09.16.08
Posted in COLLEGE, The nuts and bolts of it at 4:03 pm by Meg
Just a heads up for anyone who might make the trip - it’s free!
And yes, that’s me as one of the panel members.
Sponsored by the Redeemer Homeschool Resource Center and IHEN
Saturday, October 18
Our event will be starting at 9:30 with a panel of experienced homeschool
parents. At 11:00 we will have a panel of admissions people from several
colleges. After that, until 1:15 we will break for lunch. During lunch time
the college representatives will be available to speak to individuals and
to hand out information After lunch we will be doing a hands-on transcript
workshop.
The parents panel will include IHEN’s Meg L. and Jane Casey, as well as
several other parents who have homeschooled their children through high
school and seen them off onto various paths. You will be able to ask your
questions of parents with a variety of educational philosophies.
The transcript workshop will be an opportunity to figure out how to turn
your high schooler’s work and activities into credits and to learn how to
present it in a manner that colleges want to see.
Come for all or part of the day. There is no charge.
Be there as early as 9:00 for coffee and donuts. The event will be held at
Redeemer Lutheran Church, 202 West Rudisill Blvd,Fort Wayne. For more
information contact me at jccasey@verizon. net.
–
Jane
Jane Casey
IndianaHomeschooler s
Founder and Moderator/Chocolate Queen and Barista
www.ihen.org
Allen County Contact
www.indianajane. com
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09.09.08
Posted in COLLEGE at 5:03 pm by Meg
I figured some people might be wondering how Boy is finding college. It’s been over 2 weeks since we left him there - though I’ve just sent off the third box of things he needs ASAP.
He’s taking 5 regular classes plus an internship with the student paper (that’s the way to get employed there later) as a photographer.
He is really enjoying Intro to Philosophy (they are reading Plato’s Republic and discussing it) and the Freshman Seminar (the one he’s in is reading and discussing sci-fi). He has nothing but good things to say about the classes and interactions. While he has never had large class discussions before, he is feeling like he is having no problems participating.
He is taking Calculus 1 and finding it boring, but he and Hubby did Calc. last year and he had decided not to take the AP test. Hubby doesn’t expect him to see anything new until a week or two into next semester.
He is taking Physics 1 (for majors, engineers, and pre-meds) and is also finding it a little slow, though he is really enjoying the professor’s lectures. He is hoping to finally have his first lab this week.
And lastly, he is taking Macroeconomics, (there was a pre-req of micro, which he did take the AP for) and it is also going very slowly. He says that it is mostly review.
He went to Trinity trying to decide between Physic and Economics as his major and as you can see he’s finding that he was very comfortably prepared. Hubby and I are fearing that he’s considering changing to a philosophy major the way he’s talking.
Beyond the classwork, he is still working on finding his spot. Boy is my introvert and he has been finding people to hang out with, but not a circle of friends that are crazy into Magic and D&D. We expect that will take a little more time.
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07.07.08
Posted in COLLEGE, The nuts and bolts of it at 2:40 pm by Meg
It’s watch the mail time again in our household. Why? because Boy took the AP microeconomics exam last May and the grade should be coming any day.
Keep your fingers crossed. He needs a 4 or 5 for Trinity to count it.
We could pay Collegeboard and get the score over the phone, but we’ve already sent more money to them than I’m happy with. We’ll wait.
And it’s not fun waiting. After them losing Boy’s statistics test last year, I’m sitting on pins and needles waiting for it to happen again.
So, while I’m sitting here watching the days tick by, JoVE had to send me a link to an article by a guy that graded the AP US History test. (BTW, it’s the Chronicle and I don’t know how long there will be free access to it.) It’s interesting reading his tale of the experience.
But what caught my attention was a passage about AP courses in high schools.
I had always thought of AP as an honors program, so I’m mystified by how many dismal essays we endure. I ask around and get a range of answers. Some say that entire school districts now put all kids into AP classes. Others say that students elect to take AP classes for the extra point it adds to their GPA. Others blame No Child Left Behind. One describes the test as a “cash cow,” implying that fee revenues encourage the College Board to allow anyone to take it. …. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Advanced Placement no longer necessarily denotes academic excellence and that many students with very little aptitude take AP courses and tests.
It reminded me of our last exchange student. Part of the exchange program rules is that they have to take US History and English. They put poor Tochter into AP US History. Makes a lot of sense to me?
Anyway, she did alright - basically - until it came time to do the final. Note that this wasn’t the AP test, just the final for the course. She was feeling very lost and confused and so I told her that I’d help her study (figuring that since Boy and I had covered it the previous year, I should be alright to be able to answer her questions and direct her to what she needed.)
So we sit and she pulls out a sheet of paper.
“This is what’s going to be on the final.”
“okay, that will help us know what to study.”
“No, these are the essay questions that will be on the final.”
“So, you just need to know how to answer these 10 questions?”
“Actually we have to answer these first 3, but then we can choose any 3 of the remaining 7.”
But wait, that wasn’t the only thing (and btw, this wasn’t special instructions for her, it was for the entire class.) It turned out the they could bring in a 8.5 x 11 in. cheat sheet with whatever they wanted written on it.
AND THIS WAS AN AP CLASS!
I was floored. So, now reading this grader’s comments, I have to say I agree with him.
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06.29.08
Posted in COLLEGE, The nuts and bolts of it, Books at 10:51 am by Meg
If this works, you should be able to click below to view a list of everything that Boy has read over the last 4 years. Not just the ‘good’ stuff that we included in his course description.
List
Edited later: To follow up on Applestars question about why I didn’t have him list comic books and graphic novels - he ‘thinks’ he has about 3000 comic books and 200 graphic novels. Way too much to list.
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06.27.08
Posted in COLLEGE at 10:12 am by Meg
Trinity wants a copy and so for completeness, I figured I’d put it here (and update the page on the side)
I’ve been dragging my heels getting this done.
With this final transcript we are not resending the course descriptions - yeah, there’s some changes and more books to be added, but it’s not worth it for what is primarily a rubber stamp indicating that he did finish high school.
For fun, I thought I’d also post his entire actual reading list that includes all the ‘good’ stuff as well as the junk - the only thing that would have been missing were the comics and graphic novels of which he has an amazing collection built up. (I just bought him more sleeves and cardboard for storing them in and he wanted 200 to bring him up to date and have some to fill.)
But trying to take the file I have and get all 227 books to post on here properly (without having to retype them all in) is taking too much fiddling. So until I can figure out how to import an Excel spreadsheet in mass, you’ll have to take my word.
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06.16.08
Posted in COLLEGE at 11:00 am by Meg
Anyone remember that Boy was waitlisted by two schools?
Well, we haven’t heard anything else from one, but Tulane is still checking in with him regularly if he might still be interested.
Yeah, it is 6 weeks after that May 1 deadline…you’d think it would be settled by now. And it really is on our part. Boy is happily looking forward to San Antonio in August. But we figure it doesn’t hurt to see what might get thrown at us, so we’ll play along with Tulane.
As it happens, what we are seeing is playing out all over this year. Just a week or so ago, the Chronicle has a long article about how nearly everyone is digging into their waitlists to come up with ‘full’ classes.
Read the rest of this entry »
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06.05.08
Posted in COLLEGE at 11:29 pm by Meg
I just wanted anyone coming over here looking for high school info to be aware that JoVE is having a fascinating discussion about grading and transcripts.
Now, yes, she’s looking at it from a Canadian pov, but having an ear in on her thoughts as she develops some idea of what she’s going to do opens up discussion points that aren’t contingent on which country you live in.
It’s well worth dropping by.
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06.04.08
Posted in COLLEGE, Specials and opportunities, The nuts and bolts of it at 1:17 am by Meg
I met Charlene when Boy was entering 8th grade. One of the local groups (an hour plus away from us) was having a used book sale with a small one day conference. (At this point I had never been to a conference because the only one I was familiar with was the ultra Christian one in Indy). Two friends and I went.
What ended up being a high point of the day was the talk about homeschooling through high school and into college. Charlene gave the talk. Up to that point I was going into panic mode trying to figure out how to ‘do’ high school and what would be required when applying to college. I don’t think it answered every question and concern that I had, but it started me down the road that this week ended.
Charlene founded and directs the Indiana Foundation for Home Schooling. Their main cause is helping homeschool families get a handle on high school. A few years ago they started their own one day conference that only deals with high school. And today Charlene posted the information for this year’s conference.
So I’m passing it along with my recommendation.
—– Forwarded Message —-
Hello!
Please mark your calendar and share with your support group and
friends - Map Your Future, a high school, college, and career
planning event for 7th-12th graders and their parents will be on
Friday, October 10th.
In past years this event has been the 3rd Friday of September. So,
please note it has moved to Friday, October 10th. The location will
remain as the past 2 years — we are blessed to be back at Chapel
Rock Christian Church on Indy’s westside.
The high school coordinators from HSLDA will be returning again this
year with some new classes and repeats from last year — as there is
just so much to cover in a day devoted to high school, college, and
career planning! There will be lots of additional sessions by other
speakers too — including plenty for your teens. We are working on
constantly improving the options for teen classes.
If you have suggestions while we are designing the additional
classes, we would love to hear from you! Email us:
Info@IndianaHomeSchooling.org
Details will be available probably in mid-July on the Indiana
Foundation for Home Schooling (IFHS) website.
Thanks!
Charlene Brown
Indiana Foundation for Home Schooling
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