He's a year behind due to the cancer nonsense we endured, so he'll be doing Alg 1 in 10th-ish grade! So I figured the PSAT would be out of reach. He IS a good tester, though, and his grasp of math concepts is waaaaay beyond the pre-algebra he's doing now (Dad is an engineer and they love to talk math). I didn't realize the PSAT was any different from the SAT. I thought it was just the same thing, but administered earlier. See: I am still learning! 🙂

I think it's probably more a "getting the feel for a place" for us; to-wit: do you want a small campus in a rural setting? A larger university in a city? And so on. He isn't quite sure, and I do think visiting a few places would help with that! I hadn't anticipated meeting with admissions at this stage of the game.

Yes! I ran the NPC on the College of Charleston, using an ACT score I literally pulled out of thin air (probably lowballing it a bit--I think I picked like 25-27, but I have no idea how he'll do). I haven't run it on other schools yet. Our net price was something like $52,000. I can only assume that meant tuition plus all the housing and related expenses....with absolutely zero assistance. Of course, it was a fly-by-the-seat use of the calculator, and may not accurately reflect reality.

Yes! This is helpful. You're right--he has to figure out his goals. He doesn't seem to have any desire to teach, but is more interested in interpreting, or perhaps even working in the foreign service. Of course, he's also....14. I *highly* suspect he will be just like your daughter by the time he's done with high school--probably within the next 2 years. He already listens to French books on Audible and gets a lot of what is going on without a struggle. Fluency is not too far away!

Thank you! I think what I mean by "hunting down scholarships" IS hunting down the best offers he can get from universities. I honestly am not even sure how to start with considering budgetary issues or "what we can afford" since it seems to vary so radically and widely from school-to-school. In-state tuition here in Virginia is obviously more "affordable," but then again, I'm aware that private schools often can offer better aid, which seems to level the playing field. If I look at the flat-out sticker price of ANY school, it's obviously more than we'd want to pay. I'm working under the assumption that there will be aid available, but what? It's also hard since we don't have a fully-developed high school student (ie, no SAT score that I can at least use as some sort of "benchmark"). We have a generous amount of money set aside for higher education, my husband's salary is comfortable, we have zero debt, and I have the capability of picking up work down the line if needed, so we've got some flexibility. But I still don't want to pay the tuition sticker prices I see! We joke that our pat response to "what's your budget" is, 100% of the time, "as little as possible." 😉 So I'm a bit flummoxed, but trying to figure it out. I also really appreciate your tip on languages. That's really a whole 'nother thing that I need to post/ask about--what are the language flagship universities, and tips on navigating that whole process. Right now it does look like French will be his thing, and so we're sort of following that route..... So much to learn and consider!

Thanks! This is really helpful. To me it just *makes sense* to try to do the best we can on the standardized test. And you know, I'm not sure which one to choose there--he's actually really, really strong in math--he missed ONE math problem on his CAT test last year--but he's "behind" his grade level by a year simply due to my husband having had stage 4 cancer a couple of years ago. That was not our finest math hour! 100% the fault of circumstances, and not reflective of my son's abilities in math at all. I am hopeful that the next year or two of high school math plus consistent test prep will allow him to do just fine--maybe even better than "just fine"--on his SAT/ACT. Fingers crossed! Because I do feel like that would help.

Updated 2/19/24 at the end of the thread below below--just to say, the early-ish visits in 10th grade have been really great, and helpful for developing the vision...I'm glad we've embarked on it! Hi everyone! I would be oh-so-interested to hear anyone's suggestions on some college visits for my son, who is 9th-ish grade (I say "ish" because he's racking up credits quickly, yet "behind" in math 😉) and 14 years old. We split our time right now between home (near Roanoke, VA) and home-away-from-home (Charleston, SC), so I'm starting to think about looking in person at some of the schools in our region. My son is *most* interested in languages (carrying easy, high As in both Honors French 2 and Spanish 2, with plans to continue both throughout high school and probably add in Mandarin or Thai at some point, just b/c he loves them), but also loves philosophy, religion, politics/government, and history. In short, very Liberal Arts-y. He's a solid pianist, but doesn't plan to study music as a major; however, he may still pursue it out of enjoyment in college. He desperately wants to study abroad--likely France, since French is his first love. He's quite interested in comparative politics, international relations...that sort of thing. But: he's 14. Our plans are to continue homeschooling, and next summer (ie between sophomore and junior years), to start consistent SAT prep. I realize schools are test-optional these days, but I'm hoping a *decent* score could add additional legitimacy to the transcript I will make. I have absolutely no idea how he'll do on the SAT. His standardized test scores on the CAT every year (totally different, beast, I know) are always way, way high. So he seems to test well. I think we'd all prefer something that is not too far removed geographically from Southwest Virginia. I attended William and Mary for undergrad, Hollins for my MA, and Washington and Lee for law school. We will look at both W&M and W&L, just because I am fond of them both, although I don't know if those will be good choices for him. So much feels unknown, without an SAT score or a "measurable" GPA at this time.... I think we're focusing in on smaller liberal arts schools, although we're by no means limited to that. Good foreign language programs, especially for French, are very appealing, as are good study abroad programs. Quaint settings are a huge plus for this aesthetically-inclined boy. He's a thoughtful, mature, intelligent kid who takes learning seriously--so perhaps an honors college within a college? Here are the schools I'm thinking of visiting casually over the next year to see if anything seems to strike him, so we can start to hone in on what these schools might want from us over the next few years! *College of Charleston (his request, not really my thing, but my grandmother graduated from there at the age of 19 and loved it back in the 30s! ha!) *Roanoke College (15 minutes from home--my sister is an alum and loved it) *Elon University *Wake Forest *W&L and W&M (very different vibes, but 2 of my alma maters) *Dickinson College (a bit far afield, but my BIL is in administration there and they seem to check some of our boxes! seems like a neat school) *perhaps Davidson, although I don't know a lot about it. It's halfway between home and home-away-from home. 🙂 ........probably another school or two that I've forgotten, as I'm posting rather distractedly. Like most people, we would like to get as much financial aid as possible. I doubt we'd qualify for much, if any, need-based aid, although I've not investigated that. My husband and I plan to foot the bill for whatever isn't covered, and wish/hope/plan to avoid student loans altogether, so I'm pretty motivated to hunt down any scholarships we can find. I realize they will likely be thin on the ground. Any schools in the PA/VA/WV/NC/SC/TN areas that aren't on this list but might be a nice fit for a student like mine? Especially rich schools just *dying* to give cash to kids who want to study French and travel the world? (A girl can dream.) Any schools with particularly strong French language/study abroad programs? etc? I'd love to create a list that we can start to check off with campus visits this year, especially as we do drive around a lot in the VA/SC/NC areas. Thanks so much for any help you can provide!

This is an interesting point. In reality, I have observed that if my son has a deadline given to him (by someone who is Not His Mother), in his brain it IS non-negotiable. He wouldn't even THINK to negotiate. A rule-follower par excellence! So-"deadline" is probably sufficient, because in his little mind that word naturally equals "non-negotiable." No one has told him that you can, like, ask for extensions and stuff. I'll tell him when he goes off to college.....maybe.

Thank you! Yeah-my son specifically requested NOT to do asynchronous if we can at all help it. He really does seem to appreciate the structure and *non-negotiability* of a class with strict deadlines. And I appreciate that he can identify this and request it!

Nope, we're totally fine with secular. I'll have to check out Taylor Made Science! And thanks for the math recommendations! I'll be looking into those as well.

Thank you! Looks like he's teaching Alg 2 next year, but not Alg 1. Shoot!

I would love to hear any recommendations you have for online biology and algebra 1 courses for my high schooler next year. He prefers: *real time/interactive...but we can make asynchronous work if need be, as long as there are... *deadlines! (ie, not totally self-paced; he is the sort who thrives on deadlines & clear expectations) *not too deadly-rigorous. This child is taking a fairly heavy workload in other areas next year, and we don't want biology in particular to be super time-consuming. However, he's also my deep thinker, and he doesn't want a class that is too "lite" or lacks depth. I realize this is a fine line to walk! 🙂 *well-taught. We have learned from experience how crucial a good teacher is to the online classroom experience. To that end, specific teacher recommendations would help so much! A teacher who knows how to teach! *ideally 2+ times per week. One class session a week doesn't seem to be nearly enough for either of these subjects, from our perspective. We have some experience with The Potter's School because my son is taking Honors French 2 through TPS (fantastic) & will be taking one other course through them next year as well. If we go with TPS, it will be crucial to get a recommendation for a specific teacher for Algebra 1 (they only offer a 1x/week biology class, so we're not inclined to do that; Algebra 1 is 2x/week, which would probably work...). I'm also looking at Wilson Hill Academy & Funda Funda (Dr. Underwood's Biology), but I am open to any and all suggestions. If you've got any courses, particularly with specific teachers, to recommend that might check off all or most of his boxes, I'd really appreciate it. If you prefer to send a private message about specific teacher recommendations or warnings 😉 please feel free to do so. Any info is helpful to me at this point. Thanks!

This is really helpful! Also the point about the "why"--my son is 100% a "WHY" person who always tries to understand the why behind ev.ery.thing. Biology it is, I think!

Yep--his timeline is 100% circumstances and not abilities. He's getting a rock-solid foundation now. If I had a do-over, I would have tried to stick harder to math in 6th grade, but it was a "survival year" for sure. And my husband IS surviving! 🙂Live and learn.

Correct! I definitely don't think this could be algebra-based, since concurrent enrollment is allowed. And part of me thinks: why take a conceptual class early in high school and then also take an algebra-based course later in high school? At the same time, this is my mystery child who is hard to figure out. He's gifted in languages, but also enjoys math and science a lot, as well as basically everything else (!), so it's tough to know where to focus for him or what route to take.

Yes--my impression is that it's a conceptual physics course, and I agree with the assessment that even with those classes, algebra seems like the type of thing that would be best to have *done* first, not *in progress.* My son is a very good math student, but hasn't completed algebra yet (not his fault, but mine: my husband had Stage 4 cancer when my son was 11, so we are a year "behind" in math, but my engineering, cancer-surviving husband said it's much better to keep steady on with laying a good foundation--which we certainly have done--and just get to algebra a bit later). This is really helpful! It is making me lean in the direction of simply forging ahead with the more traditional sequence of courses.

Thanks! It's hard to tell with this child of mine--in either case he'd take Chemistry in 11th grade, which I think will be appropriate for him. Is it tricky to take Physics and Algebra 1 in the same year? It seems like it might be best to have Algebra 1 already under one's belt, but the courses I'm seeing (I'm looking at Wilson Hill Academy in particular) only require a concurrent enrollment in Algebra 1.

I come from the era of Bio-Chem-Physics, in that order, but I'm seeing more and more schools offering these courses in the reverse order: Physics (concurrent with Alg 1, typically)-Chem-Bio. My son is looking at Wilson Hill Academy for next year and they seem to follow the latter sequence. I see the point of it (there's *so much* chemistry in bio, and so much physics in chem!), but my Class of '95 Public School Brain really struggles with the flip-flop. On the one hand, I sign him up for Physics next year. On the other, Biology. Since physics was a class for 12th graders or college kids in my era, I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around my 15-year-old taking it. Do you believe that the sequence matters all that much?

Just want to say that I've found this thread so helpful and refreshing! My 14 year old is a slow processor (no LDs) also and it can drive me bonkers to see how much (or little) he gets done in a day. I can't decide if I'm allowing him to slack, honoring his needs, setting him up for grand life success, or dooming him to failure. Ouch. He's also a perfectionist who takes his time to do things correctly. To-wit: for a Spanish project, he'll take the *entire day* to make the visual--but it's perfect. And of course his grade is over 100. He's got an A in math, 98 in Honors French 2, 100+ in Spanish 2 (he's a language guy)....so he's very capable, but slow as molasses at times. I am really having to adjust my expectations of what he can do in a day/week/year, and I'm having to also adjust MY expectations of how involved I can be (we read literature together b/c I'm selfish and it's fun, but we're going much slower through it than he would in a normal class, because life has been pretty demanding on me over the past few months). My son does weekend work for his outsourced language classes, when necessary, which he enjoys because it's his "thing." At this point--9th grade--I'm not requiring weekend work for anything that I supervise. We will be working through summer on math so that he stays on track. We're also trying to be flexible because my dad was just diagnosed with SCLC (incurable cancer) and so we are living part-time in Virginia and part-time in Charleston, SC. So there's that Complicating Factor. All that's to say: I really appreciate learning about how other mothers of slow-processing children manage this homeschooling thing. It's a real challenge. And he's my oldest, so I've got no experience with high school! (My youngest is like a supersonic processor. So different!)

Hello! Has anyone had the following teachers for high school science courses at TPS? *Allison Sauser *Jill Vannelli *Mary Knight Feel free to respond here or via PM! Thanks so much.

Does anyone have any strong recommendations (or--fair enough--strong warnings against, which you can DM me if you don't want to post publicly!) to make for teachers at The Potters School for English classes, particularly: English 3 Confident Composition English 3 Lit and Analysis (either topic area) We've had a smashing good success with TPS Honors French 2 (Madame S is the BEST), but had to drop a science class this year because the teaching situation was disastrous, so I'd like to investigate to see if anyone here has a particular teacher to recommend at TPS for English 3 courses (these are early high school level). I'd also be interested in anyone who has used these classes and has any valuable insights to provide on whether they are useful/recommended. I'm considering a TPS class for my son, but am also considering a course from The House of Humane Letters. These courses are quite different, so I'm trying to think through what would ultimately be the best fit for next year. Thanks!

I am sure that is true! We're not experiencing that level of engagement, but hopeful that maybe the tide will turn.

1-Yep--this is accurate! My son is doing all the readings, study quizzes, interactive online activities, etc. himself throughout the week. 2-Yep! Also accurate! This isn't working well for us because my son is a deep thinker who does like asking questions, having discussions, and getting answers, and the live component isn't really fulfilling that very well at this point in the course. Maybe it'll improve...!

Thanks all! My son is in Honors Biology at The Potter's School right now, just finishing up week 4. Having a live class once a week turned out to be a bit of a drag; the instructor doesn't really have time to "teach" and answer questions, and the teaching feels a bit watered-down (especially given the heft of the book itself). It's just far too compressed. My husband and I considered having him drop the course and so I was investigating asynchronous options, but our son has since asked to continue the course, so we're honoring that. He's a determined guy. (His Honors French 2 course with TPS is fabulous so far, though; it's 2x per week and the instructor is very well-organized!) This is our very first foray into online learning, so we're figuring out what works well and what to avoid. What To Avoid = Once a Week Honors Science Instruction. 😉 Now we know. I appreciate the suggestion of community college. I think I may look into that for chemistry. I think that more frequent in-person instruction plus the in-person labs would be beneficial, plus face-to-face access with the professor for follow-up questions, etc.

Thanks! Yes, he's in Honors Biology with The Potter's School right now, just finishing up week 4. My husband and I were not really very pleased with the once-a-week structure once the class began (live and learn!) and were seriously considering having him drop it and pick up something else, but our son has asked to continue, so we are honoring his request.