Be sure to read the fine print for "test optional" colleges-- some still require various tests for homeschoolers. Also, you might want to look at what are the required gen Ed courses-some have 1 or more math or math related courses.

Well, the patient headed off for APs today and seemed to survive. Not pleased but done.

Just a quick reminder to say--don't leave the title to the car in the car....

Thanks all, the patient is home and working through a review book. At this point antibiotics and staying hydrated are the key. Hopefully the test will be ok in the end. We're just going to take it one day at a time. So-- discussing exam material with medical staff isn't part of the normal AP prep huh--too bad it wasn't biology or chemistry. :unsure:

So I spoke too soon... One kid thinks AP prep includes an IV and a hospital bed. Medicine is NOT an AP subject gosh darn iT!

Well, it is week 2 of AP exams and I think there is currently a contest to see who will break first-me or one of the kids. As of Monday we are at even money. Can't wait to see what Tuesday brings :001_rolleyes:

I don't see a need to prioritize one boy over the next. Each project proposal should be considered in the order it was submitted. If you have an exceptionally large troop I don't see why you couldn't have multiple projects on any given weekend. I think it is a mistake to assume that one should always help the boy who might age out over the younger scout. Yes, the older one might age out but the younger scout might loose interest in scouting if his enthusiasm is constantly put on the back burner. Do boys who truly want to finish before 18 need some quick help and turn around-yes. Should that be at the expense of other scouts in the troop-not always. And for every 13yo who's dad wants him to be the "youngest ever" Eagle scout there is an almost 18yo who's parents want them to "get Eagle or else" (or get Eagle on their college app) before they age out. Parents who lean on their kids to make Eagle are not restricted to a certain age group. And IMHO-troops shouldn't have a policy of all boys make Eagle if they stay until 18. Being an Eagle scout isn't for every kid but there is much about being a boy scout and participating in a troop that is good for a boy.

I think it must either be this or 1 credit must be granted per course per semester. Normally, I would call a one semester course 0.5 credit and a full year 1 credit. They might be calling one semester 1 credit and a full year 2 credits.

I've saved course grade/evaluation sheet, course description and syllabus. I think with those items I can answer nearly any question a school might have. If your child had an outstanding paper or project or work of art, etc. I might save the sample with instructor comments should they apply for a school or scholarship that wanted to see a portfolio.

We managed to find three prep books for Comp Gov. One didn't have any practice tests-just a review of the material--from Worldwide Scholar. The other was by Ken Wedding. We also have Ethel Wood. (all from Amazon) I was surprised by how little was out there.

My requirements are based on typical expectations of college applicants. The only state we've needed to worry about had no real demands. 4 years each: Math, Science, English, History, Foreign Language They have taken 6-8 credits each year. *My history requirement is really social studies a social studies requirement but they have planned a history course every year and other social studies topics for electives. Also-I urge them to keep up some sort of physical activity-they both head to the gym frequently, one is on swim teams, the other runs competitively and studies martial arts. I haven't given anyone a phys ed credit though and don't feel the need.

You might want to check your home owners policy (or your own renters policy) they often extend to dependent children off at college. Yes, something that behaves like a credit card. I always worried as an out of state college student that my flight would get cancelled or I'd need a car rental and have no method for paying for a hotel, multiple meals, car, new ticket, etc. Nor did I want to carry that much cash!

So I have found the answer to going into an exam relaxed.... My kid will get dog therapy the morning before their exam. (We are dog sitting for the morning.) Surprisingly comforting. :)

I don't know how either but if you figure it out don't keep it a secret--I'll know where to look next year. Sigh.

If you want lots of ideas (with pictures) there is a bullet journaling group on Facebook. One can quickly develop handwriting and pen envy there :)

Older son just completed his Eagle Board of Review, younger son is finishing as many Wolf electives as possible before the end of the year, and daughter is in planning stages of Gold Award. Now I just need to figure out the new Cub Scout system for next year...

I am beginning to think they are holding up better than I am. About this time I start to think of all I could do to help them prepare if only we had more time...

Her younger brother (freshman) took one look at it and said "You know I don't need that. I already know where I am applying." He has picked about 6-8 schools. He feels done. I hope I can get him a bit more motivated to look at his choices more critically in a couple years and expand his horizons a bit. I'm not overly hopeful though. We'll see what time and having friends head off for university do. I still don't see a chart in his future. (and most decidedly not a color coded one)

I agree, many AP courses are being watered down. However, my approach is being colored by the fact I have a freshman and junior currently. I seriously doubt that in the short period of time they will be in high school that the impact in college admissions will be felt significantly enough to change our approach. (It could be a whole new world for my 2nd grader.) The other option I would consider is DE but that isn't possible in our current situation so--I and my students are stuck working with AP. Of course an approved syllabus doesn't mean it is followed-either by a homeschooler or by a b&m school. It is however the currently available form of validation. And no--I don't believe the syllabus substantiates a "mommy grade"-that is where an AP or SAT subject test would come in, rather an AP syllabus is one method by which to demonstrate rigor in course work. I am coming around to think that while grades and SAT/ACT scores are top of the list that course rigor might come next. As someone recently pointed out-all AP scores are self reported until you choose to attend a school (in contrast with SAT, SATII, and ACT scores which are officially reported). Yes, I think a home based course can be of as great or greater rigor than many offered in schools. I also don't believe outside classes deserve more weight just because they are provided by someone else. I said I weight outside classes labeled as "honors" for my kids. I have chosen not to call any of the courses I create honors. However, when they will have an additional transcript from that provider attached to my transcript that calls a course "honors"-I will also call it honors and weight it as such. I think honors is a very nebulous term and one I won't apply to my own courses because I have no students in a non-honors course to compare against. One thing I have learned while researching admissions issues is that my job as the home educator/guidance counselor is two fold. One is to, where possible, substantiate grades where the students and I feel the need. Some universities like to have an unbiased source to confirm what they see a parent doing. There are many ways to do this-various standardized tests (AP, SATII), outside course providers, DE, CLEP, and so forth. The other involves course selection and content. I need to be sure my kids are meeting the number of years/credits for various courses for the types of schools they are looking at, help them with any test prep, and create course descriptions, school profiles, and AP approved syllabi to help them prove the rigorous nature of their preparation. I hadn't fully understood this going into freshman year with my oldest and it is slowly making sense as we work through the system. There are hordes of success stories on this board with folks who have a variety of approaches to these issues. They have done what works best for them and their students and have showcased their students' talents in ways that have given them applications and resumes of exceptional quality that they attend a wide variety of universities, colleges, trade schools, and gain apprenticeship programs. There is certainly no one correct path. If you want to work through the university admissions system you need to try to understand what the types of schools your kids are interested in want to know about your child and in that light how to best explain and present the path your student has chosen.

Yes, an AP score could certainly validate a "mommy grade". However, IMHO course rigor is not necessarily proved by taking the exam. Going through the audit process is one way to prove the course is rigorous. Another might be through your course description and text book list. And it is completely possible that some schools would view "XXX w/AP exam" as equally rigorous as AP XXX. I decided to put our courses through the audit system since I was already planning at the level anyway in order to prepare the kids for the exam-they might as well have full recognition for what they have done. My reference was to the grade weighting. I think homeschoolers need to be very careful how we choose what is weighted and be sure to explain it in the various course and school descriptions. I worry that weighting on what we think is a challenging course with no standard point of reference only lends credence to the "mommy grade" scenario. I guess I come from the philosophy that weighting is based an outside measure of course rigor and content-not on course outcomes. Therefore, I would weight AP/IB/DE and courses determined to be "honors" by someone other than myself. I view AP scores as a possible validation of grades but not an automatic measure of course content, method, and rigor. It is possible for a kid to do well in an AP course but have a bad testing day or be a kid who doesn't test well. It is possible for a kid to learn the content of an AP exam but not pursue a course with the depth of rigor in an AP course. Therefore, one has to choose what AP reflects-does it reflect content, outcomes, or a balance of both? How one chooses to balance these two extremes is a personal choice as the parent educator.

I'm no admissions expert but as I understand things... An AP exam would be proof that the student can pass a test at a given level. It shows that they understand the content of given AP course at a given level. This can be a very good an useful credential and can, in some schools, get you credit, exemption, or higher course placement. It is not proof that your course had the rigor of an AP course-the content and method of and AP course is what is evaluated in an AP audit. As a matter of fact it is not proof that you even had a course. There are plenty of students who take AP exams who do not take the course. I think it is easiest to view AP as two part process, part 1 is the course itself and part 2 is the exam. I don't think I would weight "x with AP exam classes". It has nothing to do with what my kids deserve or how hard they work but rather with how I think that might be perceived by an admissions board. If I were to weight the class I would certainly be doing some explaining about what a "X w/AP exam" course was in our school and how the typical rigor of an AP course is expressed.

My DD has a huge, lovely, multi-colored wall chart of her favorite options-couple reach, lots of fits, a few safeties-though I'm loath to call them that since I think the concept of "safety school" is becoming a thing of the past. I think we have a plan in place to visit about 8 this year and we hit 3 last year. I think once SAT scores are in she'll have a solid idea about her best fit on a numbers basis and the visits will help with the rest. She is so far committed to not filing any Early Decisions since finances are important to us so it will be all Early Action and Regular Decision (with a few school with rolling admissions). One piece of weirdness that we never thought we'd have on a list of things to check--cell phone reception (i.e. is one company better than others). What a changing world-I was thrilled just to not have a pay phone on the hall in college.

First-I wouldn't put too much faith in weighting grades. For most of the schools my DD has looked at (a combination of mid-atlantic and mid-west state schools and smaller LACs) they end up taking apart the transcript and creating their own unweighted, core course GPA for admissions/scholarship purposes. Can you determine what is weighted on your own transcript-yes, of course. You might want to offer an explanation in one of the various course descriptions or school profiles that will be added to a college application about how you determined which grades were weighted. I don't think scholarships depend on grade weighting. Scholarships depend on the rigor of course work, GPA, and test scores. The schools I've seen tend to create level grades before comparing GPAs. AP classes are one way to show rigor of course work. What is AP level course work? It is my humble opinion that this can be a wide variety of things. It is possible to do AP level work without having completed the audit. But part 2 of this question becomes how do you prove that you are doing AP level work? The answer to that question is to go through the audit process, the same process that b&m schools do, to have that validation. An admissions or scholarship committee needs to have some basis for deciding what is actually rigorous work across all education models. AP/IB/DE are standard measures of this level of rigor. In the same way I disagree that a class with AP exam is the same. It could be the same but it wouldn't have to be the same as an approved course. The point of labeling a course as AP is to prove something about the course content itself. "Course XX with AP Exam" is an implication that you have completed AP level work-how people view that compared to an approved AP designation I don't know. It does seem to put greater focus on the exam score. It is a case of course content vs course outcomes. How does a transcript look with some AP courses every year but not all courses or even a majority of courses? It looks totally normal. It would stand to reason that as students proceed through high school that they will have more AP courses every year. Few students have every course as an AP course each semester. My basis for weighting a course is any approved AP course or a course taken from an outside provider that is labeled "honors". I would also weight any DE course but that isn't the case for any of my kids yet. I put far more emphasis on an unweighted GPA on my oldest's transcript but include an overall weighted GPA. In her case the most of school's she is interested in will recalculate all weighted GPAs for the purposes of admissions/scholarships. If it is of any comfort, you have from sometime in March of the previous school year through January of the current year to submit a syllabus for audit. And yup-that is on us. I guess if I can write a syllabus that prepares them for the exam it doesn't take much more to have it approved and so far that has proven to be the case. One word of caution-I'd be careful about how you present a school program on a transcript. It is my impression that homeschoolers and "mommy grades" are under a microscope in the admissions process and I'd be very careful to avoid any appearance of grade inflation as they already believe that homeschool grades are inflated. (Not that I am saying anything about any given student's success or whether they deserve a given grade.)

I wouldn't call any of my courses "Homeschool XXXX". Somehow that makes it seem like they are less than other courses because they are only home based. A concept I strongly disagree with. I took some good advice and have an annotation code on the transcript that shows who the outside provider was. I might include on my course description that the provider was accredited. I also expect that when you apply to college that you would include a copy of all accredited transcripts along with your transcript. Therefore sending in your transcript with any DE or accredited sources transcripts will demonstrate accreditation.

You need to renew your syllabus every year to keep it active for your other children. I think they open the audit for renewal in August, IIRC. If they have a revision of the course as occurred this year with Art History, a couple years ago with US History and next year (?) for European History then you will need to submit a new syllabus that meets the new requirements for AP designation. Yes, you can share a syllabus, your friend would "adopt" your syllabus (assuming it had already been renewed for the current year).