New here: curricullum questions-sorry it is long

[AnitaMcC]

Hello everyone, I am so glad that I was given a link to this group!!!!

 

I am Anita. Dh and I will start homeschooling our twins for high school this fall. Both are in public school for 8th grade and they are both taking 9th grade algebra 1 and Lang Arts.

 

Ds is very gifted in math and science. He has a weakness in writing unless it is about what he wants to write. He is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome/Sensory Integration Dysfunction/ADD. He plans to major in astrophysics and geology (among other sciences-LOL).

 

Dd is also gifted. She is very talented in music and writing. She also is athletic. She plans to major in music and minor in physical education. She competes in martial arts and will be going to Jr Olympics in August. She is self teaching sign language and Japanese for fun.

 

Anyway, We are looking into the best way to educate our twins for high school. They plan to attend college (dual credit courses) for their 3rd/4th year in highschool. So I am mainly looking into their first two years of high school.

 

For starters son is wanting to complete algebra 2, geometry (possibly precalculus), chemistry and physics in his 9th grade. He wants to take AP chemistry and AP physics in 10th grade. Actually he wants to take the AP exam end of 9th grade... but I think he needs more math to accomplish higher level sciences. He also is wanting to learn Latin... just for fun (he says he needs it for his science).

 

For daughter.. she is wanting to take algebra 2 (possibly geometry), biology, Italian, and music fundamentals/theory for 9th grade.

 

Both will do same language arts, world history/geography, consumer education, career planning, health, keyboarding/intro to computers.

 

So I would love to get some feed back on the curriculum listed below, I would very much appreciate it.

 

Biology (considering "Inquiry Into Life" by Madar or Holt Biology) and how do we handle the lab component??? I could sign Dd up for a local college that does some courses for homeschoolers... college supply the text materials and lab once a week... student studies and prepares for labs at home. It is paced over two college semesters for the high school level course.

 

Chemistry (considering "The Molecular Nature of Change" by Silberberg, and "Chemistry Concepts and Problems-self teaching guide" by Houk and Post)

 

Physics (considering "Physics: Principles and Problems" by Zitzewitz, or "Conceptual Physics" or "Modern Physics" by Trinklein)

 

Algebra 2/Geometry (considering the series by Larson for all math- Algebra 2 (Applications and Equations and Graphs) , Geometry, Precalculus)

 

World History (considering using Kingfisher History Encyclopedia as text or to use "World Civilizations" by Stearns)

 

Geography (considering "World Geography: Building a Global Perspective" or "Human Geography")

 

For Dd's music: ("Pracitical Beginning Theory" and "Music Theory with Practice Volumes 1&2)

 

For Language Arts (considering Writer's Choice Grammar & Composition with workbook, Olsens Active Vocabulary General and Academic Words, Gencoe Literature: World Literature, "Writing Research Papers Across the Curriculum")

 

I need some ideas for computer course.... Both kids are good on computers but I have no idea what basics they still need to learn. Ds is interested in computer programming and wants to do AP Java next year. Dd is more into using computer for video editing and such.

 

For Health (considering "Lifetime Health" and "Personal Fitness" by Williams or "Health and Wellness")

 

For Consumer Education and Career Planning (considering "Consumer Education & Economics" by Lowe et al, and "Career Planning in the 21st Century" by Blocher)

 

For Latin... I have Wheelock's Latin

 

For Italian... I have no clue.

 

I know this is alot but I figure it is for two years of high school with extra math/science thrown in for son as it is his wish to go fast in these subjects. He already knows a lot in science (he reads every science reference book he can get his hands on) so I figure he won't have any problems. He learns math concepts extremely fast. His math teacher says that Ds masters the lessons in class in no time and without doing any homework he gets A's on the quizes/tests. So I figure he won't need to do a lot of practice problems- he would refuse anyway-LOL.

 

So thank you in advance for your inputs. I very much appreciate your help.

 

Anita

[Brindee]

I don't know about many of those you mentioned. Just thought I'd throw in the idea of Notgrass World History, just something you could look at and see if they might be interested. It's Christian/Bible-based.

 

http://www.notgrass.com/world-history-high-school-curriculum.php

 

Best wishes!

[Jean in Wisc]

Conceptual Physics

Do you know that the Conceptual Physics is written for those who do not want the math included? It is frequently a freshman class for those who have not had Alg II. What you want will be determined by your child's level of math.

 

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

I used this in upper elementary. For High School we use Spielvogel's Human Odyssey (a high school text) or Western Civilization (a college text).

 

I am not familiar with the rest of the texts.

 

Jean

[Storm Bay]

Hello everyone, I am so glad that I was given a link to this group!!!!

 

I am Anita. Dh and I will start homeschooling our twins for high school this fall. Both are in public school for 8th grade and they are both taking 9th grade algebra 1 and Lang Arts.

 

Ds is very gifted in math and science. He has a weakness in writing unless it is about what he wants to write. He is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome/Sensory Integration Dysfunction/ADD. He plans to major in astrophysics and geology (among other sciences-LOL).

 

Dd is also gifted. She is very talented in music and writing. She also is athletic. She plans to major in music and minor in physical education. She competes in martial arts and will be going to Jr Olympics in August. She is self teaching sign language and Japanese for fun.

 

Anyway, We are looking into the best way to educate our twins for high school. They plan to attend college (dual credit courses) for their 3rd/4th year in highschool. So I am mainly looking into their first two years of high school.

 

 

Anita

 

 

Since your ds (son) is gifted in math, I recommend something challenging such as Dolciani's Algebra (the older ones, from 1965-1975) for Algebra II. However, I've learned that not all Algebra 1 courses cover exactly the same things.

 

I suggest doing Geometry before Algebra 2. My dd is going to do Geometry next year, but since she's not nearly as motivated as your ds and hates math, that's all she'll do next year (she hates math, but was ready for Algebra at 11--we're redoing it more rigourously this year). We have a 1973 Dressler's, and I've finally managed to find a copy of the answers, but we also have another that comes complete with a TM & solutions guide Basic Geometry by Birkhoff and Beatly from AMS Chelsea Publishing.

 

We have Conceptual Physics on the shelf for her; it's the college level one. However, she's going to do Conceptual Chemistry next year, with the Physics for the following year. Paul G. Hewitt has written several different Conceptual Physics books, including a high school one and some easier ones than that. It you want a Physics minus most of the math, then that's the one to use.

 

There's no reason why your ds couldn't do Conceptual Physics next year as he does more of his math, and then does other Physics later if he's gifted in math and science. In fact, my dd, who wants to major in biochem, is going to do Conceptual Chemistry next year (there's so much chem in biology now that we want to do it first) and then do AP Chem later in high school once she has the math. She's not as motivated as your ds, so she's going at a more regular pace.

 

As for writing, we have the same issue. I have no happy solutions for you. In fact, dd has been told she can't do high school unless she starts writing on essay per week (small, I know). I'm having her copy essays right now, which is how Ben Franklin learned to write (but I don't make her outline them after she copies them x number of times). That's supposed to be done in elementary school with classical ed, but it was a battle I chose not to wage when she was younger. If your ds is highly logical, it might help to present the necessity for learning to write to him with logic (eg you need to do this for your SATs and your college application essays). Not that this has sold my dd yet, but she's getting there bit by bit.

 

I'm trying to get my dd to do her Latin at the local ps, but Scholars Online has a Latin course we've looked into that was recommended by some here; it uses Wheelock's. She wants it for science, and also because she's like to take the National Latin Exam. She has no interest in taking Latin to study the Roman classics in their original language, although she may end up having to do just that eventually.

 

I'm not familiar with the music theory you mentioned, so can't comment on that. I think Kingfisher is too easy for high school, especially for gifted dc. We're going to do Ancient History, the book by Susan Wise Bauer (aka SWB).

[AnitaMcC]

Thank you for your input Jean.

 

No I didn't know Conceptual Physics is not math based. That is definitely not a good choice then for us... especially for Ds. He is completing algebra 1 now, will do algebra 2 next (and he wants to finish a year worth in just a few months and then do geometry next and possibly precalculus also this year).

 

I didn't know about the Kingfisher being for elementary. I will definitely get a different text.

 

Anita

 

 

 

Conceptual Physics

Do you know that the Conceptual Physics is written for those who do not want the math included? It is frequently a freshman class for those who have not had Alg II. What you want will be determined by your child's level of math.

 

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

I used this in upper elementary. For High School we use Spielvogel's Human Odyssey (a high school text) or Western Civilization (a college text).

 

I am not familiar with the rest of the texts.

 

Jean

[AnitaMcC]

 

Since your ds (son) is gifted in math, I recommend something challenging such as Dolciani's Algebra (the older ones, from 1965-1975) for Algebra II. However, I've learned that not all Algebra 1 courses cover exactly the same things.

 

I will look into this. I think he is currently using Holt Algebra in the public school... do you think he can switch over to Dolciani's? I don't know exactly what they are covering in school now so I don't know if switching to a different text is going to cause problems.

 

I suggest doing Geometry before Algebra 2. My dd is going to do Geometry next year, but since she's not nearly as motivated as your ds and hates math, that's all she'll do next year (she hates math, but was ready for Algebra at 11--we're redoing it more rigourously this year). We have a 1973 Dressler's, and I've finally managed to find a copy of the answers, but we also have another that comes complete with a TM & solutions guide Basic Geometry by Birkhoff and Beatly from AMS Chelsea Publishing.

 

I thought geometry before algebra 2 (although I did algebra 2 then geometry when I was in high school), but he wants to go straight into algebra 2. It is what the public high school does with the accelerated/honors students and so in my son's logic it is the only way-LOL.

 

We have Conceptual Physics on the shelf for her; it's the college level one. However, she's going to do Conceptual Chemistry next year, with the Physics for the following year. Paul G. Hewitt has written several different Conceptual Physics books, including a high school one and some easier ones than that. It you want a Physics minus most of the math, then that's the one to use.

 

Ds wants to take the AP exam (he says end of 9th grade... I am telling him end of 10th grade-LOL). So I am guessing he needs the math? He wants me to get college texts.... but I am not sure which texts are college and which aren't. How would I be able to tell? Short of going to the local colleges and see what they are using... which I may just do that.

 

There's no reason why your ds couldn't do Conceptual Physics next year as he does more of his math, and then does other Physics later if he's gifted in math and science. In fact, my dd, who wants to major in biochem, is going to do Conceptual Chemistry next year (there's so much chem in biology now that we want to do it first) and then do AP Chem later in high school once she has the math. She's not as motivated as your ds, so she's going at a more regular pace.

 

LOL, Ds isn't wanting to do biology. He plans to take that later (junior year of high school). He wants to take it at college for dual credit in a summer session. He figures to get it over with in less amount of time than necessary. His love is in chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology, earth sciences. And he wants to take all these courses-LOL. Busy Bee he is when it comes to sciences. Also his logic is why take easier courses and then "repeat" them at a harder level. He wants to take AP level now. Logic sounds good to me but I still am not sure if it is best. I figure let him take "honors" type chemistry then physics as a 9th grader and then take AP chemistry and AP physics next year.

 

As for writing, we have the same issue. I have no happy solutions for you. In fact, dd has been told she can't do high school unless she starts writing on essay per week (small, I know). I'm having her copy essays right now, which is how Ben Franklin learned to write (but I don't make her outline them after she copies them x number of times). That's supposed to be done in elementary school with classical ed, but it was a battle I chose not to wage when she was younger. If your ds is highly logical, it might help to present the necessity for learning to write to him with logic (eg you need to do this for your SATs and your college application essays). Not that this has sold my dd yet, but she's getting there bit by bit.

 

I wouldn't be able to get my son to copy essays... he would have a total fit. He is taking 9th grade language arts and does the work there pretty well (when he does it-LOL). He hates poetry and refuses to do it... which is what they are doing now in school. He isn't cooperating at all on that topic. He knows how important writing is. He is taking the SAT's this June and he knows he has to do the writing portion. I figure he will get an eye opener about it-LOL. The rest of the SAT he has taken in 6th grade and he did well.

 

I'm trying to get my dd to do her Latin at the local ps, but Scholars Online has a Latin course we've looked into that was recommended by some here; it uses Wheelock's. She wants it for science, and also because she's like to take the National Latin Exam. She has no interest in taking Latin to study the Roman classics in their original language, although she may end up having to do just that eventually.

 

I'm not familiar with the music theory you mentioned, so can't comment on that. I think Kingfisher is too easy for high school, especially for gifted dc. We're going to do Ancient History, the book by Susan Wise Bauer (aka SWB).

 

Thank you very much for your input Karin. I will look into your suggestions. I haven't researched Scholars Online... I just heard of it recently and it sounds interesting.

[Jane in NC]

Thank you for your input Jean.

 

No I didn't know Conceptual Physics is not math based. That is definitely not a good choice then for us... especially for Ds. He is completing algebra 1 now, will do algebra 2 next (and he wants to finish a year worth in just a few months and then do geometry next and possibly precalculus also this year).

 

I didn't know about the Kingfisher being for elementary. I will definitely get a different text.

 

Anita

 

Actually, Anita, Conceptual Physics is a terrific choice for an 8th or 9th grade science oriented kid. Your son can redo Physics later with something like Giancoli, going into the more math intensive physics course with a good intuitive understanding of phenomenon.

 

Personally, I prefer Geometry then Algebra II/Trig. While your son's math plans are ambitious, I will question his logic. Much of high school math (other than a proof based Geometry course) is algorithmic in nature. A gifted math student could go beyond algorithms to the meat of real mathematics. I would suggest considering supplementary texts in areas of interest (combinatorics? math olympiad problems? non-Euclidean geometry?) There is no need to rush into Calculus since there is so much in mathematics that the average student does not see.

 

You may also want to work with your son on his writing. He may not want to write, but let's face it: it is a skill that all students must master.

 

Also, have you considered competitive teams for your son? There are some terrific science programs out there: First Robotics, Envirothon, MATE, etc. Applying science with like minded students may also be fun for your son.

 

Jane

[AnitaMcC]

Actually, Anita, Conceptual Physics is a terrific choice for an 8th or 9th grade science oriented kid. Your son can redo Physics later with something like Giancoli, going into the more math intensive physics course with a good intuitive understanding of phenomenon.

 

Personally, I prefer Geometry then Algebra II/Trig. While your son's math plans are ambitious, I will question his logic. Much of high school math (other than a proof based Geometry course) is algorithmic in nature. A gifted math student could go beyond algorithms to the meat of real mathematics. I would suggest considering supplementary texts in areas of interest (combinatorics? math olympiad problems? non-Euclidean geometry?) There is no need to rush into Calculus since there is so much in mathematics that the average student does not see.

 

You may also want to work with your son on his writing. He may not want to write, but let's face it: it is a skill that all students must master.

 

Also, have you considered competitive teams for your son? There are some terrific science programs out there: First Robotics, Envirothon, MATE, etc. Applying science with like minded students may also be fun for your son.

 

Jane

 

So much out there!!!! We have pretty much just started on looking into things for him and his sister for extracurricular.

 

Ds is interested in programs from Fermilab here in IL not far from us. Our local colleges offer robotics labs. I haven't heard of competitive teams you mentioned so I will definitely look into them. He enjoyed math club at school but I don't recall anything about olympiad. Otherwise he does Kung Fu and bowling for extracurricular activities currently.

 

Dd studies Shaolin Kung Fu and she competes for that. She also interested in music and has a teen band. We are looking into other options for her. She is very good in math... but she doesn't like it-LOL. I think she would like a debate team so I am trying to find out more of that.

 

LOL, I question my son's logic often. But that is the Asperger's in him... he has his own logic and it is very hard to get him to open up to other possiblities. He has a hard time explaining his thoughts so there are times I have no clue to where he is coming from. I figure I will have algebra 2 and geometry so either way he will cover them. I heard Saxon combines geometry with their algebra program.

 

I will definitely work with Ds and Dd on writing. I am looking for a good grammar/composition program for them. Also I am going to have them do essays and research papers in World History and World Literature. I plan to also use Writeguide.com to help evaluate their writing. They also will do lab reports in science and I know that will be more to Ds's liking. From what I have been told by his teachers... he actually writes well. The issue is that it needs to be a topic of his interest. Right now he is doing a reseach paper on cloning-LOL. Science based topics he has little trouble doing them. His major difficulties in writing is to be clear and explanitory in his writings. He writes from his perspective so when he writes he assumes a reader knows what he is talking about. That is what we will be working on.

 

Anita

[Storm Bay]

. I would suggest considering supplementary texts in areas of interest (combinatorics? math olympiad problems? non-Euclidean geometry?) There is no need to rush into Calculus since there is so much in mathematics that the average student does not see.

 

 

Jane

 

Jane,

I just heard of the term combinatorics today. Ds, 8, just started a new math program called MEP, and in the first part of the first lesson for his age, they had some really cool exercises to do with this. Obviously not at the same level, but by the time we did the lesson, just before the worksheet, he said, "My brain hurts." Not literally.

 

Anita,

As for making dc copy essays--my dd fought me tooth and nail on this at the age she was supposed to do this. She only chose to do it because it was the easiest of her writing choices at the moment. It's only temporary. But she has to be able to do a lot of writing in high school if she's going to get the kind of scholarship she hopes to get. Even if she doesn't, she needs to do it. But it's like pulling teeth to get her to write.

[kiana]

For physics: Which exam is he wanting to take? The B exam wouldn't help him as an astrophysics major, but the C exams could place him out of first year physics for scientists and engineers. Since he doesn't want to retake things, I'd steer him away from the B exam. The C courses use calculus, so he would need to have already taken calculus or at least be concurrently enrolled with a rock-solid understanding of algebra and trigonometry.

 

Conceptual physics would be a great first text. You can tell him (truthfully, assuming you bought the college version) that it's a college text for students who have had only algebra I. It would prepare him well for a more mathematical course later. You cannot really do an 'honors' high school physics textbook without having had more trig and algebra than he's had.

 

For math: I would second the recommendation of a more theoretical than computational algebra textbook. My algebra textbook (out of print, and I've never seen anyone mention it really) started with axioms and did a fair amount of proving *why* things worked instead of just telling *how* and telling you to memorize formulas. Any book of that sort should be good. You could also supplement with a more proofy algebra text such as Gelfand. You could again, assuming that you're having trouble 'selling' it to him, tell him it was designed for gifted Russian math students. You could also consider some of the online classes from www.artofproblemsolving.com They have courses in combinatorics, algebra, geometry, number theory, calculus, and olympiad training. They also sell the books alone.

 

I would not switch to Saxon in algebra 2 if you haven't previously used it, especially for a gifted student. If you had been using it up to now, and things were going well, that would be fine. I tutored from Saxon, and as a former gifted math student, I would rather have gouged my eyeballs out with a fork and eaten them without catsup than tried to learn from that book. Your ds sounds a lot like me, personality/math wise :P

[Jean in Wisc]

Something you could look at is the Jump In writing program. It is written for 7 & 8th graders and reluctant high schoolers. This may not be anything that you want, but my 9th grade dyslexic son has never been able to get his thoughts clearly on paper until now. If he had 3 sentences in his head, the 1st and the 3rd would get on paper, and we would have to make the leap of understanding to comprehend his connection.

 

This year I put him into Jump In and today he handed in a paper with the best flow of thoughts he has ever written. I am VERY impressed. The work is easy, but he is doing what I have struggled to teach for years.

 

You can download a sample chapter here. It is the 1st chapter in the book. I had my son do it to see if it was a good fit. He liked it, so I ordered it. It is a real success story for us!

 

 

Jean

Edited April 15, 2009 by Jean in Wisc

[AnitaMcC]

For physics: Which exam is he wanting to take? The B exam wouldn't help him as an astrophysics major, but the C exams could place him out of first year physics for scientists and engineers. Since he doesn't want to retake things, I'd steer him away from the B exam. The C courses use calculus, so he would need to have already taken calculus or at least be concurrently enrolled with a rock-solid understanding of algebra and trigonometry.

 

Then I think it will be C for him and I am definitely going to have him wait until after he finishes Calculus based physics then to take the test. So that would put him at the earliest for end of 10th grade but probably 11th grade.

 

Conceptual physics would be a great first text. You can tell him (truthfully, assuming you bought the college version) that it's a college text for students who have had only algebra I. It would prepare him well for a more mathematical course later. You cannot really do an 'honors' high school physics textbook without having had more trig and algebra than he's had.

 

I looked at some text's and it did say in some descriptions which was algebra based, calculus based and a few said non-computation in the description. I also figured that he will do chemistry first along with algebra 2 for first half of 9th grade. Then he would take physics along with geometry the second half (if he goes as fast as he thinks he will-LOL). So I will talk to him and see if he still wants to do physics with chemistry (which he has told me but I vetoed it assuming he needed to complete algebra 2 first). If he still wants to do the physics with chemistry and algebra 2 then I will definitely get him the conceptual text for college level.

 

For math: I would second the recommendation of a more theoretical than computational algebra textbook. My algebra textbook (out of print, and I've never seen anyone mention it really) started with axioms and did a fair amount of proving *why* things worked instead of just telling *how* and telling you to memorize formulas. Any book of that sort should be good. You could also supplement with a more proofy algebra text such as Gelfand. You could again, assuming that you're having trouble 'selling' it to him, tell him it was designed for gifted Russian math students. You could also consider some of the online classes from www.artofproblemsolving.com They have courses in combinatorics, algebra, geometry, number theory, calculus, and olympiad training. They also sell the books alone.

 

I will have to look into this more. I don't really know which text are more theoetical than others. I would rather he used the theoretical text and then get a supplement for problems solving.

 

I would not switch to Saxon in algebra 2 if you haven't previously used it, especially for a gifted student. If you had been using it up to now, and things were going well, that would be fine. I tutored from Saxon, and as a former gifted math student, I would rather have gouged my eyeballs out with a fork and eaten them without catsup than tried to learn from that book. Your ds sounds a lot like me, personality/math wise

:P

 

Thank you for your advice!!

[Halftime Hope]

I tutored from Saxon, and as a former gifted math student, I would rather have gouged my eyeballs out with a fork and eaten them without catsup than tried to learn from that book. Your ds sounds a lot like me, personality/math wise :P

 

Kiana, you crack me up!! This very nicely expresses our sentiments. While I love Saxon's implementation of spiral review, the methodology of teaching concepts bit by bit, in tiny pieces just drove ds and I batty--in third grade no less!

 

OP, I would think that Saxon would be a very bad fit for your ds.

 

I didn't get to post yesterday, but you mentioned Larson's books and ds' aversion to doing problems. While I really do think Foerster's or Dolciani might serve him better if he is really interested in astrophysics, it sounds like you are also struggling with his willingness to grind through problems and just. do. them. This could turn out to be a huge power struggle, which you don't need. A couple of options: 1) if you think he will work better for someone else and allow someone else to require x number of homework problems, you might hire a college prof for a tutor. (Someone with extensive experience teaching; not a grad student.) 2) You might choose Larson's textbooks because the problems sets can be picked through, and you could choose to assign only the advanced problems (the TE has this nicely spelled out), if the basic ones drive him to distraction.

 

Either way, he has to learn the self-discipline of writing things down and solving them in a stepwise fashion; i.e., showing his work. At some point, he will have to turn in work for a college class that will require him to use those skills, if only on the tests.

[AnitaMcC]

Kiana, you crack me up!! This very nicely expresses our sentiments. While I love Saxon's implementation of spiral review, the methodology of teaching concepts bit by bit, in tiny pieces just drove ds and I batty--in third grade no less!

 

ROFL. Kiana cracked me up too. Ds would probably go bonkers too.

 

OP, I would think that Saxon would be a very bad fit for your ds.

 

He likes things shown to him all at once. Teaching the concepts step by step will frustrate him. He prefers seeing the whole and then studying the innards so to speak.

 

I didn't get to post yesterday, but you mentioned Larson's books and ds' aversion to doing problems. While I really do think Foerster's or Dolciani might serve him better if he is really interested in astrophysics, it sounds like you are also struggling with his willingness to grind through problems and just. do. them. This could turn out to be a huge power struggle, which you don't need. A couple of options: 1) if you think he will work better for someone else and allow someone else to require x number of homework problems, you might hire a college prof for a tutor. (Someone with extensive experience teaching; not a grad student.) 2) You might choose Larson's textbooks because the problems sets can be picked through, and you could choose to assign only the advanced problems (the TE has this nicely spelled out), if the basic ones drive him to distraction.

 

I am thinking Larson's would be best at least to start. But I think I will also see about getting the Forester's or Dolciani. Actually I am going to ask his current math teacher if he would be interested in tutoring Ds (for math and science)... the teacher is also a physics professor at a local college (night class). He also worked in physics engineering for many years before teaching. Ds actually does the work for this teacher!!!! First math teacher ever who could get Ds to do some problems. Often teacher just assigns a few problems that shows Ds mastered the concepts without the problems being redundant for Ds. Another thing is this teacher helps Ds understand when Ds gets the right answers but he actually doesn't know why or how he knew the answers. He just knows math intuitively.

 

Either way, he has to learn the self-discipline of writing things down and solving them in a stepwise fashion; i.e., showing his work. At some point, he will have to turn in work for a college class that will require him to use those skills, if only on the tests.

 

Yes this is our major goal in homeschooling him... to help him learn the self-discipline to do the "work" even when he doesn't want to or when he doesn't feel the work is necessary. And to do his best... not to slack off or do just enough to get by. In public school, too often the teachers just didn't bother forcing son to get all the work completed. They would waive some of it. I hate that!!!! It is one thing to assign him work that challenges him in place of the "too easy" stuff. But it is another to just not bother with Ds. Ds thinks he is getting it easy when he homeschools-LOL. I have explained the expectations Dh and I have for him and his sister.

 

Anita

[Storm Bay]

Kiana, you crack me up!! This very nicely expresses our sentiments. While I love Saxon's implementation of spiral review, the methodology of teaching concepts bit by bit, in tiny pieces just drove ds and I batty--in third grade no less!

 

.

 

 

Saxon didn't do well for us, but for some reason my gifted eldest insisted on continuing with it for 3 years. However, we felt free to skip chapters and chapters of review, etc.

 

I would never recommend Saxon for the mathematically gifted at any stage. We have Gelfand's & Dolciani for Algebra, which are working well for my eldest, who is math-gifted but hates it. I have 2 more coming along who will hopefully like it better. Actually, my eldest doesn't hate it as much as she hated simple arithmetic (everything before Algebra except the geometry) and I hope she likes Geometry, once she gets over the written proof part (she hates writing).

[Piano&ViolinMom]

Dh and I will start homeschooling our twins for high school this fall. Both are in public school for 8th grade

 

Anita,

Your plan is what I am doing this year. My son was an 8th grader in public school last year but he is homeschooled now. So my question to you is, Why?

[Brindee]

 

I would not switch to Saxon in algebra 2 if you haven't previously used it, especially for a gifted student. If you had been using it up to now, and things were going well, that would be fine. I tutored from Saxon, and as a former gifted math student, I would rather have gouged my eyeballs out with a fork and eaten them without catsup than tried to learn from that book. Your ds sounds a lot like me, personality/math wise :P

:lol: I was going to mention that I wouldn't recommend the Saxon Algebra for a gifted student.....but, uhhh, never-mind, kiana said it much better than I could!:001_smile:

[AnitaMcC]

Anita,

Your plan is what I am doing this year. My son was an 8th grader in public school last year but he is homeschooled now. So my question to you is, Why?

 

 

Why we are homeschooling for high school? For many reasons...

 

Academics.... our school district is not good in the academics and the high school we are zoned for is the worst in our district. Our high schools do not prepare students for college or life. Kids are not allowed to fail.. no matter what. If kids did poorly on exams they were allowed to redo them to earn a better grade (and this is done using notes/books so they still don't actually learn the material). They are given a ton of extra credit (easy stuff) to raise their grades. The kids learn to not try hard, nor learn to rise to the expectations/challenges given to them.

 

The high school would not be flexible for Ds to accomplish what he wanted to do. Ds wants to go his own pace but that isn't "allowed". He asked to take some virtual classes on line but our school district said he couldn't do more than two credits worth total.

 

Environment of the school is horrible. The school has 2500+ students and each year the violence increases. The school we are zoned for is known as the most undisciplined high school in our district (we have 4 high schools).

 

The school district so far has done very little to help son with his special needs related to the Asperger Syndrome. He has an IEP with accommodations and he still struggles within the school environment and the school just ignores his struggles. He is so very frustrated that he is near to giving up.

 

Flexibility of homeschooling is a huge plus for us. For Ds he can go his pace, he can skip over the redundant work and continue to learn new things. We have been told so many times that he is bored in class because he masters the lessons in 5 minutes of class and then sits there for the rest of the class bored out of his mind. He needs to be challenged, especially in math and science since these are his strengths. Science.. pretty much he knows way more about the topic being taught and often his teachers tell him that his comments, etc are too advanced for the class in general. So he just sits there doing nothing.

 

Dd also needs the flexibility of homeschooling. She competes in martial arts and wants to get on the Jr Olympics traveling team. She is going to the Jr Olympics in August so she may get the chance to try out for the team. She wants to go all they way to 2016 Olympics. She is also a very serious minded student... she wants to learn, she takes her education very seriously. She gets frustrated because in class often kids are goofing around, causing trouble, etc. Again... very poor discipline in the schools. She also wants to major in music and our school district offers very little in that area. The junior college has an associates transfer degree in music and she wants take courses there as soon as she is allowed.

 

And there is so much time in schools that is wasted. My kids rather homeschool as they will accomplish more in less time.

 

Dd wouldn't even consider going to the high school. She wants to be with her friends, etc. But she doesn't want to lower her educational standards. Ds just desperately wants to learn!!!!!

 

So... really our choice to homeschool is a no brainer. Just no other option for our kids to accomplish what they want to do.

 

Anita

[Kathy in MD]

Algebra II and geometry are very easy math courses to take concurently for individuals interested in math. I'd encourage you to do that for your ds. Doing both would be optional for your dd since the math and sciences aren't her strong interests. As far as precalc's concerned, I would expect you to only get to introduce it, if that, during the school year. You might work on it during the summer, however, if the interest is there. I wouldn't rush through geometric proofs to get it started.

 

I've only used the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and the lower level Larson books through Chalk Dust. You may want to consider the Chalk Dust lecture DVD's because the lecturer is excellent. Kingfisher is designed for the Logic stage (4-8th grade) The DK history book, though similar in structure, is more advanced from my purusal. I haven't purchased it yet.

 

I haven't used any of your science choices yet. However, I'm a strong believer in understanding the concepts as well as the formulas in any science or engineering course. For a researcher, a solid grasp of the concepts is even more important than for the technician end of the spectrum. If you feel your ds will easily grasp both the concepts and the math for the advance science courses, skip the conceptual books. Otherwise do the conceptual books, maybe just for extra reading given your ds's interest. I say that as a graduate architect who had a class in "structures without math" (I can still hear the civil engineers laughing) prior to actually learning to design beam and column loads for buildings. But all of my classmates could lay out the load diagrams and see how any building design changes could affect the structural engineering calculations in a heartbeat. And structural failures are the ones that can cost an architect his license.

[Kathy in MD]

For writing, you might consider IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing). One advantage is that writing excercises may come from all aspects of your curriculum. So you can ease in the occasional history and lit essay with lots of science essays.

 

It is a very structured way of teaching writing, so that aspect may appeal to your ds. It also includes excercises to help make the writing more descriptive and brainstorming sessions for ideas. Brainstorming is a vital skill for any creative work, such as research.

 

What may not appeal to your ds is that it starts by doing key word outlines from a prepared text and then rewriting it. You may get around that by convincing that it is his job to write a clearer, more interesting paragraph, using only the info in the paragraph. You can quickly advance to where he is doing his own research to write his essays.

 

A second draw back to many is the style issues. Students are required to include 1 sentence starting with and -ly word and 1 with a prepositional phrase. Many people just dump that part of the program.

 

If you want to include a style portion to the program, you could look at Sentence Composing. It teaches sentence writing via models and imitation. My ds, with SID, learns best by following models. I don't know if this style would help your ds in writing.

[Piano&ViolinMom]

Why we are homeschooling for high school? For many reasons...

Academics.... our school district is not good in the academics and the high school we are zoned for is the worst in our district. Our high schools do not prepare students for college or life. Anita

 

Hmmmm, you made a very easy decision when you are placed in such school didtrict. Mine was very hard one because we are from one of the best public high school nationwisely. We still thought my son should be freed to go further at his speed if he can.

[Piano&ViolinMom]

She also wants to major in music and our school district offers very little in that area.

 

In general, public schools do not have curriculums to offer training in music except very basics. Enrichment in music becomes personal decision not through within public schools.

[AnitaMcC]

In general, public schools do not have curriculums to offer training in music except very basics. Enrichment in music becomes personal decision not through within public schools.

 

 

A few school districts near us offer a lot of music courses . But ours offer very little. If we could move just a few miles southwest of where we are now the twins would be in a much better school district and that high school offers about 20 music courses, including lessons, sectionals, band, and various music theory classes and so forth.

 

But we just can't afford to move and even so, we feel homeschooling is a better option and for Dd she can take music courses at junior college that include beginner level music instructions (she has to learn piano, wants to keep going with guitar, drums, clarinet) as well as music fundamentals and theory courses.

 

Anita

[Piano&ViolinMom]

A few school districts near us offer a lot of music courses . But ours offer very little. If we could move just a few miles southwest of where we are now the twins would be in a much better school district and that high school offers about 20 music courses, including lessons, sectionals, band, and various music theory classes and so forth.

 

Is that right? I understand how you feel.

 

But we just can't afford to move and even so, we feel homeschooling is a better option and for Dd she can take music courses at junior college that include beginner level music instructions (she has to learn piano, wants to keep going with guitar, drums, clarinet) as well as music fundamentals and theory courses.

 

Hope your homeschooling goes well so that you can be proud only. Glad to know that your dd has an opportunity to be in AA degree Music Major. Perhaps not many CCs have music degree program.