How many classes is too many? (may be a rhetorical question lol)

[Luckymama]

First of all, my dd is apparently an unusual student. Please do not think all high school sophomores should have such a schedule!

 

Dd is taking these classes this year:

 

biology w me, fall semester block

AP Environmental Science w me, spring semester block

AP Psychology w me

AP Comparative Government and Politics w me

AP Calculus AB using Derek Owens plus more from me (I throw extra Qs at her)

AP English Composition, Blue Tent Online

Arabic at the university (second and third semester of a three-semester sequence)

 

for 8 credits.

 

 

Bio and APES are light only in the sense that she's already covered most of the material through studying for Science Olympiad events. She's still doing all of the M-L macaw textbook for bio plus 2-3 hours of lab a week in this semester block plan. She's spending an hour each day doing calculus and is still way ahead of the suggested syllabus schedule.

 

She asked that the Comp Gov and psych courses be planned so that she could work independently and at her own speed. I split the material into 2/3/4-weeklong units with textbook readings, lots of supplemental readings, pertinent videos, multiple writing assignments, and a project per unit (mainly for psych). We have weekly discussion sessions on Fridays. Tests mimic AP exams with multiple choice questions and free-response questions in the style of the particular course.

 

She came to me this morning and said she had already gone through all the material (with the exception of weekly readings from The Economist, Foreign Policy, and the like) in 10 days that I had planned for 4 weeks. She told me how interesting it all is, how fascinated she is, that she can't wait to study this topic further, does the university offer a class, yadda yadda yadda...

 

...and then out of my mouth came "Would you like to add AP US Government and Politics this year instead of waiting until next? Maybe next year we could find something deeper in comparative government?"

 

:eek:

 

I smacked myself.

 

Dd's face lit up at the idea of US GoPo.

 

So would 9 credits be entirely too crazy to contemplate? Obviously, she's finding the time in her week to do all of her work.

 

She will have AP test scores to back up the coursework. I am confident of 4s and 5s, based on prior testing. I know her memory, i know her reasoning skills, I know how she makes connections.

 

I'm keeping a subject-based transcript for her. Right now it's the style that also has columns for the years classes were taken. I am contemplating leaving off the year columns, especially if she does graduate early.

 

Next year, which may or may not be her senior year, dd will be taking mostly post-AP-level classes either with me or at the university plus some flavor of AP Physics w me.

 

This posts is entirely too much of a brain dump. I apologize and thank those who made it to the end :)

[Melissa B]

AP US Government and AP Comparative Government are usually .5 credit classes around here. You could scale back the Comparative Government class a bit and add in the US Government while still having only 8 credits. Or, like you said, just list the courses by subject instead of by year. My dd's transcript is by subject only.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Comparative Government and US Gov are often one semester courses.  If you choose to do this be sure to leave enough time to review both prior to the exam.

[Penguin]

FWIW, we are using Clonlara and students are allowed a maximum of nine credits. Not sure how that plays out if some courses are university courses; I can't remember right now but that is beside the point anyway.

[lmrich]

Have you checked the AP calendar to make sure she will not have conflicts scheduling all the AP exams?

 

If she can handle it, why not? Can you handle it?  That is a lot!

[Mom22ns]

How is she doing with the current schedule? Is she struggling or keeping up with ease? 6 APs plus 2 college courses is a crazy load, but you do have several of the lightest APs in there and doing 4 of them at home makes them flexible. You can always scale back and have her not take all the exams if it gets overwhelming.

 

Most kids couldn't handle the schedule she has, let alone adding to it, but that doesn't mean it isn't perfect for your dd. None of us can know that. Only you and your dd. 

 

Best wishes,

[ErinE]

I think Comparative and Government are half semester courses. So it would still be only 8 credits.

 

Are you requiring not just reading, but critical thinking such as a written response showing analysis of the readings she's done? I would increase output expectations before adding more classes. College classes aren't just about reading the material. She needs to read, understand, reflect, analyze, support, summarize, and present her thoughts in an orderly manner with strong arguments, proper citation, and minimal composition errors.