Early results of our educational decisions : )

[Nan in Mass]

I feel like just about every post I've made here on the accelerated board describing what we were doing had the caveate that we still didn't know if the rather different style of homeschooling (at least for these boards) would be adequate preparation for an interesting-but-easier-than-MIT engineering school for our youngest.  I kept saying I'd let you know.  Well, we now have the early results, if anyone is interested.  Youngest made it through his first year.  His grades were mixed.  He carefully chose a school with an academic structure that suits him.  He spent a lot of time with the tutors (but this school expects that).   He had holes, some of them my fault and some of them his (we did cover trig, honestly lol).  The tutors fixed them.  Some things he had an easier time with than his classmates.  (I was staggered when he said he had to show a number of his friends how to bang out an essay and that some of them didn't know how to read a textbook.)  It wasn't easy but he figured out the social end of things.  He overloaded for his last batch of classes and STILL made it through ok, so I guess he has figured out how to study in a school setting.  He sent two emails last week which pretty much sum it up.   I was relieved to get these because they demonstrated that the heavy engineering academic load hadn't dulled down my son's normal interests and curiosity, something that we had wondered about.  And I had to laugh because they were so typical of a homeschooler.

 

-Turns out I need the material from statics, physics, calculus, and dif eq to make my legs.

 

-The quetzalcoatlus had the size and proportions of a giraffe, and a wing span of 12 meters. Picture a giant heron with four legs.

 

LOL,

Nan

[JennW in SoCal]

I've "known" Nan for years on this and the high school board and am not surprised her ds is doing well.  Congrats, Nan!  Is heading home soon?

 

I still post here off and on to encourage y'all to think outside the curriculum box.  It worked well for my ds, too, who is finishing his sophomore year in a small and academically challenging liberal arts college.  How well?  100% on his differential equations final.  A cumulative 3.98 GPA.  Hired to TA a 300 level class next fall, doing yet more field and lab research this summer with a professor. He is listed as a co-author on at least 2 academic papers already.  And he only just turned 19.  

 

Reading, discussing, exploring interests in depth -- it really DOES work.

[Runningmom80]

This is all refreshing to read! Thank you for posting.

[JeanM]

Thanks! It's wonderful to hear your stories. I'm not feeling very confident right now about our choices for ds1's high school. We're supposed to meet with the public school guidance counselor today to talk about plans for next year. I'm hoping we can come up with a reasonable plan.