Author: Jennifer Cook-DeRosa, M.S.

This exam is no joke. It has the lowest pass rate of any CLEP exam and is an extreme outlier. Most CLEP exam pass rates are 50-90%, but Chemistry is only around 25%, so when Homeschooling for College Credit mom Amy sent me an email that her son Daniel passed the CLEP College Chemistry exam and successfully transferred it to his university, I had to get the details of what they did. Here is exactly what they did.

This year’s guide is jam-packed with hundreds (thousands) of college credits, all free for the taking. We lost some programs from last year, but picked up a couple of new ones this year. A resourceful HS4CC parent could build an entire Homeschooling for College Credit program using free college credits. If this sounds exciting, grab the guide and bring down the cost of college.

My #4 son knew early on that he wanted to be a welder. Before we even started high school, I’d gathered every possible industrial arts curriculum or program I could find (spoiler: there aren’t many!), but then I stumbled upon an amazing safety training company that offers **free** courses. I lost count of how many we used in our homeschool, but it was well over 10. And yes, I’ll show you how you can award high school credit for these, too!

I remember stretching my phone line across the hallway whenever I needed to plug my computer into the internet in 1994. I can’t even begin to explain all the ways technology has changed my life over the past 30 years, but if you’re close to my age, you get it. I admit, I wasn’t paying enough attention to AI in 2024-2025. Is it a robot? Is it like a better version of Google? Oh, so you’re telling me it can do math and write research papers? Wow, that’s going to make it hard for professors to detect cheating…. I had no idea.

Each year we survey our Homeschooling for College Credit community to find out what families are loving (or not) and using to earn college credit. The results are always really exciting, and will be published at the end of the school year. Take a moment to let us know about your HS4CC program this year, even if you’re not up and running; your opinion matters. Take the survey.

This survey requires Google sign-in to ensure one response per person and protect the accuracy of our results. Your email address is not used for follow-up, marketing, or shared with any third party, and responses are combined into one report as a group.

Recording grades from multiple sources used different grade scales? This challenge can become even more complex if you want to streamline your entire transcript onto one scale. If your homeschooler has taken college classes, it’s likely you’ve encountered differences in how grades are assigned vs those you’ve already assigned. If that’s happened to you, this will help you clean up your transcript.

Every year, I am honored to celebrate with families that have been in the Homeschooling for College Credit and are moving on to the next stage of their lives. Many go to college, some start a business, others go into service. When someone graduates, they usually leave our little community, and I am so proud! Before you leave, I invite you to leave a small legacy for those following in your footsteps. Your story is inspirational, and I would love to feature it in our Happy Stories section. There are a few of you with specific types of homeschooling situations that homeschooling parents need to hear from! (See below)

If your student uses alternative forms of college credit, like Study.com for your homeschool, you’ll want to check the list below. I count 10 courses that have final exams deleted, and I just received an email from their team that NO COURSES will require proctored final exams anymore. Studycom joins Sophia and Straighterline in this practice. What will that mean for content integrity and acceptance of courses moving forward?

This year’s guide is jam-packed with hundreds (thousands) of college credits, all free for the taking. We lost some programs from last year, but picked up a couple of new ones this year. A resourceful HS4CC parent could build an entire Homeschooling for College Credit program using free college credits. If this sounds exciting, grab the guide and bring down the cost of college.

As some of you have teens planning to graduate at the end of the semester, the cost of college is getting real. I have compiled a list of 15 different states that offer a “last-dollar” or free-college programs. “Last dollar” programs mean the program pays your balance after your regular grants and scholarships are used – but it also means NO LOANS. If you live in one of these states, I hope it helps you get your teen out of college debt-free!

No matter how many college credits your teen earns in high school, your teen will apply as a freshman. Earning college credit after graduation is how students become transfer applicants, so earning college credit during a gap year requires some consideration.

10th grade is a great time to plan a CLEP if you have a teen who studies well and retains information.  While I consider 11th and 12th grades to be the “sweet spot” to homeschool for the most college credit, CLEP exams can be taken in any grade and at any age – and these two exams fit perfectly in almost every homeschool in 10th grade.

🎉 February HS4CC $250 Gives Back Winner Announced! 🎉

We are excited to announce that Dianna Kennedy is our February HS4CC $250 Gives Back winner! Dianna homeschools her kids in Kentucky.

Dianna says she’s been following the Homeschooling for College Credit community since 2023 and that it’s been an “invaluable resource to help our family incorporate college credit into the high school years without compromising our goals and values.”

We are thrilled to celebrate her and happy to help her get started with Homeschooling for College Credit.

It’s not too late to get in on our final HS4CC Gives Back drawing. It will be held on March 31, 2026. We will be giving away $100 to one lucky Homeschooling for College Credit parent to help support their homeschooling costs.

👉 Get in on the March drawing by joining HS4CC Gives Back here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hs4cc

Or, send us an entry by mail! No purchase necessary.

Did your teen have a dual enrollment class later demoted to an “elective” at their target college? If you’re upset, I have 3 reasons you should reconsider your anger.

Graduation is a moment worth celebrating – and a homeschool graduation is extra special! As an HS4CC parent, you have guided your teen through an incredible journey, not only completing high school but earning college credit along the way. That is no small achievement. The HS4CC Honor Cord exists to recognize exactly that kind of excellence.

Public and private schools determine their grading scale, and so will you. Whether advanced courses receive extra weight, and whether they report a weighted or unweighted GPA on the transcript, these are all decisions you’ll make as you assemble your teen’s transcript and set up your “policy” for your school. There is no national standard. There is no universal formula. GPA policies vary widely from one school to the next.

College classes are part of an adult academic system with clear legal, professional, and even cultural boundaries. For homeschoolers, especially those of us who have teens who have never “been to school,” this is an enormously stressful new dance between the parent and the professor. Turf wars are real. Academic records are forever. Dual enrollment is expensive. We need to talk about this more.

Could your Homeschooling for College Credit program use $250? HS4CC is giving back $250 to one lucky member in February. Click to enter.

🎉 January HS4CC $250 Gives Back Winner Announced! 🎉

We are excited to announce that Michelle Jones is our January HS4CC $250 Gives Back winner! Michelle homeschools four children in Missouri, with two already graduated and two still in school. She is currently planning her daughter’s first year of high school, making this award especially timely as her family enters an exciting new season.

When Michelle found out she was the winner, she shared with us, “I have never won anything!” 💙
We are thrilled to celebrate her and happy to help her get started with Homeschooling for College Credit.

Want to be part of the next drawing?
Our February HS4CC Gives Back drawing is coming up soon, and we’ll be giving away another $250 to one of our members.

👉 Get in on the February drawing by joining HS4CC Gives Back here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hs4cc

Or, send us an entry by mail! No purchase necessary.

For years, families have been told that college is always the safer bet. HS4CC is all about the inevitability of going to college! The Class of 2026 now has a level of transparency not previously available to students choosing their college. We will now know in advance if a student graduating from that institution is likely to earn more money than a high school grad without a bachelor’s degree. List included.

Each year, we see programs come and go. I work hard to stay on top of this because Internet archives can send you to dead ends. In this post, I want to list the programs and courses we LOST in 2025, because you may still find outdated websites or posts that reference them. This is my effort to keep everyone up to date.

Could your Homeschooling for College Credit program use $250? We can help! Only 35 percent of our members live in a state with free dual enrollment and most families still pay out of pocket for dual enrollment, textbooks, AP classes, and other homeschool resources. Because of huge financial savings linked to earning college credit during high school, I wanted to create a simple way for our community to help each other.