DD used MUS through pre-calculus and then did a year of dual enrollment math at the CC her senior year. We took the conservative approach and had her take pre-calculus algebra and pre-calculus trigonometry rather than jumping directly into calculus. She sailed through with a high A both semesters. She took the ACT (not SAT) early in the 10th grade, so she had just started MUS algebra II, and scored a 27 in the math section.

Have you looked at Jensen's Format Writing?

Depends on the school - I'd check with the ones your student may be interested in. Our local university wants the ACT or SAT test taken no earlier than 3 years before you plan to enroll. So, 10th grade is ok but 9th is too early.

I agree! My DD took Spanish DE at a local CC and it worked out great. She actually ended up taking 4 semesters worth. She had only studied Spanish informally using Rosetta Stone (Level 1) and a bit of Duo Lingo prior to starting the DE Spanish. She sailed through the four semesters.

I just took a look at the website since we haven't gone through that process. It looks like they have a "transcript review" for students transferring into HLA with high school credits earned while not registered with a school. There is a fee for this but no testing. You can read this by click going to the website and clicking on the High School tab at the top, and then select Transfer from the choices along the left. I think they will just want course names, descriptions (generally a list of materials used), credits awarded, and grades. If he has been working on English and Math with a tutor, you should definitely provide a credit for these courses. Consider possible electives for other things that he may have done on his own, like PE for sports and individual physical activities (running, walking, biking, etc.); generally a minimum of 120 hours could be a credit. If he's sat in front of Netflix for hours a day, consider discussing what he has been watching and determine if it is worthy of a Study of Film elective credit.

Is commuting an option? I'd love for DD to have the same on campus housing experience that I had but the expense is currently out of reach. DD will be commuting until she can get a job and save up enough to cover dorm or off campus housing costs.

You didn't say what state you were in. It sounds like HomeLife Academy in Tennessee may fit your needs; I believe they are open to residents in all 50 states. They have a lot of information on their website if you want to take a look. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have as we have used them for 12+ years. They do not dictate the course materials that you use and do not require testing. You can do everything online: register, report grades and attendance.

I recommend taking a look at Sparknotes. It is free and online and has some of your novels and shortstories. It covers a nice range of literary analysis elements. Also, you might consider watching the BBC Sherlock in conjunction with reading Sherlock Holmes. My DD had read just a couple of the stories before watching the BBC series and then went back and devoured many more. She loved how the directors of the show compared/contrasted to the original stories.

A couple cautionary comments. As mentioned, sometimes the course requires an online code to access part of the course materials. In our experience, the code alone is often almost as much as the new textbook bundled with the code. If you buy the textbook alone online somewhere, hoping to save money, it can end up costing you more if you then have to buy the code. We've also run into institution specific versions of common textbooks. It is so painful to pay full retail for this special version when plenty of inexpensive versions are available online. DD sometimes doesn't know who her instructor is going to be until classes start, so that she can't confirm what versions can be used ahead of time. By that time, it is tough to find and purchase the books online because they often have assignments due the first week of classes.

The best you can do is expose her to different organizational methods and let her find what works best for her. I tried to push the written planner method on my DD when she started taking dual enrollment courses at the CC but she didn't end up using it except for the month-at-a-glance page where she would write in all the assignments for all her courses in tiny writing. Yikes! But it worked for her and that's the point, I guess. As an aside, the first course I had DD take was called "College Success" and they covered things like how to study, how to research, how to make presentations, how to keep your coursework organized, how to seek help from the tutoring center, how to take tests at the testing center. etc. It was a great introduction to college level courses. Does your DD's school have anything like that?

I have a civil engineering degree and will answer your questions to the best of my ability. -Overall, are Civ Eng programs competitive to get into? This is highly dependent on the school and varies from a guaranteed spot with specific credentials to highly competitive even for top students. Plan to have a safety school or two if your student decides to try for some of the more competitive engineering department schools. -What high school science and math sequence would a well-prepared applicant have? Needs to be very solid through at least pre-calculus. Most engineering programs have calculus as the freshman math. It's great to have calculus in high school but not an absolute requirement. Needs to be ready to take calculus for certain or will be behind from the get-go. I'd emphasize chemistry and physics more than biology. -Should she expect to put time into advanced degrees and/or training? Does that depend on her goals? (She isn't uptight about salary but has a leadership personality so I think she would prefer to lead and not be led, if that matters.) Definitely depends on her goals. I went for my master's degree immediately after getting my B.S. in civil engineering because I wanted to do environmental engineering, which was only offered as a grad program at my school. You can certainly get a job with a B.S. in civil. -"You should enjoy subjects like ___ and/or ___ in school." Definitely math and to a lesser extent, science. I wouldn't even say that you need to enjoy it. You should be capable in it and not hate it, certainly. -"You should enjoy doing things like _____ because you'll be doing that on the job most days...." Wow. I wish I could answer this. It is HIGHLY dependent on the area of specialty within civil engineering and the type of job you take (government, private, academia, etc.). Currently, I spend a lot of my day writing (proposals, test plans, technical reports, progress reports, social media articles, publication articles, etc.) In my first job, I did a lot of field sampling (streamwater, soil samples, groundwater, air samples, etc) that had me working outdoors. -"You wouldn't want to do Civ Eng if ________" You hate math. You don't like to study. You want an easy major. This field of engineering appears to be heavily related to construction - is this a heavily male-dominated field and should she be prepared to run into some issues (as I have heard about with Comp Sci female students)? Again, civil engineering is one of the broader engineering fields: construction, water resources, wastewater treatment, environmental engineering, etc. Certain sub-specialties are more heavily male-dominated than others. I had other women in all of my courses and that was *cough* *cough* years ago. I've worked with plenty of women in the workforce. -Similarly, having a family someday is also a priority for her - are there positions in the field that can be family-friendly (or at least not anti-spending-time-with-family), and/or not put her at risk for major career backtracking if she should desire to spend a few years working part time or not at all when having young kids? In general, not super family friendly. My jobs have required travel (sometimes being away for weeks at a time) and I can remember traveling with a breastpump after my first was born. This was very hard on my DH, as you can imagine, and I hated to be away when the kids were very young. I'm fortunate now to be traveling much less and never more than a week at a time. It can be difficult to negotiate part-time positions and, to be honest, I haven't really seen much of that. It's tough to take time off and then get back into the workforce (this is generally true in most professions, not impossible, but tough). I hope that helps and I'd be happy to answer any additional questions you or your DD may have.

Neither of my DDs are sports oriented. Hours towards a PE credit was easy with the second one since she takes 4 dance classes each week. The first one, however, had to be prodded towards physical activities. We just logged the hours until she completed 150 hours and then awarded a credit. It took her over a year. Here is the portfolio description for her: Physical Education (1 credit) – This course emphasized individual activities to promote lifelong fitness. Accomplishments included 150 hours of physical activity in the areas of swimming, aerobics, walking, weightlifting, yoga, and fencing.

There is no blanket answer to how many credits would be too many to take. A serious student without too much of a social life could handle more than a student interested in taking part in lots of extracurricular campus activities and/or that was also working significant hours. I took up to 19 credit hours my freshman year and handled it fine. . .but I didn't start working a campus job or get to know people well enough to have friends to hang out with until sophomore year. :laugh: It's also best to balance difficult/technical courses with less technical elective requirements. I would personally NOT try to take 3 science courses at the same time.

I'd like to trade places with those of you who had to suffer through discussions of sorority rushing or campus fashions during orientation. A parent-only session at DD's orientation went something like this: Parent1: Can my son open carry while on campus? Security officer: No. We don't allow any weapons on campus. Parent1: Even if he has a permit? Security officer: No. We don't allow any weapons on campus. Parent2: But the [state] law was changed last year to allow carrying with a permit. Security officer: It's against our policy to have any weapon on campus. Parent1: How about in his trunk? Can he have his gun if he leaves it in his trunk? Security officer: No. No weapons are allowed on campus, even in the parking lot. Parent2: I'm pretty sure it is allowed. The law changed. Security officer: It is against our policy to have any weapon anywhere on campus property. Parent2: Against policy but not against the law. It went on like this for a while with a couple parents arguing that since it wasn't against state law (they are mistaken about this, I've since looked up the relevant laws), their students should be able to tote their guns along with their textbooks. Finally, so that we could move on, the security officer invited them to come by the security office where they could read and discuss the state law and the school policies.

I schedule each high school subject 4 days a week so that they are not doing everything every day. I try to balance each day to have a roughly equivalent amount of work and take extra curricular activities into account as well. We manage to complete the work expected each year so it works for us.

I've decided that the difference between students (how they learn, etc.) is greater than the difference in textbooks/programs. My daughter used MUS, starting with the original version of Foundations, Intermediate, and Advanced, and then using the high school programs through pre-calculus. We didn't even use the tests at all but did incorporate the honors pages. She took precalculus algebra and precalculus trigonometry as dual enrollment at the CC this last year and got a high A both semesters. She found it easy after the foundation she got with MUS. For the OP, I just want to reiterate that having someone work one-on-one in math with a struggling student is critical.

There is now a little more information out there: http://www.driveto55.org/lib/file/manager/TN_Promise_One-Pager_7-1-14.pdf Note that the application deadline for Fall 2015 is November 1, 2014. This early date is going to catch many people unaware unless the public/private schools do a great job communicating with their students/parents. Tennessee Promise is the new program, starting with students graduating high school in spring 2015 and starting college in fall 2015, that will cover the remaining tuition charges for a community college or technical school for the first two years. They call it a "last dollar scholarship" because any other grants or scholarships would be used first to cover the tuition and then Tennessee Promise would cover any remaining.

Thank you for posting. We'll be on the lookout for this next year. Meanwhile, we've been using the dual enrollment grant through the same TN lottery scholarship organization for the past few years and it has been very simple and trouble-free.

Sorry for the delayed response. Thank you very much for the information. DD is looking forward to exploring these resources.

DD recently started taking violin lessons and is being taught with tablature (not regular sheet music). She would love to find some violin tab for music from the Legend of Zelda series of video games (especially Wind Waker). We've tried several Google searches and are finding plenty of sheet music and tab for other instruments (mostly guitar). Any ideas/suggestions? Thank you very much. I know this is a long shot but I've always been amazed at the collective store of knowledge that the members of this board so freely share.

I'm not especially sensitive to motion sickness AND I took a motion sickness med just in case, and I discovered that I couldn't ride any of the simulator rides at US. Ok, I could ride, but I had to close my eyes. ha! I agree though, the Mummy ride was one of my favorites. Jurassic Park River Adventure was my other favorite.

Best advice - stay onsite. We don't normally spend that much for hotels but at US, it is really worth it for the benefits. You can WALK everywhere: to both parks and to the shopping/restaurant area. You get automatic fast pass access to every attraction that offers it. They also offer onsite folks the chance to do Harry Potter early in the morning, before the rest of the public is let into the park. DO THIS! The crowds later in the day, even during a slower season, are wall to wall (only in the Harry Potter section, the rest of the park seemed fine). If it just doesn't look feasible to pay the rates at the US hotels, keep in mind that you only need ONE night to get TWO days of access to the fast pass system (forget what it is called actually at US. . .fast pass is the Disney system!) - the day you check in AND the day you check out. The restaurants at the shopping complex are all very LOUD. We have one DD that is sensitive to loud noises and we had to leave before we even got a table. We ended up eating offsite and at the quick service type places where we could eat outside. Oh, if you decide to get a meal offsite, we really enjoyed Flippers Pizza. It is a short drive from the hotels, was never crowded, and had very yummy pizza and other dishes. Very reasonable prices. We did four days in the parks and that was PLENTY. With onsite access, you can do a pretty good job of both parks in two days. We wanted to be a bit more relaxed and so spread it out over 4 days. Just like at Disney, the more days you add to the ticket, the cost "per day" goes down.

If you want to stay onsite and cost is a concern, it is almost always least expensive for large families to book 2 rooms at one of the All Star Resorts (Movies, Music, or Sports). Keep an eye on the website Mousesavers for possible room discounts. We have always had either a room discount or free dining plan on our trips to WDW. If your dates are flexible, you can even wait for a discount to come out and plan around the dates the discount is available! We'll be heading back in December, with free dining!

Hmmm. . .I was going to suggest the Coleman brand. We have a few of these and they have lasted for several years and still seem to be going strong. They've been used on floors and on camping trips, so we aren't especially careful with them. Have you considered a patch kit to just repair the hole, rather than a full replacement? You could switch to using sleeping pads or eggcrate foam. Bulkier to store but at least they wouldn't develop leaks.

Yep. I agree. The room was fine. You had a place to sleep. The hotel met its obligation. I think the offered 30% discount is generous. Would you rather they have turned you away when you showed up?!?