I could, theoretically, make that tree into a peach tree with some fancy genetic engineering– but the fact is this modified peach tree will never be a very good peach tree – because built into the DNA of an acorn is the purpose of being an oak tree, no matter how much I try to talk it into doing something else.

What is in your DNA?  Ever thought about that? Are you pursuing the things you were made to accomplish or chasing something else?

Take a piece of paper and a pen and write down: where do I want to be in 4-5 years? When I’m holding that diploma—what do I want to have accomplished? Answer these questions before moving forward.

Scholarships and entrance exams will continue to remain. So aside from paying for it and getting in, once you’re there you have to do something. And that’s the most fun part, so let’s take a minute and focus there. You’ve made your list, you’ve decided what you think you are good at and want to do. So now what?

DSST Exams are exam series that are college subject specific. They are very similar to the final exams offered by the course subjects should you choose to take the course.

If you have decided to go to Paris – now you look at the options for getting there. And – there is more than one. So it is for college – you are NOT to be focused on college YET. That comes later still. Right now we focus on learning from people who have already gone there before – who is living your dream? Who has already gone to Paris – start by asking them before you listen to the travel agencies – learn from the pros.

-       For more information about the ACT, where to take it, how to take it, how to study, and facts about the exam itself, you can check out their website:

http://www.act.org/news/aapfacts.html

-       Most college websites provide information about their college’s entrance requirements. Check under “Admissions” or “Admission Requirements” some college websites hide this information under “Academics” as well, so just poke around the website see what you find.

-       Another way to find out what is required to get into a college is to ask people who attended the college you are interested in. With Facebook and other social media, it isn’t hard to connect with people.

-       You can also email the professors. Most universities have a faculty page where you can get in touch with them and ask questions. Just locate their email and ask—they don’t mind answering questions. They are teachers, answering questions is what they do for a living .

Find ways to incorporate math into the things your student enjoys already–you know, the things that are outside the classroom and not at a desk or kitchen table. If they like horses and rodeos, do distance/rate/time equations (Algebra 1) at a barrel race. Consider attending a rodeo, and having classwork that day be to write down all of the barrel racing times, then come home and use that information to calculate how fast the horse was running in miles per hour.  When the math is connected to something the students are interested in already, then suddenly the math becomes interesting as well. Click Here for Some lesson plans and activity ideas to get you started.

Most of the freshman level courses are called “Gen Eds” which stands for “General Education”—it is the courses colleges designate as the courses everyone at their university needs to take as a part of their college educational experience. Much of the material covered in these courses is review from high school material. Therefore, a lot of students will find it easy to CLEP out of their freshman 101/102 courses. We had a student once that CLEP-ed out of two years worth of college courses. So he ended up only have to pay tuition for 2 years, and he received a 4-year degree.

Now, every college has its own rules and regulations surrounding CLEP exams, how many you can take, etc, so be sure you check into those when considering the CLEP test, but DEFINITELY a good way to cut down on expenses (and hey, if you don’t HAVE to take the class, why take it?)

When you are headed to college there are other options besides scholarships to help you cut down the costs of college (of course, combined WITH scholarships and you could potentially create yourself an almost free college experience)

Consider taking the CLEP tests. Most schools will allow you to CLEP out of as many as 45 credit hours of school – and that is over one whole year.

For military personnel, there is the DANTES program—which helps you take many CLEP, DANTE, and ECS (called “Credit-by-examination” tests) for free. Some options are available to civilians as well, but you will need to check.

http://www.military.com/timesaving-programs/dantes-college-credit-by-examination-program

The website above is a great resource for testing information for military personnel and options open to civilians as well.

You will never know what you might receive unless you apply.

I had a friend in college who won a minority scholarship—full ride to an accredited private university—and he wasn’t a minority member. He had just applied for the scholarship and no one else had won.

Don’t overburden yourself with the competition factor, either. There are many people who apply for college scholarships, sure—but think about it: how many people do you know who actually received scholarships? Interested to know why?

According to scholarships.com,

“…so many of [the students] applying don’t take the time to properly read or follow the rules and answer the questions thoughtfully, or even correctly. Do everything correctly and you could be one of a small percentage of applicants who even gets considered. Here’s another way to look at it. What if you spent a total of 50 hours searching and applying for scholarships? And, after all that time and effort, you win two or three scholarships, totaling about $2,000. That’s $40 per hour, which is at least 4 to 5 times more than you can expect to get paid for doing pretty much any other activity or “job”. And that doesn’t even include the interest you’d be paying on that money, had you been forced to borrow it from a lender. Apply for as many scholarships as you can and you are bound to win something, provided you make sure to do everything you are asked and follow all of each scholarship provider’s instructions.”

There are scholarships for everybody, not just high school students. You can get scholarships for entering freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors, transfer students, undergraduate students, graduate students and even adults who have long since been out of college. Scholarships are EVERYWHERE, for EVERYBODY.

Not all scholarships are for athletes, academics, and minorities. There are many scholarships for students with a GPA minimum of 2.5 (a totally achievable GPA, I might add).

If you don’t want to do the all of the searching to find the scholarships right for you, you might consider using a service like scholarships.com to pair you up with scholarship options right for you. (Scholarships.com is totally free, whereas many others charge a fee for the same service)

Some scholarships only offer $1000 to the winner, and many students balk at the idea of putting forth a lot of effort just to get a $1000 scholarship because they consider $1000 to be a drop in a huge bucket when it comes to college expenses.

But I wouldn’t be too hasty. If you get several $1000 scholarships, you can put a nice dent in your college education, PLUS consider all of the textbooks and supplies you will have to buy–$1000 interest free would be fantastic, and it beats the socks off a bank loan—a debt most students carry on after college.

There are many, many smart, easy, choices students can make to save a little green.

• Live at home the first two years. Chances are, you’re already living there, so what does it hurt to save that rent money for two years and then use that saved cash to fund the last two years of out-of-state tuition (or even to fund an apartment later).
• Take courses at a local community college, or even consider distance learning options. The point is to get a good education (isn’t it?), so if you can pursue your degree without having to pay higher tuition prices, that’s a great way to save some cash.
• If you have financial aid, be sure you only spend those scholarship dollars on school-related stuff (instead of on that new car payment or trip to the beach).
• Eat with your parents more instead of eating out.
• Pack a lunch

These tips sound simple, and in many ways they are, but saving a little money here and there can add up to a whole lot of money in the long run. By saving some cash on the front end, you can lessen the amount of money you owe once you graduate. Hopefully, you can save enough so that you don’t owe anything at all.

No step is too small to take. If you are eating at home instead of McDonald’s, you might be saving only 5 bucks, but 5 bucks is 5 WHOLE BUCKS, and no where will you learn this better than at college.

For instance, if your kids are prone to asking the “why do I have to learn this?” question, you might choose to add in some activities with math instead of making every day a textbook day.

Some ideas for supplementing material might be to study area by measuring the area of each room in your house, then adding it together to get the area of your whole house. Students often have fun (and a lot of laughs) trying to measure around furniture, etc. If you’re brave, you can measure the attic too!

Some other ideas I’ve found is when students like to say “I will never use this after school”, instead of trying to argue with them, I offer a challenge:

“Ok,” I say, “If you are so sure you’re right about that, I challenge you to go through an entire day–from the moment you get up, until the moment you go to bed again–you cannot use any math. No numbers, no figures, no adding, subtracting, algebra, or geometry, or anything. No math at all.”

“no homework?!” they immediately ask. Which, I concede, “No, not even homework.”

So we try it. Then they are surprised to learn that they immediately can’t tell time, can’t cook anything, can’t drive, can’t read road signs, can’t buy anything at the store, can’t count their allowance, can’t pack a suitcase (because you have to know how many of each clothing item you might need–that’s math). They can’t even use the remote, because that’s channels–that’s math.

Math is everywhere in life, it is the fabric things are made of. Without math, the world could not function. But rather than try to talk your kids into this belief, it is easier to show them.

This kind of supplementation is called “real world activities” it gets your kids out of the desk and into the world around them. Math can be fun, and real for students, if you look for creative ways to do it.

I focus on Algebra and Calculus because both of those courses typically represent a turning point for many students. Algebra is where students move from elementary arithmetic into applied math, with abstract thought, variables, constants, and true equations and expressions. Many students who struggle here do so because the transition to logical math is something of a leap. Not because students are not good at math, but because simply children’s brains develop at their own unique rate and while many kids are able to handle logical thought at around 14, I’ve seen several students who needed to wait until way after 14, while still others were masters at Algebra much younger.

The point here, though, is to realize that everyone goes at a different pace. I know as my 10 month old son is now starting to stand and say phrases, it is easy to compare him to other kids his age and wonder if he is ahead or behind other kids. Whenever there is a child that is doing something my son isn’t yet mastering I want to blame myself for not preparing him right, or be concerned that he has some developmental issue I need to fix. I can only assume that I will be this way when he starts school, and I know other parents are this way with their school-age kids, because they call and email me at the support line with their similar concerns.

My blanket advice (as far as math education–I’ll probably need to call some of you to ask about raising a boy!)  is to chill. If you start something like Algebra or Calculus and you are concerned that your students won’t be able to handle it, relax in the thought that we are homeschoolers. If you get a couple months into the curriculum and you can see that either a slower pace, faster pace, cooperative class, online class, study sessions, supplements, or different curriculum all together is what is called for, you have the freedom to change. You are never stuck with your choice, and you don’t always have to re-invest hundreds of dollars to buy a new set of math materials.

If you get into Algebra, for example, and you find that you need a slower pace, then go slower. You may not even have to follow the book at all. Find a concept in the book that your student needs to learn and bring it out of the textbook. Find a connection to something real and tangible, and do that day’s lesson only on that one thing. You don’t have to cover the whole lesson in one day just because that’s how some other kid did it. This is your kid, and you get to decide how to educate him/her. That’s why you signed up to be the homeschool parent. You signed up to be the educator, which means not only that you have to put in the extra work to supplement when that’s called for, but it also means you get to decide what constitutes a day’s lesson and you get to dictate what is acceptable for your student.

So don’t worry! You’re in control, and you can do it! And if you ever forget that you can handle it, call or email us, and we’ll be there to help and encourage you.

support@askdrcallahan.com

205.790.2617