It said 20 percent of white students are legacies. You'd have to know what percentage of students are white to make that meaningful. It's probably much lower than you think -- many kids are Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern ... I was just at my son's wedding. He and his new wife are both Harvard grads and many of their friends were there. I'd say less than ten percent were white. Of course that's their friends and not a random sample, but it gives you an idea.

My ds passed out on a field trip with his community college class. They called an ambulance, and even though he was up, talking, obviously fine long before it got there, they insisted on taking him in. The first thing the nurse said when we got to the hospital was, "You're probably just dehydrated." We were there all day while they ran every test they had to rule out every terrible thing that could make a kid faint. Then they sent us home and said he probably had just been dehydrated. The funny thing was, we had to ask them to give him something to drink after a couple of hours there. Umm, if you're guessing he's dehydrated, give him a drink first, then run all your tests! Anyway, it has never happened again.

For French, a much better option is French in Action. The videos are available free online and you can get cheap used copies of the textbooks.

It makes sense that the German and French SAT tests are different because the languages are different. In German, getting genders down is really important and takes a lot of memorization, where in French they are easier. French, on the other hand, has those complicated past tenses to learn. My kids took both and never mentioned that one was harder than the other, but they did take them in different years. They usually scored a little better on the French, I think, but they did well on both. That's too bad about your dd's presentation, Joan. That's so frustrating! I'd tell her not to worry though. Most kids do so poorly on the oral part that it's not hard to rise to the top if you've had some good speaking experience.

We always take the whole family. We drive up the day before and spend the night. We move the freshman in, do whatever "stuff" there is to do, and say our goodbyes.

I didn't even know sunscreen has an expiration date! I never would have thought to check that.

Joan -- is your child taking the French and German subject tests back to back? If so, I'm very impressed! My kids took both, but separate years. They are fluent in both languages but can still get confused if they're switching back and forth. For example, if they listened to something in German while prepping for AP French, I'd hear German words sneaking into their oral responses. =)

All of my kids have taken the AP Euro exam (well, youngest will take it next year.) So far, they've gotten 4s or 5s. We did it with PAH, but I am honestly not thrilled with any of the teachers (we've tried Harrison and Paher). It is a lot of material to cover quickly, but I think it's a good course. I just helped ds prep for the exam and I was impressed with the depth of knowledge required. We have done several tests in the first or second year of a revision -- French, German, Bio, and Chem. French and German were fine -- kids got 5s easily. Bio was a bust -- dd got a 3. The jury is still out on chem.... I haven't looked at the APUSH revisions. We're done with that one!

We used lots of comics for French! My kids' favorite was Asterix -- there's a whole series. We also used Tintin and a series that is not as well known in the US -- Lucky Luke. You can find them at Amazon.ca. My boys enjoyed them all the way through high school.

Mine went straight to AP science classes and that seems to be the norm around here.

I've found that one sure way to bring up the CR score is to work HARD on vocabulary. You can find lists of words online. Drill with him every day and have him make it his goal to never miss a vocab question. The writing section is also easy to prep for. Have him work on writing questions in the College Board's Official Guide to the SAT. There are only a few kinds of errors that come up on the writing test, and when you learn to recognize them, it's a breeze. For math, have him do a section in the Official Guide every day. If timing is an issue, be sure he times himself. Go over everything he misses. He should make it his goal to never miss a question due to a sloppy mistake. A half hour or so every day this summer doing these things should help him bring up his score significantly!

I don't know about the online program, but the social studies curriculum specialist for my school district (in a state where homeschoolers aren't allowed to participate in school activities) approached me and asked me if I could encourage local homeschoolers to join Model UN because they needed students. So you might ask around and see if your child could participate with a local group. (I just noticed that you're in Denmark. Well, maybe my information will be useful to someone else!)

One thing to remember is that outside scholarships are usually a waste of time if you are getting need-based aid. The schools will take them out of THEIR portion and still expect you to make the family contribution they've set.

I used it in elementary school for enrichment along with many other resources. In my opinion, it is nowhere near enough for a high school level course. You need a textbook so you can systematically cover the grammar. To complement a textbook, RS is great, but it can't replace one.

No -- our kids handle this on their own with their advisor.

We had a somewhat similar situation last spring. Ds was the featured soloist in a youth orchestra concert and then qualified for the Intel International Science Fair which fell right on the dress rehearsal. I emailed the director and told her the concert was the first priority (he had been practicing for a year!) but he really wanted to go to the science fair. He had been the year before and was already into college at that point, so it wasn't terribly important that he go, but still, qualifying is a big deal. Anyway, she and the conductor were furious at first and I got some stress-inducing emails, but they eventually chilled enough that we could work out a solution (long Saturday rehearsals before and after the science fair). He won a prize at the science fair and the concert ended up being amazing. So, give it a couple of days. Let the choir director think it over and maybe she'll come around!

My son used Adventures in Japanese and we really liked it!

We often had our kids do AP tests and subject tests after CC classes. The CC class shows a college they can handle a classroom situation, it gives them experience handling deadlines, etc. for themselves, it gives them lab experience, and it gives them a great source for teacher recommendations. Unfortunately, though, the quality of CC courses varies greatly and ours is just not that great. So our kids go beyond what is covered and prep for AP and subject tests. This shows colleges that they have truly mastered the subject. So far, our four oldest have gone to schools that give NO credit for APs or CC classes, but I doubt they would have gotten into these schools without them. In some cases, they have been able to place out of intro courses.

So far, none of mine have gone where I thought they would!

We always sent three or four. They would have the two required -- they would be community college profs and they'd be uploaded to the common app. In addition, we liked to have letters from people who knew them as people, not just as students. This might be a soccer coach, a piano teacher, a scientist they interned with. I think this is important for homeschoolers since you are likely battling negative stereotypes. We wanted someone who would say, "This isn't just a nerd who's been shut up in his closet studying for four years." We'd give these a sheet with the student's identifying information to attach to the letter and a stamped envelope addressed to each college.

We have more kids than bedrooms, so for the first couple, the younger sib was repurposing the room as the older one was moving out!

He can ask the teachers now, but you will have to wait until you actually know where he is applying to actually get the letters. If he uses the common application, teachers submit the letter once online and each school downloads it. Some schools have a form that you give to each teacher. At the very least, you will give the teacher a stamped envelope addressed to each school.

I agree! We tell our kids that in college, they are responsible for books, travel back and forth, and spending money. We don't tell them how much they need to save, how much they can spend, etc. They have all had nice paid internships so they've been able to spend pretty freely and still have a nice nest egg when they leave for school.

This is true, but when you know it, you know it. It's not something you need to keep drilling on. The next time they have them, tell them that if they get them all right, they can skip them from here on out. If they miss even one, they have to do the next one that comes up.

Did your dd do mechanics or E & M or both? My ds took both and thought mechanics was hard, but E & M was very easy. He is at the Intel ISEF in LA this week, so he took it there with lots of techie kids and he said he felt better afterwards when everyone was talking about how hard mechanics was!