Community Chat

[LuvmyLab]

When I was a teenager, many, many eons ago, my family moved to a very small country town.  I enrolled in the local high school but did not like it at all.  Students were actually excused for doing  work on their farms!  Their whole school attendance was the size of my former senior high school class.  I told my parents that I wasn't learning anything because they were so far behind. So we checked into my attending college and taking college courses while at the same time finishing high school at the college also. It worked out perfectly. After I received my diploma (a real one, not a GED) I just continued taking college classes. They did not have AP classes back then but this was great for me!

[Desert Lily]

@ScrapHappy  I suggest that your son take the highest weighted courses. AP classes are more rigorous and are weighted higher than regular classes - that means a higher GPA if your son does well in the higher weighted courses. IB classes and an IB diploma are rated higher. Universities are looking for students who challenge themselves and take more rigorous courses successfully. My child took AP courses and IB courses with an IB  high school diploma and went on to an ivy league school for undergrad and another ivy league school for grad school & doctorate degree.

[Lisa now in AZ]

I have a friend and her two oldest have both done this. When they graduate from high school, they also have their Associate's degree from a communtiy college and they have been really happy with the results.

[Jaspersmom]

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@skatting44 wrote:

Most 100 & 101  level college classes are  refresher classes , so why pay big $$  for the credits ?  The challenge is  living and finding a public school  that  has a good academic record  for your child to attend . The national averages of how many high school students  can read and write is  not good at all. Our ranking among education systems  in the world is  not good either . Our children are not being educated despite all the tax dollars being spent on education in this country.

Good for those children who are able to obtain those college credits while in high school.

Hope they share their secret to success .

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Our students ARE being educated, but only in the way that those in power have deemed appropriate.  When you say not educated, I'm sure you mean that kids today have poor reading, writing and math skills.  One reason for that is students are expected be  "jacks of all trades and expert at none."  They are given very little time to practice a skill before their teachers are required to move on to new topics.  I once counted up how much material I was expected to cover in a given year and found that there weren't enough hours in a day for me to teach all that was required.  I believe we should have a balance of old and new, shorten up curriculum and allow kids plenty of time to practice and apply what they've been taught. 

In addition, parents have to be supportive and encourage learning as an ongoing endeavor.  They should be role models.  For example, if they want their kids to read well, then they have to embrace reading at home.  Many Americans haven't read a novel since their high school days.  What does that say to our kids?  

Writing may seem like a lost art, but hey, it's still important and one measure of an educated society. All of us should be able to speak and write well.  We should understand grammar, spelling and usage AND if our students make mistakes, they should be corrected by both teachers and parents.  Correction should be viewed as a help and not a criticism.  

There are many other factors that impact learning, but those are just a couple of things that come to mind. 

[DustRose]

My son didn't like high school and pitched the idea of dual enrollment 

He wasn't into high school so we agreed it would be good for him.  Not only was it good he thrived and earned at least 12 credits

[jeanlake]

My full time career was college counselor. It's a great idea to continue academic interest while in high school and earn college credits and confidence before first, official semester in college. 

[NicksmomESQ]

  My son took both,college courses as well as AP classes while in high school. He got college credit for all of them.He also received a generous college scholarship & graduated early.

  My son thoroughly enjoyed those classes far more than he did the regular high school honors classes. They challenged him more.They sharpened his brain & made him think bigger.

[chrystaltree]

My niece took college classes while she was in her senior year of h.s. and she took 2 college classes the summer she graduated that first semester of college was done when she started college.  She had already been accepted to college early in her senior year so it wasn't about what the colleges wanted.  Her plan was to finish college in 3 years.  However, she ended up changing her major so it took her 4 years to graduate anyway.