Just jumping in to agree with this. My son did a lot of interviews, and there were actually a mix of different styles and it wasn't always the case that he would know who he would get in advance. One of the ivies just had a group of kids come to interview with a group of alums in a fixed location, and each kid would get somewhat randomly paired with an alum. So definitely no expectation of knowing anything about your interviewer in advance. The interviewers that he would be able to find in advance, he would just search to get an idea if they would have particular information about his major or fields he was interested in. He said he never brought up anything that he learned about the interviewer, lol. I think you are right on in having your child be quite familiar with the school and know lots about why they want to attend. So as long as they aren't interviewing with Brown and talking about how much they like Princeton, or something else equally egregious (I've heard that really happened, lol), you should be just fine 🙂

When my oldest was applying to college, we followed along with our friend who was applying for theatre at the same time (they applied to many of the schools that I've seen you mention on your list!). It's basically a double application process and just brutal with all of the auditioning. Hang in there! Not that this is a particularly helpful comment, but my son ended up NEVER visiting the school that he is attending now. Much of our visit time fell during the early days of the pandemic when there were no vaccines and campuses were COMPLETELY shut down. Luckily, we had made two trips right before things closed and were able to evaluate UIUC and UMich in-person. Looking back, I think it was good for us to get the feel of a larger state school in-person since we didn't have much context (DH and I both went to a smaller, private university). However, we had a HUGE list and DS ended up picking completely sight unseen. While, of course, this is not what you want to do, my son absolutely loves where he is and it all worked out great in the end. I truly believe that there were many schools on our list where he would have found a place to be happy. I tend not to go for the whole "one dream school" idea, and you can always transfer if things end up not being a good fit! So try really hard not to stress if you can't quite squeeze in all of the visits that you would like! It really can work out okay without 🙂

This happened during the year that my older son applied as well. Tons of kids with crazy good stats were postponed and then got in during the next round of admissions. Their window for evaluating EA apps always struck us as pretty tight based on the number of apps they receive! I'm pretty sure they just defer the ones they don't quite get to. Definitely not fun to get deferred, but I would not give up hope since they are pretty famous for doing that! Good luck!

From your tone I got the impression that it might be a point of contention between the two of you. If there are tears, stomach issues, and frustration, then learning isn't happening. It sounds like you would benefit from something that others are suggesting (maybe math-u-see or Teaching Textbooks?). If those suggestions don't allow for more independence on her part and time to defuse the struggle between the two of you, then maybe you could find a local student to tutor her or outsource math somehow? It sounds like a tough situation, and I hope you can find a way to take the emotional pressure off of both of you! For what it's worth, I've definitely heard of families that don't do all of the drill problems in Saxon! They pick just the odds or the evens and minimize the pages of endless problems (which can be disheartening!) that way. Yikes. I hope this isn't in response to my concerns about labeling a young girl as having "a brain that doesn't work that way." I would certainly never call that "evil", regardless! I think it was the particular phrases and words that the OP used in the original message were perhaps triggering to me, as I had to deal with so much labeling and overcoming assumptions as a female in STEM while growing up. I was one of only two women to graduate in my major in college and was constantly dealing with working in all-male groups and assumptions being made about my abilities because of my gender. Hopefully, things are better for young women in STEM now than they were twenty years ago! And don't get me started on marketing or discussions that assume that "poor homeschool moms" need to outsource math, or that this would surely be the subject we can't handle! Those things bring back less than pleasant memories.

I guess I shouldn't fuss about paying relatively high tuition since I'm happy with what I get. I will say that our CC system has been absolutely amazing for my two who have taken classes there so far. There are, of course, some profs who are ridiculous and easy, and if we'd only taken classes based on schedule convenience or random chance, I probably wouldn't say as many good things about DE! We've had to be very intentional in talking with other HS parents to hear about the "must take" profs, and those aren't always the ones with good ratings on RMP. One of our favorite math profs ends up failing more than half of the class because he sticks with his methods and standards, regardless of how the students manage. His ratings are definitely not the best! I wonder if some of the CCs that people call trash or not worth it despite being free don't have some hidden gems of professors that would make a difference here and there? Even when the materials are somewhat standardized across the sections at the CC, we've still found a pretty wide variety in how the professors use those materials. If you don't love Stewart Calculus, yeah, you are probably not going to be keen on DE Calc at our CC, but not all of the profs use Webassign and many just do their teaching of the subject and use the book as a backup with explanations. I am now wondering about the wide variety of CC systems around the country!

Hmmm... so I guess there's some math trauma that goes way back. I'm sure it's really hard to come back to a subject that it sounds like has only led to frustration and maybe shame. As an adult I can sometimes find it hard to tackle things that I can't easily succeed at, and it's that much harder for a child. It's great that you have a math background, though of course working with your child is a lot different than managing a classroom. It's also great that you are verbally telling her the right things, but I'm sure it can be frustrating to work with her if you feel that her pace is so slow. I'm sure others on here will have better advice with regards to what curricula might be good for a next move. If you feel that she's making progress and is not feeling threatened by math (i.e. you don't end up in a power struggle over the subject or have any other parent/child dynamics that come into play during math time), then just continuing to move along at her pace sounds like the way to go. Maybe just supplementing with some youtube videos or other online activities could help her feel more engaged than just pages of arithmetic? There are so many fun things out there for middle-school/early high school levels of math... solving problems that progressively color in pixel art, games, desmos, and other tools that just let kids play with numbers and relationships. Best of luck in mixing things up!

Wow, I'm living in the wrong part of the country for DE. If my kid takes one, 3 credit class I have to pay about $750! So taking more than a 3 credit class (pretty much anything STEM ends up being at least 4 credits) costs us a lot for just one semester. *sigh* I read about people who get free DE in their area as homeschoolers and just drool.

I'm more concerned that it seems like you are ready to throw in the towel and find "something easier" for a 14 year-old. It also sounds like you are ready to label your daughter as being bad at both math and science, but I'd maybe first look into whether your method of teaching or explaining might not mesh with her style of learning? Once there is frustration, it can be hard for a child to approach a subject openly if they feel unsuccessful. If you are labeling her as not having a brain that "works that way," that message is surely being internalized on her part as well. If I'm reading your post right, you are just using Saxon, which for many is a "drill and kill" kind of curriculum that may not work for tons of kids. Now, it is, of course, entirely possible that your daughter will have no interest in a STEM field or pursuing higher level mathematics, but many girls lose confidence in their abilities in those fields at exactly your daughter's age. There are many social factors that can contribute to this. I would hate for her to internalize the message that she's "bad at math and science" at her age. Just not doing well with Saxon is really not a reason to draw some of the conclusions that you seem to be drawing. Maybe I'm reading a lot between the lines, but your use of certain phrases really stood out for me.

DS has a flight back tomorrow. Classes start on January 5th virtually and will remain virtual for the first half-week as well as the second full-week. They hope to resume in-person instruction on the third week. Boosters are required for everyone. Students are supposed to try their best to get PCR testing prior to returning to campus. However, they are aware that tests are unavailable in many areas, so students who can't find one will just have to undergo an extra round of testing on-campus. In my area, there is no testing to be found anywhere before DS leaves (the holiday didn't help with this!), so he'll be doing it all on campus. Students quarantine in their dorms until all rounds of entry testing are complete. Because of the initial 1.5 weeks virtual, students will not all be arriving at the same time. They are trickling in during the virtual period and will be completing entry testing on a rolling schedule. All students are to wear KN95 masks or better, and all food is to be eaten inside individual dorm rooms or outdoors. I'm assuming that they will be resuming the initial fall testing schedule which I think was that all students were being tested every 4 days or so. More frequently than weekly, if I recall correctly. DS is excited to get back to campus. He's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to focus on classwork from home with all of the distractions, and his roommate is arriving back to campus a bit later, so he'll have the room to himself for attending class. We'll see how things go!

Jumping in with another "yep!" My middle son is in this class this year and loves the subject and Jetta. She has a wonderful sense of humor and does a great job of presenting the material. My son will actually reference things he's learned in the class when we are out in the real world, so I would say it's having an impact!

Same same! It's only when I see him in person (during two short breaks so far) that I can slowly get the full picture of what's happening. Mine will reply if I instigate some text exchanges, but he's mostly running around busy and not the most communicative on a daily basis. *sigh* I only have hopes that my third son will be a bit more communicative when he goes away. I'm pretty sure that my second may be even less "chatty" (haha) than my first!

And another super happy first-year student here. I think that after taking his gap year to avoid the worst of the pre-vaccine covid year, my son loves it so much because he appreciates the privilege of actually being on campus and in-person. I will say that one advantage of taking the gap year after being admitted was that he had many months to connect with his future classmates online via zoom, so he had a great group of friends ready to go when he arrived on campus. I wondered whether or not they would stay together once they arrived and met so many other students, but they are all still great friends, so that's been a pleasant surprise that made everything better. He's having a fabulous time not only with the academics, but also exploring new things outside of his classes. He went bouldering for the first time and has taken up rock climbing at the gym as well. He's become a basketball fan (it's a school thing), and he and his friends take turns camping out overnight (apparently it's like a Black Friday campout line before all of the home games) to score student section basketball tickets. I never would have imagined him getting into school sports and school spirit, but he's loving the camaraderie. I had such a hard time when he first left (checking his location on my phone all the time, lol!), but I'm doing so much better now. He's become so independent, so quickly, that it's really eased my mind about his preparation for college and whether homeschooling all the way through was the right choice. It's a great feeling to have that first one launch successfully!

I only assigned letter grades (I had a key on the transcript with something like 90-100 - A, 80-89 - B, etc.). Our dual enrollment transcript from the community college also only had letter grades. Actually, my oldest took one class at the local high school as a part-time enrollment student and he also only got a letter grade there. Do people even put numeric grades?

https://www.zdf.de/kinder/logo It was actually ZDF and not DW that hosts the program. It still seems to be active.

My oldest ds also took German as his main foreign language throughout high school. He did one year DE at the local cc, but then finished German 3 and 4 with WTMA. He really liked both of those classes (he used the Sag Mal materials at the CC and then the geni@l klick materials (by Klett) at WTMA). The Klett materials were pretty much all in German, but he enjoyed them because he thought the readings and cultural notes were interesting. I had another son start with German 1 (no previous exposure) using those same books (all in German) at WTMA another year (he ended up swapping languages after that, but did learn a lot during his German 1 class), and he didn't find the materials to be a problem. I think as long as there is support and other outside exposure, using all German materials shouldn't be a stumbling block even for beginners. You could always purchase another used series that has more English in it if you think that your student is turned off by those "immersion-style" textbooks. One resource that my oldest really enjoyed was watching Logo on Deutsche Welle. It is a news program geared for kids, so they would bring up topics that kids would enjoy and used simpler language. They release a new episode daily (I think?), so that's a good resource that he liked. There are also plenty of online TV shows/etc. available that students can start listening to from the beginning, even when they don't understand much. It's good to start hearing the rhythms and rewarding when you can pick out words that you know as you learn more. My oldest has surprised me by wanting to continue his German studies in college, and is having a lot of fun learning more this year. He may end up studying abroad at some point if his interest continues, so I'd say he was happy with his German experiences in high school that prepared him to study the language further in college. Good luck with the course. I hope the class improves, but keep in mind that a beginner will benefit from approaching the language from lots of different angles, so make sure you are watching media (try out Logo) and building vocabulary (my guys all like Quizlet) as you go. You can even throw in an app or two like duolingo. The more you build a habit of daily exposure, the more successful you will be with the new language.

That's what we did. Once you get their accounts set up, you will just need to enter the join codes that your host school gives you for each of the exams that they will be taking this year. Once you enter the codes, it should display the exam dates and the testing location on the College Board site. If you are taking these AP classes with an online provider, you will also enter the code that they give you to have access to the online prep materials. If you are self studying, it's pretty easy to do a course audit (I did it for the first time this year) to get a syllabus approved, and then you can manage online practice problems, videos, etc. for them as a part of your class.

Definitely agree with this. We had an absolutely exceptional Precalc prof at the CC last year, and I have to wonder how they continue to allow him to run such a great class. He covered lots of extra content (even Gauss-Jordan Elimination and other side topics that not all courses get to), and, unfortunately, way more than half of the class failed. The students (often remedial who were not able to start at the CC with calculus) could not manage the pacing as well as the exams. He was amazing as a teacher, but probably a really bad fit for what the students at that level needed. Most CC precalc classes are not going to be run in such a rigorous manner that would yield those kind of failure rates!

In this particular case, they are all PCR tests (they are not doing rapid testing at all that I know of). The students are getting the results a day or so after going for testing.

Thank you for this thread (loved crying through those poems!). I've been having a hard time to adjusting to not having my oldest at home. I didn't realize quite how hard it was going to be! Having my two younger sons still here is helping some, but DH and the other boys are not outwardly as sad as I am, so I've been more private about my feelings. Thus far, the best coping strategy for me has been to have the "Find My" app to show me my son's location at any time. It's fairly accurate on his campus, so I can see when he's going for dining, when he's in his dorm, when he's at various classes (I can even see that he's been attending all of his 8:30 AM classes, lol!), etc. Knowing vaguely where he is has made me feel a lot better, and it scratches my "where is my child" itch without my needing to text him excessively. We always homeschooled and the only time he was ever away from home was a 2 week summer program. So having one of my flock gone has been such a huge adjustment. Of course it is hard for everyone, but I think that the homeschooling component and ALWAYS being around them is a difficult thing to lose. It also helps that I can tell that he's having the time of his life in so many ways, so I'm trying to keep that in mind. Hang in there and take heart in knowing that you are definitely not alone. It sounds like your DS is already doing a great job of giving updates so that you can share his excitement in the experience, so that's a great thing!

Definitely. I think perhaps orientation week was a contributing factor. Initially, masks were not required in common areas of the dorms, and dining halls were open for eating in groups. It is also worth noting that the overall state-wide numbers have been terrible despite the university having good policies with required vaccination and masking. The new variant is just so contagious. Another potential factor–all students on campus last year who received their vaccines on campus in the spring were given J&J. The rationale was that there wasn't time for a full course of the two dose mRNA vaccines before the end of the academic year (and this was, of course, all pre-delta). Additionally, international students this year were given J&J upon arrival to minimize the amount of time they would need to be isolated from the general student population while waiting for the vaccination to become effective. Vaccines are thus far preventing serious cases 100%, but there are lots of different variables in the mix that I'm sure they will continue to study and evaluate with regards to breakthrough cases.

DS's school has been modifying the policy as the situation has been changing. This is the second week of classes. His campus is vaccination required (99% of students vaccinated) and they have surveillance testing for all students, faculty, and staff more than once a week (I'm not sure of the exact frequency, but I feel like DS is going for a test at least every 4 days or so). They are also mask required. As the case numbers have increased, the mask requirements have increased, and now students and faculty must wear masks everywhere (indoor and outdoor) except for their personal dorm rooms. This last week, there were 350-360 positive tests (out of more than 15,000 students). The vast majority of the cases were asymptomatic, and a tiny minority of the positive cases had mild cold symptoms (again, they are all (or essentially all) vaccinated). Students who test positive are quarantined in local hotels for ten days. After this burst of positive cases, the university has switched dining to "to go" options only and offered professors the option to conduct classes virtually if they are not comfortable teaching in person. All of DS's profs are remaining in-person, and he is absolutely thrilled about this. Office hours and study groups are proceeding mostly as normal, with continued masking everywhere. We'll see how things proceed, but DS is feeling good about things so far!

No kidding. My less than keen readers would love a detective fiction class. We are totally doing that next year. Love getting all these ideas!

My son's school has had a few more updates to their policies. In addition to full vaccination requirements, initial testing, and mandatory weekly testing, they have expanded the mask wearing requirements to include common areas in the dorms (previously, mask wearing was required in all buildings except the dorms). So far, my son said student compliance is high in his dorm, at least, so going well thus far. For students attending pre-orientation programs (a fairly small number), I think something like 4 or 5 had initial positive covid tests. Medical school students also started at the university last week, and there were something like 25 initial positive tests (this was a larger pool of students). We'll see how many of the first-year students end up with positive tests (don't have those numbers out yet because move-in was on Tuesday). The upperclassmen will be coming to campus slightly later.

Lol, I kept thinking it would be nice if I could award a credit for "College Application Essay Writing" because my son spent SO MUCH TIME during the Fall semester writing all of those supplemental essays. Edits, revisions, and then just a huge list of schools to apply to. Oof. Hang in there! Congrats on finishing so much of your part nice and early, though. I was scrambling with my paperwork and did not finish things in a timely manner, so good for you!

That's probably what I was remembering. I assume that I saw the 6% getting a 5 number at some point and made incorrect conclusions about that. It is probably likely that a larger pool of weaker physics students take this exam when they don't go ahead with Physics C, and that would skew the numbers. Oh I would definitely not call Physics 1 and 2 easy! Our friend found it to be a very challenging class and ended up taking just Physics 1 in the year instead of doubling up because of the rigor. That friend used the class as a first year introductory course, and he is taking AP Physics C (via DE plus the exam) this year as a secondary, advanced physics course. He expects to find Physics C to be easier than it would be as a first physics course because of all of the conceptual and problem solving ability built in the Physics 1 class. If we had had time, I think my older son could have really benefitted from a Physics 1 class as a first year introduction to the concepts prior to jumping in at the deep end with Physics C. Unfortunately, we ran out of time in the schedule (he was crazy for chemistry and ended up taking 3 credits of that instead of doing 2 for chem and 2 for physics), so he only got one year of physics overall. I'm doing a better job in juggling the course progression with my middle son, so he's taking Jetta's physics class this year (even though he's already had AP Calculus AB), because I think he will enjoy the subject more if he builds a conceptual foundation first. I expect that we may supplement with some Physics 1 problem sets/resources along the way as well. If he enjoys the subject, we would take Physics C in a subsequent year. I probably got the impression that Physics 1 wouldn't give credit at many places because I was looking at STEM majors in a small sampling of schools. As evidenced in this thread, tons of schools do give college credit for Physics 1, so I was definitely wrong there!