BlessedMomto3 Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 I’m looking (already for next year 🤦♀️) for a good “first AP” class for my daughter. My son has taken so many great classes through PA Homeschoolers, so I’m starting my search there. Does anyone have any experience with their AP Government or AP Comparative Government classes? Any teacher recommendations? AP World History? I want to make sure it covers the info thoroughly and also is a good first AP in that it helps teach how to structure responses, etc. I’ve searched the board but haven’t seen much come up on those three classes… If you have another class or provider recommendation, I’m all ears! I’m also considering (on the science side) AP environmental science and AP Biology… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjbucks1 Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 (edited) My ds took AP Government with Daniel Burns through PA Homeschoolers last year (9th grade). I loved how the class was set up. It was very clear each week what was due (he uses Canvas). There are 10 (I think) court cases that the students must understand very well in order to do well on the test. Mr. Burns has a very specific (and good) way he has the students synthesize this information. Reading the court cases was challenging for my 9th grade son, so we read them to together and discussed them, which helped him a lot! The textbook Mr. Burns uses is online and was very good as it contained all the information need in a succinct manner. There were three or four group projects. These projects were good, but ds was always having to work hard to get others to complete there part of the assignment. He did email Mr. Burns about this once because he could not get anyone to respond to him, but Mr. Burns was able to solve this issue. Another thing Mr. Burns does very well is give SPECIFIC instructions on HOW to write the essay questions. He gave good feedback, and I also looked at the rubrics to give my son feedback. The one weakness Mr. Burns has is he is not a fantastic lecturer. I added in the videos from Khan Academy for AP Government, which were excellent (and they also have sample multiple choice questions which were helpful). I also found practice multiple choice questions and essay questions on Teachers Pay Teachers that I had ds do before Mr. Burns exams, which were very helpful. Heimler History also has short review videos on YouTube (10 minutes) which were helpful as well, especially as a review before the AP exam. Ds really enjoyed the class. The students interact weekly on a message board, and the comments were always insightful. He usually spent 10 hours/week on the class, and he scored a 5 on the exam. Let me know if you have any questions. Edited October 18, 2023 by mjbucks1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlessedMomto3 Posted October 18, 2023 Author Share Posted October 18, 2023 Thank you!!! This is so thorough and helpful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted October 19, 2023 Share Posted October 19, 2023 I think either government or world history would be good. I'd say that government is probably the easier one, but world history is a good intro to all the AP history courses: the essay format is the same for all of them, whereas government has its own format. I think both are pretty commonly taught as 9th grade classes, though. No experience with providers as we did both at home, but my kids had good experiences with both. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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