Too many APs! Now: APUSH--workload?

[daijobu]

Dd (now a sophomore, junior next year) wants to add APUSH at PAH with Mrs. Richman to her schedule next year.  Currently she plans to take:

 

AP Calc BC

AP Physics C

AP Lang and Comp

...some other easier classes

 

I had pushed back on AP Comp, but she convinced me she could handle it.  She's already begun to self study calculus using the AoPS textbook (she's covered derivatives and integrals), and she's pretty mathy already, so not too worried about calc and physics.  

 

I would prefer she delay APUSH until senior year, but she wants to get a-g credit (a Univ of Calif thing).  Our original plan was to take another history class at WTMA.  

 

So questions from dd and me:

 

Weekly Workload

How many hours of studying?

How many pages of reading?

How much writing?

 

How much memorization of facts versus spending time analyzing primary sources?

How well prepared are students for the exam?  

 

Would you schedule this junior or senior year?  

 

Thanks so much!  

[GoodGrief]

My kids haven't done that combo, but if she is motivated and generally organized, she will likely be fine. I'd keep the rest of the schedule flexible and light.

[mjbucks1]

Is she taking both AP Physics C courses or just mechanics? That would make a difference in workload. Dd took APUSH with Mrs. Richman this year and loved the class. She felt very well prepared for the exam. There is really not a lot of memorizing facts, but more synthesis of concepts. There is writing every week, but in the form of answering essay questions. The students must also read 9 primary source documents each week. There is reading due each month, but that can be spread out each week. There are more assignments due each week, such as watching video lectures and completing quizzes. There is also one big essay for a national competition (if she is taking AP Lang with Maya Inspektor, they will also write a paper for a national contest). Dd spent about 12 hours/week on APUSH.

 

I think it really depends on the other activities your Dd has going on throughout the year. For some, 4 would be too many. My Dd took APUSH and AP Chem this year (she is a sophomore), and that was plenty, but she also swims competitively and practices 3 hours/day. Some kids struggle with calculus, but my ds found it easy (as your Dd might as well). If your Dd is motivated (and it sounds like she is) she will probably be fine. PAH has a pretty generous refund policy, so if she starts and finds it is too much she may be able to drop it (but you would need a back up plan).

[merylvdm]

OK  AP Lang and Comp is an easy one and my kids really just did their usual English (we did Sonlight) and then wrote it with pretty much no prep. So she should be fine with that. Mine all did APUSH in 11th grade and al managed 5s BUT we are a history loving family. We had done Sonlight since we started homeschooling (they ranged from 3rd - 8th grade) and so they had covered it well in the past. My oldest took APUSH after Sonlight's core where they use History of US but my boys had already done it by the time they reached high school so I made a curriculum that used Great Courses, Critical Thinking US History, lots of movies and some non-fiction. 

 

So they came into the year with all the basic knowledge and we just went deeper. They wrote 2 to 3 short essays for me each week based on prompts from the Great Courses videos and my boys said they felt those prepared them well for the essays. The Critical Thinking books plus they completed for a few years in National History Day, meant they knew how to work with primary sources so the DBQ was easy. The hardest is going to be the MCQs. I helped a friend's daughter last year and in the final prep I realized she just didn't have the depth of knowledge that my kids did to be able to make educated guesses as those are hard (this also meant she struggled to give enough detail in the essays). She got a 3 (and she is a good student and wasn't lazy!). There is just a lot of detail to know. My kids all read a lot of historical fiction, watched lots of historically based movies (not just in their junior year but since they were in elementary school), had been on quiz bowl teams etc so they didn't study the detail - they just knew it by that point.

 

Hopefully that rather lengthy response helps. I just know the only reason my friend's daughter didn't manage a 4 was because it was hard to try to cover the depth that was needed in a year. Obviously, one can do it - but as your daughter will have limited time, I would suggest that you take her prior knowledge into account.

[daijobu]

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses.  She is taking both physics C courses, and while she's strong in math, she hasn't taken a high school physics course before.  She also isn't terribly strong in US history; her last exposure was History of US so many years ago.  

 

But she does have a good work ethic and has know problem bucking up and studying.  And she did really enjoy the WTMA renaissance history class that's ending soon.  Nonetheless I'm going to push back because I still don't see why she can't delay and take it senior year.  If anyone else has thoughts on this, I'm still listening!