I'm on a private FB group for tutors. I can probably find someone for you, but I could not personally vouch for them. PM if you are interested.

You are wise to check on this. My dd took the SAT in middle school through a talent search. They wouldn't let me into the building so I dropped her off and drove home. Turns out they weren't going to let her test because.--I forget now--reasons? Fortunately there was a small crew of middle school students there to test and it escalated and was finally resolved that the students could actually test there. I was furious! SAT talent search has been around since at least the 1980s, and these ppl were unaware? Anyway, my advice is if your student does not currently have a cell phone, get them a burner phone for the day so they can contact you if there are any issues. Don't leave the parking lot. Coach your student, and print out stuff that shows that yes, middle school students can take the SAT. Ask other parents where they've successfully tested their middle school students. Insult to injury: that school's HVAC was turned off during the weekend, so it was bitterly cold inside. The other students were aware and brough coats and hot tea. We did not return to that school, and had a much better experience elsewhere.

I outsourced my first class (writing/English) in middle school, and it was still my busiest time in homeschooling. I had NO TIME for anything. Most of my extra time was spent prepping for science which was a step up in complexity and required me to demo projects in advance so I could run them with success for my kids. Because I was outsourcing even more (especially science), high school was much easier.

Chiming in also to say I thought penny candy was a head scratcher. After listening to Freaknomics and Planet Money for years, it was weird to have a children's book devoted 100% to money supply. I mean, I get money supply is important, but isn't there so much more to economics?

...and just as @Not_a_Number predicted, students are relying on lies and exaggerations in their essays for admissions. https://nypost.com/2022/01/13/how-college-applicants-embellish-admission-essays/ https://nypost.com/2022/01/11/rhodes-scholar-denied-honor-after-dishonesty-about-life-story/ https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-dredging "Multiple college consultants told The Post that the college application process now features more questions about overcoming obstacles. The 2021-2022 essay prompts from Common App, the organization that oversees undergrad applications for more than 900 schools, include “Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure.” "an anonymous accuser sent an email to Penn and the Rhodes Trust, claiming Fierceton’s story was “blatantly dishonest.” The email reportedly alleged that Fierceton grew up in St. Louis, Mo., with her mother, an educated radiologist; that her family was upper-middle class; and that she had attended a fancy private high school and enjoyed such high-end hobbies as horseback riding." "Fierceton lived with her mother, Carrie Morrison — a divorcée and director of breast imaging and mammography at a local hospital — “on a [suburban] tree-lined cul-de-sac with large houses and well-groomed lawns.” "According to Winkelstein’s subsequent report, Fierceton was raised in an upper-middle-class household; it also notes her mother is a radiologist and that her grandfather had graduated from college." “If ‘first generation’ means the first in one’s family to attend college — the widely used, common-sense meaning — Fierceton’s answer would be plainly false.” However, according to the school’s website, this definition can also include students who are the first in their families to “pursue higher education at an elite institution.” Fierceton’s mother did not attend an Ivy League university" "The committee concluded that this was “inconsistent with the hospital records,” adding, “Either [Fierceton] has fabricated this abuse by her mother, or her mother has lied about the terrible abuse…”" “On the economic side, there are so many applications to schools that it is impossible for schools to fact check everything.” "Some kids will claim in their essays that they “published” a novel or memoir, when in fact their parents have hired a self-publishing outfit to produce what looks like a legitimate book. Other teens will write about their “meaningful” volunteer work in developing countries, when their moms and dads have funded the trips abroad just so they can have college essay fodder. Now, some students are even going so far as to register their own patents for research they have never completed." “Basically, these schools are pushing kids to have a trauma in their life before they’re 17,'” said one Manhattan-based tutor, adding that they have worked with deserving students who have never had huge obstacles in life, and as a result cannot compete for the top schools, such as Yale, Princeton or Harvard. “The irony of going ‘test optional’ is that it opens the door to more shenanigans,” he told The Post. In 2016, one parent took to social media to complain about a friend of her son who created a charity in her name dedicated to the deaf. “She registered it, made a website, logo, the works, but hasn’t done ANYTHING with it,” the unidentified parent posted on an online forum set up by College Confidential, an education consulting company for users asking questions about college admissions. The parent went on to say that the student put the charity on her list of extracurricular activities and was accepted to Stanford that year. Meanwhile, some legitimately underprivileged students resist dwelling on their personal hardships and insist upon being accepted on their merits. One college essay tutor told The Post how she urged a high school student to play up her background to win points. “I worked with a student in the fall who actually had hardships — she immigrated to the US as a child and has seen and lived in real poverty,” the essay coach said. “But she was reluctant to capitalize on that because she didn’t want it to define her.”

I'm not an expert on these classes but my sense is that AP Lang and Comp is more about your ability write on topics that are presented during the exam. AP Lit tests that plus you need to bring some prior knowledge of texts to the exam. That is, you will write about material (classic novels?) you read before taking the exam. I'm sure there are many students who take both classes, but I think more often students take one or the other, with future English majors (or those who have read the classics widely) opting for AP Lit. If you are taking both, I'd recommend starting with AP Lang/Comp. Some colleges offer some credit for a high score on either AP Lang/Comp or AP Lit but not both. Check with the colleges your student is interested in. It may not be worthwhile to take both exams. I think it isn't worth taking both classes unless, again, you have a future English major who really wants to.

The elementary age girl was just so delightful, it was really shocking to me that she would do this. She was enthusiastic during our meetings and actively participated in solving math problems. But also...she was my last student late in the day, and when she cut out early I was happy for the extra time. So I felt guilty about that, like I should have made an extra effort to contact the parents but didn't because I was I was lazy. So I offered 2 hours free (approximately the time they paid for but I didn't spend with their student). The mom says her daughter was nervous about being on time to her music lesson, which it turns out was a real music lesson, but maybe not so critical time-wise that she legitimately needed to end early. I need those Breaking Bad students who can make that sweet blue crystal meth. Or at least be able to sell an unsliced pizza and "pass the savings on to you."

Thank you, everyone. It was very helpful to hear from both other tutors and parents in dealing with this.

I've been tutoring a young kid online for several months. Not long after we started, they asked to push back the start time 15 minutes. At the same time the student claimed she needed to leave early for a music lesson. Like 15 minutes early. She does this every week, unprompted by me. I believed her. This week she was busted. Within minutes of ending our tutoring session (15 minutes early) I get a call from the mom. We resumed our call, and worked an additional 20 minutes together. The student was clearly chagrined and much less animated. I sort of feel some responsibility for not checking with the parent. But I have never had the experience of a student wanting to cut out early. Usually I run late with my students and go over time. What options do you recommend for recovering this relationship, including do nothing? The mom and I have not yet communicated with each other on this issue.

I'm not familiar with TG&TB, but the Island level of MCT is pretty lightweight and does not assume much prior knowledge. Try to get a copy of the Island level books. We did Growing with Grammar for a year before MCT. I didn't care much for GWG, and I think we could have skipped it.

I don't have a similar experience, but I recommend you find a copy of How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport. ECs do not need to be expensive, and as PPs wrote, jobs count too.

Thank you for posting this, as DH and I were also discussing this recently. We speculate that in the old days when syllabi were printed on actual paper, and few students used email (think 1980s) there was a big incentive to stick to the plan because a good portion of students would skip lectures until the final and there was no realistic way to contact them. We are finding that nowadays professors are feeling free to change things up in the middle of the term. Final exams are rescheduled, final projects are cancelled or projects are redefined. Because students are now reachable electronically, professors are given license to change their courses on a whim. To be fair, the pandemic is keeping everyone off balance, but still.

If you have any updates to the information in the above thread, LMK and I'll edit the post.

I would personally forget about the CB, and go straight to the schools near you. Sometimes you can figure it out from the school website. It might be a vice principal who is in charge of all testing or all AP testing. Or if you need calculus for example, you can try to figure out which math teacher teaches that AP class. There's more advice in this thread, but this was pre-pandemic and many of the deadlines and rules have changed since then.

I have not had the experience you describe, so this will probably be terrible advice. In fact, I am eager to hear from PPs what they think of this approach. If you value your relationship with your daughters more than outwardly upholding your conservative beliefs, why not just lie? them: "You taught us to make fun of people." you: "I am very sorry I did that. I hope you have learned otherwise since becoming an adult." them: "You do not acknowledge your white privilege." you: "You are right. I do have white privilege, and I need to work harder to acknowledge this. Where should I start?" them: "You do not buy only from black owned businesses." you: "You are right. I will change this immediately. I need to buy office supplies. What do you recommend?" them: "You are a bad person." you: "You are right. Please choose one thing I can work on to change first, and I will do that." them: "I wish you were liberal." you: "You are right. I voted for the wrong person. Please tell me who I should vote for in the next election." It seems like just bending to their demands will take the wind out of their sails, you know? If you and your dd's are caught up arguing about politics and white supremacy and whatever else that really doesn't matter, then you can't then let that go and discuss your relationship and the divorce and the trauma you all experienced. I don't know. What do the PPs think?

I didn't study Latin in high school, so I didn't see much point in having my kids learn. Spanish is an alternative Romance language that is used by many Americans, so why not kill 2 birds with one stone? I used Michael Clay Thompson for language arts, which includes an excellent vocabulary curriculum.

I received a Christmas gift from a woman who ordered from Amazon. It arrived and there was no enclosed paperwork, nothing. Eventually she texted me to let me know the pkgs were on the way. I asked her if she had sent me a chocolate advent calendar, but she said no, but she did order some Dutch cookies for me. So I started pinging people, but no one owned up to the advent calendar, and meanwhile, no Dutch cookies arrived. Then this woman tells me her sister received an advent calendar instead of Dutch cookies, so the mystery was solved: Amazon was substituting products for some unknown reason. Isn't there usually some sort of gift option, so paperwork can be included with a gift note?

I don't dispute @RegGuheert that this sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare. But I think calling this grade "fabrication' is a stretch IMO. I would call is a grade "translation", but still very annoying and time-consuming. I don't know if this was an option, but if the resulting PDF were unreadable I would have appended my own transcript. Gosh I spent so much time making the most beautiful easy to read transcript. It went through multiple multiple revisions on the advice of my student and DH. (And editing the location of cells on a spreadsheets takes much longer than they think it does. "Just switch these 2 boxes!" "Sigh, that's 30 minutes of work.")

I'll continue the rant. Informally many employers use technical interviews to screen their applicants. You can even buy prep books to prepare for technical interviews so you can get a high score. If college grades and test scores are meaningless, this is finally where achievement matters. I've heard anecdotally that the people who produce the ACT are planning to to move into employment exams for just this opportunity for growth.

I answer questions from newbie homeschoolers on the HSC help phone line, and I frequent the HSC FB group and other local email lists. Charters can be really terrific for some parents. But whenever I read complaints about a charter, I SMH because enrolling in a charter is optional, not required. You want money, enroll in a charter. You want freedom, file a PSA. (I did both at different times in my homeschooling.)

Yes, I always think it's funny that all we're doing when we file a PSA is letting the state know that we've set up a private school. We actually do not affirm in the PSA form that our students are actually enrolled there. (That's in the paperwork we keep at home.)

In California you don't need to notify any school that you are homeschooling. If you withdraw your student from a school, you need to let them know so they can take your student off their attendance rolls. I never told any school we were homeschooling because my kids were never enrolled in a school. (Except one attended a regular high school.)

I'm embarrassed to say I'm addicted to the HCA list. I read it every day. Lately, more ppl who view the list subsequently post their vaccination cards! It's quite lovely to see, after all that snark about dead ppl. Here's a sample from just one dead guy: "Good thing he was an expert on all of this. He really showed us." "Everybody gangsta till their lungs turn into goo." "What a beta he was. He got the grand prize, a body bag." "All that research finally paid off!" "Think of the money they will save by not getting the free vaccine." "Even full force prayer warriors barely getting better results!" "I wonder how many would-be mass shooters Covid has culled from the herd." "You can always tell a Covid expert because they will perpetually use the wrong form of then/than" "Also breath/breathe" "Speaking as a lib, he really owned me. Now whats for lunch?" "Tilapia tacos, rice and veggies" "I chuckled when the dad's passing was devistating, while his death announcement was like the weather forecast."

I agree with you. Have you already shown This Person the Herman Cain Award list? (Awarded posthumously...) Seeing a bunch of dead people + snarky comments about dead people seems to promote vaccination.

I'm curious about this if you don't mind, since I'm not very familiar with Haiti or with subsistence farming. But I was under the vague impression that knowledge about farming at this level was not something one learned how to do in school, but rather was passed down through the generations. Children worked on the farm with their parents and learned on the job. It seems like even uneducated subsistence farmers would know how to fertilize their soil with manure because that's been a practice for thousands of years. What am I missing?