We started homeschool in mid-August so we could take a couple of weeks off to go to a wedding in Mexico in October. Kelly’s three goals for the first half of the year (by late January or early February) are to perform well on the U.S. History II and Spanish CLEP tests, finish three-quarters of Teaching Textbooks Geometry, and concentrate heavily on Apologia Biology. Christian’s three goals for the first half of the year are to perform well on the Freshman English Composition and the Western Civilization CLEP tests, finish two-thirds of Teaching Text Books Algebra II, and concentrate heavily on Apologia Physical Science. We made good progress on all those goals although we are certainly not ahead of the schedule. Of course, we continue with the excellent Sonlight literature, our read alouds, Rosetta Stone Spanish II, music, exercise, current events, writing, bible reading and memorization, etc, but those are subjects that are part of the daily homeschool routine now that we have done for over four years.
We have still not decided what material we will take to Mexico. This is vacation time, but most of the Mexican cousins will be in school during the day, so I want the kids to make some progress on their goals, as much to keep them from saying “I’m bored” as anything. Still, we are operating right on the edge with the math progress so I will probably have them take their math materials with them to do three lessons per week. That does not sound too onerous to me, but then I am their goal driven ogre of a teacher. I will discuss this with both the kids and the vice principal (Lorena).
Christian got a replacement guitar back from the music shop where we bought it. We are not sure how good it is, but we are having my work buddy, John S. check it out for us. The music shop wanted to replace the Takamine Jasmine ES45C which had a manufacturing defect with a Mitchell MD-100SCE. If anyone has any opinions on that, please let us know.
July 30, 2004 – Losing more weight
August 2, 2004 – Grandpa Milo’s birthday
Anonymous
Ken,
Could you tell me a little about how you go about finding out which colleges
accept the CLEP? Does passing the CLEP automatically allow you to pass an entire semester’s college class? I am not sure where to start, and before I did, I thought I would ask you.
Also, are you thinking about having the children take the SAT II subject tests. I was considering whether or not to have Emma take one or 2 just in cast she decides to apply to a University instead of a state college. She scored so well on our State’s SAT chemistry test, that I was berating myself for not having her take the Chem subject test at the end of last year. We really believe tht she will head to the local community college for 2 years first, then go to a 4 year to finish up her basic degree.
I do not like to take off long periods of time for math. But 2 weeks is not too long. Perhaps do something fun like do a small 2 week unit on poetry and memorize a few poems from the Poetry Outloud website. Or better yet, learn some poems in Spanish and recite them for the family while you are there.
No problem Ruthie. First, you can find whether a school accepts CLEP tests by going here. After you find out whether they in fact accept CLEP tests, you then need to check the website of the individual college. I have been able to find the CLEP list for every school I have tried by looking around on their website, searching for CLEP using their search tool or Google, etc. If you send me an email with a couple of the colleges you are looking at, I would be happy to investigate that for you–it only takes a few minutes. The one school for which I could not find any information was our local community college. I called the their testing center and they sent me back a list of CLEP tests they accept for college credit and the required CLEP score to receive the credit. Yes, in fact they count as a pass of a semester of college class. I few colleges even give you a grade based on the score on the test, but that is less frequent as they usually just give you a “pass”.
As for the SAT, we are going to give the kids the ACT college entrance test as it satisfies the requirement for a yearly standardized test all homeschoolers have to take in North Carolina. We are not going to do any subject tests as the CLEP tests pretty much give us the same thing. It sounds like the serve the very same purpose and are probably very similar to each other as the CLEP tests are from the same organization that gives the CLEP test (College Board).
I think you are probably right on the 2 week break while the kids are in Mexico. They need a break to hang out with Grandpa Lauro and Grandma Conchita, cousins, aunts, and uncles. They can do some creative stuff instead.
Let me know which colleges you want me to check and please do not hesitate to ask if you have other questions.