Start the New Year Smarter with Online College

Here are a couple articles about online courses available for free on the web. You get lectures, homework and tests, but no interaction with the professors and no college credit. They're great for homeschoolers, lifelong learners or students at other college who want the information. High schoolers can verify learning and possibly earn credit with CLEP, AP or SAT subject tests (although these classes are not specifically keyed to these tests, so reviewing specific study guides would also be necessary).

Internet Opens Elite College to All by AP Education writer Justin Pope

Education-Portal.com

Klaus' First Day at College

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Originally uploaded by Jessica_Mah

We dropped the boy off last Saturday with much wailing, moaning and gnashing of teeth (on the parents' part, not his). He was so excited he woke up at 4am. He sounds like he really likes it, at least he did the last time I talked to him.

Klaus, if you read this, call your mother!

August is the Cruellest Month

I beg to differ with T.S. Eliot, but August is much more cruel than April. We are now at the point where we've bought everything we can carry for Klaus' dorm room. He's registered for classes, had his physical and paid (at least part) of his tuition. So all we have to do is wait.

And wait.
It's too early to pack.

And wait.
It's too early to say goodbyes.

And wait.
But it's too late to change your mind.

It's Official!

Klaus admitted today that he does want to go to Simon's Rock, so we've sent in his deposit and begun the process of figuring out how we're going to pay for this, cancelling fall classes we'd already signed him up for, scheduling a physical, etc. etc. etc. before August 17th.

Getting college plans finalized in April is much easier than July. Of course, Klaus has a history of drastically changing his schooling plans at the last minute, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I rather feel like we've not only changed horses midstream but changed from a horse to a horseless carriage. Let's hope the engine isn't flooded!

Going Away to College

The Universe is trying to tell me something. The same day Klaus got the acceptance to Simon's Rock, the London Guardian ran this story about the disadvantages of living at home during college:

""Young people who live at home with their parents are less likely to undertake optional work placements as part of their degree, less likely to undertake graduate level jobs on graduation, less likely to socialise with their fellow students because they remain in their pre-university social groups, and more likely to feel isolated from their peer group at university," says ERS director Sarah Parkinson."

You can read all the details here. I have to say, it makes sense to me. When I went to Northwestern and lived in the dorms, I made lots of friends, many of whom I'm still in contact with. When I transferred to Michigan and lived off-campus with my fiancee-then-husband, my social ties and university ties became much weaker.

Klaus Has Been Accepted to College!

We found out two days ago that Klaus has been accepted to Simon's Rock College of Bard. Yay Klaus! This acceptance has been a long time coming. He applied in January for their merit scholarship but wasn't eligible because his grades tanked the previous semester, so we rolled over to the regular admissions process. Apparently they were waiting to see his second semester grades. (We're still working on finishing up second semester.)

It turns out that, even though college starts one month from now (ACK!), the timing of the acceptance couldn't have been better. Klaus just got back from three weeks of "college lite" at CTD-Northwestern University, where he took an honors course on Public Speaking and Debate, lived in the dorm, dealt with the roommate from hell, did his own laundry and tasted a little freedom. Surrounded by intellectual peers, he says he "learned how to teach myself," which is fabulous. From what I can tell, Simon's Rock would be a step up from CTD--similar atmosphere but juggling several classes instead of just one.

So, whereas we would have said, "Thanks, but no thanks" to Simon's Rock in April or May, this week, Klaus is actually considering it and seems to be leaning towards going. DH and I are trying not to let our "losing our little boy" feelings influence him to stay home for our sake. Simon's Rock is a thousand miles away, but it's such a great opportunity for him. I hope he decides to go.

Attn: College-Bound High Schoolers!

According to EdWeek.org, "a study released today highlights the gap between what high schools are teaching in the college-preparatory courses and what colleges want incoming students to know." The survey, by ACT, Inc. (the testing people) "found that college professors generally want incoming students to have a deeper understanding of a selected number of topics and skills, while high school teachers in all content areas tend to rate a far broader array of content and skills as 'important' or 'very important.'"

Specifically, "In writing, postsecondary instructors tended to value the basic mechanics of writing (such as sentence structure and punctuation) more highly than high school teachers did. High school English teachers rated topic and idea development as the most important set of skills.

In mathematics, postsecondary instructors rated being able to understand and rigorously apply fundamental skills and processes as more important than exposure to more advanced math topics. High school math teachers tended to view the latter as important. Postsecondary instructors also placed far more emphasis on being able to understand new material by reading a textbook.

In reading, the survey found a general lack of reading courses in high school and a decline in the teaching of targeted reading strategies after the 9th grade. In contrast, college instructors of remedial courses rated such strategies as very important and reported devoting a large percentage of time to teaching them.

In science, high school teachers consistently rated content as more important to student success than science process or inquiry skills, in direct contrast to both middle school and postsecondary science teachers."

What does this mean for homeschoolers? I believe it gives us an edge over public school students in that we can more easily tailor our kids' education to what the colleges want, without having to overcome institutional bias.

Curriculum notes to myself:

Make sure the boys can write a grammatical sentence, create an outline with a strong thesis and write a persuasive essay following that outline, preferably in less than an hour. (Yes, I know that is a run-on sentence. ;-)

Make sure they can read and understand challenging literature.

Focus on fundamental math skills, no matter how much Wolfie complains. (Learning on their own from a textbook is pretty much standard procedure, isn't it?)

Continue to skip the make-work labs and "activities" in the science texts in favor of cramming more information into their little brains. Only do experiments when we genuinely don't know the results.

Wikipedia: Bane or Boon?

Let me first say that we use Wikipedia extensively at our house. "Let's ask Wiki" is a common answer to my boys' uncommon questions. It's not the only source we use, but it's a lot cheaper and more interactive than the Encyclopedia Britannica.

There's been some grumbling in education circles about Wiki's accuracy and whether it should be considered a source for college research. Middlebury College's History Department banned using Wiki as a source for research papers. Then there was some silly scandal about one of Wiki's editor claiming to be a theology professor when he was really a college dropout. Both these "scandals" miss the point, imho. Wikipedia is a collective source of knowledge. What you read there may or may not be entirely accurate, but in the aggregate, it's an excellent overview of some difficult topics or first source for arcane knowledge (Just what does the flag of Somalia look like?).

Maybe Wiki has an even greater part to play in education, simply because of the nebulousness of its information. At the University of East Anglia in the UK, masters degree students are required to write for Wiki. "Nicola Pratt, a lecturer in international relations, said she used to be "one of the disgruntled crown of academics who berate students for using Wikipedia in their essays" but is now convinced it can be a great opportunity for students to see at first hand how knowledge is produced.

Uniquely in the UK, her postgraduate students studying for a masters degree in international relations and development are assessed on editing eight Wikipedia articles to improve the quality and make them more balanced. They must also write one of their own.

They haven't found it easy, according to Dr Pratt, and soon discovered just how much reading around the subject was involved. "I've seen improvement with all the students - I think it's working," she said."

Maybe we should do less blaming Wiki for lazy research methods among undergraduates (citing an encyclopedia? Excuse me?) and do more to improve Wiki and improve our collective wealth of knowledge.

The Secret Key to the ACT

Or at least to the English subsection--diagramming sentences! Yes, it's true! Klaus raised his score on the English subsection by 10 whole points (from 59th to 96th percentile) by taking a half hour to learn to diagram sentences. I couldn't believe he'd gotten all the way through the first half of 10th grade Enriched English without learning to identify the subject and predicate of a sentence. No wonder he had so much trouble last year. How would he correctly identify subject-verb agreement problems if he couldn't identify the correct subject and verb?

As you might expect, this method of teaching grammar/parts of speech works particularly well with visual-spatial learners. Plus, it's loads of fun, kind of like cracking a code. With Klaus, I used exercises from the following sites:

From the Student Learning Assistance Center of the Alamo Community College District--very clear, step-by-step instructions for basic diagramming. This is primarily what Klaus used.

AP Language and Composition Resource Page from Southwest High School's Language Arts Department, gets into a little more detail on the complexities.

So when would someone need to know how to do this? Maybe never, unless he or she wanted to rock the house on the college entrance exams or in a college composition class. I used my ability to deconstruct a sentence when I was doing freelance paper-editing in college. It's not being able to draw the diagram in the right way that's important, but rather being able to analyze the structure of a sentence, brick by brick, and see the relationships between the words, phrases and clauses. That's when writing begins to become the tool, rather than the taskmaster.

It's Crunch Time!

Klaus's application to Simon's Rock is due February 1 and, after six weeks of intensive work, it looks like he will have it done in time. Whether he'll be ready to go to college in the fall, he's not so sure. I don't blame him. It's a huge life transition and he's never done well with transitions.

He's also terrified of rejection. Been there, done that. Applying to college, particularly a competitive college like Simon's Rock, is horrible for a sensitive perfectionist. My mother had to lock me in my room (okay, the door wasn't literally locked) so I would apply to Northwestern, and even after I'd been accepted, I wasn't sure I wanted to go. I remember waking her up in the middle of the night a month before I left to get permission to put college off a year so I could backpack around Europe. At least Klaus comes by it honestly. ;-)

College isn't the be-all and end-all, particularly since some of the state schools are little more than very expensive, glorified high schools. Klaus' career plans require a PhD in psychology, which does require college, though. And I couldn't help thinking, while watching The Pursuit of Happyness that while Chris Gardner is clearly intelligent and driven to succeed, he'd have been in much better shape if he'd left the Navy with more than a high school diploma and radar certification. I don't know if Dean Witter would even accept a non-college-graduate these days.

I'm sure Klaus can handle college-level work. If I had him home for the next semester, I could guarantee he'd do well on his AP tests and know how to write a college-level paper. I know a college-type schedule suits him better than the more regimented high school schedule does. I believe he will find some true peers there. Now if I can only convince him of all that.

School for Snowbunnies

There is an article in today's New York Times about specialized private winter sports schools and how they're giving their students a leg up on college entrance.

"Once, winter sports schools were mainly the domain of those eyeing Olympic gold. But now they are becoming the choice for students and parents who do not expect to see a dime from future athletic careers. They are willing to sacrifice a traditional high school experience and pay up to $35,000 for a few more hours of play each day — and an edge on scholarships or entry into a prestigious college."

A traditional high school experience is well-worth sacrificing, if you ask me, particularly if you're able to pursue your passion in a homeschooling-type atmosphere.

"Just down the road, the North American Hockey Academy is housed in a chalet. Its classroom setting is informal. In the basement, students and teachers sit in pairs. Thin cubicle walls separate Algebra 2 from History of World Societies. Science class is just an arm’s length away from the Spanish lesson happening near the TV.

Several parents and students said the tiny class sizes often put them ahead of their fellow high school students when they return in the spring."

So why return? If anything, it's more difficult. "Splitting the year between home high schools and specialized academies can result in logistical headaches. Since the sixth grade, Erin Fucigna, a ski racer, has had assignments from her high school in Hopkinton, Mass., e-mailed and faxed to her at the Waterville Valley Academy, in New Hampshire. “It’s confusing at first and overwhelming,” said Ms. Fucigna, now a junior. “Science is the hardest, because I don’t have the same materials that are available at home.”

Sasha Dingle, the subject of a forthcoming documentary called “Balance,” attended both her local high school in Jericho, Vt., and the Mount Mansfield Winter Academy, in Stowe. “I always wanted to be in the high school play, but I would miss the first part of tryouts,” said Ms. Dingle, who was accepted at St. Lawrence University, in Canton, N.Y. “I felt almost like I was living a double life. Every achievement I made through the winter, I would come back to my high school in the spring and nobody would know.”

This is true for most, if not all teen professionals. At my school, we had two professional performers. One was a ballerina, the other had a nightclub act. Neither fit in well or was very happy at high school. Kind of begs the question, "Why try to force yourself into the traditional high school model?" Personally, I think I'd forego the $35K tuition, move to the slopes and homeshool.

Buddy, Can You Spare Ninety Thou?

Ack! Klaus and I went to visit an early college program called Simon's Rock College of Bard over the weekend. The good news is, it seems like a perfect match for him. An astonishingly good match for him, actually. While we were waiting around for his interview after lunch, a current student suddenly appeared and said, "Hi, my name is P_____ and I'm going to be your new best friend. I've been assigned to you for the next year and a half. I'm going to write my cell phone number on your nametag here, even though we have no reception because we're in the middle of f-ing nowhere." He did write a phone number on Klaus' nametag then disappeared. Klaus' reaction? "I am so going to do that next year!"

The bad news is that tuition, room and board costs $45,000 a year. **faint**

They do offer merit scholarships, thank goodness, because we're likely not going to qualify for need-based aid. Most students only stay for two years, then transfer to another university (In the top 5 schools accepting transfers from Simon's Rock, Stanford is #2). Of course, schools like Stanford cost just as much. Oy vey. We're still reeling from sticker-shock.

To College or Not to College?

When we had Klaus's IQ test done, Dr. Ruf suggested we strongly consider early college entrance for him. Like next year early instead of three years from now. Ack! She suggested the residential gifted programs like Simon's Rock and NAASE at the University of Iowa. Residential? Double-Ack!!

Not that we think he couldn't handle the work; he's taking one AP and hopefully one college class this year. Not that we think he couldn't handle the social aspects, either, although I must admit I like the idea of him being in a dedicated and therefore well-supervised mid-teen only program like Simon's Rock more than just throwing him in with the usual college freshman crowd. Klaus thought leaving home was a great idea, of course, although DH and I aren't so keen on the idea of sending him away so soon. We'd miss him. He's a cool guy to have around. He came home the other day with a custom-embroidered baseball cap that reads "Plato is my Homeboy." If he were at college, we wouldn't even know that!

We haven't ruled out NAASE completely. It's only a one year skip, so we'd get to keep him two more years. It's at the same university as the Iowa Writer's Workshop, the premier writing program in the country, and writing is his strong suit. Iowa is a lot closer to us than Massachusetts. He's also got an early birthday, so he'll be 18 in October of his senior HS year, and we're less worried about letting him loose with the other 18yo freshmen.

Simon's Rock, the junior year program in Massachusetts, is right out.

Anyway, anyone who is interested in learning more about early college for gifted kids should check out Parents' perspective of early college entrance for profoundly gifted children, Part I and II at GT-cybersource.

In a Class by Themselves, at Stanford

Good article on homeschoolers at Stanford from the Stanford alumni magazine, December 2000.