I like the idea of using ALEKS for a time to work on math before taking the math placement test at the CC. A review of concepts over a short period of time plus some work on new concepts would make the math fresh in her mind again without having to slog through a full-year text.

The first thing to think about is your (collective) goals for a college experience: 1. Does she want mainly music training or does she want a wider educational experience? 2. What are her current professional goals? This is tricky because goals do often change as a student gets more experience in the college and work world. A student with an absolute goal to land work with regionally- or nationally-recognized entities will need to be in a conservatory environment. Music is a highly networked profession and working with bigger names in the business as an undergraduate may help her to have bigger opportunities after graduation. OTOH, a smaller college experience supplemented by summer music festival opportunities may also achieve a similar goal. If she isn't personally set on aiming for the highest levels of recognition within the music field, she may want to go to a college where she can explore options outside of music for day work, while continuing to develop the network she already has for side work in music. 3. At this moment, I wouldn't let money enter into the equation. Usually, serious music students will apply to multiple professional music schools because admission is far from guaranteed in such a highly competitive field. You are pretty much past the deadlines for application, so I would concentrate on the two schools you've been looking at. First, have your daughter concentrate on preparing the audition and go in ready to do her very best. If she receives an acceptance, then look at any money that is offered, go to the financial aid office if necessary and see if they can come up with any other funds, and look at possibilities for employment. If there is still no way you can justify the cost to you, then you may need to consider it a closed door and not worry about what the piano teacher says. 4. Consider that once your daughter has been through both auditions and considered the atmosphere of the schools, she may have a better idea of what just "feels right," assuming admission at both schools allows her a choice. 5. As for work in piano accompaniment, many schools do maintain a list of musicians willing to perform that they can pass on to inquirers. Also, voice students and other instrumentalists need accompaniment for their jury exams and this can be a good way to bring in some money. My daughter hired a student to accompany her for her end-of-semester jury in December. OK, I've got to go for now, but these are some thoughts. I'll PM you later with some specific questions.

I, too, would be inclined to investigate the community college option, assuming that you live under an hour's drive from one. They offer all subjects at a remedial level. I just checked the CO cc system and their admission process includes an assessment at the college rather than requiring an ACT or SAT. Though remedial classes may not count toward a degree, taking them at the CC would allow the student to move on in life socially and be with young people her age who are doing similar level work.

I like the library idea if they have the 2nd edition. I could look it over in detail and either decide to take notes on things that are different that I want to remember or decide it's worth it to own my own copy. Maybe if the library doesn't have it, maybe I'll ask at co-op if someone would be willing to loan it for a short time.

I've been feeling a bit burned out on homeschooling my 13yo twice exceptional son but I'm also looking ahead and trying to figure out where we want to go for his high school years- he is a 7th grader this year. Several years ago I set aside my WTM book and haven't even looked at it. Now I'm thinking maybe I should read it again. I'm wondering if I should get the revised edition. For those who have read both, can you give me some idea if the revised edition holds such a signficant advantage that I should purchase it, given that I own the 1st ed. and I come here regularly. If so why? Also, if you've got other homeschooling "how to" or encouragement books that support the classical or eclectic/classical homeschooler I'd love to know about them.

Hi, I've posted an intro over at the High School board, since that's the board I read the most. I'll post something a bit different here: I'm Marie, married for 27yrs. I afterschooled throughout the '90s when my girls were in Japanese schools and international schools while we lived in Tokyo. After we returned to the States in 2000, we started homeschooling full-time. We graduated our first two from homeschool. One has finished college and is soon to be married. Our second dd is a college freshman music major. I still homeschool our 13yo son, who is a 7th grader this year. I am an eclectic homeschooler with a classical bent. I read TWTM back in 1999 and really considered closely following it but my younger two students are both twice exceptional (bright/gifted with learning challenges) and their particular learning needs have required me to be more flexible in approach while aiming to cover similar content as TWTM. We are taking a break from our history cycle to do Sonlight's Eastern Hemisphere studies (Core 5); we use mainly SL for history/geography with additions as desired. We're also using some SL assignments for writing, Lightning Lit 7, Wordly Wise, Sequential Spelling, ALEKS math, Quarter Mile math (for computer-based drills), and Singapore Interactive Science. At co-op this semester he will do Japanese I, Lego Robotics, Logic, JASON Project Monster Storms, and Battles of the Bible. I am a leader in our co-op at the middle school/high school level. I'm also involved in leadership on the missions team at our church. I tend to read quite regularly at the High School board, but since my ds is still using mostly middle school resources, I do peek in here fairly frequently.

Congratulations, Karen! It's such a relief when that first acceptance comes through....

I hadn't done any reading for myself for a long, long time until the holiday when I determined it's time to start again. So I am reading: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Since my son is doing Sonlight's Eastern Hemisphere (Core 5) course as a break from our history cycle, I decided I want to read books which focus on non-Western cultures. Though I'm planning a variety of fiction and non-fiction reading, I haven't done any modern fiction reading for years, so I've decided to start with this recent work of fiction. Awakening Children's Minds: How Parents and Teachers Can Make a Difference by Laura Berk This one discusses child development and learning from the perspective of Russian psychologist Lev Vgotsky's sociocultural theory. The basic idea is that children learn best when adults prepare experiences that are in the child's "zone of proximal development"; that is, slightly beyond his current competencies, yet still within a place where the child can accomplish the task with carefully given assistance from someone more competent at the task than he. Breaking Free by Beth Moore I'm reading the book, not the full study. I've been interested for a long time in this book but am just now getting to it. I needed to find something for spiritual encouragement and hadn't found anything for awhile that grabbed my interest.

A lot depends on what your daughter wants to do with her music. Some university-based music programs are more conservatory-like than others and could be quite challenging musically. One of the most important considerations in choosing a school for a music major is the choice of teacher on the principal instrument. The fit between a student and the teacher is important because it will be a 4 year relationship. For piano, the level of ensembles is not as big an issue. Sometimes a less competitive ensemble makes it difficult for high level musicians, even when the teacher is a good fit. It will be important to think about what kind of work your daughter might want to do- whether primarily solo work or collaborative work, or whether teaching is more important to her than performing. With regard to financial considerations, it's always best to look at the stated tuition + room & board as the starting place. You won't know until your dd auditions what your actual cost might be after scholarships & grants (I don't look at loans as being true "aid"). How old is your daughter now? She isn't doing auditions this year is she? If she's a junior or younger you've still got time to explore this issue. I found lots of good advice for the college choice process at the music major forum at http://www.collegeconfidential.com . Read through the posts and you will find a ton of information about choosing schools to apply to, auditioning, making a final choice, etc.

Sorry to hear you're having a frustrating experience so far. Hopefully, in time it will become easier for you. One thing I find helpful is to view the posts in "Hybrid Mode." I decide whether or not to open a thread that is new to me by hovering over the link to the thread with my cursor. A little box comes up with the first part of the comment & I can often tell if I'll be interested or not from that little bit. Then when I open the thread in hybrid mode, I can see at the top of the screen what new posts have been made to the thread. Since the first few words are included, I can usually tell whether I want to read the reply or not. Then I either scroll down to find it, or click on the link which takes me directly to a specific reply. I personally think viewing an individual thread in Hybrid Mode is most like the old forum, in that I can see the replies quickly, but then I don't have to keep clicking back and forth to read individual replies- except when they go beyond one page. To set your preferences to hybrid mode you can click on the box at the far right side of the page titled "Display Modes" when you are in an individual thread.

NorthStar Academy is one online school that those who are interested in having a regionally accredited high school diploma might consider. It is a Christian school and the teaching is from that perspective. A student can take a full program through NorthStar or single courses. Courses such as Logic and Latin are offered, though the school is not a classical school. My second daughter took several individual courses through NorthStar Academy and we had a generally positive experience. NSA's main website: http://www.northstar-academy.org is down right now due to server issues but NSA also operates NorthStar Homeschool, which allows students to access course materials without teacher assistance. NS Homeschool's site is http://northstarhomeschool.com. At this site you can find a list of courses offered through NSA & their descriptions. I'm not sure when the main server will be back up but keep checking if you're interested or email them at info@northstar-academy.org. Please note the location of hyphens in the address because there are other North Star Academy schools that will come up on a Google search.

I, too, am interested. Over the years, I have used mainly SL with some tweaking, but they don't really have a good option (IMO) for covering Ancient History and Literature at a truly high school level. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for high school for my son and at this point I only know that I could do a classical 4 year rotation for those years starting with Ancients and not have to worry about other students in the home as far as scheduling. However, I don't think I'd be happy using SL's Core 6 for his 9th grade year without some major, major tweaking. Right now we're taking a break from chronological history studies and working through SL's Eastern Hemisphere (Core 5) study, so we'll be starting fresh again in 9th grade. Is there anything else out there that would be relatively easy to use just to cover Ancient History & Lit?

I'm fortunate that my son and I each have our own laptops w/wireless connection to our cable internet. We got this all set-up at the beginning of the school year when some great sales allowed us to pick up a basic PC laptop for $349 + tax! Since the high school board is the only one I read regularly, I'm finding that as long as I stay logged in with the "remember me" box checked, I can keep that page open in one tab of my Explorer all day and just check in when I have time.

I'm Marie, and have been Tokyomarie in many places since I got online in about 1996. I and my family lived in Tokyo from 1989-2000 and we now live in Michigan. I afterschooled all through the '90s when my girls were attending Japanese public schools to keep them moving in their English language development. We brought them all home full-time when we came to the USA. I first joined TWTM boards in 1999? after reading the book. I attempted to implement a classical style education when we came home full-time but due to the learning challenges that 2 of my children have I wasn't able to do it as outlined in TWTM. We ended up settling on an eclectic approach with a strongly classical bent. I have one college graduate who finished college in May 2007 with dance and Japanese double majors w/business management minor. She is soon to be married. My second daughter is a college freshman with a world music major, with violin as principal instrument. I have one child learning at home yet, a 13yo 7th grade boy. I've run the gamut of learning styles and issues with my children. All are bright to gifted, two also have learning challenges. We use mainly Sonlight Curriculum for history and geography, tweaking it as needed and using it in a roughly four year pattern, and have individualized all other curriculum to the need at the moment. For those who frequent the SL boards, I am Citizen_of_Heaven there: a name chosen during a moment of identity crisis and wish I could change but can't. That's all for now. I'm only an occasional poster on TWTM but I read the High School board daily. I know I will like this format much better than the old, since I've used it in other places. I hope that those of you who are not so familiar with it will come to enjoy it in time.

I've just registered and don't see an introductions thread here on the high school board- the one I frequent the most, though I'm really just an occasional poster. Let's do an introductions thread to help those of us on the high school board get connected again. Some of you have new user names and if you're willing to share your old user name, that would be helpful. A bio would help us old-timers and new-timers as well to get a sense for who we all are.