<p>So, just a bit of back story, my son was admitted to 4 of the 5 schools we applied too but without enough FA to make it affordable, then later a spot opened up for him at the school he originally was rejected at. But no FA. </p>
<p>His last marks for 8th grade ended up being terrible. He's struggling so much with the conventional classroom, juggling so many courses at once plus it's not the best school district and the focus is always on the kids that are on the brink of passing standardized testing. I made the decision this summer after lots of research and debating, to pull him out of school. Sort of. I got permission from the local community college to allow him to take classes there as long as he placed into regular level courses. He placed into Calculus (we decided to go with Pre-calc because he hasn't had the lead up Math) and he scored high enough on reading/writing to be allowed to take any English or humanities/social studies course. </p>
<p>At our LP, he's going to take Foreign language, history, and woodshop. He's going to do a homeschool program for English. I think this format could really help his issues with ADHD and the fact that all we ever do during the school year is pester him to get his homework done. We never get to talk about anything else. And of course he's miserable and wants to hide out in his room all the time. I wonder why? Things had to change.</p>
<p>But now, as I'm thinking about sophomore year and apply to schools again, I'm wondering if this odd approach to 9th grade is going to ruin his chances of acceptance. Technically he's only going to have a science one semester and it won't be until January, since he'll take Biology at the community college. Part of me is relieved that we are trying something new, our house was a dark place to be last Winter/Spring. But the other part of me is freaking out, what did I just do? Will the schools accept my homeschool English program? Will they understand why he's not in high school full time? And how much will those 8th grade marks hurt him? </p>
<p>On a different note, he's just returned from 5 weeks of summer camp in North Carolina where he basically hiked and did the backcountry camping nearly the whole time, including 45 miles on the Appalachian trail over a 5 day period. The letter from his counselor praised his positive attitude, said he never complained about the "gifts" the woods provided him in the form of sore muscles, bug bites, bee stings, and he kept up the moral of the group, accepted challenges and faced his fear of heights. And he did all this without ADHD meds (we took a break over the summer). This, to me, provided actual evidence that he can succeed at boarding school and that he needs that constant stimulating environment full of daily adventures and challenges (yes, Proctor Academy was on our application list, lol). I had hoped he'd enjoy camp, but what he accomplished exceeded my expectations by several miles. And he can't wait to go back next year as a Ranger, which is the camp's version of Junior Counselor, something that is invite only for ages 15-17. </p>
<p>Are there any parents out there who have homeschooled and then applied to BS or done this hybrid homeschool thing that we are doing? Any advice on how to present the information for the 2015 applications would be very helpful. </p>