Frequently Asked Questions
Credits & Transcripts
For Texas-based students:
Q How many credits does my student earn?
A. The full 12-month sequence confers 2.0 high-school credits.
Q. How are the credits calculated?
A. Texas doesn’t impose a fixed formula for homeschool or private-program credit, but most schools and colleges still use the traditional Carnegie unit—about 120 hours of engaged learning = 1.0 credit. Our year-long seminar easily surpasses that benchmark even after streamlining the written work:
Estimated hours (Sept – Aug)
48 live seminars (weekly, 90 min each) ≈ 72h
Independent reading & annotation ≈ 300h
Four major essays (one per season) and instructor feedback ≈ 20h
Year-end oral exam (prep + interview) ≈ 8h
Total instructional time ≈ 400 h
Q Who recognizes these credits?
A. Under Texas law, private and homeschool programs are their own schools of record. Colleges, scholarship committees, and public-school registrars accept properly documented coursework from such programs every day.
Q What paperwork will I receive?
A. At the close of each semester (January and August) we e-mail a signed completion certificate showing:
Student name & DOB
Course title (Great Books Seminar I or II)
Credit value (1.0) and final letter grade
Contact-hour verification
Instructor signature & school address
Save the PDF with your master transcript.
Q Do you have to be an “accredited school” for colleges to accept the credit?
A. No. Texas does not require private programs to seek accreditation, and selective universities routinely admit students on parent-issued or private-program transcripts. If you later need an accredited transcript (e.g., NCAA athletics), you can use our certificate to “backfill” credit through an umbrella school that offers transcription services.
Q Will my public high school count this if we re-enroll?
A. Districts evaluate transfers case-by-case but generally accept outside credits when you present: ① a detailed syllabus, ② a graded portfolio, and ③ our completion certificate. We supply the first two on request.
Q What grading scale do you use?
A. Standard 10-point scale (A 90-100, B 80-89, etc). Grades derive from seminar participation (30 %), mid-month reflection (15 %), seasonal essay (35 %), and the annual capstone oral examination (20 %).
Q Can my student earn college or dual credit?
A. Not yet. We’re exploring partnerships with Texas community colleges for 2026-27. When available, families may opt-in for a small fee.
Q Will you write letters of recommendation?
A. Yes. Students who complete both semesters with a B or higher and meet all essay deadlines may request an academic reference.
Q What records do you keep?
A. Attendance logs, graded essays, rubrics, and capstone recordings are archived for five years. We can forward them to institutions that request verification.
For Colorado-based students (Key Differences from Texas):
Q : Do Colorado homeschoolers need any extra paperwork?
A: Yes. Colorado law requires parents to file a one‑page Notice of Intent (NOI) with any local school district at least 14 days before starting each homeschool year.
Q : Are there minimum attendance or instructional‑hour rules?
A: Colorado homeschools must provide 172 instructional days averaging 4 hours per day (≈ 688 hours total per year). Our seminar delivers ≈ 400 hours.
Q : Is annual testing or evaluation required?
A: Yes. In grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, Colorado homeschoolers submit either a nationally norm‑referenced test score or a qualified‑evaluator’s report. If parents choose the evaluator route, we can provide a brief narrative evaluation of the final oral exam.
Q : How do public‑school students get credit?
A: Colorado districts generally require pre‑approval for off‑campus or independent‑study credit. Families bring our seminar syllabus and hour breakdown to the school counselor before classes begin.
Q : Do these Colorado steps change the course or the credits earned?
A: No. Heroic Journeys & Human Hearts still documents ≈ 400 hours — ample for 2.0 English Language Arts credits. No changes to the seminar content or extra state licensing are required.
General FAQs
Q: Why are you doing this?
A: I love to teach, and I know the frustration — first, as a student and then as an educator — of feeling like you’ve learned more outside of school than in it. Those of us who’ve had that experience need to find each other.
Q: What makes you qualified to teach these things?
A: I have taught in private schools for seven years, and I’m currently in graduate school at Saint John’s College, learning from the best and most experienced educators in this Socratic seminar educational model. With that said, my entire mission at Après is to supplement what highly-qualified teachers are teaching in our schools, whether they be public, chartered, or private.
Question: You said “gifted” students. What do you mean by that?
Answer: What I mean is gifted in these specific fields of study. I’m not terribly gifted in mathematics, so comparable programs that focus instead on math would be a poor fit for a student like me.
Refund & Cancellation Policy
(effective May 1 2025 – all deadlines at 11:59 p.m. Central Time)
Cooling-Off Period
• “Day 1” is the calendar day of your first live seminar.
• Withdraw anytime through Day 7 and receive a 100 % refund of that billing cycle (monthly or annual).Month-to-Month Plans
• Day 8 – Day 21: 50 % refund of that month’s tuition; future charges stop.
• After Day 21: no refund for the current month; the subscription ends and you will not be billed again.Annual Plans (Paid in Full)
• Cancel on or before Day 90 (≈ three 30-day “billing months”): pro-rated refund of unused months minus a $50 administrative fee.
• After Day 90: no cash refund; any unused months convert to a Seminar Voucher redeemable for any future Après Academy course of equal or lower cost. Vouchers never expire and may be transferred within an immediate family.Transcript / Credit Letters
• A completion certificate for 1.0 high-school credit requires participation in ≥ 75 % of scheduled contact hours.
• Students withdrawing earlier receive a Progress Report (hours documented, no credit).How to Cancel & Refund Timeline
• Email registrar@apreslecoleacademy.com or submit the withdrawal form inside the student portal.
• Approved refunds are initiated within 10 business days; your bank or card issuer may take additional time to post the credit.Force-Majeure
• Should seminars be disrupted by events beyond our reasonable control (e.g., instructor illness, platform outage, natural disaster), Après Academy will reschedule affected sessions or issue pro-rated refunds or Seminar Vouchers at its discretion.
Non-Discrimination Policy
Après Academy welcomes all learners. In accordance with federal and Texas law, the Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, or any other status protected by applicable law in the administration of its educational programs, admissions practices, scholarship and loan programs, or any other Academy-administered activity. All students are entitled to the full rights, privileges, and opportunities the Academy offers.