Cosmos Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 (edited) DS would like to do calc-based physics next year, and I've been looking at the classes at PAHomeschoolers. They will have two teachers for AP Physics C next year, Mr. Lanctot and Mr. Kernion. I can find several reviews for Mr. Lanctot on this forum, which all seem very positive. Mr. Kernion seems to be new at PAH this year, and his class appears to be based on the AP Physics C course at Physics Prep. At Physics Prep, they have the entire first unit available for preview, so I have a good idea of how the program works. It's a self-paced program with video lectures and problem sets, etc. I can't tell if there is teacher interaction or not. We could take the course directly from Physics Prep for $300. The courses at PAHomeschoolers are $625 for mechanics and $395 for E/M ($1020 total). I guess the extra cost is for the teacher interaction. At PAHomeschoolers, there's a biweekly live class and the forum for interacting with the teacher and other students. So I guess I'm trying to compare these three options: 1. PAH with Mr. Lanctot: cost = $1000, good teacher reviews here at WTM. I'm not really sure how his course works except that there are no live classes. Are there video lectures or is it textbook-based? What kind of feedback does the teacher give? 2. PAH with Mr. Kernion: cost = $1000, not a lot of teacher reviews available, but I can preview the course at Physics Prep to get a feel for it. Has live classes every two weeks. 3. Physics Prep: cost = $300. I think this material is identical to what is offered in Option 2, only possibly without teacher interaction. Does anyone have any thoughts to add? Does anyone know anything about Physics Prep, either directly or its use at PAH? Edited March 6, 2016 by Cosmos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5sons Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 I am interested in this also. Excellent questions Cosmos. The price tag of PAH has me looking elsewhere. So giving this a bump :) Kristen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Thanks for the bump, Kristen! I changed the topic name in the hope of getting some more responses. *fingers crossed* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Thanks for the bump, Kristen! I changed the topic name in the hope of getting some more responses. *fingers crossed* Your title implies you have the information. It should be "Feedback Wanted" to get answers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Your title implies you have the information. It should be "Feedback Wanted" to get answers. Hey, maybe that will lure someone into the thread! :lol: Okay, I changed it. For us, I'm really interested in finding a course that has a teacher. I don't want just material or curriculum but a real person that ds can interact with. So something like Thinkwell isn't an option. I've head such good things about the PAH courses, but then I'm faced with the choice between the two teachers. The Physics Prep course (which again seems identical to Mr. Kernion's class at PAH) has a lot of video content. I would like something with some video content, but too much can end up taking more time than necessary -- you can't skim through material you already know if you're watching a video. So I'm very curious if Mr. Lanctot's class also has a lot of videos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopskipjump Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Posting here to remind me to come back later today and reply when I have a minute. I have a dd taking mr lantcot's class this year. 😊 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopskipjump Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 DS would like to do calc-based physics next year, and I've been looking at the classes at PAHomeschoolers. They will have two teachers for AP Physics C next year, Mr. Lanctot and Mr. Kernion. I can find several reviews for Mr. Lanctot on this forum, which all seem very positive. The courses at PAHomeschoolers are $625 for mechanics and $395 for E/M ($1020 total). I guess the extra cost is for the teacher interaction. At PAHomeschoolers, there's a biweekly live class and the forum for interacting with the teacher and other students. So I guess I'm trying to compare these three options: 1. PAH with Mr. Lanctot: cost = $1000, good teacher reviews here at WTM. I'm not really sure how his course works except that there are no live classes. Are there video lectures or is it textbook-based? What kind of feedback does the teacher give? There are no video lectures with Mr. L's class. It seems to be 100%: Read the assignment list. The assignment list will contain the reading assignment, daily homework problems (all are to be done... but only certain #s with their corrections are turned in for credit), any FRQs or Quizzes or Labs. Minimal teacher feedback. Not that that's a horrible thing.. from dd's input, the textbook pretty much explains whatever-it-is they need to know - there is a forum for questions and he (and the other students) will reply there. He will note any comments on each assignment or quiz when it is graded and posted online. Our *one* quibble might be the irregularity between assignments each week. She's only taken one online AP class before this one, and the assignments were kept to a fairly predictable expected amount of time each week. For instance, if they had an essay due... the vocabulary/sentence assignments would be reduced (or something like that). For this class... some weeks there is homework, daily questions, a quiz, a lab, and FRQs due... and other weeks, it's just homework and daily questions. So - it's not been simple for dd to plan around and, inevitably, the REALLY busy Physics weeks have been REALLY busy weeks in real life... so she's had to hustle. With THAT said, he is extremely flexible if/when time conflicts arise, and will extend deadlines to a new due date. Working ahead is nearly impossible due to the nature of the syllabus (which just lists reading assignments, iirc... no homework problems or other assignments). So - overall... "we" are happy with the class. At FIRST, the lack of teacher interaction was viewed as a negative by dd... but now that she's grooving in the class, it's a positive because she doesn't have to watch time-sucking videos, or answer questions from the teacher just to "check in." It's very much read, learn, test, and lab and that's about all dd has the time for this year. Hope that might sort of help. lol! :D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Thank you, hopskipjump! That's really helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 There are no video lectures with Mr. L's class. It seems to be 100%: Read the assignment list. The assignment list will contain the reading assignment, daily homework problems (all are to be done... but only certain #s with their corrections are turned in for credit), any FRQs or Quizzes or Labs. hmm for $1000 I would expect ... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 MarkT, I saw on this thread that you have some contact with Mr. Kernion. (It's the only post that comes up if you search for Kernion on the forum.) Have you had any experience with his classes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 MarkT, I saw on this thread that you have some contact with Mr. Kernion. (It's the only post that comes up if you search for Kernion on the forum.) Have you had any experience with his classes? no not yet but they seemed like good value Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopskipjump Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 (edited) There are no video lectures with Mr. L's class. It seems to be 100%: Read the assignment list. The assignment list will contain the reading assignment, daily homework problems (all are to be done... but only certain #s with their corrections are turned in for credit), any FRQs or Quizzes or Labs. hmm for $1000 I would expect ... Y'know - in the beginning, I TOTALLY agreed with you. I was a little disgruntled and unsure if the class was worth the $$$. I thought to myself... I could've given dd that exact assignment list. However, I will say - IF/WHEN dd has had questions, he has responded in a timely manner and has given her adequate explanations as to what-was-what. And, to ME, that was worth the $$$. I could not have answered her questions myself and it would have taken a considerable amount of time and effort for either of us to dig up the explanation elsewhere on our own. ALSO... an "assignment list" is not actually accurate. There is a weekly message with each reading assignment. I forgot about that. He does explain quite a bit about the reading material, gives any special equations or things to pay particular attention to. She prints that out each week and puts it into her book, and then into a binder after that week is over. Edited March 9, 2016 by hopskipjump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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