Self-study for 7th and 8th graders

EarlVanDorn
Sat, 15 Sep 2012 00:08:29 +0000

I will say that my daughter is doing many of the things suggested by many of you. She’s in the school orchestra. She takes baton lessons. She’s in a children’s choir. She’s in a book club that reads pr- and early-release books and makes suggestions to the local book store. She has attended Concordia Language Villages French camp for the past four years and will continue to do so, eventually earning high school credit (and hopefully AP).

She has a tremendous talent for creative writing, to the point that I think with some help and the right plot she could write a book (although she’s only written short stories). We’ve talked about it. My cousin, who was in the cable business years ago, wanted me to write a screenplay in my younger days and I didn’t. I regret it. And if this sounds preposterous, read some of the rubbish produced by Amanda Hocking. I think my daughter could do better. There is a real market for mediocre pulp fiction selling for 99 cents on Amazon. I’m even thinking about shelling out some money to take her to a Robert McKee story structure seminar. I went years ago, and while the books are said to be just as effective I think actually attending would make more of an impression.

With all of that said, the only challenging class she is taking this year is algebra. All of her other classes are mixed-ability classes full of very-low-ability students. Needless to say, these courses are not challenging. I’d love to see her do something that requires a bit of work.

As for my son, well he is very bright but he is a lump when it comes to doing extracurricular activities. I don’t say that to be mean, but his spare time activities are Playstation and League of Legends. He hasn’t been interested in learning a foreign language and his sports skills are mediocre so he doesn’t play. He fussed at me (again) yesterday for not letting him take algebra over the summer, so I think he does see academic achievement as one way he can distinguish himself. His grades are fine, but I personally would like to see him devote a little less time to Playstation and League of Legends and a little more time to something productive. And he wants to take a shot at one of the easier AP tests. In the end the worst that can happen is that he will fail. There’s nothing wrong with failure.

Based on past test scores my guess is that my kids will have merit scholarships when they go to college. Many of these provide four years of study, so that if they arrive with 30 hours of AP they have an extra year of financial aid for a year abroad, graduate school or other pursuits. If they don’t have merit scholarships and Daddy has to pay, every AP test passed reduces the cost of a college education by $2,000 or more.

I have to say there is a lot of conflicting information on these boards about the easier AP tests. Some students say they spent a weekend studying for Human Geography and made a 5, for example, while others describe the course as “hard.” I certainly wouldn’t allow my kids to go the weekend route.

I appreciate the comments I’ve receive whether I agree with all of them or not. I’m less inclined to encourage my daughter to attempt one of the tests. She has an active schedule and I do think her spare time might be better spent elsewhere. As for my son, he has nothing better to do with his time and wants to attempt one of the courses. If I think he can pass – and personally I can’t imaging that he couldn’t – then I’m going to encourage him to go ahead and work with him a little bit on it.