You're already enrolled at Excelsior and they have already accepted 38 credits from your transcripts. That leaves you 82 credits to go. This is very definitely do-able in six months. Liberal Arts is definitely the way to go. If you can manage to take some Phys Ed courses locally (I doubt there are many on-line Phys Ed courses available ), then it might not be a bad idea, but I don't think it would be a requirement. Still, talk with somebody at the school district to be sure.

I imagine you have already fulfilled your Written English Requirement. What is your status on Information Literacy? If you need to take Excelsior's on-line course, it's an easy one-credit set of readings and quizzes that you should be able to breeze through in two or three evenings. But get it out of the way early.

You may also have to take their new "Research and Writing in the Majors" course. This is another one-credit course which mainly involves writing an 8,000-word research paper. Prerequisites are the WER, Information Literacy, and of course choosing a major. I would recommend Psychology as probably the easiest major to fulfill with standardized tests.

In fact, I would strongly recommend you start preparing for the Psychology GRE exam which will be given in April. You have to register for it by early March. Buy a copy of the Princeton Review Cracking the GRE: Psychology book. It is excellent prep not only for the Psychology GRE, but for quite a few other CLEP, DSST and ECE exams. If you take the GRE Psychology and pass it in the 80th percentile or higher, you get 30 credits for that one exam -- 18 at the upper level. If you start your reading and preparation now, there's no reason you can't succeed at that level.

Also, start looking at your actual educator license requirements for Minnesota. You have some Praxis exams you will need to take, in addition to earning your degree. Since they are scheduled at specific times, you should work out a calendar for getting those out of the way in your time frame. I doubt there is any requirement for having your degree before taking the Praxis exams, but check it out.

Finally, talk to your Excelsior College advisor. Let them know about your goals and your time frame. You will find them very helpful, I think. If you tell us about what credits you have so far, we can probably help you with a list of exams to get the rest. Make sure you communicate that list of exams to your Excelsior advisor, and get official approval that it will fulfill your degree requirements.

I'll bet your wife and kids are excited for you! Keep them informed, and let them help you prepare, study, and "keep score" of your progress. This will be a lot of work to complete in six months while working full-time, but you can do it!

-Gary-