This year if you use the IRS retrieval tool, then the data just says imported from the IRS without giving numbers. I'm not sure if there is any way the student can circumvent this, but it might be helpful in your situation. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/announcements/irs-drt-unavailable

Not sure, but on Vanderbilt's website it clearly says that they will not send out a 1098T if the scholarships exceed the qualified tuition charges. It basically says the 1098T is useful in determining if you are eligible for additional tax credits. I have no idea if other tax forms are sent out.

Good luck getting the last seat. "I" think you are fine with your choices of sciences. While chemistry is traditional, I don't think everyone has it.

A calculator was the thing we left off the packing list - luckily we saw his sitting out and took two - graphing and non-graphing anyhow. Agreeing that a graphing calculator is a beast pushed by some high school classes and really unnecessary for most things.

Unless the teacher specifically says they are teaching the graphing calculator, then I wouldn't get one except for statistics or AP calculus. ACT and SAT can be done without a graphing calculator. Science and math, even most of calculus, can be done without a graphing calculator. Graphing should definitely be learned by hand. I'd recommend a good, cheap scientific calculator and would say most student will never need a graphing calculator. Edited to say that some algebra or precalculus teachers do teach a graphing calculator, but I think the math is better learned without.

Not sure what to look for yet in honors. I have an engineering guy (probably mechanical) who generally loves to learn and experience new things. I'm familiar with Univ. of Ky and that's about it as far as honors. Investigating both need based as well as merit scholarships as he'd qualify for either at many places. I know honors programs often make a less selective school look much more appealing but haven't really gone down that route as far as looking so I"m not sure what most have to offer. I'm not really sure how to start looking at honors programs other than to look at each school specifically. My oldest fell in love his school and got offered a bunch of money so he stopped looking anywhere else.

Yes, I think I have a good handle on how to evaluate schools, scholarships, and potential finances. Generally, my first son wasn't looking at honors programs so that didn't play much into the decision making. I'm now trying to find out how to learn about honors programs at various schools. I'm not sure how much honors programming will play into his decision, but it's a new layer that I haven't looked at too seriously.

Thanks Janet, I'll take a look at that site. Thanks 8, I've listened in as you've talked about colleges and scholarships in the past. I've got my first off to school and now I need to work on the finances for the second. I wish there was some easy way other than digging, but I can dig and be persistent in the search. Looking at honors programs is somewhat new as my oldest fell in love with a selective school without a specific honors program and then didn't want to look to much more - it was also the school that cost the least after they gave him a lot of money.

Is there a good site to find our about Honors programs across a large number of schools? What schools have a niche of honors and give out money? Do I have to simply look at individual schools or can I find the information localized somewhere? Along the same lines, what makes an honors program good?

MEP has free resources on the web - just google MEP math. It starts at about a prealgebra/algebra level with level 7. I like that each "chapter" is a self-contained topic and therefore you can pick and choose what you want to work on with her. It definately does not feel too young for an 18 year old.

Well, I can't answer most of your questions, but did want to say that my daughter just started a few weeks ago and has had 5 lessons so far. I agree that there is not a lot of homework, but that is one of the things that drew me to this program. We are aiming for two sessions a week which is what they recommend for high school Spanish. When I look through the syllabus it looks like there is assigned homework roughly about half of the sessions. The homework does not take too long to do - though has challenged my child with learning disabilities. She also spends a fair amount of time simply working on vocabulary and practicing for class. I like that there is a big emphasis on speaking. I am very happy so far with the program. They have switched from Skype to Google Hangouts and it seems to work well. Private message me if you want my referral code which will get me credit for more classes. As RootAnn said there is a HSLDA discount. I happened to luck into an end of July "sale" and got a decent amount off at that time.

It's my decision and my kids know that the plan is to homeschool through high school. That said, I would certainly be open to them discussing options, but they have never expressed any interest. They know that they can always express opinions and we will consider their opinion.

I would let them do whatever they want. I would have no problem with them both applying to the same school.

I'd look at lists from WTM, ambelside, Sonlight, Winter Promise, Veritas, etc. Just pick good books that sound good if you aren't trying to tie them into your curriculum.

I put the different subjects in different binders. I only give a portion of it to the kids at a time if that is what they are using as well.

I don't remember - does it spit out your EFC as soon as you put in the numbers or when you hit submit? I'll know my EFC is accurate as it really shouldn't change much from last year. I'll be filling out the Profile as well anyhow.

Well, that still gives her 3 science credits - Biology, chemistry and physics. This is a very traditional three and most schools don't require more than three. Is she applying to anywhere that wants more than 3 sciences? If you list credits taken before high school, you can list the physical science, but I personally wouldn't. I do know for some there is good reason to list it.

For English - I'd aim for four years/credits during high school. It looks like you have: 9th grade English 10th grade English 2-3 credits of DE classes total 4-5 English credits by my count For Science - aim for 3-4 years/credits during high school. It looks like you have: 9th - physical sciecne 10th - biology Dual enrollment chemisty and physics - 1 credit each total 4 credits by my count I'd count the semester DE classes a high school credit, therefore it looks like you have plenty.

I don't like seeing the numbers. I'm undecided if I should just import the numbers (easier) or input them myself and trigger verification. The numbers should be correct, but I'd sure like to see them. It should be just as easy to show us the numbers and flag it if anything is changed.

Well I'd defiantly get BA 2 as it comes out, but that doesn't mean you can't move ahead in math. I'd keep going in SM and start Beast 3A when ready. My oldest was almost finished with AoPS Prealgebra while she was still doing Beast 5 as it came out.

In all books, we prefer paper books. The online version does have some cool features, but other features like jumping to the solution might be problematic. I haven't actually used the online version.

What a nightmare.

My son's school received the scores I had sent this spring, but the scores from this May were to be sent, but have never been received by the school. They have sent out a statement saying that they have inputted all the received scores and if your scores are not in their system to send them directly from college board. Ugh.

My daughter was in middle school so we didn't feel the need to get everything done. My daughter is also like yours in that she loves creative writing. Often that would be the only thing she felt like doing. I prioritized math as I didn't want her to keep getting further behind. We didn't do math everyday, but if she felt capable of doing any serious work that was first on the list. She would just do the next lesson without regard to the speed we were working through the book. The rest of the subjects were then also prioritized and I cut absolutely everything that I could so that school wouldn't take up all her good time, but she might have time for something fun as well. She did listen to a lot of audiobooks, watch teaching company videos, watch other video science, etc. This kept up a lot of learning in a low effort manner. I never tried to get a weeks worth done in a week, but simply said work on the next day's work when capable. We still take off school most of the days that she goes to the doctor, but they are out of state appointments so take a chunk of our time. This is the first year in many that we are starting out and I think she will be able to (mostly) be able to keep up with her work.

I think the timing of traveling between graduation and working is great, however, many don't have the finances to do so. I would not spend money that you don't have and if there is any college debt, I'd consider you not to have the money to travel. A decent break at home with family and maybe a little travel is nice before starting the next phase of life.