Too early for hits and misses?

[Ditto]

On 10/13/2020 at 12:22 PM, Loowit said:

12th grader: Financial Literacy, he isn't enjoying it much at all, but I think it is something that he needs to finish anyway.

My teen is also taking Financial Literacy, and feels the exact same way!   Like you, I think it is super important and insist it be completed.

[MamaSprout]

On 11/20/2020 at 5:20 AM, GoodGrief3 said:

 

To be clear, this is not about the instructor's assignments being difficult, per se. Unfortunately, the problems with this instructor has made my daughter unenthusiastic about the content, and I hate that. When she doesn't understand something, she is reluctant to ask clarifying questions of either Ms. Dean or the TA because the answer is rarely satisfactory. My older daughter was really inspired by her AP English Lang class with Ms. Inspektor, and AP English Lit with a no-longer-there instructor named Ms. Green.

We are running into this with another course. It's so frustrating to see a student lose enthusiasm for a potentially interesting subject because things that are related to the mechanics of the course rather than the subject itself. 

[ScoutTN]

No real misses for 10th gr Dd. 

Hits:

American Lit and French 1 at local tutorial. She LOVES French! 

Alg 2 with Eric Reini at WHA.

 

Meh:

Chemistry at local tutorial with Jay Wile's newer book. The course is well taught and the book is fine. Dd just doesn't like science. 

American History using Dave Raymond's curriculum. Dd needs more interaction with me and discussion to keep this lively. Hoping to adjust my schedule to do this better next semester. 

Edited December 7, 2020 by ScoutTN
Misspelled name!

[RootAnn]

11 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Alg 2 with Derek Reini at WHA.

Lol. Autocorrect strikes! Eric Reini is a gem. Never had a kid have him as a teacher but have met him. Quality guy!

[ScoutTN]

10 hours ago, RootAnn said:

Lol. Autocorrect strikes! Eric Reini is a gem. Never had a kid have him as a teacher but have met him. Quality guy!

Ha! Thanks! Fixed it. I knew it was wrong, but couldn't catch it. 

My dd loves his classes. She is already wishing he taught precal for next yr. 

[RootAnn]

19 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

My dd loves his classes. She is already wishing he taught precal for next yr. 

Statistics is the only thing left in the cycle that he teaches, I think.

[ScoutTN]

1 hour ago, RootAnn said:

Statistics is the only thing left in the cycle that he teaches, I think.

Well, one plan for her senior year is two maths, two English, art and French. Not sure Calc and Stats the same year is wise, though.

[RootAnn]

I think she can do Stats next year woth PreCalc if she'd rather double up then, @ScoutTN :) With WHA, I've found it is wise to get in with teachers you want sooner rather than later because sometimes, there is no later.  (Lots of teacher turnover especially among the great ones.)

[Roadrunner]

50 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

Well, one plan for her senior year is two maths, two English, art and French. Not sure Calc and Stats the same year is wise, though.

Statistics is a ridiculously easy subject. It’s barely math at least at AP level. It’s something one can self learn in a matter of several months. Try not to sign up for a teacher that turns the easiest class into the massive time suck just because she can. 

[fourisenough]

My DD is doubling up on AP Stats with Eric Reini (her fav!) and Pre-Calculus at Blue Tent this year for the exact reason that @RootAnn mentions above: he’s great and you just never know how long the good teachers will stick around! This is her 3rd year with him, so I’m hoping he’ll be able to write an enthusiastic LOR for her. 

And, I also agree with @Roadrunner above: Stats is easy and low-effort, so it pairs well even with a very challenging Pre-Calc for my liberal arts-oriented (but very bright, hardworking) DD. She isn’t a math lover and likely won’t major in anything math-heavy, but it’s a nice way to get 6 math credits in during high school (Alg 1 through AP Stats & AP Calculus).

[Not_a_Number]

8 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

Statistics is a ridiculously easy subject. It’s barely math at least at AP level. It’s something one can self learn in a matter of several months. Try not to sign up for a teacher that turns the easiest class into the massive time suck just because she can. 

I hope this is not too off-topic, but why is stats so easy?? To do it well, you need quite a lot of probability... what exactly does AP stats cover and at what level?

[Roadrunner]

1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said:

I hope this is not too off-topic, but why is stats so easy?? To do it well, you need quite a lot of probability... what exactly does AP stats cover and at what level?

Maybe it’s the AP syllabus? I don’t know. The textbook is terrible (standard AP text). It takes 30 pages to say what could be said in 3. The one chapter that had probability was also super easy. Maybe because mine has had Counting & Probability before? It was a joke. I hope things improve. 

[SeaConquest]

On 12/8/2020 at 12:24 AM, Roadrunner said:

Maybe it’s the AP syllabus? I don’t know. The textbook is terrible (standard AP text). It takes 30 pages to say what could be said in 3. The one chapter that had probability was also super easy. Maybe because mine has had Counting & Probability before? It was a joke. I hope things improve. 

So, if a kid has taken Intro & Intermediate C&P, should they just self-teach AP stats? Or just not bother with it at all?

[Not_a_Number]

37 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

So, if a kid has taken Intro & Intermediate C&P, should they just self-teach AP stats? Or just not bother with it at all?

Stats is its own thing. Counting and probability is part of it, but there's a lot more. 

He could probably self-teach AP stats. Or you could find a more reasonable statistics class -- perhaps college level? I'd want a class that actually thoroughly engages with the math behind everything. Also, a good focus on when NOT to run a regression would be a good idea, lol. So many people run regressions on ridiculous data... 

[Roadrunner]

18 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Stats is its own thing. Counting and probability is part of it, but there's a lot more. 

He could probably self-teach AP stats. Or you could find a more reasonable statistics class -- perhaps college level? I'd want a class that actually thoroughly engages with the math behind everything. Also, a good focus on when NOT to run a regression would be a good idea, lol. So many people run regressions on ridiculous data... 

What to design one at AoPS? 😉

[Roadrunner]

57 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

So, if a kid has taken Intro & Intermediate C&P, should they just self-teach AP stats? Or just not bother with it at all?

I don’t know. I would suggest to closely look at the textbook to see if it’s something you are interested in. Statistics is interesting, but the AP version here is underwhelming and overwhelming all at once. 

[Not_a_Number]

2 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

What to design one at AoPS? 😉

My stats is probably not good enough, frankly. I'm not an expert in stats, merely a dabbler. 

[MamaSprout]

When we looked at stats, I didn't see too many university programs that accept AP Stats. It's kind of like the AP Physics 1 & 2. It might apply for a liberal arts major or be useful for a student who wants to show some rigor on their transcript, but may be unnecessary for some students. 

When I dug deeper, some stats for STEM students wanted a pre-req of Calc III. That's a pretty big difference in content, kind of like comparing University Physics to a conceptual physics class.

[fourisenough]

2 hours ago, MamaSprout said:

When we looked at stats, I didn't see too many university programs that accept AP Stats. It's kind of like the AP Physics 1 & 2. It might apply for a liberal arts major or be useful for a student who wants to show some rigor on their transcript, but may be unnecessary for some students. 

When I dug deeper, some stats for STEM students wanted a pre-req of Calc III. That's a pretty big difference in content, kind of like comparing University Physics to a conceptual physics class.

Both of my older girls (nursing majors) earned university credit for their AP stats exam scores. It fulfilled their required bio stats course. I suspect you are correct that most STEM majors may not earn credit for AP Stats. 

[staceyobu]

Hits:

Sonlight 20th Century World History and Bible - DD is loving all of the reading. All of the books have been super compelling.

Government at the CC - Her first community college class. It's free. I'm loving having something completely off my plate. She wraps up this weekend!

Still deciding:

Excellence in Literature Lit & Comp - I feel like it's getting the job done, but it's not particularly fun. But, not everything has to be fun.

Experience Astronomy - This is the first online class we've ever outsourced. The videos, reading, and quizzes are all good. However, there are 10 big projects that are all due May 31st. I feel like we keep pushing these off on busy days because there is an entire school year to get them done. However, I just wish there was one due once a month. Some of them are also fairly lengthy writing assignment. Like, the assigned pages seems longer than what I would have to say about something. But, the other aspects of the course seem like enough to push this slightly to the win category. 

Misses:

DIVE streaming for Saxon Algbera 2 - So, maybe it's not quite fair to list this as a miss since they are informative, but the sound quality is terrible. And, the pen he uses constantly disappears and reappears. Doesn't seem worth how much I paid.

[RubyPenn]

On 12/10/2020 at 6:32 PM, staceyobu said:

Hits:

 

Experience Astronomy - This is the first online class we've ever outsourced. The videos, reading, and quizzes are all good. However, there are 10 big projects that are all due May 31st. I feel like we keep pushing these off on busy days because there is an entire school year to get them done. However, I just wish there was one due once a month. Some of them are also fairly lengthy writing assignment. Like, the assigned pages seems longer than what I would have to say about something. But, the other aspects of the course seem like enough to push this slightly to the win category. 

My son is also taking Experience Astronomy.  I have him submit a project every three weeks, otherwise he would procrastinate.  He can choose any project he likes, but I did say two of them have to be written, so one paper per semester.  Maybe giving your child your own dues dates could be a solution for you, too?  My due dates are Sunday evenings by 10:00 p.m. so he has the weekends to work on them if he's behind because of other schoolwork.

Edited December 16, 2020 by RubyPenn

[RubyPenn]

4 minutes ago, RubyPenn said:

 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by RubyPenn

[serendipitous journey]

I haven't been on the HS forum because my biggest miss this year was: high school.  🤣  <---- that's me either laughing 'til I cry or crying 'til I laugh. 

2019 saw some very serious health problems for my elder, so I'd pushed my latest high school "start date" to Jan 2021;  and 2020's challenges were compounded at our house, so I'm giving myself until Feb 2021 to make it official.  We're bringing a puppy home that month, though, so staying focused will take a lot of grace + discipline. 

But a lot of my elder DS's work is high school level, so we do have some hits + misses to share.

• Hit: CLRC Latin.  He doesn't love Latin, but this class is great for him.
• Hit: CLRC Greek.  He is first-year in this, and is learning to work regularly and study well.  
• Hit: AoPS math.  Finally!  Again: doesn't love, but is doing well.  He outpaced me, so he meets with DH 2x week to look at stuff.
• Hit: homegrown coding with DH during his math check-ins.  Child is learning to code up math problems + problems he invents. 
• Hit: Artistic Pursuits sculpture program.  We don't get to it as often as I'd like, and he doesn't always like the assignments at first, but he gets caught up once he's going.
• Hit: not starting high school level literature.  He's wrapping up the WTM 8th grade reading list + doing suggested writing for the literature and is having, on average, a blast.  What a shock to me!  he kept laughing out loud at Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and now is taking a rather ironic view of "Hiawatha". 
• Hit: not starting high school level writing.  He's doing well in, and having some fun with, WWS2.   
• Miss: Zumdahl's chemistry.  Though was partly our fault since I had to focus my energies and so I let science and history lag.  I'm going to try a more historically-contextualized program next, maybe Centripetal Press, and try to read some of the classic papers together. 
• Miss: piano.  He is not destined to like this instrument.  And didn't want to try a different one.  We found an astonishingly wonderful teacher, and he still didn't care, so he gets to drop music performance! 
• okay: Harmony Fine Arts art + music study.  Again, mostly the troubles are caused by me not having time to commit.  This program has helped keep our feet in the arts, which is great. 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by serendipitous journey