CLEP/DSST Archives - The Sparrow's Home

Meet DSST, the CLEP test’s lesser known cousin

October 15, 2018 by Susan Leave a Comment

Earning college credits with DSST tests is an amazing way to save money on college. With a few resources to help you study, you can be earning credits in no time!

I was compensated for my time in writing this review. Opinions are always my own.

$30,000. That’s my estimate of how much we’ve saved on our boys’ college through earning credits by exam. Thirty-thousand-dollars!

Credits by exam is exactly what it sounds like. A person takes a test and if they pass, they are awarded college credits. If you’ve heard of this amazing money-saver, you’ve likely heard of CLEP. CLEP tests are the most commonly known college credit granting tests.

We love CLEP tests! But there’s another way to earn these credits by exam that many people miss… DSST tests. (DANTES Subject Standardized Tests).

I think it’s time more people were introduced to this overlooked resource.

6 reasons to do your CLEP test prep with Study.com

February 26, 2018 by Susan Leave a Comment

I was compensated for my time in writing this review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Do you have things in your life that you just can’t shut up about? Yeah, CLEP testing is one of those things for me. I was sitting in the waiting room waiting for an oil change recently and found myself telling someone about earning college credit by exam.

Earning credits like this has made a gigantic difference in the way we homeschool high school and are doing college. So when I discovered Study.com’s CLEP test prep product, I was a little ga-ga.

Online Shop Grand Opening!!

April 3, 2017 by Susan 7 Comments

We’re Open!!

What are all the words for excited? Giddy. Thrilled. Jazzed. Beside myself. Yeah, all of those! The day has finally arrived to unveil what I’ve been working on for months. Special goodies just for you!

Welcome to The Sparrow’s Home Shop

(cue sound of cheering crowds)

The shop is populated by three categories: Digital Products, Handmade Products, and Recommended Resources. And while we’re starting small, we’ll be adding products along the way.

Click here to go to the shop now.

**Update** The shop closed for a variety of reasons. Largest of which is that I realized that sales is not my bag. If you want to talk tea or salve or homeschooling through high school…please drop me a note and I’d love to chat. (Chatting is most definitely my bag!)

Homeschooling High School: Curriculum That Works

May 3, 2016 by Susan 16 Comments

This series is getting down to the real nitty-gritty of how we homeschool high school. I promised that for this third post, I’d tell you about curriculum we’ve used specifically in some of our courses to prepare for credit by exam.

I’m going to cover these courses: World Religions, Psychology, Environmental Science, Economics, Government, Human Development, Analyzing Literature, and U.S. History I & II.

If you haven’t read the first two posts in the series, I encourage you to go back and do that.

The first post tells about how we are homeschooling high school by working towards college credits for free or cheap, and gives some detail about the huge financial savings of this method.

The next post laid out step by step how we prepare for CLEP/DSST tests. There are loads of links there, be sure to Pin it or bookmark it for future reference. If you’re looking for links to practice tests or how to register for the exams, it’s all there…and a lot more!

One of the resources I cover in detail is the Instantcert website. With every subject, we use the flashcards at Instantcert heavily, as well as the discussion boards (to see what topics others have noticed on their tests). If you register through my link, you can save 25% off your first month by using the discount code 100109.

Curriculum We’ve Used

*Note to Parents*

As with any curriculum that is secular in nature, we encountered information presented at times that was contrary to our worldview. Be sure to use those opportunities to have some discussion with your student. It’s always a good reminder to us that we’re glad our kids are learning these topics with us instead of on a college campus.

Homeschooling High School: Planning a Course for Both High School & College Credit

April 25, 2016 by Susan 4 Comments

Welcome to the second chapter in my series on how we are Homeschooling High School. My first post in this series introduced you to the method that we are following. I encourage you to go back and read it if you haven’t. In a nutshell, we are utilizing all available resources to accrue college credit inexpensively or free. This means that we will take advantage of our state’s dual enrollment program during Junior and Senior years. It also means that as we study various subjects, we pursue college credit through CLEP and DSST testing. If you’d like to read more about fully utilizing credit by exam check out this website. It’s a gem, and my best source!

This method has not changed what we study so much as it has changed how we study.

I’m going to walk you through a subject so you can see what it looks like as we look toward testing.

Let’s look at Economics.

Homeschooling High School: 2 Things You Might Be Missing

April 13, 2016 by Susan 1 Comment

Homeschooling through high school can feel intimidating. I am a teacher by trade, and I am constantly second guessing myself and checking to be sure that I have not left my children with a gaping hole in their education.

We tell our kids that they can do anything they want, but am I stealing part of that future from them if I don’t aptly prepare them to meet it?