Thank you for sharing your experience. That is very reassuring. I love the idea of her getting to experience some awesome lab science, since I think we've pretty much done the majority that is realistically possible at home already. My husband is an engineer and I'm a former nurse with a love of science, with a bunch of very science-y kids so we have done tons of home lab science already. When I have seen suggestions for home labs for high school, a good portion are things she has already done.

Thank you for your comments, they echo my own thoughts on teaching to the test. That is one of my biggest annoyances with the public school system. She has participated each year in a one day seminar at a local community college for middle school girls interested in STEM careers. She mentioned that she was going to ask the group that comes in with birds of prey from a Raptor Rescue for ideas about volunteering. She also has asked to volunteer with the teen program at our local zoo. Its funny that you mention the Cornell lab study course. Their Merlin bird ID app was what started her dive into this interest. She became absolutely fascinated with using the sample bird calls to interact with the birds in our yard. She has gobbled up every bit of info on birds she could find and then sent an email to Cornell bird lab asking questions about possible suggestions about future add ons to their app. I was slightly stunned when she told me after she had emailed back and forth with someone from Cornell bird lab. She has a passion for language and originally thought she might like to study foreign language, but then she realized that understanding how animals (specifically birds obviously) communicate was even more fascinating. When we've discussed the possibility of homeschooling for high school, I had thought about the Cornell bird lab program(s) as an elective science since I know she would just love that. I've been wrestling with the high school options well before discovering this "pre-AP" nonsense. I think I just let my fear jump in before I really looked into the program in depth. We actually never planned to homeschool in the beginning, but she was just absolutely not ready for kindergarten when the time came. We had a few friends that were successfully homeschooling their kids and it seemed like a good thing to try. Then year after year, she has thrived (along with her younger brothers). She has exceeded my expectations at this point. She has such intense passion and drive for the things she wants to learn about that I want to make sure that we set her up for success. On the surface it seems that a quality public high school that offers AP classes is a great opportunity, but I worry about her not having enough time to explore her passions/gifts. The real struggle has been that after elementary school there is a real lack of academic type homeschoolers in the area. It's mostly extremely conservative religious homeschoolers or unschool/very relaxed homeschoolers. I guess it will have to come down to her own choice, because in the end it is her education. SaveSave

I should probably clarify a bit, since I'm guessing the pre-AP program may not be well known at this point. I had assumed it was a silly label when I heard about it before and didn't pay much attention to it. The "pre-AP" label is on the classes because they were part of the group of schools that have tested the College Board's (the group who make the AP exams and designate what is considered "AP") new curriculum geared specifically towards AP prep. The program is meant to teach AP prep split between grades 6-10 from what I understand. They can call the classes "pre-AP" because they are using curricula for that purpose directly from the organization that makes the AP program. It is not just some random label this school district slapped on their course catalog. Personally, I think it seems like a total conflict of interest for the College Board to be in the business of making curriculum to prep for their tests and sell it to school districts. That is a whole can of worms that I won't get into right now. I was told that transferring in for 9th will make it difficult because the "pre-AP" program starts in 6th grade and they expect for the student to understand the previous concepts that wouldn't have been typically introduced at this point. I believe that the issue is not that they will not accommodate different levels of students, but that they are introducing concepts that are not typically introduced at this level. I actually think it looks like it could be a decent program, just not necessarily a great fit for where my daughter is at this moment nor where we planned to be by the end of this school year. I was able to get a copy of the 8th grade ELA workbook from a friend. I think I will take a look through it and see if it is feasible to add the additional concepts to our current plan for this year. The school really is excellent quality for a public school. They have AP participation rates around 45% and a 90% AP pass rate, so it sounds like they are doing a decent job. I doubt that I could offer that kind of level of work for my daughter at home. Thank you all for your responses. You have given me a lot to ponder.

My oldest is in 8th grade this year and I thought she was doing really well academically based on what I had read in TWTM and on these forums. She has always been homeschooled, but we always assumed she would likely go to public high school since we live in an area with supposedly "excellent" schools. I've been making sure to cover our bases by following TWTM and I've even made sure to keep tabs on using Common Core standards as a checklist. Last year, we had even taken a look at some public school "Common Core" textbooks and they actually seemed a bit too easy to for her. She was a late reader (around age 7) and we were following the interest-led and unit study methods up until grade 6. That is when we switched to TWTM methods and she has done great with it. Its been an excellent fit for her and I've been thrilled with the tremendous growth I've seen her abilities. She recently decided that she thinks she wants to study ecology and/or wildlife biology at a state college (she is absolutely passionate about ornithology). She is a natural writer, reads tons of books at a high school level, is currently writing a novel all on her own, and is on track to complete Algebra 1 through Thinkwell by the end of the school year. I really had thought she was doing amazing. Anyway, to get to the point...the local public high school has 9/10 on Great Schools ratings, and they make a big deal about that they offer tons of AP options. I wasn't totally sold on the AP options as a good fit but figured she could take them eventually if she felt up to it after 9th grade. She has minor test anxiety and doesn't do well with rote memorization so she wasn't very interested in AP classes anyway. I have now realized that she is NOT at all prepared for the local public high school because they use all Pre-AP classes in middle school through high school (through the College Board "Springboard" curriculum) and start watered down AP material in *6th grade*. There are NO other options, only Pre-AP classes, even in middle school. If you don't start in 6th grade, you will struggle with the way they teach the material. By 8th grade they are supposed to be able to understand and remember rhetorical literary terms and writing techniques that I learned in the end of high school. I feel like there is just no way that she can be at that level without intense stress by the end of the school year. I feel like I have totally made a mess of her education. What would you do at this point??? When she saw the sample materials that we recently got that are from the pre-AP program for 8th graders she absolutely insisted she wants to homeschool for high school instead. She just figures that their program isn't a good fit for her and she's happy to keep doing what we have been doing. We live in a state that has a very well respected Running Start program that is extremely popular for both homeschoolers and public schoolers, but that is only an option for junior/senior year. She can earn a high school diploma from the community college at the same time as earning an associates degree. The state universities all have transfer agreements with the community colleges, so that is a fairly safe route to get to a bachelors degree. There isn't tons of social opportunities for homeschoolers in middle/high school in our area if you are not a "Christian homeschooler" (we are Christians, but use secular materials). My confidence in my ability to homeschool her has taken a big blow from the realization that we are technically way behind according to the school, when we thought we were likely ahead to start high school. I really don't want her last year of homeschooling to be a huge big stress of pushing her to get ready, when at this point she really enjoys learning. Our original long term plan has just all sort of fallen apart. I could really use advice from others on here. Thanks in advance for reading all of this.

These are my plans for my 13yo dd who will be in 8th this fall. Math: Thinkwell 8th grade math (just decided on this one!) Science: Glencoe Physical Science as a spine with Thames & Kosmos lab kits (Physics Workshop, Chem 2000, Happy Atoms) History: A History of US Grammar: Grammar for the Well Trained Mind Writing: WWS3, Creative Writer 3 Literature: my own customized curriculum for classic literature with coordinating author biography projects Foreign Language: Getting Started with Latin Art: taking at the public school Music: local youth symphony (this will be her first year, I think she's officially chosen the violin) PE: homeschool PE at the YMCA We haven't done much of extracurriculars/outsourcing in the past beyond swim classes and an informal homeschool nature group, so it will be interesting to have 3 actual extras outside the home. *Edited with final (haha!) choices*

Hello. I am a mother of 6 children, ages 3-13, who we educate using the WTM philosophy. I'm also long time lurker coming out of hiding now that my oldest is nearing high school age, because I'm feeling like I could use the support and guidance of more experienced home educators. I greatly appreciate the wealth of knowledge on this forum and look forward to joining in!

I'm so excited this program will be out at the perfect time for my oldest. I've been going crazy trying to find something to help encourage a really solid understanding of grammar before she begins high school in a year. She is currently interested in linguistics (with a focus in Romance languages) as a career, so it will be very reassuring to have her well prepared through this program. She will be finishing up Writing with Skill 3 this year and this new program will be the perfect complement. Thanks for the update.