5 year plan feedback

[Fawnmoscato]

Hello! I'm creating a 5 year plan with my 6th grader and could use some feedback. They will almost certainly go into the medical field and would like to plan accordingly. 

Science: 7th- Chemistry  8th- 1st semester Astronomy, 2nd semester Physics, 9th- Biology w/ lab 10th- Chemistry w/ lab, 11th &12th- AP classes or some kind or duel enrollment

Math: 7th- Math Mammoth 7, 8th- Algebra 1 (Owens or AOPS), 9th- Algebra 2, 10th- Geometry, 11th- Pre-calc, 12th- Calc

Any thoughts on this timeline? 

 

Thanks! 

[Coco_Clark]

Looks good to me.  My 6th grader (likely going into programming) is doing:

Science- 6th Science History, 7th Geology/Astronomy, 8th Biology, 9th Physics, 10th Chemistry, 11th and 12th dual enrollment computer sciences

Math- 6th Pre Algebra (armadillos), 7th Algebra (?), 8th Geometry (?), 9th Algebra 2 (?), 10th Pre Calculus, 11th and 12th dual enrollment.

As you can see I have no idea what to use for math yet.  He did AOPS's Beast Academy very happy through 5.  But their Algebra levels were plain too much. :/. 

[....]

It looks like the average science/math sequence that most college-bound public schoolers follow.  Just remember not to stress if your kids throw wrenches into your plan and it ends up looking completely different (that's why I refuse to plan anymore beyond the current school year - my high schoolers trashed my original plans).  

Also, we really liked AOPS prealgebra and Beast Academy, but I didn't like the looks of the AOPS high school books.  They are very, very wordy.  Also, stories of people spending two hours a day on math deterred me from buying it after prealgebra.  We like math, but not *that* much.  I mean, I want time for great literature, writing, art projects, musical instruments, the kids to have free time, etc.    

And my kids #1,2, and 4 are wanting to go into medicine, too.  The oldest two (age 17 and almost 16) decided they want to go into nursing (after spending several years wanting to be doctors - lol).  #4 insists she wants to be an orthodontist.

Do you wanna see dd17's science sequence, just for fun?

• 6th grade-8th grade: interest-led science and unit studies
• 9th grade: Astronomy/Earth Science
• 10th grade: Biology with Lab
• Also 10th: Forensic Science with Lab *outsourced
• 11th grade: Chemistry
• Also 11th: Genetics & Development *outsourced - was told this is actually AP Bio
• Plans for 12th: Botany and possibly another outsourced science class (she really likes this one teacher and will just take whatever courses she teaches) 

I know we're supposed to have Physics, but dd17 absolutely refuses (she says she will be miserable and not remember anything), so I'm letting it go.  It's her transcript.

What do the rest of your plans look like?  Do you follow TWTM?  Or something else?

[Fawnmoscato]

Thanks for the responses! 

I used TWTM pretty closely for the first 5 years of school. The rest of our plans are language arts heavy, with some Latin and logic thrown in. Our weak link is history. We study it a lot, but don't stick with a plan or follow the timeline closely. 

 

 

[....]

4 hours ago, Fawnmoscato said:

Thanks for the responses! 

I used TWTM pretty closely for the first 5 years of school. The rest of our plans are language arts heavy, with some Latin and logic thrown in. Our weak link is history. We study it a lot, but don't stick with a plan or follow the timeline closely. 

 

 

 

Oh, you guys sound like us.  We were always very literature-heavy.  We usually have 4-5 books going at once per kid.  We've read most of those books in the SL catalog, as well as a bunch from TWTM booklists.  It's paid off, though.  My oldest is doing SAT prep right now and she is doing very well in the English section.  

Oldest has also been studying Latin for about 2 and a half years.  I'm trying to talk my 6th grader into trying Latin, because I think she would really like it.

Yeah, two of mine are history-weak, too.  They just don't like it.  Oh, well.  Can't win 'em all!  😁   

Good luck with your planning!  

[Coco_Clark]

I started very WTM based, and have stayed inspired...but I also just do what gets done, lol.

Our writing has been mostly Writing and Rhetoric for the last two years, and I see no reason to stop.  It should last him to graduation *thank God*.  We throw in a daily written narration, a commonplace book, and a weekly sentence diagram/parce and call it L.A.

We've also been doing Latin for years (3 years of Song School and what will be 3 of Latin for Children, yes I know they are two books each, lol).  We should finish up Latin for Children next year and I'm going to let all 4 big kids decide if they want to continue Latin or taken on a spoken language via tutor or online resource after that (they'll be 6th, 7th, 7th, and 8th grade at that point).  It'll be right in time to restart Latin with my youngest two 😶

History I'm STILL using SOTW.  I supplement HEAVILY reading-wise for the bigger kids but...it works?  This year has been ancients.  So middle ages, a year off for civics/geography, early modern, then modern.  

And of course we read and read and read and read and discuss and listen to audiobooks, and memorize poetry, and act out Shakespeare, and then read some more.

What I really want to add is formal logic... But I may need to outsource.  I simply don't have time !!  

[deBij]

I have been doing a similar path envisioning for my dd who wants to become a doctor.

I imagine that the science path will be very similar with the intention of AP courses in highschool.   It would be a change to dedicate a whole school year to one subject and maybe we will break those subjects into chunks.

My daughter is advanced in math and I imagine that she will complete through Calculus before end of highschool.  I would have her use her freed-up time studying other subjects/interests and broaden math to include Financial Math and Statistics.

Here in Canada, med school entrance in mostly based on GPA which is makes me feel that she can do a more general interest Bachelor's degree (while covering the requisites for med school) which makes me happy to cover subjects like art and history.

My thoughts are more in general skills that will make med school easier.  My thoughts are:
- memory recall skills
- handwork for dexterity
<I am keen for other input if there is any>
 

I know things change but what we do because of this vision will be useful regardless of what she ends up doing.