What's a Transcript? Help for Exam Alternatives!

There's a growing movement amongst home educators of ditching the UK exam system and using the American one for university entry instead.

Instead of GCSEs and A-levels, families are following a broader approach to studies in years 10-13 while preparing for the US national exams known as SATs.

That's not "sats" to rhyme with "mats" as you may have heard about, those national exams for younger UK schooled children, vilified by state schools and rejected by independents as long ago as the 90s.

Instead, you say "S-A-T" and it stands for Scholastic Aptitude Test, administered at College Board test centres throughout the US and even the UK. The general exam lasts about 3 hours and is comprised of maths, reading, and writing multiple choice questions. Subject exams are usually sat in the afternoon of the same day, lasting about an hour per subject. Again, they're multiple choice and can be taken in maths, biology, history, English, and many foreign languages.

UK students can submit the general test plus three SAT exam grades to UK universities instead of doing A-levels, saving a lot of time, money, and stress.

Alongside the grades, students may be asked to provide the university with a transcript of study that shows completion of school-level education, and the video below explains more about this document called a transcript.

For more about taking the US SAT route to UK university, come join the Facebook group called HE Success without UK exams. Many families are members who share how they have done it already, and are helping the rest through the process should they choose.

Video about Registration Dates and More about Dreaming Spires

Proposed Timetable of Dates

I've been looking ahead to plot the next academic year and thought I'd share how we get 30 weeks into our year while enjoying generous blocks of holiday!

Date	Event
Sept 10th 2018	First week of Term
October 22nd 2018	This week is a holiday for Autumn Break
October 29th 2018	Classes resume this week
December 10th 2018	This is the last week of class before Christmas Break
Dec 17th - Jan 6th	Christmas Break
January 7th 2019	Classes resume this week
April 15th 2019	Start of Easter break for 2 weeks
April 29th 2019	Classes resume this week
May 13th 2019	Last week of classes before the end of the academic year

Meet our Newest Tutor and History Teacher

Welcome to our newest tutor at Dreaming Spires Home Learning: a specialist in modern history, Yvonne Mason is a well-known online tutor amongst home-educated high schoolers in the UK, and we are so pleased that she is able to join us next year for a fascinating course about World War 1 and World War 2.

Yvonne will teach Modern History

She took her undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature, then an MA in history from Royal Holloway in London while working as a costumed historical interpreter at the Tower of London. She has been working as an online tutor since 2001 in both English and history, home educates her own daughter, and in her spare time, is an avid embroiderer. She has plans to study for a PhD in Medieval Studies very soon.

STOP PRESS! Timetable out now for 2018-2019 classes

The title says it all ... we are publishing our tentative timetable for the next academic year, unveiling our newest course offerings like chemistry, French, modern history, and creative writing.

The year that packs a punch!

Registrations will open for our Early Bird period over Easter weekend, when registration fees will hold your place for the course of your choice. Last year, most of our courses filled up by the middle of May, so put a reminder on your calendar so you don't miss out!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
English Renaissance: KP  8 am  CST / 2 pm UK	English Middle Ages : JP      8 am  CST / 2 pm  UK	Ancient History Rome:  AS 8 am  CST / 2 pm  UK	English British Novel: KP      8 am  CST / 2 pm  UK
	Spanish 1 : JB will meet at   9 am  CST /3 pm  UK	Spanish 2:  JB will meet at  9 am  CST / 3 pm  UK
History: 1914-1945: The Road to War: YM          10 am CST/4 pm UK	French 1: JB will meet at 10:30 am  CST / 4:30 pm  UK	French 2: JB will meet at 10:30 am CST / 4:30 pm UK	Biology KJ at 10 am CST/ 4 pm UK
General Science  KJ at 11 am CST/ 5 pm UK	Creative Writing:  JP noon CST/6 pm UK	English British Novel:  JP noon CST/6 pm UK
English Middle Ages KP    1 pm  CST / 7 pm  UK	Ancient History Greek:  AS      1 pm  CST / 7 pm  UK	Two courses, same time	Chemistry  KJ at 1 pm CST/    7 pm UK
	English American Lit: KP          1 pm  CST / 7 pm  UK

Calendar of Dates

This is an updated calendar of dates after we decided to break earlier for Christmas and return earlier in January. The changes are highlighted in blue.

The New Timetable for 2017 is Out Now

Early Bird registration for Dreaming Spires courses will open on 1st April, but in the meantime, you may want to see what we have in store in terms of our timetabling.

There are some alterations based on the necessity of our family commitments, especially when it comes to juggling our own children's home education with our desire to supply the highest quality of online learning experiences for yours.

Pop over to our "2017 ?" tab to see details of additional subjects we hope to be offering from September.

NOTE: This is our latest timetable, but where you see "*", the times aren't 100% fixed.

English Literature and Composition
Course	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday
Middle Ages Lit	8 am CST/2 pm UK
British Novel		1 pm CST/7 pm UK
Renaissance				9:30 am CST/3:30 pm UK*
American Lit	1 pm CST/7 pm UK
Add-On Composition	Usually meet 1/2 hour after class
Classical Civilisation/Ancient History
Course		Tuesday	Wednesday
Roman History		1 pm CST/7 pm UK
Greek History			8 am CST/2 pm UK
Add-On Writing Extensions	Usually meet 1/2 hour after class
Biology
Course			Wednesday
Biology with lab			SAME COURSE AT DIFFERENT TIMES:  Biology A will be 1 pm CST/7 pm UK*, and Biology B will be 7 pm CST/1 am UK to accommodate US, Asia, and Australia
Spanish
Course		Tuesday	Wednesday
Spanish 2		9:30 am CST/3:30 pm UK
Spanish 1			10 am CST/ 4 pm UK

Revision Crammer is giving away a FREE REVISION GUIDE

Hey, everybody -- if you have a student who is doing the CIE iGCSE 0500 English Language exam in the near future (that's the higher tier option), then you'll want to get on board the raffle for a free copy of my revision guide.

If you're not doing it, could you please share this giveaway on your social media? 

The link below will take you to the giveaway site and tell you what you need to do, or go to our Facebook page to enter it from there: 

https://www.facebook.com/dreamingspiresrevision/app/228910107186452/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Courses Filling up FAST! Register now for September

If you're wanting to take one of my online literature courses or our new Roman culture and civilisation, you'll have to act fast.

Stress! Time's running out!!!!

We don't start till the week of the 12th of September, but we've hit our limits on some of the classes already.

• Middle Ages is FULL
• American Literature is FULL
• British Novels has ONE place
• Renaissance Literature still have FOUR places
• Classical Civilisation has THREE places

One of the reasons we're so popular is that our former students return year after year, or sign up their siblings once they've completed our four-year rotation.

They like us because we're specialists -- we LOVE our subjects. 

They like us because we're home educators ourselves -- we KNOW what it's like to teach our own kids. 

They like us because we follow the Charlotte Mason method -- the ONLY online courses for teens that follow the CM method (as far as we can tell) ...

.... in the WHOLE WORLD ...

... world

... world ...

Seriously, get thee to our registration page and nab one of our spots for your teen or tween today. You will NOT be sorry (or if it's really just not working for you, you can get a full refund before the first month is out).

Gotta Love Those Good Reviews!

I know it's hard to leap into the unknown sometimes, especially when it's both your child's education and your hard-earned money.

So, how can I give you the confidence that my courses are going to look after you on both accounts? By letting the happy parents of former students give you their honest opinion of Dreaming Spires.

Here's a review that's just been posted on the HE Exam Wiki by a mum who's tried and tested so many distance-learning options. She's often the font of wisdom on the HE Exams Yahoo group and Facebook page -- such a thorough researcher!

Thanks again to Sue for publishing her views and passing on her experience. I hope it will encourage you to take the leap and try us out this year.

And take heart: if for any reason the course isn't working out for you after the first few sessions, you can always withdraw for a full refund, less the £15 registration fee.

Sue's Review of Dreaming Spires Home Learning online English courses, and Dreaming Spires Revision online crammer classes for the CIE English iGCSE exam:(published July 2016)

I'd like to recommend Kat's Crammer course for CIE 0500 English to those about to START the IGCSE course as well as those who need to work on exam technique before the next exam session.

After looking at the CIE 0500 syllabus and recommended text books before DD started IGCSE English a couple of years back, I was still mystified as to what we were actually supposed to DO in the course and what sort of skills she was supposed to gain when she'd finished the IGCSE in English. It all sounded a bit vague.

I signed DD up for Kat's course at the last minute, and throughout the course it was made very clear just what was required in order to get a top mark in the exam. For example, 'summary writing' is something any student can do but there is a particular formula that the examiner wants to see in order to give top grade. This and tips for the other types of exam question are all covered in the course.

DD has since participated in three of Kat's other Dreaming Spires Home Learning courses in Literature - Middle Ages Literature, Renaissance Literature, British Novels and this year has enrolled for both American Literature and Classical Civilisation.  My daughter just LOVES these courses.  Kat presents the courses in a very professional manner and the courses are interesting and engaging.  The Add-on Writing extension classes are very useful for those doing any IGCSE/GCSE Literature course - with the work marked as though it is an assessment and also with a great deal of individual feedback.  Mistakes common to several students are gone over in the following class. There is the option after the class (and during the week) to chat online with other students in a secure setting.

Our experience with Kat's courses has been positive.  The skills mastered are being found very useful in DD's current AS level courses in History of Art, Religion, Classical Civilisation & History - all of which have a huge writing component.

Hope this helps someone who has no idea just where to start with English or English Literature.