Contact us to Schedule a Workshop: countdown2college@gmail.com We are delighted that you are thinking about bringing one of Kim’s inspiring workshops to your community! What would you need and how would it look? Read on:   Countdown to College Workshop This is an 8.5-hour presentation; including a half-hour gathering time, a 1-hour lunch or dinner, and a 1-hour shopping/discussion time afterwards. Set-up takes up to 1 ½ hours (depending on tech glitches), and take-down takes about 1 hour. Countdown to College provides: · Full day of content, discussion, and media, developed by Kim Anderson. · Intergenerational presenters (as available), who can inspire the entire extended family. · Printed syllabi for workshop note-taking. · Electronic advance publicity materials and ideas for your local PR campaign. · Online and mail-in registration. You don’t have to do any of that paperwork! · Online publicity for your event on the Countdown to College website. · Transportation to and from the nearest airport served by Frontier Airlines. · Books and resources about the transition to post-high school life, family life, college, teen entrepreneurship and resume-development for participants to ...

Do standardized tests in fact test anything? The jury is still out in many educators' minds. However, the growing practices of grade inflation and grade-weighting* undermine the credibility of the high school GPA, so that often college admissions officials feel that standardized tests at least allow them to compare students' academic potential on a level playing field.  Until we find a better way to certify academic achievement, it pays to understand the tests' aims and uses, so that you can use them to your advantage. PSAT Widely thought to be a practice for the SAT, the PSAT actually focuses on a completely different set of skills.  Given in the fall of the Junior year, this test is the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship.  Although the National Merit Scholarship itself is a small monetary value, it recognizes the top percentage of the top 1% of American students.  Colleges often try to attract this top-tier of students by plus-ing the scholarship with a full ride plus extras. So if academics are your strength this test is definitely worth taking. SAT This reasoning test is the most widely accepted exam for college entrance.  Generally it is taken in the fall of the Senior ...

This month, several of my devotionals about time management are being featured on CBN.com so I thought you might appreciate a practical follow up specifically about how to structure your time during high school for maximum effect. Paradoxically, the first thing on the list needs to be: remaining flexible and available to God as He brings unexpected opportunities into our lives. Our second daughter, Anne, was knocking down the academic benchmarks almost as fast as we could put them out there, but she wasn't sure of a post-high school direction. Then she was asked to compose, conduct and engineer the music for a short film. Composing hadn't been the favorite aspect of her musical training. However, she made it her policy to "just say yes" when God brought her opportunities that wouldn't detract from things she already had on her plate. So she decided to give it a try. She finished the composing aspect within two breathless weeks, discovering in the process, that when she had an actual reason beyond the "assignment for the week", she truly loved composing. Remaining available to God may be vital to discovering His calling on a young person's life. So here ...

Today's Carnival of Homeschooling included a post from Designer City, USA listing dozens (really!) of free online courses on web design.  Check them out at Web Design.edu: Top 50 Free Open Courseware Courses to Design Better Websites Naturally, you'll want to check out the whole carnival, which today features a guilt-free, non-interventionist, government-free stimulus package of great resources for homeschoolers.

[caption id="attachment_111" align="alignright" width="300" caption="High school music apprentice needs college too"][/caption] Many in the homeschool community present college and apprenticeship as competing models for post-graduate work. But it ain’t necessarily so. Surely, we want our children to have work experience and deep friendships with adults outside our homes as a pre-requisite for graduation from high school. They need the things apprenticeship provides before they leave home. It’s true that some businesses and trades will take an extended period of apprenticeship, which would extend beyond high school. However, many apprenticeship experiences will be enhanced by a college education. My daughter’s mentor offered her an apprenticeship during high school, which has extended into her college years, providing her with real-world experience, a growing professional network and a tidy income through her school years. He now recommends that she pursue an advanced degree, so that the maximum number of opportunities will be open to her in her future as a mother. An entrepreneur and innovator, he himself wishes that he had pursued advanced degrees, because now he would like to supplement his income by teaching. In fact, his experience in his field makes him an ideal candidate for teaching, however, his lack of a Masters Degree bars ...

This begins the edgy season when many major scholarships notify successful candidates and colleges begin to send out acceptance letters. It’s easy to get trapped on an emotional rollercoaster. We do our best work on applications, essays and resumes, but ultimately the result is in the hand of a sovereign God. He will close some doors and open others powerfully by the practical provision He makes for your student. One of my students, Alene (not her real name), had applied for one of the richest, most prestigious academic scholarships in her state, Colorado’s Boettcher Scholarship. Her older sister had earned it a couple of years previously, and Alene had an even more impressive academic record than her sister. So expectations were high that Alene would also become a Boettcher scholar. However, the Boettcher also has a public service requirement, and Alene’s public service resume was a little on the light side. When Alene was passed over in favor of candidates with more public service and less brilliant academics, her family was devastated. Their hopes that Alene could study in Colorado on a full ride scholarship were dashed. A few weeks later, Alene received notice of her designation as a National Merit Scholar. ...

Countdown to College: the Homeschoolers’ Guide and the e-Forms Disk include three pages of scholarship search engines and individual scholarship grantors (live links in the e-Forms Disk!). But even though we update the disk every summer, we can’t include everything. So periodically, I’ll include new information about scholarships here. The Gordon A. Rich Scholarship ($50,000 in increments of $12,500/year renewable for 4 years) Description: With the financial industry in disarray, many who work or have worked in the field are facing layoffs, radically decreased income and financial distress that they never dreamed possible. Gordon A. Rich Scholarship offers $50,000 to five talented students each year whose parents worked in troubled financial services companies. The scholarship particularly targets students who display Academic excellence and creativity beyond the GPA and test scores Extracurricular achievement in leadership and service to their communities Financial need Final selection for this scholarship will depend heavily on the responses to application questions about the student’s aspirations, unusual circumstances that have impacted the student, and a 500 word essay: Drawing on your own interests, accomplishments and experiences, tell how you’ve embodied the passion, spirit and ideals exemplified in the life of Gordon Rich. Application Inclusions: Application form, one adult recommendation, official transcript, ...

Effective time management isn’t just about sticking to a schedule. It’s also about seizing the opportunities that present themselves in season and by surprise. Do I need to mention that this is the Christmas season of Advent? A time of extraordinary opportunity for worship and service. American Christians are beginning to suspect that their pursuit of stuff, their rush to create additional debt during this time, isn’t really what it’s all about. Don’t get me wrong. I love the Christian gifting traditions. But the gifting must grow out of worship, out of delight in that greatest of Gifts, Jesus the Messiah himself. When giving springs from contemplation and adoration of Jesus, the whole process is transformed. It begins to lead us deeper into spiritual realities rather than to trap us in shallow consumerism. The group, Advent Conspiracy, has given this idea some thought. Their challenge is: "Give Presence". Maybe it will give you some ideas about how to take full advantage of this special time, as well.

It is tempting to despair about the state of our nation and the church in these uncertain times.  The sweeping changes that threaten to overwhelm us as we contemplate a new Washington regime that regards the Constitution as a "living" (read: "open to arbitrary interpretation") document, are truly disturbing. The temptations catch us on both sides: "Nothing we can do matters unless it's a huge nationally-coordinated effort," and "I'm just going to do what's good for my family right now."  Statism and atomism. Both are plain irresponsible. The first excuses us from the action that is in our hands; rules out the service that could change something right here. The second excuses us for contributing to the problems by compromising our principles "just this once."  There's a new movie, The Rock From Which We Were Hewn, coming out about the problems facing homeschoolers - some of which we are building for ourselves by accepting public school money for community college classes, computers and curriculum.  Note the comments by Gregg Harris. As I wrote in Private Initiative Promotes True Public Service, real change, real service is built on the small scale first and foremost.  Accountability, accurate readings of real problems and remedies ...

In the last week or so, the American public has learned of Barak Obama's hair-raising plans to initiate a compulsory youth service corps.  Obama proposes to tie federal funding for public schools to whether the school develops such a corps and requires students to contribute 50 service hours per year at the middle school and high school levels and 100 hours per year at the college level.  He also plans to tie tax credits to participation in the youth service corps, which he plans to fund on the scale of the US military. After bloggers raised the alarm over these outrageous encroachments on parental leadership, private charity and limited government, the official Obama website softened its rhetoric from "required" and "compulsory" to "encourage".  However, the financial strings for schools and tax credits remain, indicating that the Obama administration really does mean to strong-arm America into service on Obama's terms and no other. Obama's new Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, goes further, indicating that this youth service corps would become a new "civilian security force" alongside the military.  Young men and women would be required to undergo three months of "basic training", but it's "not a draft"; it's simply a way to beef ...