My kids have always gone to traditional sleepaway camps, along with local Parks and Rec and farm camps (multi-sport, swim, paddleboard, etc). Other good camps are EXPLO, Gould Academy Veterinary Camp, IMG and Nike sports camps (usually held at local high schools), and Au Sable. And don't forget YMCA camps!

Thank you for this. It is alot to think about. The ALEKS products are so diverse, though; are you certain that all of them are for review only? And since many colleges use ALEKS for their maths, wouldn't he be fine?

My ds has been loving the switch to ALEKS math (Algebra I), but now that he has "mastered 75% of content" I am wondering how we proceed. Does he take the exam to see if he is ready to move on to Alg. II? Do I just move him up to Alg. II? Does he stay in Alg. I until he masters 100%? Thanks!

This is a timely post! My 16 yo dd is applying to college for Fall 2022 admission. She will be just barely 17 yo. Any advice? How should we prepare her (and ourselves!)?

So far: Old Western Culture Early Moderns Elements of Style (1st term); Writing a Research Paper (2nd and 3rd terms) Life of Fred Algebra I (finish) and (begin) Algebra II, integrating with Geometry when ds is halfway through Algebra II Integrated Science - 1 x week The Riot and the Dance Biology text (all year); 1 x week lab day (all year); 1st term: 3 x week Men, Microscopes and Living Things, then The Disappearing Spoon; 2nd term: 3 x week Wonders of Chemistry (with Sabbath Mood guide); 3rd term; 3 x week Conceptual Physics Italian - I want to outsource this; maybe The Potter's School? Geography - 1 book each term (London to Land's End, Undaunted Courage, The Royal Road to Romance) Civics - 1 book each term (Are you Liberal, Conservative, Confused? Chesterfield Letters to His Son; various essays) Maybe Logic, definitely PE

I am considering Italian at The Potters School for my ds. I watched/listened to a sample class and it sounded great. Is there any interaction outside of class for the kids? My ds is looking for a bit of an online social group for Italian so he can build his language skills outside of class. And do they really learn the language? Thanks!

My ds loves AO (as do I) and we want to continue, but for the high school years I am leaning toward adding in The Early Moderns. We both love the videos we've seen - I have an Eng. Lit. degree and I learned something I did not know but should have! Also, (right now - it could change) he wants to go to college, so I want to prepare him a bit better with writing, listening to lectures, answering more learned questions. His history and literature would look a bit like this: History: OWC The Early Moderns; *maybe* certain chapters of Churchill's Age of Revolution; historical documents not covered in OWC; biographies not covered in OWC (John Adams, Ben Franklin, Napoleon, Lord Nelson, Davy Crockett, etc); Sea Power, 1776, Undaunted Courage, 1801, Miracle at Philadelphia. Literature: OWC The Early Moderns, The Crucible (in place of The Christmas Carol, which he has read), and The Count of Monte Cristo (as a year-long read). Science, Civics, Geography, Foreign Language, and Bible will remain as scheduled (in AO or by me). Has anyone supplemented OWC similarly? It seems light on the history, but maybe it is because I haven't seen the entire curriculum, yet.

Was it a live class where she could interact with the other students and teachers? My ds would love to interact with other kids - it's been a LONG year [I can see everyone nodding]!

We are planning to use Early Moderns 2021-22. Did you supplement the history at all? Just briefly looking, it seems that the Salem Witch Trials, Lewis and Clark, and Napoleon (to mention a few biggies) aren't covered. I could easily supplement (I plan to have ds read The Crucible, Undaunted Courage, and a bio on Napoleon), but I would love to hear your thoughts.

Does anyone else feel like, "Well, this is it. My last shot to get it right"?! 😉 I'm glad to have this Forum for help! I have settled on (for now!) Sonlight for my 9th grade dd. We switched over from AO and she loves the structure, the books, the workload... She is a different kid than before we switched. Yay! Now for ds. He loves AO, and I love the books. However, I have a couple of questions: 1. He's an engineering-type kid. We just ordered "Complete-A-Sketch" so he can begin to work on actual architectural/design drawings. Does anyone have any experience with this program? Any tips? 2. He is a kid that LOVES to read the Great Books. I'm still torn between AO and OWC for high school next year. My thoughts are that we can continue to follow the living science recommendations for AO, but this *may be* his last real chance to feast on these treasured books. AO includes many, for sure, but they don't have Wes Callihan to explain and bring them to life. I've seen many on this Forum who have chosen either AO or OWC, but I'd love to hear how and why you made these choices, and your experiences (especially any who have gone on to college). I don't think I can go wrong with either, and I can switch mid-stream, but I'd like to at least go in with all of the data. Thank you!

I would love to hear about your experience with OWC. Will you continue? My ds is entering 9th grade next year and, after following and enjoying AO, I am strongly considering changing over to OWC for high school. I love the Great Books and feel it is just the best foundation for whatever he may choose to do in life, and OWC seems to be a great choice. Would you agree?

Next year, for 9th grade, one child will be primarily using Sonlight Core 100, and the other child will be continuing his journey with AO in Year 8. To all the ladies who talked me down from my panic about this yesterday - thank you!! Now help me combine the two! 🙂 Has anyone combined these specific years? Anything you liked/didn't like, wish you had done differently? Anything that works better with both than what is presented? I do like the Hewitt Am. Lit. readers, so I would consider adding those in with both kids; and, we started using Progeny Press Literature Guides this year if a book needed some fleshing out for the reader, which is something I will (most likely) continue. I'm going to work on this on my own over the next few days (weeks?!), but any input is greatly appreciated.

Now I feel silly for asking! 😀 All of your points are spot on. Thank you!!

Has anyone used completely different curricula for their completely different children? How does it/ Does it work?! I have two children, dd 13 and ds 11, who have done the same curriculum AND the same level/year up to this point (currently, we are in AO7). DD is having a rough go, so after reading about the "Gap Year for 8th Graders," I decided to give it a try. I've allowed her to just do maths, reading and equine studies. She is happier, definitely, but I think that part of the issue was that the rigor of AO is just not her "love language." She is an animal lover and a horseback rider, and could just study animals and be perfectly happy. The books she has read in Sonlight hold her interest, and, as it's a lovely curriculum, I plan to move her over next year. However, ds will still be in AO. This might make me a bit batty. Has anyone done this and lived to tell about it? Obviously, I want to do what is best for them both while being the best possible teacher/partner in their education, and I'm not sure how it will work if I am focusing on two different time periods and masses of different books. Help! And thank you.