Texas Tech ISD High School Courses: Review?

[J&JMom]

I was wondering if anyone could provide me an idea of the workload with Texas Tech online high school courses, specifically Spanish I and Algebra I?  We are planning to send our rising eighth-grader to public high school, and our Texas school said that he would need to take classes at TTUISD as well as the Algebra I STAAR test to earn credit.  He is ready for these classes, but this will be his first time in our 4th year homeschooling we will be outsourcing.  

As an aside, he is rather miffed about taking the Algebra I class with their standard textbook.  He is quite enamored with Art of Problem Solving as we did Pre-Algebra this year. He doesn't appreciate that the school makes the rules, not us. None of us want to homeschool high school, so we have to abide by their regulations.  I did tell him that there was nothing saying he couldn't work through AoPS on his own, but, of course, that's redundant and more work in his 13-year-old eyes :)   Now, to be fair, we could technically do AoPS and submit the work completed for a portfolio review process and pray that credit is awarded.  I just think doing the online class is easiest since it should take him just a few months to complete with his mathy mind and spend the rest of the year doing AoPS and MathCounts prep. Either way, he has to take the STAAR. 

Edited June 3, 2016 by J&JMom

[TarynB]

Since you aren't getting any responses (or many views), I thought I'd mention that a board member who posts under the name "Lanny" has a daughter who uses TTUISD, I believe. You might try searching for Lanny's posts and/or send a PM.

 

Also, your post ended up on the logic stage board; you might have better luck cross-posting on the high school board since you're interested specifically in high school courses. Or just consider this a friendly bump.  ;)

[Janeway]

He can do algebra with whatever book he wants and then do their test out. Do a search for their CBE.

[J&JMom]

He can do algebra with whatever book he wants and then do their test out. Do a search for their CBE.

Unfortunately, since Algebra is a STAAR test, Texas Tech will not permit him to do CBE for course credit, only recovery credit after failing the course in a public school.  For Spanish, this would work.

[J&JMom]

Since you aren't getting any responses (or many views), I thought I'd mention that a board member who posts under the name "Lanny" has a daughter who uses TTUISD, I believe. You might try searching for Lanny's posts and/or send a PM.

 

Also, your post ended up on the logic stage board; you might have better luck cross-posting on the high school board since you're interested specifically in high school courses. Or just consider this a friendly bump.  ;)

Good point. I posted this as on the High School board, too. 

[Lanny]

My DD has completed the TTUISD Spanish 1 course. She is nearing the end of the 2nd semester of Algebra 1.  Before she began 9th grade, I knew that 26 credits would be needed for graduation from Texas Tech High School.  6 1/2 credits per school year. I suggested to DD that she try for 7 credits each school year. The increase in Workload, from Texas Tech Middle School, to Texas Tech High School, was huge.  DD got behind and she is now in the process of finishing the remaining 9th grade courses.  As you know, there is an EOC for Algebra 1. There are also EOCs for Biology 1 and for English 1.  Three (3) of the five (5) EOCs are for mandatory 9th grade courses, so in that respect, IMO, 9th grade may be the most stressful, for students in Texas.  Some of the textbooks (I think Biology is one of them) weigh almost 6 pounds. The courses start on page 1, and end on the last page in the textbook, so they cover much more material than would be possible, using the same textbook, in a Brick and Mortar Texas Public High School.  My understanding is that (some or all?) new courses they are developing will use eBooks, rather than traditional textbooks. Final Exams count for 25% of the grade for the semester and Final Exams must be passed.     HTH