Wow, I’m fried, but that’s what planning can do to a homeschool mom! Earlier this school year I spent days online figuring out how we could try to maximize her high school years and gain college credit using CLEP, DSST, and AP exams. I wrote a bit more about that here. Now that I have all the high school requirements mapped out to appropriate college level exams, I had to find the resources to use to not just study for the test, but provide a comprehensive lesson plan. I still haven’t fully decided on a book to use for US History, but I found a class that gives 5 books as suggestions, so I have all of them on my list.
There’s what sounds like a huge used curriculum sale tomorrow, so I was frantically getting a book list together. High school materials are very hard to find used, but in sha Allah I can find some of the main items I’m looking for, namely the IEW Teacher/Student Writing Package – Level C. It’s a bit far fetched, but any dent I can put in that cost would be helpful. I have never seen this set for sale used!
So how to come up with the book list? Wow, that’s a long story. I’ll leave you with a couple tips and websites:
- http://www.free-clep-prep.com – by far the best free website to get handle on what each test entails, and gives resources for studying for the test. Sometimes this includes books that can be used for a curriculum, but the majority are just test prep resources.
- http://clepprep.tripod.com/ – This has lesson plans for each test, which is nice for having it organized for you. Again, this focuses more on test prep than a curriculum that happens to get you ready for the test.
- Search for AP level class resources. You typically can’t buy an at-home AP curriculum since it needs to be approved through College Board, but you can find books and resources that teachers use for AP classes.
- http://www.hippocampus.org/ – We will be using this free online class for Care Bear’s AP US History course. It isn’t teacher supported, but everything else is laid out like a college level class. Some resources look better planned out than others. I don’t like “online classes” that just give you a list of videos to watch without assignments and other types of review.
- Universities around the country are starting to offer online high school programs, and some include AP classes. The funny thing is this is more economical than buying an online course from a K-12 provider half the time! University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Indiana University – Bloomington, and University of California – Scout program all have online high school options that are worth checking out. Even though the University of Nebraska doesn’t have the best rated text books for their science classes, I’m thinking of Care Bear taking a science class through them since I really want her to have a science teacher available.
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