Wow! A 90 day supply of a controlled substance through the mail, no less?! Gosh, here in Mass no provider can give you a script for more than 30 days, it cannot be called in to a pharmacy, you must bring in a script, and you have to show your driver's license dropping off and picking up (information is recorded). In short, you feel like a criminal getting meds that are controlled substances. Just saying. Yolanda

I'm not sure a letter from a physician will be enough. For many schools, a formal diagnosis includes a neuropsychological evaluation done by a qualified doctor so make sure you check with your school's disablities office. Scheduling a neuropysch may take a while. Just a heads up, it can be costly. Hop onto the Special Needs forum to learn more about what this is. My son was diagnosed at 20, just as he started school a couple of hours away from home. He never finished the semester, and at the advice of his fabulous doctor was able to do a medical withdrawal. We were totally ignorant of the magnitude of his deficiencies and the help he needed due to his ADD. He simply lacked the executive function skills needed to succeed in college and was thoroughly overwhelmed. His giftednes was not enough to overcome this. He had been living at home prior to this and attending community college with a 4.0 GPA. You've already received good suggestions. I would strongly suggest you meet with someone in the disablities office and make it clear to your daughter that it is imperative that she have weekly meetings with a counselor there for accountability. The quality of disablities offices varies widely, so hopefully your daughter's school has a good one. Another possiblity is an ADD coach. Many can do the coaching via Skype so location is not an issue. Again, you need a skilled professional to help your daughter stay on track. ADD is not a simple distractibilty issue, ADDers lack those organizing and prioritizing skills that most kids have by the time they're 13-14 (again, executive function skills). Lastly, since your daughter is on Prozac she is also experiencing some depression (not unusual as this often accompanies ADD as a secondary conditon). I imagine she is seeing a therapist? She will want to continue with this therapy especially at school. As regentrude just mentioned, the school's counseling center (usually part of the health center not the disablities office) can be invaluable in this area. College is a huge step for most young people, but it does present additional challenges for students with ADD and other disabilities. Yolanda

Thank you all for your helpful replies. In particular, I like the idea of finding a tutor for him in the math department. I'm also wondering about his ability for mastering paradigms well enough to fulfill prerequisites without really understanding the big picture that Tullia mentions. He has said that it's not the chemistry that's confusing, but when the math and chem come together, oy vey, that's when it starts falling apart for him. I have pretty much let him handle everything at school, but I may place a call to the math department and see how they can help. I would love to be able to talk to someone in the chem or bio department regarding his struggles to see what they suggest but I know that would be inappropriate for me to do. If I thought his obstacles were insurmountable, then I wouldn't be so troubled by his decision to switch. Thanks again for your suggestions!

My son is a biology major in college (sophomore) who is struggling mightily with chemistry and any other courses that have more than a minimal math component (i.e., genetics). He's a smart kid, works very hard, and even went for chem tutoring, which he says didn't help, but is convinced that: (a) he does not have the math and science foundation needed to succeed, and he's just "dumb" at math. I would agree that we did not provide him with a strong enough math foundation (beating myself up on that one), but totally disagree on his other conclusions. As a result of his struggles he is planning on changing his major as he doesn't believe he can do the work. He is very interested in genetics and other areas in biology, but is resigned to believing he doesn't have what it takes. Do you think there comes a time when you have to accept that it's too late to fill in these types of gaps? Any suggestions, experiences anybody could share? Thanks!

I've used BJU Spanish 1 and 2, with both my boys and for teaching other homeschoolers. I never went past Capitulo 9 or 10. If you look at BJU Spanish 2, the first few chapters review a lot of what is in Span 1, so it is redundant. Furthermore, a good friend of mine, who used the BJU DVDs told me that the BJU teacher stopped at Cap. 9! I taught my boys 3-4 times a week for about 30-45 mins/day followed by their independent work using the Activities Manual/Quizzes/and other textbook activities. I am fluent in Spanish. My younger son easily tested out of Spanish 1 at college and he didn't get past Cap 9 in Spanish 2. And again, most of college Spanish 2 covered a lot of what he learned in high school. Yolanda

My friend, doing her due diligence, explored the whole GED process and found the person she contacted very informative and helpful. My friend said the test is quite thorough and could be a good exercise for her son. Towards the end of the conversation, however, the woman asked my friend in a very sympathetic tone, "So, when did your son drop out?". It was at this point my friend realized there remains such a stigma attached to the test that there was no way she would have her son take it and have it on his record for the rest of his life. I have no idea of the stigma is comparable in other parts of the country or just here.

There was a thread back in April of this year regarding public colleges in Mass requiring a GED or other "official" proof of high school graduation. This would apply to freshman applicants only. Specifically this is what UMass Amherst has on their website: Home-schooled students who are admitted are required to provide the university with proof of graduation in one of the three following ways: An official final transcript from the local school district. An official final transcript from a home school association or agency. An official GED score report. I have since learned that this applies only to Amherst. A good friend of mine spoke with admissions officers at UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst. UML said they certainly did not require any of these while the admissions officer in Amherst told my friend that, yes, those were their current requirements. My friend asked if her son, age 16, who had 40 credits at a cc with a 4.0 GPA, would be required to take a GED and she said yes. She said it would be, get this, a good exercise. I wonder why on earth they now have this requirement. Just thought I'd pass on this information. Yolanda

Our son was a transfer student to the flagship campus of our state uni and we, along with other transfer students' parents, learned at the transfer student orientation that any student with over 27 credits would have a slim to no chance of getting housing on campus. I have since learned that many schools have a similar housing shortage. Just something to be aware of. Most schools have an off-campus housing office which provides lots of housing possibilities. They don't necessarily screen them, but they're much more reliable than Craig's List. I would strongly recommend a room rather than an apt. Most landlords offer rooms with a month-to-month arrangement which ends up being a lot cheaper than having to be responsible for a year-long lease. They're usually furnished, and the better ones have laundry and kitchen privileges. We saw some beautiful rooms with their own bathrooms, and many of the landlords were parents with kids away at school looking to make some money to pay for their tuition. An apartment is more of a liability and responsibility than a room. Our son had to withdraw from school for medical reasons 3 months into the lease and we were unable to sub-let it so were stuck with paying rent for 9 more months. Never again. Good luck!

Once again, answered my question with a pretty easy and quick search. This is from their biology department FAQs: "Students will be able to explain evolutionary mechanisms and critique evolutionary theory. " Just was curious and thought I'd share information. As creekland said, it may or may not matter to anyone, but it's always good to have information especially if your kiddo is going into a life science. Yolanda

Just out of curiosity is Cedarville YEC, too?

Just an update - my son met with his prof who gave him some very good studying tips. He's also quite generous in giving people lots of chances to prove they know the material. When my son came home and shared what his prof had said, I asked him if what he learned from the prof could be applied to future science courses and he replied, "I learned that I need to talk to my professors." :D If I hadn't pushed him to contact him it would have taken a lot longer to learn this important lesson. Yolanda

Ah..Young Earth Creationists...

What is YEC?

The deadline for a "W" is this Friday and the next exam is Monday. He emailed the prof but hasn't heard back (summer profs not as responsive I guess) but will see him tonight for class so he's hoping to speak with him then. We'll see what he says. Auditing the course is a good suggestion. I'll keep that on the back burner. Although the grade will be on his record, since he's not taking at his "home" school, the grade won't be included in his GPA. My son's concern is that he needs this to get back on track with the his bio major course sequence. He needs these 2 courses: Gen Chem 1 and 2 to get into Org Chem in the fall. I don't know why he gets so worked up about staying on track. I told him that lots of students get off track for one reason or another, change of major or whatever. It's not the end of the world and not worth getting so stressed about. Poor kid is super stressed out.