@cintinativeThat sounds almost perfect. I would have liked to have a graded course. But I suppose that I can have him write a paper for each book. But I really really love the idea of going through each book very slowly. Do they read the entire books, or are they only given excerpts to read?

@cintinativeI think that the House of Humane Letters looks like exactly what I am looking for. Can you tell me a bit more about it? Are they live lectures? How often are they done? Is there any kind of textbook or resource materials?

Literature is my weakest subject, so I am hoping for some ideas from the hive. A couple of years ago, I opted to put my oldest in an online lit class, thinking that was a better option than me trying to teach it. But it was a horrible experience. They met once a week for a discussion and were expected to read books like Dante's Inferno or Beowulf in their entirety by themselves in the intervening week. It was way too much reading for the level of reading they were doing and there was no support at all. Now I have to find a literature class for my younger. I am considering two possibilities. 1. Find a more suitable online course. 2. Piece together a curriculum. I think it would be great to be able to purchase a separate curriculum for each book we choose. I am looking for suggestions for resources in either category, either online classes, or resources that would allow me to piece together the course of our choice. Thank you!

We did this last year. He is hoping for something where he can actually share his work with other kids and get to know them. Something more social.

My 13yo son is looking for a writing club. We don't have anything like this in our local area. Does anyone know of an online group?

@MamaSprout Were you able to find another alternative? My dd definitely wants to try Russian again.

@FarrarDo you use a separate curriculum, or does the iTalki tutor just supplement your regular curriculum?

No, I have not heard of it.

Thank you very much for this. It was BYU that she had to withdraw from. The Russian class was just so poorly done. List of phrases to simply memorize without any grammar instruction at all. Requirements to do handwriting without any resources for how to do it. We won't do another HS level language program from BYU unless they change their approach.

My dd15 is extremely interested in learning languages. I speak Spanish, and I am teaching both of my children using ULAT. But dd is wanting to start on another language. She signed up for Russian independent study course, and it was very poorly taught (required rote memorization of words and phrases with no support in learning the alphabet first) and she did not really have access to a teacher, so she withdrew. So I am looking for a better alternative. She does not have her heart set on Russian. She chose it because it was interesting to her to learn a language with a non-Latin alphabet. But she would be happy with just about any language if the class were well taught and she had access to a teacher who was fluent. She has mentioned Polish, Arabic, Croatian as other possibilities, but she just wants a good class. She does not want to study another Romance language at the moment. If anyone can help to point me in the right direction, I would be most grateful. 🙂

My dd is 15yo. She has never had a standardized test before, something we were going to remedy a year ago just as the lockdowns started. While she is 98th percentile for IQ, she has some processing speed and working memory issues, so I am a little concerned about her taking the ACTs. However I now feel like we don't have a lot of time to pussyfoot around with any old test. I am going to purchase an ACT prep book and have her take practice tests. She is asking me if it is possible to take a practice test in real life, meaning like a pre-ACT in the same environment and under the same conditions as the ACT would be given. Do they even do that? I seem to remember they did when I was in high school, but I never participated and it was 30 years ago now. And what are the current constraints with Covid? Any other advice for how to help her prepare. As smart as she is, she has really high testing anxiety, and her speed is really slow.

Thank you very much for this input. My kids are both fairly independent, so not a lot of supervision needed for them. I am really excited about the Russian.

What was your experience? Did you feel it was well done? Would you use it again?

Has anyone used BYU independent study courses for high school? I am considering the Biology and Russian for my 15dd.

Thank you so much. This really looks perfect for us, and really quite affordable. And it so happens that my dd has been secretly learning French, as well. Do you know if she will have access to both Spanish and French lessons?

Is this even possible to find? I have a 15yo dd who is 2e and is a visual-spatial learner who prefers immersion-style learning and who has some significant executive skills weaknesses. She has completed 2 years of the Michel Thomas curriculum (conversational Spanish). Writing is very laborious for her, and most things take twice as long as the average learner. But to improve in Spanish, I believe she needs some work in written translation, because she is just not learning the conjugations by practicing them verbally. My 12yo ds is my audio-sequential learner who just finished the Spanish with Children series. He is gifted and can speed through any written work. He has a good grasp of basic grammar and a decent vocabulary, but conversation is extremely difficult for him. So he needs some conversational practice to improve. I have a Spanish degree and am relatively fluent in Spanish. I had hoped to teach Spanish to my kids but have found that I really need a curriculum. Although my kids have very different strengths and weaknesses, they are at about the same level, and I would love to find a curriculum that I can use for both. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thank you!

Middlebury looks really good. Can I ask why you decided to switch?

I have a degree in Spanish. It has been many years since I have used it regularly, so I am not 100% fluent. But I have been using a lot in the last few months. I want to find a Spanish curriculum for my son and supplement with Duolingo and Michel Thomas, which my daughter is using. He wants something that is sort of independent, that gives him the instruction in his book and that he can come and ask me about if he needs help. Any recommendations?

My 10yo has done 2 years of Latin and has been following his sister's conversational Spanish course. I am chronically ill and need something that is fairly independent. I speak Spanish and can provide explanations, but I need the core of the program to be independent, something he can start on his own and come to me with questions if he needs me.

Thank you very much! I will look at both!

Thank you! I will check out both of these.