Official Info Sources:Minuteman Messenger

News Flash-The February edition is available online now.

A newsletter (the one printed in blue and red ink) is mailed to the home of each student six times a year. It usually contains good information that is often not included anywhere else. Unfortunately, the lead time for a print publication makes it such that some of the information inside has passed its window of usefulness by the time it arrives in your mailbox. My advice is to read this publication cover to cover the minute you get it, and to save it for future reference as information tends to be seasonal and to apply to certain grades (you have a junior this year but you will need the senior info next year).

You can find an incomplete archive of these newsletters at Academy Publishing  if you want to look at back issues or even newsletters from other schools.

Update: February Edition arrived in mailboxes around February 21st, online on February 2nd.

AP credit without the class

I love a good bargain and here’s a great one… 3 to 6 college hours for under a hundred dollars. I’m talking about your child earning college credit by self-studying and passing AP tests. Homeschoolers do it all the time, and so do CBHS students. Your student can take an AP test in a subject that CBHS doesn’t offer or in one that CBHS does offer but that he or she is not enrolled in. The tests will cost you $83 plus the cost of a good prep manual, which is crucial. These are usually $12-17 from Amazon.com or more at your local Barnes and Noble store. Flipping through these prep manuals at a bookstore is a great way to see if your child thinks he or she can handle the test.

Word on the street (sites like College Confidential) is that the easiest subjects to self study are Computer Science, Environmental Science and Statistics. But CBHS is blessed with at least one outstanding Honors English teacher and his top students have been known to parlay all the hard work in his class into high scores on the AP English Language exam.

If you want to have your child sign up for an AP test and he or she is not taking the class, Dr. Ed Pisani is the coordinator of testing this year and he is the one you should contact (x230). The College Board lists a March deadline but I’d play it safe and call Dr. Pisani in February.