It should be an excellent review/reinforcement of concept, and, if all else fails, it might be a nice confidence boost!

I agree with this^^ completely! My DDs/nurses had such specialized educations in college that there wasn’t too much time for exploring other interests. The most important thing for nurses (anyone, really) to develop in high school is good critical thinking skills.

She says labs can take 2 ish hours every other week or so.

Okay, spoke with my DD about this class. She said she spends 45-60 minutes per day, 6 days/week on this class, so 5-6 hours/week? (As a caveat/for context, she is a very fast reader and processor with strong executive function skills. She’s also taking: Calc AB, Blue Tent post-AP Eng, Connie’s O-Chem, CLRC Latin Readings, and DE Sociology. And she dances 30-ish hours per week.) She said the class is harder than Jetta’s Physics that she took in 9th, harder than Connie’s regular Chem that she took in 10th, and slightly harder than Blue Tent honors bio that she took in 11th. It is easier than Connie’s O-Chem (and she prefers the O-Chem class, fwiw). The teacher is very organized, her content is solid, and she grades quickly. DD is impressed as this is the teacher’s first year teaching AP. Lmk if you have any specific questions for DD.

My DD is taking it. I’ve asked her for feedback. I’ll lyk what I hear. She’s 100% independent with everything, so I honestly have no idea!

If my kid were interested in Cornell, I’d simply submit my course descriptions (which contain much, but not all of the info detailed above). They could take it or leave it. It’s important to remember who is the customer here— we’re paying them, not the other way around. There are plenty of other schools (even highly -selective schools that have much more favorable attitudes toward homeschoolers) out there.

Congratulations to you both!

I guess this is sort of like the school profile questions on the Common App; it’s just doesn’t really make sense in the context of homeschooling, so we are forced to just answer in the way that makes to most sense to us.

I really like the service https://fasttranscripts.com And the resources linked above on the pinned threads here on WTM Forums.

I just completed this on Saturday and I chose high school diploma. She’ll have one that is recognized by our state and given by me. I don’t even know what they mean by homeschooled? That doesn’t answere the question of what their ‘completion status is’. By definition, if you’ve completed high school, you’re no longer homeschooled, right?

I think prepping intensively for 4-6 weeks before first exam with continued prep (less intensively) between tests 2 and 3 would be most effective. This is assuming you can make that work with your schedule. My 3rd DD did this with the intensive prep during the summer of ‘20 when not much else was going on! My older DDs did less intensive prep over a full semester and neither achieved as much of a score gain.

I’ve been really happy with the middle school online classes we’ve done through Aim Academy: MS French, Art, and Life Science. Most/all can be started at the semester break, I believe.

I was motivated to do it today because my husband is expecting a lump sum payment in the next week or two. It probably doesn’t matter much, but every little bit helps.

Spent a glorious autumn Saturday morning today…completing my DD’s FASFA and making very solid progress (90%) on her CSS profile. Ugh, but glad they’re (mostly) finished! I treated myself to a long walk listening to an excellent audiobook after my financial colonoscopy this morning!

She replied! Apologized for the delay and promised to complete it by the end of the week. Hallelujah!

Some, but not all, schools require FAFSA even for merit-based aid. Schools usually aren’t transparent about whether they consider need in admissions process; rare schools do advertise that their admission process is ‘need blind’, but I’ve only ever seen this claim made by highly-selective schools.

Today we went to huge public high school where DD takes her AP exams to pay for next year’s tests. I’m reminded how lucky we are to be able to homeschool. That’s all.

Gah! DD is having trouble getting her teachers to write her LOR’s. [I know it’s early days. We’re just a little uptight!] She chose two teachers she’s been in class with for multiple years (3 years for math teacher; 2 years for English teacher, plus working as her TA for a year). She initially asked them to write a letter for her last June. Both eagerly agreed. She sent a detailed email requesting the letters on 8/1 explaining her timeline, background, interests, plans, etc. Both replied asking when she needed the letters. She told them ideally by 9/1. On 9/19, she sent a follow-up/reminder e-mail to both. No response. Today, 9/30, she sent a note saying, “Just checking to see how your letter is coming along. Need any more info from me?” I’m sure both will follow through eventually. DD was hoping by asking late summer before the new school year began that they would submit her letters right away, or at least within the 30-day window she gave them (8/1-9/1). Her first deadline isn’t until 11/1, but it makes me nervous that they’ve both gone dark. I imagine they get asked to write several letters each year. They probably sit down and do them all at once and they just haven’t done that yet. But, gah! I guess this is just a rant. Rant over. ETA: Math teacher replied right away, apologized for letting it slip his mind, and asked to be reminded where to send it. We went into Common App and re-sent the invitation to him. Fingers-crossed he’ll get right on it.

Especially when they have top 1% SAT scores!

I would just ask for a transcript from FLVS, then you can see what’s on it.

I’m going to agree with you on this one. The only caveat: I would recommend against stretchy pants that are tight like leggings— something more like a loose-fit trouser would be good. I think the whole world has gone much more casual since the pandemic. The dress code in husband’s office, which was previously ‘business attire’ is now business casual as you describe above. I can’t imagine a health-care setting would be any more formal. My DD is an RN and just took a new job in July with a non-profit agency where she dresses business casual. Her colleagues are OTs, PTs, social workers, and other nurses. Her new ‘uniform’ is stretchy dark pants, a cute top + cardigan, and Dansko clogs. It looks very professional, but is appropriate for the work she has to do with her clients (patients). ETA: Obviously, interviews are slightly more formal than day-to-day dress, but there is nothing worse than showing up in I’ll-fitting clothes and uncomfortable shoes. She’ll feel more confident and be less distracted if she looks professional, but feels comfortable.

I would not make that assumption; call/email FLVS to verify. I would think that they would be happy to send an official transcript for the classes she’s completed with them. Sorry, I messed up the quote. This is what I meant: “(I am also assuming that FLVS will not send an official transcript since she is fully a homeschooler?)”

I attended a panel info session last week including admission committee reps from five highly-selective schools (attended another one two weeks back with a different set of schools). They all seemed to tow the same line with regard to standardized testing’s relative importance: essentially saying test scores are only important if other areas of your application are weak, and they won’t get you in, but can help bolster an application with some gaps/weaknesses. Of course, this was not specifically addressing the importance of test scores for homeschooled applicants. I think it is going to be pretty school-dependent. Some schools seem inherently more distrustful of homeschool transcripts. For those schools, I imagine a high test score will carry a lot of weight. For other schools that seem a little more ‘evolved’ (for lack of a better term), they don’t seem to be put off by no test scores even for homeschool applicants. I think if your student is a good test-taker, it’s worth it to maximize test scores, but not at the expense of other things (EC’s, rigorous transcript, good LORs, strong essays, etc.). If your student isn’t a good test taker (and there is some room for a growth mindset here— this can be improved), I don’t think it is a deal-breaker anymore, but they better shine in other ways.

10-11 days

Yep, I’d complain to both the teacher and the provider (assuming it’s with some larger organization than just her individually). The motivation to express your concern now is that it’s early enough that something can be done about it— a better plan for handling left-over class time, not canceling classes during holiday weeks in the future, etc. It won’t do any good to express your frustration later in the year or after the school year is finished.