College Credit for your Deaf or Hard of Hearing High Schooler

When it comes to high school many parents are worried that their kids simply graduate, this is especially true with students that have disabilities that can affect their learning. Many students have strong and weak subjects. I would like to encourage you to think a bit outside the box and look at these three ways that can save your student time and money when they get to college by planning now in middle school and high school.

Many people are already familiar with Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the exams that are taken at the end of those classes that can earn college credit. AP classes can be hard and take a lot of a student's time. There are also dual enrollment programs that allow high school students to take college classes at the community college. These programs are growing in availability but are limited by many high schools to the top students. The third way is the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) by the College Board. They offer 33 different tests that students can take and if your student passes then they can get college credit when they enroll in a college that accepts CLEP (most colleges do but the amount of credits and the tests accepted can vary).

CLEP is not new, it has been around for years, used by the military and adults that already have experience to test out of subjects. There are a lot of great benefits to CLEP. Students do not have to sit in a class, they study on their own, at their own pace. They can study using a textbook, by watching videos of a free online college class (most all colleges classes caption their videos), doing math on Khan Academy, or watching Crash Course on youtube! They take practice tests and when they are ready go to a testing center and take the exam. 

For our Deaf and Hard of Hearing youth who often have issues in a regular class setting this can be a great low stress way to get some college credit.

One great resource is Modern States. They have free online classes and when you finish the class you can request a voucher to take the CLEP exam there by making it free!

For those of you interested in homeschooling or more info on this subject Homeschooling for College Credit has a lot more info and is a great jumping off point. It is possible to have your child graduate high school with a 2 or 4 year degree from a regionally accredited college!

If you would like more information please feel free to contact us!

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog 9/29/2016

Thursday, September 29, 2016, 1915 Hrs. 81 degrees, partly cloudy.

Good evening folks!

Sorry for not posting Wednesday's (Yesterday's) blog, because of the windstorm, some rain and it being mostly cloudy that won’t help with my solar panels. That’s right, we have type of small solar panels, unlike house solar when it is cloudy or raining, it won’t charge the batteries! Everything was very low on battery charge at that time.

Anyway, yesterday, due to the upcoming weather I read about, I decided to stay here in our 2 ½ acres land all day. At about 2:45 pm, I saw a storm cloud start to form from northeast area and as it approached us I saw some “devil dusts” around it as a strong wind started up. We had a slight rain off and on that started at 4:00 pm and lasted for the next 4 hours.

Today (Thursday) I woke up at 6:45 am and weather started being nice to me, not too cold or too hot or too windy and clear skies. Nice, eh? Had me some coffee with the solo-stove and warmed up my small dinner rolls with the tea candles and open a package of honey from KFC that I saved and spread it on the rolls! Yummy!

I took a quick bath, got dressed up and left here around 9:45 this morning. I just left my solar batteries alone to let them charge up for the day.

About 20 minutes after I left as I was walking along, someone gave me a nice ride with Ford F350 Turbo Diesel Dually Truck, 6 speed manual transmission! LOVE THAT TRUCK!!! I WANT IT!!!

He dropped me off at the front of the post office and he left. I finally, I mean finally drop off the package that I was supposed to yesterday! Dumb weather, duh!

Anyway, after I dropped off the package, I went to the library to relax for a while and ready a book about the Civil War, I love that history!

I left the library at 1:20 and took a bus to Walmart to do some quick shopping. Then I went to Taco Bell for a quick lunch and took bus back to the last stop on Avenue I East and headed back to my land. My good friend saw me walking and took me home at 3:30 pm. I went to the country store to get some ice and some Fritos Lay chip to muchie on!

As soon I got back again, I was finally able to charge up this Chromebook and my phone from the solar batteries. I let it charge up for almost 2 hours so I can open this Chromebook to start the blog!

That’s about it for the day!

Have a nice Friday!

Bobby Fleener

General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch

Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch

Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog 9/27/2016

Tuesday, September 27, 2016 1730 hrs, 83 degrees, partly cloudy.

Good evening!

Today was “okay”ed to me. Weather was bit hot, but not too hot like it was yesterday. Woke up around 6:30 am and bit chilly about 56 degrees. Brewed up my coffee and checked messages from my Facebook. Nice, 22 messages!

I turned on our solar panel battery at 7:30 when the sun rosen up. Took a quick warm bath at 8:30 am and got my backpack packed up with ebay’s orders and left to the town at 9:40 am. Made a ½ way walking down the “country” road and someone gave me a ride until the first traffic light into the town where I can catch the bus to downtown Lancaster.

After I drop off the packages at the post office (no, I don’t go inside the post office, just the blue mail box outside of it, because these careless black ladies still working there and still being careless since January!).

I went to the donut shop and had me nice and warm  Ham & Cheese Croissant and a bottle of OJ. Then I went to the library to relax for 2 hours and caught someone I knew from the group and invited me to the another church’s “Open House” with free lunch this coming Saturday and I accepted it and he willing to give me a ride there and back.

I catch the bus to westside Wal-Mart to get me some things I needed for the next few days and catches same bus with the same bus driver to the end of the line and walk back to my land, Only walked onto 50th street east and someone gave me a ride home! Nice day today!

After I came home, drop off my backpack and switch the power plugs from the solar powered battery and walk to the country store to get me a bag of ice and some chips then headed back again. I finally settled down at 4:15 pm and fixed me nice small dinner at 5:30 along with nice hot coffee as the weather starting to cool down.

After I ate, just learn we sold 1 more item from eBay and got that pulled out from the van and will get that label printed out in the morning. Basically the weather still warm and it may still could overheat my black laptop, so I rather to have it printed in the morning while it still chilly.

That’s about it for now, tomorrow I will still head to the town to drop off 1 packages anyhow. I am not for sure what to do after that tomorrow. I still need to get my camera to get fully charge before I can use the camera to make more photos for the books and other items for the eBay updated!

G’night to all!

Bobby Fleener

General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch

Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch

Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for September 26, 2016

Monday, September 26, 2016, 2000 Hrs, 88 Degrees, clear sky, light wind.

Good evening folks,

Today it was hot day, I woke up at about 6:00 am this morning to a strong wind that died down about 7:30 am. Had my coffee brewed up and cooked some sausage links with the Solo-Stove. After I was fully awake  and finished my breakfast and coffee, I managed to pull out two more eBay orders and got ready to print out the shipping labels.

My black laptop showed signs of overheat and I had to shut it down before I was able to print the shipping labels. Darn it!

Anyway, I went out to the field to get some more small firewood for my Solo-Stove. It became really hot around 11:00 this morning and it has reached 101 degrees today and started to cool down about 5:00 this afternoon. I finally got the shipping printed out around 6:30 pm and got ready for tomorrow's trip to the town, going to the post office and maybe hang around Downtown Lancaster for a few hours.

During the hot day, I couldn’t do that much because it's too hot and dry for me to do more. It is too hot for late September! That’s way above normal! YIKES! I did try do my best to stay inside and cool myself down and took a cool bath around 2:30 pm to cool down.

That’s about it for today’s blog.

Have a great day to you all!

Bobby Fleener

General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch

Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch

Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 12, 2016

Friday, February 12, 2016, 1915 Hrs., 55 degrees, clear sky.

Good evening!

Yesterday I spent most of the day to reorganizing both the trailer and Astro van so the van will have more space to put in more books from the storage when Beth can bring them down here. Here’s the picture:

After I managed to pull out 4 eBay orders, as I trying to print out the shipping labels and found out that black ink has run out again, all that less than 2 week!! YIKES!!!

We are still seeking any donor who would give us storage shed ( minimum 10’ X 10’), if you know anyone who would donate and deliver it to us, please contact Beth at 714 699-3323. We need a storage shed as fast as possible!

Beth told me to try to get the ink refills kits, but I doubt it it would work because each cartridge have green memory chip in it. If I refill it, it may still have memory stating “empty” and not going to work.

Anyway, Both yesterday and today weather has been really nice here, very warm in the afternoon and nice cool at night time like 50 degrees.

Today, I had to go to the town to drop off the packages from eBay then to Wal-Mart to get another ink and 2 bottles of waters and come back here. No one hasn’t given me a ride to and back at all. I left here about 8:45 this morning and finally came back here about 4:10 pm this afternoon, yes, very long hours of walking both ways. Now my back is really bugging me, jeez!

Anyway, Last night I put in the small pile of tumbleweeds far from here, about 30 yards southeast from our RV. Here’s the picture I took with zoomed in:

Tomorrow I need to pull out 2 more orders, pack it and take to the post office. Hopefully I can get a ride to and back!

Just hopefully Beth will bring the remaining books crate I left in Garden Grove storage and BBQ pit with propane tanks. I miss eating chicken, steak and my favorite - hamburger!

Yes, I want to finish off to adding books in eBay!

I know there is one full & one half full propane tank, Beth can tell by lifting and checking the weight. If it is heavy, then it full, she can tell between full and empty. So I need this! I know we have 4 or 5 propane tanks in the storage, if Beth want to, then she can exchange it all or one at a time, it only cost $19.95, plus tax. Your cash donation would help!

Well that’s about it for the night.

Have a great weekend!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist