Q about GPS Core 2

[EmilyGF]

Hi all,

Could I do 3/4 of Farrar's GPS Core 2 for ds15 and, if I did, how would I count that credit-wise?

DS15 is a math and science kid. He's taking AoPS precalc (after a lot of deliberation and us working on Intermediate Algebra together, he decided to go for it) and AP Chem. He is working on an observational bird research project. He has been in the top 5 for the last five years in our large city for math fair research projects. He's giving a talk at a birding symposium this week (virtually, of course).

I thought GPS might be a good fit for him. He loves current events. He did AP Human Geo at a gifted school last year and did great. He's not a big fan of fiction. I was planning on mapping out his curriculum but I realized I don't have the bandwidth to do that. Either I can read along side him and talk with him or I can plan, but not both. I find decision-making difficult.

DS15 balked when he saw the number of books. He's a slow reader. He enjoys Dickens and Twain, but never really gets "hooked" on a book.

I'm going to add that the number of books assigned at DS's gifted school last year was pretty lame. I think they read four or five books in English and only the textbook in Human Geography. The Human Geo teacher had the kids do a lot of neighborhood and current-events based projects, though, that were great. She was by far my favorite teacher at the school, despite being near polar-opposite politically.

Thanks, Emily

[JennyD]

I haven't looked closely through Core 2 yet -- my now DS15 used part of Core 1 last year.   We both really liked it a lot.  The unit we did (Middle East) seemed to have an audience a little different from us in mind -- namely, we're not Christian and DS already knew a fair amount about Islam -- but that wasn't at all a problem and the assignments were very thoughtful.  

I think it's very doable to just use part of the curriculum.  This year we're going to start with the other pieces of Core 1 but just for history, not for English,  so I am blithely cutting away some books and assignments.  

The authors say that the full curriculum should be worth 2 credits -- one for English and one for history --and I think that's pretty fair.  My DS15 is a very fast reader so I actually added more books for him to fill it out a bit, especially since the unit we did was heavy on the graphic books.  So theoretically, at least, doing 3/4 of the course should be 1.5 credits. 

However, obviously their recommendations aren't edicts from on high, credit-allocation-wise, so I think it depends on (1) how many hours a week you expect your DS would spend on the course as modified by you; and (2) how much material you're actually covering and how that matches up with your idea about what a full credit in either English of history should cover.  

 

[EmilyGF]

Hmmm, interesting about the graphic novels. The books I looked at looked meatier and longer, but I didn't look at all the books. I'll go look more carefully.

@JennyD the talk he's giving this weekend is about birding in Israel. We got there just in time for the tail end of the hawk migration and were able to go to Eilat to observe it. We only saw the tail end and it was amazing.

Thanks!

 

[JennyD]

10 minutes ago, EmilyGF said:

 

@JennyD the talk he's giving this weekend is about birding in Israel. We got there just in time for the tail end of the hawk migration and were able to go to Eilat to observe it. We only saw the tail end and it was amazing

 

Wow!  How cool!  That's supposed to be one of the best places in the world for birding.