Dynamite5 Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 For those of you who are looking to outsource some classes, I would like to give an unsolicited plug to HS College Bound, online classes taught by Roy and Diane Speed. Roy teaches a grammar course that's like a "boot camp" for grammar, a logical communication course and a follow up essay course. These classes are not heavy on writing, but they are heavy on reading excellent writing and discussing what makes it good writing and how to recognize it when one sees it. The students, when they do write, read and critique each other's, but they've put in lots of time before that knowing what to look for. These courses are not typical literature analysis high school courses. They will ready your student for any kind of writing. Roy also teaches a trio of Shakespeare intensives and one or two literature classes. His love of literature is infectious, he's engaging and enthusiastic about his student's opinions. Diane Speed teaches honors science courses with labs. She brings in lots of quality outside ways of helping the student understand (for instance, she might have 3 very short videos that go with the reading one week). Her classes move at a steady, but not breakneck speed. These classes are not cheap. They are high quality instruction and your student will get what you pay for. Again, I am not associated to the Speeds except that we have utilized their courses and found them very much worth the cost, time and effort. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted February 6, 2022 Share Posted February 6, 2022 My son graduated several years ago, but these courses sound absolutely wonderful. They would have been perfect for my accelerated son’s late middle school and early high school years. I got excited just reading about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamite5 Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 5 hours ago, Frances said: My son graduated several years ago, but these courses sound absolutely wonderful. They would have been perfect for my accelerated son’s late middle school and early high school years. I got excited just reading about them. Yes, I understand! I have older kids that did not have the advantage of classes by the Speeds. Sure wish they had! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 It sounds like you had kids do both the Logical Communication course and some Shakespeare courses. Did the Logical Communication course include how to read closely and annotate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Roy Speed posts here sometimes, so someone could tag him if anyone had specific questions. I've known kids who thrived in them and kids who the courses were all wrong for. It's not a traditional high school English sequence or a classical rhetoric course, so definitely be very aware going in that it's what you want. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 4 hours ago, Farrar said: Roy Speed posts here sometimes, so someone could tag him if anyone had specific questions. I've known kids who thrived in them and kids who the courses were all wrong for. It's not a traditional high school English sequence or a classical rhetoric course, so definitely be very aware going in that it's what you want. Yes, Roy messaged me and offered to set up a meeting to answer my questions. I wanted to hear a little more from other people before I set up a meeting. Can you tell me what kind of kids the courses were all wrong for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamite5 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 On 2/7/2022 at 3:23 PM, JumpyTheFrog said: It sounds like you had kids do both the Logical Communication course and some Shakespeare courses. Did the Logical Communication course include how to read closely and annotate? Annotating is absolutely part of the course. I will say that kids are not required to hand a lot in--there's lots of discussion and it is really up to the student to do the work and participate in discussion during class. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamite5 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 9 hours ago, Farrar said: Roy Speed posts here sometimes, so someone could tag him if anyone had specific questions. I've known kids who thrived in them and kids who the courses were all wrong for. It's not a traditional high school English sequence or a classical rhetoric course, so definitely be very aware going in that it's what you want. Bolded mine--I tried to be very clear about that in my original post. "These courses are not typical literature analysis high school courses." I assumed people would either ask questions or go to their website and read the course descriptions. I would say most classes aren't a perfect fit for every student. That's why we share and give our viewpoints, but then it's up to the parents and student to decide the right path. HS College Bound offers something different than many high school online courses. Some of us are thrilled by that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamite5 Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 5 hours ago, JumpyTheFrog said: Yes, Roy messaged me and offered to set up a meeting to answer my questions. I wanted to hear a little more from other people before I set up a meeting. Can you tell me what kind of kids the courses were all wrong for? Bolded mine. You will find him easy to talk with and not pushy at all. I encourage you to take him up on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 4 hours ago, Dynamite5 said: Bolded mine--I tried to be very clear about that in my original post. "These courses are not typical literature analysis high school courses." I assumed people would either ask questions or go to their website and read the course descriptions. I would say most classes aren't a perfect fit for every student. That's why we share and give our viewpoints, but then it's up to the parents and student to decide the right path. HS College Bound offers something different than many high school online courses. Some of us are thrilled by that. Between middle school and high school, my son took 8 semesters of in-person high school level Shakespeare from the same teacher. Definitely not your typical high school English classes and I’m sure not many teens would be interested in doing the same, but absolutely amazing, transformative classes for him that included attending multiple theatre performances each year and experiencing truly great teaching. His close reading and writing skills improved dramatically. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted February 9, 2022 Share Posted February 9, 2022 (edited) The classes typically meet more than one hour a week. The science classes meet for three hours a week (3x1 hr). The cost is obviously (much) higher than most other providers, but there is significantly more interaction than in a video only course. The Speeds are very confident in their methods; they strike me as the old-fashioned variety of homeschoolers who expect a lot of hard work and march to their own beat (not being preoccupied with AP, for example). However, some years, the classes can be quite small, and if all students do not consistently attend, it can be rather empty. We have also seen some strange favoritism/fawning over particular students. editing to add further details Edited April 26, 2022 by stripe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamite5 Posted February 17, 2022 Author Share Posted February 17, 2022 Bump---lots of people looking for classes. Don't overlook this wonderful provider! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porridge Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 (edited) On 2/17/2022 at 3:14 PM, Dynamite5 said: Bump---lots of people looking for classes. Don't overlook this wonderful provider! Thanks for your review, @Dynamite5. Would you have described your kid as a strong writer before taking the course? How much improvement / growth did you see after the courses? Could you also say a little about the workload in the Logical Com and Essay Writing classes? How many hours / week did you DC spend on each class, and how much writing vs reading / analyzing? Thank you 🙂 Edited February 19, 2022 by Porridge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynamite5 Posted February 21, 2022 Author Share Posted February 21, 2022 On 2/19/2022 at 10:57 AM, WTM said: Thanks for your review, @Dynamite5. Would you have described your kid as a strong writer before taking the course? How much improvement / growth did you see after the courses? Could you also say a little about the workload in the Logical Com and Essay Writing classes? How many hours / week did you DC spend on each class, and how much writing vs reading / analyzing? Thank you 🙂 I would have to rate them as a fairly strong but not a motivated or very engaged writer before these two classes. (Also good at grammar) However, the biggest change has been in being able to identify and recognize good (and poor) writing. For instance, I'll get, "Listen to this..." and then either a very poor or very well constructed sentence read to me and sometimes a conversation about why. Then, if it's a poorly constructed sentence, we can have a conversation about what would make it better. It's delightful, frankly, because I'm a bit of a nerd and it's fun to talk about stuff like that and to see a teen excited about school---bonus! There is a big emphasis on class discussion, so unlike other classes where students are expected to write and respond to each other, there is none of that. Homework really is just reading, annotating, and writing. I would say the majority of homework is the first two. Mr. Speed breaks the writing down into small bites and gives them plenty of time to write. Honestly, if I hadn't seen the improvement in the actual writing but knew in advance that the class didn't require an essay every two weeks, for instance, I might have thought there wasn't enough writing. But I've seen such strides in both the understanding of excellent writing and the writing produced, that I'm really happy with the course as is. (I hope that makes sense and I'm happy to clarify if it's confusing.) I would say to expect maybe three hours of homework per week on average. It's of course going to depend upon how quickly your student reads, but it is not onerous. Lots of time, my kid has time to read the 90 minutes right before class and saves all the reading until that day because then it's fresh. I hope this is helpful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCal_Bear Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 @Farrar Could you describe the type of student whom this class was not a good fit for?@WTM Did you happen to enroll in this class? What did you think? Everyone else who can chime in... I have a STEM focused kid who doesn't love writing, but I do want him to be well prepared for college. He has responded well to Cindy Lange's classes for the last two years and has improved but that may not be an option next year for us. So I am in search of another option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 22 minutes ago, calbear said: @Farrar Could you describe the type of student whom this class was not a good fit for?@WTM Did you happen to enroll in this class? What did you think? Everyone else who can chime in... I have a STEM focused kid who doesn't love writing, but I do want him to be well prepared for college. He has responded well to Cindy Lange's classes for the last two years and has improved but that may not be an option next year for us. So I am in search of another option. I'll PM you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 @calbear We did not end up enrolling in the class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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