suggestions for 1st Straighterline class

[cookderosa]

I have vague recollections of the first chapter or two of the book being a thinly veiled sales pitch trying to convince you that sociology is a real science.

#everysocialscienceclassI'veevertaken

[cookderosa]

I'd recommend Intro to Religion as a first StraighterLine course to anyone. It's definitely doable in less than a week!

that's the one they picked! Thank you Nixi. (P.S. "they" because I've decided to use it with 2 of my teens instead of just one - he was voluntold this morning)

[cookderosa]

I wonder, are you putting your son on a schedule similar to what you have posted for using Saylor courses for credit as well?
If that's the case, you can have him get started with Saylor after he finishes his HS and Straighterline studies.

Ha ha..... ok, so here's the thing. KNOWING how to do something, share something, teach something is one thing. What works for MY kids is another animal entirely. It's hard choosing the best path for my kids - maybe it's a combination of knowing too much or the fact that it's just hard and I've tricked myself into thinking my time here buys me some advantage when planning for my own kids - either way, the Saylor program is too rigorous for my 2 high school sons. My 12th grader has done the most Saylor courses out of all my kids- he hates them with a passion. He usually starts them with a comment to the effect of "what's the least amount I have to do before you'll give me a C in this class." He LOVES audio lessons or reading- but in an either/or approach. Has some pathway processing issues - so videos like Study.com or Khan are too much for him to handle because it's overwhelming to watch/listen/remember/write quickly. He isn't the one I was thinking of using SL for, however, I decided today that I'll sign my 10th and 12th grader up together. My 10th grader will do fine, and my 12th grader does better with a study buddy - so, we'll see how it goes. My 12th grader is currently studying for the NC Real Estate Broker's exam, which is his first priority.

[OakLakeNC]

I will just throw this out there...Intro to Philosophy is $49 and I got by without ordering the book. I did use this free page for additional study. Philosophy

[cookderosa]

My 10th and 12th grade boys started Intro to Religion today. We have the ebook and physical texts. There is a -$20 code right now "HUMANITIES" so I only paid $29 each.

Here is my question for those who have a lot of Straighterline experience.
I supervised their first lesson (they are doing it together). They went through the slide show / audio lesson. The lesson ends with study activities - flash cards, crossword, etc. They earned 100% on all of those activities. Is it necessary to also read the text at this point (Ch 1), or do the lesson and study activities give them what they'll need to start chapter 2?

[bjcheung77]

My 10th and 12th grade boys started Intro to Religion today. We have the ebook and physical texts. There is a -$20 code right now "HUMANITIES" so I only paid $29 each.

Here is my question for those who have a lot of Straighterline experience.
I supervised their first lesson (they are doing it together). They went through the slide show / audio lesson. The lesson ends with study activities - flash cards, crossword, etc. They earned 100% on all of those activities. Is it necessary to also read the text at this point (Ch 1), or do the lesson and study activities give them what they'll need to start chapter 2?

It's all personal preference, some people like to skip everything and just do the exams, midterm, proctored final as they "know" their stuff...
Others, they like to take their time and read through things to make sure they've got it down properly. It depends how you want your kids to learn.
My suggestion is to have them at least skim through each text chapter as a minimum (prepares them especially for the closed book final exams).
Otherwise, if they're doing the open book finals, it's easy to just search the e-textbook for answers to the ones that they don't know or recall.

[rowan555]

My 10th and 12th grade boys started Intro to Religion today. We have the ebook and physical texts. There is a -$20 code right now "HUMANITIES" so I only paid $29 each.

Here is my question for those who have a lot of Straighterline experience.
I supervised their first lesson (they are doing it together). They went through the slide show / audio lesson. The lesson ends with study activities - flash cards, crossword, etc. They earned 100% on all of those activities. Is it necessary to also read the text at this point (Ch 1), or do the lesson and study activities give them what they'll need to start chapter 2?

My son has found just reading the textbook and skipping the online lessons/activities works better for him. He said the test material seems to come more from the books than from the lessons.

[cookderosa]

My son has found just reading the textbook and skipping the online lessons/activities works better for him. He said the test material seems to come more from the books than from the lessons.

That's what I wanted to know. Thanks!

[cookderosa]

Update:

my 10th and 12th grade sons started using Straighterline on November 28th. So far for each course we have the textbook and ebook. They are doing their SL courses together - "school house style"- with a good amount of reading out loud for discussion.

1st course - Intro to Religion (both passed high 80's) In short - this class is probably much easier than the DSST which was my initial plan. I had a lot of books and videos that I had planned to use for a DIY DSST course, but they completed this course in 2 weeks and it was relatively painless. Happy we picked this one.

2nd course- Business Ethics (both passed - one in high 70's, one low 80's) Even I didn't like this class lol! I don't know if it was because it was full of subjective gobbledygook or what, but this class felt *to me* like a poor attempt at making an academic discipline where some guidelines would suffice. Too wordy. Not sure why this was such torture.

3rd course- Microbiology (both taking final on Friday) - hard class. Google is your friend. The problem for my sons is that it's a Saylor course. Studying with Saylor is long and slow - like drinking water from a fire hose, and the text doesn't seem to match this course. I had a Great Courses class called Mysteries of the Microscopic World - this saved the day. They've gone through the DVD and are getting it. While we initially were going to follow up with a lab, I've changed my mind. They can get their lab later this year or next.

On deck: Next up is Anthropology, Med Terms (expect both complete in January) Nutrition, Communication, and Environmental Science (planned for Feb) and both English Comps in March. They both still have homeschool classes they are doing daily, so this pace is totally doable.

12th grade son graduates high school June 1, and I think in March I might send his transcripts to COSC. He'll be pretty close to an AS, and I think I'd like him to finish high school with an AS & diploma.

[alleycat]

Thanks for the update and summary!
Has he done any FEMA along the way? That could cap off his AS.