I'm truly grateful this night. And yes, we did look up if homeschooling is legal in Switzerland before she submitted her application last fall.

4th and last 9th grader. DD14 is a fiery, motivated learner who breathes drama into every subject. I think I've finally figured out her complex learning style. The Devil Makes Work For Idle Hands is our guiding rule for this one, same as her oldest brother. Pile on work and activities, allow plenty of downtime for recharge but with knitting needles or spinning wheel so the hands are literally never idle! Very similar to oldest DS, with the difference that 25 years ago, there was no internet for homeschoolers. Remember the Timberdoodle paper catalogue? I don't have a smartphone, I'm not on social media, but I am grateful for the resources available now. 9th grade so far: English - continuing her 8th grade experience with an amazing mentor who worked with my third child. He is a retired PhD English teacher who worked at independent high schools throughout his career. His way involves close reading, Socratic method, excellent writing guidance and an incredible list of classic and new Great Books. Math - geometry with Mr. D. She adores Mr. H as this year's algebra teacher so will continue with him. She has completely changed her tune from math-rage to math-competency - I am deeply grateful for this program! Science - taking the plunge and will sign up for Athena's biology. Thanks to all the lists here I was able to research, especially Lori D. Fingers crossed. World History - this is a bit different. We're going to use the History of the World in 100 Objects by the British Museum director Neil MacGregor. It's not a text but rather a beautiful compendium of 100 era-defining objects with intelligent curation. We'll go through and select multiple geographic areas and different types of objects, then build a visual and verbal timeline of essays with further research into the ideas and eras. Foreign Language - continue with German, Duolingo or something new, haven't decided. Art - glass blowing apprenticeship with local glassblowers. Carschooling the drive there. More science - 3 hours/week doing water quality testing and phytoplankton ID with local marine bio lab. Shakespeare - continue with the same group, even though now the others will all be in school. (This is a tragedy waiting to unfold that I experienced with my older kids and now I know what's in store for this one.) ECs - show choir, theater at local public high school. Dance at...? Her favorite dance teacher is moving 3 hours away. More photography with "extra kid" graduated homeschooler. Spinning, knitting, drawing, hiking, swimming, and metabolizing the hormones.

Thank you. This list is easier to navigate than the one specifically for biology on the high school page, though I appreciate the work that went into both!

Last year I helped one of my "honorary" kids apply to colleges; he ended up at Green Mountain College. Now that GMC is closing, he is having to make some new choices but I haven't heard yet. I'm sorry that GMC is closing - 185 years is a long time. I've been doing college visits with another honorary - this time the older daughter of a homeschooling friend who died when her two girls were 9 and 11. Now the older one is a junior at public high school, and we've looked at Bates, Colby, Wheaton, and Boston College, and will travel to Bard and Oberlin next month. We both loved Wheaton - small and friendly, great energy. I'm so grateful to be able to take this young woman on these visits and talk about her future plans. She loves history and will probably major in it. I sometimes imagine myself as a reflecting mirror, trying to beam images of her to her mom in heaven.

Edited to be grateful I'm still able to enjoy this journey with my youngest. My fourth and last has been doing the Groovy Kids Online "Sparkers" course and Mr. D Algebra 1 with Mr. H for the teacher. She LOVES these classes! Blessings to Mr. H for turning my math-tears-and-rage-filled 7th grader into an 8th grader who say she loves math and does quite well in the class. Amazing. Groovy Kids is just as great as it was for her last term (The Disappearing Spoon class.) She loves the Sparkers book, the discussions, the learning brought to life. My favorite element of these classes is how truly interdisciplinary they are. One nice feature of the two above classes is that they are both synchronous - at least she sees the faces of other still-homeschooled kids out there! I'm looking for a synchronous, on-line high school bio class for next year and it looks like WTMA is the only secular one - any other suggestions appreciated.

I'm sorry to quote, but does "100% music" mean a performance degree? I was repeatedly told at my daughter's conservatory auditions that auditions count for about 80% of admission, academics for 20%. They also want to see attendance at intensive summer music festivals during the high school years, which he's already been doing. It doesn't have to be basket weaving, but it sounds like he has the academic bases covered. Prioritizing practice time is my best advice. My best to you and him!

One unusual feature of WPI which my son loved but others may not is the academic calendar. They do every class every day for 7 weeks then a week break and a new semester. If you get behind it's a problem, but if you stay up on the work it's more like the real world into which you'll be hired.

I*

Finally found my way back after the change during which time my ancient computer had decided this site was unfit to load... My honorary DS19 will be going to Green Mountain College in VT. Closer to home than Warren Wilson, excited about the soccer coach and team. FA unknown to me, but his "real" parents have picked up the thread and I have to assume will make it work for him. He wants to do the Outdoor/Adventure Education track, which will allow him to give forward to kids who can use what helped him. So happy for him!

Are auditions held in the middle of the week? I have only heard of auditions being on weekends, which was my dd's experience. It's difficult for me to imagine how much harder it would be for kids in school to schedule sample lessons and travel time, let alone the right amount of practice time while maintaining a functional school presence! Grateful to homeschool... How do you ask how much they charge for a lesson? She always asked in the first contact what was the fee for a sample lesson, and always paid one. The teacher with whom she now studies has a busy performance schedule and so offered sample lessons only on certain days of the year, and never at the school where dd now goes but at her other university studio where dd had no interest in going. and he just announced that he is leaving his position at the end of this year AND not going elsewhere (he's changed careers entirely). I'm so sorry - that's rough. Hopefully he can give your dd his best suggestion for the best fit teacher - it seems like the music world is pretty small and well-connected to each other. Did you usually set up these class sit-ins through the auditioning/professor or through admissions? Always through the conservatory admissions office - but she only sat in on music-related classes, so would've set up gen-ed classes through the college admissions side. Some stand-alone conservatories offer gen-ed classes through nearby universities, so you'd probably have to ask through those other admissions offices. Music is ridiculously expensive to study through the high school years at this level - instruments, travel, lessons, summer festivals. Getting her into college with solid scholarships and away from our household budget was definitely a net gain financially! Which sounds crazy, but isn't. Best of luck, break a leg, and blessings to your young people. When people roll their eyes and ask how will she support herself as a musician/why did you let her go to college for music I say two things: it's who she is and she can't not do it, and that music is more important than ever in this conflict-filled world.

My dd is a performance major at conservatory. She did all of the things you ask about over the course of junior and senior year. Junior year, she visited multiple conservatories and did the following: asked for and took a sample lesson ($100 - 200.00) to feel out the "fit" with the teacher, sat in on a theory class, did the typical college tour and info session, went to a concert and a masterclass if one was happening at the time, and actively approached current students in the studio to ask questions and to get the feel of the fit of the studio. The sample lessons were great to both feel out the teacher and also to help her focus on the practice schedule for auditions - she knew more of what they were looking for. She also found that meeting the teachers was really inspiring and helped her push herself through the exhausting preparation for auditions. The conversations with current students were super helpful both in terms of imagining herself at each school, and also for actual tips about auditioning for the particular teacher. These were not set up by the department or teacher during the visit, but happened quite randomly at the coffee shop and in the hall. She's really shy and surprised herself by reaching out - maybe being out of her usual comfort zone made it somehow easier. When it came time for auditions the following year, she felt more prepared because she had met the teacher and knew the school. I think the teachers may have remembered her from taking the sample lesson. During audition season, the schools all had conservatory-specific info sessions and we also went to a few cheese-and-crackers events with current students, set up by some of the schools with the purpose of prospies asking questions. You tend to see the same students and parents at every school as auditions are staggered over several weeks, with the parents carrying audition clothes and coats and snacks and tea. She was never cut off during auditions, though told not to "repeat" during certain pieces. This may be instrument-specific though, I also heard other parents say their kids had been stopped. Some of the more popular instruments have pre-screening requirements, which means they won't be asked to audition unless they pass the pre-screen. I believe voice, piano, flute, and cello are some of the ones with pre-screening. Like you, I had an older student who lived in a totally different academic world and so had to figure it all out anew. Auditions were a sweet season of our lives together, despite the stress. I learned the tricks of how to support her - hot mugs of tea to keep her hands warm, bringing every bit of clothing and gear you might possibly need, double checking the music/tuner/tuning key, and of course keeping a steady stream of calming jokes at the ready. Depending on your child's instrument, you have to think about where she can practice - in a hotel room? On campus in a practice room? In the car? A big question on the East Coast is fly or drive to auditions? Auditions are always in the dead of winter, and they almost never re-schedule, so if you fly and your flight is cancelled you are out of luck. If you drive and the road gets closed for lake effect snow, you are out of luck. If you arrive after a white-knuckle car ride and your child is tired and flustered, she needs to have that inner reserve of groundedness to power through. My daughter's year happened to be a year of enormous snow storms, so we drove to several schools and hauled her massive concert grand harp over snowbanks. We flew to one so she couldn't have her own harp, and then got stuck at the airport on the way home due to another storm. No practicing for three days but we played lots of rummy and I read her the Odyssey (which was weirdly appropriate.) The waiting for financial aid and merit scholarships is hard, especially if your dd is looking at schools in Canada. Some conservatories are need-blind and some are need-aware, same as liberal arts colleges. Auditions count for the majority of the admissions process to conservatory, but obviously not to the college side of the double degree programs. I don't have any info as to merit scholarships for double-degree, hopefully others here know more about the double-degree option. I do know that each year students at her conservatory apply to become double-degree after being there a few years, rather than starting out that way.

Thank you.

My "honorary" kid is accepted at Unity and Warren Wilson so far - so happy for him! I've always referred to the ones I mentor and mother and worry over as my "extra" kids, but I like Faith Manor's use of "honorary" better.

Thank you, I will check them out.

Dear 4th daughter is in need of a math change. We've always outsourced math after pre-algebra, with excellent results and minimal family strife. A friend has tutored my older three, but my Fearless Fourth has told me very clearly what she would like, and this tutor hasn't been able to adapt (though we both have asked her.) I've looked through the online class lists pinned at this board, which are certainly helpful. I would be grateful for any targeted suggestions. She's in 7th now, looking to sign up with a new program for fall. She's "good" at math, meaning that she intuitively gets the type of thinking and has previously excelled, but now says that she hates math, very emphatically, after every math session. She needs inspiration! Solid structure: she likes the format of the (high school) Glencoe World Geography book she's using because it's entirely consistent in presenting the information. She likes that the first two questions in each section assessment are always the same and that she knows right where to find the supporting evidence. She's super organized. Class interaction: she's an extrovert and really liked the synchronous online format of the Groovy Kids class she did last fall. If Groovy Kids had an Algebra-based cross-curriculum class she would be in heaven. Kindly teacher: she likes and responds to inspirational mentorship (so don't we all!) She doesn't want to teach herself math. Thank you in advance.

Sue, can I join your group?

My oldest didn't expect to take a gap year but ended up with one, and yes, he played a fair amount of video games that year! In his senior year of homeschool he took a chemistry class at an LAC nearby and was working on college apps for marine biology programs. He realized late in the fall semester how much he loved chemistry and stopped the application process for that year, continuing on with Chem 2 at the college in the spring and re-visiting colleges with an eye toward a chemistry major. The following fall he started applications again, by now "graduated" and officially on gap year. He continued to work as a climbing guide, spent a lot of time outside and with his younger siblings, drove me a little bit crazy, and was eventually accepted to WPI for his degree in chemical engineering. Even though he was 18, we had a rule for one hour a day of computer game time and kept him to it, which certainly added to his delight in heading off to college and away from our Luddite ways! He was cranky at first about being older than his classmates, but by the end he was grateful, realizing his maturity level had indeed contributed to his success. My personal feeling is that kids should apply to college, get in, choose, and defer rather than do it the way my son did, but obviously that didn't happen for us at all! He loves what he's doing now. He was truly inspired by the chem teacher in that DE class, which nobody saw coming. I've just had the honor of helping one of my "honorary" kids (as Faith Manor calls them) apply to five colleges. He's currently on gap year, unplanned but necessary for mental health after his parents announced their divorce a few months before he graduated from high school. He was homeschooled until 6th grade then put into school as his family began a slow break-up. He had a challenging time in high school - popular, varsity soccer captain but with druggy friends and no parents laying down any kind of law. His senior year was a disaster that included a hospitalization for injuries incurred while drunk. There was no way he had the personal resources to apply to schools, his parents gave him no guidance, and he had zero idea of what he wanted to do. He spent the summer working, then took a WOOF trip to Ireland this winter with his two older siblings who both interrupted their college schedules to make space to be with him. Lo and behold, he came back from this trip sober and determined to apply to colleges. His gpa stayed in the c+ range, but his SAT scores are pretty decent. The guidance office at the high school had written him off, but he has forged ahead and figured out most of what he needed. His Common App essay on his personal story broke my heart. He wrote about his childhood spent learning and playing at home and in the national park, finding wisdom and solace in nature and how he was able to draw on that inner groundedness when times were hard later. I hope he will be accepted somewhere that he can thrive. I think his choices were three solid matches, one reach, one safety, but you never know. His gap year has certainly been a blessing.

Josie, I can look back and see that we talked about this when your student was doing the PSAT. I see that you had posted the College Board's number for accommodations then, which I hope was helpful to others. Best of luck and preparation to your daughter! I wish this wasn't still so complicated.

My Type 1 dd received accommodations in a school over an hour away in our rural state. Her proctor turned out to be a homeschooling dad of 6 who happens to work at that high school...needless to say dd was thrilled. But getting it set up wasn't easy at all, and involved calling the College Board on the phone and spending a fair amount of time getting sent to other numbers and on hold. As I recall (sorry, four years ago) she had to cancel the first date we had signed up for because while every other student in the world can simply hit send on a computer keyboard to select an SAT site, homeschooled type 1 diabetics must call and send/receive information by snail mail. I do remember being incredibly angry at this, and I'm sorry I can't be more encouraging. It's ridiculous. Our local high school which serves four towns is about 7 minutes away and my non-T1d boys just went there. You would think they would have proctors for other kids with various special needs, but apparently not. My warm regards to your family, here's to a cure.

Congratulations! How lovely!

Dd music major is a junior, starting to think about grad schools. Is it like undergrad where the audition counts for a lot, or is it grades or GRE based as well? Grad school is a mystery..

Yes, we are sad. She suggested a few other options, but I think we'll just wait til she's up and running again. New thread: we bought the WTM grammar download and dd is plowing it under, she loves it.

DD4 who just turned 13 loved the Fantastic Beasts class. The format is really easy to connect with - the teacher did a careful orientation to the platform before the class began. None of my older kids had ever taken an on-line class before, so this was new to me. She enjoyed seeing the other scholars during class time. The text, articles, and videos were totally engaging. The class had traditional assignments and due dates but it seems to have sparked a new level of self-motivation for her which has also increased her confidence. As she dug into the course, she became more motivated to be creative and thorough with the Challenge Missions, which allow for a variety of learning styles. She's taking another one in the spring, I wish she had more time to do more! We may re-format her 8th grade next year to take advantage of more of these courses.

Fun and inspiring to read this thread with no senior in play - I get to wait another 5 years for the honor again. Good luck to all!

My fourth (dd12) is taking Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from Groovy Kids Online. We both love it. I've never had any child do an online class (older two in college now, oldest graduated, married, engineering job - all homeschooled through high school.) She likes the format and it was easy to figure out - the teacher walks them through it during an orientation before the class started. I love that the class incorporates writing with science. She's also doing a co-op class with Pandia Biology 2 (I know, it's weird to be doing the same type of class in person and online) but she's retaining way more of the concepts through the Groovy Kids format. The Challenge Missions are fun for her and I like that the kids can choose between various options that are geared to different types of learners. She'll do another next spring, and probably more next year. I'm just sad they don't offer high school classes!