Sunshine Mama Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 And not feel like their completely overloaded...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in NY Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I am not sure... I think lots depends on which courses you are talking about. They have been time consuming here at our house. Maybe we spend too much time on them? Last year my dd#2 took CalcBC, PhysB, and EngLang.... that was the limit. Maybe over the limit on some days.... :oP She had other things that needed attention.... other classes, work, a band, TKD...... so yeah. 3 was enough. First year out my girls both did one class... Biology.... and I thought it was a good way to start. It was a challenging course and time consuming, so they got a feel for the pacing and expectation. If they had started with something less 'demanding'... like the Stats course, which some schools do in one semester, they may have had an unrealistic expectation of how many they could take the year after. (BTW, the stats course is great.... just not nearly as much time spent daily as some of the others.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine Mama Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Thank you! That's about what I expected. Anyone else want to weigh in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Agreeing with Jen...I think it depends upon which courses you are considering and what the remainder of your student's schedule is like. When I taught in a brick-and-mortar school, it was common for students (juniors and seniors) to take 4 AP classes. But that was before block scheduling became the rage, so the AP teachers had direct interaction with their students for an hour every single day. Taking 4 AP classes was quite doable. But taking 4 AP classes online is a totally different animal. My son is taking two AP classes right now with PAH...AP English Language (Walker) and AP Chemistry. He probably spends 2 hours a day average on English. In chemistry, on regular lesson days, he spends about an hour, but test days require 3 solid hours and lab days at least 2 hours. Chemistry test days literally wipe him out, so he has to plan little else on those days. He also has two other online courses...Honors Precalc with Derek Owens and physics with me. Four online courses requires my son to have a strict schedule with little flexibility, and there is no way he could ever get behind. I can't imagine trying to dig out of a hole with his schedule as it is. We are considering having him take 3 AP courses next year, but the two from PAH will not be nearly as time consuming as the ones he is taking this year. He is considering AP Human Geography and AP Macroeconomics. Then he will take AP Calc AB from Derek Owens. Those will be his only online classes, so honestly, I think next year's schedule will be easier...even though he will one more AP! So as you can see, it depends upon the classes chosen and the rest of the student's schedule. We are looking forward to a lighter year next year! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 If you go onto the PA Homeschoolers website, each class has a "feedback/class review" section. Many of the kids who write reviews also include how much time they devoted each day/week to the class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I think this depends on both the student and the classes. For some kids, two APs is going to be overwhelming along with whatever else they are doing. For some kids 5 APs is just the tip of a challenge. Some classes can easily be done in an hour a day for some students. Others will take 2-3 hours per day. Know your student, then read the course descriptions/evaluations. I think PA homeschoolers works very hard to be accurately represent the workload of their classes. If you read that some kids take 1 hour and some take 3, figure out why and which end your student is likely to be on. Be realistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I am not sure... I think lots depends on which courses you are talking about. They have been time consuming here at our house. Maybe we spend too much time on them? Last year my dd#2 took CalcBC, PhysB, and EngLang.... that was the limit. Maybe over the limit on some days.... :oP She had other things that needed attention.... other classes, work, a band, TKD...... so yeah. 3 was enough. First year out my girls both did one class... Biology.... and I thought it was a good way to start. It was a challenging course and time consuming, so they got a feel for the pacing and expectation. If they had started with something less 'demanding'... like the Stats course, which some schools do in one semester, they may have had an unrealistic expectation of how many they could take the year after. (BTW, the stats course is great.... just not nearly as much time spent daily as some of the others.) Oh how I sincerely wish that ds had taken AP Biology as the only AP class of one academic year. He isn't taking it through PAHS and I can't imagine putting anymore time into the class than he already does. AP English Literature can take 2-4 hours per day depending on what is due and how long the Morning Message is. Yesterday's morning message involved reading a 10-12 page literary criticism and then responding to what you read. Then the student still had two short answer discussion questions for a work they had read. The fact that ds is a slow, but through reader makes this take longer. AP Macroeconomics takes no more than 2 hours a day on average. The day with TT lectures is significantly shorter than the day with the chapter reading and 20-40 short answer questions. With Lit and Econ, a lot can depend on depend on the number of combined essays and their complexity. Stats tends to run about an hour a day on average, depending on what is due. Yes, three is enough and four for us has bordered on madness. The good news is that ds thinks it's his best year ever academically, even if his grades don't reflect it. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 And not feel like their completely overloaded...... I'm not on enough these days to "know" you, but I notice your oldest is 12 yo...so do you mean for when he starts high school or in Jr. Hi. or at the end of high school? I think it's partly a matter of the workload of a particular class, partly personal interest, and partly a matter of work habits which is also related to experience... My dd started with AP French and AP Human Geo in 9th grade but her level was already high for French and AP Human Geo is one of the easier courses...You can get an idea of which ones are easier from previous threads.... The following year she did AP Eng Lang and AP German...It was the Eng Lang that had her staying up until all hours of the night....Writing essays just isn't that easy for her... This year she's doing 3...AP Chemistry, AP European History, and AP Calculus block schedule in the second semester (with me)...but normally she's not staying up past 10 pm...She's learned to manage her workload (she still has other courses too, but they are easier). She likes Calculus - so its easy for her. The Euro is hard - she says it just is not intuitive (well....what humans do to one another over the course of time is not necessarily intuitive at one level but to be expected at another)...and for Chemistry - there is really a lot of material to cover...Could she take another one - I'd say 'yes' but not replacing only one credit...but at least one and a half in terms of workload... (she's doing 8 1/2 credits but AP's count only for one credit)...Unlike others in the US, she is not doing a lot of extracurriculars...so can devote a lot of time to studying... So work up to more and harder ones to get good work habits established first... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I'm not on enough these days to "know" you, but I notice your oldest is 12 yo...so do you mean for when he starts high school or in Jr. Hi. or at the end of high school? I think it's partly a matter of the workload of a particular class, partly personal interest, and partly a matter of work habits which is also related to experience... My dd started with AP French and AP Human Geo in 9th grade but her level was already high for French and AP Human Geo is one of the easier courses... May I ask where she did AP french? I cannot find many online options for AP French, I think Potter School is the only one I could find last I looked. Many thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 May I ask where she did AP french? I cannot find many online options for AP French, I think Potter School is the only one I could find last I looked. Many thanks! I developed the AP French course and got it approved - sorry I can't help you because I did start with a 'student' who knew a lot of French already so I couldn't guarantee results for others! I have to say that the Pearson books - AP French and Allons audela needed more work...They'd just developed them for the changed AP French exam but they still had a lot of bugs in them....They did get the essential concepts right with the different cultural areas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I developed the AP French course and got it approved - sorry I can't help you because I did start with a 'student' who knew a lot of French already so I couldn't guarantee results for others! I have to say that the Pearson books - AP French and Allons audela needed more work...They'd just developed them for the changed AP French exam but they still had a lot of bugs in them....They did get the essential concepts right with the different cultural areas... Thank you. He will know some French too, coming off 6 months in school in France after a couple years of study here,but probably not nearly as much as your DD! Thanks also for the book feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Thank you. He will know some French too, coming off 6 months in school in France after a couple years of study here,but probably not nearly as much as your DD! Thanks also for the book feedback. Well, he might be ready...A friend whose daughter was only here for two years, one as Home Ed and the other in an International school, who did take weekly tutoring sessions with a very good tutor, did it the following year when she went back to the US...I think she was taking French at the local community college or something like that....Anyway, she was very enthusiastic about the language but didn't have years of experience....I think I posted somewhere awhile ago about the AP language exams not being so focused on perfect grammar but more on cultural knowledge and common expressions... Have you looked at the sample AP French exams on the College Board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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