Um... Penn Foster

[burbuja0512]

Does anyone know if they're strict about who they allow as a non-degree seeking student? I'm asking for my 15 year old DS.

I am trying to be efficient and have him do some advanced classes to get both HS and College credit. For example, ALEKS is working very well for him. It will probably take a total of 9-11 months to get through Intermediate Algebra, so way too slow for most of us here, but perfect for him. Just wondering if PF is a good option for a class or two.

[a4tunatemom]

My second daughter took two PF classes when she was 14 but I didn't tell them how old she was.

Danielle

[burbuja0512]

My second daughter took two PF classes when she was 14 but I didn't tell them how old she was.

Danielle

I assume that they didn't ask?

Also, how challenging were the classes? DS is currently working on Straighterline's English non-credit class. He likes it and finds it pretty easy. I probably could have started him off directly with their for-credit classes, but wanted to make sure he had his basics down.

[a4tunatemom]

You're right. They didn't ask her age. She took Earth Science and English Composition. The coursework was not too difficult(she really liked the quizzes!) but the proctored final in Earth Science was stressful for her because of the excessive amount of writing she had to do within the one hour time limit. The English Comp course didn't have a proctored final.

There were only 2 things I didn't like about the Eng Comp course. The textbook had a sample essay that was negative and inaccurate regarding homeschooling and the directions for the essays were not clear enough.

Hope this helps,

Danielle

[huntdeer]

The Penn Foster website indicates that you have to submit a high school diploma within 120 days of completing a course. Is this requirement legitimate in order to transfer the PF course credits to ACE? Thanks for any insight.

[mrs.b]

The Penn Foster website indicates that you have to submit a high school diploma within 120 days of completing a course. Is this requirement legitimate in order to transfer the PF course credits to ACE? Thanks for any insight.

That may be the case if you were going to enroll in their program. I took two courses through PF and transferred both to ACE and then TESC without providing PF or ACE with any documentation. Anything they needed was given over the telephone.

You can now take a handful of a la carte courses through the main PF customer service hotline, and all other PF courses can be taken through the Workforce Development people. If you call customer service and they act confused, just ask to be transferred to Workforce Development.

Always...
a) Check that the course is approved through ACE with current dates listed (and if the date is current but old, call or email ACE to confirm it is not one that may or may not make the review cut), and
b) Check with your advising group to confirm the course will fulfill the course requirement you think it will.

Do not trust or believe a PF rep that the course will be approved by ACE or transfer. Other than their confusion, dealing with PF is not too bad. Call, and if the person you get sounds confused, ask to be transferred (if talking to Customer Service, ask for Workforce Development, and if speaking to Workforce Dev., ask for Customer Service). It seemed to me that there was always at least one person in one of those two departments that did not get confused by basic questions and could help complete whatever business I needed.