Not Another Homeschool Blog

I just read an awesome homeschool blog where the mom was celebrating a CLEP pass .  It is very exciting. I touched on CLEP exams some time back as my hope was that my son would put a ton of college credits behind him before graduating.  But Alas, that did not happen.  He did get 6 English credits that the college he is going to will accept, and plans take one more in math before the end of this school year. Maybe he will even attempt one of the two tests he did not pass last time.    But in the end, he is the type that needs to actually sit through the class to pass it, so his CLEP success has been limited. Let's face it CLEP exams are HARD.  It is a college level test, so there is no shame in not passing it when you are only 15 or 16 years old. There may be shame in not trying though. For us, even when he did not pass,  it was a learning experience in figuring out his strengths and learning how to study.  Studying for the tests have also give...

I have decided to get my kids started taking CLEP courses next year. In my own words, CLEP exams are tests used to allow students to test out of a College course. For homeschoolers, they are a great AP substitute because it allows a student to study college level coursework and take a test to prove they learned it. No one can argue that MOMMA assigned a grade with no real basis. While CLEP exams will allow students to fast forward through college, that is hardly my concern. My interest in CLEP exams is to show that my kids really know what they know and to make them more attractive to the best colleges (should they plan to go that route.) I will mostly be working with my 14 year old son and a 16 year old friend. My daughter will probably take some as well just to get a feel for it. The first test the boys are planning to take is supposed to be the easiest... Interpreting and analyzing Literature, but the test isn't exactly a no brainer for me. I am planning to have them rea...

Woke up 3 hours late today... too late to go to church. Still on LA Time. Spent the rest of the day working on curriculum plan for the year and then for the next week. Can't believe it is almost 1am and I am not sleepy. Still on LA time! What are we using this year? Most of our curriculum this year is free with the homeschool budget going into their Fine Arts Program and testing fees. (I paid for Rosetta Stone last year and am enjoying the perks of that expense this year. We are a test family for lifetime learning as they perfect their online curriculum that used to be available by CDrom) Daughter: Lifetime Library for language, science, and history Khan Academy for math (Algebra 1) Rosetta Stone for Spanish (taking up most of the budget) Thinking about supplementing Spanish with Byki.com Artios Conservatory for Fine Arts (Theater /Music Concentration) This is a take-it-easy year with lots of classical reading to get her accustomed to high school level work Son: Khan Academ...

AHHHHHHHH! I just sat down with my son to talk about his classes for the next two years.... his last 2 years homeschooling. I feel faint.  Anyway, we have decided that he would spend the next two years tackling physics and calculus. And of course there would be more grammar, literature, history, and Spanish. Tentatively, the next two years will look like this. * This summer:  ~"Trigonometry in 20 minutes a Day" as a prerequisite for Calculus.  (Trig is the only thing from a pre-calc book that he did not understand) ~Computer Science CLEP Exam Next year, Grade ll: ~*Calculus 1part and part 2 (Hippocampus) ~Non majors biology (hippocampus) ~US History 2 (Hippocampus) (He will attempt the US History 2 CLEP next summer for college credit) ~Spanish 2 ( Rosetta Stone ) (he will attempt the Spanish CLEP next summer) ~English/Grammar:  I am designing a literature/wiritng course... he hasn't read as much as I would have liked the last 2 years, so I have pi...

I was curious so I googled. Someone on my CLEP email list mentioned that their sons took the CLEP today and one got an 80 a perfect score and the other got a 66. I wondered how that translated into letter grades, and here is was I found: **update: I just got an email that lists (unnoficial) A and B grades for all cleps Click Here! to increase your chances of passing. This is straight from the College Board Business Financial Accounting 65 50 Introductory Business Law 60 50 Information Systems and Computer Applications 59 50 Principles of Accounting 2 53 50 Principles of Marketing 65 50 Principles of Management 63 50 Composition and Literature Analyzing & Interpreting Literature 60 50 American Literature 58 50 English Composition with Essay 63 50 English Composition without Essay 59 50 English Literature 62 50 Freshman College Composition 59 50 Humanities 56 50 Foreign Languages French Language, Level 1 64 50 French Language, Level 2 69 59 German La...