AP Macroeconomics and Comparative Government and Politics

[swimmermom3]

I am looking at PAHS's AP Macroeconomics class with Dr. Richman for next year for my son, who will be in eleventh grade. The course content looks like it should be perfect for ds's areas of interest.  The course goes from September through February, so I am assuming the student will be responsible for additional review work up until test time in May.  Does the course count as one half or a full credit?

 

Also, from the little bit I have been able to find out about the Comparative Government and Politics class, it sounds as though it would appeal to my son as well, and having it follow after a year of European history beforehand should be helpful. Since there are no reviews for the instructor at PAHS in this class at this time, I am not as committed to taking it there. I have seen it described as a semester class as well.

 

Are these "lite" AP classes and how does one handle AP classes that don't really look like full credits?

 

We are less concerned with testing and more concerned with class content that stretches ds. I want the classes to have value, not just be another AP ticked off on a checklist.

 

Does this sound like an okay plan or do I need to do some reconsidering?

 

My first choice had been to do the Macroeconomics course and Mrs. Richman's US History course together, but ds is feeling like he's done a fair amount of US history.  If we don't do a dedicated class than I will just build it into our last two years of world history. It's just that Mrs. Richman's class (if there is space) sounds like an amazing class.

[Muttichen]

Howard Richman's Macroeconomics is a great course.  We had our kids take it senior year, mainly so they'd have good grasp of economics.  We didn't worry about the exam because by that point they'd been accepted to schools that don't give credit.

 

It is equivalent to a one semester college class, so we gave our kids a full hs credit for it.  After the class finishes, some kids go on to study for the Microeconomics exam.   

[MtnTeaching]

Ds is currently taking the AP Comparative Government and Politics class at PAHS.  He took the AP Human Geography class last year and it really sparked an interest in learning more about the people and conditions of people around the world.  The teacher is a new teacher to PAHS is has some interesting qualifications.  You may have seen this on the website:

 

I am a recently retired Lt Col from the United States Air Force, serving over 20 years on both active duty and the reserve. My duties included both US and overseas locations. I have a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, and an MA in International Relations from St. Mary's University (San Antonio, TX). Additionally I am a graduate of Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, AL, and a graduate of the Centurion Program (intensive worldview study led by Chuck Colson) in Lansdowne, VA. I still serve the Air Force Academy as a liaison in the state of PA; as well as serve on a board for our local congressman, nominating students to our federal academies. I have taught numerous courses over the years.

 

Currently, I am reserving judgement.  It is hard to compare any AP course up against the type of instruction ds is receiving in Mrs. I's class  :D .  The class has been...OK so far.  Lots of reading, she does a lecture usually through Google chat once a week, she is a nice person, requires the students to watch videos that usually pertain in some way to the countries they are studying, has had a few essays due.  There is discussion on the course site, but no where near the interaction that ds receives in his other AP class. The best thing so far has been the guest speakers she has had during her lecture time.  She has been able to secure people who are relevant in regard to these countries.  i.e. a cultural anthropologist from Cambridge University to chat on the subject of Nigeria, a PhD candidate from Cambridge who's father-in-law is a Lord in the House of Lords, etc.

 

Where I am reserving judgement is whether or not ds will be thoroughly prepared for the AP test.  She stated that they would start focusing on the test preparation soon, but I am getting a bit antsy. I bought some study guides and ds is going through those on his own.  I can give you a better idea once the course is over, but of course that is not in time for the registration at PAHS.

 

You are welcome to pm me if you have any further questions about the class.

[MtnTeaching]

By the way, I would not necessarily state that this is a "lite" class.  I am definitely giving a full credit for the class.  It is not a class that just studies solely for the test.  Ds has learned a lot in the class, I am just stating that I do not feel it is the caliber of the AP English Language class.  (But is any class out there that caliber?  :D )

[KarenNC]

.....graduate of the Centurion Program (intensive worldview study led by Chuck Colson) in Lansdowne, VA.

Is the course teaching a Christian worldview? I've been leaning towerd PAHS because I thought they were secular where so many homeschool resources are worldview courses first, other content second. Was I mistaken?

[MtnTeaching]

Is the course teaching a Christian worldview? I've been leaning towerd PAHS because I thought they were secular where so many homeschool resources are worldview courses first, other content second. Was I mistaken?

 

 

I just asked Ds if he would classify this as a class with a Christian worldview.  He said "absolutely not".  He said that he does not remember her ever mentioning Christianity other than one time in passing when she also mentioned other religions in a discussion of the make-up of the target countries.

 

He said that to this point she has taught this class as a secular class.

 

The ONLY thing that I personally have seen that would even suggest that she is a Christian is that she does end her emails with "Blessings" instead of something like "Sincerely".

[MtnTeaching]

OK, even a bit more info straight from Ds.  He told me that he would not consider this course "rigorous" like the AP English Language course.  

 

He also stated that his AP Human Geography from last year really prepared him for this course.  He said that he is already familiar with a lot of the terminology from the previous class and also the way that he needed to approach thinking about the countries.  He said that if he had not already had the Human Geo class, this course probably would be a lot more difficult for him.  He said that there is a lot of terminology involved in it.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[Kareni]

My daughter took AP Comparative Government and Politics in an out of the home class that met at a homeschooling resource center. It was a year long class, and I had no hesitation in granting her one credit on her transcript. She was accepted at eight of the ten colleges to which she applied and wait listed at a ninth (the tenth college was an Ivy League one). It would seem that considering the class one credit was not a problem as far as the colleges were concerned.

 

As an aside, I'd recommend Ethel Wood's book which my daughter found very useful in preparing for the exam.  I see there is a new edition ~ AP Comparative Government and Politics: An Essential Coursebook, 6th edition which was published in late 2013.

 

The class used Charles Hauss' Comparative Politics: Domestic Responses to Global Challenges as their text. Her class also read many articles from the Economist magazine to be informed of breaking news on the world front. For summer reading the instructor had them read Robert Kennedy's Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Wild Swans by Jung Chang, and Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil by John Ghazvinian.

 

ETA: The class had far less reading than the AP US History class she took the year before.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[MtnTeaching]

The PAHS class also uses Ethel Wood's new edition.  It definitely is a very good book.

 

They use Introducing Comparative Politics: Concepts ad Cases in Context, 2nd edition by Drogus and Orvis as their main text.

[nancy in nj]

I gave my dd one full credit for AP Macro... this class is actually a lot of work between the online games and the writing assignments--it is just compressed into a shorter time frame. In fact, I would say it is more work and writing than AP Stats and a comparable workload to Mrs. I's Engl Lang course.   I also gave my dd and additional 1/2 credit for self-studying micro during the 2nd semester.  

[Gwen in VA]

Ds1 took Ap Comp Gov through PAH and loved the class. AP Macro, also through PAH, was one of his favorite though most time-consuming high school classes.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I've been putting my kids through AP US Government and AP Comparative Government this year.  I have seen school districts giving all sorts of credit from .5 credit each to 1 credit for a full year course. At the AP high school closest to me, students tend to pick US Gov or Comp Gov as a full year course.

 

There does seem to be a lot less attention to Comp Gov in the study material area. I've not found any sets of pre-made flashcards, so the boys are making their own (which is better for them anyway).  I've found few study guides.

 

I have the older Ethel Wood book (5th edition) which I like. My official syllabus uses Almond chapters 1-7 for the introductory material and then switches to Hauss for chapters on the countries.

 

I think that reading newspapers and The Economist is a key part of doing this course. We've been following quite a bit of Chinese reporting; reporting on Russia relating to the Olympics, Putin, press restrictions, changes in adoption laws and corruption; and Mexico on drugs, vigilante organizations and school unions.

 

One thing about Comp that is different than US Gov is that the questions often ask students to assess something in terms of something else. So they might have to compare the government actions taken to protect the environment in two different countries, for example.

 

There is a social group for US and Comp government. There haven't been too many people join yet, but I'd love company over there.

[swimmermom3]

Howard Richman's Macroeconomics is a great course.  We had our kids take it senior year, mainly so they'd have good grasp of economics.  We didn't worry about the exam because by that point they'd been accepted to schools that don't give credit.

 

It is equivalent to a one semester college class, so we gave our kids a full hs credit for it.  After the class finishes, some kids go on to study for the Microeconomics exam.   

 

This is good to hear and I think I will go with it being a full credit as well. I doubt that ds will go for the Microeconomics exam, as I believe the two test ares scheduled back-to-back and I have some concerns as to how that would work out.

 

Ds is currently taking the AP Comparative Government and Politics class at PAHS.  He took the AP Human Geography class last year and it really sparked an interest in learning more about the people and conditions of people around the world.  The teacher is a new teacher to PAHS is has some interesting qualifications.  You may have seen this on the website:

 

I am a recently retired Lt Col from the United States Air Force, serving over 20 years on both active duty and the reserve. My duties included both US and overseas locations. I have a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, and an MA in International Relations from St. Mary's University (San Antonio, TX). Additionally I am a graduate of Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, AL, and a graduate of the Centurion Program (intensive worldview study led by Chuck Colson) in Lansdowne, VA. I still serve the Air Force Academy as a liaison in the state of PA; as well as serve on a board for our local congressman, nominating students to our federal academies. I have taught numerous courses over the years.

 

Currently, I am reserving judgement.  It is hard to compare any AP course up against the type of instruction ds is receiving in Mrs. I's class  :D .  The class has been...OK so far.  Lots of reading, she does a lecture usually through Google chat once a week, she is a nice person, requires the students to watch videos that usually pertain in some way to the countries they are studying, has had a few essays due.  There is discussion on the course site, but no where near the interaction that ds receives in his other AP class. The best thing so far has been the guest speakers she has had during her lecture time.  She has been able to secure people who are relevant in regard to these countries.  i.e. a cultural anthropologist from Cambridge University to chat on the subject of Nigeria, a PhD candidate from Cambridge who's father-in-law is a Lord in the House of Lords, etc.

 

Where I am reserving judgement is whether or not ds will be thoroughly prepared for the AP test.  She stated that they would start focusing on the test preparation soon, but I am getting a bit antsy. I bought some study guides and ds is going through those on his own.  I can give you a better idea once the course is over, but of course that is not in time for the registration at PAHS.

 

You are welcome to pm me if you have any further questions about the class.

 I appreciate both yours and your son's input on this class. I have thought about doing my own thing, but AP European History has been a huge amount of work and I think I'd rather turn the Comp class over to a teacher who knows what she is doing. The Peace essay piqued Sailor Dude's interest and this class seems like a natural extension, unless there is something available at the university that would provide a similar experience.

[swimmermom3]

My daughter took AP Comparative Government and Politics in an out of the home class that met at a homeschooling resource center. It was a year long class, and I had no hesitation in granting her one credit on her transcript. She was accepted at eight of the ten colleges to which she applied and wait listed at a ninth (the tenth college was an Ivy League one). It would seem that considering the class one credit was not a problem as far as the colleges were concerned.

 

As an aside, I'd recommend Ethel Wood's book which my daughter found very useful in preparing for the exam.  I see there is a new edition ~ AP Comparative Government and Politics: An Essential Coursebook, 6th edition which was published in late 2013.

 

The class used Charles Hauss' Comparative Politics: Domestic Responses to Global Challenges as their text. Her class also read many articles from the Economist magazine to be informed of breaking news on the world front. For summer reading the instructor had them read Robert Kennedy's Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Wild Swans by Jung Chang, and Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil by John Ghazvinian.

 

ETA: The class had far less reading than the AP US History class she took the year before.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Thank you for all of the book recommendations! I just received the Ethel Wood book for AP European History and really like the look of it. I assume the GoPo book would be similar. Wild Swans has been in my Amazon cart for a while for my own personal reading and the others look intriguing.

 

I gave my dd one full credit for AP Macro... this class is actually a lot of work between the online games and the writing assignments--it is just compressed into a shorter time frame. In fact, I would say it is more work and writing than AP Stats and a comparable workload to Mrs. I's Engl Lang course.   I also gave my dd and additional 1/2 credit for self-studying micro during the 2nd semester.  

 

This is good to know about the work load. I think next year looks something like:

 

AP Macroeconomics

AP Comparative Government and Politics

English 11 (with me, which will mean Honors level)

Spanish 3 or 4

AoPS Precalculus

AP Biology (at the high school, without the test) or regular biology at the CC or university

 

We are probably at the maximum load with sailing and swimming added in.

 

Ds1 took Ap Comp Gov through PAH and loved the class. AP Macro, also through PAH, was one of his favorite though most time-consuming high school classes.

 

We're sold! Perhaps I need to rethink biology as just being a straight-forward class at home with a good text.

 

Was the Macro class time-consuming because of the work assigned or did your son spend extra time on the simulations?

[nancy in nj]

The on-line games definitely add a lot of time to the course, but also there is a ton of writing, especially during the last couple of months when they are doing 2 typically difficult free response questions a week.  

[MtnTeaching]

In a way, I wish ds had even another year to take some of these classes.  The Macro class sounds so interesting.  I know he will probably get it in college, but still, it sounds very interesting.

[swimmermom3]

With some of ds's pacing issues, I've decided that it takes 24 credits to graduate from our homeschool. This allows for fewer electives than some students have, especially since I require 4 years of English, 4 years of math, 4 years of science, 4 years of a foreign language, 3 years of social sciences, and one year of Fine Arts. I am thankful that macroeconomics and the government and politics classes are areas of interest for my son and that they meet my requirements and those of the state.

 

I have found that it just works better for us to have fewer classes and to go deeper than to have more classes and more transition times. :tongue_smilie:

[MtnTeaching]

With some of ds's pacing issues, I've decided that it takes 24 credits to graduate from our homeschool. This allows for fewer electives than some students have, especially since I require 4 years of English, 4 years of math, 4 years of science, 4 years of a foreign language, 3 years of social sciences, and one year of Fine Arts. I am thankful that macroeconomics and the government and politics classes are areas of interest for my son and that they meet my requirements and those of the state.

 

I have found that it just works better for us to have fewer classes and to go deeper than to have more classes and more transition times. :tongue_smilie:

 

I can definitely understand this.

 

Ds exhausted himself in 9th and 10th, but I am secretly thrilled that he had so many electives.  He is able now to take less classes, but more intense (AP) classes.

 

This is definitely off topic, but may I ask what type of Fine Arts credit is you ds taking?