bethben Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 This is my sophomore's schedule for next year so far: Potter's School: Chemistry - pre-AP ; Writing - by the end of it, he will be ready for college level writing; Government College Algebra at the Community College. He is done with his foreign language credits per my requirements. Is this enough? Does he need another credit worthy class? As you can see, it's all very hands off. I am not good with grading and keeping my high schooler accountable so we farm most of it out. I don't want it to be too intense because Potter's school classes do require a lot and it will be his first time on a college campus. He's done about 20 hours on art type projects (pretty intricate cardboard sculpting) and I could round it off with a video art course of some sort? Help! Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Here is a list of possible electives I gave my ds at one point to give him an idea of the wide range of options. Of course even this list is only a fraction of the possibilities! CS: Computer science, robotics, graphic design, networking, AP Computer Science, web development, Java, Python, C++ ART: Art history, acrylic painting, comic book art, film studies, film making, digital photography, music history SCIENCE: astronomy, earth science, environmental science, anatomy, engineering, marine science, microbiology SKILLS: auto repair, home ec, drafting, personal finance SOCIAL STUDIES: history of aviation, history of ??, geography, psychology, linguistics, criminology, philosophy ENGLISH: journalism, novel writing, fiction, poetry, speech/debate, science fiction MATH: statistics 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad S Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 ...He's done about 20 hours on art type projects (pretty intricate cardboard sculpting) and I could round it off with a video art course of some sort? Help! There are two Great Courses that might make a wonderful elective for you: How to Look at and Understand Great Art and How to Listen to and Understand Great Music. The first one fits more closely, but the second one (on concert music) would give more breadth as part of a fine arts course, and the presenter is very dynamic and engaging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 youngest has done the following for electives: art (beyond the 1 credit I require) piano violin robotics chess logic genetics philosophy oldest did the following: equine science archaeology paleontology forinsics logic philosophy poetry voice and choir piano marine biology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 He needs a computer science course of some sort for a lot of reasons and I can see him liking web design if anything. Where could I find something that will teach him this for free or cheap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 My dd will be taking EdX's Computer Science for All, which starts on June 7th. It's 14 weeks, and she will get half a credit for it. I don't think your current plan of 4 courses is enough, unless he did a ton his freshman year or will have heavier schedules as a junior and senior. Where we live, 20 credits is the rock-bottom minimum, and college-bound students generally have 24. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 He will have 3 high school credits and two credits for college level math- one semester is one credit for high school for a total of 5 credits. He does need another credit at least with a possible additional .5 PE credit if I can figure out something different for him than his current .5 PE credit. He just completed 6.5 credits this past year and has 1-2 credits from 8th grade already if I choose to take them. They were both high school level work - one in foreign language and one in math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 My dd will be taking EdX's Computer Science for All, which starts on June 7th. It's 14 weeks, and she will get half a credit for it. I don't think your current plan of 4 courses is enough, unless he did a ton his freshman year or will have heavier schedules as a junior and senior. Where we live, 20 credits is the rock-bottom minimum, and college-bound students generally have 24. This might be a good option for my daughter for next year. Is this the correct course? https://www.edx.org/course/cs-all-introduction-computer-science-harveymuddx-cs005x-0 It looks like they offer a live mentoring course for this. Is that something you are considering and is there a fee for that? I'm having trouble figuring that part out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 This might be a good option for my daughter for next year. Is this the correct course? https://www.edx.org/course/cs-all-introduction-computer-science-harveymuddx-cs005x-0 It looks like they offer a live mentoring course for this. Is that something you are considering and is there a fee for that? I'm having trouble figuring that part out. Yes, that's the course. We are not interested in the mentoring. My husband is a designer/programmer (he doesn't do that anymore, but it's what he was trained in), so he can help my dd with any questions she has. There is a fee for Mentive sessions, but they either don't post it or hide it very well, which is a red flag for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haiku Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 They were both high school level work - one in foreign language and one in math. I have been told, repeatedly and to my chagrin, that middle school math courses don't count for high school credit for college acceptance. What I have been told is that colleges only care about what math classes you took in your four years of high school, and if you take, for example, Geometry in 9th grade and then do Algebra II and Pre-calculus, that's only three math credits and they won't count your 8th-grade algebra as fourth credit. He will have 3 high school credits and two credits for college level math- one semester is one credit for high school for a total of 5 credits. Ok. You only listed 3 Potter's School classes and one DE class. To me it looked like 4 credits. I assumed that College Algebra was a semester course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 He'll take two college classes in math next year for a total of 5 credits. Also, the math courses he did do in junior high were algebra 2 and geometry/ intro to trig. They are high school level courses. He will most likely take at least 4 semesters of college math anyway, so we're good to go either way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 https://allinonehighschool.com/2014/08/03/free-computer-courses-for-homeschoolers-only/ Did your child do these courses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio mom Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Elective options: The professor Carol website has an online access fee and a lot of music related options. Also, the old schoolhouse magazine website has lots of courses available for a monthly access fee. https://schoolhouseteachers.com/2015/02/high-school-courses/ Does your son already spend time enjoying something you can turn into a credit? Such as drama camp, music lessons, in any productions, work - occupational education.... I am keeping track of my daughter's library books for the purpose of creating a "mystery and suspense literature" course. My daughter is rarely without an Agatha Christie within arms reach. Lee Binz has an amazon mini e-book called Delight Directed Learning. Since you already have an intense year for him with Potter's School courses, you might want something more unstructured. I have even seen "movies as literature" course reviews on Cathy Duffy website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Yes this---He is already in for a pretty intense year I think. He does need the additional credit, but I don't want it to be too overwhelming. I've been thinking of an artistic pursuits high school course with a video art course possible music appreciation course listed above. Either that or a how to design a web site course because I think that would be something he may actually use in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 He'll take two college classes in math next year for a total of 5 credits. Also, the math courses he did do in junior high were algebra 2 and geometry/ intro to trig. They are high school level courses. He will most likely take at least 4 semesters of college math anyway, so we're good to go either way. I think that college algebra is going to be a big step back for him, if he successfully completed two high school math credits in junior high. Is he the one currently in Saxon Advanced Math? If so, I can't imagine that he shouldn't be in precalc at the very least. My dd took precalc algebra at the local university after one semester in Algebra 2, she was bored out of her mind and said that her skills got rusty. College algebra tends to be filled with students who aren't taking any further math. Precalc (in college) tends to be filled with students who didn't place into calculus. In both cases, not usually a great choice for a student who seems quite strong in math. I would look at their text/syllabus and make sure it's a good fit. Other than that, I would say that yes, he needs another credit. First, I would strongly consider another year of foreign language, as it is strongly recommended at many universities. Even is he does not apply to selective universities, this type of thing will be considered for honors college, scholarships, and so on. And I would probably do something like a Great Courses series and some field trips to round out a fine arts credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 I agree with the College algebra thing. It does give him a chance to get his feet wet in the college class thing and adjust to the pace without having to worry about the content as much. He'll only be a sophomore and at this point, it does not look like he's going to enter a math type career. Just because he's good in math doesn't always mean that math will be related to their lifelong career. He has plenty of time to take 6 college math classes if he does decide to go into a math related field. I tend to see steering him more toward probability and statistics more than calculus at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famof5redheads Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 (edited) There are so many required courses for high schoolers that offering your student the choice of choosing his elective seems like the kindest option. If you want to outsource it, is there a course you can find through local co-op, tutorial or online with something like Landry Academy? Elective options at my kids' tutorial include logic, speech, debate, health and nutrition, archery and assorted computer courses. But you could really have fun with it. What would he love to take? I took a second foreign language as an elective in college and really enjoyed it. I was the only one in the class who wasn't filling a requirement. Edited May 30, 2016 by famof5redheads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 I think what we're going to wind up doing is a discussion class where they combine movies and talk about the worldview of each. He loves both. I have to find out a bit more about the class, but it's an elective and it seems like he will enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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