Lorraine P. Smith, Educational Consultant

Scholarships for Homeschool Families:
Deadline to apply: April 30, 2025

Applications for the Private School, Unique Abilities and PEP Scholarships are now available for the 2025-26 school year for new and renewing families. Families can apply now.

Here is some helpful information to share:
👉 Deadlines: To ensure renewing students receive priority for the Private School Scholarship and the Unique Abilities Scholarship, families must submit their application by Wednesday, April 30. After this date, all students will be processed as "new students" due to legislative changes for this year.

The deadline for the PEP Scholarship for new and renewal students is Wednesday, April 30. Due to legislative changes for this year, no PEP Scholarship applications will be accepted after this deadline.

👉 Families should submit one application per family per program: If a family is applying for a scholarship program for multiple students, the family should include all applicable students on that application before submitting it and moving on to the next scholarship program application. If a family forgets to add a student to an application, they will need to wait until the application shows an "On Hold" or "Complete" status before they can add the missing student.

👉 Application processing: Processing times vary but may take up to 30 days. Families will receive an email with status changes.

Deadline: Attention PEP Scholarship families and students.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: If you have a child who has been awarded PEP for the 2024-2025 school year, PLEASE double-check to ensure your Student Learning Plan for 2024-2025 has been completely submitted!

Step Up has informed us that they have *10,000* awarded PEP students who are still missing their SLPs for 2024-2025!

The deadline to submit your SLP to Step Up is July 31, and if you have not submitted it by that deadline, your child will not be funded.

NOTE: If you submitted or updated an SLP prior to mid-June, it was counted for 2023-2024, NOT 2024-2025.

We highly recommend that parents double-check their 2024-2025 Student Learning Plan status ASAP to ensure it has been fully submitted!

Check today's forum post for further details and instructions on how to verify that your child's 2024-2025 Student Learning Plan is showing as completed.

https://www.flhef.org/forum/pep-faq/urgent-pep-reminder-double-check-that-your-your-student-learning-plan-slp-has-been-submitted

Attention High School Students .......SCHOLARSHIPS .......
Hello Members! This message is for our Senior 4-H Members and Volunteers/Parents who have Senior 4-H Members in your Club.

4-H Scholarship Application is open! Deadline to Submit is June 1

Opportunities for all 4-H Seniors!

For Seniors Grades 9-12 - Apply for the 4-H National Trips - 4-H National Congress and 4-H National Conference.

For Graduating Juniors, Seniors, and 4-H Alumni - Educational Scholarships are available. Learn more about scholarships HERE.

How to apply?

Step 1: Contact your county 4-H Professional and one other non-family member adult (4-H Leader, mentor, teacher) and ask if they will provide a recommendation.

Step 2: Enter recommendation names and e-mails into Reference Portal HERE.

Step 3: Create a Skills Based Resume and a Narrative Cover Letter. Use the Application Packet (Attached at the bottom of this message) as a reference and review the samples provided.

Step 4: Have your parent/guardian, your club leader, and your 4-H professional review and proof read both cover letter and resume. Then make recommended edits.

Step 5: Submit your Application using the online portal HERE by June 1 at 4:00pm.

Horse Project Members - be sure to review the additional requirements for the Equine Scholarships.

Questions? Contact your local 4-H Professional and they can help you through the process. For technical questions about submitting, contact Courtney Quirie at [email protected] or 352-294-2901.

We are looking forward to seeing all your applications!

~ Your 4-H State Office Team

Homeschool parents of high school students, (or rising 8th-9th graders). January is a perfect time to begin planning for the 2024-2025 school year as there are many educational options to consider. I can assist with high school curriculum selections, co-ops, online classes, dual enrollment and vocational dual enrollment at the technical college. Planning now will keep you aware of deadlines that you do not want to miss. For the older high school student, planning for college will involve scheduling college entrance exams (ACT, SAT & CLT) as well as identifying colleges and scholarship opportunities. Athletes will want to make sure that their courses will be compliant with NCAA. Starting early will take away the unnecessary stress for you and your high school student.

Homeschool Guidance of Florida Lorraine P. Smith, Educational Consultant Your child's successful education Starts at home Learn More To provide guidance and support to families for their student's educational success. 

Attention High School Students: The Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida voted Friday to accept the Classic Learning Test, a standardized testing alternative to the SAT and ACT, on applications to its 12 campuses starting this fall.
In May, Governor DeSantis signed into law a new measure that means also can use CLT scores to qualify for Florida’s popular Bright Futures scholarships.
Effective July 1, 2023, students graduating in the 2023-24 academic year and thereafter may use CLT scores to satisfy the minimum test score requirements for the Florida Bright Futures Florida Academic Scholarship (FAS) or the Florida Bright Futures Florida Medallion Scholarship (FMS).

Students who earn a 96 or above are eligible for the FAS award and students who earn an 84 or above are eligible for the FMS award.

CLT in Florida | CLT Thanks to legislation passed in May of 2023, Florida students are eligible to earn Bright Futures Scholarships with CLT scores. Florida is also the first state in the nation to fund all school districts to utilize the Classic Learning Test (CLT) for 11th graders.

High School Seniors and College Students. Need money for college. Check out this scholarship.

Deadline: June 30th, 2023 Apply in two minutes or less

Need a high school math credit. Check out these summer math classes.

Time to get signed up for our summer classes!!
Our 11 Week Full Credit Math Courses are starting June 5th!
https://mrdmath.edu20.org/visitor_class_catalog/category/309286

Attention High School Students: Here is another great opportunity to o boost your math skills this summer.
Check out MrDMath.com

Prepare for next year’s math course in just 6 weeks this summer!

WHAT TO EXPECT-

Review math concepts learned this year to keep them fresh
Students get a head start on what to expect in their next math course
Meets for one hour once a week for 6 weeks
$117 - No additional cost for weekly live classes!
Check it out here: https://mrdmath.edu20.org/visitor_class_catalog/category/309298

Attention Florida High School Students:
Are you interested in attending a military academy after graduation?

Academy Nominations What are Congressional military academy nominations? Members of Congress are authorized by law to nominate candidates for appointment to four U.S. Military Academies. These schools include the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Th...

From FPEA: Help expand homeschool freedoms in Florida

Dear Florida homeschool families,
Florida was recently named #1 in education freedom by The Heritage Foundation, and Gov. DeSantis plans to expand the rights of homeschooled students even more this legislative session. The SAT and ACT stand as holdover assessments from the era of one-size-fits-all district education, and we are asking for your help to move beyond it.

The Classic Learning Test (CLT) provides an alternative online college entrance exam that is designed for the full range of educational settings: district, charter, private, and home. CLT assesses English, grammar, and mathematical skills, emphasizes logic and reasoning, and features reading passages from classic and historical literature.

With your help, CLT can make a strong case this month for inclusion in Florida university admissions and the Bright Futures Scholarship. To do so, they need to demonstrate how Florida students’ CLT scores compare to their SAT/ACT scores. That’s where FPEA families come in. On March 18th, CLT will provide a free CLT exam ($54 value, with Student Analytics included) to any student willing to share their SAT or ACT score reports. This reported data will be secure and confidential, but is critical for this Florida-specific research.

Students who report their SAT/ACT scores via this form will receive a code to take the CLT for free on March 18. Upon form submission, students will receive an email with registration instructions for the March 18 exam.

Registration closes at 11:59pm PT on March 13, so we encourage you to register soon.

Free Astronomy Science class for Homeschoolers TODAY & tomorrow

Today and tomorrow Supercharged Science is presenting a special online class on the Astronomy of stars and Planets…and you're invited to attend for Free!

It's a new class filled with ultra-fun hands-on activities and some VERY cool experiments.

You can register here for free:

https://fpea.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=752b2ef26c53860ab72bcf6b9&id=0a91072f95&e=024cb42e3a

Even if you can't make it, register anyway and they will email you some cool hands-on science lesson videos and worksheets.

Free Online Class – Astronomy of Stars and Planets OPT AW7 EG — Supercharged Science OPT Take an intergalactic tour of the universe without leaving your seat! Discover which planets are up in the night sky and how to find them, including how to see the moons of Saturn and Jupiter with only a simple pair of binoculars! We'll explore exotic moons, icy comets, rocky asteroids and dwarf pla...