Classes to take over the summer???

[mlktwins]

I am curious what on-line options, if any, are out there for semester long high school classes taken during the summer.  Any recommendations?  We are heading into 10th grade. 

Also, what are good classes to possibly "get out of the way" during the summer to make the school year a little lighter?  Even if done at home with a curriculum?  What can be condensed into 3 months with focused time to spend on it?

We have always done some school during the summer.  Math we do during the summer with some breaks.

Thanks much!

 

[fourisenough]

My rising 11th grader is going to complete Thinkwell Economics over the summer (or at least get as far as possible). I’m open to her just doing the first part (Micro) or completing the whole course (Micro + Macro) depending on her level of interest. She’s loving their US Government class now.

[mlktwins]

18 minutes ago, fourisenough said:

My rising 11th grader is going to complete Thinkwell Economics over the summer (or at least get as far as possible). I’m open to her just doing the first part (Micro) or completing the whole course (Micro + Macro) depending on her level of interest. She’s loving their US Government class now.

I need to do some research, but is this self-paced?

ETA:  I just looked it up and see it is self-paced!  She is liking them?  Do you feel they are good?

Edited February 24, 2020 by mlktwins

[Lori D.]

Summers are also a great time to *take off* from formal academics if the student has been pushing hard, and have the opportunity to explore personal interests, and do "self-teaching" of topics of interest -- watch documentaries, learn to code, design and build a boat, electronics. Or volunteering. Or a personal project. Community Youth Theater production. Do cartooning or write that story they've always wanted to write. Learn to kayak or rock climb or bake/decorate cakes... Endless possibilities. 😄

There can be a danger for some students of "burn out" if doing academics year-round, even if it's a "lighter school".

That said, perhaps "knock out" some topics you might want to be sure to cover before high school graduation, but may or may not accrue as a partial or full credit:
- Computer Science
- Public Speaking
- Driver's Ed
- Health
- Personal Finance
- Consumer Sciences (Home Ec)
- Study Skills
- Career Exploration

Our DSs really enjoyed doing a week of Worldview Academy in each of 3-4 summers of high school. I accrued their class hours from each summer, and they ended up with a 0.5 credit of Elective: Worldviews on their transcripts.

[mlktwins]

6 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Summers are also a great time to *take off* from formal academics if the student has been pushing hard, and have the opportunity to explore personal interests, and do "self-teaching" of topics of interest -- watch documentaries, learn to code, design and build a boat, electronics. Or volunteering. Or a personal project. Community Youth Theater production. Do cartooning or write that story they've always wanted to write. Learn to kayak or rock climb or bake/decorate cakes... Endless possibilities. 😄

There can be a danger for some students of "burn out" if doing academics year-round, even if it's a "lighter school".

That said, perhaps "knock out" some topics you might want to be sure to cover before high school graduation, but may or may not accrue as a partial or full credit:
- Computer Science
- Public Speaking
- Driver's Ed
- Health
- Personal Finance
- Consumer Sciences (Home Ec)
- Study Skills
- Career Exploration

Our DSs really enjoyed doing a week of Worldview Academy in each of 3-4 summers of high school. I accrued their class hours from each summer, and they ended up with a 0.5 credit of Elective: Worldviews on their transcripts.

HAHA  Lori D.!  My boys are boring -- LOL!!!  I wish they would do some of the things you mention -- LOL.  We will see what our options are though.  They like a lighter daily schedule during the school year and work on weekends (their choice) to make that happen.  

 

[RootAnn]

We've done Art History and Health/Nutrition. My oldest knocked out her senior year English credit with an online college course. My next is going to try to knock out her senior year science credit with an online college course after her junior year.

In the early years if high school, my oldest used summer to finish credits she didn't get done over the school year. Except for math & 15 minutes of typing practice/day, my next kid has had summers off up until now.

CLEPing Econ (Micro/Macro) over summer would have been a great idea for my oldest but it didn't happen.

[Kassia]

16 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

We've done Art History and Health/Nutrition. My oldest knocked out her senior year English credit with an online college course. My next is going to try to knock out her senior year science credit with an online college course after her junior year.

In the early years if high school, my oldest used summer to finish credits she didn't get done over the school year.

 

We were similar.  In the early years, dd would finish up credits she didn't get done during the school year.  Later, she took DE classes - either online or in class - and took a lighter load for fall/spring.  She preferred it that way and still got a few weeks off before and after summer classes. 

[fourisenough]

1 hour ago, mlktwins said:

I need to do some research, but is this self-paced?

ETA:  I just looked it up and see it is self-paced!  She is liking them?  Do you feel they are good?

Yes, she loves having one self-paced course. The content is engaging, and it’s pretty challenging (in a good way). I think she has mastered some new study skills via this course, so I’m very pleased. One chapter covered about 10 weeks of material. It was MASSIVE. She spent a full week reviewing her notes and studying for it.
 

In addition to the course, I’ve assigned her several essays to write for submission to various civics/government-related contests. It absolutely wouldn’t be necessary, but she’s a strong writer, so I figured it would be a chance to earn some recognition, possibly win some money, improve her argumentative essay writing skills, and potentially earn some extra-credit points. (She’s tracking at an A- and wants to be sure to finish the course with an A.)

It wasn’t a topic of great interest to her before taking the course, but she’s has enjoyed it.

ETA- She has asked to do more Thinkwell classes. After Econ, I may have her do the public speaking course.

Edited February 25, 2020 by fourisenough
Additional info.

[Mom0012]

My dd is doing AC/DC Microeconomics and Macroeconomics and then will take the CLEP tests since the college she’s attending will accept those (many do!). They are both very quick. You could probably do a unit a day (there are 6 for each course) and then spend a few days to a week on practice tests and knock both out in a few weeks, but we’re just spending 30 minutes to an hour a day on this. Even so, she’ll probably be done by the end of March/mid-April and we just started a few days ago. I did the same thing with my ds before he went off to college. 

[Mom0012]

One of the reasons we have time to start Econ now is because we used Khan Academy for AP Government and went through the whole thing pretty quickly — started mid to late January and finished last week and we did not do it every day. So, that’s my second summer recommendation. I notice that AC/DC also now offers government class as well, so you could CLEP out of it over the summer.

Another plus is that both government and economics are courses that are enjoyable to do along with your student. At least they were for me. And what you would learn in government right now is especially relevant with the upcoming election. Highly interesting and there hasn’t always been as much I can share with my student academically at this point because they’ve both been pretty involved in outside classes in high school.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Mom0012

[Lucy the Valiant]

8 minutes ago, Mom0012 said:

One of the reasons we have time to start Econ now is because we used Khan Academy for AP Government and went through the whole thing pretty quickly — started mid to late January and finished last week and we did not do it every day. So, that’s my second summer recommendation. I notice that AC/DC also now offers government class as well, so you could CLEP out of it over the summer.

Another plus is that both government and economics are courses are enjoyable to do along with your student. At least they were for me. And what you would learn in government right now is especially relevant with the upcoming election. Highly interesting and there hasn’t always as much I can share with my student academically at this point because they’ve both been pretty involved in outside classes.

 

Tangent: Did you do anything besides Khan for AP Gov? I have 2 students going through it right now, and we're just pairing it with some short YouTube videos & 3-4 written papers. I'm too late to register them for the AP exam, so that's off the table for us (which is fine, really). Considering having them take Modern States CLEP prep + test at the end? 

[Mom0012]

 

3 minutes ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

 

Tangent: Did you do anything besides Khan for AP Gov? I have 2 students going through it right now, and we're just pairing it with some short YouTube videos & 3-4 written papers. I'm too late to register them for the AP exam, so that's off the table for us (which is fine, really). Considering having them take Modern States CLEP prep + test at the end? 

We took the quizzes and tests throughout the modules, but that’s it. My dd has worked so hard throughout high school, this was a class I wanted to be light. We certainly could have done some reading of The Federalist Papers and other original documents if we had wanted to beef it up. I likely would have had her use the AC/DC prep for government if she was going to take the exam, but she won’t be able to use the credit at the college she is attending, so we’re just moving on.🙂

[Mom0012]

OP, if you like Dave Ramsey, he has a personal finance course that could done over the summer. I don’t agree with him on everything, but it was good for both of my kids. It got them thinking more long term about investing and saving and they each opened up an investment account while taking the class. It also spurred us on to get “adult” banking accounts for each of them. It made them want to steer clear of debt.

I think it’s a subject best taken once your teen has a job and is working. My ds made a budget while we were doing DR and was so aggravated about all his bills, lol. It was so great for him to see how quickly his small income got eaten up with his phone bill, car insurance, etc. We didn’t even really use the workbook other than to use the page that had you make a budget because most of the workbook is simply busywork, but the introduction to some of the basic ideas was great for my two.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Mom0012

[cintinative]

This is a good thread for me to follow! 

My current thoughts of possibilities for this summer (other than reading books and continuing with math)

• Work on PE credit (maybe do a Coursera course on physical fitness someone had mentioned?)
• Do a cooking class using Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food (It's really a great reference text for different cooking methods and explains the science of it)
• Teach more features in computer programs like MS Word, Power Point, Excel, etc. Can anyone suggest a cheap resource for this? 

My oldest is going to complete some additional history this summer so he can count this year's history toward a U.S. history credit 

I think they are too young for government/econ or personal finance. Or even career exploration. 😃

@Lori D. I think that camp is really close to us. I just wish it was cheaper. It's reasonable when you realize it is overnight and they need to pay staff. It's just more than we can afford. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by cintinative

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

...

@Lori D. I think that camp is really close to us. I just wish it was cheaper. It's reasonable when you realize it is overnight and they need to pay staff. It's just more than we can afford. 

We are very good friends with one of the instructors and his wife -- since even before DH and I were married! It's a great experience if you can ever swing it -- really a pivotal, positive life-changing experience for both DSs, but especially also launched DS#1 into the rest of high school with SO much more confidence.

You might contact them if you think it's a good fit for one of your DC (and when they are into their mid/later teens, as opposed to 12, 13, 14) -- I believe they do have some partial scholarships.

[Mom0012]

One more idea —

This site (below) has tutorials for all kinds of software. It is the resource my dd’s college is recommending for their business students to master Excel, so we’re going to go through it this summer so that she can pass the test she needs to take before being admitted to the business school.

Powerpoint is one that seems like it would be worth learning as well, but there are lots of options.

https://www.lynda.com/Excel-tutorials/Excel-2019-Essential-Training/728368-2.html?srchtrk=index%3a1 linktypeid%3a2 q%3aexcel+2019 page%3a1 s%3arelevance sa%3atrue producttypeid%3a2

[royspeed]

On 2/24/2020 at 4:58 PM, mlktwins said:

... semester long high school classes...

mlktwins:

What I'm going to mention is not a "semester-long" class, and it might not be your boys' cup of tea, but in June, I'm offering eight sessions on one of the best Shakespeare comedies: Twelfth Night.

Apart from the fact that the play itself is wickedly funny, one of the best things about this particular series is that students will view clips from a beautiful production performed in a replica of The Globe theater. The play is performed in Elizabethan dress and — most amazing — in the Elizabethan manner, with men playing all the roles. The filming is exquisite, with beautiful lighting and sound, unlike any filmed stage production I've ever seen. The cast is wonderful, the acting as good as I've ever seen.

Still, might not be your boys' cup of tea...

[Murrayshire]

My rising 9th grader is going to use Mr. D's self-paced Study Skills class this summer. It says it is year long, 34 lessons. I emailed to see how intense it would be to do as a summer course.

 https://www.mrdmath.com/study-skills/

Other than that... ds plans to read two literature selections, solidify typing skills, and math review so he doesn't forget concepts over the summer. 

[cintinative]

3 hours ago, Murrayshire said:

My rising 9th grader is going to use Mr. D's self-paced Study Skills class this summer. It says it is year long, 34 lessons. I emailed to see how intense it would be to do as a summer course.

 https://www.mrdmath.com/study-skills/

Other than that... ds plans to read two literature selections, solidify typing skills, and math review so he doesn't forget concepts over the summer. 

 

Will you let us know what he says in response? This is something my boys could benefit from as well. I just don't know if we could fit it in during the actual school year.

[Murrayshire]

On 2/27/2020 at 4:57 PM, cintinative said:

 

Will you let us know what he says in response? This is something my boys could benefit from as well. I just don't know if we could fit it in during the actual school year.

I did get a reply back about the Study Skills class offered through Mr. D Math site. We are rethinking about taking it now and waiting until next year or closer to college courses at CC. Here is a summary of his response in a nutshell. Feel free to inquire with Mr. D Math for more detailed information.

Study Skills class is to prepare a student for his/her college journey. You have up to 18 months to complete the course. 

Time commitment:  Each lesson includes two lectures; one for he study skills course (this teaches the study skill) and one for the success course (this helps the student practice the new study skill). Lectures vary; average 20-30 minutes each. 

Each week, the student will read approx. 50 pages in one of the books used for the success course. In addition, they will watch a YouTube video lecture (20 min) and take notes to practice new skills. Other assignments in the week reinforce both study skills and success habits. Depending on reading speed, expect to spend 40-60 minutes on lesson videos, and b/w 3 to 4 hours on assignments. It is a rigorous class, but will prepare student for success in a college environment.

This information was from Michael Lourdes, Administrative Assistant. 

Hope it helps with your decision making as it did for us.