My daughter Claire, a sophomore at Hope College, is now home (along with the rest of collegiate America), re-figuring the rest of her semester. She was teaching sessions for a English class called Creative Writing in the Community, and she'd love to keep offering experiences for students to enjoy creating with words. Her free online experience for students grades 6-12 starts on Monday and will run for a 4-week session. I'm happy to field any questions to bring this into focus for anyone who might be interested! Please feel free to share this fun opportunity :) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwTnL636q6dq6r0QZON22OgTMFaLgkGGq0dvw-0kH0_dck3Q/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0yjVKW6X_OYMd0fNp73WkLh3o8JslHundjEF1sJcF3gEhnRiS40cQo7UA -Karen Buck

That dramatic scenario is exactly my daughter's: SAT 780/600! She intends to pursue a humanities-based/language major on a path to law or education. Her struggle with math skills is actually not as much of a handicap as is her processing speed. As a little girl struggling with some sensory processing issues, she'd tested <30th percentile for processing speed. She never was able to finish all the problems in the math portion of the SAT, even after taking courses and reading books to employ time-saving strategy tips and such. We wished more people would just celebrate the 780, but that's just not how it works for most schools. Hope College has produced an amazing scholarship because she submitted a portfolio for a creative writing project--now they understand her area of brilliance. We're so grateful for the opportunity to tell a better story about her giftedness and potential! I completely understand now that opting not to interview or send another recommendation were likely more at play than anything that could be construed as a judgment that's unfavorable to homeschoolers from UR. Theirs was a free app for her because of the leadership award they'd given, and she probably pursued it more out of nostalgia for me than anything else. My daughter applied to 18 schools (!) searching for good merit possibilities, so the interview and additional recommendation were just exhausting requests from a school she wasn't really pursuing. Yet, my other point--aside from the surprise--is that she is so much brighter than I was. I didn't just get accepted to UR--in that first year, I was placed in an "elite" group of Wilson Scholars who were considered the most promising in our class, based on our high school careers. I was a rock star in my little high school, yet my education was full of holes and lacking depth. Yes, we didn't really allow UR to get to know her and determine her qualifications, but the irony is not lost on me that this school that gave me my first true taste of classical learning in freshman Western Civ. seminars determined that my eminently qualified daughter doesn't belong. I really have no hard feelings--UR is a great school! It's just good to keep these judgments in perspective.

Good points. We live in Rochester, which is the main reason she wasn't earnestly hoping to go to UR. We did do a registered visit during her junior year, but I'm sure they sensed that she was lukewarm about them when she didn't jump through every hoop she could in the application.

I can share this easily because my daughter didn't want to go there. I've believed that UR is a fine school with broad program offerings and it's actually where I received my bachelor's degree in 1997. I had received very generous merit scholarships that made it as affordable as a state school at the time. I was a high-achieving public school student with extracurriculars coming out my ears, so I get that this is what colleges favor. But here's the thing--comparing my high school senior self to my daughter, I know that her college readiness and achievement would far surpass mine. She is brilliant in language arts and reasoning, won a national essay contest, has good test scores--SAT 1380 (math is not her friend), 5's on AP US History and English Language. Extracurriculars include interesting activities like migratory bird banding and Latin teaching. Even a leadership award granted by the UR that honored her participation in the HOBY Leadership conference. Like I said, she was not interested in going to UR and did not submit an extra (not mandatory) recommendation or do an interview (also optional), but I'm still pretty shocked that they suppose she doesn't qualify. She has an amazing deal at Hope College with generous merit that makes her top choice affordable--it just leaves me feeling weird about my alma mater. And I can't help but think that they may be reacting to this.

Yes, we see the application fee is a fine investment for these 14 schools that she'd be thrilled to attend if the money is there. We've thoroughly researched that list, and every one of those schools is a fine option, with the SUNY schools there as a very safe backup. So the waived fee isn't criteria for our main list at all. We are looking to "fish" for money at priviate schools we may not have otherwise considered by adding them without paying another application fee. We are middle class and essentially single income, so need-based aid outside of the deep-pocketed, heavily endowed schools is not going to be plentiful, though we definitely have need--we're in that awkward middle ground, financially.

Instead of making many college visits, our family strategy is to apply liberally ;) and see what sort of aid comes through. She have 4 reach schools, and about 10 others (8 private and 2 SUNY schools). We have visited two of the reach schools (Cornell and Vanderbilt), and Dartmouth actually states that visits don't make a difference in their acceptance of students so we're feeling like this is a sane and economical choice for our whole family. We have found a few colleges with waived application fees for early submission--Gordon, Duquesne, and Messiah. We would add in some more good schools with waived fees if we could find them. Anyone know of other schools in the Northeast with waived application deals like this? -Karen

Does anyone have experience with Carnegie Mellon's Open Learning? I wondered about this course: http://oli.cmu.edu/courses/free-open/logic-proofs-course-details/

Our co-op has used Nance's Intermediate Logic during 8th grade until this year when we chose to suspend our logic offerings due in part to staffing but also due to uncertainty about the use of that Logic II curriculum for our students. Historically, there were students who buckled down and conquered that course while the other half struggled and were crushed by it. I think we just couldn't truly teach it well, meeting only once a week. The parents with no logic background were unable/unwilling to support their students. Now we are at a crossroads deciding our new logic path and I don't see a wealth of math/symbolic logic curricula for this age group. Some of our parents are mourning the loss of this Logic II offering and believe symbolic logic is core to our classical group, but others are happy to focus more on propositional logic and employ the Classical Academic Press logic series. Some of us wonder if just placing Logic II in 9th grade would help. Is there a wonderful symbolic logic course that I'm missing? I came across this and was intrigued: http://7sistershomeschool.com/fun-high-school-logic-course-from-dr-micah-tillman/ I welcome your thoughts and persuasion!

We just bought one of these http://www.amazon.com/Isokinetics-Brand-Exercise-Balance-Cushion/dp/B000WQ4Z94/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350959782&sr=8-1&keywords=isokinetics+balance+disc hoping that sitting on it while working on writing would provide some sensory stimulus he could control. All my children love this cushion! But interestingly enough, my SPD guy wants to have his feet rest on it while working, to fidget with his feet. We also been trying these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SN8HPI/ref=oh_details_o01_s01_i00 but I don't think they're just right for him. We have a fabric sack like a small pillow stuffed with feed corn that we use as a heating pad or a sleep snuggle- I think I'll try that on his lap while he works too. It's honestly just so good to know that we're not the only ones!

Thank you for thinking about this and relating your experiences. Somehow just knowing that someone else has seen this is comforting!

I've been searching for some understanding with what my 10yo son experiences when he is at the threshold of frustration with learning. He starts to feel very itchy and gets kinetic/squirmy. His skin doesn't show any changes like hives or a rash, it's just his complaint. Once he cycles into that mode it's tough to accomplish the task at hand, and sometimes I'll suggest a break for gross motor activity or a rest. I definitely don't want to accomodate avoidance/laziness but he's not very functional once his itchy feeling starts. I've tried scratching his back for him while he works, and that helps but I'd rather equip him with a solution he can control. Usually it's extended handwriting tasks that trigger the feeling. I should also say that he's sensory-tactile defensive- he's my tag and sock-hater- and we manage ADD tendencies with the Feingold stage 2 diet. Anyone else have itchy learners?