college courses for 13 year old

Discussion in 'High School Education via Distance Learning' started by nj593, Sep 6, 2013.

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  1. nj593

    nj593 Member

    Anyone know where I can find courses for my children who are 13? They are going to high school next year but they are interested in attempting a college course. I find that schools have 16 year of age limits or you must be graduates. Let me know if anyone has any schools in mind that I can look up or sites.

    thanks
     
  2. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Straighterline doesn't have an age limit, and I think that would be an excellent first course as long as you registered them for one with a writing requirement. As you probably know, the difference between 100/200 level college and high school really only winds down to writing and reading comprehension no matter the subject. SL likely won't transfer into a traditional school, however, you get a few things with SL that *I think are worth it.

    1. It's a litmus test. If the writing and reading level are good, they'll be able to pull a good grade. If your child struggles, better through SL where there is no record than through a college. As you know, colleges require full disclosure, so that grade (even if it's a B-) is forever. GPA can be very important in some fields. I wouldn't roll the dice by attending a college unless I was sure they could pull an A.

    2. The classes are self-paced but you can set up the structure and see how they do within a timeline. This tests self-discipline.

    3. You don't have to drive them anywhere.

    4. It's cheap. Text book + tuition + monthly fee = cheaper than most colleges.

    5. It's possible (less than 50% I think, but still......) that your child's future college will accept earned credit through SL. If that happens, bonus.

    Finally, I can send you links to zillions of open/free/online courses that you can use for CLEP prep. CLEP does not have an age requirement and is only pass/fail. Failing scores are never released to colleges, and releasing passing scores is voluntary.

    As you can tell, I'm more about protection at this age. With a child bright enough to succeed, you want to give them every option, but the difference between a traditionally aged college student and a kid taking college classes is that the parent has to be there to guide/advise and look out for their best interests. I would be careful to only set them up for success, which you can do via SL or CLEP very easily in my opinion.
     
  3. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

  4. rebel100

    rebel100 New Member

    I second the idea of CLEP/DSST study followed by taking the exam for credit....cheap, reliable, plenty of help and support available.

    I would also check with your local CC, in Florida dual enrollment equates to free college courses, my daughter graduated with her AA while still in HS, roughly 30 CLEP/DSST credits and 30 CC course credits taken for free. If your state doesn't offer something like that take a look at New Mexico Junior College, they offer dual enrollment, are cheap, and regionally accredited. There will be assessment tests like PERT or ACCUPLACER before they can enroll most likely....though that's likely less of a problem than it may sound.

    The University of Idaho and University of Arkansas offer individual courses for around $100/credit...they never asked for anything but a credit card though the website claims they require placement exams...worth looking into. Most courses allow 12 months to complete, so there is no serious deadline to contend with (Straighterline is better...but has to be done within 3 months to meet the price point....and, of course, the University credit will be almost universally accepted whereas Straighterline is rather limited to select schools).
     
  5. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    Just like others' recommendations; I would recommend the same way. Utilize free resources online at Khan Acadmy, Udacity, CourseRA, Saylor Foundation, and etc. Then have your kids do CLEP and AP exams for college credits. Ensure to find potential college that you want them to attend in the future to map to their curriculum courses. Here is CLEP acceptance school database: College Search | CLEP

    For example, eventually I want to move back to Dallas area. And possible I want my kids to attend University of Texas at Dallas. I look into their CLEP and AP acceptance courses. It seem I can have them knock out at least 60 credits; therefore, I do not have to deal with local community college due to their ages. Most of schools do not accept until they are 16 because of liabilities.
     
  6. wendyjames2

    wendyjames2 New Member

    Coursera is a good resource for this purpose. I agree to what everyone here has mentioned. At this early age of 13, what you can do is give them the options and as much as possible limit their chances of failing so as not to discourage.
     
  7. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    Dual enrollment isn't likely to work. Most dual enrollment programs require the student to be in high school, though I think you could petition for a middle schooler to get an exception, but they will likely have to demonstrate college readiness on the Compass or Asset, so I still stand by my first suggestion. You'd have to find an option that didn't have an age requirement.
     
  8. rebel100

    rebel100 New Member

    This is certainly true, my local CC recently ran a story on accepting a couple of 13 year old home schoolers, but they did have to meet the Compass cut off (now PERT).

    13 is closing on 9th grade which is HS in Florida. Factor dependent of course.

    Jennifer knows I'm using CLEP this year for my own 13 YO...but we will take advantage of Dual enrollment next summer or fall. :)
     
  9. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    I'm all over dual enrollment- it's 100% free here, unlimited number of credits enrolled and completed, but it's only open to students who have completed 10th grade and they don't comp you over summer, so you can enroll as a rising 11th grader in the summer if you don't mind paying for it. They have 8 and 16 week options, so you can double up and rack up serious credit if you're motivated and a good student. Of course placement tests are required in math and English.
     
  10. Shawn Ambrose

    Shawn Ambrose New Member

    Having used Clovis Community College in the past - Clovis does not have a minimum age requirement.
     
  11. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I find myself wishing that the op was more involved in this thread because there's a fundamental question that needs to be answered in order to give her the best answer to her initial question. It's simply this. Are her kids primarily trying to accumulate college credits or are they looking for the experience of taking a college level course (or both)? If the former then the CLEP idea is probably best/easiest. If the latter then CLEP for credits is not going to give that college-like experience. Based on what Shawn wrote above I'd guess that there are plenty of schools with no age restrictions. Because the vast majority of our members are mid-career professional we don't really think much about age restrictions, especially at the lower end. I'd suggest that you look at LSU

    https://is.lsu.edu/courselist.asp?nid=102&Level=CO&Online=0

    Because they just offer courses and not degrees they may be less interested in how old their students might be.
     

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