Considering high school for ds...Air Force Academy

[silliness7]

I never thought I would seriously consider sending any of my dc to a brick and mortar school before college.

(That'll teach me to never say never :glare:)

But my oldest who starts high school next year has his heart set on going into the Air Force Academy. He's a smart kid and he works hard. He recently joined the Civil Air Patrol and is already studying for his first test. I'm nervous about him not being competetive enough as a homeschooler and I'm worried that he may not do well at the Academy if he hasn't had to buckle down in classroom situations with other teachers.

 

I have found a charter school that looks fairly rigorous. They require their students to take 2 AP classes and they offer quite a few. It's a brand new school so they don't have a track record yet. But it looks like they have a small band (my son plays tuba) and a handful of sports.

 

My Dh is rolling his eyes at me because their sports are not varsity level. And somehow he's got it in his head that ds can't go to AFA if he doesn't letter in a varsity sport. I've been all over the AFA website and can't find where we got this idea in our heads.

 

Anyway, if we continue to homeschool he will have an opportunity to letter in soccer and continue in a fabulous homeschool band program.

I've talked to my son about attending highschool. Part of him would like to try it and part of him doesn't. So he's no help. :tongue_smilie:

 

I have no idea what to do. I know homeschooled students do get in but I read somewhere that it's not many. Then tonight I read another article on these forums about the military and homeschooling...not a good article. I'm getting very nervous about the whole thing. I have a book on hold at the library about how to get into the AFA and survive...something like that. Perhaps that will help.

 

Anyone here whose BTDT that can pass on words of wisdom? Thanks!

[silliness7]

Margaret, you are a wealth of information. Thank you!!

 

So that's a yes on the varisty letters AND a yes on the traditional classroom setting AND a yes on college credits. That's good to know. Dh was arguing with me about not letting ds get any college credits because the AFA doesn't take transfer students. I wasn't connecting the dots how getting college credits in hs could be a bad thing.

 

Can I ask if your dd's college credits were mainly from a traditional setting or online classes, or AP tests?

 

Now I don't have your post in front of me and I've read it through a few times but I can't remember if you said having a pilot's license already helped her to get in or was just an aside.

 

And how did your dd adjust to life at the academy? My son just has these crazy sleeping habits. He's up til all hours, sleeps in til 9:30. Every morning I keep telling him that no one else who will be at the Academy in the Fall of 2015 is STILL SLEEPING! They've probably been up for 3 hours already and run a couple of miles. :lol:

 

ETA: I see the pilot's license did help her. What is LOA?

Edited December 1, 2010 by silliness7

[In The Great White North]

Ds got in with a whopping 1 b&m class in all four years. No college credits. He did have a 3.9 and had calculus. Taught himself enough computers to validate Freshmen Computer Science (one of only 18 cadets out of 1200) Had two years of physics. College credits may help with admissions but your dh is correct - they do not transfer.

 

He did have four letters (swimming) and team captain. No "team" sports. If you have a serious sport that doesn't happen to be at a high school, they will use that too.

 

Eagle Scout and Mitchell. National Flight Academy. He soloed but did not have a private pilot's license. And yes, he told the interviewer he wanted to fly and talked about Cessna's (but in the essay he stressed "be an Air Force officer".)

 

2 years of German (9th and 10th)

 

Could absolutely NOT get out of bed before 9:30 ( or 10, maybe 11, sometimes 12!) I'm really enjoying someone else handling that for me now. :D

 

He will want to apply to the summer program for rising seniors. Application should open in late Dec/early Jan and it fills up quickly. I think it costs around $300. He can experience cadet life and see if it's what he really wants. And the percentage of attendees who are offered admission is higher than the general public (not guaranteed but it does demonstrate serious interest.)

 

 

LOA is a Letter of Assurance. They send you one if they really want you but your Congressman hasn't done his nominations yet or your medical isn't complete. It basically says that if you pass your medical and get a nomination, they will give you an appointment. If he gets one, fax a copy to your Congressman and Senators.

 

How difficult it is to get in is somewhat varied by geographical area (because of the nomination system.) Some areas of the country are far more competitive, and will need higher SAT scores, more leadership activities, etc.

[mama25angels]

I've been thinking about this as well, my DS has no desire to join the AFA, his plan is to join the Army and becoming an Army Ranger, then a Special Forces operator and eventually being a Delta Force operator. He's highly motivated to do this, but has no desire to go to a B&M school, so my plan is to get him as far as I can in the next two years and then have him start CC. He's a Civil Air Patrol cadet as well.

[silliness7]

Ds got in with a whopping 1 b&m class in all four years. No college credits. He did have a 3.9 and had calculus. Taught himself enough computers to validate Freshmen Computer Science (one of only 18 cadets out of 1200) Had two years of physics. College credits may help with admissions but your dh is correct - they do not transfer.

 

He did have four letters (swimming) and team captain. No "team" sports. If you have a serious sport that doesn't happen to be at a high school, they will use that too.

 

Eagle Scout and Mitchell. National Flight Academy. He soloed but did not have a private pilot's license. And yes, he told the interviewer he wanted to fly and talked about Cessna's (but in the essay he stressed "be an Air Force officer".)

 

2 years of German (9th and 10th)

 

Could absolutely NOT get out of bed before 9:30 ( or 10, maybe 11, sometimes 12!) I'm really enjoying someone else handling that for me now. :D

 

He will want to apply to the summer program for rising seniors. Application should open in late Dec/early Jan and it fills up quickly. I think it costs around $300. He can experience cadet life and see if it's what he really wants. And the percentage of attendees who are offered admission is higher than the general public (not guaranteed but it does demonstrate serious interest.)

 

 

LOA is a Letter of Assurance. They send you one if they really want you but your Congressman hasn't done his nominations yet or your medical isn't complete. It basically says that if you pass your medical and get a nomination, they will give you an appointment. If he gets one, fax a copy to your Congressman and Senators.

 

How difficult it is to get in is somewhat varied by geographical area (because of the nomination system.) Some areas of the country are far more competitive, and will need higher SAT scores, more leadership activities, etc.

 

The bolded above gives me great encouragement!! Has your Ds found adjusting to a more scheduled routine challenging?

 

I've heard that Eagle Scout is a good thing to have. My son is not in Scouts and is in the 8th grade. Is it too late to start?

Our church as a scout-like program with a religious emphasis. They have several camp-outs, earn badges, make derby cars, etc. It is obviously not a nationally known program. He is working towards the highest rank he can get in this program but I don't know if that will be worth anything since it's a small unknown organization. I wonder how much weight lesser known activities carry.

 

What is National Flight Academy?

 

Thanks for more good information. It is interesting to hear the different paths folks took to reach the goal.

 

Besides flying my son wants to work in computer science or meterology or both. What is required to validate Freshman Computer Science? Was there an aptitude test at some point after he got there? My son is also "teaching himself" computers as I know just enough to type this post. :001_smile:

[In The Great White North]

National Flight Academy is CAP program. He has to have done Encampment and be at least 16.

 

Eagle and Mitchell both take a lot of time and effort. He should be able to do at least one or the other. Both is unusual. Ds didn't join CAP til he was 16. He had been in Scouts since Tiger (age 6). I have heard of 14 year olds making Eagle, so I suppose it is technically possible (if the local troop is very Eagle oriented.) I'd say the Mitchell is easier to achieve at this point.

 

They got up the first summer at 4:30. No one is used to that. I don't think he had any more of a problem than anyone else.

 

I believe there was also a spot on the application for radio operator (another CAP certification.)

 

To validate Freshman Computer Science, they gave everyone a test during Beast. I have no idea what was actually on the test. He had done: Intro to Computers

Web Design/HTML &CSS(HTML for the World Wide Web. Castro)

Intro to Java Script (Programming with Java in 24 Hours. Cavenhead)

Web Programming/PHP/MYSQL(PHP and MYSQL for Dynamic Websites. Ullman)

 

 

[silliness7]

Thank you for all the wonderful information!!

[Laura in CA]

Yes, thank you to all who took the time to write. Wow, what a lot of great information! My 15-year-old son just recently decided he might like to attend USAFA or do ROTC ... what's so cool is that it has given him a framework and motivation for high-school academics and extracurriculars. He has just joined CAP and is very excited about it. (A week ago I wouldn't have had a clue what "Billy Mitchell" means :001_smile:) What's so exciting to me is that he has his own reasons now (it isn't just Mom saying he might want to do tutoring, go out for track, etc.; he's heard recruiters talk about what they are looking for!). Also, I love the balance the academies and military stress -- good academics, yes, but also fitness, leadership, social skills, etc.

 

~Laura

[silliness7]

Yes, thank you to all who took the time to write. Wow, what a lot of great information! My 15-year-old son just recently decided he might like to attend USAFA or do ROTC ... what's so cool is that it has given him a framework and motivation for high-school academics and extracurriculars. He has just joined CAP and is very excited about it. (A week ago I wouldn't have had a clue what "Billy Mitchell" means :001_smile:) What's so exciting to me is that he has his own reasons now (it isn't just Mom saying he might want to do tutoring, go out for track, etc.; he's heard recruiters talk about what they are looking for!). Also, I love the balance the academies and military stress -- good academics, yes, but also fitness, leadership, social skills, etc.

 

~Laura

 

At this stage in the game, this has been the biggest plus for me. Having an end goal in mind, even though that goal is quite daunting, is helping him to stay focused and provides great motivation to pursue things he probably wouldn't have otherwise, like CAP. It helps me to focus on what his education needs to look like. I'm still working out exactly what that needs to look like but at least I can start at the goal and work our way backwards. I think it's been highly motivating to my younger sons to start thinking more long-term and to open their eyes to things that really weren't in our line of vision a few months ago. My 2nd son doesn't want to follow in big brother's shadow, doesn't want to join the military but is looking into the Sea Cadets program. I think it would be great for him to develop himself and stretch himself even though he's not military-minded.

 

Thanks for that book rec, Margaret. My 3rd son is a budding ornithologist and my dh (who would love to see all his sons go military) was nudging him about falconry & the AF. I think he would enjoy this book.