Is there an option to message the instructor through Canvas? As opposed to making a post in the open Questions section? I remember there being a message section, with a pull down menu to select instructors or fellow students to send to. That might be seen more quickly.

Dreamland Burning might be another option. It is set in Tulsa with parallel plots in 1921 during the race massacre and in the present.

I had my sons apply early action to any college that offered it. This is also what I recommend to my clients, unless they need to have fall grades to improve their chances. The early deadlines (ED or EA) are often also a deadline for priority scholarship consideration. Plus Early Action may be taken as higher demonstrated interest for colleges that only do EA and Regular Decision.

There are definitely people who do this as part of Independent Educational Consulting. There are probably even more who teach these skills in the context of job interviews. I also think this is something you could diy within your network. Come up with a list of questions. Have a friend you know but who is less familiar to your kid do the interview practice. Do it on unfamiliar ground like a coffee shop. Have her go through the process of getting there and ordering something. Dress like she would for the interview. Questions I'd expect include Tell me about yourself Why are you interested in XYZ College What do you hope to do after graduation Tell me about what homeschooling looks like for you What do you do outside the classroom (looking for activities and involvement) At XYZ College, Quality A is important. Tell me about a time you demonstrated Quality A (This might be something like student diversity across many axis, collaboration, creativity, interdisciplinary thinking, giving back to the community, etc. Look at their marketing and mission statements for ideas.) For scholarships, expect more questions about challenges faced, areas where initiative was demonstrated, and what the student wants to do with the opportunity of going to college. When I interviewed for military college programs, it was about leadership, motivation, teamwork, learning from mistakes, and organizational skills. Help her identify 3-5 positive qualities she wants to get across and stories that would help her show those qualities. For example, a discussion about activities could prompt a discussion of Model UN, forming a team of students without formal high school support, research and quick thinking, leadership in becoming a chair or conference planner, or interest in global history, politics, or policy. (Disclosure, after graduating 3 kids from homeschool, my pivot was to become an Independent Educational Consultant.)

No ethical issue with providing feedback, asking questions, or copy editing. But do be light handed. Let the student write in their own voice. I doesn't have to sound like a 40 year old wrote it.

I came to this late, because I've been doing college visits. If it comes up again, ask to appeal the financial aid offer, and specifically ask for professional judgement to review your demonsrated need based on high medical expenses. These tip sheets are written for financial aid offices, but may give you a sense of what documentation would be considered compelling in the future. You may find multiple reasons to request professional judgement apply to your family's situation. https://professionals.collegeboard.org/higher-ed/financial-aid/im/tips I also like the form wizard from Swift Student to help with drafting appeal letters. It doesn't save your info, but acts as a letter generator. https://formswift.com/swift-student And I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Whose names are on the 1099?

Use the great letter from freshman year, unless the college specifies you must use more recent teachers (service academies do this). Given the pandemic, colleges won't be shocked by this.

You've gotten a lot of good feedback from others. I do think you want to examine the assumption that an AP course is more highly regarded than a DE course. FWIW, my older kids took chemistry, calculus, and statistics at a Hawaii community college with lots of vocational programs. They also did AP courses I designed. They were admitted to selective colleges (Virginia Tech Engineering & Stanford). I don't think taking courses at the community college hurt them. And it gave them experience with managing college courses in a college setting, access to well equipped chem labs, and teachers who could write letters of recommendation. Letters of rec from a non-family member can be a significant factor for homeschool applicants. I also did a lot of interest based courses. We did a literature course on classic works that lead to Steampunk literature. One kid took college Chinese, online courses in Japanese and Korean history, and a home-based course in modern Chinese history (1911 to present). Another kid did engineering interest courses based on things he was studying for Science Olympiad and a senior project to build a pinball machine using additive manufacturing (he learned a lot about what didn't work and is rising sophomore engineering student with a 3.8 gpa). I don't find the AP Computer Science Principles to be a rigorous course. If your kid has art interests, maybe that time is better spent in an art course. You have a lot of physics (AP 1 & 2 can be full year courses at some high schools, and then there are two separate AP C exams) but I don't see a Chemistry course. BTW, since you mentioned military retirement, if you are planning to use transferred GI Bill benefits, take a lot at what they pay for. Each semester, the school certifying official must confirm that the courses registered for are required for the degree program (until the last term, when additional non-required courses can be taken to bring the student to full time status). If the student clears all of their gen ed courses, they may end up in a bind where they can't move ahead with their degree requirements because of sequenced pre-requisites, but need courses to be full time. This might not matter, or the student might double major or take a minor. But it's something to investigate.

When colleges join the Common App, they agree not to use method of application as a factor in admissions. However, some colleges have rolling admissions that start before the August 1 opening of the Common App. So a student could apply using the college's application and potentially have an admission decision over the summer. Some colleges base the timing for housing selection on when the student applies and deposits. So an earlier app could be beneficial. Also, I've seen a discussion of schools with a very early Early Decision I that returns a decision before the deadline for most other Early Decision applications. If the student uses the college application for the early Early Decision, they can turn around and apply to another school through Common App using the Early Decision I option, thus having an additional bite at the ED apple. They aren't applying to multiple colleges in the same ED round, but to two schools in sequence if the first one doesn't admit the student. Wake Forest has come up in these discussions.

I'm also in the camp suggesting calculus in high school, rather than a repeat of precalculus senior year. He would want to make sure his precalc skills AND work habits are solid, since the college course will be not only harder material, but probably a faster pace. One of my kids majored in computer science in college. He mentioned that many classmates took Discrete Math over the summer at local community colleges to open up their schedule at the university. Discrete Math was a requirement for CS majors, but didn't have a proscribed place in the sequence. I wouldn't suggest that in place of calculus, but it's an idea for the summer as a college student. (Do get pre-approval from the department and university, so he knows the course he takes will be accepted for transfer credit.)

Would you be able to learn algebra with your student? What I did with our youngest is to work through each problem with him. We had two text books and one answer key. Read the lesson, work the sample problems, work the lesson problems. After each problem, we would stop to compare answers with each other and with the book. We agreed to do math M-F for a full hour. We set a timer and when it went off, we finished the problem we were on and were done for the day. We picked up the next day where we stopped, even if it was mid lesson. (Occasionally, we agreed to do 1-2 more problems if another 10 minutes would take us to a more natural break, but I didn't insistif he was tired.) I was pretty good at math in high school and took courses in college (but struggled with them). So I wouldn't say I'm a gifted math teacher, so much as someone willing to grapple with the problems. I think it helped my son to watch me also be occasionally confused and have to work problems multiple times. He certainly loved it when he got something quicker and was able to explain it to me. The benefit of working the math together is that I always knew exactly where he was in math. There wasn't a period where he was adrift for weeks or months and then we had to dig out of a hole. I didn't use the approach with his older brothers, and I think it was harder to supervise their math as a result. I wasn't current with what they were doing, so it took me a long time to ramp up if they had a question. This might not work for your situation, but I wanted to mention it. A board member shared this approach years ago and it was a huge help for us. Both the working together and the one hour time limit were such an improvement over "Go do your math and ask if you get stuck" which was my previous approach. We did Pre-algebra through Algebra 2 plus Geometry together. Then he used online classes for Precalculus and Calculus.

Candara 8 When I did my first transcript, there was a file size limit for Common App upload slots. For some reason, other fonts converted to larger pdf sizes. So my transcript and other docs are all Candara, which is a font I've grown to love. Not serifed, but with a little heft to some strokes. (Though some numbers have an odd vertical alignment. )

Both. My transcript is two pages. Page one is subject ordered, with a column for the grade taken and the year completed. Page two is a chronological listing that also gives the specific reason for weighting any courses. It has a row for total credits, annual gpa and cumulative gpa for each school year. So two representations of the same coursework. I have had many of the admissions reps I talk to as an Independent Educational Consultant say they prefer chronological, because they want to see the progression in what the student was taking.

When I work with students on their essays, there's a stage in which word count isn't so important. It's ok for them to write a few hundred, even a thousand over the limit as a stage towards their end result. So write the whole story down. Save it as something to give your kid down the road or just as a memorial to the hard work you did. Then edit it ruthlessly. Don't worry about needing a hook or introduction. Admissions officers want to know why the student was homeschooled and what that looked like. They are going to read the profile looking for the context that helps them understand the rest of the application. What's most important for your profile might be different than someone else's. For my older kids, I wanted to show their resilience through many moves, including two months in transit, in which they continued online Latin class and did math and AP Comparative Government in the car or in a hotel many days. For other students, describing educational partners or the remote location and daily responsibilities of the family ranch is central. Think of the profile as giving the why and how. What was the educational environment? Then the counselor recommendation is about the individual student.

It's always up to the gaining institution to decide how credits transfer. Don't be afraid to call back and ask for further clarification. It can help to ask to talk to an admissions rep familiar with homeschool applications. I suspect they are saying that a course used to meet high school graduation requirements will not be considered for college transfer credit. Some colleges do have this policy. That doesn't mean you need to make a separate transcript (btw, if you send transcripts through Common App, you agree not to then send separate transcripts to colleges applied to through CA) . What I've seen some families do is list their homeschool high school graduation requirements and then indicate that additional courses were taken in addition to the graduation requirement minimums. You might cross reference with the college's AP credit policy. It may be that they are also stingy in granting credit for AP scores.

Another vote for AP Comparative Government. It was one of my favorite courses to teach and one my kids enjoyed doing. One of mine also did country specific online courses through SPICE that were really good. SPICE also has curriculum for classroom use that I'm not familiar with. https://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/ Another option would be Model UN.

I didn't tend to list the curriculum when it was a course plan & tests. Example: We used the Kolbe Academy course plan for Biology. I didn't list that, but did list the Miller Levine Biology text used. I did list curriculum when it was more of a textbook. Example: I listed the Windows to the World intro to literature text, followed by the longer works read. I also referenced curriculum if someone else was presenting or grading. Example: My kids did multiple classes with Lukeion Project. I listed them as the curriculum provider when they issued the grade and as a component when they were one part of the course. An art course included several non-graded workshops on ancient art and architecture. I listed those as separate items. That description also listed the art galleries visited, so it was pretty eclectic.

I don't think it matters. Pick one and be consistent. I also heavily altered what providers had on their websites, including colleges. Some of the college descriptions were so vague as to be useless. Consistency will help them be readable, but no college will turn your student down because you picked present tense over past tense.

I tend to use search engines to find sample course plans, because they are often buried on the department's pages, rather than on the pages for the catalog or registrar. Make sure the student has the current version or version for their year. Older versions can be higher in search rankings because they've been visited more often. The student could also reach out to prospective departments ahead of time to ask what to register for.

Well Trained Mind Academy is now accredited. Looks like full year courses are $750 or less. So you should be able to do a full year for under $5,000. My son used them for pre-calculus and calculus and was happy with the courses.

This varies by college, but in general an application is going to get less than 15 minutes of reading. There are schools that will spend longer on an application. Small liberal arts colleges for example. Or schools that are really trying to understand what the student has done in high school. I was in a meeting with a rep from Worcester PI last week and he said they will look at digital portfolios or links to student websites or videos showing the engineering or STEM related projects students have worked on. ETA: I do agree with @regentrude that most colleges don't need a long review, because they admit the bulk of students who apply. Somewhere around 2/3 of colleges admit over half of applicants. But also, these colleges serve the majority of students. Colleges that admit fewer than 10% of students enroll less than 1% of incoming college freshmen each year.

The course description piece definitely varies by institution. This is an area where a homeschool parent can call admissions, identify themselves as a homeschool parent acting as the school counselor and ask questions about the documentation the school finds helpful when considering an application. I became an Independent Educational Consultant as my youngest headed to college. I've talked to many college admissions reps and have yet to run into one that didn't want to clarify what they wanted to see in the way of documentation. There was a point when I took copies of transcript and course descriptions to a college fair and showed it to a range of admissions reps to get their response on if it was a useful format or too little/too much. Don't be afraid to just call or email and ask.

If a student is applying to selective colleges (schools that admit fewer than 50% of applicants) I think it can be helpful to include course descriptions. I personally hesitate to rely on colleges asking for additional information, especially if they fall into low chance of admissions categories. Course descriptions can be rather formulaic. I think of them sort of like Mad Libs. Once you write the first one for a math course, for example, the rest of the math descriptions can have a similar format.

For students who apply through the Common App, they will be able to invite a counselor. For most independent homeschoolers, a parent fills this role. Once invited, the counselor gets an email from Common App prompting them to create an account as a Counselor. This then gives them access to the areas where school information, transcripts, and counselor recommendations are added. Think of the school profile as a document that explains how and why you homeschool. If your student used outside providers like online classes, coops, or dual enrollment, you can list and briefly describe them as Educational Partners. Homeschooling can be very different from family to family, so this is your chance to describe what education looked like in broad terms. (For example, I mentioned that public high school sports were not open to homeschoolers where we lived. I also listed the many places we'd lived during my kids' school years.) 1-2 pages is a good length. The transcript is an overview document that lists all the courses the student took, with grades for each. You should list what credit each was worth (1 credit for year long and 0.5 for semester is common, but there are other options.) Many homeschoolers find it useful to list all courses, even those taken with outside providers. You should indicate the source for the course if done outside your homeschool. Some people use an asterisk. I chose a superscript code. Ex. LP for Lukeion Project, HCC for Honolulu Community College. The code was spelled out in the footer of the page. The transcript should also include a grading scale, total credits earned, and gpa. If you weight your gpa, you should explain that practice in your school profile and indicate which classes were weighted. It's good to label the transcript as an Official High School Transcript. The name of the person responsible for it and a signature should be included. A digital signature is usually fine. It doesn't usually need to be notarized (This was something done by some homeschoolers in the past, but most colleges don't care.) 1-2 pages is the right length. You should be able to do it in one page. But clarity is more important than sticking to just one page. Homeschoolers often like to do a subject transcript, but colleges often prefer chronological. I do a two page version that is subject organized on one page and chronological on the other. The counselor recommendation should be about the student as a person. What are their best traits? How have they overcome challenges? What doesn't come across in the basic grade and score info that you want to highlight? Give specifics and show traits in action. 1-2 pages Course descriptions are also useful. These are brief descriptions (1 paragraph. 3-5 sentences) on each course that appears on the transcript. What did the course include? How and where was it taught? How was it evaluated? You don't need to include quiz scores. You can include a booklist (author and title is usually enough) . Length varies. I can get 4-5 math descriptions on a page, but only 2-3 history or English descriptions, because they have longer booklists. My whole course description document is around 8 pages. I highly recommend doing these documents. The admissions reps I talk to universally say they want to have details about what homeschooling looked like for a student. But don't bury the highlights. A full page description on every course, with quiz grades is too much. It may cause the reader to miss what you want to draw attention to. This is an article I wrote that has some other details. https://admissionsdecrypted.com/2021/12/06/homeschool-college-admissions/