DS7 finished the ALEKS chemistry course today. There's hard stuff in there, and he really had to stick at it. He had, of course, a lot of help and parental explanation along the way (we've both learned more chemistry in the process too!) but he didn't get or need help in the final assessments: he really has mastered the material.

In fact, had I realised just how much chemistry there is in that course that I had never learned doing it until age 16, I don't think I'd ever have let him start! And he did struggle, both with his need to keep going through the dry stuff and, occasionally, conceptually; e.g. he had the same struggle with understanding how to use moles in calculations and convert between grams and moles that I remember having around age 14, along with the rest of my class - but the next day, he'd got it. Several times I suggested that he should just give it up, and a few weeks ago we even ended up doing problem-solving HTTSKWL-style on the white board, with the problem being "ALEKS is often hard and boring but Colin doesn't want to give it up so near the end", but he ruled out my suggested solution of "just give up anyway" immediately. (A dose of extrinsic motivation in his suggested form of grape tokens per topic done got him over the hump - interestingly, the tokens are still lying around rather than having been swapped for grapes.)

I feel slightly sad that I can't shout this from the rooftops at my IRL friends, but that's what this thread is for, right?


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