She took very few high school level courses. In 8th grade I had her take four honors level high school classes through our state virtual school for outside verification of her ability. It wasn't necessary and basically a waste of time. (I have since apologized for that. :) ) The only thing we really need is test scores. A student must maintain a 3.0 GPA at the university in order to stay in the dual enrollment program, so students that shouldn't be there are weeded fairly quickly. I did have her take two classes her 8th grade year that were important and I will do the same for my other children. The first was a solid computer class. Almost everything about the university is done online. From registration through final grades, every syllabus and reading assignment, every submitted paper, every notification, most quizzes and even some exams. It is important to be comfortable using their internal computer system. I have no right or ability to intercede on her behalf. I cannot contact any professor or even the IT department. Students that are not computer savvy do suffer a bit at this university. The other class I had her take was a Great Books I online class through Escondido Tutorials. This class made sure she was capable of reading, discussing and writing at an intro college level. It also got her used to the sixteen week term and meeting reading and writing deadlines. Other than those two classes I basically threw her to the wolves - and she loved it. :D In order to avoid any confusion, I do plan to make up her high school transcript entirely of college courses. Classes she has taken at home we are considering to be extraneous (for the sake of simplicity.)

I started my eldest at the local university in 9th grade. But here, dual enrollment is free so it makes financial sense and she plans to attend this university after graduation so there was no question as to whether or not the credits will transfer. I've already made different choices for the next child as her goals are quite different. With the eldest I made no attempt to "finish high school courses" before enrolling her in college. For her, the college classes take the place of her high school classes.

We'll be doing the ACT this year for 8th and 10th grade.

It looks like I will be back to work next year :thumbdown: so we will likely go more packaged than normal for 5th grade. Memoria Press Year 6 - full curriculum Additional programs: Saxon 76 Life of Fred Decimals Elemental Science - Biology Galore Park SYRWTL English Book 1 Kolbe Literature: Witch of Blackbird Pond, Heidi, Secret Garden, Wrinkle in Time Skoldo French 2 4-H Competitive gymnastics

I don't think you need to worry about padding when you are getting an outside diploma. It is really only a concern when you are writing your own transcript. Kolbe Academy has been around a long time. What do you think of the 7th grade? We have always used parts of Kolbe here and there, but I may be back to work full time next year and am trying to decide what to do with my younger two now that I won't be home as often and will need to split teaching with others. I was thinking of using Memoria Press through 8th grade and then Kolbe for high school, but I'm still on the fence. Specifically, what do you think of the history, Latin and Greek in 7th grade?

We use Stanford testing for grades 1st-6th if I can find someone giving it. (I haven't found anyone the last couple of years.) Otherwise we do portfolio reviews. From 7th grade on we do testing with either the ACT or the SAT. The cost to us is $30-$75 per student; portfolio reviews being the cheapest route and Stanford testing the most expensive.

We buy the Target planners. They may already be sold out for this year. They are in the $1 rack, but they work great. I usually buy one of each cover (around six total) and let the kids pick the one they want.

Mrs. Mike - but that was a train through northern Canada, not the Swiss Alps.

Honda Pilot Love, love, love it. I plan to get another one in a few years.

No credit has to be awarded. Here is the list of colleges that would be willing to consider the credits on a case-by-case basis.

You could try using one of the high school level IEW theme-based writing workbooks.

I gave these as Christmas presents this year. I only wish Huckleberry Finn would have been available. That one would have been great for one of the boys. I gave him Moby Dick and Jabberwocky instead. :)

Thanks for the replies. I thought I would add what I have found so far in case anyone is interested. These are residential programs. Pre-college programs (in my list below) are those that give the student college credits and are therefore $$$ (and beyond our price range.) Eckerd College - science (7th, 8th, 9th) University of Miami - computers, pre-college University of Central Florida - music, sports University of South Florida - pre-college Florida State University - music, sports, pre-college University of Florida - most info not available until next month Ringling College - pre-college Rollins College - computers

I thought there used to be a very comprehensive link to summer camps on this site, but now I can't find it. I am looking for NON-STEM residential summer camps, specifically - graphic design, photography, economics, creative writing or botany. Thanks!

FYI - IEW puts out Geography-Based writing lessons to go along with the BF Geography program.

My dds are both entirely inside the box with no desire to even peek over the edge. :D We stay there because the box is the best fit for my dds and our family.

Honestly, I think a school with a mean score of 31 would be fine. If the average student is at 31 a devoted student should score well above that. Our local school also has a mean score of 31 and it sends students to top colleges every year. The article itself states that the worldwide mean is only 30.7. One must also consider the size of the program. Our local program usually contains 500+ students. This is a tough program and lots of kids will struggle or burn out. They are going to lower the school's mean score, but it doesn't generally effect the outcome for the students that excel and push through. And it looks like the mean is determined on the overall number of students regardless of the size or age of the program. I know ours has been around for at least 25 years and is one of the biggest programs in the state. Those stats will influence the mean score. If a pass is 24 points and the Ivies want to see a 38 or higher, I would consider a school with a mean of 31 to be a school where a student very likely has the opportunity to get an excellent education. However, I would talk to the school directly and with parents that have students currently in the program for more specific information. I currently have a relative in our local IB program that has hopes of it leading to admission at Harvard. I'm interested to see how that works out. :)

Florida has a similar law, but here there are lots of benefits to continuing to file as a homeschooler even if school is no longer compulsory. If you do not, it is as if schooling has ended. Students not filed with the state as homeschoolers for 11th and 12th grade have no ability to participate in after school activities, high school sports, scholarship opportunities such as National Merit Scholars or our state college scholarships (Bright Futures,) dual enrollment or even local events open to high school students.

dd 16 Frankenstein - school City of Bones - fun dd 14 Don't Know Much About History - school Anne Bradstreet poetry - school House of Hades - fun Both girls mostly read/write poetry and fan fiction on Wattpad and other sites.

This is Florida state law: 2. The student shall take any nationally normed student achievement test administered by a certified teacher; and the ACT is accepted. It is the test I most often use to fulfill our state requirement.

My eldest is meeting that requirement with Latin and my second with American Sign Language. The Latin through FLVS isn't bad (but we only use it as a filler during semesters my dd isn't dual enrolled.) My third will do high school Latin through Lukeion instead.

It is really hard to do high school sciences without the math. My second child is in the same boat. The college math/science minimum requirements you listed are quite high. You may want to check with the college and make sure students are getting admitted with only the minimum classes. The colleges my kids are planning to attend generally require 4 math credits at Algebra I and higher and 3 science credits of choice, 2 with lab. But students actually getting admitted have 4.5 to 5 credits of each math and science. I would probably do something like this. 9th - Prealgebra & Earth Sciences (or Marine Sciences) 10th - Algebra I & Conceptual Physics 11th - Algebra II & Geometry & Biology 12th - Precalculus & Chemistry My dd (currently in 8th) will do something like this: 8th - Prealgebra & Geology (I am counting a half credit of high school science) 9th - Algebra I & Conceptual Physics 10th - Algebra II & Geometry (half credit) & Biology 11th - CC dual enrollment Intermediate Algebra (half credit) & Chemistry 12th - CC dual enrollment Liberal Arts Maths I and II (two credits) & two science credits of choice (with lab) This will give her 5.5 credits of science and 5 credits of math without doing precalculus which she likely couldn't handle. She chooses not be tested for dyscalculia and ADHD though family members with very similar issues have that diagnosis.

I would imagine they think they are a public, state university with approximately 30% more applicants than MIT and no where near the admissions resources. They aren't going to interview 25,000+ applicants. A small number of students will really stand out, but truly at a state university the majority of the students will look very, very similar on paper. They need to have the ability to weed more than half the applicants. I agree, they aren't innovative or out-of-the-box when it comes to admissions. They are what they are - a large state university. There are colleges known for more innovative admissions (like MIT) for homeschoolers looking for a more out-of-the-box college experience.

We live locally. I would consider UF to be homeschool friendly. However, they do require outside validation to parent grading. As a homeschooler, your test scores are vital (and parent grades generally ineffectual.) Along with a good ACT or SAT score, you will need to provide either SAT II scores, DE credits or FLVS credits. Do you live anywhere near? The UF dual enrollment policy is one of the best in the state. My dd is there as a DE student and loves it.

For 8th grade we are working through as much of Bauer's Writing With Skill program as we can finish. In addition, we are using Hake Grammar 8 for a final grammar wrap-up and reading works of American Literature as they fit into our U.S. History studies. For 9th and 10th we are planning on enrolling dd in Lukeion's two literature classes.