trying to CLEP and major in visual art as quickly as possible

[dfrecore]

First, homeschooling is not the reason why you don't know all of the things you listed - I help high school kids from public schools all the time, and they don't know a lot of those things either. Their parents know zero as well.

I homeschooled my kids K-8, and one did take the ACT and SAT, and one did not, and they're both fine. The one that did not take the ACT/SAT never planned on going straight to a 4yr school, so it didn't matter - you generally only need those if you're going into college as a first-time freshman. If you go as a transfer student, most schools don't require them, because your college-level work speaks for itself.

For CLEP, while it's great - not all schools accept it. So you're much better off beginning with the end in mind. So, what school do you want to go to? And then plan backwards from there.

Honestly, if you want a BFA from your local state school, then you're much better off going to your local CC and transferring in from there.

But if you're open to some other things, you might do better to get a degree in something else, and then working for a few years and then getting an MFA instead (I mean, $25k for a BFA, which generally will not lead to a job, is a lot to spend).

Think about some degrees at some of the schools we discuss here: TESU, UMPI, EU. There are other schools as well, that allow 75% transfer credit, including ACE, into something "artsy" like Graphic Design or Web Design or something along those lines. Wilmington University, UIU, SNHU, UMGC.