Yes, I know I could put something together but I think I am stretched too thin. I am teaching two sections of government and econ for the first time. I am teaching one girl Biology and the other Life Science. That is along with reviewing, planning, and sometimes directly teaching other subjects to both. Plus the fact that we have a very good chance of moving again at this new school year and I think I need more guidance and direction.

I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my 11th grader for British Lit. I need something that will give me a good idea of how long to spend on which books, isn't forgetting 20th century, wouldn't be horrible if I substituted some books (for example she has already studied both Frankenstein and Tale of Two Cities in Movies and Lit in 9th grade) but would give me good points to discuss with her. I don't need much with writing since this will mostly be a reading and discussing class with only short essay practice for SAT or AP. She will doing the majority of writing in a separate writing class. SO mainly I am looking for good selection, good schedule, and good discussion points.

Not without breaking our lease and breaking our promise to help pay for our son's college education and stopping paying off a credit card. WHy would I do that? We know that if dh retires, he will get about somewhat less than half of his current pay here but if he did that and didn't get another job for some reason, we would move to a much lower cost area of the country and have a great life. No reason to worry for us.

Other than Scouts, 4-H and other youth groups, here is where a lot of us have group activities where they have to function as a unit. Team Sports, sports whre they share the area (swimming, diving, shooting, etc); music groups like band, orchestra, or choirs; and theater productions. I would daresay that almost all the homeschool kids I have met in 15 years of homeschooling did one or more of the above things- youth group service projects, musical or theatrical perfomances, or sports. Mine have done all three but haven't had to waste too much time on so-called group projects. My middle one had a share of that in a Movies and Lit class and found out the truism that the dedicated and smarter kids end up doing all the work. The main group activity that people end up doing in workplaces is the staff meeting and I don't see anything like that going on in schools. On the other hand, I do see such activities in groups like Boy Scouts and 4-H.

I certainly agree that I didn't look at 3000 college requirements. Bu I have looked at an awful lot of them (though not many in New England since my first kid was not going there since it was the one part of the country he had never visited). I am on my second go round of choosing colleges. They both had some similarities- liberal arts majors - but many differences. DS was a commended student and would have been a finalist if we hadn't moived to the hardest area to become a finalist (overseas). He was also interested in history and wasn't interested in pre-professional programs. DD will not be a commended student most likely since she normally tests a bit lower than he did. She is interested in pre-professional programs. But one thing that I have done that many others haven't is look for colleges throughout the USA. That is because we are active duty military and there is no place that we know will be close to home. We have absolutely no idea where we will be living wheen dd goes to college. We did know where we were living when ds went to college- in another continent. But we had no idea where we would be living when he was a sophomore. Beacuse of pecularities with the GI bill, we have zero reason to limit our dd to going to our home state. SHe hasn't expressed interest in any specific college at all yet (just like my son at this point in his hs career) and I am scrambling to find colleges she may want to apply to that we do want to visit in case my dh gets command and we move in less than year again. Then we have the lovely aspect of homeschooling high school in three states or areas with one kid. Because of that, I am researching both this time and least, hundreds of colleges. Most do not require SAT 2s. Some do. CHeck where your child is applying. I also don't see why you wouldn't have your child just take the ACT and forget about the SAT if you are applying to a school that requires 2 tests for SAT but only 1 for ACT applicants. ACT is easier to study for also since it involves more straightforward knowledge and less tricks.

:iagree: with Barb. That is what I find to be true. And Colleen, check out the U. od Washington admission requirements for homeschoolers= take the ACT and take a language class or some other language class and you are fine. If your kid is not a great test taker or has any issues at all with tests, speed, the subject, etc., don't take the SAT II unless you have to. I remember way long time ago, some college I was applying to required SAT II. I did poorly (high 500, low 600). I had already applied Early Action before this to my first choice. I got accepted to my first choice and they never saw my middling SAT II (called something else then). I ended college with a good GPA, my language score which was the worse was such a poor predictor since I do pick up languages much quicker than most, and I only stopped my PhD because of my family issues- not any academic ones since I completed all my coursework with almost a 4.0. But you wouldn't know that from my SAT II scores. (Oh and I also topped out the percentage on the GRE analytical score). The problem with the SAT II is that very few colleges require them and those are usually ones with the most selective requirements. Oh, and the other group is homeschoolers who are required to jump through hoops. If my child is not in contention to go to the most competetive schools (notice that I don't say the best since who says they are the best- best in what- maybe name recognition but not necessarily best education at all since plenty of schools where a high number of grads go on to further education do not require them), why would I have her compete with those who are going to those schools and only those? It skews the percentages out of favor to all but the best SAT II test takers.

No, they don't require them. And they also mostly don't require them for homeschoolers. Now if they don't have any other way to establish compentence and it is a stretch school for your student, then yes. I don't have any scores for my soon to be 11th grader yet. I consider her 1oth grade PSAT score useless since she had a migraine. She didn't do horribly but not as well as I know she could do without a headache. If she does well on either SAT or ACT (and particularly ACT since a number of colleges don't care about the SAT IIs if you did that test), she may or may not take any SAT IIs. It all depends on the colleges. My son applied to 6 or 7 for 2005 and none required SAT IIs or specially recommended them for homeschoolers. We looked at many more colleges and most didn't either. Overall, it is usually only some of the very selective colleges and some very anti-homeschooling colleges that require these. In my dd's case, she will have outside grades from Florida Virtual, co-op classes, CC classes in at least two states, and probably CLEP tests. Yes, they may not accept CLEP but that is another verification of mommy grades. Generally most just check mommy grades with test scores the same as they do for school systems they don't know. IF your child has 4.0 but low scores, that might be a problem. Ver few colleges are actually all that selective. Most accept most students. As a speaker at a homeschool conference told us, we homeschoolers tend to be much tougher on our kids in terms of academic rigor. That is because we see one child's writing and then compare it to our own. Then we compare our children to all the gifted children who are homeschooled (about 50% are). But we don't compare total people --- we remember 'Jake' who blows through Calc and Physics early and we remember 'Joe' who gets 5s on AP English and World History and we come up with every homeschooler is getting Calc, Physics, AP English, AP World History and a few more thrown in. THen we read about some winner of the National Science Fair or some high pressure school in NYC and we get the misimpression that Sally Above Average is really Sally can't do anything except flip burgers. Totally untrue. If you live in a high pressure area, please remember that that is a very small percentage of students in the US>

I was so pleased with my kids. My youngest found out how much movies cost here and decided that we need to save money and we will go on Saturday early show to do that. My middle was astonished that kids in her summer fine arts program were going to the midnight showing. (The program starts at 8am and doesn't allow absences -like two gets you zero credit).She is also thinking that Saturday morning will be just fine. (Neither can go on weekday mornings because of swim and dive or the fine arts program).

B.A. Economics College of THe University of Chicago, 1985 MS Criminal Justice University of Cincinnati 1990 ABD Criminal Justice University of Cincinnati- decided that I thought the professors' wives looked happier than the professors so I became a fulltime Mom who homeschools

My dd who is entering 11th hasn't started really thinking about colleges yet so we don't know yet with her. On the other hand, my oldest who was homeschooled, applied to 7 colleges - all selective to very selective, and was admitted to 5. Not only did he not do any AP or SAT II tests, he also didn't take any cc classes. He only took the SAT and ACT. He received good scholarships at all his accepted schools except one and that had to do with his young age. (He was 16). He ended up going to a college with a half tuition scholarship which we were very happy about. My next one will take the PSAT and SAT or ACT or both. Once she starts figuring out where she wants to apply, we will think about extra tests. SHe has one CC honors class already in her credit and will have more CC classes too. Actually most colleges don't require SAT IIs and my kids don't like wasting Saturdays taking tests that aren't needed. If they are needed, we will do it.

My dd went with her youth group last summer when we were living on an island boating. Everyone wore life jackets. Mind you, this was no a canoe but a power boat so much less likely to tip over. I think this was highly irresponsible. Canoes are very likely to capsize, especially with inexperienced canoeers especially teens. My dd hasn't liked some scavenger hunts but that is because they involved asking people something. Nothing actually dangerous. I would be upset too even if it was one of my kids who are on swim and dive teams and who have been to boating classes and canoeeing and sailing camps.

I am not really sure what "homework" means in homeschool anyway? DO any of you do all of schoolwork with all of your children? I mean, we don't have anything like 9-10 math in classroom, 10-11, literature in classroom or anything like that especially when you are talking about high schoolers. MY day with my daughter who is a high schooler normally looks like I talk with her during her breakfast or soon after and discuss what the day holds. She may go off and work on math or foreign langauge (neither with me). At some point she comes down and goes over the chemistry lesson with me but often has additional problems to work on her own. Literature is either her reading a book (in her room or somewhere else) or writing a paper (on her computer). I talk to her about the book she is reading after she has read it usually and discuss the paper and send back for rewrites after she has written it. Everything is homework except the chemistry part that I teach. Next year, everything will be homework except her field geology, her bio lab, and her government and econ part of her class that she does in co-op. I would wager that 90% of her time is spent on homework, if that means work she does on her own after being assigned it.

My dd is doing work on weekends and in evenings. SHe has to since she has medical issues and needs to be catching up and also can't always do the work. (She had a seven month long nonstop headache which put us behind in math and science). SHe is diving, competing in diving, attending a summer program in the mornings, and simply doesn't get much free time. If she is getting two hours a day right now, she is lucky. I remember my 11th and 12 grades being almost non stop work. I did get fantastic scholarships to go to a very good college. My older son also worked in weekends and evenings in late high school. While I think we can do more in less time than kids in school, I still think that having a full or more than full course, working, doing activities, and studying for SATS or checjking out colleges will take the majority of time for our older highschoolers.

We used to do alumni interviews with prospective students. Most came in suits or sportcoats or female equivalents. Some came in something like a long sleeve shirt with sweater and tie. I think one or two came in very casual clothing. One of them I remember as an unserious student and didn't recommend but the clothing was the least of the problem. That student also didn't know anything about the school and was very unclear about why she was applying. We conducted the interviews in our home at the time (different homes at different times). THere was no testing involved.

I was just reading their handbook that is on their website. What actually happens can be different but for my daughter it wouldn't be. My dd tends towards legalism and I am not one to encourage that so I think I will try to send her to a more grace based place if she goes to a Christian school.

WE just bought Rosetta Stone this last weekend, knowing full well that it doesn't have the best grammar and that we can't sell it. Why? Because it was less money for us than trying to get three or four of us to learn Spanish or to improve our Spanish. WE have lots of different kinds of learners here. I pick up languages quickly and although I do know some Spanish, I would like to improve fluency and proficiency. My dd 15 is highly auditory and thinks this is the best program for her and I think it will work much better for a highly auditory person. My youngest and my husband are not great language learners but not horrible either. It looks good enough for them to do. WE are getting five levels for five people for about the same as I would be paying the CC for one semester for one. Will it work- I hope so but at least if it doesn't it doesn't ruin her college record.

My dd is doing a half semester of music history by listening to the History of Music lectures from the Teaching Company. I have these but the library is our latest home has it too.

For my first child, he didn't want to do SAT IIs so we simply didn't have him apply to any colleges which required it. For child 2, I am of mixed mind. I know she won't be taking one yet but she may take a few next Spring if she does well enough on the practice tests. THe big difference is that score choice is available now. SO there is a lot less pressure than there used to be. We aren't going to send scores without seeing them first since she tends to be highly variable on her test taking abilities. For our third, I plan to have her take some since she will need scholarships. The first child received a half tuition scholarship with nothing extra. The second will be using the GI bill and the third will need merit aid.

WE never had much contact with Amish except when we were driving through areas with them. On the other hand, my ds went to college in southern Michigan and he met Amish either there or when he went to visit friends' houses in northern Ohio or elsewhere. He related the same type of stories as some of the other posters here did. I think they were coming to Walmart in his town with buggies and he said that the teen boys were not acting well at all. Bipolar disease is a big problem in the AMish community of PA, I believe, since they are so closely related. Now the Mennonites I knew were normal, nice people. I used to babysit for a Mennonite couple in CHicago when I was in college. They were very nice and just more back to nature than maybe some others. The husband was in charge of a recycling plant. THe children went to a Montessori school. Then I recently met a Mennonite at a conference for my disease. He and his wife did dress a bit differently but they didn't shun electronics or anything. In fact, my husband was looking at the small engine repair manual at the CLE exhibit this week and they had other books there about repairing electronics and woodworking with power tools.

The co-op we are joining has a class available to high schoolers in Write the Novel Way where at the end of the year, the students will have written a book. My dd is interested in this but I have some questions. FOr one thing, does it have to be a Christian novel or a non-violent novel since my dd's interests lie in writing mysteries, thrillers, and such like? Would it be a useful book to use with a good writer already or is it more geared towards getting reluctant writers to write? Any reviews would be helpful as we try to choose her English for next year. (She will be an 11th grader who will be reading British Lit along with this work).

Yes, we left a church because the interim pastor (who had just started on his on his miminum one year term and maybe two year term) preached about how homeschoolers are akin to terrorists. I left in the middle of the sermon. WE resigned that week. That was at least 11 years ago.

I have overlap syndrome and take immunosuppressants and I would have turned around too. I think I would have even if I wasn't sinck with my diseases since I think MRSA is such a serious illness. It isn't a casual illness at all. In fact, I don't know why some people think Strep or Staph infections are so unimportant. They are only mild if we have antibiotics that can treat them. Otherwise, they used to be major causes of illness and even death before antibiotics. My favorite Sherlock Holmes actor died from the effects of rheumatic fever many years later (but not at old age). Rheumatic fever was a big cause of heart problems before antibiotics and it is a rising cause now since too many people think that strep infections are supposed to be treated like colds. No, they are not and MRSA is a particularly virulent and dangerous strain.

We are Christians but I think the only thing my dh wants submission is on how tidy or uncluttered things should be. THat is because he is more tidy than me and doesn't like it cluttered. I don't mind as much though I do like uncluttered places too. If we have a problem about this, it is usually because one of us is in a bad mood completely unrelated to tidiness. On the other hand, I have seen and heard people express ideas like submission means the man is in charge of everything. Well he isn't, doesn't want to be, doesn't have the expertise or the time. I am the economics major and I am in charge of finances. I know more about healthcare so I am in charge of that. WE agree on things like church selection, house selection, etc. Neither gets to overrule the other and those things we have to have agreement. I know some Christians have other views but that is one reason we make sure we attend churches with more liberal attitudes about this. THat means we attend a church where only men are pastors, elders and deacons but women have very important other roles such as heads of important committees, they read scripture in front of the congregation, and in no way do I feel second class. One reason is that even though I can't be an elder there because I am female, I couldn't nor could my husband because we are transients as my name says. I go more with the Dr. Laura explanation anyway and she isn't a Christian. WE should both be doing nice things for each other.

I would really love it if people from the mentioned fields or their spouses responded. I have an almost 16 yo dd who is my most all over the map girl. Her current thinking is that she may want to be one of the following- lawyer, psychiatrist, some other type of MD, involved with politics but not as a politician (maybe speech writer), psychologist, or the latest veterinarian. It was so much easier with my son who wanted to be a historian but switched in college to philosophy. It will be much easier for my youngest who currently wants to be an accident investigator but most likely will stick with engineering/hard sciences. But this one??? Specifically I am at a loss as to how to structure her remaining two years in homeschool and how to help her narrow down college choices and choose activities. Last year, she started out with only the lawyer, psychologist or political worker. I had her take psychology, work on campaigns, and was going to have her do debate this year. The problem is that she is trying to do too much. Her schedule will be too heavy if she tries to do everything. Basically I think she should volunteer at the hospital less than a mile from my neighborhood and do debate. I am not going to add anything for the veterinary interest since we have pets and the shelters are 10-15 miles away. I still don't have English or Biology, planned and she could take one of these in CC. I am just thinking that with her regular classes- ALg. 2, US History Pt 2, Government and Economics, and Spanish, alosng with Choir 1 night a week, she is going to be overwhelmed. She is very hard working and diligent but she is ADHD and her medication runs out by 6pm plus she gets migraines frequently. By the way, her personality matches up perfectly with the lawyer career. (SHe wants to be a prosecutor if that is what she does). SHe has talents in writing and has memorization problems. I really don't think the medical field is that realistic but don't know if I should conitnue headlong into this crazy path or start trying hard to steer.

My son got admitted to most of his colleges he applied to and ended up with a half tuition scholarship to the one he chose. None required SAT 2s. NOne of the ones I have been starting to research for my daughter require any either. MOst colleges don't and some don't if you take the ACT. I would check that first becuase depending on a college they may require one or more but not necessarily the ones you think.