I love homeschoolers -- we have SUCH a diversity of interests! This is SO cool that you are going to learn Danish! :)

Sure. It's a wide field with lots of fascinating applications. I'll PM you.

This year a homeschooler from Texas was accepted ED to Yale and was accepted to Harvard with a likely letter. Homeschoolers were also accepted to Rose-Hulman and U. Chicago. (Those are just acceptances that come to mind right now.) If you look in the homeschool section of collegeconfidentail.com you can see a thread on the various colleges homeschoolers have been accepted to this year. Some of them are very presitigious name schools. With homeschooling, the sky is the limit! :001_smile:

I will be using Holt Bio next year. We have Campbell's and ALL the supporting materials, but we will not be using it for two reasons: 1) Ds has no interest in biology, so I don't see the point in using a difficult and time-intensive AP text with him; 2) The Holt supporting materials look VERY easy to use. We will be supplementing with the Thinkwell lectures, but I think I have fully planned the course, and I have only spent a few hours looking over the material. I will say that Campbell's is an EXCELLENT text. You should be aware, however, that it is a college-level text that is frequently used for AP courses. It would be too difficult for many if not most 9th graders. If your child is up for the challenge and is interested enough in biology to merit the increased time commitment, GO FOR IT!

We didn't bother to send the scores to colleges when my kids took the tests in 9th. The college process is still years away, and I don't see how it would help your child to send the scores.

I haven't used it with my kids, but I have read several books from the series and am SO impressed. I would love to find some local people who were interested in doing a book study on them -- thought-provoking to say the least.

I love the reasons given by other posters, and i would just like to add one of my own -- passing out of the foreign language requirement at college! If a student gets a 5 on the AP Latin Vergil exam, most colleges will then consider that the student has fulfilled the foreign language requirement. How cool!

The whole financial side to college is VERY disagreeable! We're facing an odd one right now -- ds is basically deciding between two schools, one with a full ride and one NOT. We can afford the NOT one, but it would be tough, tight, and painful. So how much is the education at NOT school worth? $X per year? How do you make that decision? So do dh and I tell ds that he must accept the full ride because of family finances? Do we wait and pray that he will make the "right" decision (whatever that is)? Or is the educational benefit worth the financial pain? (We're in 'wait and pray' mode right now!) I have a feeling that the cost/benefit analysis of education is a fairly common topic of discussion this month!

I just wrote a response, but it was about Spielvogels Western Civ text, not HO. So I deleted it all!

What an interesting question! What I have written below is pretty much not relevant if you don't need ifnancial aid OR if your EFC is close to $0. Our experience with aid -- The top schools say that they will fulfill your "need". I have no idea how they determine your "need", but the number they come up with is MORE than your FAFSA EFC, since it includes assets like home equity. Ds can't go to U Chicago, which says it meets 100% of need, because they are asking us to pay 75% more than our EFC. We can't do it! :-( Of course, we could tap into home equity and the rest, but for various reasons it is not a viable option. The state schools are MUCH less expensive, especially if you are in-state. For us as Virginia residents, UVA tuition, room and board is less than 40% of U Chicago's tuition, room, and board. What a difference! Even if you are out-of-state, UVA would only be 60% of U Chicago's TRB. Also, some state schools offer extensive merit aid. For those of us who don't like our EFC, merit aid is a HUGE blessing! The mid-range schools can be problematic. Many mid-range schools do not promise to meet 100% of demonstrated need. Also, they have much less money available so they are stingier with what they offer. WPI is known for being VERY stingy with aid. Even with merit aid, mid-range schools can be a financial issue. Dd received almost the top merit aid award from Case Western. This amount almost directly cancelled the amount that she would have (probably) received in grant aid through the financial aid office. C-W does not cancel loans first (many schools put the merit aid towards the loans first, so the student doesn't need any loans before cancelling grant awards). Dd still ended up with a VERY large amount of loans on her fin aid statement. So we actually received NO benefit from her receiving this great scholarship -- the dollar amount that we would have had to pay would have been about the same with or without the scholarship, but instead of receiving a fin aid grant she would have received a merit scholarship. (This was also true of the College of Wooster, where she received a similar-sized scholarship). The moral of the story for us -- unless the merit scholarship is large enough to start making inroads into our payment, the scholarships are pretty meaningless. All they do is turn grant aid money into scholarship money, but they don't actually decrease the amount the family has to pay. (If you can afford full-tuition, this statement is irrelevant!) My advice? Apply to three types of schools -- 1) Top choices. You don't really know how the fin aid will work out. If you can afford your FAFSA EFC, it's probably worth it to apply. Friends of ours have a child whose fin aid packages from Swarthmore and Williams differed by $10K! So you don't know. Just make sure your child knows that if the fin aid doesn't work out right, he can't go. Period. 2) Strong schools that offer some merit scholarships (preferably full-tuition) -- You can NEVER count on receiving merit aid. For some schools the ratio is close to 1000:1; for others it is 4:1. Lots of kids are after the money. But God is in control, and if He wants your child at a certain school He will open those doors. We figured that our kids should apply to ALL schools they were truly interested in, and we would sort out the fin aid / merit aid packages later. We didn't want to close any doors. (Not surprisingly, ds didn't get one of the 10 full-tuition awards U Chicago gives. But hey, it was worth a shot!) 3) Financial safeties -- Do have your son apply to at least one school that he can attend regardless of merit aid. Merit aid is a gamble. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/debtindex_brief.php Click on the student indebtedness link for some interesting lists! http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/webex/Need_based_aidnatudoc_brief.php This is a list of average financial aid awards for the "top" universities. I found it fascinating! This doesn't include debt assumed by the family because they can't pay their share; this is only the fin aid office's view of the world, but it does show what schools are better than others at meeting fin need.

I have heard that in many countries being "good" at math is expected -- just like we expect everybody to be "good" at driving a car. In those countries math is regarded as a "skill" that one acquires rather than as a gift that one encourages. Supposedly the countries where math is regarded as a "skill" have much better overall math test scores. I appreciated your comparing math and piano -- interesting!

We refer to our oldest as the "family guinea pig" sometimes. We think she turned out quite well considering how little we knew what we were doing. She is the one who: 1) had to do grammar every day until sometime in 10th grade (NEVER again!) 2) had to learn all the presidents by heart (worthwhile, but only for history buffs) 3) had to read almost every book on courtship ever written (and gave negative reviews on a fair number -- I've thrown those out so the others won't read them accidentally!) 4) was NEVER EVER allowed to see a movie until she had read the book (even those movies that she wasn't that interested in and so she never ever would read the book anyway!) 5) had to do calculadder (never ever again!) 6) was never ever allowed to drink soft drinks. 7) had THREE different pre-algebra programs! She looks at what my younger kids are allowed to do and lectures me! I smile and thank God she made it through depite all our weird rules, requirements, and goofs. If we could do it over I'd sweat the little stuff less and seize the moment more..... hopefully I'm doing that with my younger ones!

Wow -- my 8th grader is slogging through Western Civ, and he thinks it's pretty neat. Difficult to read, but interesting! Yoiks!

WONDERFUL news! What an honor! Congrats to him and you! My son went "dressy" for all his scholarship interviews -- suit and tie -- but he is a formal kid. Dd wore a formal skirt suit. But I think what your son wears is personal. His clothes, however, should reflect that fact that he thinks this is an important interview! Have your son reread EVERYHING he submitted to the college. They may ask about any of his essays or courses or whatever. Both of my kids ended up being asked to go over arguments they made in one of their essays and then they had to defend the position they took. My kids were both asked a bunch of other oddball questions -- the type that you can't really prepare for. Ultimately, the college just wants to get to know your son, and I'm sure that your 17+ years of training will come across well! I am sure that he will SHINE! Let us know how it goes!

Thank you all. I so apprciate the words of encouragement and caring. Yes, we are definitely doing one day at a time. That's all I can deal with right now. But dd is doing so well -- she is doing her own shots and proudly calculating how much insulin she needs and ..... It's still a game to her; the fact that his is her "new normal" hasn't hit yet, but at least she is handling it well so far! I am amazed at all the younger diabetics out there. Dh, who has type 1 but didn't get it until he was 26, has met very few type 1 diabetics, so just hearing that there are others out there is encouraging. We'll be going to a local support group meeting next week and hopefully meeting some others...... Thank you all.

There are LOTS of different test prep books for almost all of the SAT-II's. (I know of only two for the Latin SAT-II, but there must be at least ten each for the common tests like bio and chem and English lit). Take your child to a bookstore that sells lots of test prep books, get ALL of the test prep books for the subject he will be doing, and have him sit down on the floor and look through all of the books. Each book is a bit different, and which book will best suit him depends on your child and his learning style. I don't think there is one best brand of test prep book that is always best -- which brand is better depends on the actual subject and your child. Best wishes! (I just went out and spent over $100 on AP prep materials for three subjects..... it's that time of year!)

Have your child take a practice exam from an SAT-II prep book. Then look at the score. Both of my kids' REAL scores were significantly higher than ANY of their practice tests. Their first practice test, taken after they read through the practice book but before any other serious study, was usually about 100 points lower than their actual score. (That obviously depends heavily on the practice book!) I do think that the practice books make their tests extra-hard so that you feel VERY successful when you receive a real score that is significantly higher than the ones you were getting on the practice tests.

Thank you all for your prayers. We went to the hospital this morning and were greeted by a wonderful super-friendly doctor who, since this was Saturday and the usual diabetes educators were at home, trained dd2 and dh and me. The doctor was amazingly sweet, choosing insulins to match dh's and colors to NOT match dh's. She was a great teacher and made dd2 feel comfortable with the routine. We have been "educated" and let loose. I assume that if dh weren't diabetic we would have received MUCH more training, but we are off and running. Dd has given herself two shots -- it's a beginning. God has been really good, blessing us in all kinds of ways. The sweetest thing was to come home and find two VERY worried big brothers. Neither admitted they were actually worried, but they were SO glad to see their sister home safe and sound! They wanted to hear ALL about everything. For the most part they ignore dh's routine, but they wanted to know ALL the details of their sister's! The funniest thing -- the doctor homeschooled her own kids up through 7th grade, and she was DELIGHTED to find out that dd2 is homeschooled! She went on and on about how hard it is for ps kids who have to have the school nurse deal with everything actually take charge of their own regimen when they leave for college! We're still a bit wibbly, but God has surprised us with some VERY unexpected blessings. I so appreciate your prayers. Thank you all!

Dd2 (the 12yo) was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes tonight. My dh has type 1 so this is not out of the blue, but....we will be spending the next few days at a hospital. She was given a BIT of insulin tonight and we were sent home to get some sleep. Now, how to tell the big sis, who is starting final exams tomorrow..... All of a sudden which college ds2 decides to go to is remarkably unimportant! God has this all under control.

Our kids' leadership experiences were through Civil Air Patrol and through fife and drum corps.

We have a set from the early 1980's. We love it. We just use it for easy reference. My elementary/junior high kids use it for school, and we pull out volumes while we are eating lunch to reference things. I wouldn't bother buying a new set. For "serious" stuff my older high schoolers use the internet anyway.

Now that'sit's morning and I have had my coffee, I choose to look at the brighter side -- When my dd calls, I hear an increasingly self-confident, successful young lady on the other end of the phone. She is overcoming challenges, meeting fascinating people, making wonderful friends, seeing new places, and stepping up to her adult life. Yes, I miss her -- like crazy. But I SO rejoice in watching her grow and hearing of her wild adventures and her amazing successes. Dd actually had a vERY hard time leaving for college. Last year we were members of a church where almost none of the late teens-early 20's crowd left home. The emphasis was on girls babysitting and preparing for marriage by developing homemaking skills. Dd received lots of discouragement from attending college and was really starting to think twice and thrice about it. (We have since left the church because we don't want to go through that experience again with our younger dd.) Dd is SO glad that she did go away from home! Dd won't even be home this summer, and I am facing the fact that she will probably never live at home again. :glare: But I rejoice that she is stepping out and establishing her own life, and I treasure her emails and phone calls. When I really miss her, I think about the alternative -- do I want her living at home, scared to go out on her own? Of course not! I never realized, though, how hard letting the fledglings leave the next would be.

My dd left for college last September. I miss her all the time. She calls for about an hour every other night -- we are SO blessed! -- and I look forward to that time more than I can say. Our kids aren't really ours, though -- they were loaned to us for a while, and then we need to let them go. It's so hard. I heard a quote last fall -- maybe someone can help me get it right -- something like "Don't have kids if you don't want your heart outside of yourself" And why does everyone talk about diaper-training and the terrible two's, but NO ONE talk about the pain involved when the kids leave?

My older two just did it once. They were pleased with the results -- and so no reason to bother doing it again? I have heard that many kids are nervous enough the first time they take the SAT that just taking it again -- with no additional practice or review -- will pretty much automatically raise the score a bit. Obviously, if your kids want to see serious improvement over the first scores, they need to do serious work.

I'm ssorry. Dd and ds1 have both used Giancoli's "Physics" in high school. They loved the book and thought it did a great job of presenting physics in a straightforward way. Since they did the course online, they ended up using different editions -- dd used the 5th; ds used the 6th. (And Mom cried into her checkbook!) I don't know the name of dd's freshman physics book -- I will ask her tonight.