He sent the application on Sept. 27. They asked for clarification on a few things almost right away to which he responded on Oct. 12. We received final notification today.

We finally received notification today about the Gold medal. It did take a lot longer to hear than I thought. We were hoping to know in time to include on ED college application, but that didn't happen! At least we made it.

You are singing my song! I wish I could send you flowers, cookies, and a puppy! I teach Calculus, and it's the algebra that kills you. I recommend Algebra 1 be taken twice with two different texts, if necessary. All three of my kids did it twice!

I still cringe at my son's experience... so we paid for two AP Classes (Chem and Latin) through asynchronous providers. He did not pass. He took a psychology class (not AP at all or even close), did no prep, and got a 3. He did no prep for AP Lang (in spite of his mother's pleas) nor did he take the class and got a 5. Go figure... Now as an AP teacher, my advice to students who listen (i.e. apparently not those to whom I am related... :lol: ) is to work practice tests under as near test conditions as possible. The College Board has full length practice tests available. Simulate test day in your home. Begin at 8:00am. Go through the script of laborious instructions. Time them. Give them only the allotted breaks, etc. Try to work as many practice tests as you can. Patterns will start to emerge. Also, the scores are scaled. For ex. The max points on the AP Calc AB is 108. The most recent cutoff for a 5 was a 67 (the cut off changes slightly from year to year). The 108 comes from multiplying the 45 MC by 1.2 and adding it to the 54 FRQ points. So yes, you can "fail" and get a 5.

My son is working on his Gold Medal, and I think we have everything in place except for figuring out the expedition/exploration for 4 nights. I am looking for suggestions! My son likes the outdoors and likes cities too. We are able to travel by plane, etc. if necessary.

My son took two asynchronous AP courses - AP Chem from PAH and AP Latin from the Virginia Virtual School. Prior to that and in that same year, he also took several live online classes. He was quite accustomed to live classes, and he did not transition well to asynchronous at all. He bombed both exams. In the same year, he took the AP Lang exam with no class or prep and got a 5. It was an expensive lesson learned.

I spread Algebra 1 over two years for each of my three kids because they were on the young side too. We used two different textbooks and basically did Algebra 1 twice. A strong Algebra 1 foundation is critical!

Yep... same with Bruce Etter.... :)

My three kids are all STEM-oriented. I would love for them to take a Technical Writing Course before college. Does anyone know of a resource? Thanks! Anne

This past year: AP Calculus AB, AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Latin Next year in addition - AP Government, AP Stats and AP Environmental Science You are right. We don't offer as many as we would like. We will be adding each year. Which ones would you like to most see?

www.wilsonhillacademy.com (full disclosure - I teach there)

Matryoshka - same thing happened to us. My son was used to live online classes, but we couldn't find a live class. Based upon the excellent reviews, he took AP Chem last year. It was not a resounding success. You would have thought I would have learned my lesson. He took AP Latin the year before through the VA Virtual School (asynchronous), and it didn't go well. He didn't even take the AP Language class, but based on his live Great Books classes, he got a 5. I now know - my kids needs a LIVE instructor...

All WHA classes use Adobe Connect which gives the teacher web cam ability, a whiteboard, and power point slides for presenting material in a live classroom setting. The students may communicate with the class and teacher during class via chat, microphone, and web cam. For specific course material, I would call the school and ask to be put in contact with the instructor.

I have the rest if you PM me... :)

What would you like to know?

This is the first year that WHA has offered Prealgebra, so you will not find any specific feedback on that course. Please feel free to PM if if you have other questions about the course.

From the WHA website: The scheduling for this class is unique. Meetings are held in the evenings, so that homeschoolers, brick-and-mortar schoolers, international students, and even parents and teachers who want to grow in their translation skills are encouraged to attend. When evening meetings are inconvenient, extensive use of a discussion forum and recorded archives will keep all students advancing. Independent study options for students of all ages are also available with our expert teacher.

WILSON HILL ACADEMY Textbook: Calculus of a Single Variable 10e AP Edition AP Calculus AB / BC: AB, (approved syllabus) Online Class? yes, live classes twice per week with additional classes as the AP Exam approaches Where to buy: www.cengage.com; purchase through Cengage provides additional online resources Teacher Guide/Additional Materials: students are encouraged to purchase the solutions guide for ease, although answers are available online Sample

Precalculus Info BROWN (Colleague of DOLCIANI - He co-authored her Algebra books) Textbook: Advanced Mathematics: Precalculus with Discrete Mathematics and Data Analysis (Includes Trigonometry) Note: Problems in this textbook are offered at three difficulty levels: A for easy, B for intermediate and C for challenge. Online Class? Yes. Online, live classes at Wilson Hill Academy (uses the year 2003 edition). More information on Wilson Hill in dereksurf's post! Where to buy: Out of print. Buy used on Amazon.com or from other online vendors and from the publisher's current stock. Teacher Guide/Additional Materials: Some support materials are available from the publisher. Please match copyright/ edition information with your textbook before purchase. Solutions manual from Amazon.

Dolciani books as well as support materials are still available from the publisher. http://www.hmhco.com/search?segment=All;mm=all;q=structure%20and%20method

Our son hopes to swim in college, and we have no delusions about getting money for it. We told his coach in 8th grade that the return on investment for swimming was our son enjoying what he was doing and growing as a person. We are hopeful that swimming will be a hook, but if it isn't, then so be it.

AP Lang and AP Psych were great. He took them with little prep and no official class. On the other hand, we took AP Chem with PA Homeschoolers. He did manage a low (and I do mean low) A in the class, but the AP Chem Exam was a bust.

Thank you ladies - 8th grade it is!

Do students typically take 3 years of Spanish before AP Spanish or 4 years? Thoughts? Experiences? I am trying to decide whether to start DD in Spanish I in 8th or 9th grade. I would like for her to be able to take AP Spanish if she chooses to, so I want to get her started right. Thanks!

DS will be a senior next year and does not have any fine arts electives. It seems that at least some of the schools he is considering would like to see that on the transcript. Sadly (says the mom), he does not have a strong interest in the fine arts. I am looking for creative ways to fulfill this requirement, perhaps over the summer. He has mentioned an ever so slight interest in photography. A self-paced, online course of some sort might work best, but I am certainly open to any suggestions! Thanks!