In choosing three to five selections from this time frame, I'd probably go for the major classics, like: Gilgamesh Homer's Illiad and/or Odyssey Virgil's Aeneid Beowulf The Canterbury Tales Check the great books list in WTM for a more complete list to choose from, if these aren't to taste. HTH

We use Hake, and we do use the writing program. I think I might be the only one out there who does. Yes, it's dry. Yes, it's "formulaic", but as a thorough skill-builder, it's what I was looking for. Lots of practice writing a variety of different kinds of short essays. It also covers outlining, creative writing and responding to literature. For us, it worked far far better than Writing With Skill.

Can you specify which time period in world history you're covering? Or is it the entire world history in one survey course?

My oldest is starting 9th grade this year, so my high school plans are still in formation, but here's what I'm thinking: 9th: World History to 1500 10th: World History 1500 to present 11th: US History 12th: American Government/Economics Geography will be incorporated with each year's focus. Folding my younger dd in at the appropriate time, her history schedule will look like: 9th: US History 10th: Amer. Gov't / Economics 11th: World History to 1500 12th: World History 1500 to present That's my tentative long range plan. We'll see how it all plays out. :)

Omg, I forgot all about that! Lol.... I agree, the Chat Board can be extraordinarily toxic. I used to come in here and lurk just for a break from it. Now that my oldest is starting 9th, I feel like I have a more legitimatized refuge here on the high school board. Enjoy your new journey. :)

Me too. That sounds really yummy. :D

That is just awesome! :D

We're celebrating here! My 12yo made sure she had all the colors of the rainbow on her clothes/jewelry when she got dressed this morning. Lol.... raisin' 'em right... :D

Thanks everyone, for your help. :)

I'm probably making this way too complicated for myself, I know, but.... When looking at a long term high school plan for my rising 9th grader, I'm not sure what the best science sequence should be. I'm probably going to have her do Biology next year (either Miller Levine or CK-12, with corresponding lab kits) but then, what should I do for 10th grade? Go right into Chemistry, like I did in high school? Do a year of Astronomy, like WTM recommends? Or should I do a year of "physical science" like I've seen in programs like Bridget Ardoin or Pearson, etc? And what, exactly, is Physical Science. It's not Physics, I'm assuming..... And, to make it more complicated, some of these websites recommend doing Physical Science in 9th grade and then progressing into Biology and Chemistry in 10th and 11th grades, leaving Physics for 12th grade. My dd is more arts and language interest-led. I doubt she'll pursue a STEM type career, so I'm not looking for super-charged AP level science. But I want her to have a proper, secular, and complete high school level science education. So, what sequence would be best for her? She is just finishing up Saxon Algebra 1 this year and will start Saxon Algebra 2 next year for 9th grade. For science this year, we did CK-12 Middle School Physics (but without a lot of lab work... the labs she did at her enrichment program were more biology based). What would you recommend for a 4-year science sequence for us? TIA. :)

We use Saxon, and will continue for high school, and yes, we show all work. I have them start by copying the original problem onto their paper and then showing each step on subsequent lines. We go through a lot of paper each year, yes, but it's important to keep the steps organized. I tell them it's in their best interest to show their work, because that way, I can award partial credit for answers that are only off by a small calculation error.

It really depends on each situation: your relationship with the person on hospice as compared to your relationship with the family. We actually just got back from a trip like this. RegularDad's dad is dying and lives 2,000 miles away. In this case, his dad specifically asked us to come visit him before he gets too sick to know we were there. So we went and spent a day with him. When it comes time for the funeral (and if there is one, it will be very small) RegularDad will probably just go by himself. I'm sorry for you situation. These things are difficult.

My older dd has an early September birthday. We waited the extra year. Well, actually, we just went very slowly in first grade and took about two years for that material, IIRC. No regrets here at all. She's an older 8th grader now, and she's doing very well. My younger dd has a late spring birthday, so she's on the slightly younger side of her grade. I can see the difference between the two of them in terms of how they've handled their school material over the years. I've learned that extra time to mature is often a very good idea.

We use Hake, and it has worked very well for us. Thorough, not too expensive, and virtually independent.

We moved about 7 months ago, and we're still adjusting. We're busy, and we're out and about and doing lots of things with people, but it's not the same as really knowing the people you're doing things with. We have tons of acquaintances here, but it takes a long time to make deep lasting friendships. It can feel lonely. But on the plus side: we're doing more as a family, and we're able to stay home and get work done more than we had been before. So, there's a trade off, I guess. I find it takes us a good 5 years to feel REALLY settled somewhere. Sadly, it seems like every time we hit that 5 year mark, we end up moving again. We try to stay put, but RegularDad's job is the kind that you need to move with sometimes. This time... we're hoping it's the last. :/

Hi quark, This is awesome! For the Saxon sections, you might want to note that the DIVE CD's are not secular. The Saxon Teacher CD's are. :)

We were there last year and loved it. Of course, RegularDad launches satellites for a living, so he's particularly interested in all things related to space, but the girls had fun too. This was our last day in Florida, after 4 or 5 whirlwind days at Disney/Harry Potter, so it was actually a welcome, quieter day. In addition to Atlantis, you can see the Saturn V rocket which has been reconstructed. It's HUGE. Truly amazing stuff.

I only curriculum-hopped once, and it turned out to be a mistake. I learned then to trust what my long term plan was and has been. I wouldn't say I'm hard headed, but I knew exactly what I wanted from homeschooling, and I learned early on to keep that kind of stuff to myself. So, over the years, I've quietly just done my thing. Not perfectly, not always 100% confidently, but I've just stayed the course. And it's worked for me. I very very rarely will discuss curriculum with people. My advice to those just starting out: Have a plan and stick to it. Try not to worry about new glitzy programs and methods that come and go. Just keep on keeping on. Most importantly, don't compare the inside view of your home school to the outside view of someone else's.

My oldest will be in 9th grade next year, and she wants to keep homeschooling, so here we are. Eeeek! I'm still in an early planning stage, but here's where I'm at right now: Math: Saxon Algebra 2 Language Arts: We did FLL 1-4, then Hake 5-8, and her grammar is SOLID. I'll probably have her do Easy Grammar or Daily Grams to keep familiar with mechanics, plus the Lively Art of Writing, plus Literature Studies to tie in with History History: World History 1. My plan is to cover World History in 2 years, using Spielvogel's Human Odyssey as a spine. Ideally, I'll create a mini-version of a Great Books study. Still figuring this out. Will probably add some geography in here too. Science: Other than RegularDad, we're not very science-oriented here at my place. We're more language/history/creative arts types. I'm thinking about High School Biology in Your Home by Bridget Ardoin. It's secular, which is a must for us, it's scripted for me and it has labs. I found it in the Biology thread up top in here. Has anyone used this? Any suggestions or recommendations? Will that suffice for a proper high school biology course? I still haven't ruled out out-sourcing our science, but she's taking so many other classes outside already, I'm worried about scheduling. Logic/Rhetoric: Haven't decided yet. She's done Critical Thinking Books 1 and 2, Traditional Logic 1 and will finish up Traditional Logic 2 by the end of this year, if all goes according to plan. Not sure where to go from there just yet. Foreign Language: We've been doing Latin since 2nd grade. She'll finish Third Form Latin this year. I'm thinking about switching to Henle instead of doing 4th Form. But I'm also considering stopping Latin and trying French. Every year, we try to do some French and it falls through the cracks. Ideally, we'd do both, but it just never seems to happen. sigh... Electives: tons of those. She does an enrichment day once a week that will continue through high school. She gets art and music classes there, plus she takes extra music, drama, dance, singing classes at the local conservatory. She'll also be eligible for dual enrollment classes at the community college. I figured she ought to choose electives to start out there, just in case there's an adjustment period to taking college level classes. All that stuff combined will cover elective credits quite well. PE: She skis, does yoga, and has been taking archery classes. Not sure if I need to add much else there. Trying not to freak out too much about next year.... any advice is always appreciated. :)

Thanks, Jean.

I just had to relinquish a dog to the humane society a few months ago due to aggression. He was not a pit bull or even a mix of one. He was mostly lab and maybe cattle dog, according to his behaviorist. I worked with him, with a certified behaviorist for 4 years. But he never did improve.He was sweet and loving with people and all the children that visited loved him. But he also had an enormous prey drive, and was extremely reactive to other dogs. This summer, after we moved, had one too many incidents that crossed the border from reactive to aggressive, so we took him in. And you know... it hurts quite a bit, going through that, losing a dog like that. But it was the right thing to do. I love him and miss him, but I think he was just one of those dogs that had some sort of mental defect that no amount of training could fix. I spent a small fortune and all of my free time working with him, but it didn't make one little dent. MamaGeek, I hope your dog is on the mend. But yes, I agree with everyone else: report this. The owners of that dog should be falling over themselves offering to make this right. They should be contacting behaviorists and possibly making some very difficult decisions. Believe me: I know. I've been there. Recently. The breed doesn't mean much to me. The behavior does.

Thanks everyone. I feel much better. Scarlett, if we were still in PA, I would probably have enrolled her in a cyber for high school, since PA homeschooling regs become trickier at that level, but now that we're back in CO where reporting is so much more relaxed, I feel like I've come all this way classically that I want to try to keep going. Also: we'll probably need a good bit of flexibility if she continues in her theater arts adventures, which makes me think a cyber might not work for us. :)

Oooh, thanks for that tip. I do often just search google for WTM threads, but was still having some trouble. This thread number thing will help a lot!

We've been wondering about this issue as well, specifically when it comes to Pi and unit multiplier problems. I emailed a bit with the saxon homeschool help desk and they said that leaving the symbol for Pi is actually more accurate than doing the calculations, which makes sense to me since 3.14 is a rounded approximation of Pi, but I'm still not clear on why some problems seem to get simplified and some don't. I've talked this over with my dd14 and told her to not worry so much about doing the calculations for these problems. What's more important is that she sets up the problem properly than gets the calculations right. She was a bit relieved to hear this, actually, because she now finishes faster, not having to do that math. However, I do keep a calculator nearby when grading to make sure, if she does calculate the final answer out of habit, that she's gotten it correct.

Lol! Yeah, and I'm pretty shy around here in general as it is. I've always felt like the high school board is the one that separates the women from the girls, to paraphrase somewhat badly. Coming here and actually posting requires a little bit of courage. At least for me. :)