Athena's fall schedule posted!

[SunnyDays]

Fall classes are up!

 

http://www.athenasacademy.com/mod/page/view.php?id=25081

 

We didn't end up taking any this year, but planning to sign up for the fall. Now to choose what class! What looks interesting to everyone? I'm eyeing Composers & Artists, Astronomy, NME Prep.... Sigh, so many good options!

 

Also new.... Minecraft activities for most of the classes!

 

http://www.athenasacademy.com/mod/page/view.php?id=25094

 

That sealed the deal for DS, LOL!!

 

[Runningmom80]

Thanks for posting! I think we will try it out next year. :)

[Dmmetler]

DD will be doing advanced lit for sure, and maybe more. The lit class has been a good fit-not challenging as far as the literature goes, but giving her someone else to talk with about it.

[Runningmom80]

Has anyone done the SOTW class?

[serendipitous journey]

Has anyone done the SOTW class?

 

 

Not us ... wanna do it & report back??? :)

 

I am tempted -- maybe it would get A. to like history -- but I'm worried it'll take a lot of time, and we've got a full load next fall.

[Runningmom80]

 

 

Not us ... wanna do it & report back??? :)

 

I am tempted -- maybe it would get A. to like history -- but I'm worried it'll take a lot of time, and we've got a full load next fall.

 

 

I'm actually pretty sure we are gong to try it. We dropped the ball with ancients this year, so we would be able to catch up since she does one a semester.

[Dmmetler]

Be aware-the AAA classes my DD has taken expect quite a bit of reading each week. The writing is pretty minimal, and the main focus is discussion, but they move at a rapid pace and there's a lot of content to get through each week.

 

My DD wants to take History at AAA (along with about half the catalog). I'm torn because she's read SOTW and is using middle/high school World history resources now-but I do think she'd benefit from the discussion component, and Headmistress Athena seems pretty good at not letting DD dominate the conversation and steering her back to the group, so it might work well. I have to say I'm really, really impressed with how well the teacher DD has had (so far, all her classes have been with Athena) does at steering a group of highly gifted, highly verbal kids and keeping them on task, while still letting everyone have their say.

[serendipitous journey]

Be aware-the AAA classes my DD has taken expect quite a bit of reading each week. The writing is pretty minimal, and the main focus is discussion, but they move at a rapid pace and there's a lot of content to get through each week.

 

 

 

dmmetler, do you have suggestions for pegging readiness? I've looked at the Athena site, but am wondering about your perspective on assessing a child's readiness. Or, if you have thoughts about gearing up over the summer for the fall workload, those would be valuable too.

 

ETA: what does "parent involved-ness" require? I'm happy to be very involved in his education, but am wondering if I need to supervise all of his class -- I have a preschooler and need to keep an eye on him.

[Dmmetler]

Basically, can your child handle doing the reading, responding to questions and posting their responses and communicate with others on the discussion forums, and use online tools, and will your child be comfortable participating in a live discussion online. I'd also add-can your child handle having the computer lock-up mid class and manage to recover and come back in without a complete meltdown-because that happens fairly often in Blackboard (DH has the same problem with similar tools for work, and I've run into this for professional development classes online-it's simply a function of the internet, I think). I think one reason why DD now regularly logs in early, and sits in on some of the class before is that, if her PC is going to lock up, it usually does so in the first few minutes shes in the chat-and if it does during history, she can restart without missing any of literature, but there were a lot of sessions in her first semester that she'd end up missing several minutes of and get frustrated. It was hard for her at 8, and I don't know that she could have done it at 6 without reaching Defcon 4. For the same reason, you'll probably need to stay close. I've actually, a couple of times, pulled DD off her computer and put her on mine for the rest of the class.

 

 

 

As far as reading level, check the books and see if they're a good fit for your DC. I think they've done a wonderful job of picking selections that are challenging and appropriate for kids who are reading at a higher level than their age level-but be aware that it's pretty detailed, close reading, and that multiple readings are expected within a week-there are usually tasks for kids to do on each of 2 if not 3 readings, with discussion with the parent after each, so you can't do everything the last day, which means parents need to help the child with scheduling and staying on task. And that includes even if it's a week you're not doing "school" otherwise, because you can't get the assignments for the next week until after the previous one. Parents also may need to help with things like scanning physical projects, uploading pictures, and figuring out how to use tools, and many of the tools they use require an over 13 account-holder to set it up. I'd suggest setting up an e-mail for your DC that copies to your account for this purpose (and to monitor chat topics).

 

 

 

 

All in all, Athena's has been great, and it works much better for DD than self-paced courses done online like eIMACS, because while she loves the higher level content, it's the discussion where she really hurts for lack of peers, and AAA has provided that. I like that it's a safe haven to be her, and I think it's more valuable for that purpose than academics.

[Runningmom80]

DS will be 7 in the fall, but maybe that's not old enough.