Barbara H
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Posts posted by Barbara H
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While yes, many options she may have liked are past the deadline, there are good schools that are still accepting applications. The only choices aren't the super elite liberal schools she thought of originally (Swarthmore, Williams, etc.) or an instate option she doesn't like. Those elite schools were not a guarantee of admissions anyway. One option right now is to look for other liberal arts colleges that are still accepting applications. They may not carry the prestige of the schools she initially considered but there are good quality schools out there if she's looking for a liberal arts alternative. On the Common Application, students can go into "College Search" and put in a date to find schools still accepting applications. Some examples... Creighton, College of Wooster, Earlham, Hendrix, Hope, Juniata, Kalamazoo, Sarah Lawrence, Eckerd, Illinois Wesleyan, Emory and Henry, Check financial aid deadlines too because they are sometimes different.
Best of luck!
Adding: Check with the colleges directly on deadlines because not 100% of the information on the Common Application is correct, but it is a starting place. Bottom line though: If your student would have been competitive at colleges like Williams, there are MANY good liberal arts colleges that would still be interested in February.
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It is possible to feel both incredibly happy and proud at the people your children have become... yet still sad that what was a very special and wonderful part of life has past.
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I went with loud country music and flashing Christmas lights during daylight hours to persuade the possum living under our deck to relocate. :lol:
For the racoons in our deck roof we did the same thing with heavy metal music and lights. It was effective in getting them to relocate within a couple of days and then we were able to seal up the the area they'd chewed through to gain access. We decided not to go with country music because we live in Kentucky and we thought that might just make them feel at home. ;-)
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It really won't matter. I'd mention to him that most people like to establish a signature at some point. Maybe he'd like to write his name fifty times over a week and decide if he wants to add any connecting lines or flair because most people don't just print their signature. Or, not if he doesn't care. I really don't think he needs to learn all of cursive though and it will never matter if he doesn't.
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I'm not a fan of the game playing and I do not believe it is necessary to do well in college. I believe students should do what helps them learn and that naturally tends to result in good grades. Practices that help students learn and also result in good grades are things like attend class, do your reading, take time for revisions, ask questions, and go beyond the minimum expected.
I work with students on writing and I can say I appreciate the diversity of student approaches. Often the writers I enjoy most are the ones who really have their own voice that is quite different from the way I'd express myself. The world has a place for STEM kids who write "just the facts ma'am" and it has a place for flowery, eloquent creative writers. Like the Oscar Wilde quote "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
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Silly Putty!
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Quite a few state universities require SAT or ACT even from transfer students. They may also give student automatic exemption from particular courses, such as first year composition and scores are also often used as a placement tool for math courses. At fifteen when she's doing well with such a rigorous schedule it seems there are also fairly decent odds she may score well enough to get some scholarship money. Some schools give automatic scholarships based on ACT or SAT scores.
Finally, and this may sound really far fetched... but life isn't always a straight line and it can be tough to predict the future. Having the scores established can keep options open later. I recently worked with a homeschool mom who was able to get ACT to find her twenty year old test scores. The scores placed her out of two courses that are required for the degree she's working on so it saved her some time and money.
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Many students self study for APs. I suggest looking at the materials available on the College Board site. There she can learn about the test format and can see grades practice tests from previous years.
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Just saw this on a friend's Facebook page and I thought it was a good reminder about roasted vegetables. My family loves them but somehow we get out of the habit. http://www.thekitchn.com/5-cooking-tips-to-help-skeptics-fall-in-love-with-vegetables-199387
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On a slightly different theme, my suggestion is to have multiple conversations about resources and how to handle different situations. Make sure she understands the range of resources available on campus - everything from residential life, to tutoring, to professors' office hours, to mental health services.
It is essential that kids know we certainly expect them to do well, but we are not expecting perfection. We know there that for most people there will be a few bumps in the road. You are 100% in her corner and you want to know if they are struggling in any way there is help available.
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I think CB's PR is based on $$.
Yes, I agree 100%. I've attended trainings where College Board CLEP representatives suggested that CLEP tests were a more rigorous standard than APs or SAT IIs. There is really no way a person who understands the tests could actually believe that to be true but CLEP is an emerging market. Lots of tests and they know it is a different market than AP or SAT II testers. CLEPs are all multiple choice which is a lot easier to bluff than the writing that is required for most APs. Really if you are a good tester you may find you can pass several CLEPs just from general knowledge and the ability to eliminate illogical and grammatically inconsistent answers. APs really require more test content knowledge to do well.
CLEPs are not worth anything for admissions purposes. Any school that tells you CLEPs will help admissions is a school that you probably don't need help with admissions. That said, CLEPs can serve a purpose and they can be a good way to earn some credits at schools that accept them. I'm helping a homeschool mom who is trying to transition to career and CLEPs are part of the strategy to get that degree finished fast. It really depends on your situation if CLEPs will be helpful.
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There really are jobs where one just needs "a" degree to check a box though. They don't expect you to actually use anything you learned. They just want it for statistics or some sort of perceived value (I guess). Without "a" degree you can't even apply, or if applying, you'll be overlooked in favor of those who have that piece of paper. In general, as long it's obtained without significant debt, a degree is never worthless.
I agree. Also, even if you find you are in a situation at 40 where you have to retrain, if you are starting with a bachelor's degree in anything you are in a much better situation than if you are starting 100% from scratch. Four years to finish off that bachelor's, but it might be six months to add some computer certification or a year and a half to get a Master's degree. I've seen this quite a bit with homeschool mom friends trying to transition to careers in their 40s.
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One of the main values of college for a lot of people is getting exposed to new ideas and different ways of thinking. While his experience is a perfectly valid one for him, I reject the effort to generalize it to command everyone not to go to college and not to send their kids to college. Research is pretty clear that college graduates are much more likely to be employed. Times have been tough but on average college graduates have fared much better. Even in a recession recent graduates do not regret going to college. On average college graduates lifetime earnings are much higher than people who didn't go to college - $650,000 on average over a lifetime. Are there plenty of exceptions to this rule? Sure. College isn't for everybody and some careers that require less education are well paid.
One thing I encourage is for students to look at their own individual circumstances and make wise financial decisions. There are many circumstances and choices that will influence the amount an individual will pay for college if they go. There are many, many layers of decisions that can make a huge difference in the total cost. Don't just assume college is off limits or it will automatically come with high debt. Planning can make a big difference in the end result.
Editing to Add: If this part of the article is not exaggeration. "We’d take tests, I’d try my hardest, but often I’d still get zero answers correct. ZERO. Fifty questions — all wrong." - That was obviously a huge flag of something. I agree any student in high school who is trying their hardest and often getting every single question wrong on the test is not college ready and taking out student loans would be a poor investment!
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I'm wondering if it depends somewhat on the size of the community and schools. For public school students where I live it is pretty much impossible to be a three season athlete. Just to give an example, softball for girls is a spring sport but demands conditioning four or five days a week in the winter. Conditioning isn't just general fitness but practice with the team. Girls have to try out in the fall to make the conditioning group for winter and there are further cuts during the winter. The system is just not set up to foster kids being in different sports in different seasons. We have large high schools though so it may be different in a more rural area.
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The best line by line reference comes from the FAFSA. Most people fine they do not need to read this though. I'd keep it open in another tab just in case you get stuck on a question but don't force yourself to read the whole thing. https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1314/pdf/PdfFafsa13-14.pdf
Nearly every parent I've worked with said the FAFSA turned out to be a lot easier than they expected. The average time to finish is 20-30 minutes. So I suggest making a cup of cocoa or tea and start filling it out. You may be pleasantly surprised, but either way you will get through it. Good luck!
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When my daughter was about 10 and told a girl at Sunday School that she was homeschooled, the girl responded ( to my stick thin dd), "All the homeschoolers that I know are fat, because they sit around on the couch all day." I guess sitting around in a desk all day burns a lot more calories. :)
Awful comment - hate to hear young kids focused on judging weight..
Though let's note research finds homeschoolers children are leaner than their traditionally schooled peers.
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I'm wondering if more information might be helpful in making decision. That might come through meeting with the instructor to get really specific feedback and also maybe through a meeting with a private trombone teacher. Even if private lessons aren't a regular option, it might be good to meet with someone just a couple of times one on one to get another perspective. Sometimes with learning a new skill there can be one or two misunderstandings or challenge areas where a learner just needs more one on one support to get through it and then it really clicks. If it turns out once she/you get more information it is still not a good fit then everyone can feel totally confident in the decision to quit without any lingering feelings of failure or guilt.
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Freeing Your Child from Anxiety. Your library probably has it. http://www.amazon.com/Freeing-Your-Child-Anxiety-Practical/dp/0767914929
I would keep an eye on his anxiety level and how much "working around" you are having to do because of it. It can be a tricky thing with homeschooling and anxious or sensitive kid. Good to not make life about petty little conflicts and stuff that doesn't matter.... but you also want to be mindful that they are continuing to get opportunities to grow. If you notice yourself walking on eggshells or working around stuff so he doesn't meltdown that's something to pay attention to.
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I question the value for $11,000 for that experience.
Most students are going to get more from an experience that is geared to their interests. There are a lot of really good summer programs. That includes the prestigious options mentioned earlier this thread. But, there are also many open admissions programs that are very good too. There are programs for foreign language immersion, protecting sea turtles, creative writing, engineering, etc. I suggest starting with your student's interests and working from there.
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fwiw: I only see that he has a Master's degree. It takes a Ph.d. to designate as a "psychologist." Just saying.
The Kentucky Board of Psychology and the Kentucky Attorney General have asked him not to identify himself as a psychologist when he dispenses advice in our state because he is not licensed. He sued and claimed it violated his First Amendment Rights which is nonsense in my opinion. We all have the right to distribute advice, but we don't have the right to do it while claiming medical credentials we don't have.
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That is why I keep coming back to Miquon. He wants the blue book, but I thought he should finish the orange book first. (He already has the red one and works out of both the orange and red books.) But he only does what he can do on his own, and he wants nothing to do with the rods
In this situation we set the rods aside and let the child have the whole stack of Miquon books to pick and choose as he saw fit. He understood multiplication years before he knew tables and I think that's quite normal. He's a math major so I guess it worked out just fine.
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It is worth noting that general expectations have also gone up for public and private students. It is much more common for college bound students to take four years of core academics, to take calculus in high school, to take foreign language, and to take APs. That's not to say homeschoolers should necessarily do the same things. Rather, it is to say that I don't think it is a fair characterization to say that homeschoolers who outsource are changing what colleges expect from homeschoolers. What selective colleges expect has simply changed for all students - public, private and homeschooled.
As far as the general question, I'm of the mindset that a diversity of choices is a very positive thing. Homeschooling is at its best when we make the choices that make sense for our own families and we support other homeschoolers as they do the same for their families. Even different kids in the same family often need very different things. Our obligation as homeschoolers isn't to prove homeschooling is better or persuade others to do things the same way we do. Our responsibility is to do what is best for our kids. Fortunately few of these choices are ever the one thing that makes life okay or not okay. There are lots of different paths to a happy adult life. Kids aren't going to be 40 years old and looking back upset about what Latin curriculum they used or that they took the dual enrollment class instead of the homeschool co-op. Or, if they are about that's about a lot more than Latin curriculum!
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I see transcripts from lots of different schools - public, private, and homeschooled. The majority of public and private school transcripts are two pages long. So, if you like the layout of your two page transcript I wouldn't waste time messing around trying to reformat it to make it fit one page. Colleges care that the transcript contains the information they expect to see in a way that is clear and easy to understand quickly. There really aren't bonus points for making it pretty or fitting it in to one page instead of two.
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I agree it is not one size fits all. Some kids naturally such hard workers and have so much "skin in the game" they need to be encouraged to calm down, take a break, and realize that if they get a B in college the universe doesn't end.
For students who need to get skin in the game here's one exercise I suggest... Before they start college sit down with a calculator and figure out how much every class meeting costs the student (including tuition, room and board because they wouldn't be living there if it wasn't for classes). That average cost per meeting class is absolutely shocking to a lot of students. If they bought an $80 ticket (that they might be paying $120 for since they bought it on credit) would they throw away that ticket and decide to sleep in instead?
Transcripts for Part-time home-schooler
in The College Board
Posted
As a place to start... it might be good to try to meet with both the public and the private school counselors to find out what they will put on their transcripts and what it will look like. Every school has their own rules for how they note that students have withdrawn from school and on how they note credits completed at other schools. So, understanding what they plan to do is a good place to start. Some private schools may be willing to bring those homeschool credits over on to the private school transcript and that would probably be the ideal solution, but it is really just up to the school policy how that is handled.