You just can't make this stuff up.

Some time ago, I discovered that the link I had to the 88-page SAT Preparation Booklet was broken.  I went to the College Board website and found the page with the publications links.  (It's HERE.)  I found a link called, "The SAT Practice booklet."

"Excellent," I thought.  Only... the link takes you to a "Page Not Found" error message.  Huh.

So, I contacted the College Board and explained what I was looking for.  This began a back-and-forth conversation which became more and more humorous as we went along.

For example, one of my replies went like this:

"Thank you for your response directing me to your Subject Test booklets.  However, as I said, I am looking for the test preparation booklet for the general SAT.  If you go to this link <link here> on YOUR site, you will find it doesn't work.  Could you please let me know the correct link, or if you have discontinued this publication?"

The answer to this email was something along the lines of, "You can find our full practice test here."

Yep.  Five emails and each time I was sent to something I wasn't looking for, despite my detailed explanations and inclusion of their dead link.  Can we say, "Robots answer our inquiry emails based on key words and real people never see these things."?

I eventually gave up.  But, being an optimist in general, I thought recently that I'd give it another try.

Uh, suffice it to say, if you want the free booklet, you'll have to use the older version (2007-2008) HERE.  Meanwhile, the College Board is happy to let me know that preparations for shipments of materials to schools and institutions (based on prior usage) have begun and I should receive mine by mid to late August.

I'm feeling so special right now.  I can't begin to find the words.

I added a privacy policy to the site.  (You can find the link at the bottom of the home page.)  You don't really need to read it.  In a nutshell, I'm not collecting or keeping information about site visitors, and if I was, I wouldn't sell it or even give it away.

I do check my site stats, but I stay away from the stuff that might tell me about individual users.  I just look at the "came from" links and the overall numbers.  This tells me what pages are "popular" and also who has linked to my site.  I like to keep an eye on that.  If anyone ever says something really critical about HCUSA, I'd like to know.  Not so much in a "damage control" capacity, but because if the criticism is warranted, I'll do my best to fix or change whatever is wrong.  If someone just hates the site or adheres to the "If it's free it must be garbage." belief... well, he's entitled to his opinions.  Not much I can say to that!

We get a lot of clicks to the site from people who have posted about HCUSA on their Facebook pages.  (Thanks, BTW!)  I figured it was about time to make a Facebook page specifically for us.

WE'RE HERE.

If you're on Facebook and get a chance, please "like" the site to get the word out.  I know this sounds like shameless promotion, but I think you've all figured out by now that I'm definitely not profiting from this site!  I simply want to reach and help as many people as possible.

Well, let's see.  After a holiday season filled with kidney stones (my husband), a terrible UTI (me), and bouts with serious colds (the whole family), it only took me what?  Three months to finally get the rest of the website migrated.  Ha!  But we're here now, and that's the important thing, right?

Thanks to everyone for your patience with the move.  I hope you all like the new site.  If you have any questions or suggestions, I'm all ears!

The history and geography pages have been checked and updated.

The links on all of the science pages have been checked and updated where needed.

All links on the General Information, Math, and Language Arts pages have been checked and/or updated.

Just to note:  The DSST website has undergone an overhaul and now the links from this site to their exam outline pages are broken.  These will be fixed in the next few days as the remainder of the courses are checked.

If you've somehow stumbled across this site, please note that it is currently "under construction."  The previous HC USA site is still up and running and can be found here:
www.homeschoolcollegeusa.com

ETA:  The old site is now officially down and gone.