Anyone else with Lukeion AP angst?

[Innisfree]

Dd loved Sue Fisher's Latin classes, but is having a hard time adjusting to Mrs. Barr's AP class. I get the feeling there's just a different vibe altogether: less humor and camaraderie, more test anxiety. Anyone else hearing this?

The Lukeion classes have always been a bright spot in dd's days, even though the workload has been so heavy. I'm sad to see that shift.

[LJPPKGFGSC]

My teen did not take AP Latin, but another Lukeion course from Mrs. Barr.  Is was not a huge success by any means.  Her "hall of fame" after each test was negatively motivating.  She just does not have the presence online of some other teachers we have experienced.  (My son is now pursuing a degree in Latin, so he learned a bunch. But it might have been the least favorite of all the online courses we have taken over the last six years.)

So, I guess that I am just commiserating with you!  But, AP Latin is hard no matter what.  So maybe the course just has to be that way. However, maybe look at these statistics ....

I found this from Lukeion's website .... 2015: 91% passed, 48% of the class earned a 5. 2016:  93% passed with 47% of the class earning a 5. 2017: 93% passed with 50% of the class earning a 5. (passing = 3 or higher)

But when I looked on PrepScholar, I copied this from their chart, the second column is the percent of students passing, and the third is the percent earning a score of 5.  These appear to be the statistics from College Board for all students taking the exam.

Latin

66.8%

14.5%

[Innisfree]

Sorry your son had a rough experience, also!

I know they have a good record. Our situation may be about dd as much as about the class. The fact that most people do well on the exam has translated into her fearing she'll be the only one who doesn't, in spite of a history of doing very well with Lukeion. 

A few weeks ago she was playing around with Latin-related stuff for fun. Now she's saying she wishes she could drop the class. Basically I guess it's test anxiety. I wish Mrs. Barr would quit talking about the exam and just teach Latin. But maybe this is how they get those success stories.

[LJPPKGFGSC]

Hopefully she will find a friend in the class soon.  That makes all the difference in an online course! 

[katilac]

22 hours ago, Innisfree said:

The fact that most people do well on the exam has translated into her fearing she'll be the only one who doesn't 

 

 

This is when I pull out the ol' "what's the worst thing that can happen?" lecture. I don't try to convince my kids that the worst won't happen, because it might. I just remind them that the worst usually isn't that bad. 

Okay, you're stressing over AP Latin. What's the worst thing that can happen? You get the lowest score in the class. What does that mean? It means you got the lowest score in the class, and that no college is going to give you AP Latin credit. Which is disappointing, but you know what? Failure isn't fatal. Failure is an event, not a person. The world will keep on spinning if you get a 1 on the AP Latin test. You won't be in trouble. Colleges will still accept you. Life goes on. 

Work hard. Do your best. Accept that you will sometimes fail in spite of that. 

[G5052]

My oldest took Latin 1 and 2 with another school, and then Latin 3 and 4 with Lukeion. That was a few years ago, but he still talks about it.

It was agony, but he loved it. When he got to the exam, he said it was easier than the actual course. He got a 5.

[yvonne]

23 hours ago, G5052 said:

It was agony, but he loved it. When he got to the exam, he said it was easier than the actual course. He got a 5.

My daughter was similar..... She took Lukeion Latin 1-4/AP with Amy. Just got a 5 on the exam this year. She somehow adapted to Amy's hard core approach & actually thrived with it. Complained about the "evil Mrs. Barr," (in a joking way. sort of. lol), but she knew she was really accomplishing something in that class and was proud of herself. The fact that she was obviously accomplishing something very difficult was sufficiently satisfying for her to be content taking the class.

She did not opt to continue with Ovid, but she's still comparing her other classes to her Lukeion Latin classes and basically thinks that if she could do Lukeion, she can do anything.

[skimomma]

Oh boy.  Lukeion Latin was nearly the death of dd and me over her 4 years.  I cannot even guess how many times we had the, "what's the worst that can happen?" talk.  Dd really struggled at times and I suspect she probably spent far more time than most students to keep up.  She was 100% convinced, based on some of the feedback of her work in class, that she had no chance of passing the AP exam.  Like others report, she skipped out of the exam claiming it was far easier than she expected.  She got a 4 and was very pleased. Her goal was a 3.  She was one of the lowest-performing students in the class, never being on the high-honors list, and her essay feedback was brutal.  She still did well on the exam.  So take heart.  And once you get through it all, your student will be equipped with excellent study skills to tackle just about any subject in the future.

[yvonne]

18 minutes ago, skimomma said:

 She was 100% convinced, based on some of the feedback of her work in class, that she had no chance of passing the AP exam.

LOL   Here, it was I who was afraid my dd would get a 2 on the exam, based on some of the feedback she received on her essays.  Of course, I didn't tell her that. However, I did keep reminding her that all she needed was a 3 and that might be hard to get on an AP Latin exam. 

As a mom, I did wonder from time to time if there was a "kinder, gentler" way to the same end, but ultimately my dd learned a whole lot more from the classes and from Amy than Latin. Amy pushed her harder than I would have and harder than any other teacher she's had so far, and for my dd that turned out to be a good thing, despite my worries.

[NotSoObvious]

Hey, I just saw this. My dd is in AP this year, too. She has only ever had Amy, so she's grown with her. ? Amy is a phenomenal teacher and, while she is tough, she's also very fair. She's just not as "soft" as Dr. Fisher. 

My daughter would be happy to connect with your daughter and chat, encourage, study together- whatever. Just message me. ❤️ 

[crazyforlatin]

On 9/5/2018 at 4:59 PM, yvonne said:

My daughter was similar..... She took Lukeion Latin 1-4/AP with Amy. Just got a 5 on the exam this year. She somehow adapted to Amy's hard core approach & actually thrived with it. Complained about the "evil Mrs. Barr," (in a joking way. sort of. lol), but she knew she was really accomplishing something in that class and was proud of herself. The fact that she was obviously accomplishing something very difficult was sufficiently satisfying for her to be content taking the class.

She did not opt to continue with Ovid, but she's still comparing her other classes to her Lukeion Latin classes and basically thinks that if she could do Lukeion, she can do anything.

 

We continued with Cicero, and it's lonely translating on one's own, lol. I'm thinking of skipping next semester and reinenrolling next Fall. There's life beyond Latin, as I tell DD.

[mjbucks1]

Just an encouraging note. My ds took Lukeion AP Latin during the 2013-2014 school year (as a sophomore....I think I was trying to kill him!). It was tough, but he passed the AP exam with a 4 and ended up earning 9 Latin credits for college. Mrs. Barr was always critical of his papers, but she really does give excellent feedback. He just took the GRE for graduate school this past summer. He did not study, but did really well (especially on the verbal section...96th percentile). He said the vocabulary was extremely difficult but Latin helped him figure out the words. Who would have guessed 4 years later Latin is still helping him!