Crud. I accidentally messed up quoting. I'm sorry; I'm new. Thank you for the warm welcome. It's much appreciated. I definitely only want him starting with one class. His older sister takes 11 units a semester, and makes it look easy. So I think he underestimates the stress it could cause him. Since he didn't test into the basic college level writing class, I have been googling other options. In case, I am the problem, I'd be neglectful if I didn't look into it. I will definitely look to see if there's a notation by courses on whether they are "writing intensive." That's a good tip. Thanks for the feedback on foreign language and fine arts classes. I think I'm the one most intimidated by Chinese. He does want to do it. I wasn't going to, which is why we're so late signing him up. We had my older daughter signed up during the spring. And I think he's mainly influenced by seeing her. But she is very different, and attends a traditional school. (Well, kind of traditional. It's a charter that does not offer AP classes.)

He did not test into English Composition, so he will have to take a remedial course, which is only available on campus, and there are none open since we are late to the party. If he had tested into it, he would have had a lot more options. All of these are courses that didn't have eligibility for English Composition as a prerequisite.

Our local community college district has a few online Fall 2019 offerings still open in areas DS needs to get his high school diploma. For world history/cultures/geography, he could take a social sciences course in geography. For American history/civics, he could take a humanities course in U.S. history or a social sciences course in U.S. politics or government. For laboratory science in biology, he could take a life science course in human biology or marine biology. For LOTE (language other than English), he could take Elementary Chinese I. And for visual or performing arts, he has a ton of options: Art of Asia and the Near East, Art Appreciation, Intro to Theatre, Intro to Film, Fundamentals of Music, Music Appreciation, and Music Listening & Enjoyment. DS is a reluctant writer, but I want him to do well in his first dual enrollment class to help with his confidence. Do any of these options strike you as a good match?

If it makes a difference, I just looked up Financial Aid for University of Chicago, and put the household income as $200k, and it estimated it would offer the accepted student a grant of $41,800 per year.