Concurrent enrollment question - how do you decide

[Miss Marple]

How do you decide which course(s) your student should take? I've always tried to use concurrent enrollment to meet course requirements for high school rather than doubling the course even though one might be more advanced (ie, chemistry at home and chemistry at university).

 

Our co-op is beginning to morph into something it has never been before. It originally was focused on the high school years (9-12) to provide necessary courses that were more difficult to do at home (lab sciences, literary discussion, etc.). However, with more and more students opting for concurrent enrollment we are having trouble deciding which courses to offer.

 

It appears that the co-op is now focusing on highschool prep. (essay writing, science skills, etc.) as well as foundational courses. Then the more academic students are heading off for concurrent enrollment.

 

So how do you view concurrent enrollment course choices?

[Mandy in TN]

My oldest took American History (exploration through reconstruction) as his first CC course last semester. It fulfilled a high school requirement and a state college requirement. He also likes history. It was a pleasant and even, dare I say, fun experience for ds.

 

This semester he is taking American History (reconstruction to present) and Computer Apps. Once again, American History fulfills a high school requirement and a state college requirement. It is the same instructor and I think it will again be a pleasant experience. Computer apps is just a course on Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Although he is familiar with Word and Excel, we have never really used Powerpoint. Our umbrella school requires a computer course for graduation and this will take care of it. I also feel that this course will benefit him in future courses.

 

Next year we plan for him to take math and English both semesters. The English will meet both high school and state college requirements. Although he will have the 3 math credits that our umbrella requires, I don't think that it will be wise to go a year without math and then attempt college math courses.

 

He may also take science at the CC or he may take Apologia Advanced Biology at a tutorial.

 

So, this is our thinking.

HTH-

Mandy

Edited January 14, 2009 by Mandy in TN

[Moni]

How do you decide which course(s) your student should take?

 

Look for classes that will transfer to University general ed requirements.

 

:seeya:

[Mandy in TN]

Look for classes that will transfer to University general ed requirements.

 

:seeya:

 

:iagree: That was a better, more succint answer. That is indeed what we looked for. The history, English, and math will all transfer to the state university. Most CCs have transfer agreements. Their websites (the CC and the university) usually have these listed.

 

The CC computer course may transfer as an elective, but it was less expensive to take it at the CC than elsewhere.

 

Mandy

[Kareni]

My daughter is a senior now and began taking some classes at the local community college at the beginning of her junior year.

 

Junior year she took:

 

College Algebra and Trigonometry

Two terms of composition and one of literature

Three terms of Geology with labs

 

By the end of this year, she will have taken:

 

Two terms of literature and one of composition

One term of Environmental Science with lab

One term of Introductory Drawing

plus one additional class (perhaps art or science)

 

The classes she has taken have not been taken with the idea of being transferable (though all would be to our local state university); they've been taken to strengthen her high school curriculum particularly with an eye to what prospective colleges are looking for. They are also classes that interest her within the guidelines given (i.e., "Colleges are looking for another year of science. What would you like to take that fits into your schedule?")

 

Regards,

Kareni

Edited January 15, 2009 by Kareni

[Gwen in VA]

We have the kids take classes which

 

1) We think the kids will excel in. Since the kids will need to mention these classes in any form that asks about college classes for the rest of their lives, we want them to do well in the classes!

 

2) We think will strengthen our kids' background for their colleges. For example, ds2 will take his sciences at a CC because he wants to go into engineering and we want him to have "proper" lab classes. (He isn't doing any science fairs or competitions.)

 

3) We refuse to teach! (Ds2 will take some kind of mechanical drawing -- which is WAY outside of our area of expertise!)

[Jane in NC]

When my son was in elementary school, there was a lively co-op in the area which offered lab science, language, etc. Two factors seemed to have played into its demise, the first being that there are not as many high school age students who are homeschooling. Secondly, concurrent enrollment is also on the rise with the homeschoolers who continue to homeschool through these upper grades.

 

My son began concurrent enrollment last semester (11th grade). I decided that he would take General Chemistry I because of the labs. Our CC has its good points and bad, but, fortunately for us, it has relatively new and well equipped science labs. It would perhaps have been the sensible thing to have had him take Chem II this semester, but he really wanted to take an Intro Microbiology course so we are letting him follow his passions.

 

Homeschoolers can do history courses with relative else at home, given the availability of good texts with Internet resource pages, great Teaching Company lectures, etc. But my son, who loves history, wanted to be in history classes at the CC. So why not?

 

I was encouraging him to take a fine arts class this semester, a music appreciation course or art history, but my sometimes reluctant writer chose Expository Writing. Now who is going to argue with that?

 

Next year I would like him to try his hand at a literature course for the sake of class discussions. For us, it is less about the transferability as it is the broader lessons learned and resources utilized that we may otherwise not have at home.

[Nan in Mass]

We were most concerned about classes which would help our son make the transition from home learning to classroom learning. We chose classes that we thought would be successful and interesting for the first classes, and then a little more difficult and less appealing, and then classes we thought he would have trouble with so we could help him learn how to learn those subjects in a classroom. We also tried to pick a variety of subjects in order to "validate" his ungraded mummy-transcript - some English, math, and science. The tricky bit was taking all of those early enough that they would appear on the transcript when he applied in the spring of his senior year. Then he messed that up that by applying early decision in the fall. It worked out ok, though; the college just accepted him with the provision that he get a C in his pre-calculus class. And last, we picked chemistry for the science class because it would give him experience working in a real laboratory. We didn't give any thought at all to what would transfer, although various people at the college have said they thought most of his CC classes would, and that that would give him room in his schedule to take the required classes for the minor he is interested in.

So: first the transition to classroom learning, next being accepted by colleges with an unconventional high school experience, and last what classes I thought I couldn't teach at home.

-Nan

[SusanAR]

We plan to meet gen. ed. requirements- except for science gen ed courses (he plans to major in pre-vet/animal science).

He is currently taking a creative writing course at the CC because it is something he enjoys yet wouldn't devote the time to once he begins college.

 

SusanAR

[outtamyshell]

I take it one year at a time. What are the highschool requirements and what are the best options available for us? What courses can DD do on her own with some guidance from me and which ones will benefit her to have a more formal co-op or CC?

 

I'm now wondering how many classes to dual enroll at the University for senior year. I've got to decide which classes are the best fit and the best balance for dd. There's much to considre:

 

Should we do history and english at the university and receive college credit? Or should we do a year of WTM style history/literature?

 

Should she take Latin 201 and get the third semester Latin credit at the college level - which would meet a future college degree requirement? Or should she take an online course?

 

Should she take Calculus based physics at the university (calculus & physics concurrently)? Or should we find another lab?

 

I would love to hear how others evaluate it. But so far for me it's like registering for public school highschool courses. Find the best opportunities, make your best judgement call and give it a shot.

[Chris in VA]

I'm like the others, in that I suggested to ds that he take classes that would transfer. He had already chosen the college he wanted to apply to (all his eggs in one basket...sigh), so we just looked at the agreements online, and found exactly what will transfer. We looked at lower-level, general education requirements everyone in his program needed to take. Things like math, Lit 101, Biology, etc. Most college majors require basic education classes that have nothing to do with the major, at least overtly so.

 

He picked Am Gov't and Spanish first, but dropped Spanish after being accused of cheating (long story--he didn't cheat), and the Am Gov't class was canceled. So, he ended up taking Psychology. He did well, and now has an open space in the proposed schedule for Cinema students at his college of choice, should he get in, where he can plug in another course or simply leave it "blank" and have an easier semester.

 

This semester, he is taking a math class. He only needs one for his major, and, as math is not his strength, he decided to take it while he still has us (parents) to turn to for support, should he need it. We tutor, and come cheap for family members :D.

[Brilliant]

I've read all of the answers posted so far, and all of them to some extent describe how we've chosen/will choose CC classes.

 

1. I can't or won't teach it (French)

2. I want my student to have at least *some* outside teachers to prepare for the *real* world.

3. I want to give the homeschool transcript some credibility.

4. My student wants to take electives, and at the CCs in our state, classes are FREE for dually-enrolled students. She has taken dance already, and now is in dance plus 2 music classes. The music classes are group lessons, but since privates are $30/half hour, I am happy to have her take group lessons for free.

5. Transferability has been our last criteria to this point (she's only a sophomore). She will have 14 credits at the end of this semester - 10 French, 2 PE, and 2 music. The French was level 1 & 2 so not transferable to a university. And she is not yet 16, so *some* colleges won't accept the courses at all. Starting next year, we might think more seriously about transferability. For example, since she isn't planning on being a math/science major, she'll probably take something like Liberal Arts Math or Statistics next fall. That will be her final math (she's done Alg 1 & geometry already, and is doing Alg 2 now). These courses transfer to all the major colleges/universities in our area as part of general ed (as long as you are not in a math/science major). The worst that could happen with that is she suddenly gets a burning desire to be an engineer, in which case she'd have to take calculus after all.

 

One other thing we're keeping in mind is the maximum # of credits she can take and still be considered a freshman. One of the colleges we'd consider has wonderful academic scholarships for freshmen, but you must have fewer than 27 units. They also have scholarships for transfer students with high GPAs, so we'll keep that in mind, too.

 

Anyway, that's our method and plan.