I have been tortured trying to make sure we are covering high school since I have an up and coming 9th grader. CC is big in our area. We just dropped out of the online charter school which is the other big thing in our area. So I took dd13 to an open house yesterday for Challenge 1. Mind you she is already doing Saxon Algebra 1 and Physical Science at home so she was as prepared as the rest of the kids in those classes. They are starting a new rule this next year that you have to be 14 to go into Challenge 1 and you have to do all 6 strands and they are piloting a new Challenge 1 that uses the same writing as Challenge B and less novels next year. They don't know whether there will be new rules for age for Challenge 2, 3, and 4. They said it is because of maturity. But it is a nationwide change. So she would start at Challenge 1 next year if we did it. I looked at the catalog. I looked at the guide. I kept hearing this is so intense and full, but the day I sat in did not seem that way during the visit. It seemed like they were sort of reviewing what the kids had already done at home and not all tutors were created equal. The algebra 1 we sat in on was awful. I had to finish the algebra problem on the board b/c it got so far off track and wrong. A student had corrected the mistakes in a few earlier problems. I cringed thinking how detrimental this could be if your child really needs higher math or how confusing it could be if your child understands higher math and the teacher doesn't. I was told the teacher was having an off day. I too have been looking for CC reviews. I have had a hard time finding any that delved into the pros and cons in depth. I don't get it. I kept hearing accountability, but at this age i would be dropping off all day. The tutor does not grade, does not assess, does not provide feedback on papers. They basically just check to see if it is done? So what am I paying almost $1200 for? I was encouraged to come to a practicum. I don't know. I just don't get what you are paying for and how much of a gamble you are running that the 4 years of high school you do at cc will give you a good tutor each year. They get a 3 day training for tutoring for high school algebra, algebra 2, trig., calculus??? 3 days training to tutor Biology, Chemistry, Physics??? I had only heard rave reviews locally but I just saw moms teaching high school courses or reviewing high school courses to the best of their ability. Maybe I missed out on something. They are taking out the tests and using blue book assessments now but the teacher doesn't do anything with the assessments??? What are you paying the tutor to do? I am so confused. I thought it would be more of a learning experience at the CC than a review day with confusing algebra done incorrectly. What am I missing? Did I just go on an off day?

Yes, I have seen their plans. When you spent $100 on their site they would send you 6 weeks of the plans as a "sample" to entice you to join their school. The samples on the web site are not samples of their plans. They have an accredited academy and if you purchase over $100 on the book site you can pick what grade you wish to receive your sample. It is really good and definitely worth a thought in the high school grades. I never invested in enrolling in the school in the younger grades but have seriously looked at the high school. They are 2 very different things though the book site and enrolling in the academy and receiving their lesson plans.

From what I have heard, the meat to Seton's English is in their plans. We ordered enough in cost wise one year to get the first 6 weeks of plans to entice you to sign up for their academy. It had a lot more than when you just buy the books.

This can be a hard question especially if you have to declare a grade and have to test later with homeschooling. Redshirting has gotten out of hand in my state. Our school system is awful here. My kids attended for years before I pulled them. My girls with July and August birthdays were the youngest in their class. There were kids 1.5-2 years older than them during different times of the year and it wasn't just boys being redshirted. So my 8 year old 3rd grade daughter was in class with 10 year old kids come spring time. I have 2 December students as well and they are boys. Our cut-off is September so both started k at 5 1/2 and this worked well for them. I thought they would be the oldest in their class. My older son went to kindergarten at public school and most boys were turning 7 that spring. They wanted me to hold him back to be 7 again and retaking kindergarten although he was academically ready for 1st. They said he was immature. So after being badgered for 6 months on the matter, I had looked up the rules for retaining kindergarten and the only way they could retain for immaturity is if the parent wanted it. So we toughed it out until June and started homeschooling and haven't looked back. I would go by the state cut-off especially if you have to turn it in on paperwork. If for any reason you need to go back to school later, I have heard it is very hard to get them placed higher up or lower once you declare a grade level. It is hard to determine sometimes in this low of an age/grade. Even my late bloomer with diagnosed dyslexia/dysgraphia blossomed about 3rd and 4th grade and is on level with his peers. So I would probably warn against placing in a lower grade based off of skills at 6. It is a lot easier to get to repeat a grade level than it is to jump ahead a grade level. We went into the charter school system 2 years ago and I had to decide exactly where to place my kids grade-wise and even though my son didn't place in his grade level with all capabilities I place him where he would be in brick and mortar school. It was the right decision. I do wish that I would have placed my dd who is gifted into a higher grade level and skipped a grade b/c for the 2nd year in a row she has almost all higher grade level courses but her age wise grade level homeroom which means her homeroom teacher can't help me ever. She knows nothing of the high school system. :( Next year b/c she will have enough credit to be a sophomore they will finally change her homeroom to reflect her classes she is taking. So I would say to at least put in your grade level age wise for the cut-off for your state b/c it is hard once you declare a grade level to get them moved up or down.

We did HOD for years. I have kids all a year apart for my olders and I could only combine the 2 older kids. It gets more and more independent and the skills are more and more for older kids...it isn't set up for group learning between a huge gap in ages. I tried one year to have my 3 together. You can try orally but I think you will find that you are either dragging your youngers along or dropping back for your olders. It just isn't set up for family learning.

I am going to be really honest here as I pulled my kids and put them in HOD years ago when we left public school. Up to Preparing, the writing is below what is normally taught for children in those age/grades on purpose. That said, when we started they did not have a guide out high enough for my older girls skill level. So we never got a good fit. I would put them in where they fit on the placement chart. Depending on your 3rd and 4th grader's skills....you may be able to combine in Bigger with extensions for your 4th grader or try Preparing with them both. For 1st grade (if your 1st grader can read), I would suggest Beyond instead of LHFHG. Are you planning to do anything with your 4 and 3 year old? They could probably fit in Little Hands with older and younger options. It really doesn't take long to do Little Hands. I honestly don't suggest holding back in HOD as it fostered frustration in my girls. We didn't have an alternative at the time b/c the older guides hadn't been written. We did wind up skipping a whole guide at one point and that seemed to help my girls a lot as HOD was finally challenging.

You need to go this year if your children have been in OT with fine motor delays. They may or may not be eligible for a 504. You need to call the public school and tell them your children will be attending next year and get an evaluation. You may have to go through the board of education or something since they are not currently enrolled, but call the school and find out where testing is done so that you can go in with documentation. They do not accept outside testing results mostly. My ds who had so much trouble was diagnosed with dysgraphia and he does have a 504 and it will take a lot of stress off of you, but they can't implement a 504 until an eval is performed and it can take a long time in the public school system. I would start calling now b/c there is normally a waiting list for evaluations.

Writing in public school 3rd grade is paragraphs and beginning to learn the essay. All subjects will have paragraphs. This is part of the new common core. Expect less multiple choice in the next few years. I hate to say it, but by the end of this year my 1st grader should be writing a solid paragraph. It doesn't have to be spelled right or grammatically correct past a capital letter and a period...so by 3rd the expectations are a lot more. My 5th grader who was 4th last year jumped into k12 for 4th after only homeschool and was similar to your kids. Everything was good except writing in both penmanship and composition he lagged behind his peers. You really just need to get them ready to write a good solid paragraph. I would call and ask if they teach cursive in 3rd at the public school they will go to next year. If so, I would not stress handwriting past correcting formation and such. Or I would go ahead and buy a cursive worktext and work through it. Cursive is easier than print. My kids with motor issues wrote better in print after learning cursive. They never improved much with all the HWOT that we did, but once we learned cursive their print automatically improved. I would suggest Zaner Bloser 2C. It goes over print briefly and then transitions to cursive. You only need the student book. http://shop.zaner-bloser.com/p-3158-zaner-bloser-handwriting-grade-2c-student-edition.aspx As for writing, I suggest diamond notes by Sonlight. http://www.sonlight.com/RL67.html My kids were in public school years ago and by the end of 2nd they were definitely writing a paragraph. That was 5 years ago and I think writing has been pushed even more lately. If my child were going back to public school next year, I would call the school and ask about what curriculum they use and then I would most likely purchase this grade (your last one homeschooling) with their materials. I would ask about math too.

The middle school/high school math is excellent in my opinion and the color math isn't too shabby if you start from the beginning and do the stuff they have in the teacher's guide. The workbooks by themselves are not where the instruction is though. You really can see a difference if you do it step by step from the teacher's guide though. The computer instruction and the workbook/textbook won't cut it. You need all the little things from the teacher's book. It was very hard for my then 4th grader to jump into color math last year, but this year in 5th he is doing well. I really think a lot of people do the computer portion and then jump to the workbook/textbook and don't go through the teacher's guide. It is really easy to do if you aren't right by your kid while they do math. My 1st grader who started with color math is doing really well and I do think with math that starting with a program makes a big difference in what you think of it. Science is really good, but it is all online. That is the only downside. No text. I think there should be a text for science especially in the middle/high school years. I bought Usborne's Illustrated Dictionary of Science though and that makes it all work. You really need a text with all the periodic tables and other stuff needed for physical science, chemistry, biology, physics... I like the history and it really is SOTW almost verbatim for the 1st grade through 4th grade. I have been surprised. We have SOTW 1 so I did compare it once our 1st grade loaded. It is kind of cool though b/c the stories in SOTW with the nomad family are told in storybook fashion with k12 like an audio book with pictures. My 1st grader loves it mid-lesson. I like all of the k12 history. Middle School music uses Music Ace 1 and 2 which I love, but the elementary music is awful. Art is done well throughout but I wouldn't want to pay the price for k12 art. You can find it cheaper. The kindergarten history program i absolutely love as you do geography the 1st half and make suitcases for each continent and then travel the countries in the continent. It was really fun. http://www.wigglewormsfirstschool.blogspot.com/2012/10/month-in-review-september-2012.html If you scroll down on this post, you can see some of my 1st grader's work from last year in that class. I will tell you that I love the GUM grammar for elementary through 5th grade. I absolutely hate the middle school/high school grammar book. They call it GUM grammar but it is a totally different series of books than the elementary and it is not easy to follow. The literature is well done and the composition also but the grammar is just weird and jumps all around the book so it makes no sense whatsoever. You can't do past middle school without ordering from them with the teacher support. And it all needs the computer. Middle school is still the same as elementary with lit and language arts offline mainly. Except assessments. All assessments are now online. The foreign language is well done and probably no more expensive than Rosetta Stone, but you can join the clubs and actually talk to a teacher and classmates in the language in cc's for club meetings. My dd took German last year and this year and it makes it a lot easier to be in the clubs and practice talking with other people. We have done k, 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th so far with k12. We are currently doing 1st, 5th, 7th, and 8th. There isn't much that sticks out too me that if I was paying for it that I would spring the k12 $$$'s to purchase besides science (secular and done well) and foreign language (for reasons above). I do enjoy k12 and think it is all well done but it is totally out of our budget to pay for by ourselves. Also if you have a child struggling with reading, their Mark 12 remedial program is great. It is just really priced out of most people's budgets and you could afford a good private school for the cost of k12. I sort of consider doing k12 through a charter school our private school education. ;)

Actually, our 1st graders language arts for k12 was revamped from the language 1 and we got more materials (in print) than we did last year when he got Language 1 earlier. They have changed the lit books for 1st and they are now hardback with totally different stories in them as well. No more Junior Great Books either. I do think the assessments are moving more online and I think that is for accountability. I have a 5th grader and we got all the same paper books with student and teacher guides, GUM grammar, the vocab book and spelling books. the lit books were all there also. However, for GUM, vocab, and literature...the assessments are now online instead of the 1 question how many did your child miss on the test to grade them. They are mostly what the paper tests were just online. I am having my 5th grade ds do the paper tests as practice tests before doing the online test. I don't know if they will continue to print the paper tests in the student/teacher guides but this year I am using them as study guides for him.

I think it is to reflect the times personally. It is a digital age and less printed materials means less cost on their part. So cost and how readily electronic materials are accepted and even expected are likely their reasons. Abeka is coming out with digital editions this next year as well. It makes curricula look as if they aren't stagnant. They are perceived as being up to date this way.

They do have writing separate through Calvert's Verticy program. You could see if it would fit your needs.

I wished there had been an answer key to the questions she had put in the guide for the Apologia science.

No, we didn't use Preparing. That was our other trouble with HOD--placement. I had ordered Preparing and sent it back the year we did CTC. My kids had went to school through 3rd and 4th grade and their writing skills were much higher than where the HOD guides were for their age ranges. I loved the look of the HOD notebooking pages and we loved the watercolors art, but at the heart of it... my kids couldn't fit well in any guide overall and once we got to Preparing on up...there were books that we would have to avoid or tweak and my kids didn't agree with the viewpoint either which made CTC very hard for my oldest to get through.

We used HOD through CTC and then left. For me, our beliefs are too different from reformed Protestant and we aren't young earth. So it was just no longer going to work for us. My girls who did CTC also got very burnt out on the history being Biblical history for the majority of CTC. My dd who is in 7th this year did K12's Ancient History last year with the Odyssey book and it was pretty much new material to her. I felt that since she had just went through ancients with HOD that K12's Odyssey World History starting with ancients would be more review for her. It was not at all. I can think of very few times last year where she said she knew the material or referenced back to something she learned in CTC. So that would be my only complaint for the CTC program.

Given that scenario, I would find what the school used and continue with it for this year. It will be familiar to the student and mom. I really wish that I would have done that with my dd's coming out of ps to homeschool 3rd and 4th grade. We struggled and had to go back to square one with the homeschool materials and it wasn't b/c the children didn't have the concepts down. They did. They just hadn't memorized basic facts. I really wish that I would have used a math fact finder that year and their public school math books for those grades and just did drill, drill, drill for the facts. We spent about 3 years spinning our wheels with math and trying every type of math program out there. They were stagnant and not moving forward in math b/c we had to go back and learn the way the new math programs worked. I would really suggest sticking with the math the child is used to and figuring out what needs extra tutoring instead of trying to jump into a different style of math altogether.

A long time ago (lol) when I was in private school, we tested twice a year. We tested in Oct. and April I think. We did the IOWA test both times and it was fairly painless. That was before test prep became a thing though and since it wasn't public school...it really was to see how we were doing an progressing. Often times, it would help to move you up or down in reading group or math labs and the like. I know how they used the results from Oct. to April and back again. I can't really see how it would help in homeschool though b/c you aren't in reading groups by levels or math labs by level. I don't know of any free alternatives that are going to give her the printout she is wanting to look at and evaluate. It sounds like she wants to just use the tests to evaluate and not go over the portfolio. You are paying the evaluator, right? Do you get to choose your evaluator? I might would tell her that I thought the portfolio was sufficient and the test from the previous spring to the current spring shows plenty of growth. If she wasn't keen on that, then I would start asking around about a different evaluator. The cheapest tests that I think you could do would be the CAT tests. It is relatively painless to do them with CLP's computerized ones with instant results, but you are looking at $50 for 2 tests. Unless you feel it is necessary, I wouldn't incur extra expense. It honestly sounds like she doesn't want to put too much effort into evaluating and just wants to look at 2 tests scores, be done, and get her check.

I would pick a traditional writing program. I am going to recommend a writing program that Sonlight sells called Diamond Notes. It is based off setting up a paragraph using a graphic organizer shaped like a baseball field. It is perfect for a 10 yr old boy. http://www.sonlight.com/RL67.html It is more traditional in setting up your writing and organizing your writing.

I was just going to add the TT7 and Pre-Algebra are almost identical. I would move forward with Algebra 1. :)

Yes, the Reading Lesson starts off easy and progresses. For his age level (which was the age my ds started the Reading Lesson after a dozen failed phonics programs), you would do 3 pages a day and there are 20 lessons with about 20 pages per lesson and the writing gets smaller as you go and the visual cues disappear as well the further you go. Yes, about 10 lessons into the Reading Lesson we picked up readers and I let my son pick whatever interested him. It turned out to be Star Wars leveled readers and then Goosebumps. By the time we finished the Reading Lesson, my ds was reading the Goosebumps chapter novels easily. I did want to let you know that my ds is a diagnosed dyslexic and he reads excellent and above his grade level now.

I would wait. My ds10 took forever to graduate from cvc to blend words and reading, but when he did...it was all at once. I think Boxcar Children is a good goal but we read it in 4th grade with 2 different curricula not as 7 yr old 2nd graders. My son is now 5th grade and Narnia was the first book he read this year. We tried every phonics program in the book and I will recommend The Reading Lesson b/c it isn't drill and kill. It isn't a ton of charts. You are reading words and sentences the 1st day. I would try it before I would pay for therapy. I would say give the gift of time and get him away from comparing himself to older siblings. Also, pick up books in his reading skill level now for him to read as well as use the other books as read alouds to him. I personally love the emerging readers set that HOD uses in Beyond. The only downside is they don't sell the emerging readers list and questions by themselves. You can get their catalog and go in order though. We skip the Beginner's Bible and just start with the readers. The Reading lesson is excellent if you suspect dyslexia as well. It has a small circle in certain letters to distinguish between b and d or p and q and underlines for u and n and the like.

OK, as a 4th grader or 5th grader with the OLS...he needs to get 80% of his work completed to pass to the next grade. Yes, they count attendance but we send in dr's notes and mark his attendance as supplemental for the days he missed due to illness. My son was in the hospital March, April, and May last year. He would have never passed in traditional school due to absences. I have 2 advanced kids in k12 and they are allowed to move at their own pace. My 1st grader will promote to 2nd grade by January and my 8th grader is currently taking 6 credits for freshman year high school. My dysgraphic, dyslexic son who has zero focus has a 504 and they work well with me on it. I have checked into GCA as it is an option should we need to move back to GA or if my mom relapses. It is very similar in rules to LAVCA on attendance and hours and progress for promotion. In your situation, I would call the PAL and I would just mail all the required documents certified mail today. The enrollment process is done by k12 and not by GCA. Your PAL could be anywhere across the USA. Once you are enrolled, you are golden. I have heard great things about GCA and it is a strong curriculum. This curriculum has been a life-saver for my struggling 5th grader who needed challenging but has trouble focusing and has dyslexia. I would call and talk to another PAL and try to go as high up as you can go and explain your personal situation. I would also send it all in certified mail so someone has to sign for it just to be on the safe side. The enrollment process can be confusing and take a while but you only have to do it your first year in the school after this year you just have to check a form that says you are returning. I hope things go well for you and that you get the transplant that you need. *hugs*

We are in LAVCA-Louisiana's version of GCA. My mother battled colon cancer (Stage 3b) a few years ago and my advice would be to traditionally homeschool your child this year. Take the time to really enjoy your child. It is a great curriculum and I fully endorse it to other parents, but if I were in your shoes I wouldn't do it. I am from Valdosta, GA originally. Are you going to the cancer center at S. GA Medical center? I don't know if you homeschooled prior to this or if you are choosing to homeschool now and pulling your child from school, but depending on the grade of your child...the charter schools can be stressful and intimidating. If you have an elementary child, it will be a lot of work for you. If you have a middle school child, it can be done mainly independent. I understand if you plan to put your child back in school that the virtual is assurance that the process will go smoothly and they will go back to regular school in the right grade. Do you live in Brooks county or Dublin? There are more schools (smaller virtuals) than the GCA. http://www.k12.com/participating-schools/georgia/all#.UjMk2tJwqcw You may want to look into enrolling in the smaller school and explaining your situation to them. My youngest son was hospitalized a lot last year and LAVCA was so understanding about absences and such. LAVCA is smaller than GCA b/c it hasn't been around but 2 years. That is why I suggested checking into the smaller virtuals if you can b/c then they seem to know you more just like in a small regular school compared to a large regular shool. Another option if your child has been in school prior to this is to talk to his school and see if they will do homestudy this year with you guys which would take the pressure off of you and a teacher comes out weekly to check on your child's school progress.

I will tell you though that we did k12 for 6th with my other daughter and it too was physical science (basically chemistry) with balancing equations and the like. It was really tough for her and I kept thinking this is what I did in high school, but she got mastery on the state test for science. It was supposed to be k12's 8th grade course if you weren't doing a charter school, but b/c of how state tests and grade expectations line up now that is why dd had to use it for 6th grade.

It is really an answer key, but I will tell you that the answers are hard. Sometimes I don't get what they are looking for without the answer key. We are using the A,B, and C levels though and they are just tough.