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[HorseManiac]

Hi!

This is my first day here, so I am a bit lost. We are just beginning our journey, and hopefully getting a jump start. We homeschool, and our youngest would be in 8th grade next year in traditional school. He is very much interested in design (think LEGO), so we are looking at various engineering degrees (mechanical, civil), but also perhaps marketing/business.

I would like to do high school while at the same time taking CLEP/DSST/FEMA as credit towards a degree.

I have read (and will read again) Jennifer DeRosa's book 'Homeschooling for College Credit,' which at this point has made this undertaking seem possible instead of daunting.

I would love any helps/suggestions for where to begin exactly. I am leaning toward the Math, English, and Foreign Language would be taken after learning the material, but some tests could be done as more a learn for the test type approach. Am I off base?

Has anyone done a business/marketing or engineer degree while doing high school? Should we focus on getting an associates degree first?

I'm having a brain disconnect on when to actually enroll in a school - and whether we should do a community college first for an associate's or straight to one of the schools that are mentioned here most frequently.

Thanks!

(Forgive any typos and misspellings)

Hello! First off, let me say welcome to the forum. You will find tons of great information as well as great people here!

Okay, so to start, I don't know much about engineering degrees, but I am working on an business degree in Accounting myself. I'm a senior in high school and I've been homeschooled my whole life. I started taking CLEP/DSST when I was a sophomore and now have 77 credits. I'd be happy to help with whatever I can. I'm glad to see that you've read Jennifer's book. It really has great info.

You are totally correct in thinking that you can test after studying a subject as well as study just to test. I've done that exact thing myself. After completing English, Algebra, Geometry, Biology, Chemistry, Western Civilizations and US History for high school, I took the corresponding test/course to gain college credit. However, I also studied for many subjects that weren't part of my high school courses just for the college credit (Natural sciences, economics, civil war, etc).

As far as whether to get an Associates first or not, I can't really say. Hopefully, the more experienced members can help you there. I am just going for a Bachelors. There are several members on here who completed business degrees while still in high school or just out of high school, so yes it is very doable.

To get started many people suggest taking Analyzing Literature as a first test if your child is good with reading comprehension. It's worth 6 credits and not overly difficult. Once you decide which school you want to earn the degree through, you can start forming a degree plan. Feel free to post it here for others to look at and help you plan courses. If you decide to go with one of the Big 3, most people encourage you not to enroll until you have accumulated a significant amount of credits.

Besides CLEP/DSST/FEMA, you might also want to look into ALEKS. I used this program to get my math credits. I got a homeschooler 2 month free coupon code and was able to complete all the math credits I needed in those 2 months. ALEKS -- Assessment and Learning, K-12, Higher Education, Automated Tutor, Math

I'm not an expert on this by any stretch of the imagination, but hopefully you can find some of this info helpful!