If you have time, you might also find this course "The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose and Political Future" of interest as well. It is available on Coursera for free.

The AP website also has a search engine to find AP credit policies for various universities. Also wanted to add, you can find many of the prior released AP exams, even ones that should be purchased from the College Board, by googling "released exam" the year and the name of the AP test. Appracticeexams also has links to all of the free officially released exams.

I have been using a combination of the Vandiver and Roman Roads lectures with ds13 and ds15. Both lecturers are enjoyable and clear. Vandiver goes into more depth and provides a more academic perspective re: Greek language and culture. The Roman Roads lectures are more accessible to a younger middle school/high shool student and focus more on understanding the content of the readings and the main themes. Due to time limitations and overlap, we don't listen to every Vandiver lecture. However, we usually review the summary notes for lectures we don't listen to. We have also been watching the Coursera Ancient Greeks lectures to round things out from a historical perspective. In terms of accountability, both the Vandiver and Roman Roads Lectures provide questions for each lecture. The Roman Roads course has a more complete and explicit student program. It includes a schedule of assignments, workbook with discussion questions, essay topics, and tests. The only caveat with RR might be that it is a 4 yr course and devotes an entire year to Greek as well as Roman literature. Some families might need a more condensed course in which case you could skip some of the works in the program. If you have the time, I find it really enriches our studies if I read along and join in the discussions.

All AP exams are supposed to be administered at the same time based on the AP exam schedule. So, the school would need to administer the exam at the given time for that specific exam. If you wanted to take an exam they do not offer, they would have to proctor it during the scheduled time period. The school may offer an additional late testing date in some circumstances.

Smarr Literature might be worth a look as well. They do have worksheets with vocabulary and comprehension questions as well as essay assignments. They cover a good variety of classic literature. They have courses which cover a number of works structured in a chronological (Ancient, Medieval, etc.) or topical approach (American, British, World etc.). They also sell individual guides so you can structure your own course. Here is a review which may be helpful.

Try this prep book - The Complete Guide to ACT English by Erica Meltzer.

If you're looking for a workbook type program, you might consider Read with the Best. It is a more structured program in that it covers specific pieces - many shorter works from Norton anthologies as well as a few longer works such as novels. It is available for both American and English literature.

Okay - this may be totally off base since I have not read either of these books :huh: but you might take a look at Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock High. This is a nonfiction memoir by Melba Peals, one of the Little Rock 9. It is on the reading list for Illuminating Literature When World's collide. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and didn't get to read it but it seems to encompass a significant personal journey, colliding cultures, and a historical perspective on societal changes.

I just checked out this link. The downloaded list is for full or close to full tuition scholarships. The website also has a more comprehensive database of merit scholarships available here. I'm assuming that also includes the full scholarships as well but I haven't tried it. As an alternative or supplement to the above, I can also recommend using collegedata.com. They have a good search engine which lets you use a variety of selection criteria (location, school size, majors. etc) on their college match page. Merit aid is one of the optional criteria so you can select only colleges that offer at least 50% of students merit aid etc. as well. Alternatively, you may leave that feature blank and then just sort your results in descending order by Merit % (under Financial Friendliness on the results spreadsheet view) to compare colleges with different levels of merit aid.

These both take place in New England so they are not necessarily "frontier" novels but they give a vivid account of farm life in post colonial America. Diary of an Early American Boy - Noah Blake Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Also check private schools in your area if there are any on the course ledger. Sometimes they are more amenable to proctoring a single exam for a fee.

I wouldn't hesitate to call now and get a preliminary feel for who offers what. It might be helpful if you had an idea of the APs you'd be interested in taking. Some schools will only offer exams for courses they have at the high school while others may be more flexible. I was pleasantly surprised by our local school district. They have been very nice to work with and the alternative high school will proctor any AP exam in addition to the ones they normally administer. However, many on these boards have not been so lucky with local schools. The AP Course Ledger can help you get an idea of which courses are offered at which schools.

I agree with OnMyOwn. CLE's Algebra word problems are challenging and comparable to other programs. In addition to Foerster's, Lial's Algebra is also a good, inexpensive source of word problems.

Notgrass has some good hist. fiction selections - you might consider mixing some of their middle school and high school level books. You might also want to look at some of the Beautiful feet choices (here and here).

Can I just say I really dislike this whole idea of hooks. I know they are a practical reality for modern day admissions, especially if you want your child to stand out at a more selective college, but it just seems so contrived. <end of rant>

I would say Light Unit 810 is optional as well if you want to accelerate. It is all practical consumer math (see below from Scope and Sequence). Nice to know but not preparatory towards algebra. Recognizing wants and needs Budgeting Tracking present expenses Writing a check Important safety tips for writing a check Budgeting – Projecting future expenses Credit cards Keeping a check register Debit and ATM cards Other checking account transactions Budgeting – Making it work Cashing or depositing a check Recording expenses using a multicolumn journal Reconciling your check register with your bank statement The path of a check

We like the Globe Trekker series. You can find them on tv (usually PBS or travel channel) but they're also available on Amazon, youtube or at many libraries. The only caveat is some of them can be a wee bit off-color but generally the hosts present a lively and entertaining survey of each location. If you have access to Discovery Education online through your school district or library, they have many shorter documentaries on specific countries or regions and cultures.

You might take a look at Krugman's Economics for AP as well. It is a very popular option in schools and I'm sure you can find syllabi with this text. It takes a modular approach - breaking up a typical chapter into a number of shorter (5-6 page) modules which each cover one concept. In this way it's more incremental than a typical college book and is therefore a bit more accessible to younger students. Most teachers seem to cover each module over 2 days. Besides the modular approach, the chief advantage of this book is the review following each module which is all done in the AP format for multiple choice and FRQs. They also have a mock exam after each major unit and two full practice exams in the back. The main disadvantage of this text is the cost $$$$. I was able to get one for about $40 on ebay but they generally run $100 or so. There are also two companion workbooks (Macro & Micro) under the title Strive for a Five. I did not find these as helpful as the CEE activities book but it does have some nice exercises and unit tests and is worth buying used. If you'd like to preview the Krugman book, you can see an earlier edition pdf (warning: long load, entire book) by clicking here. If you click on the Look Inside feature on the Amazon link for the current edition, you can also see an AP concordance chart.

Interesting analysis here on why ACT might be making the test more difficult. In essence, with the increasing popularity of ACT, they need a better way to discriminate among the high performers and smooth out the curve.

I am not currently using CLE for high school but I have used their Algebra 1 and Literature 1 courses. These are CLE developed courses and are self directed. The only real parental involvement would be in grading the quizzes and tests and any writing assignments (not many). CLE provides an answer key for the quizzes and tests so you don't need to know the material to grade them. I believe all of their courses are designed for independent learning by students with limited teacher involvement. At the High School level, the Literature, English, and Algebra I math courses were developed by CLE and follow their Sunrise Light Unit approach with daily lessons. However, most of the CLE courses are repackaged AO Lifepac courses. They also offer Apologia science courses as an alternative for high school. Here is a thread about CLE Homeschool Plus from another forum that might be helpful to you. You might also try posting on the CLE yahoo group or on Homeschoolreviews where there might be more CLE users.

Thanks for posting this. Looks very interesting for us seniors :001_huh:

Here's a website that has archived the ACT question of the day for Math for one year. That's over 400 actual ACT math problems. Just click on one of the two problems for each day to see the problem. Then, if you right click on the actual problem and select Play, you can hear a teacher explain the solution as well. You can sign up for the ACT question of the day on ACT's website. In addition, they have their own test prep program. Haven't tried it but I'm assuming it does have the benefit of featuring actual ACT problems.

The Great Books organization coordinates local book groups for both adults and children. Perhaps there is one in your area? If you can't find an active group, you might consider some of the alternatives below. They do not involve a group but might help to keep you motivated and on track with reading. Some of these options with video lectures might also at least help to give you a sense of discussion or dialogue outside a group setting. The Harvard Classics Online program - an incremental program for reading through the series. The Ancient Greek Hero on edX - free MOOC covering Classical Greek literature Great Courses lecture series - many of these are available at your local library Modern Scholar Odyssey of the West lecture series - may also be available at your local library Omnibus Self Paced Online program or Roman Roads' Old Western Culture Enroll in an online Great Course Tutorials for high school students (expensive)

Center for Lit - Literature classes Wasko Lit - Literature Classes Bravewriter - Writing classes Homeschool Connections - Online and pre-recorded classes Roy Speed's Shakespeare classes By the Onion Sea - Russian literature and language courses Alexandria Tutorials - writing, great books Artesian Wells - Latin and great books Regina Coeli Torrey Academy - Logic, Writing, Great Books/Worldview Onlineg3 Paideia Institute - Latin and Greek

After enduring weeks of withering scowls and much despondency during AP testing, I am happy to report my son finally offered up a sweet smile of pride this morning upon seeing his results. Two 5s, one in Human Geography and one in US Government, and a 4 in Macroeconomics. My 14 yo ds self studied for all three with a little help and prodding from me. He even admitted he "learned a lot"! :hurray: