You can sign your student up for just a student account. But if you choose the Teacher Package, it's actually nearly the same price per month (you just have to fork over $300 at once vs. a monthly charge).

As a teacher, my account includes up to 10 students. I paid all at one time, and haven't been charged anything extra. I have 5 kids currently in classes. Here is a copy of the options: Student College Plus (month-to-month) $87.68/month Student (month-to-month) $24.68/month Student (12-month) discount $150.00 SAVE $146* Teacher (month-to-month) $24.68/month Teacher (12-month) discount $150.00 SAVE $146* Teacher Package (12-months plus 10 Students) **If you want the College Plus, the monthly account is the only way to get those courses. Student Accounts will not have access to everything (courses, etc.) Study Guides, Test Prep is included. If you sign up for a plain Teacher's account, you would be charged if you also sign up a student. If you sign up for the Teacher Package -- which includes 10 students -- there are no extra fees. It's $300 a year for the Teacher Package which is $25/month. So, even if a homeschool parent is only teaching ONE child, the Teacher Package is the way to go in order to have access to the teacher resources/classrooms, and all courses. If you set up the wrong account, you have to delete your account, contact CS and they will fix things so you can set up the correct account. $300.00 SAVE $2,958*

Yes, but the free one. You can't invite students to a classroom unless they have their own account.

A teacher account allows you access to all high school (or below) level courses, guides, etc. You can set up courses and invite students to attend. The College Plus is a self-paced (mostly) course that you would take an exam for credit. Teachers cannot access the CP courses

Some assignments are automatically graded, others require parent/teacher to grade. Most history and English assignments seem to require teacher grading (rubrics provided). Most math is automatically graded with 1-3 problems on each assignment requiring teacher grading. The assignments are very creative, and IMO most can be skipped. I'm sorry, but no, my kid is not spending a couple of hours a day creating a comic strip, or writing a newspaper article. The daily assignments are a bit much. Most of those we simply substitute a paragraph narration which is attached and submitted for grading. You don't have to follow the rubric (obviously, I don't). We do the tests. Projects, not so much. (most of this is with my 7th grader). Oldest two have taken precalculus -- some of their explanations are difficult, but generally the material is solid. Oldest two are currently reviewing AP Stats with it. Oldest is also reviewing Chem. The test prep is easier than the tests (as far as SAT prep goes), Khan is probably better for that.

Well, we'll get to Test 3 (at least) before ds's SAT is rescheduled. I wasn't planning to get through all of the tests before August, though...are there more we should look for? I was only planning on doing one every 6 weeks or so through August. Do we need to do more than that? Goal is to raise his score by 150-200 points.

Well, we're talking military mail. It took six weeks for my birthday cards to arrive -- six weeks!

Just received notice today that my son's SAT on Saturday has been canceled (materials lost in the mail). No idea if we have any say on how to transfer to a different date -- or if we are stuck with whatever date the school sets (we have huge potential conflicts in February). Anyone here BTDT who can give me the skinny? UPDATE: 02/11/2017 When SATs are canceled, a make-up is scheduled to take place within a fairly quick time frame (ours was rescheduled for 4 February). IF you cannot make the rescheduled date, you can change your test to another date/place that is more convenient without any fee. The College Board system isn't always accurate. Their system had the make up date as 1/22 -- but the letter sent to us said 2/4. They couldn't find my son in the system until I provided his SS number. The people working the phones really try to be very helpful -- and succeed (at least the times I've called they have). So-- we are now set to take the SAT on 6 May in Rome. DS is going to spend the extra time prepping like a fiend, to make this the LAST one. Just 100 more points to goal!

Kids say the pulled pork tastes like I made it in the crock pot. My husband will be the true test, though. I think we may try it with my sauce (half recipe, plus some of the marinade) and his spice rub next time. It was easy to pull after 80 minutes on high. Probably took me just as long to decipher some of the instructions (and the condensation cup...lol) Going to keep trying a few things. Definitely was a time saver.

I'm hoping I don't blow anything up. Making pulled pork, using my crock-pot recipe. I sauteed the ingredients for the sauce first (saving a pot, because I normally have to do that on the stove, and then move things to the crock pot), added the boneless pork shoulder. I set it to meat/stew, and added about 20 minutes of extra time. Now, we wait. Next up, hardboiled eggs, and soon, I'll try a teriyaki chicken.

YAY! So happy for you both!

We got my oldest two children's applications in. I made LEGOManiac re-write his academic statement to address his good, but not great test scores. He's been making better study/life choices (on his own) of late (such as, realizing he only has so much time, and while he enjoys choir perhaps that isn't the best use of his time 9 hours a week -- when he also wants to do robotics, photography, plus other academic/athletic requirements). I'm just not sure how much that will matter for this summer. But, I thought it would better for him to acknowledge the weakness, and talk about what he plans to do to address it, than to act like his math score is what it could be (don't get me wrong, he's scoring above average -- but his math score should be closer to a 700, and would have been IF he had been following the prep course instead of blowing it off this fall. Lessons learned... Honestly, due to our Congressional District, the odds are stacked against either one right now (even if DS had stellar scores), but they have to try! Navy and US Merchant Marine Academy are the only two academies DS wants. USMMA has reached out to DS (informally) based upon swimming and academics. So -- get your applications in :D Decisions in April, which seems like a very long time off!

We have most of these resources now...hoping they will pay off ;) I'm having my daughter work through the Critical Reader and the Grammar book as part of English during next year's 10th grade (she's already scoring in the 1300s as a 9th grader, her issues are speed). As a result, she's doing 15 minutes a day on Khan Academy (alternating math/Reading) each day now, but she won't start taking practice exams until later this summer. Older DS is working through PWN the SAT and Khan Academy now, but he will be spending 3-4 hours a week practicing starting in February gearing up for the fall ACT/SAT taking monthly full exams, and some weekly section practice, alternating between math and CR/writing. I didn't have the SAT Math Game Plan book, so I'll add that to our studies for the coming year. His practice tests are scoring mid-1300s, but really need to practice to try to get that number closer to 1450 for scholarships. Just not enough time to bring that score up high enough in 10 days. I really wish we had started this time last year! I've changed my mind a lot about prep. Even a great math student benefits from prep -- because they may be great at math, just not great at doing math FAST. I looked at some of the work my son was doing. He didn't do things wrong -- he just did them "the long way." Something that should be two steps, he took 8 much longer steps to complete (converting negative exponents to decimals instead of using fractions). Same with the Reading & English scores, My kids (cold) scored about 700 first time out -- but familiarity and practice really helps. Memorizing the formulas helps. Lots of little things -- practicing with the materials, with the questions, understanding what they are asking (coming from a business background, when asked how many hours do you have to work before you make a profit, we thought the answer had to be the one beyond break even, but they wanted the break-even answer. In our mind, break even does not equal profit! But, understanding they were using the word "before" or "until" to indicate the break-even threshold is the difference between a right and wrong answer. Being good at math wouldn't have prepared him to answer that question the way the SAT was asking it -- only the prep helped clarify what the SAT wanted vs. how he interpreted the answer. I guess the thrust of this is -- even if you have a kid who is using solid material, who has tested really well on ITBS, Terra Nova, CAT (99th percentiles), do not overlook prep work -- especially if your kids need the high scores for scholarships.

I do it all the time.

Wow! Thank you, you guys :D Pony Girl tried to make me an Angel Food Cake (but it wouldn't come out of the pan...lol, still tastes good). PokeMan has been cleaning my house. Boo and Blondie bought me earrings, and made me cards, and LEGOManiac made me some breakfast. We watched the kids perform in The Jungle Book, and bought our food stuff for tomorrow. My gums and jaw still aren't healed very well... but despite that a pretty good day all around.

I'm setting up our chafing pans... Yakinidu Beef Teriyaki chicken Rice Spring rolls Empanadas Mozzarelline with pizza dipping sauce Pizza bites, possibly pigs in a blanket Little smokies Crab dip Jalapeno popper dip Assorted crackers, chips, salsa, cold dips, hummus fresh fruit and veggie bites, devilled eggs

Oldest was 12, period at 13...she's nearly 15 now, and nowhere near as curvy as I was at her age. Next is 10.5, no signs of anything.

Is it more important to send the application in early -- or to have better test scores? The only test scores I have available are from DS's freshman year. I'm assuming they have gone up a little in 2 years...haha! I also hate putting down his freshman scores, if there isn't a date to go along with them (a 25 in October of 9th grade is a bit different than a 25 in December of 11th). ACT scores could be ready any time between now and February!! I know we probably won't know about SS until April -- but I don't want us to space and just forget (Jan and Feb are quite busy here). Any tips/suggestions? Thanks!

Well...I had to stop. Despite having about 5 more loads to do. Out of laundry soap. Out of fabric softener. Keep in mind I have a TINY washing machine (think 4-5 bath towels)

A non-fundraising related vent. My sole Christmas present this year was from my mother...unless you count the one other gift I purchased myself. I don't subscribe to the whole, "I didn't know what to get you" mantra. I had probably 50 different things that I've put into the Amazon cart this year (which were then put into the "save for later." Now, I can and have purchased stuff for dh -- not so much "fun" stuff -- mostly because he purchases all of that for himself all year long. So, mostly t-shirts, Christmas Jammies, and other clothes. Adding to my whine. I had my LAST (6th) oral surgery this week. It makes eating rather difficult -- my jaw/gums are still sore and tender, everything has to be in teeny-tiny bites (unless it's really soft -- like baby-size bites). Bright spot: Coming early 2017 -- replacing my 5 missing teeth after 17 years (no, these are not "fine to do without them, teeth -- 2 eye teeth, 2 1-year molars and 1 2-year molar -- all on my upper jaw). I can't help but wonder what it will be like to chew with a full set! Venting over...

I feel your pain...the barf hit here Friday night. Not the flu, though. Only one child. Instead of trying to clean up the dry-clean only stuff, we just threw it out (oldest dd woke up in the middle of the night and just threw up all over her bed). The new set was under the tree (and is machine washable).

This year, we had a theme for Christmas: A Good Night's Sleep. So, kids got: new pillows new bedding (very much needed, my 17 year old still had dinosaur sheets from when he was 6, girls got new-to-them twin beds, etc). Bedding includes a 2" gel mattress topper, new duvet covers, oldest dd got an entire set) new PJs new socks (and underwear) ome new (and new to them) Ikea furniture (which kept us up very late assembling). Shower & personal hygiene items a book (two got their adult Bibles) and one other non-bed-related gift. Plus, gifts from the grandparents. Of course, all of the new sheets, duvet covers, socks, underwear, etc. have to be washed. Plus, some of the old-re-purposed stuff has to be washed (old pillows that will be doubled-up into the shams, boys' old comforters which will go into the new duvet covers, old blankets and sheets to either be stored or given away). My laundry over-flows. In other news...I've spent the morning spending my "Christmas and Birthday" money at Amazon. Instapot, Rice Cooker (because we often have to do both at the same time -- and summers here are brutal in the kitchen). My husband had not a clue what to buy (even though I've been putting stuff in the Amazon cart for months....:( )

Merry Christmas!

We finally got DD(9th) scores to show up. She scored just as high as her older brother, but slightly lower in reading/writing and slightly higher in math. I've set her up on a program (basically 15 minutes a day) to just review problems, so she can get faster at the test format, and keep skills fresh. She now says she wants to apply to a couple of Ivy's "just because."

Well, the page that loads when DD logs in says the PSAT 8/9 scores are available. We've been trying for 2 days, and nothing. I'm on the phone with them right now, and they are telling me they won't be available until January 29th??? I asked her where that information is, and she says on the College Board Website, and I told her that the main webpage says they are available. Long hold...as she went looking for more information. Essentially, keep checking until Friday. If after Friday, her scores still aren't posting, then call us back :( I think they must make money from people stalking their website...