You forgot to include the option for $0.

We didn't do a lot of testing, but I wish DD would have taken more AP tests. She is a good test taker. Even though she BOMBED her AP Stat class, and thought she failed the test, she still managed to pass it and get college credit. We were actually surprised. If I had it to do over, I probably would focus the last semester of senior year on a crash course study of those subjects where dd was strong to see how she could do on the AP tests. I bet she could have gotten credit in economics and political science. She did pretty well in her 300 level Politics of the Global Economy class that she took in the Fall of her Senior year, so this was an area of strength for her. Looking at those freshman level pre-requisites now has me wishing we did more to check those boxes last year.

We've had some great experiences vacationing with my sister's family - including Disney. My sister is the planner, and I am not. But I do plan Disney! If you don't make plans you will be at the mercy of the other family and everyone's emotions. I would recommend you make plans in advance for what days you'll be at which parks and get an idea of what's most important to you for each park. Do you want to plan any special meals? Are there any rides all the kids won't want to do? Do they still give out timed passes for the most popular rides? I think planning to do one thing each day with the other family would be plenty ambitious. Say, we'll meet for dinner at 6pm... or we'll get timed passes for Indiana Jones as soon as we get there. The rest of the time you can wing it... And when there's overlap that's great. You can't expect to keep a huge crowd together or it will feel like you're on a guided tour. I usually go early, rest (or cool off in a pool) in the afternoons when the park is most crowded, and stay at the park until closing. My sister's kids have a little less stamina than mine. They spent a whole lot of time at the hotel. But Disney is no fun when you're dragging tired kids around.

I'm so sorry you are going through such a difficult time. It's amazing how many lives are touched by one teenage pregnancy. Please make the investment necessary for professional counselling for the teens (and you), and get some legal advice. The situation is so complex. We are all sinners, and there are lots of teens struggling with the same sins. However, your daughter will wear her sins more openly than most. I commend her for choosing life. (Not trying to open a debate on abortion. The fact that you didn't mention it leads me to think it wasn't an option for her.) Good for her. I know how pro-life I am, and yet... I don't know if I would have been strong enough to go through with an inconvenient pregnancy. Remind her that those of us whose eyes gravitate to her during the next few months may be passing judgetment, but we may also be thinking any of the following: There, but for the grace of God, go I... Would I have been that strong?... I hope she's getting the support she needs... I'm still praying for her... or even... Wow, her hair looks amazing. Teen pregnancies are high-risk, and we all wish her well. I can't help but worry about things like calcium intake and swine flu. It's so unfair that a pregnant woman has to deal with such a mess. It's hard enough for the adults with stable hormone levels to deal with this stuff... my heart goes out to your daughter. A father has legal rights. You need to understand the situation in your state. He may not even be responsible for child support until he's 18, but the law will give him his legal rights - regardless of how well he fulfills his responsibilities. I've been told over and over by lawyers that it's next to impossible to sever a father's legal rights. But there is absolutely nothing you can do to make him take care of his responsibilities. You can put a father in jail for non-payment of child support, but there's nothing you can do when he doesn't show up for a visit or doesn't send a Christmas card. Repentance is important for the teens... But 'What's the best decision for the child?' is an entirely different question. She doesn't have to raise the baby to take care of her responsibilities. And she doens't have to place the baby for adoption as a condition of forgiveness. I believe you are entitled to inspiration to guide your daughter. I believe the parents-to-be are entitled to inspiration to determine the right course of action too. And none of the available options are going to be easy. The entire family is going to be affected by this. There are many emotions to process. You will get through this. And you will have so much more strength with which to bless the rest of us because of this experience. Congratulations may be in order, but that sounds so premature to me. What if the right thing to do is to place the baby for adoption? I read this thread (all 18 pages) with that perspective in mind, and each enthusiastic congratulations felt like the stab of a knife in the heart. What if there's another family that is supposed to be blessed with this baby? If you are celebrating too early, will that just make even more painful to do the right thing? Be patient. These kids may change their minds several times over the next few months. Again, I recommend a good counsellor who shares your values and can counsel both teens. Try not to be offended by anyone. Even strangers are affected by your daughter's pregancy. Those who seem judgemental may just be trying to make sure their kids realize this is not an example to follow. The problem with only talking about babies, and single-parenting, and teen-parenting as a blessing is that we glorify it... and we don't want to encourage others to follow your daughter's difficult path. A friend of mine has a child who just went through a similar situation. They chose an open adoption, and it was terribly difficult for everyone. the grandmothers both ached to have the baby in their lives. I was on pins and needles praying for all of them for months. When the child was born I was so excited... and so proud of those teenage parents. Hallmark doesn't sell a 'Congratulations on Giving Your Baby Away' card, but I couldn't have been more proud of them. They did the most difficult thing I think anyone could do; they selflessley provided for their child. I didn't have that level of maturity and selflessness until I had been a mother for several years. They have no idea that I was so affected by their journey. I think they were surprised enough by the impact their decisions had on their immediate family. Finally, take our (and everyone else's) thoughts with a grain of salt. We all view your trials through our own experiences. Just because you are entitled to personal revelation doesn't mean we are entitled to revelation on your behalf! Best wishes to you and yours.

Interesting conversation. I don't think I could have a hypothetical conversation with my daughter about this subject. I always feel like saying something outloud would give her permission to do it. If we had a plan laid out... well, that would be like setting expecations to me. Does anyone else feel that way? Or is it just me? I have pretty high expectations for morality. We frequently discuss how to stay out of situations that might lead to temptation. It was REALLY tough for me to have a conversation about the birth control with DD. She was around 13, and it went something like this... These are MY standards, and I know that these are your standard NOW. But sometimes people change their standards. I want you to know that if your standards ever do change, that I want you to let me know so we can put you on the pill. I would be disappointed if you chose to live a different kind of life than me, and I think you'll be happiest if you choose chastity. But it would be UNACCEPTABLE for you to be irresponsible. And, frankly, if you're too young to talk about it, you are too young to be doing it. I'm pretty sure I went on to talk about what a terrible thing it would be to bring a baby into the world without a Dad. This point hits home for her since I raised her alone. Anyway... I felt it was my responsibility to have the conversation. But DD was horrified and offended that I would talk like that... like I EXPECTED her to make choices like that.

No bath mat here. They tend to collect hair too fast on my bathroom floor. Am I the only one? Is that why my mom looked at me like I was crazy for not having one by the tub. I told her to use a towel, and she looked at me like I had two heads.

I voted for 18, because normally I wouldn't leave a teen home alone for the weekend. However... I have left town without a 'babysitter' when dd was 16. DD stayed home 'alone' at 16 while I traveled on business. I always arranged for her to have dinner and sleep at a friend's house... very rarely allowing a friend to sleep over here. I just didn't want her to get lonely. My kid is very resonsible. So she drove herself around to her various appointments during the day. I've also left DD in the care of near strangers for business trips when she was in 6th-8th grade. That was much more uncomfortable for me.

We don't have any experience with it, but there's a very reasonably priced option at BYU. Startalk is partially funded by grants from the US government. They do have native speakers with each group. And their Arabic camp was $800 last year. They also offer Chinese. http://nmelrc.byu.edu/startalk/

DD is capable of getting much better grades than she does. In order to allow me to step out of the day to day activities and reward her for good grades, we have a plan that will incent her to get good grades. I am paying for her dorm room, and food. She may also receive a monthly allowance of some sort. Tuition payment each semester will be determined by her grades the previous semester. A 3.75 GPA will get her 100% tuition the next semester, and a 2.0 will get her 50% tuition. Anything under 2.0, and she's responsible for the entire tution bill. Anything over 3.75 and she will get an extra cash bonus. My preference is for her NOT to work, at least for the first year. I'd prefer her to focus her time and energy on getting good grades and taking advantage of extra curricular activities. However, if she doesn't focus on her grades enough, she needs to get a job and make a financial contribution. I'm excited about this plan because I feel like the dollar amounts are right for us. I don't need to worry about her grades, because they are hers... She can decide how she wants to structure her life and how much of a focus she wants on her grades. But I'm not making sacrifices so she can blow off those grades.

I didn't read the article yet But we have an exchange student with us this year from South Korea. I think their long school schedule has a huge impact on the family. She spent very little time with her family while attending highschool in South Korea. However, their highschool allowed for a lot of socializing with classmates. The lack of socialization in an American high school was one of her first surprises here.

Grading is subjective. If your child did more work than what you consider 'usual' do you count it as extra credit to raise a B to an A? Or do you consider it an honors course? An honors course at one school can be the same caliber as a regular course at another schools. Admissions folks don't know our schools to be able to compare them to others. After talking to some public school teachers, I finally decided all grades are subjective - not just mine. But my homeschool grades are different because... no one would even care what they are! So I let go of the stress. She earned As and Bs. If she didn't earn a B by the end of the year, she did extra work through the summer to earn a B. Some of our classes were more difficult than the public school. At least one was easier than a public school course. I labeled college courses as Honors on DD's transcript and bumped up the GPA accordingly. Just in case someone did care about her GPA, I didn't want DD to look worse than the kids from the public school with their weighted GPAs. This was easier to justify than giving honors credit for some of our homestudy courses and non-honors to some of the college courses. Our transcript lists the Course Name, Grade Earned, Credits Earned, Weighted Points and Unweighted points. It also includes COURSE FLAGS where relevant. Course Flags are defined at the bottom of the transcript. Here are a couple of them: P - Course in Progress S - Scheudled to be Taken PHS - Public High School (accredited) CC - Community College (accredited) CCA - Community Collge (audited) UNI - University (accredited) I used the same transcript pattern as the local public schools. I figured admissions folks would be familiar with it.

You are teaching your children to take responsibility for their lives rather than show up to fulfill someone else's agenda. Your children will be more successful in this world if they learn how to set their own agenda and work through whatever obstacles come up to get it accomplished than they will by learning how to sit quietyly and follow rules.

for me the biggest change was Outsourcing... and the amount of money I spent. We only homeschooled the last three years of highschool. And I made a lot of decisions based on expense the first year. If I had it to do over I would probably choose higher priced options instead of the frugal ones I did. DD pushed for a lot of independence. And we ended up spending a lot of money on university courses. I've been looking longingly at The Great Books Program lately... but it's too late to go back in time and use their curriculum. I wish I would have recognized how expensive high school is and budgeted accordingly. It still would have been cheaper than a private school in our area - with more freedom. When we started, I thought we could do almost everything on our own. Now, my first choice is to find a private tutor at the beginning of the school year for any subject that might be a challenge.

You sound like a crazed fan because you ARE a crazed fan. I can't wait to see what it is... I might be buying my first Teaching Company program.

Our local high school has 'gone green'. Teachers have a very limited number of copies available. So they put all of their files online and the kids are expected to print them out. I think it's funny that they call it going green when each kid is expected to print a 30 page power point for a new chapter. Our public schools are just bread and circus to keep people distracted.

Don't be afraid of the high school boards! The folks there are very helpful. You choose your location when you sign up for the test. It will tell you how early to arrive and what to bring. They should even specify what kind of calculators are allowed somewhere on the website.

It's best to under-cook it a little before you freeze it. That way, when you thaw it in the microwave, you won't burn it.

Cross-posted with the Self-Education board... Hoping you ladies have some ideas for me. Since DD is going off to college, I'm embarking on a new self-education journey. I would like to do a 3-4 year history cycle, and need your help deciding what to use. I'm going to use Susan's new/high school level Ancient History and Medieval History books. I will start on the Ancients as soon as dd finishes with it. I will supplement with Teaching Company CDs through our library. Would it be worthwhile to go ahead and buy the SOTW audio series too? Would it help me internalize/memorize the stories? Or would it be too boring for a grown-up? What about the activity books? Is there anything worthwhile in there? Sounds silly, I know. But I'm about to be a 39 year-old empty-nester and plan to steal my friends' children regularly to give them time for date-night. You might say I'm going to practice being a grandma while I transition into whatever's next for me. I've got full access to a 1 year old and 3 year old. I know the 3 year old would love to mumify a chicken with me. Are the activity books full of cool activities like that? Or are they more academic (and too boring)? What age would the activity books be good for? What I really want is entertainment. I'm less and less interested in the movies, tv, and pop culture of today. I'd like my eduational journey to be a fun one. Any thoughts on how SOTW would fit in? Or do you have any ideas of what else I should look into?

I think most of these requirements are perfectly reasonable, and I was surprised the schools dd applied to didn't require it. BYU does weigh their decisions heavily on test scores for homeschoolers, and I made sure DD had an interview while she was touring the school. But I still consider them homeschool friendly. They're are just looking for a way to compare your homeschooler to the other applicants. Once she's there, her teachers won't even know she homeschooled high school. If your child attended a public or regular private school in the area, they would already have details on the educational philosophy, graduation requirements, course descriptions, etc. I think they're just trying to get that information on your school to determine the rigor of the curriculum. I have learned to hate grades. They are so arbitrary. When I realized colleges weren't going to care what grades I gave my daughter, it took a huge weight off my shoulders.

Since DD is going off to college, I'm embarking on a new self-education journey. I would like to do a 3-4 year history cycle, and need your help deciding what to use. I'm going to use Susan's new/high school level Ancient History and Medieval History books. I will start on the Ancients as soon as dd finishes with it. I will supplement with Teaching Company CDs through our library. Would it be worthwhile to go ahead and buy the SOTW audio series too? Would it help me internalize/memorize the stories? Or would it be too boring? What about the activity books? Is there anything worthwhile in there? Sounds silly, I know. But I'm about to be a 39 year old empty nester and plan to steal my friends' children regularly to give them adult time. You might say I'm going to practice being a grandma while I transition into whatever's next for me. I've got full access to a friend's 1 year old and 3 year old. I know the 3 year old would love to mumify a chicken with me. Are the activity books full of cool activities like that? Or are they too more academic (boring)? What age would the activity books be good for? What I really want is entertainment. I'm less and less interested in the movies, tv, and pop culture. I'd like my eduational journey to be a fun one. Any thoughts on how SOTW would fit in? Or do you have any ideas of what else I should look into?

At my house it's the tap-tap-tap of the woodpeckers. I thought I had taken care of them, but they (and their holes) are back.

We are having senior photos taken by a friend who is an amazing photographer (www.julia-wade.com). She is going to create a collage on cardstock that will include the announcement. I've seen something similar for wedding announcements and thought they were fun. We'll probably throw in a business card size invite for the graduation party.

A lot of kids first take the SAT in 7th grade. Usually, they are invited to take it by a teacher who has identified them as gifted. There are gifted programs that use the 7th grade test info to determine who to invite. There's no harm in taking the ACT or SAT early in high school. We started with the ACT at the end of Sophmore year because we used it for year-end testing. No stress. No prep. No expectations. Just took it as part of the homeschooling process and used it as a gauge for where she stood. We used different testing locations in different years and that gave us an idea of where to avoid for the last tests she took before college apps. DD had finished Saxon 2 and American Lit through Classical Conversations. She had taken Chemistry, but not Biology. The ACT showed a glaring gap in the science education she had at that point. She had bounced around a lot of schools and never had what I would consider a fifth grade science class.

My 10th grader checked her Saxon assignments and had to re-do any problem that she didn't get right. That class was so tedious. Checking your own work makes more sense with math than something like Biology. I checked Biology work and had DD redo the problems she had missed. You are right... if checking the answer means they've been told the answer, then you don't get a lot of learning opportunity out of checking your work.

Look closely at the course offerings. Some colleges market summer college experiences for high schoolers, but the courses are really just high school fluff. You'll want to make sure the courses will give them a college transcript. Or you might be interested in the programs designed with AP courses. I remember seeing one at Georgetown that looked good.