classes.

 

 

We had done physics and chemistry lab before at home. She was lucky with her lab partner; when she walked into the first lab, she found a classmate from her French course, and they became partners. They worked very well together.

DD is a very Type A person. She read over the lab instructions at home before and began to prepare her lab report over the weekend. Especially typing the formulas in all the theory for the introduction was very time consuming and saved them a lot of time in the actual lab session (reports must be handed in at the end of class.) Her partner was happy for her to do all this and let her do it her way.

 

Did she have to do any power point presentations for her classes? That is something that worries me a bit because we haven't worked on it much... He does a lovely job with the latter (having gone to a number of extra credit industry fairs for chemistry and having seen what professional ones look like), he is good at making a presentation, and he tackles new technology fearlessly, so presumably a power point presentation won't be a problem, but that doesn't keep me from worrying.

 

 

No, there were no power point presentations (and it would be untypical to do something like this in an introductory science class with 440 students).

I let my kids make pp presentations as early as 6th grade for their history projects, in lieu of tests. they are familiar with the program and liked presenting in front of an audience of family and friends. The pp side really is not a big deal if the student feels comfortable with public speaking. So, I don't think you need to worry.

 

Is your daughter going to take physics 2 next semester? How did the French go? I remember that you were working on that at home.

 

 

Yes, she is signed up for the second semester French course. This requires us to do a calculus 2 boot camp over Christmas, because math did not really get done this semester. The course will be harder conceptually, but the professor is not as intimidating and the atmosphere a bit more relaxed.

French went well (she had already taken one semester with the same professor last spring). Official grades are not in yet, but based on her grades throughout the semester she is expecting an A again. She has signed up for the fourth semester French course in the spring as well, French literature. Our work with the native speaking tutor paid off by her having a very good pronounciation. She said the class helped her to become more confident with speaking; she can now carry on a spontaneous conversation without having to think about what she wants to say and translating it into French - hooray.

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Nan in Mass

Nan in Mass

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This is so wonderful!!

Dual enrollment scares me, and I don't even know where to start with it!

 

Well, we started by teaching TWTM basic academic skills (or trying to, anyway), then turning those into classroom study skills (TWTM skills are the basis for the study skills) while continuing to work hard on writing skills, then took the placement tests, then signed ours up for speech and drawing (ones that didn't rely as heavily on traditional academic and study skills) to get used to the classroom, then (and only then) signing them up for math and science and composition classes. In other words, we built a ramp up to a full load of college classes. Other homeschooling families have dropped their right in and been fine. We might have tried that, but the adviser at the commiunity college suggested doing it this way and it soundedlike a good idea. One of our sons took 8 classes and the other will have taken 13 before graduation. Our goal with the cc classes was to give our children classroom experience before they went away to college, to cover some things like chemistry that I didn't want to cover at home, and to give four-year colleges something conventional to look at on their transcripts (our homeschool is less conventional), so this approach worked well. In order to have enough classes on the transcript to help with college admissions, ours had to have finished some academic ones before senior year. If you just want a few to get a head start on college or for other reasons, then you needn't start quite so early or take quite so many. Some people start with the community college's how-to-go-to-college class. Most cc's have them. They cover time management, study skills, how to read a syllabus, how to get help from a prof, etc. Most cc's have some sort of placement test to check the entering student's level of reading, writing, and math. The course descriptions in the catalogue show the prereq's for each course. If a student places below college level, they may be able to take the cc's remedial classes. Or dual enrolled students may be ineligable for them. The way to start is to look at the cc's website and then go talk to them. We have taken classes (including me) as non-matriculated students. In other words, we didn't apply and get accepted to a degree program.

 

Good luck!

 

Nan

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GailV

GailV

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This is so wonderful!!

Dual enrollment scares me, and I don't even know where to start with it!

 

I felt the same way. I wanted to stick my head in the sand and pretend it didn't exist; but a friend was quite emphatic that, in retrospect, she really, really regretted waiting until senior year to start her son in dual enrollment classes (he has graduated and is in college).

 

We took the plunge this year. Dd signed up for a class that was in a strong subject for her -- English grammar. She also signed up for Spanish. It has been such a fantastic experience! She loves it, and is excited to sign up for more classes.

 

She has learned so much about how to navigate college classes, plus how to navigate college parking stickers, bookstores, online information, etc. She has successfully worked in groups with upperclassmen. Dd is very, very shy, so I wasn't sure how pairing up or group work was going to work out for her, but now she's had some successful experiences. She's beginning to see that college students aren't so different than she is; she's starting to feel more confident about going to a university in a couple of years.

 

Now we regret not starting even earlier -- local schools accept students at age 16, which means we could've done this last spring.

 

So, I would echo the advice to start with a subject your child is comfortable with, and let them acclimate to the class environment. Some kids are ready to hit the ground running, so to speak, and sign up for challenging classes that will stretch them beyond what they can find at home or in co-op; but don't feel as though it's wrong to have a more cautious approach.

 

We chose a local college that works with a lot of dual enrollment students. People at many of the smaller local schools are quite used to questions about this alternative, and quite helpful about answering questions. I suspect the schools appreciate the income from the extra students.

 

Aside to Regentrude -- was your daughter able to take the class at 15yo as an exception to the typical age of dual enrollment?

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regentrude

regentrude

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Aside to Regentrude -- was your daughter able to take the class at 15yo as an exception to the typical age of dual enrollment?

 

I am not aware of any strict rule about a minimum age for dual enrollment at our university. There are no subsidies for dual enrollment students; they have to pay the regular tuition.

We were able to enroll her at age 14 as a high school sophomore. I do not know how much it helped that she had an SAT score that would have qualified her for admission as a regular college student. It may have helped that both of us parents are faculty at the university; I do not know whether the admissions office would have been as cooperative otherwise.

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Nan in Mass

Nan in Mass

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...The pp side really is not a big deal if the student feels comfortable with public speaking. So, I don't think you need to worry...Yes, she is signed up for the second semester French course....

 

 

That is comforting about the power point.

And that is great about the French working out and about how she isn't having to translate into English! It is hard getting home stuff done once they start cc classes, especially if they are trying for A's.

 

Nan

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8filltheheart

8filltheheart

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Thanks, 8 - how has YOUR son been doing this semester?

 

Aside from falling in love and it seeming like half of his brain dumped out on the ground (or at least all common sense!!!) ?? ;) (Proof positive for me about why I will never graduate a kid early!!)

 

Academically, he has done great. He called me just a little while ago and told me that on his way out of his multivariable cal exam, the prof stopped him and told him he had the highest grade in the class. Made his day!!! Since he has asked this teacher for letters of recommendation for several summer camps he is applying to, he was on cloud 9.

 

He has done extremely well in physics as well. That professor has a very distant relationship w/the class. Ds asked him for a letter of recommendation as well and his response was fine but it will simply be a letter of statistics. Since he has to have one from his science and math teachers, I guess being a # in a class of over 250 that is what you get. Ds sat in the front row every day and always participated in class and hasn't missed a single day. Oh well. I am hoping that the people reading the recommendation will take into consideration that it isn't a high school classroom teacher. He even has a 100 in lab (which is incorporated into the actual class and not its own course w/its own credit separately.) I'm now wondering if maybe he should have asked the lab TA???

 

 

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regentrude

regentrude

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Aside from falling in love and it seeming like half of his brain dumped out on the ground (or at least all common sense!!!) ?? ;) (Proof positive for me about why I will never graduate a kid early!!)

LOL!

 

Academically, he has done great. He called me just a little while ago and told me that on his way out of his multivariable cal exam, the prof stopped him and told him he had the highest grade in the class. Made his day!!! Since he has asked this teacher for letters of recommendation for several summer camps he is applying to, he was on cloud 9.

 

Congratulations! That is a remarkable achievement.

He has done extremely well in physics as well. That professor has a very distant relationship w/the class. Ds asked him for a letter of recommendation as well and his response was fine but it will simply be a letter of statistics. Since he has to have one from his science and math teachers, I guess being a # in a class of over 250 that is what you get. Ds sat in the front row every day and always participated in class and hasn't missed a single day. Oh well. I am hoping that the people reading the recommendation will take into consideration that it isn't a high school classroom teacher. He even has a 100 in lab (which is incorporated into the actual class and not its own course w/its own credit separately.) I'm now wondering if maybe he should have asked the lab TA???

 

Is this also for the summer camp? I am not sure what to suggest. Are there recitations or tutorials with a separate instructor who sees the students in a smaller group?

It is very difficult for a professor in a large class to write a specific recommendation, unless there are interactions outside the class. I see some of my students in help sessions and get to know them better, or some students end up helping in the tutoring center. If it is just the lecture prof, he most likely does not know anything more about your son. Your son might try and ask the lab TA.

I have occasionally refused a student's request for a letter because I did not know him well enough to write anything beyond "got a grade of B in my class, was a nice guy, did not miss any assignments". I feel that a nondescript letter like this does the student a disservice, so I explain this and encourage him to ask somebody who can write a more detailed, personal letter.

"Got an A, sat in the front row, did not miss any assignments" is not any more information than the naked course grade on his transcript.

But sounds like the calculus prof is more enthusiastic and personal. Good luck.

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creekland

creekland

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Aside from falling in love and it seeming like half of his brain dumped out on the ground (or at least all common sense!!!) ?? ;) (Proof positive for me about why I will never graduate a kid early!!)

 

You might like the quote in my sig... (the blue quote)

 

He has done extremely well in physics as well. That professor has a very distant relationship w/the class. Ds asked him for a letter of recommendation as well and his response was fine but it will simply be a letter of statistics. Since he has to have one from his science and math teachers, I guess being a # in a class of over 250 that is what you get. Ds sat in the front row every day and always participated in class and hasn't missed a single day. Oh well. I am hoping that the people reading the recommendation will take into consideration that it isn't a high school classroom teacher. He even has a 100 in lab (which is incorporated into the actual class and not its own course w/its own credit separately.) I'm now wondering if maybe he should have asked the lab TA???

 

I know you didn't ask, but I'd probably go with the TA and include both if possible. The TA will know him better... if he has his e-mail, he can still ask even if he's not going to see him again.

 

And kudos to you both while I'm adding. ;)

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