Last week we were elated to receive an acceptance letter from ARCC for Selena to attend in the fall as a Post Secondary Education student. The Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO) is a Minnesota program for High School students to take college courses while they are still in High School. The meaty side of this option is that the state pays for all of the classes and books for a maximum of 2 years.
In order to gain acceptance to ARCC for the program as a homeschooler she had to score higher than 68th percentile on a standardized test, such as the CAT. Last year, as an 8th grader, she scored a 63. Also, in order to get into the program THIS YEAR she would have to jump a grade (to 10th grade). The program only involves students in 10th-12th grades. Also, she had to take a placement test for any core courses that she takes at ARCC.
It was late February when Selena decided that she wanted to try some college classes. We took a month to prepare for the placement tests. She had excellent scores for the verbal and reading sections. We were not surprised either that she did not do so well in Math. So, she would be able to take Freshman English but would have to improve in Math in order to take college classes.
The next step was to prepare for the 10th grade CAT (California Achievement Test) that she would take in mid-May. She worked hard during these months studying in all areas for the test. We listened to many podcasts from various Universities. Our favorites were the history and geography courses. Also, she worked incredibly hard on math. I ordered math lessons on DVD from Netflix.com and she continued working in her Saxon Math books.
Finally, she and Xavier took the CAT in May and we received her score a couple weeks later, just in time to send in her application to ARCC. Her score was 87 percentile. She improved 15 percentile points in Math since last year. We were SO happy, we were jumping up and down in the kitchen!
For 2 and a half years Selena has not been in school, she hasn't followed a curriculum nor studied any Math or grammar or anything else. Everything that she has learned she has done on her own and by following her own interests.
It's AWESOME!
2 comments:
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. My son is the same age and I think he'll probably be interested in hearing about this. We knew they could do PSEO, just didn't know when.
Hi Kelli! This is going to be an interesting change in our life. To be honest I have very mixed feelings about Selena getting back into school again. At the same time I am so happy for her because she did absolutely everything for and by herself. She is so excited! I have to admit, also, that it's a major bragging point for doubting relatives and friends!
Is your son 16 now, or when will he be 16? Are you doing driver's ed? Selena started a driver's ed course but got bored with it and decided it wasn't that important to drive. Now, suddenly, it would be good if she could drive to the college so I don't have to run back and forth! (The college is about 15 minutes from here).
On the subject of Community Colleges, I noticed that the PSEO admissions are a little different, depending on which one. I think Normandale's only requirements were taking the placement tests and providing high school transcripts, which homeschooling parents provide, of course.
Are there several colleges near you?
Well, let's keep in touch. I'd be really interested in how it all goes for you, too.
Ahna
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