I took AP Human Geography, AP Statistics, and AP World History. For AP Human Geography, the site was extremely outdated and half the links to our homework were broken. We routinely used online resources from the 1990s and early 2000s. We were frequently assigned 2 weeks' worth of homework to complete in 1 week, and it wasn't until after we'd already stretched ourselves thin trying to do the extra work that our teacher would say, "Oops, that was a typo!". She was incredibly slow at responding to emails. She had us grade our own FRQS and we got full credit if we included basic vocabulary words. All MCQs were open-book and open-note, including the midterm and final. We all got A+s and none of us knew where we actually stood in terms of knowing the material. If I had not studied for hours each night on my own with resources outside of what I was given, I would not have passed the AP exam. For AP Word History, the teacher was much better and gave us actual grades and feedback. However, it still seemed like she didn't know how to use the site. For the first semester, our writing assignments were set so that students could see other students' work before posting their own. I found at least three different examples of blatant plagiarism and emailed the teacher about it. She was very receptive and quickly changed the format of the writing assignments so that students couldn't see each others' work. However, the fact that she didn't notice the plagiarizing when it was literally just putting someone else's work through a generator felt like she was not paying much attention to our assignments. Finally, for AP Statistics, our teacher's teaching method seemed too close to psychological manipulation. She made us feel like we knew absolutely nothing and that we'd fail unless we followed her instructions exactly. I've taken honors math classes before and done well in them. But for all her tests, I didn't get higher than a B. Most of them I got Cs. She also never explained why she took away points. She just marked "-1". It felt next to impossible to please her and earn a decent grade. Granted, her strategy was effective. Because I thought I was failing, I studied incredibly hard. I somehow got an A (which I still don't understand with all my Cs and Bs; this feels like more manipulation on her part) and I was very overprepared for the AP exam. I know a lot of people have had good experiences with PAH and I'm happy for them. But for my family at least, three bad experiences in a row is enough to say we're done.

Hello all, I'm a high school senior graduating in a few weeks. I've been homeschooled for 12 years. My mom thought it might be helpful to other homeschooling parents if I shared some of my thoughts on my highschool experience. So, here are the dos and don’ts of highschoool homeschooling, in my opinion. Online classes · Do use Wilson Hill Academy. They have wonderful teachers that care about their students and teach their subjects well. (My favorite teacher ever is Mrs. Chen from WHA. 😊 ) · Do try The Art of Problem Solving even if your kid is not scoring a 1500 on the SAT at 13. I’m not a math genius. I’m bright, but I’m not a genius. Taking AoPS classes was incredibly challenging (and time-consuming) but it boosted my confidence and helped my overall math skills. · Do use Well-Trained Mind Academy. I feel like Well-Trained Mind Academy has found the perfect balance for more independent students. The teachers are all amazing (shoutout to Mrs. Baker) and use their class time well, but the fact that they only meet once a week leaves a lot more room for flexibility. · Do try to get your kid their own computer. I had to share a computer with my siblings one year, and while it’s doable, it’s very frustrating having to wait your turn just to be able to do school. · Do aim to get morning classes. I’d say ideally, 8:00am to noon. Having late afternoon and evening classes is not fun, especially for STEM subjects. · Do affirm your kid’s grades. If this is the first time they’re receiving letter grades from someone who isn’t their parent (or the first time that they’re receiving letter grades at all), they are probably going to be a little stressed about it. Give your kid something more than “Oh, that’s nice” when they tell you they did well on that test they studied really hard for. · Do use Khan Academy if your kid is struggling to understand something. Khan Academy has saved me so many times and I am so grateful for it. · Do let your kid join the class chat groups. Teachers aren’t supposed to encourage the groups since not all parents approve. Many classes will make a group chat anyway. Every group I’ve been in has been 100% G-rated. The groups are also just plain helpful when it comes to homework and projects. · Do be mindful of your kid’s eye health. With online school, you can easily spend 7 hours on a computer. This is not counting any socialization or other free time activities that also involve a screen. I remember that there would be days where my eyes would hurt so much after school that I just wanted to hide under the covers from any and all light. · Don’t use Pennsylvania Homeschoolers. Their classes have caused me so much unnecessary stress and frustration. I could rant about the million reasons I hate Pennsylvania Homeschoolers but for now, just trust me and please don’t, don’t, make your kid take any of their classes. · Don’t assume that because your kid doesn’t have a class one day, it’s a free day. I never had live classes on Fridays, so my family often made plans on Friday mornings/afternoons. Except, Fridays were the days I had all my tests, experiments, and projects. This made quite a few frustrating weekends for me. · Don’t have your kid take completely asynchronous classes. I have discovered that with most of these types of classes, you’re paying $750 for a course you could have done as an independent study. · Don’t have all your kid’s classes on one day. Online classes tend to be 60-90 minutes, and when you have classes back to back, the time spent staring at a screen builds quickly. APs Dos and Don’ts · Do get an actual class, if you can. I “self-studied” for AP English and it was very stressful because I didn’t have any guidelines to go off of. I think the exam ended up going well (I don’t get my scores until July), but I definitely felt more confident about my AP classes where I had a teacher. · Do check college websites before picking out AP classes. If your kid is a junior or senior and already has an idea of which colleges they’d like to attend, check the colleges’ rules about transfer credit before you enroll in an AP class. I took AP English Literature and discovered after the fact that the college I’ll be attending only gives writing credit for AP English Language. · Do make friends with a local school. AP registration is much easier if people know you and know you’re a nice kid. · Do use the internet for resources. It is insane how many resources are just on the internet. Flashcards, practice tests, diagrams, videos, you name it. · Don’t have your kid take 17 APs. Colleges have a limit of how many credits you can transfer. I have exceeded my college’s limit with 9. (1 in Freshman year, 3 in both Sophomore and Junior year, 2 in Senior year.) SAT/ACT/Testing Dos and Don’ts · Do take the SAT and ACT. As homeschoolers, it’s a way to show that we do indeed, know things. It’s also how some colleges calculate academic scholarships. · Do talk to your kid when coordinating test dates. My mom told me to sign up for the ACT, so I picked a date and did. Neither of us realized she had scheduled my wisdom teeth removal for the day before. Not a fun testing experience for me. · Don’t take the CLT. Yes, it is the test specifically designed for homeschoolers. But my gosh it’s not worth the pain. Especially for those taking it remotely, it’s just too much frustration. They expected me to upload a 2-hour long video of myself to satisfy proctor requirements. And I'm sorry, but with my rural Mexico internet, that's not happening. These are just the things that first came to my mind and I hope they can be helpful to someone. If there are other specific things you'd like me to address please let me know. Happy homeschooling! 😊