Places other than community college to gain experience in larger atmosphere

[...................]

Sorry this is long...just some backstory...

DD is a junior this year and doing very well with her life.  Halfway to having her drivers license, had a summer job which required a lot of responsibility (was one of only two 15 year olds doing the same job as an all over-18 staff), handled customer service, some rather long, hot days, dealt with sensitive issues (trans people asking about bathrooms), had up to 5000.00 in her till at the end of the day (not all cash of course), with only one till mistake all summer...She flies across the country with me about three times per year, and navigates the airport (aka she goes ahead with her long legs and i follow so she really knows the drill), she also knows how to get a rental car and other travel stuff...(in theory, as we do that as a family)

...she is doing amazing with her school work and overcame a third MTBI and loss of her best friend and hobby (horse) last year...she has a mild LD which doens't seem to affect her much (seemed much worse after the concussion last year but I'm now realizing that was the concussion wreaking havoc with her.) she ended the year amazingly strong and her emotions evened out as well as her sleep, etc.   ....she's also come out of her shell...she was an extrovert as a child, then an introvert for about two years and now she is a very extroverted introvert (loves people, hates to be alone too much... but needs to recharge alone a little each day.) 

She plans to follow in her big brothers footsteps to PennState probably for a Graphic Design/specializing in U/I design degree and had worked with her dad over the summer to pinpoint that as a career option, studied about it and has messed around with it, and he thinks she has good potential (he definitely knows what he's talking about so I trust him on that.) if she gets into the big campus, She will do their special introductory program so that she can get a gentle intro to the huge campus.  Or she will go to a smaller campus, if she doesn't get into their main campus.

Halfway through the school year this year she will be driving herself to the co-op, the grocery store, then over the summer we will add work to her driving schedule and by senior year she will be driving herself all around. 

The one thing I think she really needs work on, is learning in a larger environment.  Her co-op is tiny and even our community colleges are super tiny, with class sizes in the 10 and under size range.  There is a larger community college, but you can't get into that without waiting in very long lines and it's pretty far away, so not sure we can make that work.

So, any out of the box ideas to practice that??  

Edited September 1, 2019 by Calming Tea

[chiguirre]

How about using a MOOC or Great Courses to approximate what it's like to go to a huge lecture where you're basically an audience and don't interact with the sage on the stage? 

My dd's CC is very large (about 10,000 students at her campus and 85,000 overall) but her largest class is Calc 1 with 30 students so it's a problem that's not limited to your area.

[BusyMom5]

My DDs CC classes are all around 30-ish students.  Where I live that's our best option.  We do drive an hour to get there (UGH!).

[cbollin]

uhmm.  what about Do you have any "mega" churches in your area? visit and take sermon notes ? 

[katilac]

Is there a university near you? Both of my kids did DE at university, on campus. 

[ScoutTN]

A very large conference or convention? 

[Momto6inIN]

On 8/31/2019 at 10:09 PM, Calming Tea said:

Sorry this is long...just some backstory...

DD is a junior this year and doing very well with her life.  Halfway to having her drivers license, had a summer job which required a lot of responsibility (was one of only two 15 year olds doing the same job as an all over-18 staff), handled customer service, some rather long, hot days, dealt with sensitive issues (trans people asking about bathrooms), had up to 5000.00 in her till at the end of the day (not all cash of course), with only one till mistake all summer...She flies across the country with me about three times per year, and navigates the airport (aka she goes ahead with her long legs and i follow so she really knows the drill), she also knows how to get a rental car and other travel stuff...(in theory, as we do that as a family)

...she is doing amazing with her school work and overcame a third MTBI and loss of her best friend and hobby (horse) last year...she has a mild LD which doens't seem to affect her much (seemed much worse after the concussion last year but I'm now realizing that was the concussion wreaking havoc with her.) she ended the year amazingly strong and her emotions evened out as well as her sleep, etc.   ....she's also come out of her shell...she was an extrovert as a child, then an introvert for about two years and now she is a very extroverted introvert (loves people, hates to be alone too much... but needs to recharge alone a little each day.) 

She plans to follow in her big brothers footsteps to PennState probably for a Graphic Design/specializing in U/I design degree and had worked with her dad over the summer to pinpoint that as a career option, studied about it and has messed around with it, and he thinks she has good potential (he definitely knows what he's talking about so I trust him on that.) if she gets into the big campus, She will do their special introductory program so that she can get a gentle intro to the huge campus.  Or she will go to a smaller campus, if she doesn't get into their main campus.

Halfway through the school year this year she will be driving herself to the co-op, the grocery store, then over the summer we will add work to her driving schedule and by senior year she will be driving herself all around. 

The one thing I think she really needs work on, is learning in a larger environment.  Her co-op is tiny and even our community colleges are super tiny, with class sizes in the 10 and under size range.  There is a larger community college, but you can't get into that without waiting in very long lines and it's pretty far away, so not sure we can make that work.

So, any out of the box ideas to practice that??  

I'm not sure I'd focus on environment so much as I would focus on what skills you think she'll need in order to learn in a campus environment. I mean, if she knows how to take notes she can do that in a humongous lecture hall or in a small intimate classroom or by herself from a video lecture. And If she knows how to work with a group, those skills will transfer to a group project in a campus environment whether she learned them in a stable or at co-op or at her job or wherever.

[EKS]

I think that the vast majority of high school students never get the large lecture hall experience until college.  Most people seem to make the transition seamlessly.

[daijobu]

I think some of the toughest skills students must master are those cases that I often see posted here.  Like how to advocate for yourself when it comes to unfair class policies or mistakes on financial aid.  Take a look at some of the issues posted here on the WTM college board and use them as ideas for a role play. 

If there was some class to learn how to advocate for yourself without dissolving into tears, i would be the first to sign up!

[...................]

These are great ideas! I think we will go with a cc class next year or next semester, and visit a MegaChurch just for the feel of a large environment....

she has already heard a LOT about getting emails for a study group (needs to do that now actually for some of her classes) and has seen/heard how attending office hours has really helped her brother, as well as when to think about getting tutoring, (aka not wait till you're already failing)...so other than just the feel of a large crowd, I think she's ok, though we will try to do the megachurch idea. 🙂

My son's classes at PSU range from 40-350 right now.  He said it's really cool the way they use the IClicker and they have good rules to keep the class orderly.