Have lunch with the girlfriends…
My schedule will be changing shortly because of formal schooling beginning again in our home. I will go to the evening gym classes instead of the morning ones. I won’t go to lunch with my girlfriends because I’ll be at home teaching. Could I keep doing these things during the school year? Yes, I could. You have unlimited possibilities when it comes to homeschooling, but very little trumps quality teaching time with my kids and that usually occurs during the daytime hours.
Time to regroup
Busy day of church,Target run, 2 Wal-mart runs, grocery shopping, house cleaning, laundry, travel soccer, and yardwork.
No, there was no breakfast in bed. This has been a long week for hubby, so there was no expectation from me. He needed a break, too. I’m also in the midst of redoing my youngest son’s room. Hence, the multiple store runs. Just ordered some items from Pottery Barn for Kids. Fun.
The kids were so kind to me today, and that’s what’s really special.
I did escape for dinner to meet one of my dear girlfriends. We treated ourselves to salmon, lobster bisque, and carrot cake.
Now, back to reality. It’s after midnight, and I need to prep for tomorrow.
Homeschooler gets early accepted to University of Pennsylvania-yah!!
Ro Laberee is one of my rock star girlfriends (top left). Her son, whom she’s homeschooled the entire way, was early accepted to Penn this year. She writes some thoughts concerning their college process.
What I have learned about preparing a student for admission to a competitive 4 year college by Rosemary Laberee ….
Know your student. Pay attention to what they do well and where they struggle. Get tutors to help when necessary. The competition is very stiff.
Start early. 7th to 8th grade is best.
Get your student motivated – start to visit colleges in 8th grade. Your student will get excited and will want to cooperate with a rigorous course of study. Visit colleges frequently.
Competitive schools and Ivy League schools are very rich. They are extremely difficult to get into but they have A LOT OF MONEY to give away. Schools that you think are a bargain might be more expensive because they have no aid.
If your student knows where they want to go, visit that college’s website frequently. Learn important things about the college. Things like ….. “TCNJ gives a maximum of 50% tuition in scholarships – no one get a 100% full ride.” Or, “At our college, all students must take 3 SAT Subject Tests to be considered …” These kinds are facts are good to know early on.
No matter what the admissions office tells you – competitive universities care VERY MUCH about the SAT scores. Be sure your student begins to prepare for this early on in high school. Perfect SAT score = 2400. You need to aim for over 2100.
Use Google to find average SAT scores and admission rate percentages of your target schools. For example, you might find a school that has a 15% admission rate – rather low. So, it seems like a selective school. NOW, you MUST look at average SAT scores. If the average score for this school is 1,600 this tells you something alarming. It means that this school gets MANY, MANY applications from kids whose SAT scores are BELOW 1,600. Not good. This will be evident in some very rural schools, some easy-admit schools, and, sadly, in many Christian colleges.
If you come across a school whose admissions rate is over 50 to 60% it probably means that they accept almost everyone who applies. YOU MUST LOOK AT BOTH average SAT scores AND the admission rates in order to know what the student body is like. A highly motivated and intelligent student body means that your student will spend 4 very important years with the best and the brightest. The average SAT scores AND the admission rates tell an important story.
To gain admittance to a competitive 4 year college, your student should have high SAT scores, competence in a foreign language, play a varsity sport OR run a club of some sort (debate, school paper), show a commitment to community service (400 hours), and excel in some area of science or music. Competing at a national level in anything (math, science, writing, music) is preferred. Your student should have many AP classes and Honors classes. He will need to have a minimum of 2 subject tests, also.
Prestigious colleges/universities do not want “grinds”. These are what they call the brilliant kids who never come out of their rooms, who do nothing but study. They do not gain admittance to very competitive universities, even with their perfect test scores. The colleges want kids who will add value to their campus.
Mom – be sure you get your rest. Take your vitamins! This process is stressful and you will frequently be up until the wee hours of the morning. But, it is worth it !!!!
Ivy League Homeschooling 