Is there such a thing as too much DE?

[rzberrymom]

My DD is homeschooled, but she’s at a public charter that oversees the work and gives her a transcript (so, I guess an umbrella school?) The school gives her TONS of credit towards graduation for each college course she takes (e.g. they count one year of 3rd year college German as 3 years of high school foreign language on her transcript, they count 2 years of college math as 4 years of high school math on the transcript, etc). So, her plan is to take as many college classes as she can and blow through the graduation requirements so she can travel, learn lots of languages and do the other things she loves to do (choir, piano, science projects for fun, become an Eagle Scout now that they’ve let girls in BSA, or just hang out on our farm and read books).

 

She’s taking 2 classes now, and she wants to add another 1 or 2 next year (half at a state school where my DH teaches, and half at a community college). The cost is reasonable because we get a big tuition discount at my DH’s school. She’s done very well in the classes so far and adores being on campus.

 

The charter is also flexible about how she fulfills other high school requirements—they will turn the work she does on the Eagle Scout into a health class, a civics class, etc., and more requirements are done. My DH teaches her physics once/week, the charter reviews their syllabus, her notes, homework, quizzes and tests, and that’s another requirement taken care of.

 

Because of all this, she’ll have a LOT of time to travel and have fun. This seems too easy. Am I missing anything? Are there any downsides to this?? I’ve read every DE thread I can find on here, so I know most of these classes won’t count for college credit or get her out of requirements later. My other concern is that her charter won’t give her a weighted GPA, so I think she might have trouble getting into some state schools? (the U.C. system comes to mind—our families are all in CA, but we’re out-of-state and I believe the U.C. schools only weigh AP and IB classes more heavily for out-of-state students?)

 

I don’t post much on here, but I’ve been a major lurker since I think she was 5 years old and have learned so much from you guys!!!!

 

 

 

 

[Bambam]

I can't help with any schools outside of TX.

But I do have some thoughts on dual credits classes. Here my kids take/took DC classes at the local 4 year private university (and some at a CC too before the private school let in kids under the age of 16). All those DC credits transfer to their final 4 year schools.

However, some things to think about:

1. My oldest dd is in the Honors program. To stay in the program, you have to take so many honors classes. The honors program comes with a nice scholarship too, so you do want to stay in it! Most of the extra honors classes are core classes. She had most of her core classes complete, so she ended up doing Independent Study for one honors class since there was nothing she could take that she didn't already have credit for. This wasn't a big deal and it was probably good for her, but it did take a fair amount of time and self-motivation.

2. For a kid who elects to follow an Engineering degree, their core classes are typically spread out through the entire four years so as to lighten (IMO) their load a little from all heavy technical/lab classes. So, if you are core complete, you are removing those easier course possibilities from their schedule. Now, this may not be a problem - they may want to double major/minor in something else so that would be covered. However, at least in TX, I'm noticing that many of the academic merit scholarships now require you maintain 15 credit hours/semester (it has been 12 in the past), so you might want to look at a degree flowchart and figure out how to manage that. 

It sounds like a really neat charter school!

[rzberrymom]

14 minutes ago, Bambam said:

However, at least in TX, I'm noticing that many of the academic merit scholarships now require you maintain 15 credit hours/semester (it has been 12 in the past), so you might want to look at a degree flowchart and figure out how to manage that. 

 

Yes, that’s the kind of thing I need to know before letting her run around the world learning languages! (she’s been saving her pennies for years for this)