I wished ds had taken the Physics SAT Subject after taking Phyiscs in 9th grade. It wasn't even on my radar at that time. Glad he took the SAT's early, especially since he is doing early action on a couple of schools. Glad I put his course descriptions together after he completed that particular year. All schools didn't require them, but if I had to do them all at the end, that would of been a real pain. Glad he took some colleges courses for two reasons: Validation of preparedness (and not just mommy grades), Letters of Recommendation were easy to obtain.

When I started homeschooling, I thought trying to find the "right" curriculum was difficult. Nope. This counselor role has got that beat. When his 2 early action applications were sent in, it felt like the sky had opened up and lifted this huge bolder off my back. Good grief.

Thanks regentrude. I was uncomfortable with it, but the director of our umbrella group suggested he do that. I think i'll pass, though.

Is this something that is done? Ds's early action applications are done. Should he contact the counselor responsible for his region and let her know that this school is his first choice and if accepted and the financial package was feasible he would absolutely attend? Is this done? Does it yield the desired results?

Absolutely!! I actually do not want my son playing anymore. BUT, he loves the sport (would like to play in college). It was cute :wub: at ages 6 through 8. Now :eek: :angry: . But he would be really, really, really (you get the point) mad if I'm not there for the game. This is his freshman year in high school. In our area, he had to enroll in public high school in order to play.

He tried it, didn't care for it. I'd let him quit. It's the age to try stuff, lots of stuff. I would encourage him to do something active. though.

Let's assume that he meets all the academic requirements. Scenario: Scholarship offers up to $30,000 a year, student has to major in 1 of 2 areas (one of which he has mentioned he is interested in) and you need to maintain a "B" average. After graduation, it is required to put in 1 and 1/2 times the years it took you to graduate. For example, if he graduates in 4 years, he would need to work for this organization after graduation for 6 years. Essentially, he would not be permitted to change majors and he would need to commit to time afterward. If you do not complete the the said 6 years afterwards, he must pay all the money back. Husband: "Are you kidding me, jump at this". Son: "That means I can't change my major? "I'll feel trapped" Me: "Well since you're undecided and you have shown an interest in one of the majors, you might as well try." No guarantee you'll get in." The financial burden would be practically non-existent." "If you don't want to, you don't have to." (Can't you tell I'm a middle child) Of course if he decides to go through with it, he'll need to write an essay within the next week or so. He's not too excited about that. Opinions Welcomed

:hurray: Congratulations. Ds will hopefully get his out by this weekend.

Quick question. One of my son's teachers has already posted his LOR in the common app. If my son wanted to add a school, and I wanted to assign this teacher to that school, would his LOR automatically transfer over or does the teacher need to do another one?

I hadn't put myself as counselor first. Once I did that, things fell into place. I got an email and I saw the circular arrow aligned with the teachers, so I think that means they'll get an email as well.

Yay!!! Thanks, so much. I got it!!!

I'm so confused. Are the teachers and counselors suppose to get an invitation from from the Common App, with a password to access the student's account and complete the recommendation, or is my son suppose to ask them to go to Common App and access the student Common App ID, and then fill out an online form. On the schools he has chosen, under "Teacher", it say "assigned" and "not started". I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I haven't received any notice, since I'm "counselor", neither of the teachers has received anything. I don't even know what question to ask. Thanks Caroline for your suggestion, but I don't even understand what you are saying. I feel like it's coming from this end since no one is getting anything.

No one. No one can help someone trying to navigate her way through.

Could someone take me step by step how the teacher LOR is done on the Common App. I thought I did it correctly, but the teacher emailed my son saying he did not get an "invitation" from the Common App. Help, please.

It may be a learning disability or he just needs lots and lots of repetition. It sounds like he needs to start at first grade level. I used McGruffy Math for son in his early years. What I liked: short lessons for the student and lots of games. Since you are tutoring, he may enjoy it this approach. We've used MM, and it can be overwhelming and a bit tedious.

Off the top of my head: Cats in the Cradle Lady in Red Silly Love Song

Just to be clear, my stance is for him not to withdraw and to take this bump and learn. He wants me to allow him to withdraw so it won't negatively affect his grade. I think is gpa will still be good. Thanks for you advice. :001_smile:

He doesn't have the results back yet but there were only 5 questions, 2 of which he didn't complete and after talking with classmates, he recognized that he did worse than he thought. Exams are 20% of the grade. This was 1 of 4 exams. The thing is, he wants to enter a STEM major, so anything lower than a "B" may look bad.

Here's the scenario: Ds is a senior taking Calculus based Physics I at the community college. He feels like the class is challenging but not something he doesn't understand. He just bombed his first exam last night. There are four exams all counting as 20% of the grade. He wants to withdraw so that this grade does not tank his gpa for college admission. If he withdraws now, it will be a "W" on his transcript, which to my recollection, looks bad. Or he can try to get that grade up knowing it won't be an "A", but also knowing his gpa will take a hit. Let's juts say he's not used to failing a test so he was/is a bit traumatized. What says you? Opinions?

This school has a 30% acceptance rate. Unfortunately, my son can not take a semester of foreign language at the community college because it is not offered there. He has 2 years of Japanese.

There is an LAC that my son would like to apply to. Here's the thing. In the general "requirements" section, it states that there are no minimums, but it's recommended to have 4 Englishes, 4 Maths, etc. Except for homeschoolers. They want to see 3 foreign language credits; ds has 2. But all the other areas he meets. It appears they have slightly different requirements for homeschoolers. Oh, and they want 2 SAT Subject tests (just for homeschoolers). He will be taking those because other schools want to see them, too. What do you think? Is it a waste of time to apply?

I learned to drive on one, that's what I drive now, and that's what my oldest learned on. And that's what my middle ds and youngest will learn on. My oldest drive's it all the time, matter of fact, that's what he took his driving test with, my stick shift Kia. The instructor was very impressed. He even came up to me and thanked me. So it's pretty much our norm.

We have used Tabletclass. My ds liked it, but there is not a ton of practice or review. It's very mastery in its approach. We have also used Derek Owens. While it's online, it is distant learning, so it is at your own pace, but it also costs $58/month. My son was able to complete the course in a short amount of time, saving me money. You pay by the month, not annually, so when your child is finished with the course, you no longer pay.

As a science supplement, you could check out Homeschool Science tools for various experiments that you could buy separately. For Literature, we are using Lightning Literature 7 and for writing, we will be using Essentials in Writing.

Off the top of my head, my ds read these books last year as a 6th grader (and others, I just can't remember) and liked them. And he is not my "reader", but he was able to connect with the characters, so it went fine. Shiloh A Secret Garden Where the Red Fern Grows Summer of the Monkeys Tuck Everlasting