<p>I think homeschooling is a terrible option. It's neither fish nor fowl nor fine red meat. Kind of the worst of both worlds. Bad lab facilities and no senior year social stuff.</p>
<p>The catalog for Harvard Extension varies little from year to year. I would suggest that your daughter identify from last fall's catalog the courses she wants to take, and tell the school she will be taking them. I would suggest that she would have more fun and not jeopardize her college admission chances if she took something a little different, like oceanography or zoology.</p>
<p>dmd77, our situation is different than CRD, but for us, partial homeschooling worked very well. I hired a Harvard grad student to do accelerated math with my son. He took Expository Writing 20 at Harvard. We did other stuff separately.</p>
<p>My son would have preferred full homeschooling. I agree with you that it might not be that good, but it could also be sensational. It does require more parental involvement to make sure that things are working, that enthusiasm does not flag, etc. For my son, many of what were the most challenging courses at the high school were not that challenging because the number of intellectual peers in the class was small. Working with a grad student twice a week and doing work in between was much more stimulating.</p>
<p>But, we wanted to maintain some of the social connections. In our case, the school after the fact granted sufficient credit for him to graduate, but we didn't expect that (and didn't need it). As long as CRD's kid is still affiliated with the school, she can get GPA, etc. and guidance counselor support, such as it is, from the school. I don't know if CRD is interested or his school district is willing.</p>
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I don't know if CRD is interested or his school district is willing.
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<p>Shawbridge, I may PM you at some point if you'd be willing to share more details. </p>
<p>I've found and spoken to a parent of a homeschooler in our district who is quite knowledgeable in this area. She told me that our district does not allow homeschooled kids in the classes. I've checked with the state DOE and they are not required to allow it. I have not pushed it at the district level because we're not quite ready yet. This avenue does not however appear likely to bear fruit, but maybe your experience can help us. Thanks for the insight.</p>
<p>CRD, happy to share more details. PM away. My son was the first kid to be formally partially homeschooled in our district. The rule they had, and I think this may come from the state, but I'll have to check, is that they would let homeschoolers in if the classes weren't oversubscribed. It has been 3 1/2 years since I negotiated the arrangement with the school district. So, I'll have to review my emails.</p>
<p>Marite, I wonder if it depends in part on whether the district is k-12? In our area the k-8 and high schools are two separate districts, so it would be very difficult for the hs to avoid putting the 8th grade geom. grade on the transcript, while in a unified district I can imagine that the class could be taught at the hs yet reported on the 8th grade report card. The transcript will tell the tale, I think.</p>
<p>We seem to have won the Math battle. I think it was the unified group of parents. That was the most critical issue. The rest of the stuff seems a little easier to deal with. </p>
<p>Thanks for all of the support from this group.</p>
<p>Good for you (& your daughter) ClassicRockerDad. That's great.</p>
<p>I've found that a group of strong-minded parents can make big changes in a district. That's happened in ours (both elem & HS) several times. Now we are quite friendly w/the admin. It helps, in some things.</p>
<p>Nice to hear that you won that battle. As a high school student who took MV/LA at Harvard Extension my junior year, I would still recommend your daughter take both HES and AP stats. First, HES classes are in no way as rigorous as a real college level course. They like to scale a lot there. It may even be considered easier than an AP course. At least that was the impression I got. HES is also only a time commitment of about 2 (3 w/ transportation) a week plus homework, so its definitely manageable alongside AP stats. It might look better to colleges. However, if you think that its a strain for your daughter, don’t do that. I know taking MV/LA alongside AP comp sci, AP chem, and AP USH was manageable for me, and I was only a junior. I’m taking AP stats this year, just because I have this senior year to fill.</p>
<p>Also, my school sends a lot of students to MV/LA each year (i go to a public suburban Boston HS), probably just because of competition, so there isn’t really that personal battle. I think your daughter will be fine in a math class with a lot of high school students. They may be an helpful resource for your daughter. Other HES classes don’t have that many.</p>
<p>Good luck! I have my own battle of sorts. I got kicked out of my high school for residency issues. Haven’t figured out my senior year quite yet.</p>
<p>Since this thread seems to have revived, I realize I never responded to Scualum.
S did BC-Calc as an 8th grader, so spent his three years of hs at HES for math. I imagine that the kid now doing AP-Stats in 8th grade will need similar accommodation. For us, it was easy as HES caters to high schoolers from neighboring districts.</p>
<p>The NYT recently ran an article that said statistics was the wave of the future (as plastics was for The Graduate). I see that Ss’ former school now offers AP-Stats through the Virtual High School. I’d lobbied for it to be offered when S was in high school (not that he was personally interested).</p>
<p>That was a good article on Stats as the wave of the future - I emailed it to DS who is the math whiz in the family!!!</p>
<p>As for the local math whiz, he did knock out Calc 1 over the summer - and so he has 5 semester classes remaining to be taken at the local JC. School district has already waived the Math requirement for him to graduate from high school - showing extremely sensible logic IMHO :). His parents are talking about him going to the local CSU for upper level math his Junior and Senior years - assuming that the budget crisis in CA doesn’t make that impossible.</p>
<p>I think that S WAS fulfilling the math requirements for high school by taking math at HES! Although he started there earlier than many others, HES welcomes lots of juniors and seniors as well as homeschooled kids at lower levels of math. S was not exempted from any graduation requirement except for PE.</p>
<p>suggest that you check with the private schools to see if they have a homeschool option. some do.</p>
<p>we noted recent changes in our district in the math department. we were told that dept. chair did not seem to want gifted students compacting classes any longer. we also heard the line…“they’ll run out of classes.” op may have a point about budget considerations and job loss fears.</p>
<p>local university now offering classes to juniors/seniors if they have 3.5 gpa at their h.s. for 1/2 tuition. maybe the universities are taking notice of what is going on at the h.s.'s. maybe the universities see that with so much emphasis on state assessments in the high schools that sometimes nothing new is being taught and acceleration is discouraged. it certainly does open up new opportunities for universities that are willing to do outreach to the high school students seeking more challenge. we also have a new 2 year math/science academy in our state (for the first time) which selectively admits students in their jr./sr. years of h.s. they can complete the first 2 years of college (dual enrolled). the academy is set up at one of the state universities. seems like a good opportunity for the university to increase it’s enrollment numbers and fullfill a need within the state for accelerated classes for high school students. </p>
<p>in the last several years, there are now more and more virtual schools (online classes). think this area will continue to blossom. </p>
<p>with budget cuts looming, parents and students are looking for alternatives.</p>
<p>kudos to the op for taking a look at some options.</p>
<p>classrocker dad…is graduating from high school in december an option? she’d then either enter college in January or take the spring off and enter in the coming fall.</p>
However, if you think that its a strain for your daughter, don’t do that. I know taking MV/LA alongside AP comp sci, AP chem, and AP USH was manageable for me, and I was only a junior. I’m taking AP stats this year, just because I have this senior year to fill.</p>