Yesterday I started school again, yet everything was different. This wasn't really a "back" to school but a "start" of new schooling. Instead of starting Tuesday, like Travis, I started Wednesday. Instead of working out of workbooks, like I always had, I spent most of the time in front of my computer, taking notes on lectures and audio classes. Instead of working on math, science, history, English and Bible every day, like I used to, my courses will now vary all the time. I'm starting with study courses and have just ordered my books for courses I'll need soon: Comparative Worldviews, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature and World Civilization I. Everything is different this year. And that's because these aren't high school courses. They're college courses.
Before you start the questions, let me explain. I am fully enrolled in a dual credit program, meaning I'm just taking college courses (no more high school ones), but I am also fulfilling the government requirements to receive my high school diploma. This dual credit program is called CollegePlus and over the course of 2-3 years, while I should still be accumulating high school credit, I'll be earning college credit. And then, when many of my peers will be graduating high school and just starting college, I'll be done it, having earned my bachelor's degree. Here's just a snippet of how CollegePlus works:
Guiding me along through this process is a coach. Her name is Sharon, and even though I've only met her once, she's amazing! She's the one who shows me what courses to take to complete my bachelor's degree (and fulfill my high school requirements!) But how do I take courses, you ask? I'll never step into a college classroom. All my studying will be done at home. Basically, I'll study for a course, for example, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature. When I feel I know the subject well, when I have learned and grown through it, I will head four hours northeast to Prince Edward Island, where our nearest CLEP Testing Centre is. These CLEP's are what is going to get me the college credit.
"The College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP) helps you receive college credit for what you already know, for a fraction of the cost of a college course. Developed by the College Board, CLEP is the most widely accepted credit-by-examination program, available at more than 2,900 colleges and universities. Pass any of the 33 CLEP exams and achieve your college and career goals." - The College BoardSo basically, I study, go to PEI, take a CLEP exam and get the college credit for that exam. As you've probably realized, this saves a ton of money compared to traditional schooling! Instead of paying for the "credit hour," I just pay my tuition to CollegePlus for their help, the cost of my books and the cost of each CLEP exam. In the long run, I'll be saving thousands of dollars to get my degree this way.
Once I've accumulated a large amount of this credit (a year and a half to two years from now), I'll enroll in Thomas Edison State College as a student and complete online the courses I couldn't just take exams for. CollegePlus guides me along and through this big process. When I'm done, Thomas Edison will hand me my degree. Now, it's not from a prestigious school - this is no well-known Oxford, just a state college. But a much cheaper, much faster, much more maximized degree I will have.
But there's one more thing about CollegePlus that I haven't even told you yet - and it's the best part. It's a completely Christian program! That doesn't mean that you have to be a Christian to enroll or that every course you take will be biblical (in fact, because I'm taking tests that are standardized by the College Board, many of those tests won't be). But CollegePlus filters what courses are taken and before I can start my CLEP's, I have to take their required course, Comparative Worldviews, laying a biblical foundation for the studies I'm about to take. Sharon, my coach and mentor, is also a Christian (all the coaches are) and desires to see each student (including me!) impact the world for Christ using their God-given potential.
So I have a lot of work to do! I study about four to five hours a day and am learning so much. A big thing my coach has already talked to me about is not just studying to be able to spit the information back out on a test, but studying to learn. And, boy, am I learning! Now I'm off to make a cup of tea and start my work for the day! Happy Back to (or Start of) School!