Sydney wants to be a mortician. CA only has two accredited mortuary science programs. The plan: get the credential to actually do the job, AND stack a BS that gives her flexibility later (own a funeral home, pivot to grief counseling, public health, etc.).
| Step | Where |
|---|---|
| AS Mortuary Science | Cypress College |
| —or— AS Funeral Service | American River College (distance ed available) |
| Apprentice Embalmer (2 yrs, 100+ embalmings) | Any CA licensed funeral home |
| Pass CA Embalmer + Funeral Director exams | CA Funeral Bureau (cfb.ca.gov) |
| Degree | Opens up |
|---|---|
| BS Funeral Service | New Cypress 4-yr pilot — direct industry leadership |
| BS Business Mgmt | Owning/operating funeral homes |
| BS Psychology | Grief counseling, bereavement services |
| BS Biology / Public Health | Medical examiner, pathology, death investigation |
Sources: abfse.org · cypresscollege.edu · cfb.ca.gov · arc.losrios.edu
For ADD, consistent biological routines are the highest-leverage intervention. Tap a circle to mark today done. Aim for 5+/7 in each row.
She's 18+, so no mandatory waiting period and driver's ed isn't required. Recommended: 50+ supervised practice hours (10 at night) before the road test.
Source: dmv.ca.gov · Fees: ~$38 written + ~$38 drive test
If she might leave home in ~12 months, these are the practical "adult basics" worth deliberate practice now.
At 19, the highest-leverage financial moves aren't about earning more — they're about building the systems that compound: a credit profile, automated savings, and not paying for things you don't need.
Type whatever's roughly accurate. Update monthly. The goal is awareness, not perfection.
Sources: commonapp.org · satsuite.collegeboard.org · studentaid.gov · ncaa.org
2025 sitting (sophomore year): two 2s. Most colleges want 3+ for credit; selective ones want 4+. Naming this honestly so the senior-year AP decision is informed, not default.
| Year | Exam | Score | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | English Lit & Composition | 2 | Below the typical college-credit threshold. Skip reporting on most apps. |
| 2025 | Human Geography | 2 | Same — likely not worth reporting. |
Two 2s suggests AP isn't currently her best signal of college readiness. For a homeschool senior aiming at D3 business + soccer (not Ivy-tier), dual-enrollment classes through a community college (Palomar, Mira Costa, UMD Global) are often a stronger signal than another AP attempt, AND they generate transferable college credit. Recommendation: pick 0–1 AP senior year (in a subject she's strongest in), and prioritize dual-enrollment for everything else.
As a homeschooler, the parent is the "school counselor" on the Common App. This package replaces a traditional high school's documentation.
When you upload Maddie's transcript here, we can review it against what selective colleges expect.
A two-semester load could earn 12–14 transferable college credits BEFORE she starts college — strong signal for selective business programs.
Sources: palomar.edu/high-school-students · palomar.edu/enrollmentservices Special Admit · (760) 744-1150
May 2, 2026 official sitting. Section scores below; domain bars show where she scored in each skill area. Tap a domain to see what's tested.
Log future sittings to see her trajectory toward 1200+.
2026 SAT test dates: Aug 22 · Sept 12 · Oct 3 · Nov 7 · Dec 5. Fee $68 per sitting.
Tests transitions, rhetorical synthesis, sentence revision. Highly learnable — these are pattern-based questions.
Tests ratios, percentages, scatterplots, tables, basic stats. Smaller question count but lowest current score.
These are starting points — a mix of D3 and NAIA, mostly West Coast / accessible from CA, all strong in business and study-abroad.
"Business" is broad. The senior-year job is figuring out which slice she's drawn to so the college list narrows.
Easier to pick a college with study abroad baked in than to bolt it on later. Ask each school:
She has Italian on her homeschool transcript. Continuing the sequence (Palomar ITAL 101/201/202) creates a clear case for studying in Italy specifically — Florence, Milan, and Bologna all have well-regarded business semesters.
Goal: play in college, not at scholarship level. That points to D3 (no athletic $, lots of merit aid) or NAIA (small programs, often need-based aid). D3 coaches rely heavily on ID camps + direct emails — she should drive this herself.
She's 16, so California's under-18 rules apply: driver's ed + 6 months on a permit + 50 supervised hours (10 at night) + 6 hours pro behind-the-wheel training before the road test. Provisional license has passenger/night restrictions for the first 12 months.
Source: dmv.ca.gov · CA Provisional License (under 18) requirements
She's heading to college in ~14 months — the money skills that matter most now are: knowing where her money goes, opening her own accounts before she leaves, and understanding how college costs/aid work.
Rough numbers are fine — the point is the habit.
FAFSA opens Oct 1, 2026 for fall 2027. Net price (what your family actually pays) is usually very different from sticker price. Use each school's Net Price Calculator to estimate before applying.
Four parallel tracks tracked across the sub-tabs above: Academics, Baseball, Body, and growing Hobbies + Money sense.
| Mission Vista HS | Homeschool + Club / Travel | |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball exposure | HS season (Feb-May), CIF San Diego. Local visibility but college recruiters spend most time at club/travel events. | Year-round club ball with elite organizations (SoCal Renegades, Trosky, Canes SoCal) — this is where D1 actually recruits. |
| Academic ceiling | Constrained to what MV offers (AP load, scheduling). Need to confirm AP availability + class rigor. | Maximum flexibility — stack AP, dual-enrollment at Palomar/Mira Costa, online providers for the most rigorous courses. |
| Social experience | Traditional HS — teammates, friends, daily routine, school events. | Requires intentional social structure (homeschool co-op, club teammates, church group). |
| Scheduling for showcases | HS season conflicts with some spring showcases. | Total flexibility for travel, showcases, weekday tournaments. |
| Path to top D1 / Stanford | Possible but rare from MV specifically — track MV's recent college commits as proof. | Far more common path for elite recruits. Most D1 commits come through travel ball + showcases. |
If the social side of MV matters to him (Friday-night feel, school sports culture, classmates daily), that's a legitimate reason to go — kids burn out on year-round travel ball without that grounding. Mid-strategy adjustment is possible: HS frosh/soph, then transition to homeschool junior year when recruiting heats up.
Sources: maxpreps.com · sanmarcosyouthbaseball.com · ncsasports.org · perfectgame.org
Stanford is the north star, but several other outcomes count as a great life. Naming them now reduces all-or-nothing thinking.
| Outcome | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Stretch · Stanford / Ivy baseball | 3.94+ GPA, max rigor, 1500+ SAT, plus D1-level recruiting profile |
| Realistic · Top D1 baseball | 3.5+ GPA, strong recruiting profile, willingness to consider any geography |
| Realistic · Top D3 baseball (Pomona, Claremont, etc.) | 3.8+ GPA, strong rigor, solid HS-level player. Best blend of elite academics + playing time. |
| JUCO → D1 transfer route | Strong HS profile, JUCO development year, then transfer up |
| Non-baseball path · Top university | Academics carry the day; baseball was the development engine, not the ticket |
For Stanford-tier admission, course rigor and unweighted GPA matter more than any single test score.
| Subject | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Honors English I | Honors English II | AP Lang | AP Lit |
| Math | Geometry or Alg II | Alg II or Pre-calc | Pre-calc or AP Calc AB | AP Calc BC or AP Stats |
| Science | Bio (H) | Chem (H) | AP Bio or AP Chem | AP Physics |
| Social Studies | World History | US History or AP World | AP US History or AP Gov | AP Econ or AP Psych |
| Foreign Lang | Lang 1 | Lang 2 | Lang 3 (H) | AP Language |
Stanford profile: avg unwt GPA ~3.96, SAT mid-50% 1510-1570.
Update Eli's current metrics as he tests. The green tick on each bar is the typical D1 recruiting threshold by junior year.
Sources: ncsasports.org/baseball/recruiting-guidelines · premierathletes.co · nextcommit.ai
NCAA D1 contact rule: coaches can't directly contact recruits before Aug 1 of junior year, but Eli can email coaches anytime and attend their camps.
For a 14-year-old still growing, the highest-leverage training isn't max-effort lifting — it's movement quality, posterior chain strength, and arm care. Overuse pitching injuries (UCL tears, growth-plate damage) are the #1 thing that derails baseball trajectories. The Pitch Smart guidelines (mlb.com/pitch-smart) cap pitch counts and require rest days; ignoring them is the single biggest preventable risk to his career.
Track any pain, soreness, or injury — arm, back, knees, anywhere. Patterns over time = early warning for overuse. Add an entry each time something hurts more than a normal "good sore."
Track which sets he's building toward and progress.
Every trade in/out, sale, or purchase. Builds the financial muscle — track what comes in, what goes out, lessons learned on value.
Books, articles, things he's into. Stanford essays favor genuinely curious applicants — track what catches his attention.
Goal: earn his first $100 from something he set up himself. Plus track allowance, gifts, anything that comes in.
What is he saving toward? A specific Pokemon card? A new bat? A trip? Concrete goals make the saving habit stick.
Stage: Run a real, small thing. Bonus: a funeral home is itself a small business — entrepreneurial skill maps directly to her career goal.
Stage: Ship a side hustle + study the playbook. The best prep for studying business is having actually run something. Bonus: a real venture is a compelling Common App essay.
Stage: Earn the first $100 yourself. At 14, the most valuable thing is the experience of doing something for a customer who pays. Tiny scale is the point.
Highest-leverage AI use for ADD: structure scaffolding. Break assignments into steps, build study schedules, summarize chapters, prep flashcards.
For her: use AI to learn faster, not to write for her. Common App + most colleges now ban AI-written essays — but feedback partner is fair game. Also great for SAT prep, business research, and language practice for study abroad.
For him: AI as the most patient tutor he'll ever have. Powerful for math (step-by-step), language conversation, baseball analytics. Caveat: he must do the actual thinking — AI explains, he solves.
| Habit | What it actually means | Time/day |
|---|---|---|
| Scales + arpeggios | All 12 major + 12 minor keys, hands together, eyes closed | 5 min |
| Sight reading | 1 brand-new short piece daily, played slowly without stopping | 10 min |
| Repertoire piece | One challenging piece worked in 4-8 bar chunks (not start-to-finish) | 15 min |
| Ear training | Play a song by ear (pop, hymn, anything) — no sheet music | 5 min |
| Theory / improv | Play chord progressions in different keys; improvise melody over them | 5 min |
Realistic goal: play casually for life, perform 1 family piece per holiday. Piano is also a great ADD-friendly mental reset (10-15 min before studying = better focus).
Goal: strong well-rounded musician by graduation. Piano is a great extracurricular for college apps — but only with evidence of engagement (recordings, recitals, accompanist roles).
Goal: keep momentum through high school. Most boys quit piano around now — staying with it is itself the win.