We had a lot of trouble finding a school that would let a homeschooler test. The school that finally agreed, agreed only to let them test in subjects where they had taken AP approved courses outside my homeschool. Dumbest thing ever, but we weren't self-studying so I didn't try to fight it. For us, an AP class was a jump into college level work, pace, and accountability. The ability to pass the test was only one facet of what we were after. Our local ps only offer one AP (calc) so there is no feeling of AP pressure here. (Dual enrollment is very popular here and college bound students typically graduate with at about 30 college credits.)

I really don't think it is healthy to steer an adult into the decisions you want them to make. It is their education and future career. You can steer them toward something that will pay, but if they hate it, it won't pay. I've known too many people with degrees in good paying fields like engineering and law, that were working for peanuts in customer service jobs because they hated those careers. We told our kids to follow their passion. Neither really had passions. We told them to find what they like, what they are capable of and what they would like to do as a career. That looks very different for each of our kids. Ds had more trouble finding a path than dd. Both are there though and none of my early ideas turned out to be their goals (at least not so far). When ds started college with a major that doesn't pay and no real career plan for it, like others, we said no debt. Once he got there we encouraged him to try classes that interested him in other fields. He took a class this semester that made him add a major and set a completely different career goal. The new major is much more career oriented, so I think that is a good change, but I would never have tried to find it for him. Dd has always wanted a 4-year degree that ends in a job. She wants no debt and a guaranteed job she can work until she has kids or forever if necessary. She chose nursing. She chose a University that is inexpensive, has a nearly perfect certification pass rate and a 100% job placement rate for nurses.

We actually have 5 clep testing centers within 30 minutes of our house. I couldn't find a place to AP test within 100 miles (literally). I was finally able to bribe (I mean pay a proctoring fee) to a private school to let ds take AP exams.

How disappointing. If you'd given it to the members here it would have been a success. Maybe they were too focused on getting through to appreciate it.

Meetings with admissions are shiny and pretty and somewhat useless. However, both of my kids final choices were swayed by their campus visits. One of the things that was very telling on our visits were the interactions with students during the campus tours. I realize these could be very different at different size campuses, but here were some of the things that were notable. The college where ds is attending, people regularly ran up to hug our tour guide and tell us he should definitely come to X university because it is the best! At other another school, there were a few pleasant interactions and again, students that were near at lunch and other times also recommended the school. At one University, no one interacted with the guide or us. At one University, the guide was in a sorority and we got lots of interaction with her sisters, but when we went to lunch, we sat at a large table with lots of students. We asked if we could join them and got nods but no one spoke to us at all. We're midwesterners. We wanted friendly. The other things that probably swayed my kids most were the meetings with professors/dept heads. The head of the creative writing department (ds would have been a creative writing major there) at one University wouldn't really listen to ds and kept telling him about things he wasn't interested in and couldn't answer his questions. We were NOT impressed. Again, the head of the department he is in had an engaging conversation with him, listened to his needs and told him how they could meet them - and I'll add, so far they are doing a great job. Dd had the same kind of meetings, some that just hit every point that she would want and some that just really blew it.

Ds attends a college with a 4-year residency requirement. When he visited as a junior, it was only freshman. By the time he applied, they expanded it to two years, now it is four. That said, most upper classmen do not live in dorms. They have a variety of apartments available. If you live in an apartment, a meal plan is not required, although it is always an option. Ds needs to make housing decisions in the next week or two. Right now he is leaning toward another year in the dorms, but he is also considering an on campus apartment building with 4br/4ba units that is extremely convenient and barely more expensive than his dorm room (which is a 4 br/2ba suite).

Another Yay! Stats is all about application. Giving them something fun to apply it to is a huge bonus!

AP provides two benefits, credit it more widely accepted and competitive universities will view it as a demonstration of the rigor of the class. CLEP is an easier, all multiple choice test. If what he is after is credit, and the university(ies) he is interested accept it, then the CLEP makes a lot more sense. We did some of both. Ds did AP Stats because stats isn't offered as a CLEP and the AP Stats credit was accepted. He did AP English because he is an English major and I wanted the best possible class to prepare him, not just credit. Both my kids CLEPped Psychology, and each took another CLEP. Now that ds is off at college, he plans to take one more CLEP this summer to avoid a Gen Ed class he doesn't want to take. I would say that your ds's love and passion for the subject has no bearing on the test he takes. It does impact the class itself. I'd make sure he is getting an excellent class with an excellent teacher. Then pick the test based on what you want from it.

Yes, it does. :)

You could use Analytical Grammer's High School Reinforcement book. It is designed to be light review to keep students from forgetting what they have learned. Spelling should really be gone by high school. Using WWS (a middle school program) for high school writing is ok if that is where she is and what she needs. If it will work for her, then go for it. I would not try to get in 3 books in one year. If she is struggling with writing, that pace will kill her. Move through one book at a pace that works for her. If she has time start on book 2. Maybe shoot for doing all 3 over two years, but don't kill her with it if that doesn't work. WWS 1 starts off very easy, but it gets much harder and takes a lot longer per lesson in later chapters. We didn't use 2 or 3, so I don't know about those. I would increase either the quantity or the level of her reading if she is capable. I'm not familiar with Father Brown, but your other two books are really middle school level. Since her writing is behind, I would try to keep her reading on level unless she is struggling there too.

If it matters, for colleges she applies to you could list it on her transcript as ICP. Physical Science wouldn't have been a problem at any university we looked at, but I have seen posts here with universities that exclude Physical Science from the science credits they will take for entrance requirements. Our State U's exclude General Science, but accept Physical Science, so it really didn't matter. ICP is just the new name that seems to gain universal acceptance by colleges... go figure.

I agree! You can have her take some CC classes and not be her only teacher, but part time CC, part time homeschooling may be just the opportunity to gently ease out of the nest that she needs. Yes, you can graduate her with just Algebra and Geometry, but she won't have the entrance requirements for most colleges, even State U's. She would have to go to the CC the next year anyway, and going part time while homeschooling part time would give her time to catch up math a bit more and have a transcript that would take her on to a 4-year college if that is where she would like to go.

It only covers Chemistry and Physics. Physical Science often includes Earth Science and may even be primarily Earth Science. ICP is typically 1 semester of each: Chemistry & Physics. It works well for an intro to Chemistry before hitting Biology (which includes some chemistry). Both of my kids did an ICP course in 8th using Prentice Hall's Physical Science Concepts in Action textbook (which is a 9th grade text and includes Earth Science) and just doing the Chem/Physics sections. DIVE correlated very well to the Chemistry section and not at all well to the Physics.

I don't know your child, but that is a heavy load. For fall, you have 4 CC classes which makes him a full time student, plus 2 online classes which could easily mean he is taking the equivalent of 18 college credits! Most college students can't manage that, let alone a high school junior. That doesn't mean yours can't. But neither of mine could. You might consider actually homeschooling a few classes so that he has more flexibility in his schedule if the load proves too heavy. The only class I would rethink is the math for college readiness. Why not do Pre-Calc or College Algebra instead? He could do it at home with Lial's instead of online with FLVS. If his future college will accept it, he could take the CLEP afterwards and between that and AP Stats, he might not have to take math as a college student. If he does, I think it would still be a good solid college prep math. ETA: The workload for drawing at ds's college is completely instructor dependent. He took it with a professor that only gave homework if she had to cancel a class, otherwise all work was done in class. According to reviews of one of the other drawing professors, from him you could expect 4-8 hrs of homework per week in addition to the 6 hours/week of class time, all for 3 credits. :svengo:

Integrated Chemistry and Physics. It is the more higher ed friendly name for Physical Science. :)

The first time we used DIVE, I tried to use at as you are thinking of, as a supplement. It just doesn't work. His videos and labs have to be the focus, with the text as the supplement. For Biology, I made my own syllabus using Miller/Levine Biology. It worked great for us. However, I know from comparing them that M/L and Concepts and Connections do not present things in the same way at all. Its been too long, but I want to say C&C went through systems and then included what classifications would have those systems. As opposed to going through a class of animals, say arthropods and discussing what systems they would have. Does that make any sense? Anyway, M/L matched up pretty easily to DIVE. There was more info in M/L than necessary for DIVE, but we just read extra material as it fit. However, that makes me think that C&C wouldn't match well (because the two texts are so different). Also, C&C will have even more depth than DIVE that will just exist in the reading. No, I don't consider DIVE to be an honors level course. I consider it to be a solid on level Biology. Dd used DIVE for ICP, Biology and Chemistry. Ds tried it for ICP and hated it. Dr. Shoreman is boring. However, dd appreciated his straight forward teaching style. We are old earth creationists here and found his materials too Christian and too YE, but not as strong as something like BJU. We could work with it and ignore it or laugh at it in general. YMMV. I like DIVE test, but consider them on the easy side. They typically include matching, fill in the blank w/ a word bank, T/F, labeling diagrams, and a bit of short answer. There are only 4 tests which I really liked, but because they each cover a great deal of material, the depth of coverage is a little light. I generally like DIVE labs, but would point out that information only found in the labs can be found on the tests, so again, you need to use his program as your primary source.

I've done a low calorie diet for the last 5 months and lost 40 lbs. There were a few keys for me. 1. protein. I shoot for 100g of protein/day. 2. No sugar. Yep none. No honey, no artificial sweeteners, no sugar. My rule is nothing sweeter than a piece of fruit. Sugar makes me hungry. Really, seriously, I'm starving and I'm going to hurt someone if I don't get food now, hungry. 3. Some fruits and more veggies. Not high sugar fruits, but high fiber fruits like apples and plenty of veggies. They take up physical space in my stomach to make me feel less hungry. Water alone does nothing for me, but I do try to drink a glass any time I think I'm hungry to make sure I'm not really thirsty and looking for moisture in food (I tend to crave fruit when this is the case). I also think having water before I eat makes my stomach feel full faster. Finally, I drink hot calorie free beverages in place of desserts. I can't do caffeine, but I find decaf coffee and herbal teas really help me top off a meal and feel satisfied.

Yes. I have gone through many lunch phases: Convenience food - the kids loved this because they never get junk like that any other time. Left overs - trying to fix extra and have left-overs frequently. Sandwiches - from lunch meat to home smoked turkey, keeping lots of yummy bread and sandwich fixings on hand. Fend for yourself - let my kids do their own lunches (see convenience food) I have of course tried to fix healthy lunches. I always have a good variety of fruit. I always have fresh veggies ready to eat along with hummus or ranch dressing. I have cooked every food I know of for lunch at one time or another. I always end up back at the same place... I suck at lunch.

Another no. My parents stayed married until they died. I could look at their marriage as relationship advice, but other than it's longevity, it wasn't what I wanted. The thing I got from my parents was find something that works for you and go with it. They did. I have. I don't think our relationships look a lot alike, but they both worked.

Nope, that isn't bad at all. My kids plans come out between $9-10/meal. Not too bad for dinner, but pretty steep for breakfast and lunch. Our tuition costs are very reasonable here. I think they use meal plans to help make up for that. :001_rolleyes: I suppose it all evens out in the end.

Right there with you Pam. We didn't homeschool from the beginning, so I haven't been a homeschool mom as long as you, but my youngest is graduating in May. In truth she is doing all but one class online or at the local CC already. My oldest is already away at college. I don't feel like a homeschooling mom now and it will be completely over in 11 weeks. I too have found myself here more often lately. I just feel the need for other homeschool mom's. I'm very sad about it ending. :001_unsure: :grouphug: :001_unsure:

In the US, you don't have to ask, you are told. Students living on campus are usually required to have a meal plan. It is an outrageously expensive set of meals designed to profit the university, but it does offer convenience. :)

If she likes TT, I would let her stick with it. Just use the second edition. They updated their scope and sequence to be more standard. If she is having trouble getting into TT Algebra 2, Lial's is a great transition program because it teaches every concept from the beginning. It doesn't just have a review chapter or two then move on, at the beginning of EVERY chapter, they cover the concept from the beginning. Everything typically covered in Algebra 1 is usually taught in the first section, maybe the first two sections, then Algebra 2 level concepts and more complex problems come in, in the next 2-4 sections (different chapters are different lengths). She could probably start immediately with Lial's with no review, but it may be slow going. Then again, she may speed through the reviews since she already really did cover the material and it may be just the thing!

DO offers a self grading option that is not listed or not easy to find on the website. It is much cheaper if cost is a problem. My kids both decided not to take Physics, but if they had, I had every intention of using DO. It would have been our only outsourced science (because it is the only science I am not competent to teach).

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I understand. Do you want prepackaged curriculum or an online program? Those are two very different beasts. ETA You might want to take a look at the pinned thread at the top of the page that includes many, many outsourcing options.