Has anyone used the text Avancemos with an online Spanish 1 class, and if so, how did you and your DD/DS like the text? Also, has anyone taken a great Spanish 1 online class that is regionally accredited? I am looking for a regionally accredited online Spanish class due to some more competitive universities that do not recognize a foreign language on a homeschooler's transcript if it's not regionally accredited (and then one has to take the SAT subject test or try and CLEP it). I know many online classes that aren't regionally accredited are very good (I've used some)! I know about TPS and Wilson Hill (regionally accredited online providers). Kolbe Online Academy started the regional accreditation in fall 2019, so I imagine they will be regionally accredited soon. Has anyone's student taken Kolbe's Spanish 1 online class? Also, how hard is it to score at least a 500 on the Spanish SAT Subject test if I decide to go that route? TIA for any advice!

@Clear Creek There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting an AA from the community college and transferring to a branch of Texas A&M. Many kids have to go the community college route, and those who go on to a 4-year and graduate with their B.A. or B.S. hang their diplomas on the wall with pride. My DD's close friend is finishing up her AA at a community college and just got accepted to UF -- when her friend graduates from UF her diploma for her B.A. will say UF. College is so expensive now -- far more expensive than when I graduated many years ago. And those very competitive full-rides are very hard to get. Sometimes dreams have to change a little; that's life. I bet your DD finds a new organization / club at whatever university she ends up attending if she can't do choir.

@Halcyon Wow, that is awesome news about Knox College! To have nearly the entire cost of college paid for is no small feat in this day and age. Regarding college portals, it does seem like good news that your DS can see an advisor at Dickinson has been assigned to him.

DD was accepted to the Honors program at FSU!

@SebastianCat Thank you! How cool that your DS also applied to FSU and their Honors College! We did the FSU tour last year and their campus is really pretty. My DD also received the FSU Freshman Scholarship, was excited to be auto admitted to Honors at USF and received the Presidential Award scholarship. A tough decision lies ahead! 🙂 @easypeasy Congrats to your DD on her successes! @Kassia Texas is a great state and I've heard great things about UT Dallas. Congrats to your DD!

My dd was accepted to University of Florida! She is over the moon -- and still in shock, I think. Not sure if it's true but I read that many more people applied to UF this year, and the acceptance rate went down to 29%! This was the last of the universities she applied to -- I'm very proud of her. She got into all the (6) universities she applied to -- and now for the decision on where to go looms large. Congrats to all the high school seniors and good luck to those still waiting on college decisions!

Duplicate post due to slow wifi. Sorry!

Duplicate post due to slow wifi. 😞

@Miguelsmom Has your DS looked at job postings to see what’s required for his career of interest? Another suggestion is check out the Pathways program for federal government jobs. @teachermom2834 We are looking at USF for DD, and like it but the food available on campus seems a notch below what is offered at the state flagship. The Honors program at USF seems like a huge advantage.

Props to you and PonyGirl for getting those last things done with only a few hours to spare! Good luck to her. It sounds like she’s an amazing student athlete!

@Momto6inIN — How exciting that your DS got the trustee scholarship at Purdue! That means the cost of attendance will be very low, especially while he’s living at home. It’s great that he sees the value in saving money the first year by living at home while attending college.

DD just got accepted to Florida State University! She is very excited. She was offered the University scholarship, which means she can now apply for the Honors program and the Presidential scholarship (their premier scholarship).

I think it's great that you want to have your dd take Calculus next year. College admissions probably gives extra points for a transcript with either Statistics and/or Calculus on it, so I second the above opinion to include Statistics as an option. That said, my dd did the Saxon Advanced Math (which is Pre-Calculus), and she didn't like that text much. She is now doing AP Calc and is enjoying it much more than all the math through Pre-Calculus, so much so that she is no longer considering a liberal arts major. There are many providers that offer AP Calc and plenty of videos on the web to help that even if your dd doesn't end up taking the AP exam, it might be worth considering getting your syllabus approved for AP Calculus. But, you could also choose a Calculus book and create your own syllabus and call it Calculus Honors. As RootAnn said, AP Calculus covers a certain amount of material for their AP exam and that is what makes it AP. Derek Owens offer AP Calculus AB and there are other online providers if you want to look into that. CLEP'ing out of College Algebra is a great idea. English majors and Education majors shouldn't need anything more than College Algebra and a Logic course to complete math requirements for their B.A.

Is your DD interested in graphic design? I thought I remembered reading that. If so, one idea is she can look into volunteering locally politically. Even if she's not interested in politics, often at the local level there is a huge need for people with graphic design and social media skills. Beyond that, as far as traveling, with this year being a presidential election year, there are opportunities for teens to travel to a different city to help GOTV. My DD did these things and it really stretched her and helped her to be able to handle a huge variety of situations. There are also mission trips to various third world countries you could consider.

My DD just got accepted to UT Austin (Plan II program) and is shocked but ecstatic, as we live out-of-state. I think UT can only accept 10% of each class from out of state. She’s hoping for a good scholarship and out of state tuition waiver! We are still waiting on two great public u’s, but they’re in state for us. I think universities are recognizing more and more that homeschooling can be great prep for college work. I love seeing the updates on this thread. Congrats to all the seniors with their acceptances so far — we’ve got until March 1 for regular admissions decisions, right? *To clarify, she got accepted into her first choice STEM major, but is still waiting on the Plan II program. Apparently the honors program acceptances come out sometime in the near future. 🙂

Well, that is frustrating! It sounds like something fell through the cracks at the college. Is the remaining item that isn't checked something that was sent to the college? If it is something that was mailed via US Post Office, perhaps it got lost. Or, perhaps like the problem we experienced this year, the address provided by the College Board to send a CLEP transcript was simply flat out the wrong address, so of course the university never received it and we had to pay to resend it using the correct address that I got from calling the university! If the admissions counselor isn't responding, check to make sure she or he still works there -- the staff in Admissions changes more frequently than some other jobs. Other than that, ask to talk to the manager or director of Admissions (and/ or email them) due to the impending deadline. Good luck!

Check out Udemy if you're OK with a recorded course. I bought a couple courses on Udemy for pretty cheap -- a Microsoft Excel beginner to advanced course and a Microsoft Office Intro course -- both for my kids. Udemy has a wide variety of courses available, and this time of year there are usually a lot of sales on their offerings. I got a course for $9.99 in the past year there.

ApplyTexas doesn't have a way for homeschool parents/counselors to upload anything. Find out by calling or looking at the TX u's websites for information on where to either mail or UPS/FedEx everything to them that you would have uploaded as a counselor. That is what I did. 🙂

It looks like Economics is required for graduation in Michigan. Here's what I would consider doing. For Economics, look up AC/DC Macro teacher Jacob Clifford. He has a website which offers a study guide/packet ($14) for the CLEP Macro test and AP Macroecomics exam. I'd have my dd watch the ACDC videos for Macroeconomics, take notes, and fill in the study guide along the way. I think if you buy the study guide you have access to all the Macro ACDC videos. If she then wants to try and take the CLEP Macro test, great, but that doesn't have to happen. For Government, what about taking a look at the CLEP REA book for US Government? She could take the diagnostic and then study what it says her knowledge weaknesses are. I know a teen who passed the US Government CLEP recently, and she studied intensely for it about 6 weeks.

Most teens have to take the SAT or ACT two times in order to get their best score. If it were me, I'd have DD take the ACT sometime before May. Then, I would have her study and do more practice tests, and take the test a 2nd time during the summer. It's illuminating to look at Reddit for comments about the SAT and ACT. What seems to have happened recently is that the SAT is putting out easier tests which have a harsher curve.

@fourisenough The College Algebra CLEP was interesting, because I read somewhere that one can take it after finishing Algebra 2. When dd was taking Algebra 2 Honors using the online Derek Owens class, I emailed him about the timing of taking the College Algebra CLEP. His opinion was that knowing the material covered during a College Algebra course, it would be better to finish Pre-Calculus before taking the College Algebra CLEP. So, that is what we did. DD finished Pre-Calculus (Saxon) and then passed the College Algebra CLEP. For Spanish, she did Spanish 1-3 and then took and passed level 1 of the Spanish CLEP. For Macro, dd took a semester class online, but hardly learned anything and ended up just studying the AC/DC videos on YouTube. I did buy the study packet for the CLEP/AP Macro test from the AC/DC teacher (Jacob Clifford?) available online, and it was the best $20 spent. For the College Composition with Essay CLEP, dd has done only Honors English in high school, in addition to Rhetoric with Kolbe Academy online for 11th grade. I looked at AP English before she went into 10th grade, and it seemed to me that it has a lot of busy work and would make her hate the subject. She used study.com for College Comp as well as the REA book for College Composition and got a high score on the multiple choice and essay. I did give her feedback after she did her first timed essay at home, and her second practice essay was a lot better. It seems like if one is a good writer, the only thing needed is to review for the multiple choice section and then do 2-3 practice and timed essays at home before taking the College Comp. w/ essay CLEP. For US Government, she brushed up on what she knew from 9th grade American History class, and found it to be pretty easy. She did have an AP Government review book and studied the important cases; there are some questions about Supreme Court decisions on the test. She also used the REA book and did the diagnostic, studying what they pinpointed as "weak areas" before doing a practice test. Sociology was probably the easiest CLEP she took so far. All of the CLEP tests she has taken I bought the REA CLEP book for it. REA CLEP books have a diagnostic and 2 practice tests in them. Typically, you want to try and score 10 points higher on a practice test than you need to pass. From my experience, actual classes are not necessary to pass CLEP tests if you have a dedicated student who will study for the CLEP tests. The Spanish CLEP is the only one where I would say in order to get a 63 you probably need through Spanish 4; it is very difficult.

I know CLEP tests aren't accepted at as many universities for college credit as AP exams, but I wanted to share our experience with them. Over a year ago, I found out about CLEP tests and that at some universities, they are accepted in lieu of a subject test to prove proficiency as a homeschooler. Thus began our CLEP test journey. So far, dd has passed a number of CLEP tests and has 24 college credits from them. Spanish CLEP was the hardest; she passed level 1 (in our state, you have to get a 63 to pass level 2 Spanish). Macroeconomics, College Algebra, US Government, Sociology, and College Composition with Essay are the CLEPs she has passed so far. I like CLEP tests because they are less pressure than some other tests. Also, CLEP tests are out of 80 points, so a 50 is usually the minimum passing score. Not many people know about CLEP, even though it is run by the College Board. Anyone else a CLEP test fan?

My dd17 applied to 6 universities; 4 back in August and 2 last month. She was accepted to University of North Florida with a merit scholarship, University of South Florida (fingers crossed for a merit scholarship; she will hear mid-November), and Texas A&M (academic admit for out-of-state). Thankfully, dd qualifies for the Bright Futures scholarship here in Florida, so tuition at in-state u's is 100% free with that. We have to wait on 3 other universities which typically don't send out acceptances until January or February. It's so nice to have acceptances from rolling admission schools, as well as one that had Early Action. When one of our acquaintances found out my dd got into UNF and USF (this was before the TAMU admit), he was floored. It was obvious he had a misconception about homeschooling. 😉 Let's hear it for homeschooling!

We used HSA last school year. Yes, if you try to schedule sessions right now with HSA, it can be tricky. However, what I did was schedule DD with 3 different tutors and then figured out from there which one was the best fit and tried to use the same tutor. I read the bios of lots of tutors and picked three after doing that. The further out you schedule, the easier it is. Also, if you call HSA they can help you schedule a lot of classes and it's easier and faster than using the website scheduler. They have a one free session offer on their site.

You could try Homeschool Spanish Academy. My DD took Spanish 3 with a tutor from HSA and we were pleased with the outcome.