Just adding a note to OneStepataTImes' breakdown of CLE. In addition to skipping 801, you could also skip 810 as it's all budgeting and personal finance. That leaves only 8 light units in 800. There is also quite a bit of overlap in the 800 series with the Algebra 1 CLE course. While you could probably transition to Algebra I without completing all of the 800 course, you would be missing out on some of the geometry and trig concepts that are also covered in 800. If you can accelerate CLE instead of skipping over 800, I think it would be a boon for a struggling student. CLE 800 to CLE Algebra makes for a smooth transition and a confidence builder as the early light units in Algebra I would be concepts already covered in 800.

For English prep, try the Complete Guide to ACT English by Erica Meltzer. This is the one guide really focused on that area specifically. If you don't want to buy the book, she does provide some tips in her blog for free. Here's two other blog posts from Prep scholar that might be helpful: How to get a 36 ACT English, Ultimate study Guide ACT English.

If you have a low writing score relative to your other scores, you may want to read some of these articles. This is not an uncommon issue. Some students have requested regrading for a $50 fee and seen significant increases in scores. ACT Writing scores inexplicably low, causing uproar among college bound students Prep Scholar blog on ACT writing scores Summary of ACT's explanation of new writing scores ACT's full explanation of new writing scores

Just wondering if anyone has any new reflections on the LTOW online classes or the LTOW program itself now that the past year is done. Would you use the program again? Are there any reservations you have about it? In retrospect, did you see significant improvements in writing?

Some musings on the scoring now that all the subjects have been released: Top 10 exams (by # tests in 2015) Eng Lang US Hist Eng Lit Calc AB Govt - US Psych World Hist Bio Stat Physics 1 Fails Physics 1 (39% passing) and Env. Science (45% passing) - less than half the students passed (i.e. score of 3, 4 or 5) Most of the popular courses (Eng Lang & Lit, Hist, Geo, Govt) also had pass rates less than 60% Successes Over 90% of students passed Chinese and Spanish - largely due to native speakers taking the exams. Other languages also fared well with relatively high passing ratesThe Arts (2D,3D, drawing), Calc BC, and Physics C also had high passing rates. Getting a 5 While passing is considered 3 and up on APs, many selective colleges limit credit to a 5 score only or 4 and 5s. Lowest % of 5s were in Physics 1 (4%), Bio (6%), World Hist, Seminar., and Env. Science (7% all) Other popular exams like Eng Lit, Euro Hist, Physics 2 also had under 10% Highest % of 5s were in Chinese and Japanese followed by Calc BC, and the two Physics C exams The Sciences and Math Physics C exams had the best scores while Physics 1 had the worst. Physics 2 was in the middle.Bio had a 61% pass rate but only 6% scored a 5Chem had a 52% pass rate but 10% scored a 5Envir. Science had a 45% pass rate with only 7% scoring a 5 defying it's reputation as the easiest science!Calc BC (83%) had very strong results while Calc AB and Stats were about 60% pass rate. Other Subjects History - World, Euro and US exams all have similar pass rates (51-54%) with US History (12%) having the highest % of 5s and World the lowest (7%). World tends to be taken by 10th graders as a first AP.Economics - Macro is almost twice as popular as Micro but has lower results. Macro (56% pass, 16% 5s) vs. Micro (66% pass, 15% 5s). Some schools offer both as a one year course and others do one or the other as a full year course.Psych and Human Geo have a reputation as two of the easiest APs. The scores could support this for Psych (64%,pass, 19% 5s) but not for Human Geo (52% pass, 12% 5s). Human Geo is a popular first AP for 9th graders so that could have an influence on scores.Government - US Gov't is a popular exam (#5) but has a lower pass rate (51%, 12% 5s) than the much less popular Comparative Gov't exam (62% pass,21% 5s). Studio Art (2D, 3D, and Drawing) all had good pass rates (68-83%) probably reflecting the fact only those with a proficiency or strong interest submit portfolios.Art History and Music Theory have similar pass rates (60%) but Music Theory has 18% 5's vs. 11% for Art History.

Naviance is a college planning and tracking application that is used by many high schools across the country. One of the advantages of Naviance is the scattergram for each college (see below). The scattergram shows a graphical distribution of gpa and test scores with acceptances & rejections. This can be very beneficial in determining good college matches for your student and realistic odds of acceptance. Anyway, I just discovered that my school district allows guest access to Naviance and the scattergrams. Apparently, it's up to each school to decide what to make available; however, this may be something worth checking out for your local private and public high schools. In addition to the scattergrams, you may also find information on: colleges, scholarship opportunities, summer enrichment, and college visits. Googling guest password Naviance and the name of the school may help you to find out if you have access. It may also be worth checking with the local school counseling office if nothing is available online. If you don't have access to local schools, you can also check out information from some other large schools such as this high school in MA which allows guest access to their scattergrams (scroll down to bottom of page under For parents). This thread from Collegeconfidential also has links to some other districts with guest access.

I have used the new version of CLE Algebra and would highly recommend it if your student did well with CLE previously. After Alg 1, it should be easy to transition to any other Algebra 2 course except maybe the Saxon integrated series. I have not used Saxon or Jacobs but I have used Foerster's and Lial's and CLE Algebra covers the same ground but with the advantages of the daily lessons in the light units and the mixed review. Personally, I think Lial's would be the best series to transition to after CLE.

Love the trip report. I had no idea they had a strong IR program at Ole Miss so your report was very helpful.

Reverting to a one size fits all approach. Is that the best they can do after all this time and study? Why don't they try meeting the needs of the individual students where they are instead of imposing dictates on them whether it be algebra early or algebra late? We have a proliferation of choices in just about everything else, yet in education, they reduce the options for students and it's supposed to be beneficial for them. I guess that's why I'm homeschooling.

We used this more as a supplement for AP Gov. There are 3 different instructors. My son liked the lectures - they are pretty short and he felt they were helpful, connected some of the topics to more contemporary issues, and fairly balanced politically. They have short quizzes afterward. However, my son prefers learning from a book primarily so couldn't really say if this would work as a standalone or not. Keep an eye out for Thinkwell discounts from Homeschool Buyers Coop if you're interested. Just noticed, you're not thinking about this for AP but just HS Gov't. I think it would work fine for that with a little supplemental reading.

Very helpful!

Here's an outline. If you need more specifics, let me know. Unit 1 - The Ancient East (3000 BC - 1700 AD) The Near East - Epic of Gilgamesh, Egyptian Poetry, Old Testament from Genesis and Psalms Persian and India (1500 BC - 1500 AD) - Poetry incl. Omar Khayyam, Rumi, Sadi, Hafiz, Excerpts form Rig Veda and Bhagavad Gita, Babur-nama The Far East ( 1000 BC - 1700 AD) - Confucious Analects, Chuang Tzu , Chinese Poetry (Li Po, Tu Fu, T'ao Ch'ien), Japanese Lteratur (from The Pillow Book, Seami, Haiku) Unit 2 The Classical World (750 BC - 150 AD) Homer from the Odyssey (Books 17-23 trans by R. Fitzgerald) Archilochus - assorted Sappho - assorted Sophocles - Oedipus the King Thucydides from the Hist. of the Pelopp. War Plata from the Apology Cicero from On Friendship Catullus - assorted Horace from the Odes Virgil from the Aeneid Ovid from the Metamorphoses Tacitus form the Annals Unit 3 - The Middle Ages (800-1400) The Song of Roland Marie de France (Lay of Werewolf and Three Fables) Icelandic Lit ( Lay of Thrym and Thorstein the Staff Struck) Dante from the Inferno Sir Gawain and teh Green Knight Unit 4 - The Renaissance (1300-1650) Petrarch - Selections Boccaccio from the Decameron Machiavelli from the Prince De Ronsard Cervantes from Don Quixote Shakespeare - The Tempest Unit 5 - Neoclassicism (1650-1780) Milton from Paradise Lost de La Fontaine - selections Moliere - Tartuffe Swift - A Modest Proposal Pope, Alex - selections from Rape of the Lock and Essay on Man Voltaire from Candide Unit 6 - Romanticism and Realism (1780-1880) Goethe from Faust Heinrich Heine - selections Pushkin - selections Hugo - Russia Gogol - The Overcoat Walt Whitman - selections Flaubert from Madame Bovary Tolstoy - How Much Land Does a Man Need? Emily Dickinson - selections Mark Twain - from Life on the Miss. De Maupassant - The False Gems Unit 7 - Modernism (1880-1940) Ibsen - A Doll House Chekhov - The Kiss Tagore - The Artist Cavafy - selections Rilke - selections James Joyce - from a Portrait of a Young Man as an Artist Kafka - The Metamorphosis Dinesen from Out of Africa Anna Akmatova - selections Gabriela Mistral - selections Unit 8 - Recent Literature (1940+) Borges - The Circular Ruins Salvatore Quasimodo - selections Isaac Bash. Singer - The Old Man Harry Martinson - The Cable Ship and March Evening R.K. Narayab - Such Perfection Jean Anouilh - Antigone Camara Laye from the African Child Andrei Woznesensky - Parabolic Ballad Alice Walker - Everyday Use

This afternoon, AP World History results will be posted. Tomorrow (Fri): Studio Art, Chinese, & Japanese. Mon: Eng Lit & Psych. Consolidated results here. Kathy - Thanks for the input on the Physics 1 exam. I think I'll take your approach and skip the exam. Maybe we'll try AP Chem with Chemadvantage next year instead.

Human Geography, Chemistry, and Physics 1 results have been posted. Wow, the Physics 1 results are very discouraging. I was planning on working with my son to prepare for Physics 1 this upcoming year. He's not really into science but I thought it would be a good challenge for him. However, with a pass rate of only 40% and only 4.3% scoring a 5, I might need to reconsider to reduce his stress and anxiety. I thought there might be an uptick in scores the second year of this new test but it's very slight. I really wonder about the push for the APs in high school. AP is always touting increased enrollment in the exams but It seems counter-intuitive to keep pushing more students into taking "college level" courses when so many graduates need remedial courses and the failure rates on many of these tests are so high. I've heard teachers say that even if kids fail it's still beneficial, but I think someone should reexamine the efficacy of the courses or the AP exams when the failure rate is close to or over 40% It's been a very long time since I've been in college, but do these scoring distributions actually mirror grade distributions in introductory level college courses?

According to AP_Trevor: Tomorrow, results for AP Environmental Sci, AP Human Geography, & maybe AP Chemistry. Weds: AP Phys 1, 2, C. After that, unsure

Calculus scores have been released. Check totalregistration for consolidated results of all tests - they are aggregating all the tweets.

I would be very reluctant to stop doing something that's working. On the other hand, if he responds better to third party instruction, I would probably scrimp and save on other things to make that happen if possible. As an alternative to that live class, perhaps consider video instruction. Virtual Homeschool Group has free self-paced science classes using the Apologia series. GPB has free well-done Physics and Chemistry courses. Some other budget friendly but not free alternatives with video instruction are: BJU online when they have the $99 sale in December, DIVE science, and Thinkwell (often discounted through Homeschool Buyers Coop). Homeschool Connections online and Time4learning operate on a more expensive monthly subscription model but might be worth looking at as well. While you would still have to manage the administration of these courses, maybe your son would connect with one of the video instructors. Worth having him take a look at some samples anyway.

i suspect it will be sometime this week but I don't know. Here's a list of the Reading dates where they do the scoring of the exams. Looks like the scoring on World History was completed on the 9th so maybe mid-week?

AP Trevor has begun tweeting the overall score distributions and test comments on the AP twitter account. Macroeconomics and Microeconomics were released today. Calculus AB and BC are supposed to be released on Monday. You can compare with results from previous years at TotalRegistration. Individual scores will be released beginning July 5. AP Macroeconomics Scores: 5: 16.1%; 4: 23.4%; 3: 16.2%; 2: 17.5%; 1: 26.8%. These may shift slightly as late exams are scored.28 students worldwide (out of 135,000) earned all 90 points possible on this year’s AP Macroeconomics exam.More than 40% of AP Macro students found FRQ2 on loans/demand deposits extremely difficult, earning 0 pts:More than a third of AP Macro students aced this FRQ3 on specialization & trade, earning all 5 pts possible:AP Macro students did extremely well on multiple-choice, esp on economic growth; most challenging were the financial sector questions.AP Macroeconomics continues to see score increases: the % of 3,4,5s is higher than 5 years ago & 50% more students are participating. AP Microeconomics Scores: 5: 15.3%; 4: 27.3%; 3: 23%; 2: 14.4%; 1: 20%. These may shift slightly as late exams are scored.47 students worldwide (out of 83,000) earned all 90 points possible on this year’s AP Microeconomics Exam.AP Micro scores were generally highest on FRQ2 (consumer choice) & lowest on FRQ3 (monopolistic competition)AP Micro students did quite well across multiple-choice questions; the most challenging were on firm behavior and market structure.scores are generally lower this year than last, but still higher than 5 yrs ago when 50% fewer participated.

Anthropology of Current World Issues (edx) - free, self paced course and has very good reviews Human Origins (edx) - Paleoanthropology - free - it is possible to earn college credit through ASU for this course. I didn't have a chance to finish this course but I did part of it and the lectures were very good and were presented by the famous paleoanthropologist, Donald Johanson (discoverer of "Lucy"). People & Cultures of the World (Great Courses) Cultural Anthropology (straighterline)

I'm considering Scholars online for Literature and French. I did a search and can't find any recent reviews within the last few years. Does anyone have recent experience with this online provider?

There's some good possibilities in this thread about Physics for Poets. Also some other good links in this post on the HS Physics. If you're open to video MOOC classes for non-physics majors, try Udacity's Intro to Physics takes a historical approach to physics and then there's Coursera's How things Work.

Just bumping to see if there is anyone who's recently taken these classes.

Updated the list with links for the additional suggestions provided as well as IEW and AIM Academy.

Here's a quick list of some summer classes being offered by online providers. Everything from SAT prep to Byzantine chants. Landry Academy WTM Academy Wilson Hill (click on Summer tab above box) Potters School (select Term - Summer) Myhomeschoolmathclass (Jann in Tx) - self paced bootcamps for high school math Kolbe Academy Veritas Press - Summer Semester 1 and Summer Semester 2 Schole Academy (Classical Academic Press) Classical Learning Resource Center (CLRC) Lukeion Workshops (Classical languages and culture) Onlineg3 Memoria Press Scholars Online Art of Problem Solving (Math & Computer classes) Center for Lit - Summer Seminar on Macbeth IEW (Writing Classes) Bravewriter (Writing/Lit classes) - select Summer tab Debra Bell's AIM Academy - SAT prep and writing