for the most part, require a degree - a 4 year degree. They don't care what your major is, or what college it is from, they want you to have that piece of paper. It is like a high school diploma used to be. At these same employers, they will not promote you above a certain level unless you have it (this is for the older employees that started years ago), period. Unfair - totally. I saw many who would be great in upper management positions but they did not have the degree so they were stuck. Many did go back and get a degree and as soon as they got it, they were promoted.

Ds self studied psych and got a 4. The nice thing about it is there is no "essay". Yes, there are written questions but they can be bullet points, not full fleged thesis type essays. Go to the college board website and look under AP central. Sign up as an educator and you can see the written questions from past years. Human Geography is a very interesting course but not many schools will give credit no matter what your score, many 9th graders can take this since the essay is like psych. APUSH is supposed to be one of the hardest and the foreign language ones are also very difficult. Hope this helps.

and even ps parents who see the potential in their children. My oldest was definitely not self motivated academically. I think the reason was his horrible ps (k-6) experiences. I did have to push him. I gave a few B's because he didn't study for the tests or his essays were not up to par. Just like he would have in school. He was in an outside class and he got a B there too. His final GPA was not 4.0. He learned that there are consequences, just like the kids in ps. There are no do overs in ps like there can be at home and I didn't allow do overs. Maybe I am mean but to me, that is real life. He didn't take any standardized tests from the end of 6th (in ps) until he took the ACT at the end of 10th. Was I stressed? YEP. His score was ok and that motivated him to do better the next time. I just relaxed after that since I knew he could at least get into many colleges. He didn't have the desire for any Ivy or top 20 LAC. He knew what he wanted and then worked harder to get there. It took that for him to be driven academically. He did have an outside passion and was a volunteer for years. If you children have a goal of med school or something along those lines, you need to show them what is required and that you will help them but they have to want it badly enough themselves. They have to take ownership. What do they want? Do they want to do what you have picked out? I have rambled long enough.

I love the TI-30X-IIS. It was the only calculator allowed in pre-calc, calc, chem 1&2, physics, ochem 1&2 at ds's college.

Sorry, I was being a bit sarcastic. I surely did not mean that all kids should be able to do that, just like all are not ready for algebra in 7th grade. I should have also clarified that he is a very auditory learner which may have contributed to him being able to break down the language. My older one, a visual learner, was taught whole language with no phonics instruction (the disaster that led to "Why Johnny Can't Read") and didn't start reading fluently until 3rd grade.

He hadn't been trained in teaching either but taught himself how to read. I didn't have anything to do with it, he just started reading on his own and he not a gifted child in any way. He knew how to break down the language system all by himself. So complex a 4 year old can figure it out?

Glad you joined our group!! AARP members get discounts at a lot of places.

It has been 4 years and I still miss her terribly. My kids miss her too. :grouphug:

I would only buy the system for $249 then find titles you want. Trying to sell them even if you haven't played them might not get you as much as you think. Wii's are more plentiful now. I was in Wal-mart last week and they must have had a dozen of them in the case. Rent games before you buy. You might find that things that sound good aren't really your style. Blockbuster has a good selection. I think wiiplay is a little boring, definitely not as fun as wiisports. WiiFit will be $90 when it comes out May 20. I preordered it. :001_smile: Mario Cart is $50 with the wheel. I have had my wii for over a year and use it for my workout. DDR and wii sports with wiifit soon.

Aerosmith. A case of senioritis? Don't worry about it. Eventually you will get to it. And if you don't, what is the worst that can happen? How about head for the beach with the papers and grade them there? :)

I have different colors that coordinate with the kitchen colors. I also have holiday ones that I used the week or so before a holiday. Fabric ones are easy to pick up and take over to the sink to brush crumbs off or to wipe off the table. Then when they are dirty, I throw in the wash. I tried the bowl of fruit thing for a while and also a centerpiece but had to keep moving it when we read the paper, or to put the food on the table. It got to be more of a pain than a nice decoration. The placemats are enough.

My mom has been gone for 4 years. Sometimes I think I say things she did and sometimes I act like she did. Some of those are good, some are not so good. I do try to not talk or act like her.

A friend of ds had the same problem with physics at Yale last year. These are not dumb kids either.

and mine graduated in 2006. I am volunteering locally but haven't decided what I want to do. I do not want to go back to the job I had before staying home and hsing (which I never thought I would do either).

Guns, Germs, and Steel Middlemarch

Ds and a bunch of his friends had trouble with it last spring. He squeeked by with a C- otherwise he would have been taking it last summer. Anyway, I pick him up Monday and I hope he works at least 40 hours a week. Not just to make the money which he needs, but to keep from the in and out all the time that drives me crazy.

Two boys, both class of 2006, 150 miles apart, two totally different school systems. Boy 1 -- Smart kid, top 10%. 5 years of Spanish, all the way through AP class. Mother is bilingual and teaches high school Spanish in another district. AP exam score - 2. Boy 2 -- Extremely gifted in all areas, valedictorian, 5's on APs in jr. year without studying, you know the type. 5 years of Spanish through AP Class. Studied like crazy for exam. Score - 2. Said he had no idea about what the exam even was talking about. Based on that score, Purdue gave him 9 hours of Spanish credit. Point being, the exam is very hard. If you want to take the exam, I would definitely us many test prep books and even then, be prepared if the score is not what you would have liked. Most schools don't give a GPA for an AP exam score. They will just give you credit for it with no GPA. You do not have to take an accredited/approved course to take any AP exam. Of course, YMMV. Hope this helps.

I submitted course descriptions but not a reading list. I did mention it was available on request but none requested it. At one school (the one he choose), the year after ds applied, they added a section to their catalog with requirements for homeschoolers. They want course descriptions. I didn't keep a lot of stuff. I did keep the midterm and finals that I gave him in case anyone wanted proof but with his ACT score and AP scores, that was proof enough. His application packet included the app (with essays), sealed recommendation letters, a cover letter from me about the general course of study, a one page transcript, and course descriptions. Look at potential college websites for what documentation they want. Hope this helps.

I weighted grades but only 1 class that I did at home (Alg. II& Trig. using Foersters), because ds took 3 honors classes at the local high school and they weighted them. I thought it would be too confusing to not weight them since the transcript from the school had them that way. Regular was A=5, B=4, C=3, etc. and honors was A=6, B=5, etc. At that time, they did not weight AP classes but now they do.

to get the GPA. The local school is like this - Regular - A=5 pts. B=4 pts. C=3 pts. D=2 pts. F=0 pts. Honors & AP - A=6 pts. B=5 pts. C=4 pts. D=3 pts. F=0 pts. They actually also have base course pts. scale which are a point lower than the regular, mostly for LD students. They are for courses that take 2 years to complete - Alg. 1, Geometry, and a couple others. Within each course, you weight the parts however you want to come up with the grade. Then weight the course if you want. Some people do, some don't, it is just a matter of what you want to do. On the apps that ds filled out, some had spaces for both weighted and unweighted GPA. Some schools will recalculate it anyway (using only core courses). Does that help?

but didn't use if for the transcript. I wanted semester grades and also ds took some honors/weighted classes which it did not do. I ended up using a transcript that someone posted a long time ago in word format. I had to calculate the weighted and unweighted averages myself but that wasn't too hard.

If he just took it in April, you can still get it. Not all dates have tests available. I paid for it when we registered online since I knew I wanted to go over it and look for weak areas. It comes in about 6-8 weeks. Go here -- http://www.actstudent.org/scores/release.html Hope this helps.

I second this. The first time my ds took the ACT at the end of 10th, he had a 23 on the English. I paid extra to get a copy of the test and his answers and found he made many mistakes with comma usage. We worked through some of Warriner's to review and when he took it again 6 months later, his English score was 29.

Ds#1 was 18. Ds#2 will be 17 because he has a summer birthday.

Ds will have surgery in June and will be laid up for a while. I have a captive audience!!! Math - Alg. II (hopefully about 5 chapters) History/English - begin AP World prep, writing DBQ's and FRQ's, reading selections from TWTM that he hasn't had time for yet. Begin ACT prep using a variety of things. That should keep him busy and not bored. I'll add more if he is up to it. P.S. He will be in 10th next year.