Thanks for your comments. My short responses: Yes, we have narrowed down somewhat (region and size), but even that still leaves rather a lot to look at and consider. Having son do more of this. That is a sticky problem that has given us a lot of thought. He kind of lives life as it comes across his path. He's ridiculoudly bright, test scores are outstanding, but a fly by the seat of his pants kind of kid....and unfortunately, it works for him most of the time., including all his commuity college classes (duel-enrollment). Seriously, he would end up at CC because he would probably never visit a college or college website unless he was forced to. We dragged him kicking and screaming (not literally) to a college preview weekend. AFter he got there, he LOVED it and was really excited for the first time about college (though he has always assumed he would do post-gradaute work in the end to reach his goals). We have thought maybe he should sit out a year until he is ready to focus on the process (rather than me doing all the work thus far). He has even said, "you guys always find good options, find me a few, and let me pick form there." We have a few more college visits coming up (both of which were his idea), so maybe as he gets to "go, see and do" he'll get more motivated to take part in this process this summer. community college - He is a duel enrollment student this year and will be again next year. He will come out with 28 hours (or more) when he graduates. He is done exceptionally well there. Although, that is a "Plan C" for him - since he did not attend traditional high school, he really desrires to part of a more formal, "learning community" (meaning - small college campus). Small generally means a private school. So all we know for sure, Plan A - small LA private school (money being a huge factor), Plan B - a sate university (looking at some of the smaller campuses) and Plan C - community college and then transfer somewhere later. Many thanks ~

Yes, I know this question may be "out there" but I have been recieving emails from a business that does this for parents and I would suspect for the more "selective" type colleges. I'm just so envious of friends that have kids in schools and guidance counselors are doing a large part of this for them. I just wonder if the expertise they offer (for a fee) would save you money, if they could do a better job of navigating this journey as far as scholarships, money, ins and outs, etc.... I know I CAN do it ~ but honestly, as a homeschool parent, educating myself in all this is incredibly time consuming (and I only have one child who will go to college). I can't tell you how many hours I spend at night on the internet, reading, reading, reading college websites, college planning sites, etc.....and not to mention reading books from the library. Frankly, I'm just about there ~ Maybe I'm just tired. One more year and we're done with schooling. DO you know anyone who has done this and was glad/regretted doing it?

Can I just put my head in the sand and college planning will just go away! :) Wow, I have been so overwhelmed with navigating this part this year (and ds is only a junior) that I am almost mentally paralyzed. I think I'll come back and finish reading all this later :)

I've had trouble with this too and one college admissions officer told me at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter what you put, because they reweight all transcripts to THEIR scale. Wow, if that the case, I hope they have a lot of office help! Maybe I misunderstood, but she insisted it didn't matter if it was 93-100 or 90-100 as an A. They would redo it anyway. But, that was just one college.

Sharon ~ I called the College Board and asked them who was offering it. He attended Hume-Fogg (downtown) in 9th grade and we thought he would take it there, but DCA was on the AP testing list as well. They are just down the street from us, so I called them and they were VERY happy to have us (?) and so accomodating and didn't bat an eye about us homeschooling. I was actually dreading calling around about it. So, that is where he will go. We drive to Franklin/Brentwood all week for one thing or another, and it was nice to find something close :) I wasn't keen on having to call Hume-Fogg due and ask since he left there in 9th (and they, of course, thought we were crazy!).

I built a class website this year for my tutorial kids that has flashcards, links, and videos posted for each of the modules. I don't think it requires you to be registered with the host (Engrade - a free gradebook site we use for the tutorial). I have a lot of smaller "lessons" and on-line quizzes for the flashcards and modules, but I cannot attach those to the class website due to the way it is set-up. Anyway ~ It's not great or anything, but for all the time invested in getting it all together this year, I wanted it to be used as much as possible by anyone who needs it. The Weekly Homework schedule is primarily the reading schedule we use for the year (we do a lot more than listed) and of course you can ignore that. Look for each module resources on the left hand side bar. If you are looking for additional activities for teaching at a tutorial or at home, I have a completely different website at Google sites that has links for activities, many of which I have been slowly moving from my computer to the website (llisted by modules) If you have interest in looking at that ~ just message me. I reformatted all the Module Study Guides to a doc form (that is in order of the Module reading). I usually have some students with various learning disabilities and some use text readers and require doc copies to have their software read it to them, and they can type in the answers. I also added things that I thought helpful or formatted in a more visual way. I hope to get all those loaded on the website over the summer. http://wikis.engrade.com/nctps Email me if you need anything ~ Debbie And yes, I know this is not helpful for this year, but you may find it helpful for next year. Since I have a wide range of kids, I try to include things are all of them (reinforcements of basic ideas and interesting things for my stronger students). This summer, I'm setting one up for my Apologia General Science class as well. That one will be located at http://wikis.engrade.com/nctgs when I get it up and running.

Well, for those looking to next year, I think I was addressing :)

Just note that I'm still working on Modules 13-16 as we come to them these last 6 weeks of school!

Absolutely ~ and if anyone has ideas to add/drop from it (or errors) ~ I welcome comments!

I built a class website this year for my tutorial kids that has flashcards, links, and videos posted for each of the modules. I don't think it requires you to be registered with the host (Engrade - a free gradebook site we use for the tutorial). I have a lot of smaller "lessons" and on-line quizzes for the flashcards and modules, but I cannot attach those to the class website due to the way it is set-up. Anyway ~ It's not great or anything, but for all the time invested in getting it all together this year, I wanted it to be used as much as possible by anyone who needs it. The Weekly Homework schedule is primarily the reading schedule we use for the year (we do a lot more than listed) and of course you can ignore that. Look for each module resources on the left hand side bar. If you are looking for additional activities for teaching at a tutorial, I have a completely different website at Google that has links for activities, many of which I'm have been slowly moving from my computer to the website. If you have interest in looking at that ~ just message me. I reformatted all the Module Study Guides to a doc form (that is in order of the Module reading). I usually have some students with various learning disabilities and some use text readers and require doc copies to have their software read it to them, and they can type in the answers. I also added things that I thought helpful or formatted in a more visual way. I hope to get all those loaded on the website over the summer. http://wikis.engrade.com/nctps Email me if you need anything ~ Debbie This summer, I'm setting one up for my Apologia General Science class as well. That one will be located at http://wikis.engrade.com/nctgs when I get it up and running.

Many thanks y'all ! Good ideas ~

Any of you guys have ideas about what this should look like (activities)? It was decided to have a junior/senior banquet for the 18 juniors and seniors at our tutorial. We have a location (a church fellowship hall) and a menu, but no activities (?) I'm a peripheal planner for this event (meaning I have not attended a meeting but am being asked to help plan "activities" for the event. What does one DO at a junior/senior event. I assume they are having a dj or something, but they they want me to plan "activities" for the kids. We are having a graduation for the seniors three weeks later, so the "senior boards" (I'm just learning about all this) will be there. Maybe "awards"? Friendship, Sacrifice, awards or something? All ideas welcome. This is my oldest child, so I have not gone through this before and am clueless. Many thanks ~ Debbie

Do your children each have access to a different computer? yes. We have a desktop that I and younger child uses. High school son has a laptop. Where do they work? On the kitchen table. When I have let ds do a class in his room, I have happened upon him internet searching during a class, reading a book, or working on homework for another class. I did not think it would be a problem going into this, and it was something we had to work out and now it's kitchen table...always. Do they keep day planners? We have had planner problems here. Each kid is different. So.... How do you help them keep track of their work? on a large dry erase board. He writes his schedule for the day of has to be completed. He needs something he cannot easily misplace (paper/planner). You have to find out what works for your kid. Having him do it MY way did not work for him. (I keep an internet planner which would never work for him). Do you check assignments before they turn them in/email them? I should, but don't always. I glance over them to make sure he DID them, but I don't go over the quality of it. Parent controls ~ if you have boys, get it on your home computers. I have yet to meet a parent of a boy that their ds did not have some trouble with the internet. There are free parental controls available on-line. On-line classes we have done ~ 1. Veritas Scholar's Academy 2. PA Homeschoolers

PA Homeschoolers is the only one I know of. My son is taking APUSH with them currently and we are very happy with it.

Carrie ~ the "best" curriculum is so subjective and I'm not sure anyone can answer that. You can probably google many on-line tutorials and get a feel for what others are doing and assuming it's working. Much of it is going to depend on the instructor (and their knowledge base/comfort level) and the families involved.

I've looked a a lot of transcripts but used those offered here: http://www.covenant.edu/admissions/undergrad/home-schooled I did enlarge the font and tweeked a few things, but I like it best.

I don't have the answer to your questions being from another state ~ but this may be one place to start http://georgiahomeschool.wordpress.com/high-school/

Many thanks for your input. I did finally break down and call one college admissions office and talk it through with them to see what they want to see and how they handle it all. IN a nutshell, she said to send the 4 year transcript that I pieced together (that includes both weighted and unweighted grades - choose one and indicate the other somewhere in "notes"), however, I will need to submit all transcipts from all other institutions as well: prior schools, community college, and any on-line classes that offer transcripts (our AP classes, umbrella). Again, many thanks ~

I worked on it last night and decided to indicate the grading scale (and letter grade) used for 9th at public school and then the rest is on the 90-100 scale. I added "notes" about where various courses were taken. Though we have accredited AP, honors, and Duel Enrolment credits ~ I'm just going to unweight the whole thing (?) ~ of course, I know weighting some of the classes will change his GPA significantly.....should I weight them anyway and then just let the colleges unweight them later? Thanks for your input ~ it was very much welcomed!

I'm taking advantage of the holiday break to get DS's high school transcript up to date and revamped. I have been avoiding calculating the GPA portion due to the dilemma of mixed grading scales. What did you do? 9th grade ~ DS attended public school. Grading scale for the school (and state) is 93-100=A, etc) 10th-11th grade ~ our umbrella and community college both use the traditional 90-100= A. When he applies for colleges, does he have to send the transcript from the 9th grade public school year as well as submit our "homeschool" transcript or as the final school, do I submit all of it? Many thanks ~ Debbie

I'm taking advantage of the holiday break to get DS's high school transcript up to date and revamped. I have been avoiding calculating the GPA portion due to the dilemma of mixed grading scales. What did you do? 9th grade ~ DS attended public school. Grading scale for the school (and state) is 93-100=A, etc) 10th-11th grade ~ our umbrella and community college both use the traditional 90-100= A. When he applies for colleges, does he have to send the transcript from the 9th grade public school year as well as submit our "homeschool" transcript or as the final school, do I submit all of it? Many thanks ~ Debbie

Nice post Gwen. We are in the same boat as OP and was wondering some of the same things. Thanks.

Teaching Co. ~ how are you guys using that? Watch the video and have student take notes, etc....or just discuss afterward. I've only rented one set and nothing came with it but a video outline. Just curious as I'm wantting to move that direction possibly next year.

Well, the teacher is kind of ..... OK, I cannot think of a good word here. For example, on his last test he made an 82 on, he didn't show ALL of his work, but most of it, and made some deviations of how he got the answer...though the answer was correct. (I understand that it is important to show what the intructor wants, and have talked to son about this, so I don't fault the instructor except for his comment) The instructor counted the whole thing wrong and wrote in bright ink "Lucky Guess!" DS found it kind of offensive. Maybe I'll look at another instructor, but as everyone knows, getting the times you want isn't always easy.

I'll definitely look at that April ~ hubby feels like he needs to continue with PreCal, but maybe not at the CC.