High school planning help

[The Governess]

My dd is finishing up 7th and now that her 8th grade year is set, I am starting to look into high school. This kid is passionate about ballet and very academic, but has a hard time ranking her classes... she "likes everything." Her strengths are in math and foreign languages, but she says that WWS2 is her favorite class. She's not sure what she wants to pursue more deeply in high school other than trying computer programming and some sort of art. Help???

 

Here is what we did in 7th and will do in 8th:

 

7th:

Clover Creek Physics

Review of Alg I using AOPS and started Algebra II with Foerster and Geometry with Chakerian

Medieval History

Intro to Lit and Comp class

Socratic Discussion class

WWS2 class

Chinese 1

Lukeion Latin 1

 

8th:

WTMA Chemistry

Finish Alg 2 and Geo

US History

Another Lit and Comp class

WWS3

Chinese 2

Latin 2

One semester of formal logic and one semester intro to programming

 

For 9th she will continue with both languages, and start some sort of great books sequence (this is my thing, not hers; my guess is she will not study great books in college, and it is important to our homeschooling philosophy that this is incorporated into her studies). Add in a math and science and we are up to six credits.... and this will be true for 10th as well. So I can add in 1-2 credits a year of interest-led courses or other necessities like econ/government/health.

 

She also has mentioned learning French after she is done with Latin....

 

I am also wondering which classes are important for her to pursue AP/DE level - science? (She will certainly have the math, but she says she's "not going to be a scientist") Math? Programming if she ends up enjoying it? English Language? I think for sure she will take the AP tests for her foreign languages; they are not offered at any colleges/universities near us.

 

She has the potential to have a pretty solid transcript, but I want to be sure that her skills and personality show through - I don't want her to be so well-rounded that her transcript is solid but generic.

 

Of course, she could end up joining a ballet company straight out of high school (not out of the realm of possibilities....). ;)

 

Thanks for your advice; she has a lot of potential and I want to make sure I am guiding her correctly.

[GoodGrief]

Your daughter's situation sounds a bit like my daughter's was coming out of the eighth grade, with heavy extracurriculars that need to be accommodated and relatively advanced academically. My daughter studied Chinese as well, and did not know what she wanted to do (though ultimately she went in a STEM direction.) She was dancing at the time too, though that fell by the wayside for other things as high school progressed :-)

 

It sounds like you would like to keep her options open for most anything right now, which means a solid academic transcript along with the intense ballet schedule. I'd be thinking about curricula that can be done on-the-go, in the car, in the hall between dance classes, backstage at rehearsals. Make sure she takes advantage of opportunities to participate in leadership building activities and community service, either in conjunction with her chosen extracurriculars or outside of them. Document all of this, because you will forget the specifics when it comes time to make the post-high school plan and all of this needs to be written out. :-)

 

I'm not sure what Great Books looks like for you, but I'd make sure she has four years of solid social studies, English, science, math and a language (sounds like she might have more than one language, but make sure she has at least one that she continues through high school), along with an additional course or two every year. Not every course has to be super heavy. Dual enrollment is fine, but remember that working with a college schedule can be tough, and those grades will all have to go on her record...a single bad prof or class that is a bad fit can tank the GPA. So proceed with caution.

 

If she tests well, the appropriate standardized tests can validate her homeschool grades. My daughter took SAT subject tests and AP exams beginning in 9th grade. May is the AP testing time, and there is generally an SAT test session in June, so you can coordinate testing with the end of coursework in the applicable subject. The Math 2 subject test is a good one to take, and I'd do that after she finishes precalc, assuming she does that in ninth grade.

 

How is her Chinese being done now? Is she working with a tutor? Are there dual enrollment opportunities in your area? Chinese is where we ran into some difficulty in finding appropriate course work; dual enrollment was unreliable where we were, and her extracurriculars made an immersion experience impractical. In retrospect, I wish we had gone with the CTY Chinese classes early on, leading into AP Chinese. As it was, her Chinese instruction was a bit of a patchwork mess, though she is doing well in intermediate university level Chinese now.

 

Not everything has to be AP or dual enrollment :-) My daughter did 1-3 every year, along with some very basic homeschool classes. If she had a passion for science, then sciences would be great APs, but it sounds like just trying a variety of courses makes sense in her case. Learning to be a strong writer is huge, and I think that AP English Lit and/or English Lang are wise choices for the capable student.

 

Derek Owens math courses work very well for kids with unpredictable schedules. Unfortunately you probably will have to dual enroll for math above Calc BC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Governess]

Your daughter's situation sounds a bit like my daughter's was coming out of the eighth grade, with heavy extracurriculars that need to be accommodated and relatively advanced academically. My daughter studied Chinese as well, and did not know what she wanted to do (though ultimately she went in a STEM direction.) She was dancing at the time too, though that fell by the wayside for other things as high school progressed :-)

 

Yes, she is currently dancing up to 20 hours a week, some of those during the day but the majority in the afternoon/evening.  She also spends the majority of her summer dancing and last summer she attended her first selective summer intensive programs.  She is "all in" right now, but I know from experience that interests can change a lot once girls hit high school.  ;-)

 

It sounds like you would like to keep her options open for most anything right now, which means a solid academic transcript along with the intense ballet schedule. I'd be thinking about curricula that can be done on-the-go, in the car, in the hall between dance classes, backstage at rehearsals. Make sure she takes advantage of opportunities to participate in leadership building activities and community service, either in conjunction with her chosen extracurriculars or outside of them. Document all of this, because you will forget the specifics when it comes time to make the post-high school plan and all of this needs to be written out. :-)

 

She is already used to working in the car and in the break room.  It has been a necessary thing for her in order to stay on top of things!  She enjoys online classes and likes having outside feedback, so most of her subjects are covered that way, and I schedule her classes around her dance schedule.  I am considering having her work on the  congressional award during high school.  She is a bit shy and hasn't taken on much in the way of leadership roles so far, but over the next year I am going to work with her on finding some interesting volunteer opportunities and/or maybe starting something up on her own.  I think she would enjoy tutoring as well. 

 

I'm not sure what Great Books looks like for you, but I'd make sure she has four years of solid social studies, English, science, math and a language (sounds like she might have more than one language, but make sure she has at least one that she continues through high school), along with an additional course or two every year. Not every course has to be super heavy. Dual enrollment is fine, but remember that working with a college schedule can be tough, and those grades will all have to go on her record...a single bad prof or class that is a bad fit can tank the GPA. So proceed with caution.

 

I'm not sure what Great Books looks like for us either!  I am still in the process of figuring that out.  My goal is to cover the most important works and go for depth rather than breadth.  It's important to me that she is left with an appreciation of the human story and a sense of her place in it, but I also want to focus on skill building: clear communication of ideas, strong arguments, critical thinking, the ability to make connections across cultures and time periods, etc.  I may break out US History for 11th and then do a year of non-US history from 1500+ in 12th.  I could probably incorporate AP English Lit and/or Language into what I want to accomplish, and then maybe have her try SAT tests for US History and World History. 

 

She will likely take AP Chinese and AP Latin in 10th.  I will have her continue with the Chinese in some form during 11th and 12th, probably readings and meeting with a tutor for conversation practice.  The Latin she may stop with AP and then move to French.  DE will be tricky because of her schedule, yes.  I will have to be very selective with what I sign her up for. 

 

If she tests well, the appropriate standardized tests can validate her homeschool grades. My daughter took SAT subject tests and AP exams beginning in 9th grade. May is the AP testing time, and there is generally an SAT test session in June, so you can coordinate testing with the end of coursework in the applicable subject. The Math 2 subject test is a good one to take, and I'd do that after she finishes precalc, assuming she does that in ninth grade.

 

She does generally test well.  We will definitely be utilizing AP and SAT subject tests, but I want to be selective and not overwhelm her with too many.  I think I am going to have her start taking the general SATs in spring of her 8th grade year. 

 

How is her Chinese being done now? Is she working with a tutor? Are there dual enrollment opportunities in your area? Chinese is where we ran into some difficulty in finding appropriate course work; dual enrollment was unreliable where we were, and her extracurriculars made an immersion experience impractical. In retrospect, I wish we had gone with the CTY Chinese classes early on, leading into AP Chinese. As it was, her Chinese instruction was a bit of a patchwork mess, though she is doing well in intermediate university level Chinese now.

 

Chinese - ugh.  Yes, it is a bear.  She did 6 semesters with CTY - their beginning and most of their intermediate level classes.  At some point the schedule became impossible to coordinate with dance (all of their classes met in the afternoon) so we had to abandon them.  They did give her a great foundation.  We switched to an online tutor after that (middle of 6th), and dd was just not motivated.  So we looked for some other options... and ended up using Florida Virtual School for Chinese 1 this year.  It's not the best, but she is using her good foundation to work through the material.  She isn't getting very good conversation experience, which bothers me.  I may look into a local tutor that can meet with her just to work on oral skills.   

 

In our area there is no DE whatsoever for Chinese beyond a year 1 beginning level.  It's frustrating.  I did find an academic center that offers AP Chinese classes, so I am hopeful that she can take advantage of those once she gets to that level.   

 

Not everything has to be AP or dual enrollment :-) My daughter did 1-3 every year, along with some very basic homeschool classes. If she had a passion for science, then sciences would be great APs, but it sounds like just trying a variety of courses makes sense in her case. Learning to be a strong writer is huge, and I think that AP English Lit and/or English Lang are wise choices for the capable student.

 

This is good advice.  :)

 

Derek Owens math courses work very well for kids with unpredictable schedules. Unfortunately you probably will have to dual enroll for math above Calc BC.

 

Thanks for this recommendation.  Right now she is just doing math with me, but once she gets to Calculus she will need an outside teacher - I don't feel confident enough that I could teach her well at that level.  This will be one area she will need to use DE for, for sure. 

 

Thanks for all of this input and helping me think all of this through!!

 

[GoodGrief]

Re: leadership for the shy-ish student, tutoring is a great idea. Opportunities should inevitably arise at the dance school too...choreography or instruction of younger students, perhaps. Keep your eye open for ways she can use her dance in the community: perhaps choreographing numbers for a school play or bringing a small group of dancers to entertain for senior citizens or community nonprofit events, that sort of thing.If she (and you) are looking, you will likely find the opportunities falling into her lap. My shy daughter found that her volunteer gigs were often a place she could show leadership once she had been around a while (which is a great lifeskill, beyond having something to fill in that blank on scholarship applications!)

 

As far as the SAT, I know there was a discussion in another thread about the pros and cons of starting SAT practice early. My daughter did take the PSAT annually starting in 9th grade, so that she was well prepared for the junior year PSAT and the possibility of National Merit opportunities. She took her first general SAT the week after her junior year PSAT, and the score was good enough that no more were needed. The SATs are expensive, and you may find your dollars and her study time is better spent in those earlier years knocking out a couple (or more) of SAT subject tests.  Read through that other thread though, about the ACT, because people laid out some valuable thoughts there.

[The Governess]

Re: leadership for the shy-ish student, tutoring is a great idea. Opportunities should inevitably arise at the dance school too...choreography or instruction of younger students, perhaps. Keep your eye open for ways she can use her dance in the community: perhaps choreographing numbers for a school play or bringing a small group of dancers to entertain for senior citizens or community nonprofit events, that sort of thing.If she (and you) are looking, you will likely find the opportunities falling into her lap. My shy daughter found that her volunteer gigs were often a place she could show leadership once she had been around a while (which is a great lifeskill, beyond having something to fill in that blank on scholarship applications!)

 

As far as the SAT, I know there was a discussion in another thread about the pros and cons of starting SAT practice early. My daughter did take the PSAT annually starting in 9th grade, so that she was well prepared for the junior year PSAT and the possibility of National Merit opportunities. She took her first general SAT the week after her junior year PSAT, and the score was good enough that no more were needed. The SATs are expensive, and you may find your dollars and her study time is better spent in those earlier years knocking out a couple (or more) of SAT subject tests. Read through that other thread though, about the ACT, because people laid out some valuable thoughts there.

Great ideas, thank you! I think she could do well tutoring math or Latin. She has beautiful Chinese handwriting but I'd think anyone learning Chinese would want to be tutored by a native speaker.

 

Volunteering in a dance-related capacity is definitely on her list. She has already expressed an interest in assisting in a pre-ballet class next year, and has participated in some charity shows with their non-profit. A choreography project would be great and would get her out of her comfort zone for sure! I've also though it would be fun for her to start a coding club for girls, if she ends up liking it (dh could help her with this).

 

Regarding the SAT, if she takes it in 8th, she has to request for her scores to be saved, right? I was thinking this would be a good chance for her to try it out without the worry that the score has to go on her permanent record. It may also give her more DE options. I'm following that other thread as I think this through.

 

Thanks again for all of your help! :)

[Hilltopmom]

I'll just add that volunteering at the dance studio has been great for my dd. She started last year at age 13 with assisting in one class a week & added a second this year.

Doesn't cut into her dance hours since the little kid classes tend toward be earlier in the afternoon & the teen classes later in the evening.

She's at the studio everyday anyways ;)

[The Governess]

So if she did the following, based on her current strengths and expressed interests:

 

9th

 

Great Books: Ancient History and Lit - 2 credits

Honors Biology (and maybe try SAT2) - 1 credit

Pre-Calculus (and SAT2) - 1 credit

Latin 3 - 1 credit

Chinese 3 - 1 credit

AP Computer Science (assuming she likes it and would be prepared to take this after an introductory course?) - 1 credit

Health (we would probably knock this out over the summer) - 0.5 credit

 

10th

Great books: Medieval to Reformation History and Lit - 2 credits

AP Chem (or SAT2?) - 1 credit

AP Calculus (or should I not worry about AP if she will be following this with DE math?) - 1 credit

AP Latin - 1 credit

Chinese 4 - 1 credit

Fine Art - 1 credit

 

11th:

 

Great Books: United States History and Lit (and possibly SAT2 for history and AP English Lit) - 2 credits

United States Government - 0.5 credit

AP Physics - 1 credit

DE math - 1 credit

AP Chinese - 1 credit

French - 1 credit (if she does this DE this might be 2 credits)

Elective - 0.5 credit

 

12th:

 

Great Books: World History and Lit 1500+ (maybe with AP English Language) - 2 credits

Economics - 0.5 credit

DE Science (more physics?) - 1 credit

DE math - 1 credit

Chinese Readings - 1 credit

French - 1-2 credits

Elective - 0.5 credits

 

If she ends up enjoying comp sci, her other elective credits could be used for that. Or she could intern with dh if she wants (he works in that field) and then it could become an extracurricular, and her electives could be in something else that interests her.

 

Also, I am going to need to find some extras for her that relate to her language and math skills. I am already looking into the computational linguistics Olympiad. An immersion experience of some sort in Chinese is on my list as well. And maybe a project that combines dance, math, and physics? ;-)

 

Does this sound like a good tentative plan for this student?

Edited April 24, 2017 by lovelearnandlive

[The Governess]

I'll just add that volunteering at the dance studio has been great for my dd. She started last year at age 13 with assisting in one class a week & added a second this year.

Doesn't cut into her dance hours since the little kid classes tend toward be earlier in the afternoon & the teen classes later in the evening.

She's at the studio everyday anyways ;)

Thanks for sharing. The studio does become their home away from home, doesn't it? :)