Has anyone used Brave Writer's high school program? Any thoughts on it? How long did it take to complete? Me and DD are thinking about using it as part of her high school english curric. Thanks. (:

Thank you for passing it on. I really appreciate it. (: At present, DD is probably more knowledgable about home ed than I am but even she couldn't find a maths curriculum she 100% liked so we both really appreciate it. ;D I think the home companion study guide is what I'm calling a revision-type book. It isssss. I just looked it up. Haha, yep. We'll be ordering both. I'm sure DD is going to sail through it and she's gone from very disappointed about TT to very excited about LOF. We've also got the murderous maths books (by the Horrible History people, etc) that she wants to supplement it with but they're quite simple for her, if I'm honest. But if it instills a love of learning in her, I don't mind at all. = ) DD's very happy to hear of other less science-y people too. ;D His grade's brilliant too! DD wants to do biology as her freshman year science and attempt the spectrum chemistry in her sophomore year more than likely which I'm very pleased to hear. We did read that the Longman look was recommended in the syllabus so we'll more than likely use that one too but once again, her independent side is saying she wants something she could work on on her own and doesn't feel she could work through a science textbook on her own without anything to supplement it. Any ideas on that? D: I do agree with you on the classical ed side though. She thinks she might like to do all the different subjects in a different method for a bit of diversity and wants to try reading biographies and 'living books' like the Charlotte Mason method for history, possibly Rosetta Stone for Latin and she wants to recap the french she's done and go on to more advanced stuff. Science and english she's unsure about right now. She loves writing but for some reason, in school, she's never really been given any direction in how to write essays before but luckily, she does want to learn. We were thinking of Brave Writer's high school program but we're not 100% yet. Would that be counted as composition on a transcript? I have to agree with you about her going in a good direction too. She doesn't want to stay being unschooled because she worries she isn't learning enough but I don't really want to go for structured either. She tends to work well late at night which is why I let her stay up late if it's learning-related and she's even made the effort to try two SAT practice tests. One was from SparkNotes and she got 1540 (530M 650W 530CR) and it really put her off, to be honest. I think it upset her a little to think 'all that math I'll have to do to get a better score...' but she was told that SparkNotes isn't very reliable so she took an actually college board practice test and got a 1630 (520M 530W 580CR) which she was a lot happier with but she still wants to improve. The lesson being: don't use SparkNotes for practice tests. xD Enjoy the theatre and thank you so much, once again.

Hi Laura, Thank you so much for replying! Someone who understands my terminology with British stuff is rare. Haha! ;D We're planning on doing a Maths GCSE, rather than IGCSE but planning on doing IGCSEs in other subjects to add up to at least five, hopefully. Luckily the maths GCSE doesn't have coursework anymore or we'd be heading into problems. DD has basically taken charge of all the things she wants to do and I think it's made her even more independent than she already was. She's been saving a little money each month for 'school stuff' and is excited about her freshman year. I don't remember seeing her excited about school since she was three so it's definately a big improvement. =D Me and DD just looked at the link you gave us too. (: DD's really excited about it after we read the sample pages and wants me to order it. I think we'll be doing most of it with their books now so thank you so much for that! I think we'll buy the beginner and advanced algebra books and their revision-type books and the IGCSE book you mentioned at a later date. You've been really helpful! I think that's our maths plans covered! Haha! We were originally thinking of Teaching Textbooks because they allowed her to be independent (very important to her =D) but the price, as well as her wondering whether she'd be motivated enough put us off a little. We'll definately be getting these though and I can see DD whizzing through them already. With regard to her getting overwhelmed, she actually wants to work through the summer holidays and she's also been reading a J. Edgar Hoover biography all this week which she bought herself so her drive for knowledge and learning's always there. I guess that old homeschool philosophy is right. ;D She's already insisted though that the only subject she wants to do actively with me there is history and the way we've been doing that is mainly her accidentally stumbling across some information, asking me about it and it leading to a discussion so I don't think she's going to be too overwhelmed. She actually started looking into homeschool philosophies herself and she's pretty sure Classic is the way to go. (: DD wants to know how your ds found biology too. She's not very science-y but wants to try biology for some unknown reason. ;D Is your son very science-y as well? That'd probably factor in how good/bad he found it. xD Thanks again Laura you've been brilliant and sorry for the really long reply, DD kept adding in points for me to make. = )

Hi, Well my dd has been homeschooled since January. She had a really bad time in school the last two years she was there so we just gave her the time to recover and she basically just read, watched some educational things, read through some textbooks when she randomly decided to, etc. I didn't ask her to do any of it, she just felt really bad about falling behind so I left her to it until now. So, if we were in the US she'd be starting 9th grade in September and she's wanted to go to college in America for a long time now. She also likes how the American ed system works, in particular the maths where it's split into Algebra, Geometry etc rather than just being jumbled together and called 'maths' like it is here. So really, I'd like to find a way to put together the British and American 'ways', if you like. So the best of both worlds? Just in case she changes her mind, and for my own peace of mind I suppose, I'd like her to do GCSEs and A Levels but I'd like her to be able to split apart the maths classes the way she'd like to do it. Any suggestions? Also, does anyone have any ideas on buying curriculum if it's done for the american system and (although it sounds like teaching-to-the-test) and our GCSE syllabuses have additional things needed? Should I buy additional things to supplement the original because dd chose the original or should we look for one that covers everything because it's just simpler? Final question now, I promise - because she was in school until January of '09 and because she's been basically 'unschooled' until now is Classical ed the wrong way to go? Is it too late? Thank you (: