FAQs
What are the Tennessee state standards for education?
The Tennessee Board of Education’s web site offers a plethora of information including standards in each academic area of study.
Visit Tennessee Standards site
What are the guidelines for home schooling in Tennessee?
The following link from the Tennessee Board of Education offers the details necessary to legally home educate your children.
Tennessee Homeschooling Options
What are the three umbrella schools in the Shelby County and Mid-South region?
Is The Bridge an umbrella program?
The Bridge is NOT an umbrella group; therefore, parents are responsible for registering with one of the Tennessee umbrella groups for all legal educational requirements and cumulative records.
How do I register for classes?
See our registration page for complete instructions to register your student with The Bridge.
Are Bridge classes considered AP classes?
Generally, no. AP courses are standardized to a specific text with a specific test. Bridge tutors select the curriculum and in some cases modify it to best teach the concepts of a particular subject area.
Are Bridge classes considered Honors classes?
Honors courses usually do about 25 -50 % more reading/writing than a standard course, plus students tend to go deeper and do more critical thinking exercises with discussion.
For example, Home Life Academy requires parents to list what makes their courses honors within the course information area for students. For example, if someone lists “ABeka English, we (HLA) will not give them Honors credit."
However, if a parent lists “ABeka English plus in-depth study of Shakespeare plays, weekly novel reading, and attended 4 plays,” they will probably give them Honors credit. Faith Heritage Christian Academy considers many, but not all The Bridge classes are Honors classes, especially when paired with additional work from home.
Gateway Christian does not recognize honors classes on transcripts.
Always check with your umbrella school. See “What constitutes an Honors class?”
Who should take Honors classes?
Students need to be hard workers and ready to take on the extra work required by Honors classes. Independence and organization are additional qualities that should be present in students.
What is a raw GPA?
A raw GPA (also known as standard GPA or straight GPA) is the actual grade a student attains in a course before any Honors, AP, or Dual Enrollment points are added.
What is a weighted GPA?
The weighted GPA is the raw GPA plus points added from Honors, AP, or Dual Enrollments classifications.
Which GPA do colleges accept?
Most colleges look primarily at the raw GPA for admissions for all students (public, private, homeschool), and the jury is still out on the weighted GPA. Opinions differ greatly with regard to home-educated students. Ultimately, your ACT/SAT scores combined with your GPA and leadership/service resume constitute the whole big picture for college admissions for your student.
Are weighted GPAs accepted from homeschool students?
According to Home Life Academy (umbrella school), most colleges do not accept weighted GPAs from home-educated students. Therefore, Honors classes are primarily to prepare students. However, The Bridge is aware that Faith Heritage Christian Academy (umbrella school), licensed as a private school, does submit both the raw GPA and the weighted GPA. Depending upon how a particular umbrella school is licensed could determine if the weighted GPA is accepted by a university or not.
The Tennessee Board of Education’s web site offers a plethora of information including standards in each academic area of study.
Visit Tennessee Standards site
What are the guidelines for home schooling in Tennessee?
The following link from the Tennessee Board of Education offers the details necessary to legally home educate your children.
Tennessee Homeschooling Options
What are the three umbrella schools in the Shelby County and Mid-South region?
Is The Bridge an umbrella program?
The Bridge is NOT an umbrella group; therefore, parents are responsible for registering with one of the Tennessee umbrella groups for all legal educational requirements and cumulative records.
Parents are considered the primary teachers and are ultimately responsible for the education of their children. Classes at The Bridge are supplementary and designed to enhance, NOT replace, the teaching of the parent in the home. Parents are expected to play an active daily/weekly role in oversight of the following areas:
- new material presented in class
- assignments given for each class during the week*
- preparation for the next week’s class
- assurance that assignments are turned in on time.
How do I register for classes?
See our registration page for complete instructions to register your student with The Bridge.
Are Bridge classes considered AP classes?
Generally, no. AP courses are standardized to a specific text with a specific test. Bridge tutors select the curriculum and in some cases modify it to best teach the concepts of a particular subject area.
Are Bridge classes considered Honors classes?
Honors courses usually do about 25 -50 % more reading/writing than a standard course, plus students tend to go deeper and do more critical thinking exercises with discussion.
For example, Home Life Academy requires parents to list what makes their courses honors within the course information area for students. For example, if someone lists “ABeka English, we (HLA) will not give them Honors credit."
However, if a parent lists “ABeka English plus in-depth study of Shakespeare plays, weekly novel reading, and attended 4 plays,” they will probably give them Honors credit. Faith Heritage Christian Academy considers many, but not all The Bridge classes are Honors classes, especially when paired with additional work from home.
Gateway Christian does not recognize honors classes on transcripts.
Always check with your umbrella school. See “What constitutes an Honors class?”
Who should take Honors classes?
Students need to be hard workers and ready to take on the extra work required by Honors classes. Independence and organization are additional qualities that should be present in students.
What is a raw GPA?
A raw GPA (also known as standard GPA or straight GPA) is the actual grade a student attains in a course before any Honors, AP, or Dual Enrollment points are added.
What is a weighted GPA?
The weighted GPA is the raw GPA plus points added from Honors, AP, or Dual Enrollments classifications.
- Honors classes add a half point (.5) to the raw GPA per class
- AP and Dual Enrollment classes add a whole point (1) to the raw GPA per class
Which GPA do colleges accept?
Most colleges look primarily at the raw GPA for admissions for all students (public, private, homeschool), and the jury is still out on the weighted GPA. Opinions differ greatly with regard to home-educated students. Ultimately, your ACT/SAT scores combined with your GPA and leadership/service resume constitute the whole big picture for college admissions for your student.
Are weighted GPAs accepted from homeschool students?
According to Home Life Academy (umbrella school), most colleges do not accept weighted GPAs from home-educated students. Therefore, Honors classes are primarily to prepare students. However, The Bridge is aware that Faith Heritage Christian Academy (umbrella school), licensed as a private school, does submit both the raw GPA and the weighted GPA. Depending upon how a particular umbrella school is licensed could determine if the weighted GPA is accepted by a university or not.