The cheapest route here is DE, because the state covers the cost (up to 30 hours, I think it is)....testing works fine for most things, but it wouldn't make any sense for my non STEM kid who hates biology to take AP bio or to take a second year of it DE. The old solution was the biology subject test, but that disappeared unexpectedly when he was already in the middle of doing biology at home. And I knew all about the requirements from going through it with my older kid; other people get to 10th or 11th grade and start thinking about it, only to realize that the science or history their kids did in 9th and 10th grade are worthless for meeting the requirements.

https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2022/03/10/new-york-bill-would-ban-legacy-admissions-and-early-decision?fbclid=IwAR30cnNht750QmsuKaAKELkNepgUt1VoT-qpSPnB5aH28XEoOIBGfmg-04Y Interesting.

Yes, we do all of that, too. My kids have a good many AP credits and DE credits at a local university--and that's worked very well for the vast majority of colleges they've applied to...but my situation is that my state flagship very specifically requires either test scores or accredited courses for every core subject (and I've had e-mail contact with admissions people there to, basically, ask if they really mean it, and they assure me they do. Not only do they require these things, but I was advised to make sure my kid finished all the core courses before senior year so they could verify them). So, for example, my current 10th grader will graduate with a whole bunch of AP and DE, but if he wanted to apply to UGA he'd be tripped up because he did biology at home in 9th grade...he'd have to retake it somewhere accredited or take the AP exam if he wanted to apply because they require evidence of completion of biology. It was less of an issue (though still required a lot of early planning) before subject tests went away. ETA: for us it's not a huge deal because we qualify for enough need based aid that private needs-met colleges out of state come out about the same as state school costs, and so far they're a better fit for my kids anyway. But tuition at Georgia public colleges covered by lottery money, so for high achieving upper middle class kids, UGA is a very attractive option, and it's frustrating that they make admission so complicated for homeschoolers.

I'm always surprised by the universality of the "accreditation doesn't matter" answers on these threads. Is UGA literally the only major college in the country that does care? Because that's some bad luck on my kids' part, if true (more other Georgia homeschoolers/OOS kids considering UGA, since my kids probably don't want to go there anyway--although it made my oldest's top 4 or so). https://www.admissions.uga.edu/admissions/first-year/home-educated-students/

For the most part, I'd say no--most colleges won't care. But I've talked before about how my state flagship (university of Georgia) is very picky about homeschool applications, and requires proof of completion of core subjects either through testing or a course completed at an accredited school. So it was helpful that the place my oldest had taken a couple of science classes had gone through the process to get accredited. But if he had had an AP score in those subjects that also would have worked.

DS just heard that he's in at Baldwin Wallace (Conservatory). He likes BW a lot, but I'm not very confident that the FA will work--no word on that part yet; they say within 2 weeks.

All tentative, as usual 🙂 Math: BA 4/5 (he's about 1/3 of the way through 4 now, so probably won't finish until sometime in the fall), problem solving class at HS co-op Grammar/writing: WWE and FLL 4 History: History Quest Ancients (we're finishing up SOTW using Build Your Library now...we've got time to get through HQ's whole rotation before high school, so we're going to give that a try) Reading: I think I'll pull together world mythology inspired stuff to coordinate with HO, and then maybe some Arrow, maybe some stuff from BYL and Torchlight booklists Science: thinking of trying Science Mom? or Pandia Press physics maybe Other: piano lessons, baseball, something else at homeschool co-op, possibly starting homeschool band, I need to find something fun for logic

I'm pretty sure they mean student accounts could be up to 25%. They do assume 529s are available for any kids; any assets get pooled, pretty much (unless the 529s are in the kid's name only, but then they're likely to take a bigger percentage of them). There are tax advantages to 529s, but to a college they're just money you have available to spend on college--no different from money sitting in a regular savings account (of course, the flip side of that is that you CAN use money in any of your 529s for any kid--you're not penalized tax-wise if one kid doesn't go to college and you use that money for another one).

I don't think the CSS (or the FAFSA) even distinguishes between a 529 and other parents savings on the form. I mean...if 529s were assessed at a significantly higher rate than other kinds of savings then no one would use 529s. Schools have their own opaque formulas about how they use CSS information, but I think savings are almost always assessed at a much lower rate than income. From the link you posted: So roughly 5% with asset protection that's actually higher than the FAFSA (but with the potential for things like home equity to be hit as well (not every school uses home equity in their formula))

529s are counted the same as other parent assets.

The FAFSA formula only figures in parent savings at up to 5.64%. Kids' savings are assessed higher, but nowhere near 100%

I gave my current senior an extra year before high school (he has an end of May birthday, so late-ish, but not super late). I just saw with my oldest that high school is a lot of work and thought he could use an extra year. I also taught college freshmen when I was in grad school and remember thinking that there are very few boys, in particular, who couldn't use an extra year to mature before college. I've never regretted it. He's ended up deciding on a music performance major (on an instrument he didn't start until 9th grade), so between that and covid it's turned out to be the absolute best thing we could have done (there's no way he'd be ready for auditions this year otherwise, although he could always have done a gap year)...but even under more normal circumstances it would have been best. There are plenty of ways he can "catch up" with math (doubling up at some point, possibly by doing DE), so I don't know that I'd let that be the deciding factor...but it may be a contributing one if there are enough other reasons to give him that extra year.

I'm going to disagree a bit here and say that we've found early college visits to be helpful, not so much (necessarily) to identify specific colleges of interest as to get a feel for what type of college is most appealing. So tours fairly close to home (or while you're already traveling for other reasons) to a big university, a small LAC, rural setting, college town, big city, etc. That can help narrow down the list later when application season is closer. My 10th grader just did his first official tour (although he's done plenty tagging along with his brothers) this past weekend when his older brother was at all-state band in a college town and we had an afternoon to kill. For him it confirmed that he's not interested in a big university where everyone talks about football a lot 🙂

I was reading the OP's post as if her kids already had a good bit of AP experience, but now I see it doesn't actually say that (although maybe I'm remembering from other threads?) But, yeah, personality/learning style/test-taking ability are definitely all things to consider when choosing between DE and AP

I think that if anything colleges tend to look more favorably on AP than on DE, just because it's more standardized and they know what they're getting (and I've been told exactly that by a college admissions person). So if they're happy with AP and cost is the same, I don't see any reason to do DE just to say they've done it. My kids have done a lot of DE classes and haven't had any bad experiences, so I certainly wouldn't assume the worst...but I also don't think anyone needs DE...particularly if AP classes are a reasonable and available option.

My 12th grader did AP World a couple of years ago, before the format change, and we relied pretty heavily on Khan Academy stuff, which hasn't been updated for the new exam (AP World Modern)...I want to do it with my next kid next year, so I've been looking around for resources that don't involve a ton of textbook reading. Just came across this preview from the people who do Big History--it looks interesting, so thought I'd pass it along. The whole course is supposed to be ready this summer. I tried Big History with middle school kids a few years ago and found it intriguing but somewhat overwhelming (mostly because I was trying to do it with a small group meeting just once a week)--we didn't get very far...but I might give it another go. https://www.oerproject.com/AP/Unit-1

I can't think what it could be about except money, honestly--trying to make it very difficult to graduate early. Bard's already lower down on DS's list because they require a dual degree for conservatory students; they seem intent on keeping everyone at Bard as long as possible! Although I guess they could argue that their skepticism about standardized testing is why they're so picky about AP exams--that taking the actual class at Bard is a substantially more valuable experience or whatever.

I just looked, because DS needs to think about this for next year...he applied to both Bard and Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt is the MUCH more selective school, but they'll give credit for 4s on most exams, whereas Bard will only give credit for 5s. And that will come into play if he ends up being accepted to Bard and considering it (he has more 4s than 5s). Not sure why Bard thinks it's so fancy.

It varies widely by school; each school will have a chart telling you what credit they'll give for what scores, and IME it's not always super predictable (i.e. it's not always true that the most selective schools are the pickiest about giving credit, although that's the general rule of thumb). VERY GENERALLY a 4 or a 5 will get you credit at most schools and a 3 will at a lot of schools, but some schools will only take 5s or will only take 5s on certain exams at least.

I've always had 1500 in my head as a score that there would be no reason to retake after because a 1500 wouldn't look bad at pretty much any school and there are definitely diminishing returns to trying to get it higher than that (i.e. the time you could spend preparing and getting the score up a few points would be better spent improving the application elsewhere--more time on extracurriculars, focusing on essays, classes, etc). Beyond that there are just so many variables...if they're willing and able to spend the time preparing, and taking the test isn't a major source of stress for them, I think it'd probably be worth sitting for a third time if needed to try to get at or above the 75th percentile at target schools. My kids are also good test takers, so spending a couple of hours a week on Khan for a few months and then taking another SAT has never seemed like a particularly big deal. I would feel differently if they were different kids (or if they were looking at different schools).

I put it as an elective on my kids' transcripts. We haven't done the PAH course, but we've done AP art history on our own, and the exam itself does not require very advanced writing skills. A lot of it is memorization; there are 250 required works, and you have to know all of them. Beyond that, there is some basic analysis required, but it's...well, pretty basic...familiarity with artistic techniques and with the politcal/social/etc background of the works. IME, the part that can be overwhelming about AP AH is just the sheer volume of material covered, not the depth of analysis called for. It pairs very well with world history and that would make it easier to fit in/understand a lot of the historical background you need to know.

I'd maybe look at Disciples of Christ for less liturgical but more accepting. Not much will be as non-liturgical as most Baptist churches, though. UCC, too, though IME it's more liturgical than Disciples of Christ ...but I imagine it varies a lot by congregation (they're congregationalists, after all 🙂 )

My oldest applied to 16 schools (mostly small LAC), and I think that 2 of those asked for examples of his work (IIRC it was Oberlin and Hamilton, FWIW). The requirement was pretty vague, though--I think he just put together a small portfolio with samples from across subjects (including both a lab report and a literary analysis and history paper). My current senior is applying as a music major, so far fewer schools and a different situation, but Bard did want to see a paper from him--I think it's required only of homeschool applicants. So our experience is that it's not common but definitely not unheard of. And I don't save everything! But having a few solid examples of lab reports and essays or research papers for assorted subjects is a good idea.

My kids spend a ton of time on music (for my senior, at least, it would definitely be in excess of 50 hours/month, every month...he practices at least 2 hours a day on top of lessons and ensembles), but I count it as one credit/year and call everything in excess of that extracurricular. My reasoning is that they'd likely be spending one period a day in band if they were in school and everything else would have to be done outside of that time. I'm not sure it really matters that much, though...my current senior is applying as a clarinet performance major and it's really his audition that they're looking at, not how many music classes he has on his transcript. I would guess it's the same with art school--the portfolio will be the evidence they want to see of her work/talent....not what's on the transcript (and they'll see what she's been doing whether you call it extracurricular or a school credit, at any rate). ETA: and I just checked his transcript, and I just called it "music performance"

yes, that's the sort of thing I'm worried about. I can't imagine that Putin will get through Ukraine and decide on Hungary specifically as his next step before May, but I can imagine that being in the general region could get unpleasant and possibly dangerous at some point.