<p>My son feels very unchallenged in school. Because of this, he wants to teach himself geometry over the summer. Does anybody think this is a good idea? Also, are there any FREE online schools where he could, say also get ahead in science? Btw, he's in 8th grade. Next year, the highschool requires all 9th graders to take physical science, which means that he will take physical science, biology, physics, and chemistry, but not an ap in any of those, and Ives want a year of focused study in the main three, right? Please help, as he very much wishes to go to the ivy leagues.</p>
<p>I took geometry in 8th grade. I wouldn’t consider it too difficult to self-study as long as he is motivated. I assume he would then take Algebra II/Trig of some type as a freshman, followed by Precalculus, Calculus, etc. Algebra II will likely review the important geometry concepts (trig mostly), towards the end of the year; before that will be mostly building on Algebra I. So, if your son is fairly intelligent (Ivy bound, I’m assuming he is) Algebra II wouldn’t be too hard. However, he might have to take a placement test to get out of geometry; these tests tend to be very difficult, but not impossible. So, if he works hard over the summer, he can probably be successul.</p>
<p>For science, my school’s normal curriculum is for freshmen to take physical science, however, if you have an A in 8th grade science you can skip to biology. I would recommend talking to counselors; if he has a high grade in his 8th grade science, and you explain the situation, it would be reasonable to skip the physical science (it’s most likely pretty basic stuff that will be covered in other classes)</p>
<p>If he can do these things he should have no problem fitting AP Biology, AP chemistry, and AP physics into his schedule</p>
<p>Teaching himself geometry is a great idea. Even if he doesn’t finish learning it, he’ll still be way ahead when he takes it in school. Besides, it’s an achievement and might give him more to be proud of.</p>
<p>If people don’t usually get the chance to take AP science at your son’s school, you might consider finding a better school. Or have him take the honors class and take the AP test at the end of the year (he might have to do a bit of extra studying for this to work). Or have him take the AP class (if offered) and skip the honors class (but that might get tricky if the teachers assume prerequisite knowledge; I guess he could study the honors material in advance if he wanted to).</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s too hard to take the AP tests themselves with only one year of experience in the subject. That’s what I did for physics and biology. And I should have done that for chemistry too because Honors Chemistry was pointless at my school and I probably would have learned just as much had I gone straight to AP. In my experience, AP-level textbooks usually don’t assume much prerequisite knowledge, which means you just have to be able to read the textbook.</p>
<p>Free education might be hard to find, but maybe you could try having him take courses at a community college (when he’s ready). Those are usually pretty cheap.</p>
<p>It’s not really a necessity to take chem, phys, and bio to get into the ivys (or any top college). If a student is intent on going to the med school in the long run, for instance, it would be fine if the student’s sciences sequence went something like honors bio -> honors chem -> AP bio -> AP chem, which is entirely possible at my school, and is rigorous enough for top schools. Obviously you can double up on sciences some years, but no science class is essential (like physics in my example above).</p>
<p>And sorry for only responding to the last part of your post :)</p>
<p>Well, I doubt that there are any free online schools that his school will recognize and will let him get ahead in math or science. I took (and am taking again this summer) online courses from BYU (Brigham Young University). Pretty inexpensive, about $128 per semester, I believe.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the answers!!!
The high school has 4 classes a day, one of which must be p.e. Block scheduling means 8 classes total and 3 electives per year; he will take band every year, though. His dream schedule is this:
Summer before 9: geometry
9:
English honors
Social studies honors
Physical science honors (or bio; he’ll have to talk to gc)
Alg 2 honors
Band
French 1 honors
Foundations of music</p>
<p>Summer before 10: precalculus
10:
English, social studies honors (no ap alternative, unfortunately)
Bio honors (or chemistry)
Calc bc ap
Band
Music theory 1
French 2 honors</p>
<p>11:
English Lang ap. (thankfully, ap alternatives!)
APUSH( is that the right acronym? I’m new here!)
Chem honors (or physics honors)
Ap stats
Music theory 2
French 3
Band</p>
<p>12:
Ap English lit
Ap euro
Math: the high school only goes up to that… Qlthough there is an ‘independent study,’ so I guess that’s an option… Or he could take ap comp sci…? What do you guys think?
Physics honors ( or an ap… Depends on which of the three he likes best I suppose… 
Band
French 4 honors
Music theory 3 ap</p>
<p>And gym every year</p>
<p>Thank you so much for reading all this! You are all so kind!</p>
<p>The school does have a gifted program, but since he was transferred to this district from a catholic school that didn’t have a gifted program, he was quite behind, so he never was able to do the ‘advanced math program.’ some of the kids in that are already doing algebra 2 at his age, which saddens him, because he never really had the opportunity to do that. He did take an iq test, so now he’s in ‘talent pool,’ which is advanced English, but he says it is very easy, and he has been receiving A+ in that class.</p>
<p>All the ap classes have a prerequisite of the regular class. I suppose ds should speak to his gc. </p>
<p>Also, do you think he could teach himself science over the summers? He could take a regular course over the summer and an ap course during school. </p>
<p>Sorry for so many questions!</p>
<p>If he teaches himself science the school might not recognize it for the purpose of class placement. Even if he takes science classes at an online school or a summer program the school might not recognize it. What about [self-studying</a> AP classes and taking the tests despite not having the formal classes](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/369861-self-studying-aps-improving-your-app.html]self-studying”>Self-Studying APs: Improving Your App - AP Test Preparation - College Confidential Forums)?</p>
<p>Also, there are a lot of other things to do over summer that might also help an application (or be good experiences in general), such as summer programs or scientific research.</p>
<p>For 12th grade math, he could dual-enroll at a local college or community college. That’s what a lot of people do when they run out of classes to take.</p>
<p>Also, he has a 98% in science. Even though he hates his teacher, who ds says talks about random topics for sometimes half the period and is constantly insulting kids, ie “my c period has idiots” and “you are so immature.” he is a new teacher, so I guess he just isn’t accustomed to the attitudes of teens these days. 
</p>
<p>Also, do you think he could self teach precalculus over the summer (9-10)? He is extremely motivated. Also, is precalculus sort of easy? For some reason the ‘pre’ part is throwing me off, making me think it’s easier than other classes, but I might be dead wrong. </p>
<p>Phizex, you took ap exams without ap courses? Would you suggest ds do that, perhaps wi the easier aps? The tests are expensive, and I don’t want to pay for a test where he doesn’t do well on - and unfortunately, he is a perfectionist, so that means a 4. </p>
<p>Also, sorry for all the typos- Im not the best typer!,!</p>
<p>That’s true, there wouldn’t really be a ‘placement’ test for science.
Could you tell me a little more about the scientific research? I’ve read about people doing research here on cc, but where are they doing this? He is very interested in the math behind music; would that be a good research topic? Or by research do you mean, say, discovering the cure to cancer?</p>
<p>Slow down here, Bassoonapus. Your son is entering high school. That is a time for self-discovery. Let him struggle. Let him succeed.</p>
<p>Actually, I was lying a bit to you guys - I’m not a parent, I’m a kid. And I’m really scared about highschool and hyp.
Has anyone here self taught math and science over the summer?</p>
<p>Is highschool supposed to be is stressful? Because lately I’ve been more stressed over course selection than actual school! I’ve been pulling my hair out and staying up till 5 in the morning, lurking in the shadows of cc threads. I’m so stressed… Please help</p>
<p>Aha! I knew something was fishy. Why’d you have to hide behind the persona of a parent? We’re all friendly here (for the most part). Your goal for high school should not be to get into HYP because most people don’t. In all honesty, it is a crapshoot. Your goal should be to make high school the best experience it can be. If that means being ahead, go for it. Do what makes you shine.</p>
<p>Stop pulling your hair or you will be bald sooner or later. High school, eh, is not that stressful for most of freshmen. It’s good that you have already started to plan ahead, but don’t be so stressed out now. How are you going to handle later high school years if you are already pulling your hair and suffering from insomnia? I know that I didn’t answer any of your questions. Please relax!</p>
<p>Ok I do love math though, so I think I will take geometry over the summer. But not the science. I’ll just see if I can skip phys sci. I want to major in music anyways, but I might change my mind/become crippled, so I figured hyp would be a good back up plan. lol I’m probably the first person to say that.
Anyways, my school has about 20 apclasses. I will probably take 8-11 of those- is that a good hyp amount?</p>
<p>I’m taking 17 by the time I graduate. It has to be what you can handle.</p>
<p>Hmm… you did seem like a different kind of parent. You don’t needa do that, though. We’re all really cool people here on cc. So you wanna skip classes. I think you can skip precalc if you work hard enough. Remember that it’s a whole school year’s worth of work put into 2 1/2 months.</p>
<p>Also, you needa chill. It’s okay. High school isn’t that bad. Everybody stresses out thinking that high school is gonna be horrible but the truth is, it’s not. Also, you shouldn’t get so wrapped up in school that you don’t have a life. I know people like that. They study super hard and get great grades but that’s all they do. In their free time, they study for the SAT or something rather than going to the movies with their friends. I don’t try to do that because I know it’s not gonna help. You gotta be a hard worker at school and when you’re doing your homework, studying and stuff, but you gotta chill other than that.</p>
<p>So all of that into two words: Chill, dude.</p>
<p>About the AP classes: Take them only in the subjects you are interested in, don’t just randomly take them to kill yourself. Take as many as you can, but not too many.</p>
<p>Hope that helped I was pretty stressed out when I was starting high school, too, but I discovered it wasn’t that bad.</p>
<p>I agree with most of the postings with this caveat…I always told my son ( who also had the goal of trying to get into the ivys) that shoot for the stars and do the very best that you can starting with your freshman year. You can always change your mind later if you decide that you don’t want to or can’t put the effort into what it takes to get into an ivy. But it is not an inverse relationship. If you don’t try hard or take the most challenging classes in your freshman year and then you decide in your sophomore or junior year that you want to step up your game, it will be too late. There will already be those students who have challenged themselves from 9th grade and their stats will already be better than yours. But you can always decide in your junior year that you will shoot for a little lower level college and then you can never look back later in life and say “what if”…just food for thought!</p>