Keeping Tabs on Self-Taught / Asynchronous Courses

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

DS has his first courses this year that are written to him, as well as his first online asynchronous / self-taught from video classes & I’m struggling with figuring out how “involved” I ought to remain.

How much attention do you pay to courses that are written to your student or that you’ve decided to outsource but that don’t have a live, synchronized teacher / classmates for your middle schooler? Do you…

A. Read everything in advance & keep notes so that you know exactly what material they’re engaging with each day & you’re able to hold detailed conversations with them about the material?

B. Loosely follow along in the TM / listen in on videos / skim readings or Cliff’s Notes so you can help in case they get stuck? 

C. Read over the syllabus, grade strictly off of provided rubrics (if applicable), & only track major assignments? 

D. Completely ignore it & encourage your child to look things up independently when stuck? 

If you have homeschooled through high school as well, could you describe whether  / how this changed as your student(s) got older? 

[luuknam]

Depends on the subject, the kid, how well things are going, my goals for the class, and quite frankly, my interest level in the class. 

[Gil]

We're in the last 3 months of The Boys highschool education.

The Boys have taken Autodidactic Studies for years and I used the "Autodidactic Studies" course as a catch all to provide the support need as their ability to study, learn and master material that's of interest to them developed.

Outside of Autodidactic Studies, my level of involvement with self-taught courses depended on the subject, the kids desire for the long-term outcomes, and my own interest/availability for that subject etc.

[wendyroo]

My experience probably won't help much because most of our experience is with math/science classes, and your questions are more geared toward humanities.

Things I do for both middle and high schoolers with those types of courses:
- Help develop a pacing guide if a detailed one isn't provided
- Keep tabs on pacing at least weekly
- Keep tabs on grades/performance at least weekly

Additional things I do for middle schoolers that I fade out over time:
- Ask to see notes, worked homework, etc.
- Hold on to the answer key and check assignments (high schoolers may be able to self-check)
- Help them redo problems that are causing them trouble (I would obviously help high schoolers too, but only after they tried longer)
- Watch lectures with them if necessary...and often it is
 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

3 minutes ago, wendyroo said:

My experience probably won't help much because most of our experience is with math/science classes, and your questions are more geared toward humanities.

So far the things we are considering are a pretty even-split: Upper-Level Math (AOPS), Computing (Hardware & Programming), Lab Sciences, & LOTE (Mandarin Chinese)… though if these other formats work well over time I’m open to including History, Composition, Non-Lab Sciences, & additional electives, as well. 

Overall I’d like him to experience a variety of formats for both core & non-core courses: parent-taught, self-taught, online synchronous, online asynchronous, in-person classroom, mentor / tutor, etc. 

[caffeineandbooks]

Given that you've posted on the Logic board, I'm assuming your DC is in that age range.  I think that if the subject matters to you, you need to choose an option toward the "A" end of your spectrum of options.  If it's purely an elective interest and you wouldn't mind if it wasn't completed, only then would I go toward your "D" end.

I have a 7th grader doing WWS.  It's written to the student, and this student has no executive functioning issues or LDs, but frequently misses key instructions.  SWB is very aware of this and explicitly recommends strategies to help the student succeed.  All the material is there for the student, but middle schoolers are often not that good at paying attention to details.  Mine also thinks better when forced to think out loud by discussing/explaining with me, instead of rushing into writing without reflection.

I've heard too many stories of parents who asked their usually responsible kid once a week "How's math going?" and received the reply, "Great, there are no problems."  Only at the end of the semester did they discover that the kid had barely cracked the book open and was months behind.  Kids this age still need support to understand instructions, and may not know how to say "Actually I didn't understand that assignment at all and I'm not sure how to get started."

[Porridge]

I am very hands on for online (asynch or synch) classes to help my DC develop EF skills. I check in with DC at the end of every morning, look over their work, check to see if they have questions, help them plan / chunk work, help them plan a study strategy for any upcoming tests.

For one of my DC, it took almost 2 years for them to develop the EF skills to function mostly independently in Derek Owens math. That's fine by me. I'm really proud of how responsible they are now.

For the other kid, I did a lot of coaching on how to communicate with instructors, how to ask questions in a way that would help them get the answers they needed.  This process also took about 2 years, but now this one is independent and communicates really well with teachers and professors.

Once they are solid on the EF aspects of managing the course, I'm much less hands-on. I still do a verbal checkin every day to see if they've done the lesson and whether they had issues. For my older DC, I'm almost completely hands off but I will log in to the parent portal once a week or every other week to look at their work / grades.  This is mostly because I miss working with them, and I like to get a glimpse of the work they're doing.

Edited September 23 by Porridge

[Kezia]

I would be skimming and keeping tabs on all assignments, so about the upper B level of your above listed choices. 
 

I would definitely back off as the class goes on IF that is an option and it seems like the student is handling assignments and pacing himself well. I will try to get to level C or even D for an elective that I have zero interest in, but the initial involvement would be A-B. 
 

I am at level A right now with my 13 year old who has one asynchronous course. On his own without my interference he takes no notes, watches videos on double time, maybe even skips a couple of the videos and refuses to study anything at all. He still aces homework and tests, but I am trying to encourage/model better study habits so I can be at level C-D in high school. 
 

I think with any class I will be checking into the progress/grades weekly especially core courses. 

[macmacmoo]

edit: i asked a question and then figured it out

Edited October 1 by macmacmoo