cjzimmer1 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 So as we are planning out my son's senior year we realized that our current plan has him completing the fewest amount of credits of any of his high school years. (9=6.5, 10=7, 11=6.5 and 12=5.5). By the way we just grant a start 1 credit for year long classes irregardless of the difficulty. We've been discussing the importance of how things look for college applications/scholarships etc so I told him that based on the credit value he will probably have to pick out an elective classes to bump up the number of credits he has, but yet when I look at the classes he is taking, it's obvious he is not taking an easy Senior year and so it got me wondering what is more important from the college app point of view, number of credits/classes or the difficulty of those classes. Right now here's what he has going American Literature (taught through Landry Academy) 1 credit Complex Analysis (taught through mathandmusicstudio, I'm told that this is typically a COLLEGE senior level course but he will not be getting college credit for this) 1 credit AP Physics Mechanics/Electricity & Magnetism (through PA Homeschoolers) 1 credit AP Macro and Micro Economics (through PA Homeschoolers) 1/2 credit each = 1 credit total Bible program done at home 1 credit phy ed 1/2 credit total = 5.5 For what it's worth as it stands, he will have a very easy time with this schedule. Adding more classes will in no way tax him but it would reduce the amount of time he has available to work on other things that interest him outside of school. I've also considering having him take a MOOC or two on something that interests him but I have a hard time justifying credit for them because he generally has very little output and so I have no real way of assessing him. So would you push a senior to add more classes to up the credits and let it stand since he has the equivalent of 3 college level classes already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I would take a look at what is recommended, and required for the colleges he is interested in - if he's a rising senior, he should have a list by now. If he doesn't, I'd be doing that pronto! I'd be a bit leery that it's only 4 core credits, but those 4 are certainly impressive. If his other interests are equally impressive, or somewhat academically oriented, that would weigh in favor of not adding another class, but I personally would add another class before giving him extra time for routine volunteer work, for example. Also consider his ACT or SAT score. If it's way up there, excellent. If it's just a bit above average, he will have to justify fewer credits more strongly. Look at the colleges and make sure he has what he needs. Some of them are very particular about wanting certain classes, like a foreign language or fine arts. Call them up if you are not sure. Like, today. Visit departments he is interested in and ask them as well, don't rely on the admissions counselors entirely. He sounds like a kid in the running for merit aid, and that means he needs to start narrowing down choices and filling out applications very soon. To fill out applications, you should have your senior classes sorted. On dd's list, some schools have priority scholarship deadlines as early as October, and every school has told us, the sooner, the better. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendall Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Is he to the point where he will read/study the Bible on his own? My son does this every morning before school as part of life. He studies with our pastor as well weekly. I haven't put it on his transcript, though I could if I need to, but to me for a senior that should become part of life and not part of school. Or drop Bible to 1/2 credit, but spread it through the year for a shorter time and then add a course. History? I assume he has had math through Calc 1 already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 I would take a look at what is recommended, and required for the colleges he is interested in - if he's a rising senior, he should have a list by now. If he doesn't, I'd be doing that pronto! Oh I wish, I've been pushing for a while now but so far he hasn't come forward with any useful information. I have reminded him he only has a few months to have colleges selected and essays written but thus far he has been unfazed. I'd be a bit leery that it's only 4 core credits, but those 4 are certainly impressive. If his other interests are equally impressive, or somewhat academically oriented, that would weigh in favor of not adding another class, but I personally would add another class before giving him extra time for routine volunteer work, for example. His extra time would be spent doing preparation for a BIble competition he participates in every year, possibly get a job but not likely and dabbling with some MOOCS that he was interested in, and of course college apps once he gets things sorted out. Nothing super rigourous on an academic level. My gut said yeah he needs more classes but my perception always gets skewed because his level is so far from "normal" that I never really know how to judge these things anymore. Also consider his ACT or SAT score. If it's way up there, excellent. If it's just a bit above average, he will have to justify fewer credits more strongly. He has two ACT scores of 33 (perfect score in Science one time and perfect score in Math the second time, his English/Reading scores are lower), I will not be making him retake this. He also has a 5 on The AP Calc BC and the AP Stats exams, and we are waiting for results on Chem and Computer Science but he thinks he will have 4 or 5's on both of those. So all in all I feel like he's fine with his scores. Plus he will have the 4 AP Scores from his Senior year (since the physics one is two different tests). Look at the colleges and make sure he has what he needs. Some of them are very particular about wanting certain classes, like a foreign language or fine arts. Call them up if you are not sure. Like, today. Visit departments he is interested in and ask them as well, don't rely on the admissions counselors entirely. He's looking at double majoring in some kind of Engineering and Math. Since I don't have leads on specific schools yet, I have just poked around at various schools. Generally seems for that area he'd be going for a Bachelor of Science which mostly only requires 2 years of foreign language, he's already had 3 years of spanish which he hates. If I found a compelling reason to do so, I'd make him take AP Spanish this year but it's doesn't seem like it would benefit him much so we decided not to push it since he hates it so much. We have no fine art of any kind and not likely to get anything there, we have minimal humanities as well. He's definitely not as well-rounded as he could be but since he is a child who refused to color and cut as a child because even at 2 he found numbers more interesting, I've done the best I could. He has been a STEM child since he was a toddler. He sounds like a kid in the running for merit aid, and that means he needs to start narrowing down choices and filling out applications very soon. To fill out applications, you should have your senior classes sorted. Sadly he had an off day for the PSAT testing so he's not likely to make the cut-off for National Merit Stuff but I'm hoping his other stuff will still get him some aid, because we aren't really able to contribute to college much. But I will reemphasize to him that he needs to get things rolling if he hopes to get good aid. On dd's list, some schools have priority scholarship deadlines as early as October, and every school has told us, the sooner, the better. I've seen some of those early deadlines too, I keep pointing them out to him but for the next month he is prepping for his national BIble competition so getting him to focus on colleges just isn't happening. However, I do have to sign him for classes now so I have to figure this out even if his mind isn't engaged right now. Thanks so much for the feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Is he to the point where he will read/study the Bible on his own? My son does this every morning before school as part of life. He studies with our pastor as well weekly. I haven't put it on his transcript, though I could if I need to, but to me for a senior that should become part of life and not part of school. Or drop Bible to 1/2 credit, but spread it through the year for a shorter time and then add a course. History? I assume he has had math through Calc 1 already? Actually the Bible program he is doing has him reading through the entire Bible in the course of two years and taking quizzes and tests on it as he goes along. In addition he participates in a Bible competition each year memorizing around 550 verse verbatim (and referenced). In addition to that they spent huge amount of times studying the context of the material down to knowing what/who every pronoun in the selected material refers to. There is literally hundreds of hours spent studying the material. Having gone to a Christian high school, Bible was an included subject for all 4 years on my transcript so I have no problem leaving it on his. He did a year of American History, a year of World History, a semester of Government and will have a year of AP Economics. His "high school" math classes are AP Calc BC, AP Stats (I know technically not a math class but in context to what he has taken, I feel it still fits), Multi-variable Calc and Differential Equations (equivalent to Calc 3 and 4) and Compelx analysis, (Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, Trig, pre-calc and calculus were all taken prior to 9th grade and will not be receiving high school credit). In all honesty, this is a kid who should have started college a couple of years ago, but emotionally he wasn't ready so I've tried to cobble classes that would challenge him but still let him stay home. I've kind of run out of ideas of things he is interested in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 If your student is taking FOUR AP exams and only earning TWO high school credits, I think the problem is that you are failing to give credit where credit is due. This is clearly not a schedule of someone who is slacking off senior year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 If your student is taking FOUR AP exams and only earning TWO high school credits, I think the problem is that you are failing to give credit where credit is due. This is clearly not a schedule of someone who is slacking off senior year. Thank you for pointing this out to me. I've always struggled with the whole weighting classes stuff and to save my sanity I've just decided to weight everything equally. Since the transcripts from PA homeschoolers list the AP classes as being 1 credit (so far they have all been year long classes), I figured my method would go in line with theirs. As far as the classes he is taking next year. Macro is taught from Sept through January and Micro from Feb through May. So one year of instruction but two tests, in my mind that is still a one year class and gets one credit (all his other classes through them ran the same period but happened to be subjects that only had one test). Physics is again a one year class with two tests but the tests are only half as long as the normal AP tests. I will have to check with them if they award credit some other way for these but I don't want to assign credit different from what they do and appear to be inflating his transcript. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendall Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I might be inclined to leave it as is, though if you wanted to increase his humanities credits (or more importantly exposure) you could do it in a light way with regard to output and assessing. To me this does not necessarily and has not in my home been the same as saying that this is a check of the box course-my kids have done lots of reading and informal discussing with very little output and they turned out to be great students in college and are well read and have grown leaps from it all in spite of what I thought and still am tempted to think are failures on my part with regard to output. You could do a semester course to balance the PE and save the PE for the spring semester when you might want him active outside the house some! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 If you lay out the transcript by subject rather than by year/grade, it emphasizes overall credits, rather than what credits were accomplished in which year/grade. That would also provide your senior with the ability to pursue community service/volunteering, extracurriculars, an internship, a senior project, a part time job, or other activity that will enhance his college and scholarship applications. The first 2 items I listed esp. are good for helping a student stand out and "be interesting", and a number of scholarships are awarded due to regular volunteer work. Below is one way you could organize the transcript by subject. You mentioned a total of 25.5 credits, so I filled in with guesses what some of those might be where you had not already listed in a subsequent post courses your DS had accomplished. In a separate section of the transcript, I personally would definitely list the Math courses completed before high school, awarding credit (which shows accomplishing high school level work), but no grade (so as to not skew the GPA of courses taken in high school). From your description of the Bible Study, I would award 2 credits, one for each of the 2 years of the entire Bible study, and then consider counting the other Bible activities as a high quality extracurricular, showing dedication, responsibility, and self-motivation. You have a remarkable young man, there! I'd challenge him in his senior year with some activities beyond just academics -- volunteering, a senior project, extracurriculars to try out/deepen personal interests, etc. Perhaps have him work as a math tutor? Just some ideas! Have a great 12th grade year! Warmest regards, Lori D. FINAL OFFICIAL HIGH SCHOOL TRANSCRIPT High School Courses Completed Before 9th Grade course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Algebra 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . P Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . P Algebra 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . P Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry . . . . . .1.00 . . . P Calculus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . P TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.00 / ---- __________________________________________ English course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade English I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x English II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x English III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x English IV: American Lit.** . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.00 / x.xxx Math course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade AP Statistics* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x AP Calculus BC* . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Multi-Variable Calculus**** . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Differential Equations**** . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Complex Analysis*** . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 / x.xxx Science course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x AP Physics: Mechanics* . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x AP Physics: Electricity & Mag* . . . .1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00 / x.xxx Social Science course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade History: American . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x History: World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.50 . . . x Economics: AP Macro* . . . . . . . . .0.50 . . . x Economics: AP Micro* . . . . . . . . . .0.50 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.50 / x.xxx Foreign Language course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Xxxxxxxxxx I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.00 / x.xxx Electives course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Biblical Studies I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Biblical Studies II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x PE I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.50 . . . x PE II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.50 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.50 / x.xxx P = high school level course successfully completed prior to 9th grade, awarded credit / no grade * = course provider: PA Homeschoolers ** = course provider: Landry Academy *** = course provider: Math and Music Studio **** = course provider: ________________ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I agree wholeheartedly with Laurie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Okay, after reading your follow-ups, I would probably add another academic class. My personal philosophy is to academically challenge the student, regardless of what that looks like. The transcript for my two kids is going to look very different, because they are very different students. Colleges have told us that they look at the senior year in context - is it an appropriate schedule for THIS student. Maybe they truly aren't that fussed about it, but it's been mentioned every time as a factor that they do indeed look at. I would want another course - it could (and likely would) be home-based rather than outsourced, and does not have to be 'on par' with the rigor of the other classes, but I would want something planned and scheduled as opposed to more time for maybe but probably not working, dabbling in MOOCS, and so on. If he doesn't want to juggle college applications on top of a full academic schedule, he can make the decision to work on those now, lol. I'd probably start working on a list for him, and then make him sit down with me one afternoon and look at it. Yes, it's better if the student takes the lead, but the road to maturity is bumpy, and I would not be willing for him to pay the price that might come with not having any kind of list going into senior year. I wouldn't let him wait a month, either, he can spare an afternoon. Or an hour here or there. It might help to show that it doesn't need to be a lengthy, all-consuming task every time. I would have a very frank talk with him about what merit aid might mean to him. My dd is very aware that it could mean going to a certain college or not, or it could mean not working as much, or it could mean new vs old clothes. I swear she was more motivated by "less work and more Starbucks" than attending a dream school, lol, but whatever works. Agreed, I wouldn't retake the ACT - he has a great score that's even better in his interest areas, and a retake will be too late for most priority deadlines anyway. (Did I mention they're early? They're really, really early.) I wouldn't make him take a language, an AP, or anything he hates, but I'd likely add something. I'm mean, though. If you're still unsure, talk to admissions at a few of what you consider his most likely choices, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 If you lay out the transcript by subject rather than by year/grade, it emphasizes overall credits, rather than what credits were accomplished in which year/grade. That would also provide your senior with the ability to pursue community service/volunteering, extracurriculars, an internship, a senior project, a part time job, or other activity that will enhance his college and scholarship applications. The first 2 items I listed esp. are good for helping a student stand out and "be interesting", and a number of scholarships are awarded due to regular volunteer work. Below is one way you could organize the transcript by subject. You mentioned a total of 25.5 credits, so I filled in with guesses what some of those might be where you had not already listed in a subsequent post courses your DS had accomplished. In a separate section of the transcript, I personally would definitely list the Math courses completed before high school, awarding credit (which shows accomplishing high school level work), but no grade (so as to not skew the GPA of courses taken in high school). From your description of the Bible Study, I would award 2 credits, one for each of the 2 years of the entire Bible study, and then consider counting the other Bible activities as a high quality extracurricular, showing dedication, responsibility, and self-motivation. You have a remarkable young man, there! I'd challenge him in his senior year with some activities beyond just academics -- volunteering, a senior project, extracurriculars to try out/deepen personal interests, etc. Perhaps have him work as a math tutor? Just some ideas! Have a great 12th grade year! Warmest regards, Lori D. FINAL OFFICIAL HIGH SCHOOL TRANSCRIPT High School Courses Completed Before 9th Grade course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Algebra 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . P Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . P Algebra 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . P Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry . . . . . .1.00 . . . P Calculus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . P TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.00 / ---- __________________________________________ English course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade English I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x English II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x English III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x English IV: American Lit.** . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.00 / x.xxx Math course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade AP Statistics* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x AP Calculus BC* . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Multi-Variable Calculus**** . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Differential Equations**** . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Complex Analysis*** . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 / x.xxx Science course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x AP Physics: Mechanics* . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x AP Physics: Electricity & Mag* . . . .1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00 / x.xxx Social Science course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade History: American . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x History: World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.50 . . . x Economics: AP Macro* . . . . . . . . .0.50 . . . x Economics: AP Micro* . . . . . . . . . .0.50 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.50 / x.xxx Foreign Language course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Xxxxxxxxxx I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.00 / x.xxx Electives course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . . grade Biblical Studies I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.00 . . . x Biblical Studies II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x PE I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.50 . . . x PE II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.50 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x Xxxxxxxxxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 . . . x TOTAL CREDITS / GPA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.50 / x.xxx P = high school level course successfully completed prior to 9th grade, awarded credit / no grade * = course provider: PA Homeschoolers ** = course provider: Landry Academy *** = course provider: Math and Music Studio **** = course provider: ________________ Wow Lori, thank you so much for writing that all out for me. That format would definitely help some of the issues I've had with reporting things. I hadn't planned on giving credit for stuff taken before 9th just because that was fulfilling his work for those years and it seemed a bit like double dipping to count it for 6th, 7th etc as well as for high school. Your post got me thinking and so I went and looked at our state's DPI requirements (not that I have to follow them but it gives me an idea of what our local schools would be accustomed to seeing on transcripts) Our DPI specifically says classes in 7th and 8th grade can count towards high school graduation so with that in mind, his having more than our states minimum of 23.5 probably wouldn't stand out so much because because I'm sure there are other kids who would have taken high school classes across 6 years. On the other hand some of those math classes were taken before 7th and it might seem weird to give credit for 5 years worth of math in what according to the state can only be earned in 2 years. But honestly your formatting looks so nice, I think I will just use it and not worry about. I did find a class using Matlab (an engineering software) that I will encourage DS to look at. It would give him good experience for college and I wouldn't have to worry about him slacking off this year because even though his schedule looks hard on paper, in reality I know it will leave him with far more free time than is good for him (I learned that the hard way this year and wish he had taken another AP this year) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 One note about grouping by subject: you can definitely do this on your transcript. I'm probably going to do it myself, because I like that it highlights that we had a four-year plan and meaningful progression in various subject areas. However, most of the applications I have looked at so far require that you specifically list your senior schedule. I do think that gets looked at in addition to the overall transcript. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in Richmond Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I agree with katilac that I'd add another academic class, especially since you said that his proposed schedule will be more than do-able for *him* ...and I truly understand how advance his math & science are! How about a Computer Science class since he's not continuing foreign language next year? Matlab is OK, but I don't know whether it warrants a whole year. My kids found programming classes on MIT OCW that they could follow on their own for senior year. You could even do a combo of some MatLab & some advanced programming work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Generally seems for that area he'd be going for a Bachelor of Science which mostly only requires 2 years of foreign language, he's already had 3 years of spanish which he hates. My suggestions, provided he is cruising in his classes at present: Chinese or German, not because it's fun but to read the scientific literature, you know, lots of people who plan to go into management take diff Calc to get scholarships, so suck it up, nobody loves everything, and it's nice to be able to get a job in Bern or Beijing, you know? Or impress the boss from Bern or Beijing or Berlin. "B" name pattern not intentional. Predicate logic because it's very useful for programming which, if he goes into higher math, he's going to need because they need to program the calculations Philosophy of science Or computer science, I wouldn't do just Matlab as it's basically a big computer program, not that complicated, maybe something a bit more useful like Java? Just to get an introduction. CS is not that hard if you stick to the intro. Bible--if he's going to seminary, fine. Otherwise, he needs to go beyond just "Bible" no matter how advanced. Greek or Hebrew if he doesn't know them, and if he really can't do that (I don't believe with his intellect he can't--he should be challenging himself, but let's say he truly cannot), then he needs to do church history or metaphysics. Based on your post I would strongly emphasize that life isn't only about how many or which but also about what and having a strong basis in the humanities will really give him a strong edge. I'd also emphasize that just because he doesn't like it doesn't mean he doesn't need it. Math makes you money, up to a point, but a rich life goes beyond math and so do salaries. The people who make the most are those who are flexible and who can translate reality into math, and reality sometimes is mind-numbingly repetitive and boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 My son's senior year will look remarkably similar. I would be fine with not adding too much. You might want to add something to make it look better - or split the AP mechanics and electricity into two credits (I'd leave it one if that is what PA Homeschoolers does). Does PA Homeschoolers only give 1/2 credit to macroeconomics? Consider: fine arts survey - can be history of music; theatrical preformances; the mathematics of music (Teaching Co. has a course on how math and music relate, etc. computer programming Look at teaching company courses and see if any appeal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted July 8, 2015 Author Share Posted July 8, 2015 I finally heard back from PA Homeschoolers (I think my first attempt got lost in cyberspace). Their transcripts will read AP Macro 1 credit, AP Micro 1 credit, AP Physics Mechanics 1 credit and AP Physics Electricity and Magnetism 1 credit. So all in all 4 credit instead of the 2 that I had allocated which would bring him up to 7.5 credits for the year instead of 5.5. DS had already found several classes at Landry that he was willing to consider (I have about 30 credits waiting to be used so my kids can freely take any classes they like there) but once he heard he didn't HAVE to take them he said nope, no way, I'm done. I still suspect for his ability it will be an easy year but at least on paper it looks good and I've told him he can use the extra time for college apps and writing essays. And if he doesn't use the time wisely I can still add a spring semester class. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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