A friend of dd's is studying at Oxford this summer (some program focusing on Shakespeare). He is taking out a $6K loan to do it. I don't know any more details.

I also don't quite understand your question, but I'll give you an example from one of dd's schools last year -- She received a 3/4 tuition scholarship. That still left 1/4 tuition (which was about $9K) plus room & board plus other fees that totalled about $20K. The school then put together an award for the $20K which was a combination of parent money, student money, work-study, and loans. We found one VERY depressing thing about scholarships -- say the school costs $40K. Say the parental/student EFC is $20K. Say the scholarship is $20K. The scholarship does very little good -- the family still ends up paying $20K! Without the scholarship the school would have put together grants (and some loans -- so at least the scholarship avoids the loans) to cover the $20K. We are so anxious to make flight reservations so ds can visit the prospective colleges, but we are waiting until ALL the fin aid/merit aid stuff comes in. This is a long process! I hope your mailbox is VERY full tomorrow! :001_smile:

So your dd applied to ten schools? Wow -- you had a busy fall! That is SO nice that you heard about some scholarships before the rejection!

I think rejections are always a little bit hard.....but it sounds like you both are taking it in stride! :) Yes, the next ten days should be intereting. We too are waiting eagerly for the mailman -- ds1 has been accepted at four out of six colleges so far, but he has only received the final merit aid/financial aid package from one.....This holding pattern is a wee bit stressful! I look forward to hearing about your college news and then about where your dd decides to go! I think I'm off to make some brownies -- they may not be elegant, but chocolate does wonders for stress! Want to come over and have some? :)

Ds is taking the PAH class with Bethany Gilmour and he really likes her as a teacher. The assignments are worthwhile, she gives helpful feedback, and she is very responsive. He strongly recommends her class!

Dd took AP Literature; ds took AP Language. I have lots of opinions on both! 1) The literature really focuses on reading literature; the essay-writing takes the form of writing opinions on the literature. The MC questions are HARD!!! But for a person who will take higher-level literature classes in college, I would definitely recommend it. In hindsight, dd probably should have taken AP language & comp because she will be writing many essays as an art history major, and she is only taking one lit class in college. On the other hand, she did get a chance to really explore literary techniques that she may never meet again (until her own kids are in high school!) 2) The language class stays away from literary techniques and focuses more on writing as a process. The books ds is reading are chosen because they show different writing styles and techniques. He writes "rhetorical analysis" essays, analyzing meaning and style. He has had to write editorials, and he just finished writing a 10-page rsearch paper on a current event. Ds wil be writing lots of essays as an economics major and a political science major, so the course will give him a strong writing background. He really doesn't read fiction (currently he is reading Godel Escher Bach; he just finished reading some economics books by Bastiat), so he REALLY didn't want to spend the year studying literature. We were very happy with both courses. If you have other specific questions, I'd be happy to try to answer!

I too would like to stress that transferring is a difficult process. (Wow -- I didn't know so many people transferred!) I went to a small single-sex LAC my freshman year and hated it. I transferred to an engineering school (graduating class was about 20% women -- talk about a change!) I had a great experience at the engineering school, but I was SO lucky! Transfers at this school aren't guaranteed on-campus housing -- I happened to be one of the few that got it. Despite the on-campus housing (and I was in a fabulous dorm), I found what Marie mentioned -- most students already had formed their close friendships, and I was an interloper. I did make many good friends there, and I am glad I transferred, but it was a mUCH rougher road than I had imagined, both socially and academically. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ We are encouraging our kids to realize that while transferring is an option, it has costs -- socially, academically, and financially. 1) Marie talks about the social cost. 2) Academically, the classes may or may not transfer -- even if you take classes from a strong school. I lost almost all of my freshman credits -- and I was at Smith College!!!!! I lost my two semesters of honors chemistry, I lost two semesters of calculus.....that hurt! (At least I did get to keep two semesters of Great Books!) 3) There may also be a financial cost to transferring. Many merit scholarships are only awarded to incoming freshman; while they may be renewable for the freshman as they progress through the college, they may not be available to transfers.

Dolly, You put it so well when you said that God is in control. Last year when my dd was a senior I thought we had the whole college process all figured out -- and we received so many surprises! It was a rocky road, but God directed all the bumps......and in hindsight the process is so clear! Dd1 is exactly where she should be. I know that a year from now we will be able to talk about how "of course" ds is at the college he is at.....but right now the decision process certainly is muddy! I can list reasons why ds1 might end up at any of five schools..... We are praying that God will clearly open some doors and clearly shut others. (This sounds weird, but right now we are SO thankful that dd1 didn't get into MIT, even though last April the rejection hurt a bit!)

The issue of being verbs is a touchy one with me. When I was in high school, I was not allowed to use any -- not even "He was buried!" I relaxed the standard a bit for my kids -- they are allowed to use one perparagraph, and, IF they can fully justify it, they can use another one. However, I have only seen one or two "justified" uses in my kids' papers, so that rarely comes up. Not using "to be" verbs does have its benefits -- dd is currently taking an art history course. Her prof said "No being verbs!" She has found describing art while NEVER EVER using "to be" verbs to be quite a challenge! She says that if she hadn't had plenty of practice rephrasing sentences to eliminate the "to be" verbs she would have a lot of trouble with the papers for this class!

Thank you so much for your suggestions! Some of these sites look like gold mines! I think that all of these are useable just with a computer that has sound capability..... (I too am very fuzzy on this ipod / MP3 stuff!)

My dd1 will be spending this summer abroad. Her goal is to teach herself to make lace (!!!) in the evenings, but she really likes listening to books on tape when she does handcrafts. We cannot afford to give her enough audio books to last the summer, and, even if we could, I am not sure that she would have enough space in her suitcase! Then I realized that there must be material online that is worth listening to. We already know about Kreeft's lectures online and St. Anne's Pub. Does anyone have any recommendations for audio material online --fiction or lectures or whatever? (We are reformed protestant -- PCA-- if that helps.)

It ssounds like you and dd have done some hard thinking. Good for you! And how wonderful to have CHOICES!!!!! Congatulations to your dd (and the hardworking homeschool mom as well!) Our ds will be dealing with those issues in a week. He has two full-tuition scholarships and is in the running for two full-ride scholarships, BUT....his heart is set on his first-choice school, which happens to (probably) be the top school in the country for his chosen major. It happens to be rather pricey. It also happens to be a 2-day drive away from home. :glare: Decisions, decisions. I keep on reminding myself that these decisions are a good thing -- but I am not looking forward to the decision-making process. Now to go out and check the mailbox to see if the two remaining "acceptances" (hopefully!) and the five financial statements are here yet! Congratulations to your dd and you -- what a wonderful way to end her "senior" year! She must be quite an accomplished young lady!

I believe that Holt does have an online site with activities, but I haven't investigated it at all. I just received (from Holt) the chpater tests (with answer key), directed reading worksheets (with answer key) and the thinking skills worksheets (with answer key). The tests and reading worksheets look very helpful; the thinking skills worksheets look rather bizarre and I'm not sure how much we will use them. I just phoned Holt and explained that I was a homeschooler. I had to state that we did have approval from our town and then I had to give the name of the school ds2 would attend if he were in school. That was it! :001_smile: http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/hrw_catalog/p2Program?caId=4&paId=59&pId=53

We are going to use Holt's Biology next year, along with the workbook and tests that accompany the text. We're also going to use the Thinkwell biology lectures and Biology The Easy Way. We're not crazy about the Holt text, but it looks like the most "teachable" thing that we have found. I love the Campbell's text, but we have GRAVE concerns that ds2 is not studious enough to really be able to wade through an AP-level text in 9th grade. We believe/expect/hope that that will be sufficient preparation so ds2 can do decently on the biology SAT-II.

Good luck -- let us know how it turns out!

By CWRU do you mean Case Western? If so, dd1 received a great merit aid/financial aid package from them last year with no meniton of ABTB. How strange!

Ds2 is taking visual basic through Potters school this year. He has REALLY enjoyed the class, and we are planning on having him take C++ next year. The class has been well-organized, the actual classes have been VERY helpful, the teacher has actually scheduled "help sessions" for kids who aren't getting everything, questions have been PROMPTLY answered, and the teacher REALLY seems to care about the students and how well they understand the material. :001_smile:I have been delighted!

The funny thing is that you need to work on impressing the college for so long -- and then the process flips! Ds has (probably) 5 schools that he will be deciding between, so ds and dh will have a busy April visitng schools! (Three are out of state -- and two of those require airplane tickets!) But at this point he is focusing on just learning as much as he can about each school so he can make a wise decision -- he doesn't need to 'impress" anyone! And the school's main aim at this point is to impress the student!

I think the outfit you mention is entirely appropriate. If he were just going for an interview, I might suggest a buttondown shirt intead, but since he may be sitting in on classes and the like and he doesn't want to stand out too much, I think a polo shirt and chinos outfit is a great choice!

Nan, Thank you so much for saying what I have been thinking as I read this thread -- that academics are fine, but they don't necessarily save the world. I come from a family of intellectual snobs (father -- professor, mother -- teacher, it was expected that brother and I would go to top schools. I couldn't fathom what kids who weren't headed to a top-tier school did -- I would have been so ashamed had I not gotten accepted to a "good' college). I was so surprised when I started staying at home with dd1 to find many wonderful people out there who were doing great things -- and they didn't have an Ivy League education. In fact, some of them didn't graduate from college, and a few didn't even graduate from high school! But all those people are out there helping society -- church leaders and foster parents and homeschool moms and guitar teachers and engineers..... We need intellectual leaders -- Einsteins and Feynmanns and Sowells -- but we also need more everyday folks -- real estate brokers and waitresses and football players and soldiers and........ And we all need to be careful not to be "intellectual snobs"!

Two points -- 1) On the judging end -- I do worry occasionally about the education a hs'ed child I know is receiving. I recently heard that a child that I was concerned about is heading off to a well-known Christian college and his SAT scores were high enough to qualify him for a merit scholarship! So who am I to judge? 2) And sometimes I am judged. My older two kids are academic powerhouses (okay, that isn't modest, but they are.....) I was talking with my mother the other day and she was asking about my youngest, who is in 6th. I mentioned that I am always confused by what grade she is in. I MEANT that dd2 is another academic powerhouse and is doing work that my other kids didn't do until 7th or 8th grade, but my mother started worrying about my dd's academics! I got off the phone in tears -- after my older kids get unbelievable test scores, acceptances, scholarships, etc., my mother is worried about whether or not my 6th grader is doing 6th grade work!!!!! Talk about not having faith in me and homeschooling! (The day after this phone call, ds1 got a "likely letter" from UVA.....) I think that the moment we step off the "normal" track people get worried.

Campbell's is an EXCELLENT text -- but it is a standard AP text. Are you trying to do AP bio with a 9th grader? Ds used it in the Scholars Online bio -- not an AP course but VERY rigorous. We own both Campbell's and Holt. I don't like Holt, but we are going to use it with my 9th grader net year -- I found the idea of teaching my 9th grader myself using Campbell's seriously intimidating! I would definitely consider using Campbell's if you are comfortable teaching bio and you have a "serious" 9th grader.

We used the Latin Road for two years and we do not recommend it. 1) The approach is drill and kill. My kids (especially my son) had serious problems with all of the memorization since the paradigms were not put into context. There seemed to be no "why" in all the memorization. 2) The notebook approach did NOT work for my ds. He doesn't like to write that much, and this business of copying everything down was a real struggle for him. 3) After two years we should have been approximately halfway (or more) through a Latin 1 text. We had barely scratched the surface of what was covered in dh's old Jenney Latin 1. That was discouraging.

Congrats on finishing the application! And may God make it abundantly clear where He wants your son to be!

We are strongly of the partial credit school of thought. Like Jan, we give full/no credit if there is no work 9if the problem is simple enough to be done without showing work). Again, like Jan, we give partial credit if there is a "clerical error" but the approach is basically correct. My older two have done calculus 1 and calculus2 at the local college, and they both received LOTS of partial credit on problems. I think that partial credit for advanced math problems is VERY standard. Another way of looking at it -- nobody gives partial or no credit for an essay. You give credit for the parts done well, and no credit for the parts done poorly. Difficult math problems are a bit like an essay -- there are LOTS of parts! As far as the bridge-building comparison goes, there is a MAJOR difference -- I expect my kids to do their math in an hour or so. I expect them to make sure that their answers are in the ballpark, but I don't expect them to recheck every single problem. A bridge, on the other hand, will be designed, corrected, checked, rechecked, and rechecked again. (And even then sometimes mistakes are made -- part of the Hubble telescope failed because of a units conversion error that escaped detection!)