Care to share just that bit of your blurb from your school profile for us newbies at this whole transcript/college app thing? 🙂

Ooh thanks for the HSBC sale notice!! Thank you! We did Thinkwell's AP US Govt - it took about a year, if you add in all the video lectures plus the reading and then adding in targeted AP exam test prep in April/May... We decided to call it a full (1) credit, as that's what our local HS calls their AP US Govt class. ETA - P.S. You should do a little (separate) PSA about the Thinkwell HSBC sale... the more people who buy, the cheaper for us all. 😉

Yes he took AP Macro/Micro in 10th, and will take AP Psychology next year too. Another social science. Just thinking we really need a true 'history' credit - probably World - to round out the usual suspects. Just don't know a good one really. These are really great suggestions - I'll be looking into them. My ds is more a video or live-learner, rather than a text-learner, so will scout out your thoughts. Keep them coming!

I too have a rising senior, my oldest too. And he too is on the Congressional Award path - going for the gold. And it's been like pulling teeth to get him to finish this summer, to come up with a plan after some procrastination on his part. If it was left to him entirely, he'd not finish it. But he still needs me to push him up that hill, so my personal plan is to continue pushing/prodding, as we've come this far already and with college applications around the corner, we've worked too hard (him as student and me as admin/teacher/mentor) to back off now. I'll try to give him more rope to hang as the senior year plays out, but right now at least, he still needs the prodding. He's fully self-sufficient academically - it's just some of those other things, and well, we'll just have to leave some things to figure out in college. Sink or swim. 🙂

Yes we are pros at taking at multiple locations. Been to 4 locations over the past 3 years. You pre-register or register same-day at the location you take the FIRST exam only. Then take your booklet with stickers with you each time, to use the same set of stickers. Moot point for you - but for anyone else who needs to know. :-))

that is just fantastic! i do love the bare feet! (but i did notice the heels in the first photo, so figured as much). LOL. thanks so much for sharing! when did your dd submit her gold record book - and do you recall how long it took to receive notification of the gold award in the mail?

my ds took his tests also at 2 schools, but all 4 scores were there. only weighing in, as it doesn't seem a more-than-one-location issue necessarily. he even took the late testing date on one (comp govt) and it was there.

Congrats!!! That is so wonderful. Tell us more about it! My son completes his gold this summer and we are planning to go to the ceremony in DC next June. Tell us all about it! Also, when did they have the dates finalized or even tentatively set? They seem to be telling me they won't know until Feb! We need to buy flights waaaaay before then - how did that work for you? Any ideas on when next year's ceremony will be?

we checked scores yesterday via proxy (a few states in the east are designated yesterday - pick a proxy from that state). happy here! AP Calc - 5 (Derek Owens) AP Stats - 5 (Edhesive) AP Comp Govt - 5 (PAH) AP Eng Lang - 4 (PAH-Walker)

Looking for some inspiration and ideas. Working on senior year planning... for history. So far, this ds has taken: 9th AP Human Geography 10th Hon US History 10th AP US Govt 11th AP Comparative Govt 12th ?? - planning to probably tackle a World or Euro History to round out his education. Anyone have some thoughts? And if World/Euro - anyone have any fairly inexpensive online options? I was thinking Khan Academy for World Hist.... What was your 4-year history cycle? Anyone do some stuff off the beaten path too?

let's hope you're right. i looked at it briefly too and never saw any particularly lengthy instruction at the time. i remember him floundering. but.... we're still trying it again next year. so obviously something about it clicked for us. i think it's a good 1-year option (for us) between at-home writing instruction and 11th grade AP English. i'll pay more attention and make sure we don't miss any instruction for my dd - that would be most helpful. i remember at the time thinking, oh why did we quit Windows to the World Lit analysis, thinking that would help... so maybe there's more to WAH than meets the eye, but in his opinion, it was for-sure light on the instruction. i'll see if he can still log in to his old account and look into it.

sticker shock to be sure! oh my! i try to keep my outsourced classes in the $500-700 range. we stopped with WHA (wilson hill academy) as classes were getting to the $800-900 range. (though we do take PAH classes which are in the high $700/800 range). we do like roy speed for shakespeare, but $1340 is way too steep. i asked my ds - and he concurred, there is no extensive instruction. there was no 30+ page pdf on how to write a literary analysis essay. it was a 1-page synopsis, if that, each time. he struggled with it, as he said it just didn't teach him anything. but i do feel the value is in the feedback, if your dc already knows the hows of writing and just needs to perfect it. it's why we chose SICC-C (IEW) for my dd for 9th grade to help shore up everything...

i have a different take on WAH. we are fans of WAH and we are signing up my 2nd dd for WAH workshops for her sophomore year... but with that said, i don't feel WAH provides any explicit writing instruction. you need to come into it knowing the basics of essay writing or persuasive writing or even literary analysis to get the most out of it, imo. we are big fans of IEW, b/c i feel it really teaches them the basics of 'how' to write, then leads them to where they can apply these basics now in their own way. so that's what my oldest did - IEW through SICC-B / Elegant Essay - then we jumped into WAH - took 1/2 semester High School (but that had too much creative writing for my taste). then in his sophomore year, he jumped to workshops - Essay 1, Essay 2 & Literary Analysis. (lit analysis was more of a struggle, as he'd never 'learned' lit analysis before) the constant feedback loop is great, and if that's the best way for kids to learn how to write, then perhaps there is instruction. just make sure you come into it with something under your belt is my opinion... my ds just finished AP Eng Lang after his WAH experience and while writing is not his forte naturally, he did pull an A and we'll see how he fared on the AP exam this week... and we are enrolling my dd who has just finished IEW through SICC-C in the WAH workshops this coming year too. so it's a great program, just know what it is and what it is not.

Thanks for everything. Yes I am woefully ill-informed in some regards re: FA and/or scholarships. I've spent the last 3 years knee-deep in getting his academics where they need to be, AP classes, SAT IIs, SAT, ACT, grades, etc - didn't really spend any time on any of that. He has his list of colleges, more or less. So we're ok there. I just remember when I went to school, I got a bunch of outside scholarships like $1000 here, $5000 here, etc - I don't recall any school-based scholarships at all. And I do see that as a standard thing around here. Love to hear more of what you did, your rising seniors did... most helpful.

What did you do summer before senior year? (I figure I should do course descriptions, transcript, counselor letter, school profile together, etc etc) What did your rising senior do? (start on essays? take a break, wait til fall?) What did you do? When should we look for scholarships? Or hope for merit-aid or need-based aid? Suggestions? I think our earliest action school would be Nov 1 application so mostly Nov-Jan applications we're looking at.... I'm new to all this, so help!

Rising 10th grader - thinking what to do for 10th grade English. Want to be ready for AP Eng Lang in 11th & SAT English to boot.... Thoughts? My oldest did Write at Home 10th grade: Essay 1, Essay 2 & Literary Analysis workshops. Good quality feedback, but not a whole lot of pointed instruction... Thinking a real English class like Blue Tent or AIM Pre-AP but don't really know... Your experiences and thoughts?? And if Blue Tent - which one would we do? Honors English 1 or English 2 for 10th grade?

Exams done here yesterday! FINALLY! What a grueling few weeks. Took the late AP Comp Govt exam - up 1-1/2 hrs away. (Thanks Arcadia for helping us find a center! Except for the long drive and day for my DH, my ds liked it a lot - though I told him he needs to drive himself there next time -- but he only got his license 2 weeks ago so 1 1/2 hr drive away seemed daunting... LOL) DONE! DONE! DONE!! WOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

So ready for APs to be over... Studying & prepping like crazy (my ds, not me - LOL!) But I'm exhausted just watching him! So ready for APs to be done - have AP Calc AB Tues, AP Eng Lang Wed and AP Stats Thurs... then late AP Comp Govt next Friday... ready for the end of the school year!

I am, yes... no idea what schools he'll apply to yet so a moot point to look at schedules. Do you have to be there for freshman orientations? I don't recall a freshman orientation when I went to university... we were planning to be out of town as a family one last time June-July ahead of his first fall semester. So thinking of making plans to be back by early August from what I can see here...

Next week here too... Tues, Wed & Thurs. Good luck!!!!!!!!!

Ok great. He scored highly on his R&W on SAT also - will that help? Anyone else?

Anyone with experience with the SAT Subject Test for Lit? I have my ds signed up for it this year after AP Eng Lang. I know it should be after AP Eng Lit, but he takes that in Senior year and by then, the SAT Lit exam/score would be a moot point. He's adding it in case he needs an SAT II humanities score. He already has SAT Bio (SAT USH - but that wasn't so good), SAT Math, and SAT Physics (this year). I thought a solid humanities SAT score would come in handy. Anyone with experience? Thanks!!

Thinking ahead to freshman year after my ds's senior year next year... Just wondering - when do Fall classes start for you (or those you know)? When do Spring classes end? Trying to make plans for summertimes...

my ds is taking it now. i'll let you know when we see how well-prepared he'll be for the ap exam. i'd say so far pretty good class.. not as good as PAH ap chem but not as bad as PAH ap hug. can assess properly when he sees how he fares on the ap exam (plus tons of personal test prep next couple weeks) PM me in july.

MOM0012 - if you're willing to share, i'm all ears. i write mine this summer too. EEK!!