College - Part 3 - Updated!

I have updated this (and posted today) with links and more info that a friend pointed out that I forgot to include...

Wow!  What a ride it has been.  Trying to sort out all I need to do for JA to ensure that he is well prepared to tackle college as a pre-med student has been very time-consuming.  But he's worth it!

Here is what we have finally settled on:
He has finished 9th grade! This was a surprising discovery while working through all of this.  Our local high school has 7 periods a day for 7 credits each year.  That equates to 21 credits in 3 years and in reality, he only needs about 24 credits to "graduate"  I realized that since he is finishing up Algebra 1 that this counts as a high school credit.  I also realized that I can give him high school credit for English since his writing skills are already high school level (verified by our next door neighbor who teaches English at the local high school).  So I really only needed to "find" one more credit for him.  And then I realized that his work on obtaining his Star Scout rank in Boy Scouts could count as an elective.  Voila!  He's now a rising 10th grader.

So, here are our plans for 10th grade

Science:

We have used the Robinson Curriculum (RC) for the last few years and I really like it, but it didn't have a strong biology component.  So I went on a search for a solid Biology curriculum.  My plans to let him do a killer science project went by the wayside when I realized that I needed to guarantee (as much as possible) that he'll be able to get through the freshman pre-med weed-out class of Biology in college without much struggle.  I also got more scared when another homeschooling friend told me that her daughter (a Biology major) got a C in her freshman biology class at a nearby private university.  When I found out that they used Apologia, I started looking for a tougher curriculum.  What I finally settled on is BJU with the DIVE videos.  We'll be following the Honors track for this.

English

I started with RC as my base reading list and planned to continue to use Jensen's Format Writing .  I was going to have him use the free study guides to the various books I found on the internet to make sure he was really grasping the content/meaning of the books.  However, I began to wonder "how much was enough" to be able to give him Honors credit.  In my searching on the internet for an answer, I came across the Excellence in Literature curriculum.  After looking over the books for the course  and her sample unit  I realized she had already put together what I was attempting to do.  So, since she has a 5 yr course and I could download it and re-use it over and over (for at least 4 kids!),  I decided to buy that. He'll be following the Honors track for this as well.

US History

I realized that RC seemed weak once you got past the Civil War.  So I began looking for extra books.  I ended up settling on the following:

• Eyewitness to America will be our "spine"  

This will be accompanied with some of the following books (some from RC and some I chose on my own): Of Plymouth Plantation, The Crucible, Johnny Tremain, Journals of Lewis and Clark, Life on the Mississippi, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Lincolns Speeches and Letters, The Life of Stonewall Jackson, The Memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman, All's Quiet on the Western Front, The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt, Speeches from American History, Diary of Anne Frank, The Grapes of Wrath, The Chosen,/The Promise, To Kill a Mockingbird, Autobiography of Chuck Colson, Autobiography of Ronald Reagan, Miracles in American History.  I think this is probably too much reading, so I will probably have him choose some books to read and others we will either listen to as audio books or will watch the movie.  These will be supplemented by the various Ken Burns' Mini-Series and the Drive Thru History series, as well.   In order to give him Honors credit for this, I am also going to require a Google Earth project showing significant locations/dates in American History as well as a research paper on the topic of his choice.

Foreign Language:

He will be taking Chinese 1 through Florida Virtual School

Christian Living (Elective)

For this, I am having him focus on himself for 10th grade.  The plan is to have him also do this elective in 11th grade with a focus on Jesus and in 12th grade with a focus on others.  So, the plan is to have him read the following books:  The Mark of a Man by Elisabeth Elliot, Do Hard Things by Joshua and Alex Harris, Boyhood and Beyond by Bob Schultz, I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris, Created for Work by Bob Schultz and Boundaries in Dating by Drs Cloud and Townsend.

 To round things out, he will be participating in a Summer Youth Band (1/4 credit)  which he will do for 4 summers for a total of 1 Fine Arts credit, Swimming on the local High School swim team, working on his earning his Life Scout rank in Boy Scouts (1 credit in Leadership) and volunteering at the local hospital.

For my next post, I'll post about our plans for BG for 10th grade.

College - Part 2

The best laid plans....

I had a long chat with another Boy Scout mom last night.  She worked at one of our local private schools and was a wealth of information about what colleges are looking for and what they aren't.  On top of that, her oldest son just finished his 4 yr degree and applied to Med school.

What she told me is that despite the fact that Med Schools may say that they accept credit for any accredited institution, that in reality, there are so many solid applicants that they choose NOT to accept any students with their pre-requisites at a junior college.  :-(

In addition, she explained that even though her son had received a full-tuition scholarship from the Armed Services to attend medical school, he did NOT get accepted at any of the six to which he applied.  In addition, she explained that most med schools do NOT like to accept anyone younger than 22.  I poked around on a few Med School admissions pages and discovered she is right.  They want an "experienced, mature" candidate.

So, I guess I go back to plan A for JA - which was to work through our Eclectic mix of classes and seriously  consider early admission.  In reality, I like this plan as it leaves our schedules flexible rather than having to conform to the school system.  I also like the flexibility of allowing him to pursue his passions rather than learning from a book.  For example, my plan for him for Biology next year is for him to do a killer science fair project.  He has already picked the topic and I think it is a great one.

As for one comment about really knowing if he'll like being a doctor -  We have that one down.  We have a very good friend who is a surgeon.  JA has been able to shadow him twice already and has watched about six surgeries including laparoscopic and robotic surgeries.  He even has held a gall bladder!  The hospital where he does this is small, so they don't have a neurosurgeon now, but one is coming in the fall.  He is a friend of our friend and we are planning for JA to shadow him some as well.  In addition, he hopes to begin volunteering at one of our local hospitals soon.

College - ALREADY!?!?!??!

Wow!  I can't believe I am looking at College (and beyond) for one of my kids.  It seems so far off, yet so close.   BG is in 9th grade, but since he just came home two years ago, my goal is to prepare him to pass the entrance exam  so he can attend our local community college.  He is doing fine with his math, it is the reading that we are working on so diligently.

JA will be entering 9th grade in a few weeks (since we school year-round).  And what I am discovering is O-V-E-R-W-H-E-L-M-I-N-G!!!  In many ways, I am thankful.  He is a bright kid with a bright future.  I just didn't realize how much planning for his future I would be doing when he was 14.

You see, JA has decided he wants to be a doctor.  And not just any kind of doctor, but a surgeon.  And not just any kind of surgeon, but a neurosurgeon.  And hence, my dilemma.

You see, I have looked into my crystal ball and here is what I see:

4 years of high school
4 years of college
4 years of med school
7 yrs of residency

19 years from now, he will begin practicing as a neurosurgeon (assuming he stays on this path) with T-O-N-S of debt (unless I can help him change the odds)

So, my dilemma is to figure out the best way to help him achieve his goals in the shortest time and at the lowest cost.

I have looked into a variety of ways for JA to complete the next four years.  I like the Robinson Curriculum and am convinced that it is sufficient for a college preparatory approach.  However, I had been branching out some and taking a more eclectic approach for high school - including ways for him to earn college credit while still in high school.

Many high school students take Advanced Placement (AP) exams to earn college credit.  However, the exams are pretty difficult and many schools only grant credit if you earn a 4 or 5 (out of 5).  The cost is $89, so it does reduce the costs of college as most are worth 3 college credits.

Another way to earn college credit is taking CLEP exams.  These are exams that a student can take after studying material and get college credit for passing the test.  A passing score is usually around 50.  This is a very inexpensive way to earn college credit as each test is approximately $80 and most get you 3 college credits.

Another way we have of earning college credit is through dual-enrollment at our local community college.  The state of Florida (and many other states as well) allows high school students to take courses at the local college.  In Florida, this is FREE (except home-schoolers pay for books).  The student is allowed to enroll in 10th grade and so has 3 years of high school to earn 2 yrs of college credit.

These are GREAT ways to eliminate two years (or more in some cases) of schooling and reduce the cost of college by anywhere from $8000 (community college cost for 2 yrs) to $40,000 (state university cost for two years).  However, I discovered that many Medical Schools do NOT accept CLEP credits for the entrance requirements (i.e. Freshman Biology, Freshman Chemistry, Sophomore Chemistry, Freshman Physics, Freshman English, College Math), so that rules out that option for us.  Some med schools do not accept AP credits (and some do), but finding a class would be necessary - and personally, I think these tests are harder than they really need to be.   So I had been seriously considering dual enrollment for JA.

However, I began to read that many Med Schools won't accept "junior level" college classes for your entrance requirements.  So, I started re-thinking the possibility of trying to earn college credit early.  This led me to consider the possibility pursuing Early Admission for JA (i.e. going to college during his Senior year of High school).  This would help with the time in college, but wouldn't help with the cost at all.

FRUSTRATION!

But I started doing more research on the acceptance of Junior College credits.  I began to discover that some Medical schools (particularly the State Medical schools that also have matriculation agreements with the state community colleges) DO accept Junior College credits.  In addition, since JA would be taking these classes as a High School student, I think this shows advanced ability to do college level work.  Finally, JA is seriously considering a major in Biology.  This will require many Senior College level science classes so he can easily demonstrate his ability to do well at the College level.

Finally, I had my answer (or so I think) for how to plan the next four years of his education.

Whew!  Of course, I need to discuss this option with him and make sure he is OK with it.