How does this 9th grade plan look for a STEM kid?

[summerreading]

Please critique my son's 9th grade so far. I am overthinking this high school thing way too much at the moment.

 

1 credit English - IEW C then something else depending on how long this takes him, Literary Lesson Through Lord of the Rings, which covers vocab and grammar too. 

1 credit Biology - FundaFunda

1 credit Algebra I - VideoText

1 credit World Geography - Oak Meadow

 

0.5 credits - Python programming - FundaFunda

0.5 Health

0.5 PE - not sure what to do for this and waiting on doctors to clear him for gym due to some health issues. 

0.5 Logic- Art of Argument

 

0.5 Financial Literacy - not sure what we are using yet. NJ requirements are now that freshmen take this.

I don't even understand yet if I need to follow state requirements for graduation, but this class sounds like a good thing to do.

 

For extra curiculars, he is doing a VEX robotics club and a monthly science club. 

 

He is happiest when he is building robots or crazy lego things, so I'm guessing he is bound for engineering or computer science. 

Any suggestions to stay on track for either of those majors?

 

Thanks so much for any help.

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2017 by summerreading

[regentrude]

1 credit English - IEW C then something else depending on how long this takes him, Literary Lesson Through Lord of the Rings, which covers vocab and grammar too. 

1 credit Biology - FundaFunda

1 credit Algebra I - VideoText

1 credit World Geography - Oak Meadow

 

0.5 credits - Python programming - FundaFunda

0.5 Health

0.5 PE - not sure what to do for this and waiting on doctors to clear him for gym due to some health issues. 

0.5 Logic- Art of Argument

 

0.5 Financial Literacy - not sure what we are using yet. NJ requirements are now that freshmen take this.

I don't even understand yet if I need to follow state requirements for graduation, but this class sounds like a good thing to do.

 

For extra curiculars, he is doing a VEX robotics club and a monthly science club. 

 

He is happiest when he is building robots or crazy lego things, so I'm guessing he is bound for engineering or computer science. 

Any suggestions to stay on track for either of those majors?

I don't see a foreign language. Do the colleges he might potentially be interested in have a foreign language requirement? If so, how many years? 

 

For engineering or computer science: the most important subject is math. It will determine which sciences he can take in high school, and it typically is the root of why college students are not successful. Make sure his math is absolutely rock solid. And plan for some extra math; it is very helpful if they have exposure to calculus in high school and don't see the material for the first time in engineering calculus.

Edited September 16, 2017 by regentrude

[snowbeltmom]

Most colleges are going to want to see at least 2 years of a foreign language.  I like to get the foreign language box checked off as soon as possible so they have more time to devote to areas of interest in the later years of high school.

 

Also, you don't have to follow your public school requirements if you don't want to.  I focus on what the colleges want, not what my state requires.  For example, my kids don't have a health credit, but my state requires the public school kids to have a credit in health.

 

Good luck!

[summerreading]

I don't see a foreign language. Do the colleges he might potentially be interested in have a foreign language requirement? If so, how many years? 

 

For engineering or computer science: the most important subject is math. It will determine which sciences he can take in high school, and it typically is the root of why college students are not successful. Make sure his math is absolutely rock solid. And plan for some extra math; it is very helpful if they have exposure to calculus in high school and don't see the material for the first time in engineering calculus.

 

You're right I should add this in. I was thinking next year to start a foreign language. I am worried about his study skills and being able to handle everything. But I'm looking at Homeschool Spanish Academy and hopefully he will like their trial class and think it's fun.

 

I am thinking with VideoText he will get through precalc earlier than the 4 years. Would precalc be enough exposure?

[summerreading]

Most colleges are going to want to see at least 2 years of a foreign language.  I like to get the foreign language box checked off as soon as possible so they have more time to devote to areas of interest in the later years of high school.

 

Also, you don't have to follow your public school requirements if you don't want to.  I focus on what the colleges want, not what my state requires.  For example, my kids don't have a health credit, but my state requires the public school kids to have a credit in health.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Thank you! So far I have only looked at Rutgers requirements because it's close to home. Maybe I will hold off on health to make a little more time for everything else. I guessing easy electives might be something to do in the summer. 

[regentrude]

I am thinking with VideoText he will get through precalc earlier than the 4 years. Would precalc be enough exposure?

 

No, I as talking about calculus. Precalculus is trigonometry and advanced algebra and a prerequisite for calculus. He can of course, take calc for the first time at college and it will be OK, but he will be in a stronger position if he has seen the material before.

 

Just to give you a heads-up: for an engineering or comp sci major, math below calculus 1 does not count towards the degree. His precalc/trig should be solid enough for him to can place into calculus 1 (most colleges give a placement test), so you don't have to waste tuition on remedial math (anything below calc is considered remedial for engineering students and does not earn credit)

[snowbeltmom]

Please critique my son's 9th grade so far. I am overthinking this high school thing way too much at the moment.

 

1 credit English - IEW C then something else depending on how long this takes him, Literary Lesson Through Lord of the Rings, which covers vocab and grammar too. 

1 credit Biology - FundaFunda

1 credit Algebra I - VideoText

1 credit World Geography - Oak Meadow

 

0.5 credits - Python programming - FundaFunda

0.5 Health

0.5 PE - not sure what to do for this and waiting on doctors to clear him for gym due to some health issues. 

0.5 Logic- Art of Argument

 

0.5 Financial Literacy - not sure what we are using yet. NJ requirements are now that freshmen take this.

I don't even understand yet if I need to follow state requirements for graduation, but this class sounds like a good thing to do.

 

For extra curiculars, he is doing a VEX robotics club and a monthly science club. 

 

He is happiest when he is building robots or crazy lego things, so I'm guessing he is bound for engineering or computer science. 

Any suggestions to stay on track for either of those majors?

 

Thanks so much for any help.

Since your son is heading into STEM, and as Regentrude has already stated, math is very important, if I were in your shoes, I would make a few changes to your current schedule:

 

1.  Add a foreign language now to get that box checked off.

2. Try to accelerate your son's math progression and complete both Algebra I and geometry or Alg II this school year.  This acceleration can be accomplished in many ways.  One way would be to plan on working on math in the summers as well as during the school year.  Another approach would be to drop some of your electives to make more time for math during the school year.  Fwiw, I did not consider health and PE to be academic classes - to me both topics are simply learned by living a healthy lifestyle.  As a result, I did not include these subjects when planning my kids' yearly schedules.  PE was done outside of school hours.

3. I would have a goal of having your son complete, at a minimum, AP Calc AB in high school.  A student going into engineering without high school exposure to calculus will be at a disadvantage since the vast majority of engineering majors will have studied calc in high school. 

 

 

[Guest2]

[quote name="summerreading" post="7788051" timestamp="1505564361

 

I am thinking with VideoText he will get through precalc earlier than the 4 years. Would precalc be enough exposure?

 

You might want to look at the reviews from VideoText Geometry before making your decison about using the program in its entirety. VideoText Algebra is wonderful and it is also a solid Geometry program, but because Tom isn't finishing the last module, there isn't any Trigonometry/ Precalc. Now, maybe I am wrong and he has recently finished it. My oldest did the program as written, but his precalc was weak. We now will switch after the Algebra progrm for the whole geometry portion. In your case, I would probably do a Geometry in additon Algebra 2 in tenth grade. Then you'll be all set up for a year of Precalc and a year of Calc. Hope that helps!

Edited September 16, 2017 by Silver Brook

[summerreading]

Since your son is heading into STEM, and as Regentrude has already stated, math is very important, if I were in your shoes, I would make a few changes to your current schedule:

 

1.  Add a foreign language now to get that box checked off.

2. Try to accelerate your son's math progression and complete both Algebra I and geometry or Alg II this school year.  This acceleration can be accomplished in many ways.  One way would be to plan on working on math in the summers as well as during the school year.  Another approach would be to drop some of your electives to make more time for math during the school year.  Fwiw, I did not consider health and PE to be academic classes - to me both topics are simply learned by living a healthy lifestyle.  As a result, I did not include these subjects when planning my kids' yearly schedules.  PE was done outside of school hours.

3. I would have a goal of having your son complete, at a minimum, AP Calc AB in high school.  A student going into engineering without high school exposure to calculus will be at a disadvantage since the vast majority of engineering majors will have studied calc in high school. 

 

Great advice, thank you.

 

You don't include PE and health in your planning, but do you put it on the transcript?

[summerreading]

You might want to look at the reviews from VideoText Geometry before making your decison about using the program in its entirety. VideoText Algebra is wonderful and it is also a solid Geometry program, but because Tom isn't finishing the last module, there isn't any Trigonometry/ Precalc. Now, maybe I am wrong and he has recently finished it. My oldest did the program as written, but his precalc was weak. We now will switch after the Algebra progrm for the whole geometry portion. In your case, I would probably do a Geometry in additon Algebra 2 in tenth grade. Then you'll be all set up for a year of Precalc and a year of Calc. Hope that helps!

 

This helps a lot. I see he still didn't write Module F yet, so thinking we'll probably jump over to Derek Owens for Geometry. 

[snowbeltmom]

Great advice, thank you.

 

You don't include PE and health in your planning, but do you put it on the transcript?

Yes, I include it on the transcript because some state colleges require it.  In my course description document, I make it obvious that I don't use a formal textbook for health and don't consider health or PE academic classes.

[regentrude]

Yes, I include it on the transcript because some state colleges require it.  In my course description document, I make it obvious that I don't use a formal textbook for health and don't consider health or PE academic classes.

 

same here. I consider health and PE parts of normal life and don't plan those out as formal academic subjects..The credits get listed at the bottom under electives, in case any college has a burning desire to check that box.

[EKS]

This helps a lot. I see he still didn't write Module F yet, so thinking we'll probably jump over to Derek Owens for Geometry. 

 

You may want to consider Derek Owens for math in general.  His majors in college were engineering and physics and this comes through in his courses.

 

That said, with regard to your original question, my son is a robotics engineering major (which essentially combines engineering and CS), and the single most important thing to get right is math.  You want that as solid as possible.  

 

I would say that the second most important thing is writing.  My son does a lot of writing and the fact that we worked long and hard on that has helped him enormously.  Writing instruction doesn't just happen during the writing lesson.  I think my son somehow picked up what good writing sounds like from all of the reading aloud I did.

 

Then comes science, especially physics (and I recommend Derek Owens for physics).

 

Regarding foreign language--my son took two years of Latin with Oak Meadow.  It was fairly painless and it checked the foreign language box.  You're going to want to look carefully at what the colleges your son plans to apply to require.  Sometimes it even varies by major.  For example, last time I checked, UW required two years to get in, but three to graduate (so if you only took two in high school, you would need to take the third in college, which is not something most people want to do) for most majors, including CS, but not for engineering, which only required two.

[JanetC]

I am thinking with VideoText he will get through precalc earlier than the 4 years. Would precalc be enough exposure?

 

There's no such thing as finishing math early when you're a STEM major. The reward for finishing a math book is always that you get to open the next one.

[snowbeltmom]

One more comment regarding the math...I would add a math elective in discrete math.  Both of my college kiddos are STEM kids and they say that the discrete math classes that they took in our homeschool have been very beneficial in their computer science classes.  (Discrete math is a requirement at both of their schools as a pre-req for some computer science classes)  My kids all use AoPS for discrete math.

[Guest]

I would skip logic and use that slot for FL, keyboarding or shop. Logic is covered in geo and the writing portion of english as well as ecs.

[summerreading]

You may want to consider Derek Owens for math in general. His majors in college were engineering and physics and this comes through in his courses.

 

That said, with regard to your original question, my son is a robotics engineering major (which essentially combines engineering and CS), and the single most important thing to get right is math. You want that as solid as possible.

 

I would say that the second most important thing is writing. My son does a lot of writing and the fact that we worked long and hard on that has helped him enormously. Writing instruction doesn't just happen during the writing lesson. I think my son somehow picked up what good writing sounds like from all of the reading aloud I did.

 

Then comes science, especially physics (and I recommend Derek Owens for physics).

 

Regarding foreign language--my son took two years of Latin with Oak Meadow. It was fairly painless and it checked the foreign language box. You're going to want to look carefully at what the colleges your son plans to apply to require. Sometimes it even varies by major. For example, last time I checked, UW required two years to get in, but three to graduate (so if you only took two in high school, you would need to take the third in college, which is not something most people want to do) for most majors, including CS, but not for engineering, which only required two.

Thank you this is so helpful! I may try out Latin this year and do fundafunda Spanish next. He did not like the idea of taking a trial Spanish Skype class and having a conversation for a whole hour. I am liking Oak Meadow so far for geography.

 

Do you mind if I ask where your son is studying? You can PM if you'd rather not post. I want to look up requirements in general for robotics and I'm confused the way some school list it, if it's computer science or engineering.

Edited September 19, 2017 by summerreading

[summerreading]

I would skip logic and use that slot for FL, keyboarding or shop. Logic is covered in geo and the writing portion of english as well as ecs.

Logic meaning fallacies in debate. Is that what your are referring to? What is ecs?

[2_girls_mommy]

FYI, our state homeschool group in all of their high school workshops that I have attended (every year at convention, so a lot!) says that kids can substitute two years of a computer language for a foreign language. So that might be something to look into for yours if you are interested. 

[EKS]

Do you mind if I ask where your son is studying? 

 

He is at WPI.  

[happypamama]

Like another poster suggested, I would have him do geometry alongside of algebra I or II so he could eventually get in calculus before graduation. Calculus for engineers can be quite hefty at the college level (and time consuming -- at my big university with a highly-ranked engineering program, the equivalent to first year high school calc is a 4 credit class), and it would be nice to have seen it before. I would opt to do geometry concurrent with one of the others instead of trying to complete algebra I and II in one year. My DD did algebra I in 8th, but due to a rough family situation in 9th, she didn't complete geometry that year and so is doing it alongside algebra II this year in 10th with no trouble. They're so different that it's not a problem.

[Guest]

Logic meaning fallacies in debate. Is that what your are referring to? What is ecs?

 

 Fallacies in debate  is covered in English class, no need for a separate course.  Those wishing to go further do ecs (extra-curriculars) such as debate club or Mock Trial.

[snowbeltmom]

FYI, our state homeschool group in all of their high school workshops that I have attended (every year at convention, so a lot!) says that kids can substitute two years of a computer language for a foreign language. So that might be something to look into for yours if you are interested. 

 

Did your state homeschool group provide a list of the colleges that permit students to substitute a computer language for a foreign language requirement?  My kids would have loved to have gone this route.  It is too late for them, but this would be helpful information to have for other families I know IRL who are still in middle school and would like to take this approach.

 

[wapiti]

FWIW, I would be extremely skeptical of the suggestion to substitute computer programming language for foreign language for most colleges.  Unless I see it on the specific college admissions websites, I would assume that's not going to cut it.

[SkateLeft]

I agree with Wapiti. My girls applied to lots of engineering schools, and I can't think of one that would have allowed them to substitute a programming language for the foreign language requirement. I'd be extremely wary of trying to do that.

Edited September 19, 2017 by ghostwheel

[summerreading]

Thank you so much everyone for the help.

Since he doesn't like the idea of Skype only Spanish and fundafunda is closed for registration, I'm going to look around this week for something he would like and if I can't find something, we'll do Latin. I don't think I'm ready to test the waters with programming doubling as FL. I don't want to take the chance be falls in love with a school that won't accept it.

 

As for math, VideoText had posted instructions how to complete it on one year so well be doing both Algebra 1 and 2 this year and will keep an eye on the pace.

 

ETA: nevermind, I see the benefit of being geometry done before the PSATs! This he'll do both, Algebra 2 next year.

 

We tried Derek Owens for pre-algebra and something about it wasn't a fit for him. He is comfortable with VT, so we'll decide later if he'll try out DO for geometry or not.

 

So logic is no good as a separate class? I saw it often on the 9th grade planning thread as an elective, hmmm. Ok.

Edited September 19, 2017 by summerreading

[GoodGrief]

You've received good advice. I agree with trying to double up in math if possible this year, and add a foreign language. Personally, I would stick with a modern language to play it safe as far as college requirements, rather than starting Latin.

 

I probably would not do the logic, especially if you are doubling up on math. It's not that logic isn't a good area of study, but at some point you've got to prioritize. The student can't do everything.

 

Honestly, I'd get clarity on the regulations and whether you need him to do financial literacy as a freshman. If you could hold off on that, I would also drop the plan to do programming and financial literacy freshman year, and do Spanish. I'd keep health, but probably do a full year of PE, because physical activity is a good thing. :-)

 

That would give you 2 math credits, 1 science credit, 1 lang arts, 1 social studies, 1 foreign language, 1 PE, and 0.5 health. It's a little heavy, but probably necessary if he is serious about STEM.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Gr8lander

[summerreading]

You've received good advice. I agree with trying to double up in math if possible this year, and add a foreign language. Personally, I would stick with a modern language to play it safe as far as college requirements, rather than starting Latin.

 

I probably would not do the logic, especially if you are doubling up on math. It's not that logic isn't a good area of study, but at some point you've got to prioritize. The student can't do everything.

 

Honestly, I'd get clarity on the regulations and whether you need him to do financial literacy as a freshman. If you could hold off on that, I would also drop the plan to do programming and financial literacy freshman year, and do Spanish. I'd keep health, but probably do a full year of PE, because physical activity is a good thing. :-)

 

That would give you 2 math credits, 1 science credit, 1 lang arts, 1 social studies, 1 foreign language, 1 PE, and 0.5 health. It's a little heavy, but probably necessary if he is serious about STEM.

 

 

Thank you, I really appreciate this. Would you plan anything for health, or just stress healthy living? I have heard the suggestion to do the Glencoe book with a Great Course on nutrition. 

 

I'll look into the state requirement thing. I was just putting it in b/c I thought he HAD to show electives. 

 

ETA: Python programming is broken into three 5 week classes. He is finished with the first and we can take the other 2 anytime. I was thinking to finish the other 2 at some time and add in Java for one credit at some point.

 

Obviously, I'm a bit confused. Anyone have a really good podcast, YT channel or book that would help me get the bigger picture here, like homeschooling high school to get to college for slow moms?

Edited September 19, 2017 by summerreading

[GoodGrief]

Thank you, I really appreciate this. Would you plan anything for health, or just stress healthy living? I have heard the suggestion to do the Glencoe book with a Great Course on nutrition. 

 

I'll look into the state requirement thing. I was just putting it in b/c I thought he HAD to show electives. 

 

ETA: Python programming is broken into three 5 week classes. He is finished with the first and we can take the other 2 anytime. I was thinking to finish the other 2 at some time and add in Java for one credit at some point.

 

Obviously, I'm a bit confused. Anyone have a really good podcast, YT channel or book that would help me get the bigger picture here, like homeschooling high school to get to college for slow moms?

 

Health is one of those kind of state-required classes that I would definitely keep light. Maybe read something, or watch some videos.

 

Electives can be anything that is above and beyond the required credits. So extra math classes could even be electives. Financial literacy is a great topic, I'm just not sure it's a priority for this year.

 

If programming is fun for him and something he can add in without sacrificing the higher priority courses, I say go for it! Ultimately you know what will work for your kiddo.