Dual Enrolling, Lost Glasses and Tornados

Tori went to PCC last week to take the CPT tests. She did really well. She had done practice tests several times over the past year, and did a couple the night before. We weren't concerned that she would do a poor job, but with it being a new experience, we were both a little wary. She took all three sections: Reading, English and Math. She needed at least an 83 on Reading, she scored 119.8. She needed 83 on English as well, scored 119.0 there. In Math she needed 72 on the Elementary Algebra section, scored 109.6. She also scored 34 on the College Math section, but did not need to score into the College Math section at all to dual enroll.

Based on the current College Math score, if she were to enroll in a math class at PCC right now, it would need to be Intermediate Algebra. She would need a minimum score of 43 on the College Math section to skip Intermediate Algebra. We'd originally planned (if she scored well enough) to start her in MAC 1105-College Algebra for her first class, as she will have just finished her Algebra 2 class through FLVS. Going immediately into College Algebra was appealing as she wouldn't lose the momentum or the skills during a break. We were advised that due to the compressed nature of College Algebra during the summer term, that it would be better to take that during the full Fall or Spring terms. Given that advice and her score not being quite high enough, we decided to wait on College Algebra. She will finish Algebra 2, and try many practice CPT tests during the summer to determine where she needs extra studying, then retake that portion of the CPT before the Fall term to try and better the score so she can skip over the Intermediate Algebra course. She's quite close, I think she'll be able to do it.

We are in the process of finalizing details with the Dual Enrollment coordinator. We filled out an online application to PCC through the FACTS.org website, not realizing dual enrolled students should not use the online application. I had to change her birthdate and graduation date by one year to get setup in their system. So we have had those corrected and provided the information on our private school. We should be able to go Monday morning to actually register for classes. At this point her selections are: 1. SYG2000 Sociology-a full summer course 2. HLP1081 Wellness Concepts-a 6 week class available in either term 3A or 3B 3. AMH1020 US History 1877-Present-a 6 week class available in either term 3A or 3B She can only take one class over the summer, but we know we need to have several choices in case one or another is already full.

My friend Jeannette was just telling me about the Honors program at PCC. I checked the entrance requirements, Tori qualifies. I've written to see if dual enrolled students can enter the Honors program. If so, I think she'd do well. I didn't see any classes on the Summer schedule that were designated as being Honors, so I'm not sure if summer classes are available. Jeannette's daughter is a student at PCC in the Collegiate High School program. She will also be taking summer classes. I thought the Collegiate High School program took the summer off like most high schools. I also thought taking a class with a friend would appeal to Tori, but the friend is not taking any of the classes Tori has on her short list. She is taking 2 night classes which Tori said no to right away, and she is taking a philosophy class. Tori thought the sociology class she'd selected sounded more interesting and useful. I think I'll make a note of the philosophy class in case all three of her prior selections are unavailable. We definitely want to stick with the Lakeland campus for classes.

Beth and I have been working hard on her Algebra I class through FLVS. She is just not a math girl, I can completely relate. She does seem to do better when working with me than when working by herself. So we may need to keep that up. I'm certainly not teaching her, algebra still does not make any sense to me, but I can follow directions well enough. She's brought her grade up from a low C to a middle B. She needs to finish up the first semester, take the semester test, then she will have a break before starting the second semester when we all take vacation at the end of this month. She is doing really well in her Language Arts 3 class. She really enjoys it, but even more so now that they are doing a section on poetry. She's written some lovely poems, even if they are a little dark. Her semester score in that class is 100!

Lili is still plugging along, doing great in her classes. She's a hard worker but it also seems that the work comes easy to her. It's really a wonderful thing that we have the opportunity to homeschool. I'm quite confident she wouldn't do well in school because she has a loud, wiggly, boisterous personality. I don't think she'd be able to spend a full day in classes, she needs more freedom of movement and expression to get through the day. I just requested the Personal Fitness class for her to start in May, just after she finishes Math 2

Evie is also doing quite well, or was up until yesterday. Her glasses have gone missing. We are still looking, but trying to read without them is an effort. It's possible, but leads to headaches. I'm not ready to go buy another pair yet, they'll turn up. Hopefully they won't turn up with holes from dog teeth like my last pair. She will be starting Keyboarding through FLVS in July. She's excited to be taking online classes like her sisters.

We attend Lakeland Homeschool PE on Tuesday mornings. I woke up late Tuesday morning and found we were under a tornado watch and PE had been cancelled. We would have stayed home due to the rain and getting up late anyway, but this way I didn't feel like we were slacking. I woke the girls to tell them to get dressed, including shoes but that we weren't going to PE. They didn't understand until I started reminding them about our tornado drills. It may seem silly, but we actually practice tornado and fire drills in our family. I could tell Evie was a little more nervous than the other girls as she kept her lovies with her all day. The winds got pretty nasty and we had a (lovely to me) vigorous and long lasting thunder/lightning storm. The pool nearly overflowed, but didn't quite. We've had the living room flood more than once from the pool overflowing. We got quite a bit of rain out of it, so maybe the dead patches in our lawn will make a comeback.


We'll be cleaning today and tomorrow, working on Career Exploration Night reports tomorrow and through the weekend. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. We were to have it yesterday but I didn't take it out to thaw in time.