Hi, everyone,
Thanks to good advice on these boards, I am inclined to jettison the standard course offerings for 9th graders and instead have dc do AP World History as a 9th grader next year. I bought the Stearns textbook (used!) on amazon, and I like it. So I am excited about this. (We homeschool, but I shadow a standard curriculum, above-grade-level and with enrichment.)
Dc is on the fence, though. Dc has picked up on some of the "AP fear" that percolates in the culture, and dc worries that the work will be beyond his capabilities. I tend to think the AP fear is exaggerated for g kids -- judging from Stearns, AP World History is a nice, thoughtful, respectable but not intimidating course for an intellectual kid.
Still, I think it would help dc to know that other younger kids have done this successfully. DC consistently scores in the 99th percentile on above-grade-level standardized tests (aptitude and achievement) and has aced Honors English two grades ahead without breaking a sweat. (Indeed, I'm worrying about boredom in HS Honors classes, which led me to AP.)
Thanks for any stories/advice. I do note that the World History AP exam has a relatively low high-score rate -- roughly 5% score a 5, compared to far higher numbers for other APs, but how much of that is the over-selection into the course, I can't say.
