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BookwormTo2

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  1. @ByGrace3I just wanted to add that I understand your frustration with the rules for Florida public universities re: foreign language and homeschoolers. I inquired about this subject a few years ago, and was told in so many words by someone from a state legislator's office that homeschoolers are not a big enough group for enough state legislators to push for change to the foreign language rules for graduation from public Florida universities for homeschoolers. The FL Board of Governors make these rules. It definitely isn't fair to homeschoolers. That's what we see in other areas like college entrance tests. Some things I'd consider if I were you would be: the FLATS exam (reviews on this seem to indicate it's a bit easier to attain proficiency than the CLEP exam for Spanish), dual enrollment for Spanish but start with Spanish 1, or do FLVS or another online regionally accredited provider for Spanish 1 & 2. I know with FLVS a student can finish the material early; no -- one doesn't learn much Spanish with FLVS but the point would be to check that box. Sending hugs as you navigate this process and make important decisions! As a quick aside, the mandate for attending summer classes for 9 credits before graduation is something all public universities in Florida have; there are a few exceptions for students.
  2. This is actually two different things for some Florida public universities. 1. For instance, in order to be considered for admission to UNF, the applicant does not need a regionally accredited provider for two years minimum of foreign language taken in high school (note: I am basing my information on conversations and email communications with various admission offices when my oldest applied to colleges for Fall 2020). The state flagship is a bit harder to figure out; they used to spell out on their site that one needed to have the foreign language from a regionally accredited provider or proof of proficiency to be considered for admission, now things are more murky. 2. In order to graduate from a public university in Florida, as Melissa B notes, one must complete two years of a foreign language. Most fulfill this requirement in high school, as they attend either a public or private regionally accredited school. However, homeschoolers have the extra burden of either showing foreign language proficiency via CLEP, AP, dual enrollment, IB, AICE, or FLATS exam, or taking 2 sequential years of a foreign language with a regionally accredited provider. * Other than FLVS, which is regionally accredited like a public school, I believe Wilson Hill Academy, Kolbe Online Academy, and TPS are regionally accredited and allow families to enroll a la carte and get an official transcript sent to a university. See the Florida Board of Governors PDF pages 2-3: https://www.flbog.edu/wp-content/uploads/6_002FINAL_FTIC_03252020.pdf and the different standard for homeschoolers is more clear.
  3. I'm not sure if what I wrote was misunderstood, but there was no issue w/ my dd filling out the SSAR. Further, I did contact an admissions officer (at a few diff. colleges) w/ questions a few years before she applied and it was quite helpful. DD applied to 6 competitive universities and got into them all. I was just trying to make the point that I followed my gut after doing research, and that is, for some things I gave more information than was demanded. Was it worth it? Yes, dd is attending a top 10 public university and we are only having to pay for housing (100% free tuition).
  4. Another reason I loved the TPS Russian class is that there were so many things that were graded during the semesters. That meant if you didn't do as well on a homework, audio recording or quiz etc. it wasn't the end of the world if you really wanted an A in the class. A few universities that DD applied to wanted her grade report for Russian 1 & 2 mid-year her senior year. I printed it out back and front because it was something like 14 pages back and front. And no, there wasn't busy work. Everything assigned had the goal of helping the student learn/retain the Russian being taught in class.
  5. If you are willing to pay money for a summer online class, I was in a similar position w/ one of my kids and had them do a short summer online class at Kolbe Academy. I think it was called Composition Bootcamp ($239) -- they have them for a few different grade levels. It helped quite a bit and was definitely worth it to me.
  6. My DD did Russian 1 & 2 via TPS and absolutely loved it. Mrs. Pledger is a great teacher and made customized Quizlets for the Russian vocab etc. From what my DD told me, as long as you put in the work you'll do well. In Russian 1 they spent a while learning the alphabet and the sounds. DD finished Russian 2 in 2020, and at that time they used the same textbook for Russian 1 & 2. She also got mid to high A averages for Russian 1 & 2. She loved the language and was much more dedicated than most learning a foreign language (comparing her to me in high school learning a foreign language). But that said, I think there were maybe 3 students in Russian 1 that chose not to go on to Russian 2, and I think it was because they weren't studying the right way for them. I can't recall if your DD has already learned a different foreign language, but if she has, even a little, that will likely give her a leg up with Russian. Knowing how to study for a foreign language is half the battle. HTH!
  7. I like the CLEP idea for English, since the OP's niece is a good writer. My DD, also a good writer, took the English w/ essay CLEP and passed easily. But for a math CLEP, it depends. If the school would accept College Algebra CLEP in lieu of a 2nd semester pre-calculus class, then I think an average math student in the middle of Pre-Calc for high school could pass College Algebra CLEP with study. I don't have kids who took the Pre-Calculus CLEP, so I can't comment on that, but I think I've seen people post on here about their kids passing the Pre-Calc CLEP.
  8. You can take a look at Liberty University Online Academy for an English &/or Pre-Calc. class for your niece -- they have regular high school and also dual enrollment (both asychnronous). We have used a DE course via LUOA and it was actually really good and it transferred without issues to DD's university (our state flagship).
  9. We have used FLVS for AP Macro and Physics Honors. The "teaching" in these courses is laughable; it's more like you teach yourself. Also, the student gets chapters of the "e-book" in modules and can't access the whole ebook at one time. Then there are the DBA phone calls from the teacher which are like oral quizzes. Have I mentioned they link to places like YouTube for deeper explanations?! I don't recommend FLVS. However, a friend's DD used it for Spanish 1&2 and got an A and B respectively, though she didn't know very much Spanish at the end of Spanish 2.
  10. Rate My Professor is usually trustworthy, but we've found this semester it can't be relied on to be accurate all the time. The Speech class DD is currently taking at uni has a professor that has very low ratings on RMP, but the professor is actually very fair w/ grading and kind. Another place to check is the Reddit for the university -- sometimes it is more accurate than RMP if you find a thread on the class or professor.
  11. Just when I thought I knew what we were going to do for 10th grade and the online classes to register for, I realized I needed to do more research for Spanish 2 for DS. While DS is currently in a Spanish 1 online class and it's going well, for reasons I don't want to get into right now, I need to look at other options for providers "just in case." A few people mentioned Aim Academy for foreign language, and it looks intriguing. Has anyone done Spanish 2 with Aim Academy (debra bell site)? Or any other ideas for Spanish 2 online classes? TIA!
  12. I think my DD also used a bit of Modern States for the Sociology CLEP. What she did was took the initial placement test in the REA book and realized what things she needed to study and did focused studying. She didn't do the whole course for Modern States. When she thought she was ready, she took a practice test and if her score was at least 10 points higher than what was needed, we scheduled a CLEP test appointment.
  13. My oldest wasn't ready for DE until summer before her senior year, though I guess technically that was part of her senior year. She did Stats online via LUOA. Then she took Earth Science with the lab at our local university and absolutely loved it. The next semester she took an elective and another science class -- that is the semester the pandemic hit. It ended up working out and she got all A's doing DE but she hated taking the classes online. Here the DE is free but one can't take more than 6 credits / semester at the university. The community colleges allow up to 12 credits/semester I think, but it would have been a longer commute and more of a headache to register, so we didn't go that route. As far as CLEP for a foreign language, my advice is not to count on getting a high enough score and have an alternative plan. DD studied Spanish for 3 years and was not able to score a 63, which is what our state requires for getting credit for 2 semesters of a foreign language. She got a good enough CLEP score to get out of one semester of Spanish, but is now in a major that doesn't require a foreign language. The CLEP for foreign language should be doable for those who have done 4 years (i.e. Spanish 1-4). Some states only require a 50 on the CLEP to get out of 2 semesters of a foreign language, which is much more doable.
  14. We tried the Fix it Grammar with DS and it was terrible for him, as seeing incorrect sentences that he had to fix just overwhelmed him. There is a wide variety of curriculum because one size does not fit all. 🙂 After just 5 months of an online Comp. & Lit. class, DS scored very high on the English parts of the CLT10 -- something he had never done before on any standardized tests. I have realized that for DS, the right curriculum was actually a good online English teacher, but for my oldest, homeschool English curriculum was all she needed as she was a natural speller and writer.
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