Dual Enrollement - How To

Both of our older children dual enrolled before being admitted to university here in Florida.  We had a good experience each time and plan to do this again with our younger daughters as well.  

To dual enroll at our county's community college (HCC), a student must have a 3.0 GPA and have taken the SAT/ACT.  The requirements on test scores vary depending on the classes they want to take.  So, for MAC 1105 the SAT math score must be equal or greater than 510.  In Florida, you are allowed to take nine credit hours per semester, which may be up to three classes.  They started out taking one class in the summer, and by the Spring semester in their senior year, they were taking the full nine credits.

Current test score requirements in Hillsborough County (HCC)










Some of the benefits of dual enrollment for our children as homeschoolers:

• Double credit for classes - high school and college
• Free college classes, although not free textbooks for homeschoolers
• Experience in a classroom environment with hard deadlines and multiple teachers
• Coming into college with these credits creates flexibility when deciding which classes to take
• May allow for early graduation from college
• May help with deciding on a career, less time wasted doing so after high school
• Opportunity to start accumulating college credit and building a solid GPA
• Dual enrollment experience adds value to high school transcript 

You should submit your application and paperwork at least thirty days in advance of the beginning of registration for the upcoming term.

Contact - Nancy - Very nice on the phone, (813) 253-7121 or (813) 253-7062

Email -  dualenrollment@hccfl.edu

Important Links

For Florida high school transcripts: Statewide Course Numbering System
To search the latest Florida statutes
Steps to apply in Hillsborough County
Course equivalency list
Find links to forms here: Dual Enrollement - HCC
Steps to apply (HCC)

High School - Course Descriptions and Codes

 This year, since Michael is finishing 8th grade, we have to decide whether we want to enroll him in an umbrella school or simply continue enrolled as homeschoolers with the county.  If we chose to do it ourselves without the help of an umbrella school, there will be a transcript to work on and a list of high school requirements to fullfill for college admissions.

I think at this point, I'm leaning to just going forward as we did with Gabi.  The cost for the umbrella school (~$800/year) and the inconvenience of all the paperwork they require, plus the travel back and forth to Orlando, are the main reasons.

In order to put together a transcript to use for college applications, one of the most important things I need to do is record the Florida high school course codes for the classes he'll be taking in the next four years.  The course descriptions will help me pick which courses match the objectives of the courses we have chosen. 

For example, Michael will be taking an art class this summer which focuses on drawing.  Under Visual Arts, I found Drawing I.  The course description for Drawing I includes most of the topics that will be covered in our art class, but I notice a few that aren't.  I will print out the description and go through it, making the few additions to our class topics.  This course description will go along with all the work he does for the class in his high school portfolio.

Nature Journal - Native Florida Wildflowers

Summer Wildflowers

On our nature walk today, we went out looking for wildflowers around our house.  We like them because our bees do, and we are all for feeding the beehive, as we look forward to our first honey harvest.  We saw the bees feeding on Spanish Needle, the ones in the vase with the white petals.  Last spring, I planted some Blanket Flower seeds which have grown and multiplied all summer around a bird bath.  Those are the big ones with orange and yellow petals. 

"Skunk Flower"

The girls love going out and making a little bouquet of wildflowers.  They are learning the names and uses of many of them, if we can find them in our nature guides or online.  There are some we haven't found yet, mystery flowers like the "Skunk Flower" named by Emily who claims they smell just like a skunk.  We took her word for it and didn't get too close. 

Emily's Wildflowers

Learning how to use a nature guide to identify a plant is a valuable skill to have.  It teaches them how to do research on a particular subject, where to find the information, and what kind of information is available to us either on our own bookshelves, at the library, or online.  When they learned that bees are attracted to some of our native wildflowers for food, they understood better why it's important to allow wildflowers to grow along with our roses and other ornamentals.  We studied the importance of making sure we don't destroy the balance of God's creation by carelessly putting out chemicals that harm other creatures.

Sketching the flowers draws their attention to details.  I saw Emily counting the petals on one of the flowers, so she could get them just right on her picture, and she realized that not all flowers have the same number of petals.

Michelle's Wildflowers

 She then read a short paragraph with my help about flower visitors from Usborne Complete First Book of Nature (First Nature) which reinforced our lesson and gave her some reading practice that was a little more advanced and challenging than what she gets form her 1st grade curriculum.  After that, she recited back to me what she remembered from her reading, that helped cement the information, I copied it down, then she took my paper and re-copied it on her nature journal; which gave her more practice with reading and writing.

The girls love doing some of their work together, and nature journaling gives them a chance to learn and share an activity.  When they sit down to do their drawing, I don't let them see each other's work, as they tend to copy each other.  I tell them that I love both their styles and drawings, and that it would be boring for me if they gave me two identical pictures.  I know that Michelle is more advanced than Emily and has had more art lessons, but Emily's has a style of her own that I would want her to develop and not stifle away. 

Nature journaling is a very well-rounded and rich learning activity with opportunities to integrate many subjects - reading, writing, art, history, bible... and of course science!

We also watched a beautiful (and educational) video filmed by the Florida Wildflowers Growers Cooperative.

I participated in The Wednesday Window Linky!