PA Homeschoolers
Online
Test Preparation Classes
PA Homeschoolers Online is again offer a wide range of Advanced Placement (AP)
test preparation classes for homeschooled high school students from all across
the country for the 2010-2011 school year. We plan to
have the same classes available and add non-calculus AP Physics B (Mr. Jeff
Lanctot), AP Studio: 2-D Design (Dianne Settino and Linus
Meldrum, a husband-and-wife team), and possibly AP Latin:Virgil. Note:
We are right now working with a possible new AP Biology teacher, and will
hopefully be ready to make a positive announcement on this within 2 weeks. We
are also welcoming several new teachers leading classes that we’ve been
offering—Mrs. Kate Walker will lead our 3rd section of AP English
Language, Meghan Bishop Paher will lead a 2nd
section of AP European History, and Melissa Spangenberg will lead AP Music
Theory (interestingly, all of these three new teachers are homeschool grads
themselves!).
All of our course descriptions have been updated—and
once accepted to a class, you can now pay tuition either online at www.pahomeschoolers.com or by
sending a check to PA Homeschoolers AP Online,
These classes, as in the past, will only be available
to homeschooled students. (Public and private ‘brick and mortar’ school
students, as well as cyber-charter school students, are not eligible to
participate.) Our classes have been given an excellent
review by Mary Pride's Practical Homeschooling magazine. Our classes are
often discussed on high school at home email lists and online forums.
We also encourage you right now to check out our Pennsylvania Homeschoolers website (see
link on top left), as our new fully online magazine there is regularly
featuring articles about our AP online classes. You’ll hear from parents whose
teens have taken part in a wide range of AP classes, and see what benefits
these families have found. Our teachers will share ideas on how to tell if your
teen is ready for this level of work—and what to do at home to bring them up to
speed. Many of our teachers will also write about their own work related to
their field—such as Dr.
Perhaps one of the best aspects of our classes is
that in the many years that we have offered AP Online, we have developed a
community of homeschool student scholars who bring to each class the positive
ways of interacting that they have learned in previous classes. It’s not
unusual for students to take one AP Online class in 10th grade (and we’ve had
some very bright 9th graders also), and then take more in 11th and more in 12th
grade— first checking with their new PA Homeschoolers AP Online friends so that
they can plan to be in class together once more.
This will be our 15th year of offering AP test
preparation classes online to homeschoolers all over the country (and even
homeschoolers living abroad). You do not have
to live in
To get a better idea on what the Advanced
Placement program is all about, do check out the excellent College Board website,
as this will give you full background on each exam and what is expected in an
AP preparation class. The basic idea is that this exam program enables students
to bypass ‘intro’ college classes and earn college credit by passing
standardized exams-- all while still in high school…or in high school at home!
All of our AP test preparation classes are
authorized through the College Board Audit process—for full info on this, see Susan Richman’s
article on the AP Audit Process from Pennsylvania Homeschoolers Issue #98.
PA Homeschoolers AP Online now also sends out official transcripts on AP course
completion for all students who both complete the course and take the actual AP
exam.
When students pass College Board Advanced
Placement exams, given each May in public and private high schools, they can
earn college credit or advanced standing at many colleges, and opt out of intro
classes. Many homeschool students seeking academic scholarships also find the
AP program a real help, as AP exam scores give a concrete way for others to
gauge strong academic preparation. AP classes are all designed to be much
tougher than typical high school classes- more reading, more study time, and
more dedication will be required. Colleges recognize this.
To learn
about a particular class, click on the class name on the sidebar—and be sure to
check out the ‘CLASS REVIEWS’, linked at the bottom of each course description. This will let you know what past students have felt about
their experience in the class, and you’ll also gain a stronger sense of what
the class will involve. To register for a specific class, you need to email a
message to the teacher directly, requesting any further info for students and
an application form. A number of classes have a direct link to their
application form right with their course description—and a few simply will ask
you to pay your tuition fee without the need for an application or selection
process, if you have the listed pre-requisites. Some classes may have suggested
or required summer readings or activities to complete to help students be
well-prepared and ready to go-- so it is wise to sign up early.
And in our classes, there is often the added bonus
of more interaction with fellow students and with your online teacher.
As families vary on how much interactivity they are seeking in an online
course, our teachers have rated their classes on a 1-3 scale of
student-to-student and teacher-to-student interactivity, with 3 being the
highest level of interactivity—this will help you choose the class that will
best meet your goals.
Once the teacher accepts your student in an AP
test preparation class, you can pay tuition and purchase selected
test-preparation class materials using the sidebar link to ‘ENTER STORE’. AP
test preparation classes do cost more than many traditional high school
distance classes- this is because much more is involved, for both the teachers
and the students. Our tuition fees are still much lower than most AP Online
courses—and for many of our AP Online test-prep classes,
we are one of the very few sources available for homeschoolers. Also when you
compare the tuition for one of our classes to taking the related college
course, you’ll see what a good investment PA Homeschoolers AP Online is for
you. Many of our teachers are again offering discounted ‘early bird’ tuition
fees through the end of June 2010.
If a student signs up for too many AP classes at a
time, especially if this is a first experience with AP level work, you could be
asking for trouble. Students with especially busy work or extracurricular
schedules are also urged to think carefully about taking on more than one class,
unless they’ve already had good experiences with handling online classes.
Many of the AP teachers will be presenting in a
session about their classes at the July 16, 2010 High School at Home Conference
sponsored by PHAA (PA Homeschoolers Accreditation Agency)
Note: These
classes are open only to homeschooled students. Students
enrolled fulltime in a public or private ‘brick-and-mortar’ school, or a public
cyber charter school, are not eligible.
Got some questions, comments, or ideas?
Susan Richman, PA Homeschoolers AP Online
Coordinator
105 Richman LN
Kittanning PA 16201-5737
richmans@pahomeschoolers.com.
724-783-6512