Advice for our 13 year old?

[Insert Name]

Background; Our 13 year old, 8th grader is currently in our district’s home school program (medical issue we are working through). We signed her up with Sophia to supplement. A month later, she has finished Human Biology, Ancient Greek Philosophers, Building Effective Teams, and Foundations of English Composition. Our local community college says we have to wait until she’s in high school to enroll her in dual classes there.
My 3 questions (I probably have more, but let’s keep it to 3) are: 
1) what are the “most haves” from the Sophia classes? 
2) specific recommendations to fill in gaps in Sophia classes? 
3) are there any schools that don’t have age requirements that we can transfer these to? 
Thanks in advance.

[Kab]

In my opinion, keep doing sophia courses.
She will need more than 3. She has a long way to go.
Excelsior college had made exeptions with younger ages. But I will take as many courses as she need for lower level at sophia before anything else. If she want to go to the CC for dual enrolment she can with 14. By then she should have most of the 100 and 200 courses done in sophia. Then study.Com for upper level courses.
Does she knows what she want to study?


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[Insert Name]

In my opinion, keep doing sophia courses.
She will need more than 3. She has a long way to go.
Excelsior college had made exeptions with younger ages. But I will take as many courses as she need for lower level at sophia before anything else. If she want to go to the CC for dual enrolment she can with 14. By then she should have most of the 100 and 200 courses done in sophia. Then study.Com for upper level courses.
Does she knows what she want to study?


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I’m guessing what she has talked about wanting to study before really isn’t an alternative degree type field, but I could be wrong. She’s always talked about being a doctor, or getting into medical research. My thought was “if we can get her a degree before she’s eligible to go to a state school, she would have a solid fall back” so, I’m open for suggestions as far as going this route.

[ss20ts]

I would do the basics like the economics, history, math, sociology, psychology, art history, science, and visual communications classes. I'd also complete the Principles of Finance course so she has an understanding of how finances work for her own personal use. If she's interested in business courses, there's plenty of them on Sophia. If she's going to attend one of the Big 3/UMPI who are ACE friendly then I would just keep going. If she's not going to go to an ACE friendly college, then she at least will have a background in these subjects and that should help her in her courses.

[rachel83az]

1.) Do not take Sophia's regular English Comp courses. The grading is inconsistent, at best, and your kid will get frustrated. For someone so young, I would recommend an actual English Comp course anyway so that they learn how to write college papers properly. College Readiness may be good for her, even though it's not usually accepted for credit. Avoid the Database course; it's a lot more work than most Sophia courses. Check https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...lency_List to see which courses are near-universally accepted (at least by the Big 3).
2.) Depends on where she's getting her degree. For instance, if she's going to Excelsior or will enroll at TESU once she hits 18, she could do American Government through InstantCert. Otherwise, either TEL Learning or a dual enrollment class for that requirement.
3.) Excelsior and COSC have ways around their age requirements. There are pros and cons to both schools. Neither have a wide variety of degrees available: it's mostly just BALS and business degrees. TESU has a wider array of degrees but you need to be 18 to enroll. UMPI has fewer options than TESU but more than EC and COSC; you need to be 20 to enroll, though.

Depending on your budget and goals, you might want to consider one of TEL Learning's Associate degrees for HS students: https://degrees.tellearning.org/ The RA credits of the Associate's degree would be much more widely transferrable than the credits from Sophia. TESU and COSC already require at least 30 RA credits anyway, so getting the AS or AA in the process isn't the worst idea. There are thoughts that EC might also soon have that same requirement, too.

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I’m guessing what she has talked about wanting to study before really isn’t an alternative degree type field, but I could be wrong. She’s always talked about being a doctor, or getting into medical research. My thought was “if we can get her a degree before she’s eligible to go to a state school, she would have a solid fall back” so, I’m open for suggestions as far as going this route.

Biology is possible, though it wouldn't necessarily be a cheap degree. (Cheaper than most schools, though!) It'd be cheaper if she can do her ULs through an affordable dual enrollment program. https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Sa...egree_Plan

[Insert Name]

Thank you everyone so far for the quick responses. Feel free to keep them coming. I’m going through and looking up some of the things that have been mentioned that I’m not up to speed on (TEL, UMPI, etc). I’m an ex navy nuke, so EC and TESU are familiar to me, but I’m not super familiar them outside of their nuclear degrees.

[rachel83az]

I'd also complete the Principles of Finance course so she has an understanding of how finances work for her own personal use. 

Good point, yes. Also recommend "Taking Charge of Your Economic Future" in spite of its silly name. It may or may not be accepted for credit, depending on the school/degree, but it has a lot of useful information in it. A lot of adults could use that course!

[Insert Name]

Am I reading this right? Is it saying they will accept her as long as the high school superintendent signs off that we are using college to complete high school work?

https://www.excelsior.edu/policy/special...uivalency/

Oh, and yes! Please feel free to recommend good classes even if they aren’t necessarily super transferable. She is still in 8th grade, and this is still supplementing her other school work.

[rachel83az]

Yep, Excelsior makes exceptions if you get the approval from the appropriate person(s). A 13 or 14 year old graduated from EC a couple of years ago.

[Insert Name]

Yep, Excelsior makes exceptions if you get the approval from the appropriate person(s). A 13 or 14 year old graduated from EC a couple of years ago.

Do you know if anyone has posted a degree plan for EC? I’m curious about their Health Sciences degree, but any would be helpful at this point.

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In my opinion, keep doing sophia courses.
She will need more than 3. She has a long way to go.
Excelsior college had made exeptions with younger ages. But I will take as many courses as she need for lower level at sophia before anything else. If she want to go to the CC for dual enrolment she can with 14. By then she should have most of the 100 and 200 courses done in sophia. Then study.Com for upper level courses.
Does she knows what she want to study?


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Anything particular you would recommend from Study?