<p>So have any of your kids taken a course (at home) over summer break and had that course credit accepted by the boarding school? My daughter is thinking of taking a math course to get a bit further ahead in the curriculum requirements. I have an email in to the school to determine what would be required and/or if it would be allowed, but am curious whether any of your kids have done this? Personally, I can't imagine spending 4 hours a day for 6 weeks over summer doing math, but that is just me! :)</p>
<p>I’d be glad to hear the answer to this question as well. My son is homeschooling, so we don’t always follow a calendar semester or trimester like schools do. As a result, he finished Algebra 1/2 at the end of 1st quarter and has been in Algebra 1 since then. However, he probably won’t finish the book until July or August. I’m hoping they still count the full credit even though he will be finishing well past the end of the school year. He’s also going to be taking an intensive government class through summer that would normally count toward his transcripts if we continued homeschooling, but I’m not really sure if his school will count it if he gets accepted. </p>
<p>I would think that the school might allow your son to take a “placement” test for the Algebra. Many schools do that so they know which classes to put kids in for the beginning term.</p>
<p>D2 (who entered boarding school as a junior this year) self studied chemistry over last summer to pass a placement test so she could do IB chemistry junior year. Prior public school allows kids to do AP/IB sciences without having done prior HS work, BS does not. This summer she is taking a 3 week intensive bio class thru CTY so she can take AP bio senior year.</p>
<p>I agree with London-- it’s not so much an issue of “credit” as much as “placement.” They’ll most likely give your DS a placement test for math, and put him in the appropriate class (algebra 2 or geometry). At my DS’ BS, everyone takes the placement tests for math and language, no matter what school you come from or what courses you’ve taken. They do count outside courses for AP placement, as Sudsie says, but a lot of schools want you to take their version of certain required courses (depending what year you enter). They don’t want their students to be bored, however, so, depending on what that “government” course is, they might, again place him in a different class to make sure he’s challenged. But they might still want him to do some version of a required history course. </p>
<p>London203, a friend’s child did this during her time at boarding school. IIRC, the school accepted the summer school credit (from a boarding school) for meeting requirements and prerequisites for other courses, but did not use it for class rank.</p>
<p>What other opportunities would she give up in order to take a summer class? If she has an opportunity to get a job during summer, that could be more valuable than moving up a level in math. I would worry about burnout on top of that. </p>
<p>That’s what I figured - the school does require a placement test regardless of what math they’ve taken in middle school. The same goes for language, though we may opt to repeat Latin 1 because the school uses a different curriculum than we’ve been using so far, and he won’t get to the end of the book in the 8th grade Latin 1 course (I think they do 5 fewer lessons than if he had taken Latin 1 in 9th grade). I personally would rather they do it that way. As for the government class, I know the school follows a pretty “tight” curriculum for History/Social studies for 9th and 10th grade, so I’m not even sure it would do us any good to include it in his incoming 8th grade transcripts. If he were to remain homeschooling, it would count as a history elective and would give him .5 credits. But I don’t even know if that even matters once a student has been admitted, since homeschool classes count differently once you enter into a school system. I have a few friends who have homeschooled and then sent their kids to prep school for high school, so I might pick their brains as well 
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question!</p>
<p>Each and every school treats this situation differently, as far as I know/understand.
- They have the summer schools that they will give a student credit for or will not give the credit, depending on the schools’ reputation. I would suggest asking the guidance counsellor at that particular school, if the credit would be granted.
- There are specialized “credit granting” summer schools and “academic enriching” summer schools, both can be considered for getting the knowledge.</p>
<p>FYI I heard back from the school. They will accept a full year course for credit but asked that I forward them the course description first to make sure it meets their requirements. I thought that seemed reasonable and a good way for the school to be sure the student is getting credit for the right level. </p>
<p>Because he was dying to get to calculus as fast as he could, ChoatieKid took algebra 2 at our local CC the summer before BS, earned an “A”, and passed Choate’s placement test for entering the math stream at a higher level, but the math dept. seriously advised against it as they feel that their algebra 2 course is foundational for their upper math curriculum. They gave CK the option, but the gravity of their advice to repeat algebra 2 caused CK to do so. He was a bit bored the first few weeks, but as the pace picked up and his teacher began to teach a methodology for analyzing, problem-solving, organizing, presenting, and participating in a Choate math classroom, he did not feel advanced toward the end of the course and was very glad he “repeated”.</p>
<p>The craziest part about this is that she “hates” math. LOL I am still unclear as to her motivation. It could be one of 2 things. 1. wants to be where the majority are as most went directly to Geometry freshman year or 2. wants to finish the math requirement as soon as possible to leave room for elective. I suppose 3. could be that she loves math. But, nah - that can’t be it. :)</p>