Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Before I start cold calling schools does anyone have suggestions for high schools in the San Diego area that would be friendly to homeschoolers taking AP exams. We're moving and I need to try to set this up. Unfortunately we won't get there until about a month before the exams. Which may be too late. I'm looking for US Gov and Comp Gov. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 17, 2014 Author Share Posted January 17, 2014 Ack. I hate the hat-in-hand feeling of cold calling schools. No, I don't know what our neighborhood school is; we haven't moved yet. If you're going to quiz me about our status, just to tell me that you don't let outsider's test; maybe we could start with that piece of information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 You might try posting here: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SanDiegoHomeducation/info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Also, La Jolla/Torrey Pines and the high schools in North County (San Dieguito USD) have the most extensive APs in the area. For example, Point Loma High School, which is in a decent cluster of SDUSD, doesn't even have the APs you listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 17, 2014 Author Share Posted January 17, 2014 SeaConquest, Thanks for the email list info. I'm having trouble joining the list, but I'm hoping that is a temp Yahoo problem. I did find one school that is using online registration with a company APTestService.com . I sent an email to the contact form on that page and got a nice note back from the company owner saying that she thought she would be able to find a place for us in Mid March. The company organizes tests not only for private schools, but also for some of the large public high schools. Interesting niche. I will probably still hunt for spots on our own, but this is a really nice fall back to have. BTW, it looks like this company does registration in more than one state. So it might be a resource for some of those hard to locate exams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3andme Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Have you tried the Bishop's School in La Jolla? They are a private school and offer loads of APs including both US and Comp Govt which is unusual. Some people have found private schools more open to accomodating home schoolers than the public schools. I have no direct experience with Bishops though. Also, you may already know about this but there is a course ledger on AP Central that can show you which tests are offered by which schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Have you tried the Bishop's School in La Jolla? They are a private school and offer loads of APs including both US and Comp Govt which is unusual. Some people have found private schools more open to accomodating home schoolers than the public schools. I have no direct experience with Bishops though. Also, you may already know about this but there is a course ledger on AP Central that can show you which tests are offered by which schools. I would love to know if Bishop's allows homeschoolers to test. They are arguably the best private school in the area. If only I had an extra 30k annually laying around. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 I actually spoke to Bishop's this afternoon and they suggested the APTS service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I actually spoke to Bishop's this afternoon and they suggested the APTS service. Do you know which states the APTS service covers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 One of the issues I've found is discovering who is the real AP gatekeeper. Is there a particular administrator, teacher, guidance counselor assigned the task of AP coordinator? Their knowledge of cost, how to obtain permission, etc. is usually far better. Asking the receptionist, secretary, etc. has, in my experience, ended in failure the moment I mention that we are not a family affiliated with school "x". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 I've also been making liberal use of the observation that of course I understand that we need to pay the exam fees. It seems that space is an issue with some of the schools. CB sets some stringent requirements on how students may be seated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 Do you know which states the APTS service covers? I'm not sure but they answered quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I've also been making liberal use of the observation that of course I understand that we need to pay the exam fees. It seems that space is an issue with some of the schools. CB sets some stringent requirements on how students may be seated. Something I frequently offer up early in the conversation. Also, I have faced another issue when asking a school to order and administer an exam for my child that is not being taken by other students; I point out that I do understand that I may need to pay proctoring fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Before I start cold calling schools does anyone have suggestions for high schools in the San Diego area that would be friendly to homeschoolers taking AP exams. We're moving and I need to try to set this up. Unfortunately we won't get there until about a month before the exams. Which may be too late. I'm looking for US Gov and Comp Gov. I just 'liked" your post because you will soon be on this of the country. :D I hope you find an AP site and that everything goes smoothly with your move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 I just 'liked" your post because you will soon be on this of the country. :D I hope you find an AP site and that everything goes smoothly with your move. Aw shucks. That's sweet. I think I may have it worked out. I'm going to try one big high school next week. If not then I'll use APTS for comp and a small private school for US. It's interesting that one of the issues seems to be that so many kids take AP US Gov that there is a real space problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Something I frequently offer up early in the conversation. Also, I have faced another issue when asking a school to order and administer an exam for my child that is not being taken by other students; I point out that I do understand that I may need to pay proctoring fees. I always do this; they may have to pay a sub $75 or more just for my kid. I've even been known to hint that I'd be happy to make a small donation to their PTA fund. One of the issues I've found is discovering who is the real AP gatekeeper. Is there a particular administrator, teacher, guidance counselor assigned the task of AP coordinator? Their knowledge of cost, how to obtain permission, etc. is usually far better. Asking the receptionist, secretary, etc. has, in my experience, ended in failure the moment I mention that we are not a family affiliated with school "x". Exactly. Often on the school website it will say who -- vice principal; guidance counselor; etc. -- handles AP registration. It's just a waste of time talking with a secretary or receptionist, other than asking her who handles AP reg. :D Aw shucks. That's sweet. I think I may have it worked out. I'm going to try one big high school next week. If not then I'll use APTS for comp and a small private school for US. It's interesting that one of the issues seems to be that so many kids take AP US Gov that there is a real space problem. Good luck! My son will be looking for US Gov this year; two years ago he took Comp Gov and we had to drive 45+ minutes, as I could find only two schools (in our part of the large SF Bay Area) offering that exam -- one was a public school but *very* high-level academically; the other was a private school that welcomed homeschoolers to test, but wanted it all arranged and paid for in early January (!). Most schools weren't offering that exam at all, and didn't want to proctor it for my son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I would try Coronado High School, as I know they have a track record of both letting non-students be involved in some school activities and of administering AP tests with only one or two students interested. Of course, all my experience is 15 years out of date and may not apply to the current administration, but the worst that can happen is they'd say no, right? Another option might be to contact area homeschool groups and see if you can find enough other people interested for it to be more worthwhile to the school than if it were just one or two kids. The AP site says to contact apexams@info.collegeboard.org for assistance in locating a testing site if you go to a school that doesn't offer AP. That's probably what I'd try first. I currently attend an online college where I have to take in-person proctored exams at a testing center. In my case, the local community college, but I've heard of other students using public libraries, for-profit tutoring centers, and other places. AP may have (or facilitate) similar arrangements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohdanigirl Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Have you contacted La Jolla Country Day? If you need something further south, I'd try Eastlake. Both of those tests should be offered there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 So I called about a dozen schools. I left a lot of messages and talked to a lot of AP coordinators. Evidently AP US Government is really popular and they don't have many extra seats. But it looks like I do have a spot at one high school. They are supposed to call me back in a couple of days to let me know if I can mail in payment ahead of time, since I won't get into town until after they impose a late fee. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinspired Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Sebastian, may I ask what school has been accommodating? I've heard someone has had good luck with Serra Mesa High. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiaTia Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Bumping this 'cause I'd love to know how it's going, Sebastian! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Still chasing down details. I can't help but notice that where Virginia schools seemed to be used to homeschoolers doing PSAT and AP tests, it feels like I'm having to do a lot of explaining what I'm trying to do. The school I'm trying to follow up with was willing but also seemed confused by which test I was asking about and wasn't sure if I could pay in advance by mail. I need to do more calling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinspired Posted March 3, 2014 Share Posted March 3, 2014 BTW, just in case you didn't know, there's a pretty active SD home education yahoo group here: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SanDiegoHomeducation/info Oh, and a fabulous math circle for 5th graders and up (where RR will be teaching this weekend, actually): http://sdmathcircle.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Hooray. I finally got a solid response on US Gov and paid for the test today. Ended up going with a helpful small private school. I didn't find a lot of schools doing Comp Gov so I will probably use the AP exam service and whatever spot she can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 BTW, just in case you didn't know, there's a pretty active SD home education yahoo group here: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SanDiegoHomeducation/info Oh, and a fabulous math circle for 5th graders and up (where RR will be teaching this weekend, actually): http://sdmathcircle.org/ Thanks for the reminder. I'd tried to join once before but gotten hung up on the captcha. I think it worked this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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