loveurban@...

Hello all, 

I haven't posted on here in years, but I find myself in need of your thoughts. My daughter Holly is almost 18 now and has been unschooled pretty much her whole life. During that time, she has not ventured into learning much at all that would prepare her to get her GED and take the SATs. She's always wanted to be a chef so wasn't worried about those kinds of things. Now though, she's decided to go into interior design and wants to attend the Art Institute. She has always struggled as a reader and does not enjoy it at all. How have any of you handled this? We've picked up a SAT prep book and it's HUGE and completely overwhelming. How do we fit 8+ years of school into 2 or 3? 

Thanks so much, 

Susan

Sandra Dodd

Try speaking directly with an admittance counsellor and see if you can get her in as a special admission.

Sometimes the requirements are what is put out to high schools, for counsellors to tell the kids there, and so the school has some means of weeding people out that they don’t want. A portfolio of her work and a letter saying she was homeschoooled (maybe describe unschooling and some of her activities and interests in words you can find here: http://sandradodd.co/unschoolingcurriculum )

People take SAT tests without being out of high school all the time, so I don’t see why a GED would be necessary. I bet if your daughter too the SAT test she would do better than either of you think. It might be enough right there. If not, she could study just the section(s) in which she scored low, and retake the test.

Don’t believe, though, that schools never admit exceptions. People come from alternate and unusual backgrounds, other countries, older students, younger students…

Sandra

loveurban@...

Thanks Sandra! I'll check into whether they require the GED if she takes the SAT, I hadn't thought of that. She took a practice SAT test and really couldn't answer 85% of what was on there. 
Has anyone else decided to attend college late teens and had to try to learn a ton of stuff? If so, how did you do it? If she were to start with early math books and work her way through, it would take way too long? We need concise ways for her to get through all she needs, not only to succeed on the SAT, but to be able to be successful in college. 

Lawson Plummer

Kahn Academy https://www.khanacademy.org has some great free online resources to get her ready for the math portion of the test. There are also several free online samples of the test you can download and take. We started out with the SAT but switched to the ACT when we determined my daughter did better with it. The other trick with these tests that was helpful for us was to focus on a specific score to shoot for and not to try for 100 percent. For instance 24 is a good enough score on the ACT for most colleges and for that score you can miss 1 out of ever 3 questions. So my daughter found it much less stressful knowing she miss over 70 questions and still be ok. Good luck!

Lawson

LEAH ROSE

She also might try enrolling in a couple of classes at your local community college in order to give herself a boost back into the world of academia. They have placement tests that could allow her to discover whether she needs the remedial classes or whether she's ready to move straight into the 100 level courses. It also would provide any institution she applies to afterwards with a transcript, if they insist on something like that. 

I don't have time to write more now, but our daughter had a situation similar to this and worked it out. If I find time later I'll write more.

Good luck.
~ Leah

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2015 13:31:45 -0700
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] Preparing for college

 
Thanks Sandra! I'll check into whether they require the GED if she takes the SAT, I hadn't thought of that. She took a practice SAT test and really couldn't answer 85% of what was on there. 
Has anyone else decided to attend college late teens and had to try to learn a ton of stuff? If so, how did you do it? If she were to start with early math books and work her way through, it would take way too long? We need concise ways for her to get through all she needs, not only to succeed on the SAT, but to be able to be successful in college. 

[email protected]

Hi Susan,

My daughter is preparing to take the SAT's in two weeks.  She was unschooled until 11th grade when she wanted to go to public high school as a junior, and now as a senior.  She has never liked reading or done any for pleasure.  She wasn't even planning on college for sure till a few weeks ago, and now we go on college tours every weekend, trying to learn a lot in a short time.

Just last night I picked up the SAT prep book I bought at her request, and it was so interesting.  It gave all the tricks for how to do well on the test (when to guess, how to pace yourself, which questions to spend the most time on, etc.).  They said that the questions are easy, medium and hard - and that the last group are so hard that almost no one can answer them.  That made me feel better!  They make it this way so that most students fall into the middle of the scoring section.  If your daughter takes a practice online or in a book, she will get an idea of the kind of questions.  I was surprised when I looked at a practice test last night and actually knew many of the answers.  

I was told to buy the Princeton Review SAT book - and just reading the very beginning and the tips they gave in the first two sections, was very helpful.  It felt like it was worth the price of the book.  It gave me the confidence that I could do reasonably well with the great suggestions they had, if I had to take the SAT again for some reason.  It is a huge book, and I may not read past the first few pages, but feel I learned so much already.

I agree with others that low scores will not eliminate your daughter's chances of pursuing her dreams. Most schools look at the whole person.   And art institutes tend to be much less focused on academics than many other colleges.  Schools love students who want to be there, who have a passion for what they teach, who have given a lot of thought to their path in life.  I feel sure your daughter will find a way to attend the Art Institute if its really important to her.  
All the best,

Molly



From: "loveurban@... [AlwaysLearning]" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2015 11:42 AM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Preparing for college

 
Hello all, 
I haven't posted on here in years, but I find myself in need of your thoughts. My daughter Holly is almost 18 now and has been unschooled pretty much her whole life. During that time, she has not ventured into learning much at all that would prepare her to get her GED and take the SATs. She's always wanted to be a chef so wasn't worried about those kinds of things. Now though, she's decided to go into interior design and wants to attend the Art Institute. She has always struggled as a reader and does not enjoy it at all. How have any of you handled this? We've picked up a SAT prep book and it's HUGE and completely overwhelming. How do we fit 8+ years of school into 2 or 3? 
Thanks so much, 
Susan


Pam Sorooshian

My kids went to community colleges and transferred to universities. No SATs required. 

Pam

On Sunday, October 25, 2015, loveurban@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:


Thanks Sandra! I'll check into whether they require the GED if she takes the SAT, I hadn't thought of that. She took a practice SAT test and really couldn't answer 85% of what was on there. 
Has anyone else decided to attend college late teens and had to try to learn a ton of stuff? If so, how did you do it? If she were to start with early math books and work her way through, it would take way too long? We need concise ways for her to get through all she needs, not only to succeed on the SAT, but to be able to be successful in college. 


loveurban@...

Thanks everyone for all the thoughts. She's started to look at starting with community college, then we can avoid the SATs and GED, nice! Looks like hiring a few tutors to get her caught up will be the best option. 
Thanks again!

Sandra Dodd

-=-How do we fit 8+ years of school into 2 or 3? -=-

I don’t understand the question, honestly. She can pick it up herself, in a few weeks. Math notation might be tricky if she hasn’t known it before, but still, a few weeks, not years.

Being in a hurry, hiring tutors, those aren’t good unschooling questions or paths.

-=-She's always wanted to be a chef so wasn't worried about those kinds of things. Now though, she's decided to go into interior design and wants to attend the Art Institute. She has always struggled as a reader and does not enjoy it at all.-=-

What about helping her (IF she wants help) to get a job somewhere like Anthropologie—an artsy store, or a job with a contractor who does interiors? Why press her toward a degree? And why press her?

I don’t want the answers here, really. I want to ask you to reconsider your questions.

Sandra

Lisa J Celedon

The Art Institute in San Francisco? 
I don't know if there are others.

I dated a guy in college who was attending the Academy of Art in SF, and he could not read at what would be typically expected of a high schooler. He also couldn't write complete, comprehendable sentences. He only took one class at the Academy that required much reading or writing, and I helped him with it (and his instructor had encouraged him to get a tutor and as much help as he needed to pass the class). I wrote some of his papers and edited others, and read a synopsis of the novel he was assigned and we talked about what it was about.

He was humble, passionate and skilled at art, and was a nice person who helped others and made himself useful to the instructors by staying to clean up and help other students with questions.

Because he was a likeable person who cared so much about his art and improving his skills, the staff there all liked him and wanted him to suceed. 
And he graduated at the top of the illustration department.

I saw his name in the credits of Cars 2. :)

Not being able to read or write or test very well did not hold him back. His character and willing eagerness to improve his art made up for it.

What I remember about both the Academy and the Institute (I knew students at both) was that 'academic' skills were far less important than artistic skills. It was even less important at the Institute than at the Academy (which had just shifted to a university instead of a trade school, ostensibly so they could charge more and claim more prestige than the Institute).

It might not be the same Institute you are speaking of, but I imagine the priorities would be similar. Also, that was over ten years ago, and I don't know how things have changed.

Lisa C





Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S®4, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

LEAH ROSE


<< Looks like hiring a few tutors to get her caught up will be the best option.>>

If she truly wants to go the college route I would encourage her to take the placement tests at your community college to find out how much remedial help she actually needs. If she does need some, they have classes she can enroll in for it. Could well be cheaper than hiring tutors and those classes would prepare her directly for the next level of classes.

L~



Sandra Dodd

-=-If she truly wants to go the college route I would encourage her to take the placement tests at your community college to find out how much remedial help she actually needs. If she does need some, they have classes she can enroll in for it. Could well be cheaper than hiring tutors and those classes would prepare her directly for the next level of classes.-=-

AND it will be empowering and gradual, rather than belittling and pressuring.

LOTS of kids place in remedial classes, and most of them went to school for ten or fourteen years.

Sandra

tandos mama

>>And art institutes tend to be much less focused on academics than many
other colleges.  Schools love students who want to be >>there, who have a passion for what they teach, who have given a lot of thought to their path in life.>>

This is true, and not just for art institutes, but for studio art programs within many colleges and universities. I've been working as a university art professor for over 20 years and have found this to be true even at the MFA level. The most important part of any application to an studio art-related program will be the portfolio. Different programs have varying standards. The best way to prepare is to meet someone the Art Institute Faculty who deals with admissions of students and find out more about their expectations. At many institutions, stated admission standards are frequently reconsidered to accommodate non-traditional students.

I meet with many students interested in applying to our programs at all levels. We tour facilities, meet other faculty and students. We also review their portfolio materials so I can make suggestions for improvement. It gives me a chance to meet prospective students in person and to find out about them in ways that neither scores, nor portfolios, can provide. On the flip side, the students get a chance to see if working with me, and other faculty they might meet, feels like a good fit for them.

In this situation, if admission to the Art Institute is the goal, a meeting with a faculty member or adviser there should clarify what, if anything, the person needs to do before applying.

I'll share a personal story: Back when I was applying for graduate school I took a road trip visiting prospective programs and happened to visit one university when they had already sent my rejection letter. In spite of that bad news I spent a few days to meet faculty and students, and to learn more about the program. During my visit a couple of the faculty members I met petitioned successfully to accept me into the MFA program. I ultimately accepted an offer from different university though, because during my visit I realized that the fit wasn't the best for me.

Tori