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g1234

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Everything posted by g1234

  1. My daughter is interested in learning Dutch. She has taught herself a bit on Duolingo, but wants to take it further. Can anyone recommend a beginning textbook?
  2. I had no idea the PSAT is scored differently. So the EBRW has more weight in the PSAT than in the SAT? Thanks for the heads up!
  3. Really? That surprises me. Do you think her PSAT scores were a little lower because the test is a little different? Natural score variation? I had assumed that studying for the SAT would be like overstudying for the PSAT, so the PSAT scores would likely be a bit higher.
  4. Hmm. I logged in this morning, maybe around 7 or 8am. I didn't get an email or anything--just checked and there it was.
  5. My current Junior studied with Khan Academy's SAT prep over the summer and got a 1440 on her August SAT, just before entering 11th grade. If I understand correctly, this indicates she is not a shoe-in for National Merit, but that she might stand a chance. She'd like to give it a go and see what happens. I know the SAT and PSAT are very similar. Does anyone have any advice about whether over the next month until the PSAT she'd do best to stick with Khan, or whether she should consider switching to a specifically PSAT-based study course?
  6. Thanks everyone! I think we're going to give this a try.
  7. Thanks for the feedback so far! Looks like this might possibly be a good match for us.
  8. Thank you Roadrunner! That looks like an excellent option! Does anyone have experience with this program?
  9. Editing original post to see if anyone has any feedback on this German course. My kid is considering taking German 3 with OSU this year. Anyone have experience with this program? [old post: Does anyone know of an accredited online German course? She has taken two years of high-school-level German so far.] Many thanks for any suggestions!
  10. Hmm that’s another possibility to be aware of. Thanks!
  11. Thanks to those who shared their plans and experience. Even hearing from these few families helped us put things into perspective. It's true that it's hard to get a good apples-to-apples comparison because every family and kid is so different and because families will choose to help with different things. (Plus or minus a cell phone and plan, for instance, can be a difference of hundreds of dollars.) But still, it helps. We've been asking whether we want to do a monthly allowance, an annual (or twice-a-year) cash infusion, or something else, and what kind of things should be bought with her work-study earnings. We'd like to get her being a little more independent in thinking about and managing money, though it will be a while before she's financially independent. We always wanted to get a larger-scale allowance going, which she managed in order to decide what clothes, etc. to buy, but in the busyness of life we were never able to decide on a reasonable amount so we did....nothing. It's definitely time, so now we need to decide what expenses are paid from that, how much to give her, etc. Thanks again!
  12. I know this will vary enormously between students, parts of the country, etc., but for those of you who have tried to figure out an approximation of how much money your college student will need for expenses outside educational, medical, room, and board, how do you do it? This is a big category that includes clothes, cell phone plan, small luxuries (a movie or coffee out with a friend), bike maintenance, etc. We'd like to come up with an approximation, but our heads spin every time we try to think of all the possible expenses there might be and what they would add up to. Anyone interested in sharing a strategy or a ballpark dollar amount? We'd be grateful for any experienced words of wisdom!
  13. My dyslexic dad spent his entire career as a university English professor, specializing in the “basic”/010 courses for students who weren’t ready for the entry-level 101 course. He loved these classes and always requested them (to his colleagues’ relief) even when he had the seniority to request more prestigious upper-level classes. He was deeply beloved by his students who often wrote him later to say convincingly that he had radically changed their lives by giving them the written communication skills to succeed in whatever field they chose. He kept getting nominated for a university excellence in teaching award but never received it because he didn’t care to jump through the hoops and get the required letters of praise etc, yet he got nominated year after year. I say all this not to dad-brag but to say yes, it can absolutely be done. In fact I’m certain he was a better teacher for having his own issue and being able to relate to the students’ challenges. He couldn’t spell his way out of a paper bag, but that’s not what writing is, at least not what the vast majority of the writing process is. That’s editing, and I’m sure she could find workarounds. Writing is thinking, organizing, analyzing, using the page as an extension and distillation of your brain. That’s way harder to teach students to do than teaching them how to get their spelling checked, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up being very good at that. Best wishes to her, whatever she decides!
  14. I've been wondering about this, too. My kid (10th grade) has a teacher this year who would write an excellent letter. She could ask him later when she's applying to colleges, but his memory of her and what makes her stand out in his mind will be less clear in a year and a half. I wish we could open a Common App account now for her and collect letters there, but I think you have to wait until early summer of the year you're applying, when that year's Common App version goes live. It seems kind of silly to ask him to write her a letter now and then keep it until he can upload it over a year from now--sounds like we don't trust him to write a good one later when she has an account. Has anyone else come up with a better solution?
  15. Thanks for everyone's perspective! To answer Regentrude's question, definitely talking about visits for students who have been accepted but are still making up their minds where to go. No way would she be registering for classes at these visits; she wants to do a few visits and then decide. And to address Arch at Home's comment, she would definitely plan to do overnights--we'd do it ourselves if the planned event didn't offer that at a school. We kind of go both ways. It is nice, as some of you have pointed out, to have it all planned out for us. On the other hand, she did some pre-application visits, and it's not that hard to DIY. We had started thinking perhaps this could give her a more authentic view of the campus. But then again, there'd be more in-depth interaction at the planned events not necessarily with current students, but with the kinds of kids who are likely to become students....and that could be valuable, too. So we've been going 'round and 'round trying to decide which. Maybe she'll do a little of each. We appreciate all the comments, and would welcome more if anyone has anything else to add!
  16. Does anyone have advice about whether it's more useful to visit campuses to which you've been accepted during the pre-set "accepted student days" or during other times, on your own? Does anyone have a kid who has gone during the planned events, and did they find those more useful? I'd love to hear any first-hand experience about this, as my daughter is starting to plan a few visits!
  17. Hmm. We've submitted our NMS school profile and it just involved answering some (strange, for a homeschool) questions about 100% of graduates going to college, and grading scale, and courses offered, etc. I didn't see a place for a freehand school profile except a short box for explaining anything about our school that required extra explanation. I left it blank....is that the part you're talking about? I had thought it wasn't asking for a big personal profile, and I didn't check but knowing the NM app, I bet there wasn't much room allotted. They sure do squeeze you for space--probably because they will have to read 15,000 apps!!
  18. Thanks! That's reassuring. I appreciate the feedback, and what you both say makes sense to me.
  19. I have researched all I can find on this topic on the forums, but I find myself still unsure about whether it would be better to ask for a letter from a university professor who taught our kid for one semester and loved her, or from a music teacher who has taught her for five years and so has a long history with her. The professor has the credentials of a university behind her and can speak to her love of learning and her commitment in a class setting, and the music teacher has more longevity with her and knows her better as a person but can't speak to her specific academic program or performance. Both would write good letters. Does anyone have an idea of who the NM people would rather hear from? Or are we overthinking this and it doesn't matter? Thanks for any thoughts!
  20. Okay, you all are great. Thanks. You've validated my sense that this could become a problem if she was in school in twelfth without having satisfied public school grad requirements. That helps a ton to know about. It's also great to know that a diploma (issued by the school or by me) may be very important. We'll be sure to make a plan that will assure some kind of diploma. And yes, she's considering as a different option taking a class or two at the high school as a homeschooler. She did that last year and it worked out well. Now she needs decide whether she wants to try full-time, or stick with a more eclectic approach as a homeschooler. This has really helped both of us. (She has read all your replies too and is grateful.) :001_smile:
  21. We started sophomore year, which was earlier than any of her friends but such a good choice for her. It demystified the process and let her start mulling her choices in a relaxed way. Since she makes big decisions slowly, stating early actually reduced stress and has let her spend a few years honing her idea of what she's looking for, based on having had a couple of years already of slowly visiting various kinds of schools. We didn't spend a lot of extra money, but rather visited places when we were already traveling, and places we could drive to. Big, small, private, public, liberal arts, technical, selective, not selective....visiting a place she later decided she definitely did not want to go to was as valuable as visiting places she ended up loving.
  22. Thanks for all these thoughtful replies! And I'd love to hear any others. A few followup comments: --To clarify: I wouldn't plan to ask the high school to accept any of her homeschool credits. We spoke with the school counselor last year and that (again, I think understandably) is a non-starter, as I had expected. So that's not a particular concern of mine. --Our local high school, however, is very welcoming about the idea of her taking classes at the appropriate grade level. They just point out, reasonably, that they couldn't graduate her without her meeting all requirements. --I worded my original post badly, as I completely agree with Lori D. and others that I am legally permitted to award a diploma as a homeschool parent. So true! --My uncertainty is more about who awards a diploma if your kid is a full-time public schooler in twelfth grade but hasn't completed public-school graduation requirements (because of previous homeschooling). I'm no longer a homeschool parent, so how could it be me? But it obviously won't be the school, either. --Or, does it even matter, if all she wants to do after high school is apply to four-year colleges? This is the overarching concern in our case--how this would all look to four-year, mid-range (not super selective) colleges. Would they want to see a diploma? If not, we don't care about it at all. If so, umm, it couldn't be from the school, but how could it be from me because if my kid's in full-time public school I'm no longer legally a homeschool parent. This twists my brain up, because if she public-schooled 9-11 and homeschooled 12, I'd totally see myself as legitimate to graduate her! But if she homeschooled 9-11 and public-schooled 12, I don't see how that works. Does that make sense? Again, thank you all so much! I appreciate the thoughts and advice, and love the usual vibe around these forums about respecting whatever is best for our individual kids (even when we ourselves are still figuring out what that is!)
  23. My daughter has always homeschooled, but is interested in trying public high school in tenth grade. She thinks she might well choose to return to homeschooling in a semester or a year, but isn't sure. Does anyone have any experience with kids doing a few years of full-time public high school, but not getting a diploma because they didn't meet all the graduation requirements? How do colleges view that: I homeschooled for ninth (or ninth and tenth, or whatever) grade, and then I went to school for the rest of it but didn't officially graduate? (Assume good grades.) Will this look like the kid is basically a failed public school student with no diploma, or will they look like a student who was educated in two different ways at different times? Anyone "been there"?
  24. Thanks! I appreciate the thoughts from people who have "been there."
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