zenjenn Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Anyone have any experience with these classes? Or with Athena's in general? Specifically I am considering: 1 Year World Geography based on Mapping the World by Heart (for artistically gifted, highly visual learner 7th grader) Sherlock Holmes Literature 8-week course (exceptionally gifted 5th grader who is a huge fan of the BBC show) History of Science 1-semester course (exceptionally gifted 5th grader who generally thinks history is boring but loves science and technology.) Or just in general with any Athena classes, what do the courses offer that you wouldn't get doing the same thing independently? Have you found the cost/benefit to be worth it in the end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 My DD10 will probably be doing the 1 year world geography next year. It's either that or a history course somewhere, but she really likes Athena as a teacher, and I plan to do some British history along with LLLotR, so it seems a good year for geography. She has done the entire world history and literature sequence at AAA, plus Etymology, Vocabulary, and Mythology. She doesn't find the courses challenging, but finds them fun and they connect her to other bright kids. I ink the big benefit is that opportunity to discuss with others. Athena is good at guiding the kids in discussion and seems very aware of how GT kids think. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 For those who have used AAA, what would you really get out of an 8 week course like the Sherlock Holmes one? Are the classes like that mainly just discussion time on the stories? I can see that being really great, but I don't picture my child being comfortable speaking up until they've been in a few online classes, and I don't see an auditing option (where they could see how awesome it was and get excited about hearing and sharing with others who are interested in such matters). It says that recorded sessions are available for kids who have a schedule conflict, but does that mean for the entire term? I am just very intrigued by the classes they offer, but imagine my child(ren) not speaking for most of the term. I mean, they would talk all about it with me and afterwards, but I am not so sure they would engage in a class discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 My 5th grader has taken Story of the World 1, Mythology, and Geology. The classes are engaging. The subjects are covered thoroughly - more thoroughly than we would on our own. She wants to take Astronomy this fall and we are also thinking about the Sherlock Holmes class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Or just in general with any Athena classes, what do the courses offer that you wouldn't get doing the same thing independently? Have you found the cost/benefit to be worth it in the end? Like dmmetler said, you get discussions with your peers about the material you're studying. T liked the World Geography class and learned a lot about a wide range of countries. She gave a bunch of reports. She's learned to speak up when she has something to add to the conversation. For us, the cost was well worth it, but if it was a choice between buying books for the year versus taking one class with Athena, I'd buy the books. AAA is not like the schools geared to older kids that assign and grade tests and written work (WTM Academy, Landry, Wilson Hill, VPSA, etc.) The parent is still in charge of the written output. This is great for younger kids and was phenomenal when T was 9 and 10. Now that she's 12 and capable of more written output, the classes aren't a good fit anymore. However, I'm very glad she took them when she was younger. The gave her a lot of self-confidence and introduced her to the online course format in a gentle, age appropriate way. If you will feel cheated if there is not a stack of written work with grades assigned, look into the WTM Academy. If you just want your kids to connect with peers and explore interesting topics while a teacher prompts them to dig deeper, then AAA and G3 Online are great choices. But, they are not offering the same service and what you're looking for will determine which model will be a better fit. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 We use AAA/OG3 for two categories of classes 1) The subjects that DD doesn't really enjoy or that have emotional content where having a group supports her. This is why history and literature moved to AAA. For those, I'm seeing her choose to move away from the online classes now that she's a little older and more confident, so we're going to try going away from that for a year or two, and probably move to the more traditional classes later on to get high school credit (and, again, because discussion seems necessary). 2) Classes that DD wants to do for fun. That was the mythology class and the etymology and vocabulary classes this year. I wish the CIA (Comparative Invertebrate Anatomy) was happening earlier in the day-it's so late in the afternoon that it hits DD's extracurriculars, because I think she'd enjoy doing that one with other kids who like biology enough to sign up for a class just on invertebrates. It is through these classes that DD has found people she really enjoys chatting with, even when they're not in a class with her. These classes also provide something fun to do while waiting/driving. With geography, there's a 3). I have a visual-spatial LD, and really, really struggle with maps, so geography has been covered only at the SoTW activity book level (with some Stack the States, Geography songs, and world map puzzles thrown in). Most of the questions she's missed on the ELE and NME in past years have been geography questions, and I suspect it's largely because that's something I've never really stressed. So when DD picked out the Geography as something that sounded "fun", I figured that it would kill two birds with one stone-give her the fun, social, discussion based class, and something that is valuable to her, since she does read a lot of papers on work done internationally, and often ends up looking up where exactly this place is, but also fill in a gap that I'm really not competent to teach. And I've had the entire Mapping the World by Heart curriculum on my shelf for about 3 years, so at least parts of it will finally get used! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 So just from the responses here it sounds like maybe something for my 5th grader... Do older kids participate? I really like the idea of the Geography for my rising 7th grader but will she be the only older kid in the class? I did want her to connect with kids her age and I know she won't enjoy it as much if it is mostly younger kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 So just from the responses here it sounds like maybe something for my 5th grader... Do older kids participate? I really like the idea of the Geography for my rising 7th grader but will she be the only older kid in the class? I did want her to connect with kids her age and I know she won't enjoy it as much if it is mostly younger kids. I don't know from experience, but I don't think there are many older kids. Probably because many parents of older kids are looking for more graded output or have seen some of the asynchronicity even out some by that age and they are ready to go a more traditional route. Online G3 or GHF seems to be the place where older kids looking for the same model go because they have suggested age requirements and limit some classes to ages 12+ (Online G3 more so than GHF). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Ok, so experiences with Online G3 and WTM have been good? We need secular programs (so some of the others mentioned are out, for us. We have lots of religious homeschool options locally and I'm looking for my kids, especially my teen, to connect with other kids in secular or more diverse settings.) I was looking at WTM math possibly for the 7th grader.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Ok, so experiences with Online G3 and WTM have been good? We need secular programs (so some of the others mentioned are out, for us. We have lots of religious homeschool options locally and I'm looking for my kids, especially my teen, to connect with other kids in secular or more diverse settings.) I was looking at WTM math possibly for the 7th grader.. I've used both and been please with them. G3 is discussion based with weekly topics to post about on a message board. WTM was more like traditional school with graded assignments, quizzes and tests. I signed T up for the AOPS Algebra 1 class, but I don't have a review yet of course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamppost Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Wondering, are these types of courses helpful at all if the student isn't able to do the live sessions? Like if they're always just watching the recording and doing any assignments? I want DD to try one but the times for the ones we're interested in just don't quite work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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