You aren't alone at all! I had a 4-year plan for each of my kids for high school. When they got ready to start college, we made a 4-year plan for that too. The thing you have to realize is that the plan and reality didn't match up all that well. What the plan did for me was let me check off all the boxes, then when something changed, I could look to see if it still checked the same box or if something else needed to be added to check that box. It gave me a baseline. I love my planning. Welcome to the high school board Melisha!

No. We didn't have to do this for either of our kids. I did keep an eye out thanks to the warnings though. I would prefer to have been warned and not have the issue than to have gotten stuck with the bill because I didn't know it existed!

Have you had her try an ACT practice test? It couldn't hurt to see how she feels about it.

I also liked being able to pick my textbook and in fact, I made my own syllabus for the DIVE courses we used. We liked the DVD lessons fine. Dr. Shoreman is a bit boring in my opinion, but his explanations are clear and reasonably to the point. The labs are not video labs and are best done by the student. The pictures are just a walk through, like a lab manual. There are enough images to get the data needed if the lab is too expensive to do at home and you want to use his, but don't plan on only using his DVD for labs. I don't think that is the intent at all. They are, as I said, a walk through to take the student through doing the labs. The worksheets give a good review of each lesson, the tests are very reasonable coverage of concepts. The curriculum is well organized, solid coverage of concepts, easy to use and can be done very independently if that is a goal. It is very Christian and very YE. We used secular texts to balance this.

We did exactly what you are considering. We did math and foreign language credits across the whole year along with a few others, but most of our other classes we did in semester blocks. We made the decision with each class though, so for example when ds did OYAN + NANOWRIMO for a creative writing credit, it was a year long class, just because there was no way to cram that much writing into a semester. Each semester was a little different, but basically a daily schedule looked something like: Semester 1: Math 1 hour Foreign Language 1 hour History 2 hours English 2 hours Semester 2: Math 1 hour Foreign Language 1 hour Science 2 hours Elective 2 hours (or 2 electives @ 1 hour each) That would be a 6 credit schedule and neither of my kids actually had a year with only 6 credits, but you get the idea. My kids much preferred working 2 hours a day on 4 classes than working 1 hour/day on 8 classes.

This. I too have a kiddo with dysgraphia. He takes notes on an iPad with a keyboard using notability. He can easily integrate typing, pictures (he takes pictures of the whiteboard if the teacher is drawing), sound recordings, and drawing with his finger or a stylus. He did practice with this quite a bit before trying to use it in a classroom but finds it very effective. He can clearly do more with the iPad than the typical pencil user can when taking notes. It still isn't ideal for math and science classes, but you can see by my sig, that isn't his thing anyway. Additionally for him though is the fact that if he is taking notes with a pencil, he is so focused on the act of writing, he never hears a word the teacher is saying while he writes. It is just too hard for him. He has accommodations which he has refused to use and had a grammar class where the teacher wouldn't let him use the iPad (his accommodations would have allowed it). He failed. He retook the class online and got a 98%. He simply couldn't listen and take notes effectively and honestly, I looked at his notes, they were indecipherable. I know this isn't a reason for every kids to have a laptop in class, but there are kids who don't have dysgraphia who are still poor writers or slow writers or who struggle to focus on multiple things at the same time who probably benefit from the speed and abilities of taking notes electronically. Ds with a mile long list of disabilities is an A/B student with his iPad and would probably not be able to make it without it. It is true, he can force teachers to allow him to use it, but there are other students who can't that still benefit, so I'm thankful most teachers don't ban them. There are good and bad sides to technology in the classroom. Always.

We're fairly rural, but we almost never lose power. If we do, we all have laptops and cell phones that keep us in technology for hours. It has been years since we've been out of power longer than that. We have a fireplace that keeps us warm enough if a winter storm takes out the power, we have candles and a oil lamp for light. I've always loved having the power go off, but it just doesn't happen any more.

We used the course from the CD's but only because that was the only option when we did it :). You aren't finding answers because the options haven't been available long. If I were doing it again, I'd probably do the download. I paired with secular texts, made my own schedules, and we swapped out a few labs we'd already done. I wouldn't have wanted to mess with the e-learning. I see no advantage at all. My kids weren't big fans of online learning.

This is what we did. I always included another full English credit - whatever combination of literature, writing, and vocab we were doing. We didn't do grammar in high school. Ds did both OYAN and Other Worlds and I gave him 1 credit of creative writing each time. He is a writing major in college and no one ever questioned the extra English credits. He certainly spent enough time on it to justify a credit.

We've become big fans of ebook rentals direct from the college because they include codes for about 1/4 of the price of the new book. In fact dd rented a $250 book online from the university bookstore ($50) - to get the code, and a physical copy of it from amazon($25) for a total of $75. We rent books they don't plan to keep as often as possible. My best rental find for fall is a $200 textbook - no code, that I was able to rent from Amazon for $20. Anything they want to keep, we buy. If codes are necessary we buy new. If not, we shop used and see what the best value is. If it is something they want to keep, we don't want a beat up copy, so we look for a copy in good shape and if there isn't much savings, we'll go ahead and buy new. If there is quite a bit of savings, we'll buy it used.

Almost all the testing centers for SAT and ACT do accommodations. You just sign up with accommodations. No need to contact them or anything. It is super easy - not like APs.

Can someone who lives in a district that requires medical exams tell me what they are looking for there? Is it like a sports physical that has to be done right before the school year starts? Is it just proof that the child has had an exam within the last year? I'm just wondering because most kids get an annual checkup around their birthday and insurance only pays for one well visit per year by the time they are school aged. The only medical requirement for school attendance here is proof of vaccinations in order to start K. Extracurriculars may require physicals - sports in particular. Most doctors here do those for $20.

There are no registration or rental fees in our schools. Our local schools are still very close to free. There is a school supply list, but we shopped during the back to school sales and really, it wasn't that expensive. If kids don't come in with supplies, they are provided. If they can't afford a field trip, the PTA will probably pay their way. Money rarely excludes anyone, but that is because not that many can't afford it, so the many can afford to help the few. There are fees, but they are for optional things like field trips, sports, and DE classes and went up as kids got older and activities got more expensive. There were usually some waivers available for those who qualified, and as I said, PTA and other organizations helped families that needed help with some of these things too. I had no idea schools charged registration fees, book rentals, computer rentals, etc. This is a whole new world to me.

I think this must be the case. We're in the midwest. Dd looked at programs in at least 3 states and maybe 20 different schools. Only one was direct admit. She didn't have great ACT scores, but had great DE grades, so she ruled that school out.

We always just plug into excel while playing with options.

This is what my dd went with because she much prefers a smaller phone. I have a 6. Dh has a 7. We are all happy. None of us would trade. Whether the features of the 7 are worth it to you would be completely personal. Compare features. See which one you like better. They're both great phones.

ASL for bark: I found this same sign everywhere I looked. Of course they have a sign for it. You still have to describe what the dog does, even if you can't hear it. :)

After all the pics, I think you can totally pull off that first style you posted with just a little product put in and letting it dry naturally. You have a very high forehead which will keep the hair out of your face and just the right amount of wave/curl (you're right on the line between!) to make it work. It won't look as amazing as hers unless you blow dry and curl it, it's true. But I bet it will look cute and be super easy with that cut for every day wear and you can fancy it up when you want to!

This is interesting. I was never sent away from adult conversations as a child, although if there were other kids to play with, it is likely that we were out playing. However, I can also remember sitting n groups of my parents friends and just listening. As long as I was respectful and not disruptive, I was always allowed. That would have been in the 70's. As far as when I was raising my kids, I never expected adult conversation when I went somewhere with children. One of my kids is autistic spectrum and he required fairly constant oversight. If he chose to sit quietly while I was with the mom group and we were chatting, I would have considered that heavenly - the best break I could have hoped for! I certainly wouldn't have sent him away. My kids were always welcome wherever I was. Someone else mentioned homeschool kids being good with adults and my former campus minister came to visit us and was shocked at our kids sitting in the living room listening politely to the conversation and contributing when appropriate. He commented on it every time we saw him for years and how it made him think homeschooling was a good thing (something he hadn't thought before). In our home it was just the norm.

MUS Algebra 2 is a bit behind most math programs and includes some review, so I would expect coming from any other program that Algebra 2 would have plenty of review included. I don't think that it is ever too late to jump into MUS, although I do think there are a few levels where it is awkward (PreAlgebra comes to mind).

Most of the BSN programs we looked at required admission after 3 or 4 semesters of prerequisite work, so doing the associates wouldn't really be a harder admissions spot to get. Supposedly, the programs we talked to didn't care where the work was done. However, it did have to match their courses exactly and in the science sequence could make him have a multi-semester waiting period for just a few classes. Let me give you an example of how dd's school would prejudice things against a transfer student. They will not accept chemistry from any other school because the chemistry they have for nursing majors is a hybrid inorganic/organic class and no one else offers exactly the same thing. They also treat anatomy and physiology as separate classes, rather than offering A&P together or A&P 1 & 2. There are other school that do this, but I have found all three of these different options to be common (we looked at quite a few schools before she made her choice and she did take some DE at the local CC). If he had to retake chemistry and the two semester sequence of Anatomy and Physiology, he'd require 2 semesters to do that - even if that was all he needed. The nursing program is 5 semester at her school, so it would have taken him 3.5 years there after the 2 at the CC to get the degree. 5.5 years for a 4 year degree is certainly not a good value. I'm sure you can do better than this by letting your CC offerings impact his choice of nursing programs so that they line up as closely as possible. Some nursing programs are only 4 semesters and you might find one that he could manage one or even no extra semesters with the right plan for his transfer. We only looked at one university that did freshman admission to the nursing program, and all the others did later admissions, but he might have to knock a few schools off his list if they do freshman admissions as well.

To start with, a 25 is a pretty average ACT score. It won't keep him out of college, but won't get him into highly competitive colleges or get him much scholarship money either. That said, if he isn't too sure what he wants to do and may not yet have maturity for college, his ACT score is probably not much of an issue at all. It can be raised if he gets motivated. In order to help him figure out where to go next, there are two main questions that I would look at. What does he want to do? and What has he been doing (academically)? Does he want to do something that requires college? Does he have any idea what he wants to do? If he has a goal that requires college, obviously he will need to go somewhere, whether that is a CC or a 4-year school. If not, would working for awhile help him figure it out or would he be better off trying some classes to get a feel for different areas? What has he been doing? Has he been doing AP level work or has he done some dual enrollment at the CC or other local college? If not, a community college would probably be a great next step for him. He could start that this year as a senior or next year as a college freshman. It would give him a little step into independence and responsibility without a huge cost and usually with a little less challenge level than a 4-year school. A CC can be a great way to explore options. If he's already doing DE or AP level work, and he wants to do something that needs college, then he is probably ready for a 4-year university. It is time to work on the ACT score and start looking at possible school choices. Maybe a tour could get him motivated :). Boys can be slow to mature and that definitely makes it hard. I knew mine wasn't ready maturity-wise, but we sent him anyway. The first year definitely had some rough spots; the second was much better! He has found direction as he tried different classes and is now much more motivated and that has made a big difference.

This is my thought. 20 acres isn't nearly enough. I could see it working on my in-laws 200 acres though. Water would be a basic requirement obviously, but legalities can complicate it too. It would also be important to start the adventure early enough in the spring to plant a garden, then build a sturdy shelter and have enough firewood stored for winter. Virginia doesn't have brutal winters, but it isn't exactly balmy either :). If the college would offer deferment, he could create a realistic plan and you could offer him the space, I don't see any real problems with it, but it might turn out to be more tedious work than adventure.

This is an option in every public school district I know of now. No one should bat an eye at it, but if they do, I'd rename the second year Intermediate Algebra which is just Algebra 2 at the college level.

My dd would never do it either. She just wanted me to choose the materials and tell her what to do. If she didn't like a course and I wanted to try to find a better fit for the next year, she'd just shrug away my efforts, "I don't know," "I don't care," "it doesn't matter," "whatever..." When I came here and got feedback asking which my dd would prefer, it just made me want to pull my hair out. :grouphug: