sammydog Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Please excuse my ignorance. We're still pretty new to homeschooling. I have an 11 and 9 yo and have been pondering what their future education could look like if we remain in the area where we are living now and don't go back to public schools. I've been curious lately about how homeschool kids transition to community college classes. Specifically, I was wondering what kind of preparation is necessary to allow high school aged students to take community college classes? How do you know they are ready? Also, are AP classes online preferred over community college classes? How do you know when / if you child is ready for these higher level classes? There doesn't seem to be rigorous, secular homeschool co-op options in our area so I'm assuming I'll be leaning heavily on online classes and community college classes. Forgive me if I'm opening a big can of worms or if this has been discussed endlessly. I searched but I just confused myself even more. Maybe the answer to my questions is you know when you get there and it's impossible to plan... Thank you! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Please excuse my ignorance. We're still pretty new to homeschooling. I have an 11 and 9 yo and have been pondering what their future education could look like if we remain in the area where we are living now and don't go back to public schools. I've been curious lately about how homeschool kids transition to community college classes. Specifically, I was wondering what kind of preparation is necessary to allow high school aged students to take community college classes? How do you know they are ready? Also, are AP classes online preferred over community college classes? How do you know when / if you child is ready for these higher level classes? There doesn't seem to be rigorous, secular homeschool co-op options in our area so I'm assuming I'll be leaning heavily on online classes and community college classes. Forgive me if I'm opening a big can of worms or if this has been discussed endlessly. I searched but I just confused myself even more. Maybe the answer to my questions is you know when you get there and it's impossible to plan... Thank you! ;) There is nothing special needed to prepare homeschool kids for CC or other dual enrollment classes. Typically, they just progress through high school classes until the level of their work is college level. When they are both academically and socially mature enough, you can enroll them in the DE classes. You will know when. Online AP classes have advantages and disadvantages. Some kids do well with online classes. They are typically more flexible in scheduling. Some kids aren't self-motivated enough for online classes or are challenged in a variety of other ways by online classes. AP classes counting for college credit are completely reliant on one test. That may be good or bad for the student. It can also sometimes be difficult or impossible to find a local school allowing homeschoolers to test. AP v DE is an often discussed topic here. Which is better for your student depends on their personality, their goals, and their destination University. With the ages of your kids, my advice is to stop looking quite so far ahead. Take one step at a time and relax. Right now, plan middle school. :) My kids both took online classes and did dual enrollment. They were each accepted to the University of their choice. Their credits were accepted by the Universities they chose to attend, although one AP for ds and one DE class for dd were not used to meet requirements, but just used for elective credit. If you want to see the final results for this years WTM grads, here is this year's list of college acceptances. It will continue to grow for the next few months. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 So that I don't retype the whole thing over...I wrote this post for a blog a while back. It lays out my planning process and makes it a little less intimidating. http://sandboxtosocrates.com/2014/10/22/high-school-isnt-as-scary-as-it-seems-by-apryl-2/ Also, don't worry or plan a lot right now. Your children will change SO much between now and high school. Your carefully laid plans will likely be tossed out the window (I know mine were). Just keep giving them a solid foundation to work from. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammydog Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Thank you both for taking the time to type that out! I really appreciate it. In talking to other homeschoolers, I'd sometimes feel that there was a secret magic map to getting through the high school process that I didn't know but it seems like it's best to watch how your children and the options develop, while continually being sure they are appropriately challenged. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammydog Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 So that I don't retype the whole thing over...I wrote this post for a blog a while back. It lays out my planning process and makes it a little less intimidating. http://sandboxtosocrates.com/2014/10/22/high-school-isnt-as-scary-as-it-seems-by-apryl-2/ Also, don't worry or plan a lot right now. Your children will change SO much between now and high school. Your carefully laid plans will likely be tossed out the window (I know mine were). Just keep giving them a solid foundation to work from. It's like you wrote that article just for me. Going into the bookmark to refer to again later. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) CC is free for homeschoolers here in 10th-12th grade. Ds started in 10th grade with a math class (his strength) and a college success class. Specifically, I was wondering what kind of preparation is necessary to allow high school aged students to take community college classes? I was diligent in providing challenging curriculum for ds through 9th grade, some of it carefully outsourced with outstanding teachers. How do you know they are ready? An easy way to tell is that they pass the college placement test. Also, are AP classes online preferred over community college classes? We used CC because it was free. As pps have stated, the preference is very individual. How do you know when / if you child is ready for these higher level classes? Besides the college placement test, you have to be able to honestly assess their maturity and/or motivation. Edited December 22, 2015 by Sue in St Pete 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 It's excellent that you are planning ahead. Planning is essential to homeschooling, but you don't want to get ahead of yourself. Think first about your first year of homeschooling. What subjects, what curricula, what textbooks and materials, what outside classes, online classes or tutors do you need to have lined up? When you have year 1 squared away, then you can start thinking about year 2. Having said that, if high school is stressing you out, subscribe to the hs2coll yahoogroup and lurk for a good long while. Like years. Listen in on other people's conversations, the good, the bad, and the ugly about college admissions. I guarantee the AP vs. CC conversation will be repeated there as well as on this board. By the time your kids are in 8th grade you'll be all set. Then you can start asking questions. Good luck! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Having said that, if high school is stressing you out, subscribe to the hs2coll yahoogroup and lurk for a good long while. Like years. Listen in on other people's conversations, the good, the bad, and the ugly about college admissions. I guarantee the AP vs. CC conversation will be repeated there as well as on this board. By the time your kids are in 8th grade you'll be all set. Then you can start asking questions. Good luck! I don't know anything better than that list for making a person feel incompetent and panicked. There are a lot of highly gifted kids trying to get into Ivy's and anything less seems to be scorned. I hung out there for years and I learned a lot, but make sure you have a thick skin and recognize when their advice does or doesn't fit your child's goals. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Please excuse my ignorance. We're still pretty new to homeschooling. I have an 11 and 9 yo and have been pondering what their future education could look like if we remain in the area where we are living now and don't go back to public schools. I've been curious lately about how homeschool kids transition to community college classes. Specifically, I was wondering what kind of preparation is necessary to allow high school aged students to take community college classes? How do you know they are ready? Also, are AP classes online preferred over community college classes? How do you know when / if you child is ready for these higher level classes? There doesn't seem to be rigorous, secular homeschool co-op options in our area so I'm assuming I'll be leaning heavily on online classes and community college classes. Forgive me if I'm opening a big can of worms or if this has been discussed endlessly. I searched but I just confused myself even more. Maybe the answer to my questions is you know when you get there and it's impossible to plan... Thank you! ;) 1) Have you looked at Charter schools (B&M or physical) in your state? Some states have very flexible charter programs. 2) Most community colleges will use a standard placement test such as Compass or Accuplacer to determine placement. 3) Do you feel that your students are accelerated (even one grade level)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammydog Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 1) Have you looked at Charter schools (B&M or physical) in your state? Some states have very flexible charter programs. 2) Most community colleges will use a standard placement test such as Compass or Accuplacer to determine placement. 3) Do you feel that your students are accelerated (even one grade level)? Hi thanks for the input! 1) I did some research and charter schools in our area for 9-12 aren't an option it seems. 2) That's helpful to know! 3) The 9 year old is probably too young to judge and the 11 yo is taking an online 7-8th grade writing class and her teacher seems to believe she is ahead of many of her high schoolers. I think that might be a stretch. She's average in math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Hi thanks for the input! 1) I did some research and charter schools in our area for 9-12 aren't an option it seems. 2) That's helpful to know! 3) The 9 year old is probably too young to judge and the 11 yo is taking an online 7-8th grade writing class and her teacher seems to believe she is ahead of many of her high schoolers. I think that might be a stretch. She's average in math. Do any of your CCs have an Early College program (looking ahead to Junior year HS)? I wouldn't rush your 11 yo into any CC math yet - there are cheap and almost free options out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 if high school is stressing you out, subscribe to the hs2coll yahoogroup and lurk for a good long while. I don't know anything better than that list for making a person feel incompetent and panicked. There are a lot of highly gifted kids trying to get into Ivy's and anything less seems to be scorned. I hung out there for years :iagree: I only peeked in there on occasion and came away each time feeling totally incompetent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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