oh, I have one of these! Math: continuing Harold Jacob's algebra (this is the third kid in a row where I've given up finding a pre-algebra that works well and just used Jacobs as a 2 year algebra course instead) LA: Writing with Skill/Grammar for the WTM, Bravewriter for literature Science: oops, no idea--I'd better get on that History: world history with his older brother--probably a combo of Big History Project, Crash Course videos, and assigned reading Piano and drama lessons, community theater Spanish class

Singapore, Writing with Ease and Writing with Skill. Michael Clay Thompson for my first two....kind of fell off with my third. Sorry, third kid!

My youngest just turned 5 last month. Next year we're planning: Math: Singapore Reading: Progressive Phonics + readers Handwriting without Tears Science: Probably Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding? I have the book from when I did (some) of it with my older kids. Hoping to do a better job of sticking with it this time! History/literature/other: Build Your Library 1. We're in a co-op group that's doing this--doing the reading at home and then getting together for group projects once a week Spanish class

I had a LOT of kids who weren't ready for the freedom/responsibility of college. They seemed overwhelmed, had a hard time getting assignments done and preparing for class, and they didn't appreciate being there. And this was a pretty selective college; these were kids who had worked hard and done well in high school. It certainly wasn't true of every kid, but it was true of a surprising number of them.

ah, gotcha. In that case, I don't know that any preparation is really necessary, but if you want him to do something, we used several of these videos when we were doing HUG: https://www.learner.org/resources/series85.html . They would familiarize him with a lot of the concepts he'll be dealing with next year.

Are you looking for resources for him to do AP Human Geography at home? That's definitely not something where you can just find a general geography documentary series to show him; it's not a learn about all the different countries type of geography, but a course that deals with how humans interact with where they live, and there are a lot of specific terms and concepts to learn. My son did it as a 9th grader, and it's fairly easy as far as AP courses go, but it did require a good bit of preparation on my part and work on his part to do well.

Thanks, yes--he's not at all happy about it, but he knows :). We've looked at Emory most closely so far as far as highly selective places go, and they want to see 3.

haha! oops....I was just reading the summary and totally missed the link to the spreadsheet. doh!

Have you found the net price calculators to be way off with schools that say they meet 100% of demonstrated need (and only do need based)? They ask for so much information on those already!

I think his transcript is really solid (right now. knock wood): 4.0 unweighted, lots of AP and DE, lots of examples of pushing himself well beyond requirements. He's taking the SAT in March, so we'll see, but his practice test scores on Khan are good and if he comes up short he has the summer to work on it. We'll reevaluate after his 2nd semester grades and his SAT scores are in, but, yeah...I think I'm inclined to encourage him to go for it with at least one or two big reaches if he wants to.

ooh--thank you! I was working off of this list from 2014 and coupling it with doing a zillion net price calculators to see if they confirmed what the list said: http://www.thecollegesolution.com/will-your-home-equity-hurt-financial-aid-chances/

(incidentally, I feel superstitious about even starting this thread; what if he fails physics this semester?! What if his SAT score looks nothing like the practice tests he's taken so far?! I'm jinxing everything!)

Ivies have the means to fund US, which is part of the appeal :). I said this above, but I think all the Ivies meet 100% of demonstrated need and several of them don't look at home equity (unlike most CSS profile schools), which would help us out tremendously. If we just look at salary, our EFC is doable for us; home equity kills us (and we have 3 more kids and 25 years left on our mortgage; we're not borrowing against home equity to send anyone to college)

Honestly, one thing I like a lot about Harvard in particular (I think it's also true for Yale and Princeton) is that they don't look at home equity when they calculate financial aid. We lucked into a great deal on a foreclosure when the market was down a few years ago; our EFC is very reasonable and manageable when we look at just the federal form, but home equity kills us for most profile schools. That's not a very high minded reason, but it's a practical one. If he could get into Harvard we'd likely be out of pocket way less than our state U (although, of course, if he actually does have a reasonable shot at Harvard than substantial merit aid might happen at a state school). And aside from that....we'll be visiting a lot of schools this spring and summer and, I hope, getting a good idea of what kind of place he wants to be. He has a lot of extended family in and near Boston, so that's appealing.

He says math right now. Possibly and/or political science. I do think this is probably a case of "this is my favorite subject in school right now" and not something with a whole lot of thought toward an eventual career at the moment, but he has no interest in anything like engineering or business, and I don't see that changing, so I think a LAC is probably where he should be looking. We've paid some attention to finding schools with strong math departments, but I don't know how much to focus on that since I don't know how likely his interest in it is to change.

I know the conventional wisdom is that even if you have perfect everything, you're just as likely as not to get rejected by Harvard. But, I mean....some people get in. At what point do you decide it makes sense to give it a try? My son's a junior this year, and we have a pretty good idea of what his safety and matches look like, but I'm not sure how much of a...well, REACH his reaches should be (obviously the final decision is his, but I'm hoping to steer him in a realistic but ambitious sort of direction). I didn't have a lot of guidance (or any) on this when I was applying to college and later to grad school, so I went the route of....avoiding rejection at all costs. applying to exactly one school that I knew I would get into for undergrad. And then for grad school I thought I was applying to long shots, but I got in everywhere I applied and wondered if I should have aimed higher. Anyway, so....suppose a kid has a very strong transcript and test scores, within range for Ivy admission, and decent but unremarkable extra-curriculars--do you encourage them to give Harvard or Yale or wherever a shot (assuming they're interested) in the hopes that something in particular about them might be what the school is looking for or that some random admissions person happens to really love their essay?

I decided a couple of years ago to give my now 14 year old an extra year before high school (after seeing what a big jump in challenge/responsibility high school has been for my oldest), and I'm confident it was the right choice. My oldest didn't need it, but my second did. And, having taught college freshman for a couple of years when I was in grad school, I'm pretty sure there are few kids, particularly boys, who can't benefit from being a year older when they start college.

I've found high school English very easy to customize, as there doesn't seem to be a specific, prescribed curriculum. Even for AP lit, there's not a specific reading list that has to be covered (and you can answer nearly any FRQ using Hamlet as your work of choice, so as long as you've read that you're all set :laugh: ). I keep reading lists and write course descriptions, but we pretty much do what we want with English....my oldest will be a senior next year, and he's planning to do the AP lit exam; I figure that will be "proof" enough for most colleges that we've actually been doing something with our time. Our state university also accepts the SAT to verify that you've been doing a real English class. We've felt like we've had a fair amount of freedom in other areas as well. Science has tripped us up a bit (and I'll be more careful with the sequence for my next high schooler), but science isn't an area he's especially interested in. For math, he's done a pretty standard sequence and is doing BC Calc now; that will leave him two semesters to explore advanced math topics with dual enrollment classes next year. He did AP art history as an elective, and that was a really fun experience for him. He's taking advantage of dual enrollment to graduate with 6 units of Spanish and is thinking of minoring in Spanish in college. Basically, I feel like homeschooling has given him so much more time to explore his interests than traditional school would have. Dual enrollment has helped with that, too--being able to get an entire unit of credit in a semester has been really handy. We've done a couple of college tours now, and the impression I get from admissions people is that they very much like to see kids who are passionate about something and are demonstrating that passion both in their courseload and extracurriculars.

I'll have two high schoolers next year, and I'm already feeling overwhelmed.... DS 12th grade: AP European History (at home) AP English Lit (at home) AP Biology (GA virtual school...this will be our first time trying out classes on here; I had hoped to knock out biology DE, but it won't work as his school) Spanish DE Math--he'll probably take 2 maths through DE; he's doing BC Calc at home this year, so we're waiting to see the schedule for his college--maybe stats, linear algebra, something else that sounds intriguing.... Econ--probably waiting until second semester--either DE or online with Georgia Virtual school DS 9th grade: AP World History (at home--plan is to bring his 7th grade brother along for the ride but supplement so he'll be ready for the AP exam) Algebra 2 (Foerster) Biology (Georgia Virtual School) Spanish (Georgia Virtual School) English (at home....not sure what yet. He still has Writing With Skill 3 to do, so probably that plus lots of reading and grammar) Electives: not sure....second semester he'll probably do some kind of programming/computer science class DE, so maybe that plus 1/2 credit for PE

My son will graduate with a number of DE credits, so we've been looking into this. As far as I can tell, most very selective colleges are pretty picky about what DE they'll accept. I can give Emory as an example, because I've looked at it the most and we just did a tour there yesterday, and I asked the admissions guy about it. They won't take more than 12 credit hours for incoming freshmen from any source (AP and DE together). He said AP credits have an edge when you're looking at what will transfer because they know exactly what's in the curriculum and how it lines up with their courses. They won't take DE courses that were used to fulfill high school graduation requirements, but they might, on a case by case basis, accept some that went beyond the requirements. If you're looking at less selective colleges, they're more likely to accept more of your DE credits.

I asked the same question on their facebook page after I asked here, and here's the response I got, in case anyone else is interested:

Thanks so much, Jilly--that's really helpful! I think we're going to go for it; I still have to figure out what to get to supplement, but that's a lot less overwhelming than coming up with a whole course

I'm doing AP US history with my 10th grader this year, and I was planning to find resources online and pull it together myself. But it just came up on my facebook feed the other day that Pandia Press has a new level 3 History Odyssey for American History coming out, and....that sounds a lot easier. I'm also putting together American lit and AP Art History for him, plus stuff for my three younger kids, so having history laid out for me sounds absolutely wonderful. But I'm wondering if it will work as preparation for the AP exam. I know no one's used the American History course yet, but has anyone used the World History course to prep for the AP exam? I'm thinking we'd supplement with lots of free response questions and a test prep book. Thoughts? TIA!

My son took a class that used this curriculum, so it's a little different situation....but he was in class for an hour and a half every week, and generally spent another 1.5-2 hours working outside of class.

I worried about this all year, but it looks like we'll be able to go to the school my husband teaches at (not the closest school, but in our district and nearby). I keep fearing it will all fall through at the last second, but I have it in writing and filled out an official looking online form already to sign him up. The county next door doesn't accept any kids who don't attend, so it's maddeningly inconsistent. And there's a private school nearby that happily takes homeschoolers but doesn't offer the exam we need this year (human geography). I don't understand why the College Board doesn't make it easier for us to give them our money!