You are very smart to ask these questions early in the process. I wanted to mention three things you might want to consider. 1. The vast majority of schools provide credit for at least some APs, many schools provide quite a lot of credit. This includes highly selective schools. It is a myth that most schools don't provide AP credits. Most schools in the country do provide credit and that includes many of the most elite colleges. Here are some examples of AP policies from highly selective schools that provide credits for APs: Stanford AP policy University of Chicago AP policy MIT AP Policy University of Michigan AP policy There are a few schools that don't provide AP credit or placement (Brown and Dartmouth for example). But, that is a handful compared to a sea that do use APs for placement and/or credit. 2. APs are college level work. Not ever student is ready for this and I absolutely agree this is a consideration people need to take seriously. It is important to understand though at the more highly selective schools MOST students will have had AP level work in high school. That's true even of most mid-tier state flagships. If that's not where your student is, it may be a struggle to be competitive both for admissions and in some of those intro courses. Just to give an example, if your student is in a science major intro biology course at a really competitive school, most of the students in that class will have had the AP, or if not AP level work in that subject. Most students DON'T go to this narrow range of highly selective schools so that's less of an issue. But, if your student is aiming primarily at the most selective schools that's something to really think about. It isn't just about proving something for admissions, it is about readiness for the level of instruction that will be provided at the school. 3. APs can save students a lot of money. I encourage families to really consider the circumstances of your individual student before you write off APs entirely. For some students at some schools strategically using APs can make a huge difference. I've seen students shave a full year off college or be able to add a second degree or graduate courses that make them more competitive for career or grad school. There are a lot of individual considerations here - the school, the course of study, the student's ability to do well on exams, etc. For some students APs don't make sense, but for some homeschoolers they can be extremely helpful. SAT subject tests are a requirement at some colleges though so even if your student has had APs that is still something to plan for. Also, keep in mind that these policies change from year to year so you can try to plan but it is also important to be flexible too.

While I understand the stress to get him through school, I would also prioritize getting him connected to the community and in some activity where he's successful. It may be something like - volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, doing odd jobs or yard work for money, helping a neighbor rebuild a car, etc. Anything where he is out of the house and engaged in an activity where he is successful and appreciated. All teens need this but especially so when academics are a real struggle.

Admissions requirements can and do change. With a 10 year old what I'd focus on is long term having an academic plan for a solid four years of core academics. As your student heads into high school you can make a testing plan as well. As I said things may change, but to me right now what is most notable about University of Florida is that the Florida legislature has put policies in place to push for graduation in four years. These excess hours policies include penalties of increased tuition rates for students who do not complete on time - so over 120 credits and you can be looking at doubled tuition. So there is much less room for students to change their major or double major. Right now credits earned in high school through dual enrollment or as a result of APs do not count against this total. So, going in with some dual enrollment or AP credit could make it much easier to graduate on time.

One big idea and one little idea. The big idea is that sometime when it isn't school time, it may be good to talk about learning. Explain you are trying to give him a mix of problems. If he gets them all right the problems weren't hard enough. If he gets them all wrong, the problems were too easy. Consider talking up some new kind of learning that you do in front of him and model talking through problems "purling is totally confusing and I want to quit, but I'm going to try to watch a video and figure it out." "High five, I got it." The little idea, it might work well to involve some element of distraction in the form of chance - flip a coin - heads is the orange book, tails is the red book. Or for a different kind of work he might roll a die. For this exercise if he rolls a one you give him the absolute easiest question you can think of. For a roll of six you ask a hard but not unreasonable question. The die takes away the choice - so it isn't you pushing or him resisting - but instead just gives him a chance to try some different things and get used to the idea of easy to hard problems. When he's getting a "six" wrong he's much less likely to feel bad about that than if it was an unlabeled problem. The focus can become the chance and then in time maybe his critiquing if you are really labeling the problems with the right level of difficulty. This exercise was really effective at our house. Okay, and I'll add one medium idea.... When you can see he's going to get worked up try to give him the words to say. Often kids his age know they are upset but they don't really know how to put it in words. "This is one is a hard one and it makes no sense" "Help, I need more information"

I agree. Or something like this "Advanced English Language and Composition" A, AP 5

Yes to the 9th and 10th choices. The two choices for 11th and 12th would typically be 11 precalc 12 AP AB calculus (the equivalent of calc I in college) or 11 precalc 12 statistics

It is quite common for students to take some high school level work in middle school and some college level work during high school. There are many options to extend high school so I would not worry about running out of things to do. For public and private school students the high school credits during middle school are most often in foreign language and math. Some schools carry over the credits and some simply list the courses so it is clear the student has met the requirements. The courses can be noted on the transcript as high school credits completed prior to 9th grade. This should not be a big deal at all.

That's funny! Sometimes career assessments will suggest good ideas students haven't thought of. More often though, I see the value primarily as a conversation starter. It plants the seed to get them thinking about their strengths and jobs that might be a good fit. Sometimes nothing is better for clarifying thinking that getting crazy suggestions you totally disagree with.

I suggest starting with the free career assessment on this site. The questions are based on a resource from the US Dept of Labor It takes about five to ten minutes so not a big investment of time. This one is good because it is from the state of Minnesota so you don't get spammed from it (a lot of the free career search stuff online you can get spammed if you register). Once the student has completed that self assessment encourage them to dig in on the O*net site. It is a free and easy way to search careers. Information is available on the typical job duties, education, salary ranges, job demand, etc. If you want to make this a formal school assignment that's easy to do.

Accounting is a great career choice. Have you seen the American Institute of CPAs career website? It is very helpful and includes some lesson plans and resources that are worth checking out. I agree strongly with the point about motivation and retention. Completion rates for online classes are lower than for brick and mortar classes. It is tough for most students to stay motivated with a full time online program. Also, I'd keep in mind that most online programs are not necessarily any less expensive. It can also be tough to turn an online experience into the kind of connections for internships and recommendations that help students in the job market too.

Thanks for sharing. It is so smart to look at SAT subject requirements now. It is frustrating with SAT subject tests because lists have a hard time capturing that some schools "recommend" but don't "require" but with tough odds schools recommend can come quite close to meaning require. Also, of course, homeschoolers are often subject to different requirements. Just a few examples of how requirements can be different for homeschoolers... Washington and Lee which is not on this list suggests two SAT subject tests for first year applicants, but from homeschoolers "We recommend submitting results from five SAT Subject Tests, preferably mathematics, history, science, foreign language and literature." Mt. Holyoke is test optional for most first year candidates but homeschoolers are required to submit either the ACT or take three SAT II tests including writing. Bowdoin is also test optional but wants the ACT or two SAT subject tests from homeschoolers. I've posted this before, but for anyone new I'll share a little project I've been working on. I have put together a collection of college admissions requirements for homeschoolers. It isn't comprehensive, but it gives you an idea of the range of admissions policies if you are trying to plan and haven't narrowed down to specific schools yet. Once you've got a list I suggest checking with each school individually.

One of my favorites for that age is Amazing Labyrinth http://www.amazon.com/Ravensburger-26448-Labyrinth/dp/B00000J0JF/ref=pd_sim_sbs_t_1/182-0360672-9952353

It is great he's able to realize what he's interested in and that you are open to it. I see a lot of value in pursuing study of social sciences. It will help him as a citizen, a friend, a parent, etc. Sorry if I missed something, but I am wondering about the read aloud component. Does he have a learning disability or difficulty with reading or is this just something they enjoy? If it is more a matter of enjoyment I might think about shifting some of that to discussion or debate. For resources I'm a big fan of using some popular New York Times best seller types of books in social science or science. Examples - Freakanomics Guns, Germs and Steel Oliver Sachs books Malcolm Gladwell books like Outliers, Blink, Tipping Point For typical readers these are not difficult but they can prompt some very good and fun discussions.

It can be a mess particularly if you order a lot from Amazon yourself. One thing we do sometimes is tell people that we are using a name variation. So, for example, if the name is Katie Marie Smith we'll send it to KMarie Smith and let the recipient (or their mom) to know to set it aside.

Good perspective. Even for kids who have absolutely no possibility of scoring in NMF range, there can be a real value in test prep. I've seen kids score better scholarships for even modest gains in ACT or SAT scores. These were not necessarily really high scores. I work with a teen who is trying to get his SAT up to a 1100 (math plus CR) because the college of his choice offers a scholarship of about $15,000 per year for students meeting that cut off. That's not an unattainable score for most students and yeah, he's going to have to work at it a bit but that's a real pay off. Certainly nobody should make test prep the focus of their lives, but I think it is important to avoid all or nothing thinking about it. Yes, it is flat out crazy wrong and bad that little elementary school kids are being expected to take so many tests. However, I'm not going to say it is the end of the world to ask college bound high school students to put a little bit of time into test prep. As Stephanie explained so well it can really pay off and kids put that much time into a lot of fluff stuff too. I will also mention I have had college kids come back and tell me that they are glad they learned to take tests while they were in high school too.

You've gotten some good answers. I highly suggest trying the FAFSA4Caster and also looking at Net Price calcultors. have several articles on scholarships and financial aid on my site that might be helpful to you. Here's one article on the cost of college. It will link you up with these estimating tools. The thing that people often find most surprising about the FAFSA is that it is primarily about your income, specifically your income from last year. If you are living under a mountain of debt, that doesn't matter. If you only had this great income for one year and before that you lived under a bridge for ten years, it doesn't matter. It assumes you've always had the income you've had for the last year. People are also often surprised that it is a very easy to fill out application. It takes maybe 20 minutes for most people - that should give you some idea how little information it asks for. The bigger part of money for a lot of students is going to be the financial aid and scholarships that come directly from the colleges themselves. So, I strongly encourage families to develop the college list with cost in mind. The school with the least expensive sticker price, may actually end up being your most expensive option.

What's the typical cut-off score in your state? Obviously if you live in Arkansas it will be easier than if you live in Washington DC! Scores can go up quite a lot just from the process of maturing and being exposed to more high school level material. I have seen kids go from 180 to qualifying and other kids who didn't. How that will progress from here is really individual, but it does look like she has the possibility of scoring quite well. While there are some great scholarships tied to National Merit I'd keep in mind it isn't the only game in town. If she's flexible about geography and doesn't demand the most prestigious school, there are a number of schools that provide similar automatic scholarships for particular scores on the ACT or SAT. Great that you are thinking about this stuff early. ETA I see you know posted the cutoff. I say it is possible, but I wouldn't bank on it. Continue to work on testing though and keep planning.

That "article" isn't really an article at all. It appears to be some kind garbage writing smacked together the purpose of encouraging people to follow links and have their personal information sold, most likely to online and for profit education programs. There is no author or any reason to believe there is anything wrong with the careers that are being called "overrated." Just junk really.

The information available in the Dave Ramsey program is available elsewhere for free. If the family is low income the student will be "Pell eligible" which opens up a lot of options for financial aid. Here is a basic introduction to Federal financial aid. If what you'd like to do is statistically compare different colleges (that's what the Dave Ramsey program says it will do) you can do this for free online. https://bigfuture.co...ompare-colleges As far as books, my top suggestion would be Princeton Review's Paying for College Without Going Broke. Most libraries have it. I also have many free articles on my site that you may find helpful. Here's one that explains how to start getting an idea what college will cost: Planning for College Costs

I agree mostly, but I will add that I'm passionate about the freedom of choice that allowed our family to homeschool and homeschool the way we wanted to. I feel grateful that we made the choice to homeschool and that we got the results we wanted from it. It provided for better relationships and a happier and more relaxed life than we would have gotten through school.

We used it and liked it. As I also don't feel confident to evaluate the course level I spoke with a professor who taught a college distance learning course using Thinkwell chemistry. He thought the course lectures were right on par with what a student would get in a typical college intro chemistry course and perhaps better depending on the quality of the lecturer at their university. The only downside he found was like with a lot of distance learning some students simply won't put the time in.

I would certainly not discourage her. It is a long way off and it is tough to predict what will happen with grades. I recently read up a bit on PT admissions information for a friend. The national average undergraduate GPA for admitted students was around 3.5. PT school admissions are very competitive. GPA in the core required courses are important. GREs and volunteer experience are weighed heavily as well. I would suggest she gets a strong foundation in math and science during high school. Be careful about her college choice and advising - don't jump into all of the core courses right off freshman year. And, if she can start early and get plenty of time in with observations and volunteering that would be great too.

Good for you for making plans and trying something new. It can feel like a lot to start a new career in your 40s, but it is exciting to think about where you could be in two or three years. If you have a community college nearby I'd encourage you to see if they have an office that does advising for nontraditional students. See if you can stop by or if they make appointments.They will be able to give you the best information about the options available in your community. Also, the US Dept of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook is a great place to start looking at careers. It is easily searchable free online and will give you a lot of information about education, job responsibilities, wages, etc.

I didn't catch that the first time around. Is she the one doing the eye rolling? If so, it is probably not for her! The main value my son is getting from his classics degree is the experience he's having in classes. It has been a good way to connect with very bright and motivated students and it has been intellectually satisfying. At his university nearly all of the students majoring classics are doing so as a second major or a second degree. Most are in somewhat related majors such as history, religion, or philosophy. With a related major it is fairly easy to knock it off as a second major.

Hi, I'm a parent of student completing a classics degree as well (along with math). You mentioned this as a second major or a minor. What is her primary field? Here are a couple of articles that you may find to be helpful. The first is on why it makes sense to major in classics. The second explores how students can market and brand their classics major on the job market. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/career-transitions/201003/classics-majors-find-their-future-in-the-past http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/career-transitions/201003/branding-and-marketing-the-classics-major