That's really frustrating. I agree with the suggestion about finding another test site and also trying to practice in other environments. Sometimes I suggest that students try to take a sample test at the library just to get used to testing with some distractions. One thing that happens to some people when they concentrate really hard is that they blink less often which can lead to drying of the eyes too. I wonder if it might help him to try to close his eyes for a minute on breaks or in between sections or try to occasionally focus on something across the room.

That's great that she will be going in with so much credit and it will make life in engineering much more sane and manageable. In my experience, UK is flexible about accommodating the needs of advanced students by allowing graduate courses, dual degrees, etc. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail.

Many of these NM awards at various schools have shifted a bit from year to year so who can say for the future... but at the current time National Merit and National Achievement finalists who designate UK as their choice will receive at least the Patterson scholarship. Just a guess, but I think the odd wording relates to the fact that these students are also eligible to compete for the Singletary scholarship and if they receive the Singletary it replaces the Patterson because they are both major awards (pretty much a duplication of each other and students can get only one). UK is aggressively trying to build up their honors program and the class that entered last fall had 71 NM finalists (which was the 11th highest class in the country). The average ACT score for students admitted to the Honors College is now 32 and the average high school GPA is 3.92 unweighted. I need more coffee this morning so please tell me if that doesn't make sense.

LOL... yeah sure. Just saying that I'd don't know that I'd go with the sales pitch that the boys in Kentucky are any cuter than the boys in other state (and I say that even as a biased Kentuckian).

Is there such a thing as a college campus that doesn't have cute boys? We are local to Lexington and I'm glad to try to answer questions about UK. There is great merit aid available for certain categories of top students including NM. It is hard to beat that. Honors program admissions is increasingly competitive - so if she applies she really does need to take the essays on the application seriously. Top students on campus do have good opportunities for undergraduate research, independent studies, etc. For a big state school, I find the campus to easy to navigate. The new honors dorms are really nice and most of the engineering facilities are fairly new as well. While UK is generally quite open about dual degree and double majors, it can be really tough with engineering because it is such a demanding major with so many hours required. UK is pretty generous with AP credits (and to a lesser extent CLEP) so that can help lighten a student's load too.

To me this seems like a good example of the limitations of trying to apply general research to homeschool students. The real risk I see from "undermatching" at large institutions is that students may not have a peer group or structure that pushes them to really take advantage of their education (take challenging classes, get to know professors, seek out opportunities). Academic advising is not great at a lot of schools, so students may not get great support. What I often see with homeschool students who "overmatch" is that they are a very specific kind of kid - high ability, middle class, highly motivated, and goal directed. They are "big fish" kids who are primed for college and ready to be highly successful in college. If they are at big schools they may be on large merit scholarships or in honors programs that provide better advising. They may have opportunities right from the beginning of college that are different than the typical student at their institution. And, they may not be carrying the baggage (burnout, expectation they get extra credit and extensions, etc.) that a lot of kids do coming out of traditional brick and mortar schools. That's not to say "undermatching" is without concern. But, particularly for students who are choosing state flagships and decent liberal arts colleges, I do not see a big risk. In fact with the right motivation, I can see a strong case for "undermatching" for students who want particular career paths.

That's the vacuum we have for hardwood. I like, but don't love it. It does a good job cleaning up floors including pet hair. I find it to be a little bit heavy and I don't like that the cord isn't retractable though. Definitely shop around on price. I've seen some good vacuum deals on ebay.

Ug. Sometimes slumps are just part of it... But, I'm wondering about sleep. The fastest road to unhappiness at our house (all around) is when people aren't getting enough sleep.

Exactly! Also, for the majority of families, finances are a concern. Colleges have quite a lot of wiggle room to make better, or worse, packages based on how much they want your student. Particularly once we are talking about schools out of the top 50 or so, money is highly variable. If you are in the middle or the bottom of the admitted class you might be looking at a lot more loans and less grants than the superstar at the top of the class or the student who represents an institutional priority (needed musician, geographic diversity, etc.)

This is a helpful list for students who go to public or private school, but unfortunately it is not accurate for homeschoolers. Some of the colleges who are listed here as not requiring SAT subject tests do require them for homeschoolers. Really it is quite difficult to make a single list because requirements change from year to year so I encourage applicants to check with every college they are considering. Also, students should keep in mind that for highly selective schools with low admissions rates when they "recommend" but don't require something... well, you really should do it anyway if you want to get in! I've posted this before but for anyone new reading here's a collection of college admissions policies for homeschoolers. It is not comprehensive, but it gives a range of policies that might be helpful for planning purposes.

He sounds amazing - it is always encouraging to read about young people who are doing so well! Certainly this is statistically unlikely with Ivies having such low admissions rates. But, I think the bigger point for me would be that people understand that while Ivy League schools are all high ranked it is an actually an athletic conference. Ivies aren't all one single kind of school - there are some pretty significant variations in campus culture and academic experience. So, in addition to the low admissions odds one reason why few students would even be in contention for this is that it doesn't usually make sense for students to choose colleges based on whether or not they are in the Ivy League. That said, this guy sounds amazing and it is hard to imagine he won't do very well.

I bet the kids will love it. I saw a math teaching resource the other day that I looked really good. http://www.moebiusnoodles.com/naturalmathmultiplication/ "We invite parents, teachers, playgroup hosts, and math circle leaders to join us in April for an open, crowd-funded online course about multiplication. Each week there will be five activities to help your kids learn multiplication by exploring patterns and structure. To get your course completion badge, do at least two activities every week. The course starts April 6 and runs for four weeks. Dr. Maria Droujkova and Yelena McManaman are designing and leading the activities. Each activity will have adaptations for toddlers (2-4), young kids (4-6), and older kids (7-12). If you want to remix activities for babies or teens, we will help!"

Great topic. I have an article on my website with a few ideas of programs for college students on the spectrum. It is also becoming increasingly common for parents to pay for private ADHD learning coaches especially for freshman year to help with the transition.

Good for your son for being adaptable. There are so many ways students can do well. Probably once the decision is made people will be more supportive. If he's not already met with the director of undergrad studies in his major department that would be a great idea.

While it is true that most may go on to more prestigious schools, that doesn't mean they all do or that it is the right path for him. At our state u we've seen some pretty significant shifts since the economic downturn too. Many students that may have looked out of state in the past are realizing in state publics are a much better financial deal and they will get them where they need to be for grad school. One key question for your son may be what sort of access will they allow to graduate courses as an undergrad. In many fields it is common for top undergrads go into graduate courses pretty quickly. I know math and computer science majors at state flagships who have been in graduate courses starting freshman or sophomore year. That's a good way to get around the issue weaker undergrads in the major and can help the student be competitive for stronger graduate programs too.

You've gotten a lot of good advice. One other thing I wanted to mention is to look early not just at requirements but what the admissions rates are like at the programs in your area. At our local community college there are many students who start in various allied health majors and then get lower grades in some of the require prerequisites particularly in math and science. They may still get their associates but it turns out they aren't competitive for admissions for nursing programs. So, you want to make sure she's got a solid foundation so she pulls strong grades in the early courses too.

The only job I quit after one shift was making sandwiches in a restaurant. The kitchen was hot and not air conditioned but worse the boss was a total creep. As a couple of others have said the hardest job I ever had was being a hotel maid. You really wouldn't believe how gross a lot of are even at nicer hotels. And, at least where I worked we were under really extreme time pressure. Always, always tip the maid.

It sounds like you aren't the only one. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/752014 I would email the company.

If it is nagging at you it is worth pursuing. You can turn it around in your mind forever and really get nowhere with it. While homeschooling certainly can be a better fit for many kids, it doesn't make difficult behaviors or concerning issues magically go away. You still want your family to be able to happily interact, for your child to make friends, and be able to participate in group settings in the community. Whether it is just "quirks" or something diagnosable, you want to have strategies that will help him be able to learn and live happily. The one thing I would suggest though is that you make sure that the evaluator really has experience with "quirky" highly gifted children. This is a helpful book: http://www.amazon.com/Misdiagnosis-Diagnoses-Gifted-Children-Adults/dp/0910707677

The Le Creuset Stoneware is really nice. If you have a TJ Maxx nearby it might be worth checking. I got a nice dish for around $25 and it cleans up easier than anything else I've ever owned. So much better than Pyrex. It is this style. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/le-creuset-heritage-stoneware-oval-gratin-baking-dish/?cm_src=AutoRel

Impressive! No going wrong with that set of choices!

Ug. What's tricky about the top 25% thing is that it really depends on institutional needs. A student who has scores in the top 25% could be easily trumped by a student who meets some other specific missing need for that class (tuba player and their tuba player is graduating, student from difficult to recruit from state - "we have students from all 50 states," underrepresented minority, etc. etc. etc.) In other words, even if statistically a student is top 25% there may be other needs that are not visible from the outside. Muhlenberg is being honest about something most schools do which is to use that financial aid strategically to accomplish institutional goals for that class.

In addition to the other factors you mentioned in your post one other thing to weigh is the importance of merit and/or financial aid to your family. Being put on the waitlist indicates he's not near the top of the class. Muhlenberg has a surprisingly honest article about how position in the class can influence merit and financial aid offers. http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/admissions/therealdealonfinancialaid/

Is it possible to get an OT or PT assessment? Have his eyes been checked? I'm sure there are many possible approaches but I can share our personal experience. We were advised to pursue activities that promote left-right body coordination. The examples we were given - swimming, martial arts, dance, guitar, horseback riding. We also did a lot of OT type activities throughout the day. Here are some examples. http://yourtherapysource.blogspot.com/2012/12/10-bilateral-coordination-activities.html Another thing we were told that was helpful is to try to deal with this early on. When kids get older - into the preteen and teen years if they are "clumsy" it can build on itself because most of us try to avoid things we aren't good at. So, it is good to try to work on it when kids are younger if you can. I've seen several kids who have done well with martial arts and dance in particular. Here patterned movement and lots of short periods of practice (five minutes here and five minutes there) really added up to improvement.

It may help to know that students can get A LOT of multiple choice questions wrong on APs and still get very good scores. APs are different from a lot of tests like that. When you normally take a test in a class your instructor knows exactly what material is included so you can typically make few mistakes and still get an A. Because AP classes are not all taught the same and don't all cover exactly the same materials there is a little more wiggle room built in. I just mention this because sometimes students who are used to always being high A students get panicked when they start to miss multiple choice questions on APs. It is important to understand it is normal to miss more questions on an AP and you can still do very well. Usually with anxiety tackling much smaller chunks and building up success can be be helpful. So, maybe just a question or two to start.