Theory is that they are trying to push UC Scout to the forefront of everyone's list of choices. :glare:

Kiddo waited till ready to place at higher level classes because then, the classmates were more focused (though not always for math classes, unfortunately). Kiddo also took purely for fun classes in music and foreign language. One good practice towards being college ready is to have her do stuff like that. :001_smile:

Thanks Bill!

13yos who teach themselves stuff often know quite a lot of ins and outs that grown ups don't (at least this grown up!). :laugh: Thank you!

Hi guys, My Adobe subscription goes up to $29.99/month from April onwards and as a recently-launched designer/start-up owner I can't afford to pay $10 more per month. At the same time, I'm also sad to let Illustrator go (that's what I use the most). So a friend suggested Affinity. If you've used both, what do you think of the difference between Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Designer? I'll still need to subscribe to Acrobat Pro for editing PDFs though...do you use a comparable software that costs less? Thank you!

As someone who often has to solve tech problems I totally appreciate all the time and effort (and money) that might be going into this. Thank you Susan and team!

The drop down list she refers to is the list that auto-populates with names of courses when you enter your (B&M) high school name/code. Those courses will be a-g approved as they are provided by the high school. We homeschoolers do it manually as we don't have a school code. I don't think you have an autopopulated list even if you use a charter. You will have an autopopulated list for classes taken via a CA community college though. The dropdown I was referring to in the other thread is the subject category dropdown menu. When you enter a class, you can indicate that it belongs to one of the a-g categories as per my attached sample in the CAHSEE thread. For high school kids, they might not even see that subject category dropdown unless they are manually entering a class into the application. When the UC application opens in August you can take a look if interested. It's not easy to explain if both of us are not taking a look at the application at the same time.

What I've heard from friends...young men are not the issue. It seems to be older men who don't get the message that a girl is not interested. Teach her skills others have mentioned as well as where security is located and how to contact them if needed. If she is able to take maturity level of classes, she should be mature enough to learn what she needs to do to keep herself safe (applies to younger boys too). If it really is an issue, perhaps you could both visit and walk through the campus a few times, showing her areas where you would pick her up (assuming she won't be driving or taking public transportation), and just general things like where the campus police are located, how to ask them to escort her to your car if needed, etc.

We listed DS"s one year of high school Japanese as Introduction to Japanese followed by Japanese 1, 2, and 3 (using the college codes for the courses e.g. Japanese 120, 121, 220, etc.) from the community college (transcript sent with the application shows which ones were at college level). For the second question, you could list it based on need. If your DS has ample academic credits, list it as an extracurricular. If he has ample extracurriculars, list it in the relevant academic subject section. Based on this description, I might choose academic credit over extracurricular if he has sufficient extracurriculars.

:001_wub: :001_wub: :001_wub:

Here's the sample that I did a year or maybe two years before kiddo applied (so not kiddo's actual application). You can see subject categories on the left.

And a picture paints a 1000 words. Thank you daijobu!

When the number of homeschooled applicants equals or exceeds the number of B&M school applicants, it is possible that UC will craft the application differently. Until then, homeschooled kids are put in a different box and their applications reviewed differently. Which means that we'll have to be patient and do things differently (personally, I'm proud that we do...we are a pretty resilient/creative bunch aren't we?) :) It's how the portal was designed. Obviously by a bunch of folks who did not foresee how quickly homeschooling exploded all over CA. I bet in a few years, UC will redesign the application (that is if their budget allows for it).

I am NOT saying that their a-g stamp is not serious. I have not been able to spend time to craft more careful responses and for that I apologize. But yes, they are serious about a-g. That's how they categorize the courses and they want high schools to teach a-g classes approved by UC. At the same time they allow students who have not taken that track to be reviewed based on SAT subject test/AP scores and DE classes. There's another way to look at this. Say a student does not take the college-prep track at their high school but decides in junior year that they want to be a competitive student for UC. Said student can then self study and show some "rigor" in academic choices by taking these classes/tests and scoring well. I see it as a way for UC to be open about the way they admit students. When I was with my charter, I was led to believe all sort of requirements existed, that there was only one way to do things. Only after a lot of prodding did my ES admit that there is a non-college prep track. And then only after leaving the charter did I realize that there are students admitted without following a-g all along. Here's what many of them did: took courses to their heart's content. Took courses that were truly meaningful. And then validated those classes with an AP/DE class in junior and/or senior year. The AP score basically said my student did all these crazy cool things for math/history/science what have you. And oh well, my student did crazy cool creative things and scored a 4 or 5 in the AP exam (when in many instances the crazy cool things finished in younger high school levels were of higher value/more depth than the AP syllabus). The risk for us homeschoolers is that we don't have the B&M stamp of approval (and this applies to applying to any college, not just UCs) and so we have to jump a few more hoops. I would recommend all homeschoolers who want to be competitive for UCs to take the SAT subject tests anyway. Especially if you are targeting the more selective UCs. Here are the exact words: "Keep in mind that taking approved high school ("a-g") courses isn't the only way to satisfy these requirements. You also may meet them by completing college courses or earning certain scores on SAT, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams." Source: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/requirements/a-g-requirements/index.html Here is another way that they say it: "Courses from California high schools and online schools used to satisfy the "a-g" subject requirements must be approved by UC and appear on the institution's "a-g" course list. These courses are to be academically challenging, involving substantial reading, writing, problems and laboratory work (as appropriate), and show serious attention to analytical thinking, factual content and developing students' oral and listening skills." Source: https://www.ucop.edu/agguide/a-g-requirements/ (Emphasis mine). A lot of their wording seems to apply most to public high schools. The point I have been trying to make is that based on my teen's experience, based on a few boardies' experience, based on about a dozen or so parents' experience in my local homeschooling groups in the last 2-3 years at least, the two most selective campuses, UCB and UCLA, are starting to be very flexible about how they read and review homeschoolers' applications. Another point I am trying to make is that the student has a lot of opportunity to explain their specific method of approaching the bolded statement above. Teach your student to express themselves well in the application. Teach them to substantiate the claims they make about their education (and of course, do the best you can to prepare them in other ways too). All the people I know who have been admitted without fulfilling all the a-g's are unapologetic about their goals and homeschooling philosophy. They refused to check boxes "just because" and tell their students there is only one path left (transferring) "just because". Then in junior and senor year they made some decisions that were "just because" just so their kids had a few areas where it was easy to compare apples to apples with other kids (but still allowing their kids so much more flexibility). Sorry to ramble. Just want to encourage you guys to be true to your kids' calling/spirit/need. Call the UCs directly and ask them questions. If possible have your student do it.

My comments about the drop-down box is to support the concern that the application does not give you a chance to report classes as a-g approved/not approved. The application only asks to indicate which a-g category the class falls under. The UCs provide lots of guidelines. They are big about legal compliance and I think all that they do to provide guidelines and resources is to make sure they spell everything out clearly. I just want to reassure folks that: 1. Not every class has to be a-g approved. ETA: what should and shouldn't is so case specific...but a good number of homeschoolers in my circles have been accepted without crossing every t and dotting every i. So Calming Tea, again, your "It is abundantly clear to me that as a de facto rule they only want/accept A-G APPROVED courses." is not 100% true. 2. Non a-g approved classes can still be reported on the application, you won't be lying if you do so. 3. There are lots of opportunities to explain a student's situation. 4. Students *are* going to be more competitive with SAT subject and AP tests...that's a given. UCs are not the only colleges that expect that though...if a student has only self studied everything all four years, any college (at least selective tier) is going to ask for validation of some sort. Many of my teen's ninth grade classes were unschooled for example but following these up with DE and/or AP in sophomore to senior year was a good way to validate them while giving my teen rigor craved for. 5. Last point I swear...I don't think UCs realize that we homeschoolers have this board as a resource for classes/courses/providers. Part of the function of their approved lists might simply be to give us homeschoolers a hand in choosing legitimate, high quality classes with "quality" being subjective. 😊

The additional comments has a 500-word space to use to explain any additional situation your student didn't include in the essays. The student can mention CHSPE, how a CC forced the student to graduate, why the student wanted to take CHSPE in the first place, course descriptions (because unlike common app there is no uploading feature in the UC app to include transcripts and course descriptions). Just give them full context. No need to feel like one is lying by choosing a-g *categories* for the classes the student took. My teen somehow managed to convey all necessary details for over 40 high school classes in there. Use abbreviations if needed. I suspect they do read it all (homeschoolers are put into a different pile if I recall correctly).

Please look at the UC application before jumping to conclusions that indicating a class as an a-g category equates to implying it is a-g "approved". The application does not ask if a class is a-g approved. It only asks what subject (a-g) category the class can be categorized under. The UCs provide a list of approved vendors as a guideline. I suspect this is all similar to how people worry about taking accredited classes when self studied classes can be above and beyond some of the accredited ones in quality.

It all boils down to each student's and family's goals. Taking risks for the sake of love of learning is such a fundamental part of our lives, not just for homeschooling. We are stubborn and perhaps a little foolish and idealistic too but we love experimenting and pushing boundaries just a little bit here and there. It's odd because we are also rule followers and wouldn't dream of lying. But life is too short to not try different things and find ways to keep love of learning bright. And the UCs are very friendly when you call and ask. I know for certain that at least UC Berkeley is. However, I don't expect they will give you a blanket statement about a-gs. And perhaps why each time I called they had a set response: give us context. The personal statements are very important and a great way to explain a student's situation!

I suspect the charter didn't do their homework (i.e. reading the CHSPE website). My other guess is ditto what Arcadia said upthread. It's so great that you have found something that works for your kids. Good for you! But please be careful about the information shared. I'm sharing what I know after sending a kid to UCs and having had my kid accepted to all five of the leading campuses that my kid applied to. No one questioned the application. Kid provided all info as honestly and completely as possible taking into account that CHSPE was taken and passed at age 11 with mom feverishly checking all websites every year to make sure CHSPE and UC rules had not changed. I also moderate my local facebook group with at least 20 families following in the same footsteps (or having already walked those steps with kids now graduated from UC). Lying on an application would have kept us parents up at night. :)

Why would auditing be a problem? Have you seen the application? Do you know what the options available to a student are to complete the application? I don't want to assume that you are implying that my student lied in the application but that's what it sounds like. Honestly, the charters have totally messed up how families look at a-g. Please look at the application in August and then tell me how else we are supposed to answer the application.

re-phrased post...see below

Do understand that so many of the "requirements" were made for kids in B&M schools. Berkeley and UCLA, the top 2 UCs, have been quite generous with homeschoolers as far as I know.

When filling in the application, provide as much context as possible. If they ask for verification, it usually means something might be unclear in your son's application. Just explain the situation as accurately as possible.

Calming Tea, the UCs don't care about the CHSPE. A lot of the issues homeschoolers seem to be concerned about seem to be, from my close observation in the last few years, based on what the charters want. For example, open up a UC application and you will see that there's no way anywhere in the application form to say that the classes you took are a-g approved. Every class your student takes is self reported in the application and the drop down menu asks you to choose which subject category it is in (a-g categories) but not if the class is from an approved vendor. So the whole worry and fear CA homeschoolers are having about classes being approved seems quite unnecessary. Just take a class in the subject area and report it as a class in that subject category. Just last year alone I have heard back from a number of parents about their kids getting into UCs without taking those "approved" classes. The same seems to apply for UC's "rule" about not taking a SAT subject test in the same subject area as a DE/college class. As for CHSPE, here's UC's take on the matter: If a student has passed the California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE), what path should they take to gain admission to UC?The CHSPE is not a factor in the admissions process for UC. All freshman applicants must meet the same admission requirements. Source: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/q-and-a/selection/index.html#2

Trabug is right. Passing the CHSPE does not automatically exempt you from attending school. Charters sometimes make up their own rules.