<p>My S is a junior in HS and is starting the registration process for senior classes. By the end of this year, he will have taken all of the higher level math and science courses offered by his HS (at least those that interest him). I am looking for suggestions as to which courses he might want to consider taking next year as well as suggestions of where to take them. </p>
<p>By the end of this year he will have taken:
math through AP calc BC
honors and AP chem
honors and AP physics C (both mechanics and E&M)
Honors bio (not interested in AP bio)
honors c++ programming</p>
<p>Some ideas he is thinking about:
independent study in P-Chem or Materials Science with one of the HS teachers
Differential Equations online (CTY or BYU are the only good options he's found. Any other suggestions?)</p>
<p>He has looked into local colleges and none offer appropriate courses in theses areas. Most are remedial and introductory in nature. His HS teachers that are familiar with these schools have advised him against taking courses at them. Closest college that has reasonable course options is about an hour away.</p>
<p>As for his college plans, he is undecided about a major but leaning towards either math, physics, CS, and / or engineering (no surprises there!).</p>
<p>1) Which courses do you think would make the most sense as the next step for math? Science?</p>
<p>2) Where are good places to look for these courses (colleges open to HS students enrolling in online classes, HS enrichment programs with accelerated classes, etc). </p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. He has used / is using the open courseware and enjoys it. I probably should have been more clear: he is looking for courses to take during his senior year in HS that he can actually get credit for. Not necessarily high school credit (or dual enrollment, which is a major pain at his HS), but credit that he can potentially use at whatever college he ends up attending (depending on their policies, naturally).</p>
<p>lisa - AoPS looks great. Unfortunately, courses only go through what he has already taken. I will look at it for younger D though!</p>
<p>ETA - EPGY looks like it has some great offerings. He had looked at CTY, which also has some good possibilities, but not this. Thanks for the link!</p>
<p>For math, the obvious next classes would be linear algebra and multivariate calculus, which tend to be the basic prerequisites for intermediate college math courses. </p>
<p>If he can’t arrange to get credit for them from a local college or online, is there an independent studies program at his high school? My son is doing this with a private tutor in coordination with a high school math teacher who signs off on the program. </p>
<p>Incidentally, we are not as interested in college credit–which varies from college to college—as we are in placement when he gets to college</p>
<p>Second the EPGY suggestion. Many homeschoolers around here use it for advanced classes. My son has done some seminar-type classes from them, and will be taking physics from them as well.</p>
<p>AP Bio and and an AP english course - if he scores high he could place out in college. also english could balance him a little more if he went to a college that requires alot of writing.</p>
<p>@Rockymtn - I couldn’t agree more! He has already taken AP language and plans to take AP lit next year. I don’t think AP Bio is going to happen. He did very well in honors and got an excellent score on the SAT subject test so as far as he is concerned, that’s enough bio for high school.</p>
<p>The usual method would be to look at local colleges for courses like multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations in math, plus more advanced science courses. However, if the local colleges in your area mainly offer remedial courses, that may not be much of an option.</p>
<p>If he is not interested in AP Bio (which I think would benefit him if there is a good teacher), he has to look for a some kind of an applied chemistry or physics class . As for math - linear algebra and /or differential equations, which would also happen outside of his school. However…could he possibly take AP Stats at the school and another, more challenging math class through, let’s say AoPS? (trust me, they do have courses that go beyond calculus BC ). My DS was in a similar situation since ending his freshman year of HS and he ended up taking classes at the local college. It was “extremely” inconvenient (also a very long commute), so my advise would be to stick with whatever the HS is offering. It will make his life much easier
PM me if you want more specific info…</p>
<p>This research was accurate as of 2009. Things may have changed since then. The student was determined to take multi-variable, so this research was focused on that specific course and doesn’t include other types of upper level math options.</p>
<p>Here are the Multi-variable calculus courses I’ve found with a distance education option:</p>
<p>EPGY
[EPGY</a> University Mathematics M52A](<a href=“http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/M52A/]EPGY”>http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/math/M52A/)
Pretty much the old stand-by. Proven quality. Big name. Always worth considering.
They use the Anton book for multi-variable.
They’re on the quarter system and teach Multi-var Differentiable Calc as 1 quarter, Multi-var Integral Calculus as 1 quarter, and then you must take Linear Algebra (1 quarter) before you can take DEs.
There are video lectures and it’s broken down into lots of lessons (49 lessons in the 1st course). There’s a sample lecture online.</p>
<p>Suffolk University (Boston)
[Distance</a> Calculus @ Shorter University](<a href=“http://www.distancecalculus.com/syllabi/]Distance”>Syllabi - Distance Calculus @ Roger Williams University)
VERY self-paced (you have up to a year after the last day of the semester in which you start to complete).
Calc III uses Calculus & MathLink software. They offer both Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, which uses the Mathematica-based courseware from Math Everywhere.</p>
<p>CTY
<a href=“http://cty.jhu.edu/ctyonline/courses.html[/url]”>http://cty.jhu.edu/ctyonline/courses.html</a>
Another option my dd just found is to take Linear Algebra and then Multivariable at CTY.
At first, I thought this was the EPGY course that CTY was reselling, but it’s not.
The pre-reqs are in the opposite order (EPGY requires multivariable before linear, CTY requires linear before multivariable).
The multivariable book CTY uses is the Stewart book (same as LSU and UMinn).
The linear book is by David Lay.</p>
<p>Kelowna - good suggestions. I forgot to list AP Stats as one of the courses that has already been taken. I agree that it would be easiest to stick with courses at the HS. He has been doing his best to do that this year by taking 2 independent studies and one course online. </p>
<p>As far as science goes, one of the science teachers at the HS has her doctorate in Materials Science and has graciously agreed to mentor an independent study in either Materials Science or Physical Chemistry. Hopefully that will work out. </p>
<p>UCB- agree as to the usual method. Wish it was a better option. He has contacted several universities to inquire about enrolling in online courses as a HS student and not received much positive response. The one exception is BYU where he would be allowed to take linear algebra. I know nothing about the quality of their online courses.</p>
<p>An introductory materials science and engineering course is typically required for many engineering majors (civil, chemical, materials, mechanical, nuclear). Physical chemistry is usually an upper division course mainly taken by chemistry majors, sometimes by chemical engineering or biochemistry majors. Materials science and engineering majors may have it, or a variant emphasizing topics for their major.</p>
<p>Whether a college or university will allow subject credit (possibly by exam) for such courses taken as supervised independent study in high school is another matter entirely and needs to be checked with the college or university. If it is allowed, it is more likely for a lower division introductory materials science and engineering course than for an upper division physical chemistry course.</p>
<p>^^^He attended a STEM oriented charter school for grades 7 through 9 where the students are placed into classes based on the results of placement tests rather than purely by grade level. He was able to take high school level courses in math, science, English, and History starting in 7th grade. I was honestly a little skeptical about whether he was learning at the same depth and breadth as he would if he took these courses later in high school, but the school required students to take SAT subject tests as part of the requirement to receive honors designation for some courses. Scoring well on these convinced me that he had learned the material sufficiently. Probably more info than you wanted!</p>
<p>ETA While this presented a great opportunity for him at the time, it has been challenging to find appropriate classes in HS - particularly grades 11 and 12. He is fortunate that the school has been flexible and that he has teachers that are able and willing to work with him on independent studies.</p>
<p>You bring up a good point with these accelerated programs–kids run out of options. They need to add these classes in at the other end as well. My sister is putting her D into a school similar to this, however, the high school doesn’t match up with the middle school offerings and if she completes the program won’t have math classes to take after 10th grade–she think’s its great, I think it’s stupid :D. Lets go an entire year and a 1/2 without math and then try to score well on the ACT/SAT.</p>
<p>Do you have any 4 year college near you that offer DE classes? It sounds like you looked into community college options (none). I know a couple of the community colleges near us offer distance learning for some of the 4 year colleges. Would that be an option since the community colleges don’t have anything?</p>
<p>Steve, I agree with you. Like with anything, there are pluses and minuses. I certainly don’t think it’s a good idea to go into a program like this thinking that you can stop taking Math (or English or whatever) after 10th grade. But it is a good opportunity for kids that are so inclined to get ahead in certain subjects. My S could have graduated early (after either grade 10 or 11) but that would not have been a good choice for him. Let’s just say that his organization skills are not nearly as well developed as his academic skills! In addition to that, he is enjoying his time in HS participating in a variety of activities and developing social and leadership skills. I know there are plenty of people who have different opinions on the matter, but I really see no reason to rush things along as long as the student can stay interested and motivated. </p>
<p>You may want to suggest that your niece take the ACTs (or SATs) at the end of 10th grade or the beginning of 11th while the material is still relatively fresh. My S took them at the beginning of 10th grade on a whim, without prep, because his older sister was taking them and he wanted to see where he stood. Turned out that he did very well…except for the darned essay which was mediocre (but that’s a subject for a different thread!).</p>
<p>ETA The 4 year colleges were the ones we researched! While they are fine for certain subjects, advanced math and science courses are not a strong point. These are the schools that his teachers suggested avoiding. The CCs in the area offer only remedial courses ion math and science. I know there are several CCs in the country that do much better. Wish that was the case here.</p>
<p>He may still get a great deal out of AoPS classes, particularly WOOT and some of the topics classes, since there are great swaths of math that don’t get touched in standard curricula, but are extremely useful, particularly for math-oriented kids who want to be involved in math competitions.</p>
<p>The Olympiad Geometry class was quite challenging, and no, it won’t repeat any of the high school geometry class he had.</p>
). My DS was in a similar situation since ending his freshman year of HS and he ended up taking classes at the local college. It was “extremely” inconvenient (also a very long commute), so my advise would be to stick with whatever the HS is offering. It will make his life much easier 