Last week I wrote about the hoops we jump through at the start of each school year. Here is how things turned out.
When Roma left for school last Monday we knew she was registered for five classes, all in the performing arts department, because prior history suggested they were "safe" classes and would be approved. What we didn't know is how many she would still be registered in at the end of the week.
Here is how the week unfolded.
Monday
Roma's day started with Dance 100 (Intro to Dance) - a required class for anyone considering a dance major. The class is taught by a teacher she had for 2 classes last year so there was no hurdle of convincing the teacher that Roma had the maturity, was graduated, etc. The teacher signed the paper. Interesting footnote - the teacher needed someone to run an errand and sent Roma.
Roma called me after her first class to ask if it was OK for her to take a another dance class. Umm.....what?
She told me she had been invited to try a modern dance class. Huh? Modern dance, really?
I didn't understand what she was talking about, she explained that the teacher told her there is a joint performance between the dance and music departments (at some vague time in December) and Roma was asked if she was interested in auditing the first class to see if she wanted to do it since they needed more girls. Yes, go to the class and call me after was my reply.
About 90 minutes later called me to say she was in the class, the teacher had signed the form, and she had to add the class. (My head was spinning a little by this time but I agreed to this). That's how she ended up taking a sixth class in some sort of audition-only performance thing that we didn't even know existed. Interesting.
Next Roma went to her afternoon dance classes. Ballet 116 is the next in the sequence she started last year, so that teacher signed since Roma had the prereq. In her tap class the teacher said she didn't let anyone under 14 in the class because of the maturity level needed BUT she would let Roma participate the first day and then make a decision. Roma told me she chose to dance for her life to get into the class. Tap was the #1 class she was hoping to be in. The teacher must have decided Roma was mature enough after watching her in the class, because she came home with the signature.
Day one was in the books. Sigh and relax.
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning Ross had a class that started at 8am so it was an early morning for both of them - neither was adjusted yet to school schedules but they made it out the door in relatively non-grumpy moods.
I was really holding my breath on Tuesday since Roma has two classes back-to-back with the same teacher. I figured if she wouldn't sign one, she wouldn't sign the other, so I was concerned. Turns out, her jazz teacher may end up to be MY favorite teacher. She made the class do 35 man-style pushups (something I was trying to get Roma to work on all summer) after they had already done floorwork and stretching. I know that when Roma told me this, she was looking for sympathy. Instead I laughed and said "good".
After jazz she had a team-taught musical theatre class. One of the teachers is Dana Case - Roma did "Summer and Smoke" with her over the summer and had her last year for her beginning acting class. So yes, she was accepted into this class, also.
So mission accomplished for getting the signatures. Next step was to turn in the paperwork. I wish I could say this part was easy....but it took a couple visits to the registrar's office by Roma (too long of a line), one by Roma and Ross (50 people in line, only 3 service windows open so they left), one by me (just as they were closing so no one was still there to take the damn form), and finally at 7:30am today Ross was able to drop the thing off. I got a happy text message from him saying "forms...delivered". YAY!
After a few tense days, Roma is officially registered with boxes checked, forms signed, and tuition paid.
Oh, there was another happy surprise this week. I'll save that for another blog.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
The hoops we jump through - the K12 form
It's the first day of the fall semester for Roma. Those who know her will agree with me when I say she is NOT a morning person, but today the excitement of the new semester got her out of bed at 6am with no complaints or requests for "five more minutes....".
She walked out of the door excited to reconnect with her friends and start classes, but the first week of each semester is anxiety provoking for me. Why? Because of the hoops we have to jump through thanks to her age.
Despite having a high school diploma and doing the tests for placement in English, reading, and math like all incoming students and being accepted as a student, the school has special procedures we have to follow until she is 15. Each semester I fill out a form called a K12 form prior to Roma getting a registration appointment (which means she gets the last ones scheduled). For kids still in high school or under age 18 (even with a diploma) the form is permission for them to concurrently enroll in classes their own school might not offer - like foreign languages, advanced math, etc. The form says we acknowledge she is among college students and they won't dumb down the material for her (no need!), she is expected to act like a college student (she better NOT be acting like most college students), and that we are responsible for her fees until she is 18 (Duh!).
Not a big deal, right? It's not actually the form that is the issue. It's the fact that they don't seem to keep it on file from semester to semester so each time it's a new form, handed to a new person in the registrar's office who never seems to know what to do with it. When Roma went to turn it in at the end of last semester the person working in the office told her it wasn't possible that she was a student there. (This was after already taking 2 semesters of classes and having a 3.8 GPA.) Roma thanked the person, walked outside and called me, and I immediately called the supervisor. He knew of Roma, got me her registration time, and gave me his direct line for future problems.
With step one accomplished, Roma signed up for classes over the summer (at the tail end of the process and all the GE classes were full) and now its the first day of school and there is another form-related hoop to jump through.
The second requirement of the K12 form is that Roma needs to take it to her instructors the first week of class and get their signature on it. Note that I said Roma needs to take it - she negotiates this part on her own and I've never met her teachers except for one that she did a show with. Roma is enrolled and fees are paid so she's not crashing the class - they are signing that they will accept her into the class and if they don't she has to go drop that class/section and find one that will sign, or get a tuition refund. We have to wait to buy books and pay things like lab fees until Roma is certain she is in the class. (sarcasm font on) And best of all, when the form is signed Roma gets to wait in the really long line with the people trying to add crashed classes to turn it back in (sarcasm font off).
Last year a teacher wouldn't let her take an online anthropology class because there was a chapter about human sexuality in primitive societies. I didn't have an issue with Roma learning the "Margaret Mead sexuality" theories in an Anthro class AND the class was online with no contact with others, but the teacher was uncomfortable teaching someone under 15 even in a distance learning environment.
So this is why the first week causes anxiety for me - it's unpredictable. For each class we have to hope to find a teacher who is 1) willing to allow Roma in the class, and 2) willing to trust our judgement that Roma can handle the subject matter. There are some classes she can't take until later due to liability insurance or height issues (ex, she is too short to use the machinery in the department Ross teaches in) and we all understand that those teachers won't sign and we're OK with that.
So what did Roma take instead of Anthro last year? Theatre history - where she read works that had possibly more disturbing content (Oedipus, Hamlet, etc) than the class that denied her, but in the theatre class, the instructor was comfortable with Roma being there.
In a way, the K12 form and the signatures are going to force Roma to take an extended educational journey and take classes in a more free-form way since it will be a crap shoot each semester to even get into the class. We are not able to lay out a predictable sequence of classes for her, or know when she will have the transfer credits completed. The good news is the Performing Arts department doesn't seem to have any issue with Roma in their classes so she is taking these courses up-front and will wait to take some of the "controversial" classes when she is closer to 15.
But now I wait - she will be home in a couple of hours and we'll see if she has the signatures from today's classes or not. Then tomorrow she gets to talk to a whole new set of teachers before we have a clear schedule for her and can buy the books and materials she needs.
Lucky us, if we make it smoothly through this K12 form there are only 6 more registration appointments before she turns 15 and no longer needs the signatures.
She walked out of the door excited to reconnect with her friends and start classes, but the first week of each semester is anxiety provoking for me. Why? Because of the hoops we have to jump through thanks to her age.
Despite having a high school diploma and doing the tests for placement in English, reading, and math like all incoming students and being accepted as a student, the school has special procedures we have to follow until she is 15. Each semester I fill out a form called a K12 form prior to Roma getting a registration appointment (which means she gets the last ones scheduled). For kids still in high school or under age 18 (even with a diploma) the form is permission for them to concurrently enroll in classes their own school might not offer - like foreign languages, advanced math, etc. The form says we acknowledge she is among college students and they won't dumb down the material for her (no need!), she is expected to act like a college student (she better NOT be acting like most college students), and that we are responsible for her fees until she is 18 (Duh!).
Not a big deal, right? It's not actually the form that is the issue. It's the fact that they don't seem to keep it on file from semester to semester so each time it's a new form, handed to a new person in the registrar's office who never seems to know what to do with it. When Roma went to turn it in at the end of last semester the person working in the office told her it wasn't possible that she was a student there. (This was after already taking 2 semesters of classes and having a 3.8 GPA.) Roma thanked the person, walked outside and called me, and I immediately called the supervisor. He knew of Roma, got me her registration time, and gave me his direct line for future problems.
With step one accomplished, Roma signed up for classes over the summer (at the tail end of the process and all the GE classes were full) and now its the first day of school and there is another form-related hoop to jump through.
The second requirement of the K12 form is that Roma needs to take it to her instructors the first week of class and get their signature on it. Note that I said Roma needs to take it - she negotiates this part on her own and I've never met her teachers except for one that she did a show with. Roma is enrolled and fees are paid so she's not crashing the class - they are signing that they will accept her into the class and if they don't she has to go drop that class/section and find one that will sign, or get a tuition refund. We have to wait to buy books and pay things like lab fees until Roma is certain she is in the class. (sarcasm font on) And best of all, when the form is signed Roma gets to wait in the really long line with the people trying to add crashed classes to turn it back in (sarcasm font off).
Last year a teacher wouldn't let her take an online anthropology class because there was a chapter about human sexuality in primitive societies. I didn't have an issue with Roma learning the "Margaret Mead sexuality" theories in an Anthro class AND the class was online with no contact with others, but the teacher was uncomfortable teaching someone under 15 even in a distance learning environment.
So this is why the first week causes anxiety for me - it's unpredictable. For each class we have to hope to find a teacher who is 1) willing to allow Roma in the class, and 2) willing to trust our judgement that Roma can handle the subject matter. There are some classes she can't take until later due to liability insurance or height issues (ex, she is too short to use the machinery in the department Ross teaches in) and we all understand that those teachers won't sign and we're OK with that.
So what did Roma take instead of Anthro last year? Theatre history - where she read works that had possibly more disturbing content (Oedipus, Hamlet, etc) than the class that denied her, but in the theatre class, the instructor was comfortable with Roma being there.
In a way, the K12 form and the signatures are going to force Roma to take an extended educational journey and take classes in a more free-form way since it will be a crap shoot each semester to even get into the class. We are not able to lay out a predictable sequence of classes for her, or know when she will have the transfer credits completed. The good news is the Performing Arts department doesn't seem to have any issue with Roma in their classes so she is taking these courses up-front and will wait to take some of the "controversial" classes when she is closer to 15.
But now I wait - she will be home in a couple of hours and we'll see if she has the signatures from today's classes or not. Then tomorrow she gets to talk to a whole new set of teachers before we have a clear schedule for her and can buy the books and materials she needs.
Lucky us, if we make it smoothly through this K12 form there are only 6 more registration appointments before she turns 15 and no longer needs the signatures.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Happy School Year 2010!
In a little over a week my daughter, Roma, will start her 2nd year of college. She has registered for classes, is making a list of supplies, is trying to track down used books, and has been texting friends to see if anyone from last year is in her classes this semester. I know this scenario is being played out all over the globe as students head back to campus, so what makes Roma's story blog-worthy?
She is what you might refer to as an atypical college student. Roma, who will turn 13 in a few weeks, is an early entry college student who graduated high school before I would even let her ride her bike to the park alone.
I know there are some who think we are crazy and others who are cheering us on. I've had to respond to (or ignore) questions and comments that ranged from the mostly positive to the truly annoying. I've been asked if what we did (i.e. letting Roma go to college early) is legal. Yes, it's legal. After all, if it wasn't would a state entity like the California Community Colleges have a policy and procedure for allowing it? Would Cal State LA have a progam for preteens to live on campus and attend classes? The ranks of early college attendees is growing thanks to encouragment from groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation via their Early College High School initiative and is being seen as an important piece in the education reform puzzle for both gifted and at-risk kids.
The most common question I get is "how did you do it?" which got me thinking that it was time to get this crazy journey documented once-and-for-all. This blog will attempt to look back and capture our educational journey in one place so that I can finally answer that question coherently. Because, honestly, we don't really know how it happened. There was no plan, only gut instinct and long hours spend making the world Roma's classroom, hence the title "Driving Miss Roma".
So hit the little subscribe button and come along on the adventure with us.
Marie
She is what you might refer to as an atypical college student. Roma, who will turn 13 in a few weeks, is an early entry college student who graduated high school before I would even let her ride her bike to the park alone.
I know there are some who think we are crazy and others who are cheering us on. I've had to respond to (or ignore) questions and comments that ranged from the mostly positive to the truly annoying. I've been asked if what we did (i.e. letting Roma go to college early) is legal. Yes, it's legal. After all, if it wasn't would a state entity like the California Community Colleges have a policy and procedure for allowing it? Would Cal State LA have a progam for preteens to live on campus and attend classes? The ranks of early college attendees is growing thanks to encouragment from groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation via their Early College High School initiative and is being seen as an important piece in the education reform puzzle for both gifted and at-risk kids.
The most common question I get is "how did you do it?" which got me thinking that it was time to get this crazy journey documented once-and-for-all. This blog will attempt to look back and capture our educational journey in one place so that I can finally answer that question coherently. Because, honestly, we don't really know how it happened. There was no plan, only gut instinct and long hours spend making the world Roma's classroom, hence the title "Driving Miss Roma".
So hit the little subscribe button and come along on the adventure with us.
Marie
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