Feedback on Class Schedule and Online Classes

[satellite]

**What's in blue or is crossed off are my edits

For the 2018/2019 school year, I will be a Junior.

Here's what my class schedule looks like right now minus the cc courses:

• AP Physics 1 Honors Physics
• AP Lang
• AP Calc A/B
• AP Euro History
• AP Comp Science (Principles or A - undecided)
• AP Statistics
• EDIT: Self-Study AP Environmental Science?

__________________________________________________

I'm not sure where I want to take these classes at, so (please, pretty please) reccomend some online classes. Unfortunately, it has to be secular. My charter school pays for classes, and they don't allow anything that has a religious or spirutal basis. I know this rules out so many great options like Kobe Academy, HSLDA, The Potters' School and so many more - but I am required to abide by their rules whether or not they pay for it, since I do want credit for all the courses I take. I think the most important thing I'm looking for in a class is something that'll prepare me for the exam.

So far, this is what I'm thinking of for my classes:

AP Physics 1 with UCscout, DebraBell (Kristen Lauria), or PAH (Jack Kernion). Honors Physics with DerekOwens.

AP Lang with Bluetent (Brigid Thompson) or PAH (Kathryn Walker) or AIM Academy (Lilli Serbicki)

AP Calc A/B with DerekOwens or UCscout.

AP Euro with PAH (Hannah Donohue), UCscout, Noah Nation, or VHS learning.

AP Comp Science - Principles with UCscout or CodeHS. A with Edhesive, CodeHS, or FLVS.

AP Statistics with JVLA (Stephen Haessler), UCscout, or NUVHS, Edhesive.

Opinions on my class schedule, online class options, or anything at all are very welcome. Sharing experiences with any of these online providers would be lovely as well. Online class reccomendations would superb!! I've also viewed a bunch of threads related to what I mentioned here. Thank you for reading (:

[mirabillis]

fascinating to see a student on these boards.. my son will be a junior next year too.

my first thought is that 6 AP classes at a time is a lot. i've only ever seen people attempt that on college confidential boards. i've seen some b&m students with upwards of 5 APs in junior year. but even that seems a bit over the top...

as for reviews/thoughts - we're also on an AP heavy schedule (but not that heavy). 2 in 9th; 4 in 10th; 3 in 11th... we're signed up for 3 next year. 
AP Lang (PAH - Walker) - i hear good things. 1x weekly live meeting. but not as much workload as other options
AP Calc A/B (Wilson Hill) - we use DO for some sciences and like it a lot.
AP Stats (Edhesive) - we had a great experience with edhesive for CS-A - so i'd go with CS-A w/ edhesive. highly recommend.
Physics - we thought of adding AP Physics 1 too but I wonder about that workload, so we were thinking of opting for DO Hon Physics and taking SAT II following

what makes you want to take all APs? what has your AP experience been like for 9th/10th to prepare you? 
as for scheduling, it's important to weigh live meeting times and workload/reading requirements. can yuo handle all that> do you have time-consuming ECs or part-time job or volunteering to consider?

[GoodGrief]

I'm only familiar with Derek Owens and PAH (though not that specific teacher there.) I do think it could possibly be quite overwhelming to do that many online courses (and it sounds like you have dual enrollment courses planned too?) with so many different providers and conflicting expectations, especially if there are set meeting times for each (I know Derek Owens is work-at-your-own-pace, so is probably a great choice in this scenario.) My initial reaction looking at this is that it will be too much unless this is the sort of schedule you are accustomed to doing.

Is there a reason you are wanting to do both Calc and Statistics? With all the APs, I am assuming you are college bound. Have you completed your foreign language requirement? If you have only done two years, you might want to consider a third year rather than do two maths next year.

 

[regentrude]

What are your college plans? Do you know what you want to major in?

Just a heads-up: the AP Physics 1 credit will be useful only for a very limited number of majors: those who require an algebra based physics class. If you plan any STEM besides biology, you will need to take a calculus based physics course in college and the AP Phys 1 credit will not count towards your major. But perhaps you know this already.

[satellite]

On 4/22/2018 at 9:51 PM, mirabillis said:

fascinating to see a student on these boards.. my son will be a junior next year too.

my first thought is that 6 AP classes at a time is a lot. i've only ever seen people attempt that on college confidential boards. i've seen some b&m students with upwards of 5 APs in junior year. but even that seems a bit over the top...

as for reviews/thoughts - we're also on an AP heavy schedule (but not that heavy). 2 in 9th; 4 in 10th; 3 in 11th... we're signed up for 3 next year. 
AP Lang (PAH - Walker) - i hear good things. 1x weekly live meeting. but not as much workload as other options
AP Calc A/B (Wilson Hill) - we use DO for some sciences and like it a lot.
AP Stats (Edhesive) - we had a great experience with edhesive for CS-A - so i'd go with CS-A w/ edhesive. highly recommend.
Physics - we thought of adding AP Physics 1 too but I wonder about that workload, so we were thinking of opting for DO Hon Physics and taking SAT II following

what makes you want to take all APs? what has your AP experience been like for 9th/10th to prepare you? 
as for scheduling, it's important to weigh live meeting times and workload/reading requirements. can yuo handle all that> do you have time-consuming ECs or part-time job or volunteering to consider?

 

I usually stay on College Confidential, but whenever I look up things about online classes I always got directed to the Well Trained Mind Community (:

I started homeschooling with a California charter school in my 10th grade year just for the flexibility of it all. I'm a competitive dancer, and school just took up wayy too much time. I was familiar with an 8 - 3 school day, 3:30 - 8:30 spent practicing, then the time I got home till 3am doing school work. It was awful. Anyway, to get to the point - I'm gotten used to managing my time well, so taking a ton of rigorous courses isn't overload when homeschooling. Still a heavy course load, but I'm able to maintain it without being cooped up in my room doing school work 24/7 thanks to online school.

I'm hoping to attend UCLA in the Fall of 2020. My major is also extremely competitive, so AP's are a must. This year I'm taking AP Chemistry, Honors English 10 (surprisingly the most time-consuming course), Algebra 2, Spanish 2 & 3, AP US History, and AP Psychology. Additionally, I took 3 cc courses in the Fall, 2 for Winter, and 2 for Spring. It's a lot, but I don't even spend every waking hour on school - it's just time managment and a careful choice of courses (lol that's why you can find me on a bunch of forums). I try to pick those that don't have a ton of busy work. I do school on weekends as well and work ahead when I can.

I feel like I can handle 6 AP's but not entirely sure. I won't be taking as much cc courses either, so I can put time aside for SAT and ACT prep.

I work better with asynchronous classes, but I don't mind attending an hour meeting every week. I do stray away from classes that require students to meet 2 - 3 times a week. I work at a local PacSun, and I volunteer at an Adult Center and sometimes the Animal Shelter near me.

Questions:

Did any of your children take the AP exam after the CS - A course with Edhesive? If you don't mind sharing, did they pass or score well? I wanted to take AP Stats with Edhesive, but I have to stick with UC a - g. I'm already asking for PAH to be a - g approved through my school, and I feel like I'm just asking too much if I ask for Edhesive haha.

Were you thinking about adding AP Physics 1 with PAH? If DO has good feedback on his Physics course, I might just take that.

[satellite]

8 hours ago, GoodGrief1 said:

I'm only familiar with Derek Owens and PAH (though not that specific teacher there.) I do think it could possibly be quite overwhelming to do that many online courses (and it sounds like you have dual enrollment courses planned too?) with so many different providers and conflicting expectations, especially if there are set meeting times for each (I know Derek Owens is work-at-your-own-pace, so is probably a great choice in this scenario.) My initial reaction looking at this is that it will be too much unless this is the sort of schedule you are accustomed to doing.

Is there a reason you are wanting to do both Calc and Statistics? With all the APs, I am assuming you are college bound. Have you completed your foreign language requirement? If you have only done two years, you might want to consider a third year rather than do two maths next year.

 

I'm accustomed to heavy course loads and having to manage my time, but then again, I've never taken a full schedule of just AP's and cc classes. I'm not very good when it comes to Science and History, haha. I'm definetly trying to choose courses that are asynchronous and not full of busy work.

What classes have you taken with Derek Owens? How about PAH? I might consider switching my schedule up.

I'm pretty strong when it comes to math. I'm thinking about majoring in Business Economics, so I could only imagine that taking rigorous math would be vital. I've completed 3 years of Spanish. I considered doing AP, but I honestly despise learning the langauge lol.

[satellite]

7 hours ago, regentrude said:

What are your college plans? Do you know what you want to major in?

Just a heads-up: the AP Physics 1 credit will be useful only for a very limited number of majors: those who require an algebra based physics class. If you plan any STEM besides biology, you will need to take a calculus based physics course in college and the AP Phys 1 credit will not count towards your major. But perhaps you know this already.

Hope to attend UCLA (it's a great school for my major while being close to family). I want to major in Business Economics.

Unfortunately, UCLA doesn't really accept AP credits to fullfill classes. It can fullfill some requirements (like writing, language, etc.), and they used to give students a higher standing, but they stopped doing this. Taking AP classes seemed so pointless to me. The money spent on AP exams would go nowhere... but I found a way!

I decided that I'd complete my General Ed before HS graduation. I would complete the IGETC, and luckily, AP credit counts towards this. When I transfer to a UC school, they have to honor it (surprise! It's not only for transfer students), so I'd be exempt for doing General Ed. My AP credits are not pointless anymore. I don't have to waste my parents money, and in addition to that - I get to graduate in 2 years! It seems like a lot of work, but I've planned it out. AP credit from taking the AP exams in May fullfill most of the IGETC requirements. I only have to take a couple of other cc classes, but I ended up taking extra business courses along with it. I made sure these cc classes would go on my transcript too.

BTW, I do hope to get into UCLA, but I'm not expecting much. It's a reach school, that's for sure.

[daijobu]

15 minutes ago, mjt182 said:

Questions:

Did any of your children take the AP exam after the CS - A course with Edhesive? If you don't mind sharing, did they pass or score well? I wanted to take AP Stats with Edhesive, but I have to stick with UC a - g. I'm already asking for PAH to be a - g approved through my school, and I feel like I'm just asking too much if I ask for Edhesive haha.

Were you thinking about adding AP Physics 1 with PAH? If DO has good feedback on his Physics course, I might just take that.

 

Are you looking at a STEM major at UCLA?  If so, then I would try for AP Physics C concurrently with AP Calc, if you have the math ability to handle it.  And I would drop AP Euro.  AP Stats is easy, and I suspect has that reputation, so it's probably also skippable.  

Both my dd's took AP CS A at Edhesive in 8th grade and both got 5's.  

[satellite]

Just now, daijobu said:

 

Are you looking at a STEM major at UCLA?  If so, then I would try for AP Physics C concurrently with AP Calc, if you have the math ability to handle it.  And I would drop AP Euro.  AP Stats is easy, and I suspect has that reputation, so it's probably also skippable.  

Both my dd's took AP CS A at Edhesive in 8th grade and both got 5's.  

 

Business Economics! I was going to take AP Physics C next year with AP Calc A/B - I hate science lol. I really don't want to take Physics, just doing it for the rigor.

My school requires 3 years of History for graduation. I was told AP Euro is one the more interesting History classes, no?

8th grade?! How much time did they spend on AP CS A? Did they have any experience beforehand?

[daijobu]

Just reading now that you want to major in Bus-Econ.  I'm going to back-pedal on my AP physics C suggestion.  But I think having strong CS skills would be an asset.  Do you already know a language like python?  I should add that my dd's did well in AP CS A, but they'd already had a strong foundation in python before beginning the class, although the course has not prerequisites.  Good luck.  

[satellite]

Just now, daijobu said:

Just reading now that you want to major in Bus-Econ.  I'm going to back-pedal on my AP physics C suggestion.  But I think having strong CS skills would be an asset.  Do you already know a language like python?  I should add that my dd's did well in AP CS A, but they'd already had a strong foundation in python before beginning the class, although the course has not prerequisites.  Good luck.  

Ah, I have no background knowledge at all.

[daijobu]

Just now, satellite said:

Business Economics! I was going to take AP Physics C next year with AP Calc A/B - I hate science lol. I really don't want to take Physics, just doing it for the rigor.

My school requires 3 years of History for graduation. I was told AP Euro is one the more interesting History classes, no?

8th grade?! How much time did they spend on AP CS A? Did they have any experience beforehand?

 

AP CS A is an easy AP, but may be more challenging if you haven't programmed before.  

[satellite]

I think I might give it a shot.

Were students given grades on Edhesive? Is it teacher-led? I just wonder why it's so cheap!

[mirabillis]

1 hour ago, satellite said:

I usually stay on College Confidential, but whenever I look up things about online classes I always got directed to the Well Trained Mind Community (:

I started homeschooling with a California charter school in my 10th grade year just for the flexibility of it all. I'm a competitive dancer, and school just took up wayy too much time. I was familiar with an 8 - 3 chool day, 3:30 - 8:30 spent practicing, then the time I got home till 3am doing school work. It was awful. Anyway, to get to the point - I'm gotten used to managing my time well, so taking a ton of rigorous courses isn't overload when homeschooling. Still a heavy course load, but I'm able to maintain it without being cooped up in my room doing school work 24/7 thanks to online school.

I'm hoping to attend UCLA in the Fall of 2020. My major is also extremely competitive, so AP's are a must. This year I'm taking AP Chemistry, Honors English 10 (surprisingly the most time-consuming course), Algebra 2, Spanish 2 & 3 (accelerated 1st and 2nd semester), AP US History, and AP Psychology. Additionally, I took 3 cc courses in the Fall, 2 for Winter, and 2 for Spring. Seems like a lot, but I don't even spend every waking hour on school - it's just time managment and a careful choice of courses (lol that's why you can find me on a bunch of forums

Questions:

Did any of your children take the AP exam after the CS - A course with Edhesive? If you don't mind sharing, did they pass or score well? I wanted to take AP Stats with Edhesive, but I have to stick with UC a - g. I'm already asking for PAH to be a - g approved through my school, and I feel like I'm just asking too much if I ask for Edhesive haha.

Were you thinking about adding AP Physics 1 with PAH? If DO has good feedback on his Physics course, I might just take that.

 

 

my son took AP CS-A in 9th with no prior knowledge. he got a 4 and admittedly was not as proficient an AP tester as could be last year. highly recommend the course, it's why we're opting for edhesive's stats. 

we too are CA and UCLA is also a reach we're going for. bus economics too. have you taken AP Macro & Micro yet? AP Macro at PAH is amazing - my son's favorite course this year. as for a-g - we're going that route too. remember you can meet a-g status with sat II or ap tests. that's our plan. that's why we're planning on DO physics and subsequent SAT II. great feedback on the course, and also aligns well with SAT II material.

[satellite]

29 minutes ago, mirabillis said:

my son took AP CS-A in 9th with no prior knowledge. he got a 4 and admittedly was not as proficient an AP tester as could be last year. highly recommend the course, it's why we're opting for edhesive's stats. 

we too are CA and UCLA is also a reach we're going for. bus economics too. have you taken AP Macro & Micro yet? AP Macro at PAH is amazing - my son's favorite course this year. as for a-g - we're going that route too. remember you can meet a-g status with sat II or ap tests. that's our plan. that's why we're planning on DO physics and subsequent SAT II. great feedback on the course, and also aligns well with SAT II material.

 

Are you homeschooling your kids through a charter school? Or have you filed a PSA?

That major is soo competitive!! I think when kids homeschool they are in a completely different pool, so maybe a higher chance of getting in? Let's hope.

I had no idea about that... my charter actually ends up approving non a - g courses as a - g. Apparently they can do that as long as they review the courses themselves. I'm trying to get PAH approved as a - g. I might do physics with DO, just because I have no idea what to expect for AP Physics 1. I haven't taken it, but I was planning on doing the equivalent cc courses. At my local cc it's Econ 201 and 202, and the online course is taught through Thinkwell. I've used Thinkwell before, and it gives me college credit towards my IGETC without having to take and pay for the AP exam.

Where'd you find feedback on DO's Physics course?

[satellite]

2 hours ago, mirabillis said:

that's why we're planning on DO physics and subsequent SAT II. great feedback on the course, and also aligns well with SAT II material.

I just did some research on DO physics course.

I watched some sample videos, and the comments on youtube praise him for explaining things so well! I think I might copy you on that - Honors Physics and SAT Subject Test. The price is also a little bit cheaper than PAH's AP Physics course, so thank you!!

[lmrich]

My, non-loving math and science kid, is in DO's physics class (we live in Atlanta and can take live classes), and she loves physics. She is doing great in the class and is able to figure out everything by watching the videos again if she missed something in class. Derek is a truly a nice person who is a gifted teacher.