Packing and organizing for back to college... still

I am still buried in packing bins (plastic boxes from Walmart), Ikea Bags, and Space saver bags.  My daughter asked me to help her organize her belongings, but at the same time, she is also calling me anal retentive. The good news is with careful packing, unpacking becomes a breeze as the items are organized intuitively and can just be slid into drawers or set in it's appropriate place.

This is all of the hanging clothes I am sending
out... less than half from last years amount,
even though she has twice the closet space.

The hardest part is preventing her from bringing all of her clothing to college.  So I insisted on X number of pants, shirts, dresses, skirts, etc... enough clothes to last 3 weeks, which is plenty if you do laundry twice a month.  I put each type of clothing in either a dress bag, or rolled it military style and put it in a space bag, then in a bin (all the non hanging clothes fit in one bin!)

Then there are the bins for all the other stuff.

• One for stationary, books, and crafts. 
• One for organizers, hooks, cords, and tools needed to set up the room
• One for shoes... (there are also shopping bags for boots)

Then there are a couple of drawer storage units:

• One for food and kitchen items
• One for toiletries. 

And then random odds and ends include

• A makeup train 
• A first-aid case (plastic makeup  train case that wasn't being used)
• An art case

Then the big items

• storage chest....  not necessary, but I agreed to it for sentimental reasons.  It also holds all bedding and towels (after I vacuumed them into Space Bags)
• A standing floor screen... another completely unnecessary item. 

The the Ikea bags will hold

• loose odds and ends. pillows, giant robe, a large pirate hat (don't ask)
• and wall art, that I made over the summer from her pile of theatre t-shirts. 

And we had to borrow my in-laws big SUV to make it work as all this stuff would not fit into my medium size mom-mobile.

 I realize this packing list sounds absolutely insane... or at least it does to me when looking back at what I brought to college... one large trunk and one Extra large laundry bag... but most kids fill two cars of odds and ends for the trek (if they live within 3 hours of the school).  These who live far away take less, but have things shipped, and buy over the year, and use storage for consecutive years.

And then there's the fact that I really enjoy doing this type of organizing.  Son might let me organize a little the day before he goes... we'll see.

Note: I purchased everything on this list myself, and no one paid me to review any items.  The images contain links to these items to Amazon. 

OH, lookout! The SAT is changing!

So the SAT is changing. Changes include returning to the old 1600 scale, making the essay optional, losing the penalty for wrong answers, changing up the English section to be more knowledge based than IQ based, and taking away the calculator for certain sections.  So, it may be time to toss out all those old SAT study guides, because they are probably rendered useless.

 My kids are through this phase of life so there is a bit of relief there. However, I don't really see the changes as bad. Schools stopped paying attention to the essay years ago and have effectively graded kids on a 1600 scale. My kids found that the calculator actually slowed them down during the more basic math portions so that's a good move too. Plus they are now grading more like the ACT With no penalties for wrong answers.

My only concern is for kids who's graduation date will cause them to take the test both before and after the change. The disparity in grades may be frustrating to them, or it could be a boon. Who knows. But how will the colleges process this info? Will they even be able to make sense of a superscore? These are my questions.

So, if my kid were graduating in 2017, I might do the ACT just for score consistency. Or I would at least make sure they were done with the SAT before the changes, or waited until after the change.

So how are they doing?

Or rather, how successful was your homeschooling based on their college performance?

A parents worth as homeschooling parents one could reason, could be determined by a student's success in further education... i.e. college.

It almost feels like confession when I reply that the boy is hanging in there.  Now that I can add that the girl is kicking butt and taking names, the whole homeschooling experience seems more validated.

But that's pretty unfair, isn't it.

Fortunately for me, I have two kids.  If I only had the son, I might very well be self conscious  about not producing a super student as a result of my homeschooling...  God forbid a homeschooler be an average college student.  If I only had the girl, perhaps, I would be accepted as an homeschooling authority because my under-aged homeschooling daughter was doing an excellent job?

Now that I have taken time to balance all my thoughts on the two kids and their experiences, it is clear to me that the results are a product more of the kids personalities, their natural strengths and weaknesses, and  their learning styles.

I gather now that son is almost done with general-eds and can get to the meat of his program, that we will see him gain traction....  I also suspect that as long as the girl continues to focus, that she will continue to do very well.

As for my job as a homeschooler, I have to relax in the knowledge that I gave my son a stress free experience as school was becoming a nightmare for him.  The fact that he is even in college at all is a huge success... it is now up to him to continue to carve out a success he defines for himself.  As for the girl, I really can't take credit for the free spirit she was born with. Who  would have known that her ability to not take herself too seriously... or anything else as a matter of fact, would parlay in an ability to navigate higher education with such ease?

So I'm going to stop judging our homeschooling based on semester by semester progress in college.  I am going to judge it once and for all as done and complete as I have a son who is well mannered with a strong moral compass, and a girl who is bold, fearless, and caring.

What more can a mother ask for?

Spent the whole day compiling my favorite curriculum resources

I have been asked for a homeschool high school guide a million times, so I spent the day compiling it.

You will find it on my curriculum blog or here.  It is a compilation of the last few posts I did subject by subject and free resources all over the net.

Enjoy.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

From Homeschool to Online School to College (Guest Post)

I am off to a college visit with my daughter. Thought this was a good time to leave you with a pretty informative guest post I've been holding onto. Enjoy.

Notes From a Homeschooled Mom has before written about what it takes to prepare homeschooled students for college, and for getting the jobs they ultimately want. Estelle Shumann builds upon this conversation with the following blog post, which talks about how the technological advances in education (especially online education) help homeschooled students with college preparedness in a way never before thought possible. Estelle writes at http://www.onlineschools.org, a website dedicated to online education.

From Homeschool to Online School to College: Technological Advances Prepare Students for the University

As technology has encroached into seemingly every facet of modern life in recent years, the nature of homeschooling has changed as well. In the past five years, online education programs have gone from a strange niche to a mainstream multi-billion dollar industry. As the technology facilitating online
learning improves, private online schools have had to compete with entire college courses offered virtually free of charge from some for the nation's top schools. For home schooled students, this wealth of resources is making college-preparedness easier to accomplish than ever before.

The number of students enrolled in online-only charter schools has risen rapidly in the past few years, from about 40,000 a decade ago to an estimated 250,000 today. Still, despite more than 2.4 million students around the country being listed as “home schooled” each year, a stigma still exists regarding online learning and homeschool learning in general. While adequate data on the overall effectiveness of online homeschooling programs is not yet available, recent studies from the National Home Education Research Institute and Home School Legal Defense Association have been encouraging, claiming that standardized test scores taken by home-educated children are as much as 30% higher than scores by public school students.

Carnegie Mellon University is one of the pioneers in online learning, having offered free online courses for over a decade as part of their Open Learning Initiative. 2011 marked a major milestone, though when a free online Stanford course drew 160,000 students. Since then, Harvard and MIT have formed a edX, a venture that offers free classes on multiple disciplines to any curious student with an internet connection. While very few of these resources yet offer official college credit, they provide a valuable resource for home schooled high school-aged students looking to prepare for college coursework.

As increasing sophistication in technology leads to marked growth in the popularity of online schooling, credited courses from established schools are also expected to increase in availability. Today, the schools that do offer college or high school credit require a fee, but it is frequently far more reasonable than the costs of live, traditional courses. At Olympus High School, which allows students to take all courses online, high school and college credits can be received from fully certified teachers with tuition costs similar to the costs of community college or private high school. The school also maintains resources such as an online reference center, writing tools and 24-hour technical support service for all students.

The increased presence of established universities in online education will likely lead to even greater confidence in homeschooling among families. At the same time, sites like Khan Academy, which offers thousands of short, high-quality tutorials on subjects like algebra, chemistry, history, economics empower parents with the confidence to guide their home school children effectively. As the costs of traditional education continue to rise and the quality of education is regularly questioned, technological advances are making homeschooling a viable option for college-bound students who would benefit from the challenges of learning at their own pace in a nurturing environment.  

FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE 
ahermitt.com

Remember when travel was fun?

I spent two hours today trying to find an inexpensive but quality hotel for Sunday night so I could take my daughter on her preview weekend and theater audition for one of her college choices.  It was exhausting.  The college is in a bit of a rural area and it was difficult to find a local hotel.  Then the ones I found had sketchy reviews, and that made me nervous.  I finally found one recommended by the college and payed a little more than I wanted in hopes that I could avoid spiders and bedbugs.

Do you remember when travel was secure?  You'd call a travel agent, or go through the phonebook and call a few hotels for quotes, then  you would book your trip on nothing more than a verbal handshake. I don't remember every having a bad experience, I think it was because the travel agent knew you were coming back to visit them if anything bad happened on your trip.

Do you remember when travel was affordable? Even 15 years ago, in the early days of internet travel websites, I could book flights to Las Vegas or LA for a decent price, and still have money left over for your rental car and hotel.  Now, I can barely afford the gas to drive two hours and have one overnight
stay... and I am better off financially now than I was then.

Do you remember when travel was carefree?  Actually, it's kind of hard to remember.  Even before 9-11, I remember my then 3 year old son being frisked and having his shoes removed.  I asked why (you could at least ask in those days), and we were told his name was picked randomly because it was unusual.  I asked if they considered his age, and they just shrugged their shoulders at me.  Meanwhile, he was trying to figure out why all these people we touching him.  To this day, he still hates for strangers to touch him.

Remember when travel was exciting? Reading the hotel reviews really filled me with dread.  One review stated that they asked to be moved 3 times, and each time found spiders in the bed.  Now this was the hotel's only really bad review, and it is really hard to believe that there were spiders in 3 beds in one hotel, but who can read that and then book a room.  True or not... that's just freaky and filled me with serious dread.  Not excited about my hotel stay at all.

As this will be the first of several college trips for us, I really need to count my change and do my homework. When we're done picking a college, we'd really like to take a Spring Break trip together.  Our plan is to go to NY and take in some Broadway shows.   I hope I can survive the planning process.

Planning the college visits

As of today, my daughter has 2 college acceptance letters, both with merit scholarship offers attached.  This is very good. Also, where my son got about a dozen different colleges soliciting him last year, my daughter gets about a dozen a week. It's insane.  All of this activity gives both me and her a little wind under our wings and makes us want to see where else should she apply to.  How far should she go?

We had planned to visit NY this winter to go to a couple of plays.  Perhaps we should head there early to check out AADA and AMDA, two theater conservatories in New York.  Perhaps we should get flights to Florida, and check out the College
of Fine Arts at the University of Florida?  It could be a good idea.

So far, we already have several visits planned somewhat locally, two of which she already knows she is accepted.  Because she is younger than the typical high school senior, I have been hesitant to let her go more than 1 hour away.  I have been telling her she can transfer out in 2 years, at which point, she should probably consider a music or theater conservatory to expand her gift.

It's really difficult to decide which schools to visit and which to skip.  I know my son ended up choosing a school that he never toured, although he had toured others.  I know many other kids who just go on a couple of tours to see what a big college is like and what a small college is like and never see their actual chosen college until Freshman orientation.  I also know that each visit can cost anywhere from $100 to several hundred dollars....

What to do... what to do?


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

Game plan for scholarships for homeschoolers ... in action

I wasn't too surprised to find out that my tactic in getting my kids the best scholarships available was as same as that of TheHomeScholar.



Where my son was concerned, he still didn't get a full scholarship because his college choices were limited, due to his chosen major. But, I am not complaining about the scholarship he did get. One of the colleges he applied to, did fit this criteria, and offer him a full scholarship, but they did not have anything close to the program he needed.

 So there is definitely a downside to choosing a college based on finding a college where your SAT or ACT score is higher than the average scores at that school... they may not have the program you need. 

Fortunately, it looks like this tactic will work for my daughter, ...because her scores are pretty high, and the schools that fit her criteria also have her desired major. Most schools do.

In the end the best thing a student can do to get a scholarship is to apply themselves to study.  Showing leadership is great too.  There are a lot of scholarships for leadership, but you won't get them if you don't get the test scores as well.

Btw, here is a link that that will help you match test scores to colleges.

  FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

Sending them off to college... or not

I noticed that a lot of homeschoolers don't really plan to send their kids off to college.  They've been homeschooling for the last 12 years... why throw them to the wolves now?  I guess I get it, but college was always the goal for our family.  At one point I thought they would accelerate through school and be leaving at 18 for Grad school, but my kids weren't that kind of gifted. They are more on the talented side.   But all the same, college was the goal. ... And I have one leaving in just over a week.

Since my son is away on a man-cation adventure with his dad, my daughter and I took it upon ourselves to start his packing.  Here is everything except for clothing and computer. It doesn't seem like much, but then I remember I went to college with just one trunk and one suitcase, and I was fine.  He has two trunks a bin, and a bookbag, and we haven't even packed clothes yet.  Then there's the fridge and chair we will be picking up at the Walmart near the school. I have a feeling we will be renting storage space next summer for those larger items we can't get home in my car.

So with one child down and one child to go, my daughter and I were discussing colleges. I opened up the subject of public college because I knew she would be eligible for the GA HOPE scholarship and we would have a lot less tuition to worry about with two in college.  She replied, "If I wouldn't go to public school, why would I go to public college".  It's the same environment.

From the mouth of babes. It made me think differently about those homeschoolers who don't want to send their kids to college at all. 

Can a 13 year old make career decisions?

 As schools begin to ask high school freshmen what they want to major in for high school, we are all asking if a 13 year old can really make a career decision.  It seems a bit hit and miss, but I do think that a 13 year old may be able to make career decision if we let them.   When I was about 7 I loved to read so much that I declared I wanted to be a writer and illustrate my own stories. Over time, this changed to scientist, to architect, to lawyer, to artist, to decorator, and back full circle to someone who wants writing and illustrating to be a large part of what I do.  

I got off track because I allowed other people to define me (as children do).  People would say things like "writers don't make a lot of money, I bet you're smart enough to be a scientist".  Others would say, there aren't a lot of girls in science, but you draw nice building, you might be an architect".  Someone else would say, "you argue so well you should be a lawyer".  Each time I had this conversation, my personal goals shifted.  This happens all the time to kids.  It's no wonder they can't make up their mind about what they do.  It takes time to make it back to what was originally on their heart.  

I'm not saying that kids know exactly what they want to do.  They may not even be aware of their future calling.  What kid says I want to be a social worker?  They may only know that they want to help people, or to talk to people.  Of course we won't push the child to get a social work degree online or

start looking for social work jobs, but instead of redirecting that child, to something that may make more sense to us,  we should dig deeper, make suggestions, find ways for the to try out what they have shown interested in. 

As a parent, I must say, I too may have pushed my kids too hard in finding out what they wanted to be when they grew up.  The second my son showed a propensity for building computers and writing HTML code, we dubbed him a computer expert and programmer.  We totally neglected the fact that he's been drawing since he was 5 years old. Fortunately, we encouraged him to try a little bit of everything that interested him, and he was able to zero in on computer art, a combination of what he loves and what he is good at. 

It won't be easy for a 13 year old to make a decision in time for high school that will get them ready for studies for a future career unless the lower grades offer a full sampling of different career choices to give children a good  idea of what different careers look like and feel like.  Even then they may change their mind.  How many college students, for example, change majors three or four times, thinking they may want to be a doctor until they realize they can't stomach biology?  That will surely happen to high school students who are in programs geared toward a future career, but this can be a good thing.  I would rather the kid try different things and falter a bit in high school, then spend an extra 3 semesters in college because they couldn't settle on a major.

 

Accrediting daughter's portfolio

 I am such a hypocrite.


As much as I complain against and say that accreditation is not necessary, I have decided to go ahead and accredit my daughters homeschool portfolio.

Sure, she could get into any private college with her portfolio as-is.  Her tests scores are good, especially, her verbal score. She is loaded down with theater and music extra-curriculars, demonstrating the depth of her talent.

So why have I decided to turn her homeschool portfolio into an accredited diploma?


Competitiveness.

One of the colleges she is applying to will take homeschool portfolios with tons of digging and probing, and may still require a GED.  We are not really worried about that, because it is clear she is well educated, but they won't take my word for her grades....and her GPA is vital to scholarship offers.

Sigh.  Yes, I did it for money.  In my defense, this is a tough economy and this will be my second child in college.  

So have I changed my mind?  Do I think homeschool accreditation is necessary.  NO, I don't. My (and many veteran homeschoolers' fear) is that if more and more homeschoolers cave to accreditation, that more and more colleges will feel justified in asking for it.  That is sad, because it takes away some of the freedoms of being able to teach to the child.  Even with my daughters length and breadth of educational experiences, we have to add another science class and a half credit of economics to meet state accreditation requirements, even though none of her colleges require that she study these subjects.  With accreditation, we as homeschoolers spend so much time and effort on studies that either don't fit the child's needs or that keep the child from doing what is more tailored to them. So you can see why so many of us resist accreditation requirements for homeschoolers. 


 However, I cannot negate the original reason that I chose to homeschool, which is to use the tools in my arsenal to do what is best for each child?  Hence, this child will be getting an accredited diploma. However, I might be annoyed if she ends up going to one of the other colleges on her list that do not require it.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
 ahermitt.com

Don't toss those homeschool papers just yet.

One of the coolest things about homeschool blogs and email groups and homeschool groups is that you get to learn from the mistakes of others.  So here's what I learned this week.

When you homeschool, you need to hold on to your homeschoolers paperwork i.e. homeschool portfolio with samples of your children's work.  Test results and every piece of paper that was required from every school for admission.  If you have space, just hold onto all four years of homeschool documentation until they have their college diploma in hand.  In addition, hold on to all correspondence from the colleges they are admitted to, especially  any
acceptance info.  Keep a copy of everything sent to the school.  Finally, keep the handbook from the year your child is admitted.  Print admission info from the website including requirements for acceptance.  Make sure you have documented the admission process well.

Why? Because some colleges (even homeschool friendly ones) try to impose new rules on existing students. So, say your child was accepted into college in 2011, but in 2012 admission requirements became more stringent.  Well, according to the experiences of others, they may go back into your child's record and try to apply those rules to him or her. In one instance, a state college (go figure) wanted a Junior to go back and take admission tests that weren't required when they were admitted, and also wants to apply college classes they took as a freshman to their highschool portfolio so it looks like they met the more stringent standards. To make matters worse, they want the student to take more classes at the college to replace those classes they are now applying to pre-college work.


While this sounds like one of those fluke incidents, other homeschoolers are reporting that colleges have made strange requests that have caused them to dig through their archives to back up old admissions info.  They have also had to prove that things being required now were not required when the child was admitted to the college so it should not apply to them.

With that said, I am keeping the full homeschool portfolios, the mini homeschool portfolio used for admission, transcripts, all acceptance letters, and I will even hold curriculum used (the size of one legal box) until he has that diploma.  Then he can dispose of this info or keep it if he wishes.  In addition, he and I are using an online storage system (called drop-box)  and we have loaded the current handbook and admission requirements.  We will be keeping all college records in this online file to give us easy access and to make it easy to discuss info with the college if need be.

All of this info may also be necessary should he decide to transfer schools.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
ahermitt.com

What are you going to do when the kids are gone?

With my son graduating this year and my daughter graduating next, the end of my years as a homeschool mom are fast approaching.

But people keep asking me "What are you going to do when the kids are gone?".... in a response, I do a little dance.

Aren't you sad, they say... NO I reply.


But your kids are leaving they say...  I reply with a big grin.

It's not like I am glad that my kids are leaving me soon and it's not like I am glad homeschooling is almost over.  It's just that I am just so darned proud of them and excited for them.

I also don't want to steal their thunder.

You see, my mom (God rest her soul), had trouble letting go.  She raised 9 kids, 4 of whom she gave birth to and every time it was time for someone to fly the nest she became, angry, bitter, and argumentative.  She made leaving home difficult and stressful.  I am not going there.  I am going to set my kids free when they are ready and be here if they need me, both with a cheerful attitude.

I am also going to rely on sage advice and prepare to chart a course for myself, (which I believe is in helping drop-outs get into college through homeschooling... just haven't figured out how to proceed yet.)



So while on the inside, I kinda feel like that lady in the Verizon cell phone commercial, I am also celebrating their accomplishments and will continue to be their biggest fan and cheerleader, where ever that may take them.


FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE

Bombarded with College Recruiting (homeschool friendly)

It is April.  My son graduates in 4 weeks and we are getting bombarded with college emails and postcards...NOW.

I would have loved these back in September, when we were visiting schools and making decisions.  But these correspondences at this late date are a little unfortunate.  I do realize that there are some kids who have not made their first choice colleges, or who STILL have not applied at all and need to get on it now, but I feel like colleges that send recruitment material this late in the game are missing out.

So.. I guess if your homeschooled kid is still looking, I have a list of schools to consider.  The solicitations we get are mostly from schools with strong Graphic Design and Art programs and/or strong Christian
colleges. It is clear they found him through his ACT profile.  (They all also seem to be very homeschool friendly).

• Lawrence Tech in MI http://www.ltu.edu/
• Florida Christian College http://www.fcc.edu/default_f.asp
• Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta GA http://www.spsu.edu/
• Flagler College in Augustine FL http://www.flagler.edu/
• Toccoa Falls College in GA (accepted with scholarship) http://www.tfc.edu/
• Kings College NY http://tkc.edu/ (offered a pre-app scholarship)
• St Johns College (in MD and NM)  http://www.sjca.edu/ (offered a pre-app scholarship)  * I really like this liberal arts program
• Evangel University in MO  http://www.evangel.edu/ 
• Mid American Christian University in OK  http://www.macu.edu/
• Oklahoma City University  http://www.okcu.edu/

There are a few more art college solicitations, but they came earlier, and I've lost track.  I am sharing these so that other homeschoolers are aware of the colleges that sought us out.... so they can look at them while they are still in the searching process.  My son applied early to SCAD Atlanta http://www.scad.edu/atlanta/ , Anderson, and Toccoa Falls and was accepted at all of them.  He chose Anderson http://www.andersonuniversity.edu/, another college that is EXTREMELY homeschool friendly.  You will also want to check it out.  

While SCAD also claims to be homeschool friendly, they were least accepting of our mommy transcript and homeschool portfolio... but he still got a modest scholarship when I was done jumping through hoops.

oh yeah... I almost forget.  Bob Jones University http://www.bju.edu  has us on autodial.  Probably because my kids have attended their  High School Festival every year. 

FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE

So Here's where we are at in the whole homeschool college search

College #1 application is almost complete.  He loves this college so much that we went to an open house day and they told us to apply  last September, so his application has been in process for a year now.  All he needs to do is submit his art portfolio to increase his scholarship chances. This college has rolling admissions, so an acceptance letter will not mean he HAS to go to THIS school if he is accepted.  Our feedback so far is that his homeschool portfolio is awesome.

College #2 application is ready to go out... just waiting for the early application deadline to pass so he is not considered early enrollment as they are not his first choice, just a comparison point. While is best friend is at the school, he says that will not sway him... it will probably come down to dollars and cents.

There are a couple of other colleges that are pretty much ruled out, but he may apply to one or two of them for grins and giggles... especially the one that already sent a scholarship letter... followed by a letter inviting him to apply, no charge.  It's a nice offer, but they offer NO art.... and very little graphic design.  It is more of a bible college than anything else.  That's great, but you'd think they would have a program for people who wanted to work in Christian media.. Christian TV, Christian websites for kids.... that sort of thing.  We are going to ask about the options for filling electives at other colleges before ruling them out completely. The recruiter is kind of cracking me up.  His last letter was all like.... "Yeah, we know we don't offer what you're interested in, but we're Christian and you'll get to use your camera."  That's not very convincing. 

As a homeschooling mom, of course I have some worries and insecurities.  Have I educated him enough to be ready for college?  Our experience with online public schools tells me that is ready to work on someone else's timetable.  That is good.  Plus he also took and passed a language arts CLEP exam worth 6 credits.  So that's good.  However, his ACT score was median.  Period.  He didn't rock the test.  He didn't blow it out of the water.  He did well enough to meet the median ACT score for his first choice college.  His scores are very considered pretty good for the second choice and most of the other colleges too.  Still, as a homeschooler, you kind of want to SHOW THEM... the doubters, you know.

A final statement and point of pride...  That boy writes a mean essay.  I had him ready a book about college entry essays, then write his own.  It was so good I wanted to cry.  sniff... very proud. 

Hoping to get results soon.  I don't want to be dealing with this all year.




FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor
Brighthub Contributor

Homeschool Transcript Happy Dance

Just spoke to the people at my son's top choice college.  They got his homeschool transcript and they like it.  They really, really liked it.

Since they have rolling admissions, my son just needs to send a few more items and he will then know in 2 weeks time if he is accepted.  It will feel great not to stress about college for an entire school year.

I will share more of the transcript process when I know that the process has been completely successful.

FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor
Brighthub Contributor

Online options for high school students

I don't know if my son will get accepted for dual enrollment for fall due to his late ACT Date and the later score release date.  For that reason, I have been exploring my other options for his senior year.  I have found two great possibilities.  

The first is Georgia Virtual School: http://www.gavirtualschool.org/

Not to be confused with Georgia Virtual Academy, Georgia Virtual School provides a teacher led, virtual classroom environment.  Apparently homeschooled students have now been approved by the state to take 6-half credits each semester for free.  I don't know how I feel about it because it is public school at home, and I preferred a college course, but it will help my son get his last high school requirements out of the way in one semester.  

The second is BYU independent study.  Kids can take college and high school level credits and the cost is cheaper than most virtual schools.  It is "a distance education program that offers almost 600 university, high school, junior high school and personal enrichment courses to people throughout the world. BYU is accredited as an institution by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The BYU Independent Study High School Program is accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) and by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)."  I am really intrigued by this one. Since I found out about it, I am a lot less stressed about my son's senior year.  If he gets dual enrollment, great.  If not, he can do a combination of CLEP exams and online study.  

Is any of this even necessary?, you might ask.  Well the point of doing some dual enrollment in his Sr. year is to give him a taste of what college might be like.  He has taken course with teachers all along, but the last 2 years have been primarily for arts related courses.  I want him ready for an intensive college level class.

FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor
Brighthub Contributor

Getting Ready for Summer College Experiences

Both kids have been accepted to spend a week in summer programs at their prospective college choices.  They will be participating in "summer intensives" to get a taste of the colleges.  I am hoping that the experience will get them excited about ending their homeschool journey and also let them know for sure that this is the
college they want, and give us some comparison points as we look at other colleges.

Can you believe that I will be homeschooling a Senior and a Junior next year? But more about that later.

I just realized that a week away from home means I need to purchase new bedding.  They need those extra long sheet sets, and the ones they currently use won't work...since they sleep in full size beds. I was introduced to this link for seventeen bedding, so I won't have to hit the streets going from store to store before college bedding sets even hit the stores.

So, someone tell me how my kids are supposed get along in the room with a roommate, when they have never had to share a room in their lives.  Heck, my son moved down to the basement so he won't have to share a bathroom anymore.

My daughter will have to do without a bedroom vanity due to limited space... or perhaps she will give up her desk and do any schoolwork on her bed.

My son may have to sleep on a bunk bed!  He six foot 2 inches, and still growing.  Plus he made me get rid of his loft bed years ago because the ladder rungs hurt his feet so they had better have bunk beds with stairs for him to get to the top, because there is no way they can squeeze him into a bottom bunk. 

While I am sure they will survive their weeks on the college campuses this summer, when it is time to move into the dorms for real, we are going to have some challenges.

Time is flying so fast!  I can't believe I am even thinking about this right now!

HOPE Scholarhip, Budget Cuts, and Homeschoolers

With serious budget cuts on the horizon, there are a lot of grumblings about how the HOPE Scholarship should be cut.

It seems that most Georgians want to return the scholarship to it's original intent and draw a top income line cutting off upper income families... (they seem to forget there was also a lower income cut off too as you could not get PELL and HOPE at one time.)  As a homeschooler,  whose children have different and more stringent set of rules of earning the HOPE scholarship, my family would just miss that upper cut off amount and my kids would not get the scholarship if this happens.  But I am not fretting over it because I am not counting on it anyway, because homeschoolers have to be beyond exceptional to get the scholarship first year anyway.  Beyond that first year, my kids could get HOPE if they don't place the income restrictions, unless they use the sliding scale (also suggested), in which case my kids would probably get 80%.  But regardless, come hell or high water, as my mother used to say, if my kids want to stay in college, they will figure it out... I did. ... Although I might help them more than my parents helped me.

Anywhooo...  my point is this.  If homeschoolers need to score in the 85th percentile (SAT approx 1800, ACT 26)  to qualify for the HOPE scholarship first year, why are public school kids getting the scholarships with "B" averages only? And then, if they get the "B" average, why do they need remedial math and writing classes.  HMMMM...  Homeschoolers have to jump through these extra hoops because there is a fear that homeschooling moms will inflate grades.  Meanwhile there is no doubt that schools are inflating grades.

Fair is Fair.

In all fairness, I propose that anyone who can get into the 75th percentile on the ACT or SAT (SAT approx 1680,  ACT 24)  should be eligible for the HOPE scholarship.  Period. This is less than what is expected of homeschoolers... it is what should be expected of ALL students including homeschoolers.

Ok, but there are arguments that the SAT and maybe even the ACT is culturally biased.  So let's make an exception.  If the student does not fall into the 75th percentile on the ACT or SAT, but is in the top 25 percentile in his class based on GPA then he should also be eligible for the HOPE scholarship.  This exemption would leave homeschoolers out, but we are already used to waiting a year to qualify for the HOPE scholarship, and our kids still seem to manage to pay for that first year of college.

So either 75% or higher on the SAT or ACT OR top 25% in class rank and a student could get the HOPE scholarship.  These simple guidelines would eliminate any extra administration on figuring out who gets the Scholarship, and would still cut out the possibility of student who are not ready for college getting the scholarship based on inflated grades.  But to be fair to those students, if they can get a 3.0 average in their Freshman year, they should also be eligible for the grant.

Just saying...





FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE
MY BUSINESS WEBSITE
WalletPop Contributor
Brighthub Contributor

Scholarships for homeschoolers.

I am working on listing 2010 Scholarhips over at Examiner.com

That got me thinking about scholarships open to homeschoolers. Here is what I found.

Homeschool.com listing of homeschool scholarships. The full ride scholarships for Alfred State College in NY caught my eye.

College Scholarships.org has a list of scholarships for homeschoolers with advice for getting access to all scholarships.

Eclectic Homeschool online lists a few as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read more Notes From a Homeschooling Mom

Visit Me at the Families.com Homeschool Blog

Visit My Education Column at Examiner.com

Check out FREE HOME EDUCATION WEBSITE for free homeschool links and resources