We moved ds into the dorm last Friday. They have orientation through tomorrow. School starts tuesday. Ds is 2E and I've been really worried about all the transitions, but I think he's doing just fine. He is only about an hour from home and today dd ran a care package to him with all the things he'd forgotten plus some cookies. Dd looks like a college freshman herself, so she doesn't embarrass him by being there.

I agree that you won't need extra practice problems with Lial's, but I use the great courses lectures to supplement a textbook. We found them very useful to be used this way. I agree, leave behind the lower level science, just do Biology. I get: 1 math 1 history 1 science 1 English 1 foreign language 1 art (2, .5 credits worth maybe) .5 PE 6.5 credits?

I think Psychology would be a good choice. Our experience with PAH was very positive, but that wasn't a course ds did. One good thing about Psychology, if the AP exam goes badly, there is always the CLEP that might still give credit.

This is what I keep telling myself.

He's in! My leg was enough better that I could help him move in (although the move in crew carried everything) and walk around campus as needed today. Thanks for the support!

Just as a follow up on this, my son learned to read at 2. He was never hyper, only lacked focus, but not when it came to books. He loved them. He could listen to them endlessly, and taught himself to read. You are right, the focus on books was different than the focus on a screen. I think screens do some nasty things to the brains of an ADD/ASD child. However, for mine reading was a preferred activity, and any preferred activity will bring hyper focus. I know how tough this is and I hope you are able to make decisions you are comfortable with and have a good year.

While we count most 3 credit college courses as a full credit, English has been one exception. I gave dd .5 credit for composition and will do the same for Intro to Lit (if they offer it at a time that works in the spring). I think you can do whatever you want with this, but I consider a year of high school English to be a combination of literature and writing and our CC English classes are just too light. I would say she did more in 1 semester of Blue Tent Honors English 2, than she would in 2 semesters at the CC. I don't think a college would question you giving a full credit though, so do whatever you are comfortable with.

Thanks everyone.

I can't write in a book and neither can my ds, even though I've given him permission. It is just too against the grain here. We use stickies.

Our state requires 1000 hours (no counting days instead). Even with dual enrollment, we have had no trouble making that. The DE classes have homework and we still do some classes at home. If you child is in class 3 hours per week for 14 weeks (that is a short semester, does the school do trimesters?) that is 42 hours of class time per course. If they are doing 5 classes (full time) that is 200 hours. Then repeat for the second semester or for all 3 trimesters. You'll end up with about 400-600 class hours. I would expect at least 2 or 3 hours of homework per week on top of that which exactly doubles your total hour count. Some classes will take many more hours in homework and if you do home based classes you can rack up some extra hours there. PA Homeschoolers AP classes often take 10+ hours per week and meet for roughly 32 weeks, so just one of those gets 1/3 of your required hours for the year. I think you are just counting instruction time, rather than total time spent on the classes. I wouldn't stress. They should get enough hours in. If not, count some extra reading or interest based learning.

One thing you seem to be missing is that a symptom of ADHD is the ability to hyper focus. Many/most children with ADD/ADHD can hyper focus on preferred tasks. That may mean they read for hours when they are preschoolers, play computer or video games at levels way above what their age suggests, again for very long periods. For some it is legos, or imaginative play. This is a SYMPTOM. I see so many parents say "My child can't really be ADHD because look how they focus here!" and that is absolutely wrong. Hyperfocusing in one area while being unable to focus in most areas is by definition ADHD. I won't address whether it would be better to put her in ps or homeschool her except to say that if you put her in public school I would definitely put her in K. In my state, the cutoff is July 31st, so she would automatically be in K. But additionally, very few children with June or July birthdays actually start K here. They are held back unless very gifted or unless parents can't afford child care. She will be more than a year younger than some kids in her grade and a 6 mod to a year younger than almost all of them. With her inattention, that is a recipe for disaster. She would be far better off being the oldest. Her lack of attention will look like immaturity in a school setting.

I got stung by a wasp Saturday and I'm allergic. It has put a damper on plans. I'm on prednisone and antihistamines and can hardly stay awake. My leg is swollen to the size of a tree trunk and I can barely walk. :svengo: Tomorrow ds and I are taking the dog to a vet hospital 3 hours away for some advanced imaging that isn't available locally. I may only be half conscious, but he'll be stuck in the car with me at least 6 hours so we'll get to spend some time together. :) Maybe not the most fun trip, but it will be a distraction. Thursday I'll finally make him pack (I've been gathering, but he hasn't been packing yet) and we leave first thing Friday morning. After today, the week will go fast.

Ds will be moving into the dorms on Friday. I am feeling very apprehensive. If I post on the college board that I'm not sure he is ready to make it on his own, I'll get all kinds of negative feedback and there are plenty of people who will tell me not to send him. I don't need that. Ds has ASD, ADD, and Dysgraphia. His social skills aren't bad, but he is still awkward. Academically, he is highly gifted, but the classroom environment poses challenges. We have planned. We have prepped. We have supports in place. I'm still so nervous. I just needed a safe place to share and be understood. Thanks. Update in post 20

Has the mom talked to the high school to see what it will take to transfer the credit. I know an accredited credit with transfer, but can the student sit in on the end of course exam at the end of this year and get credit without taking an accredited course? It opens up a lot more possibilities. Here, even if they have had an accredited course, Algebra has an EOC exam required to get credit. Schools are generally welcoming to students who want to take that exam before entering, rather than at the end of the following year. The test is only offered once a year though, so I can understand how it would happen they would have to wait until the end of their first year in ps for the opportunity. I'd check on that.

None. We did setup our wireless to automatically log ds out at midnight on school nights a few times when he started having self control issues. However, our goal was to learn to control themselves while they were still at home and could recover from mistakes more easily.

Lials. We moved from MUS to Lial's and it really works well. Lial's takes a very similar sequence and is mastery based. It also starts each topic from the beginning, so it fills in the gaps MUS leaves. I was able to check out a copy of Foersters from the library and we didn't find the explanations as clear as those in Lial's. I suggest looking at both, but we really found LIal's to be the perfect way to step up and out of MUS.

Mine had a 1-day event in the summer that was crammed. Then he has a 4-day move-in/orientation period before school starts. The first day is 1/2 day move-in 1/2 day orientation. All freshmen at the school take a 3-hour "core" class that focuses on writing and communication, but each class is theme driven. That class actually meets each day during the orientation. The schedule looks quite overwhelming to me, but I know the idea is to get them in and involved as quickly as possible.

Extra covers? It isn't on the list I've been working from.

Dave Ramsey's Personal finance is an extremely light .5 credit. She will have to be more than doubling what is there to make it a credit. I would be hesitant to count this as a full credit until you see the actually amount of time required. I like DR and used the course twice, so I'm not bashing, just warning :)

I gave up my purse and just carry my cell phone and keys. My cell phone has a case holds 3 credit cards or 2 and some cash. I usually carry 1 credit card, my driver's license and my insurance card. I do switch that out some depending on where I'm headed.

I love that you started this thread. Dh and I have had a couple discussions trying to pin down a number. What you describe is exactly what we are after. We want him to have the money he needs, but not so much that he doesn't learn to manage it. He has multiple disabilities and the adjustment to college will be enough. Working is not an option. We have decided to start at $100/month. Ds can let us know if there is a cost that won't cover and we agreed to re-evaluate at Christmas. Ds is not a spender, but we want him to feel like he can participate if friends are doing something social and we want to make sure he can cover basic needs. ETA ds does have a credit card on our account in his name. We don't want him to use this for everyday spending though, because we want him to learn to budget and pay attention to what he spends. Our cc is too easy. He needs to grow in the area of personal financial awareness and so the allowance is important in our minds.

Wow, Congratulations! :party:

I remember from Psychology with my kids last year there being a description of this, not being able to break things into specific items within categories. So for example all motor vehicles are cars and it is difficult to categorize as car/truck/motorcycle/RV or all things that cook are ovens instead of stove/oven/microwave. There was a very specific area in the brain that controls this. I would consider an evaluation to try to find out if it is an issue she just has to deal with or if there is an instructional change you could make to help her.

APs aren't for everyone. They aren't always necessary. They aren't always best. They aren't always bad. They aren't always stressful. They aren't always rushing your student. They aren't always a change in homeschooling philosophy. However they can be any of those things. Watch your student. If you are trying to do a college prep education and you get them prepped and it isn't time to go yet (for any of 100 reasons), consider AP. We did have some really fantastic teachers at PA Homeschoolers and I do see it as an opportunity for those kids who want it and are ready for it.

This is pretty much exactly what we did. I didn't count it as a lab science and I did find a couple of websites (I remember a virtual lab tour) and some good Youtube videos, but I just checked and I must have deleted that folder of bookmarks, so I'm really no help at all. Ds and I did really enjoy it though :). The links from the Pearson websites were hit and miss, but try them, because some of them were really good.