My dd really got bogged down somewhere along the way is Saxon Algebra II. If you tire of Saxon by the time you get to Advanced Math, you could easily hit on the remaining geometry topics with my current favorite free resource — Khan Academy. Then, move on to whatever you want to use for precalculus.

I’m trying to figure out math for my dd’s senior year. I see Khan Academy has instruction for all three of these on their website, but does anyone know if they cover all the main topics? Linear algebra and differential equations both look like they are extremely short. My dd has got calculus down pretty well at this point, but it’s not her favorite subject. I was reading that linear algebra involved more proofs and abstract thinking vs the visualization needed for calculus. Since she really liked doing proofs in geometry, would this type of math likely be more up her alley than calculus? Also, what is differential equations like? Another thought — is there any point in her considering taking statistics II at the cc if she does well on the AP exam for statistics?

Yes, my dd took Statistics at the cc in the fall and is preparing for the AP exam. She’s doing it because AP classes seem to be preferred to cc classes from what I can tell. Also, this way she will be more likely to get credit for the class. Or, so we hope, anyway.

Maybe you don’t want to say, but I’m wondering what types of questions you mean here?

Beautiful girl and beautiful dress!

Yes, college visits can be exhausting and making time for them isn’t easy! I am have done about 10 between both of my kids and I can’t say that I am looking forward to doing any more.

My dd took from Spanish 2 through AP Spanish with Ray. She really loved his class for level 2, 3 and 4 and he was probably her favorite teacher for all those years. She was in a class with some really strong students who were highly motivated and I do think that is part of what my dd liked about the class. Some of the things I really liked about the class were his no-nonsense attitude and the efficient way it was run from a teaching and homework perspective. One thing that frustrated me a bit from level 3 on was that he did not have the kids do as much reading in Spanish as I would have liked, but, in looking at other options, I’m not sure there is a class that does that. It always seemed to me that my dd had very little homework and there was time for him to assign more reading. But, I’m starting to realize that my dd is just pretty quick with languages, so maybe my perception is skewed. She scored a 780 on the Spanish SAT II subject test. She is continuing with her Spanish studies and is now reading books and writing essays in Spanish and she is able to use the language in her volunteer work.

Thanks for answering all of my questions. You’re confirming my thoughts on the health sciences degree but I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something. The program I was looking at with the year of nursing classes is University of Rochester. They have a special program where you can earn a dual degree — you earn one bachelor’s in the first 3 years and then in the 8th semester, you begin the nursing program and then go for one extra semester. There are pre-reqs for the nursing program — A&P 1 and 2, psych, statistics and a few others, but most of the nursing classes are taken in the last year. I was comparing that to UVA where nursing classes are taken starting as a freshman and then heavily all the way through. The ICU nurses in the hospital near us are very sharp. I spent some time there with my mom last year. I was really impressed by them. I hope your dd gets a position in critical care. It is a little disappointing to hear that the competition continues after the RN, though. I was hoping since there were such limited nursing spots, that the next level would not be another competition all over again. But, I’m not surprised either.😊

Thank you, thank you. The info about the NCLEX first-time pass rate is helpful to know. I am aware of how competitive nursing programs have become. We are in Virginia and the University of Virginia, which has a 30-something % admit rate, has a 12% admit rate for their nursing program. So, we’re not really interested in heading to a school specifically because of its nursing program without a guarantee. I’ve been searching for direct-admit programs, but will search for “freshman-admit” as well. Does it matter what state you get your degree in if you plan to relocate after college? I guess the other thing I’m noticing is that certain schools seem to have their students earn a BSN in nursing by taking almost all nursing-related courses for a good part of their college years. Others have programs that seem to leave a lot more room for taking other classes and also exploring another field. One that I am looking at would allow my dd to get a bachelor’s degree in nursing and something else and the nursing classes don’t even begin until the final year of school. My dd seems to prefer that because she has some other interests she wants to explore and she already has regular exposure to the medical field through the volunteer work she does. Do you have any thoughts about that? There are also a number of schools I have been looking at with my dd that do not have a nursing program, but have a health studies/public health/global health major that it looks like some students are getting and then following that up with a Bachelor’s to RN nursing program. Any positives to doing that? I see the downside of adding another year or so to the process and, of course, having to apply to a Bachelor’s to RN program, but are there any positives I’m overlooking? Do either of your dd’s plan to continue on and get a master’s? If so, how competitive is it to get into those programs?

My dd has been exploring the medical field and is starting to hone in on being a nurse practitioner. Does anyone have a child who has followed or is following that path? I’d love to hear about your experiences. Feel free to pm me if you prefer. I see there are all kinds of programs out there, but we’re thinking it would be nice to find one that is direct admit. What are some schools with great programs?

Well, and I did find that academics took about two hours a day for my dd when she was early elementary age. And probably should have only taken that long for my son, but he was my first, poor guy. I look at my niece, who is in third grade and bright and I know I could teach her reading math and writing in that amount of time. So I don’t think everyone saying that is lying. Of course, there are plenty of other responsibilities that go along with home schooling, such as field trips and playground time, and researching and planning, but if someone asked me today how long it would take to homeschool an early elementary school aged child, I would say about two hours a day.

Dairy is so hard! My son has many food allergies and has been gluten free since he was 3 years old and that is easy for me to deal with at this point. A bit of a pain, but I can make many, many meals that my family enjoys with his food restrictions. My dd, on the other hand, has had problems with dairy and we’re always fighting it because it is so much harder to make a variety of satisfying meals without dairy than without all of my son’s allergies. Sorry you are struggling! It is hard.

Sorry, I really don’t.

Well, I always wish I had made time for a couple of years of writing with TPS when my dd was younger. If you want to focus on Lit and comp, it seems to be a very good choice.

And as much as I love CLRCs GB class, you’ve got to think your child will be okay with the heavy reading assignments for it to be a good fit. Honestly, I did not think my dd would enjoy the reading in the class she’s taken this year, but I knew she could do it and be fine with it based on what she’s read in the past. It turns out that she has really loved the reading and the discussion. Many of the students in the class are very enthusiastic about the material and that has a big impact on my dd.

We’ve never used TPS, but I have heard others say the writing instruction is good. My dd is taking CLRC’s GB class and I think the writing instruction is excellent. There is a lot of reading and writing each week, as well as a 2 hour discussion. Each week, the students write a short paper on a topic related to the reading. They also answer discussion questions in full sentences and must give quotes from the reading as examples to support their answer and then explain. So, claim, example, analysis — which seems to be one of the most important things to learn how to do in many types of writing in order to create strong arguments. There is also a focus on strengthening arguments with counter-arguments. On top of that, there are a couple of longer papers that involve an outline, a rough draft, which she gives feedback on, and then a final draft. Ms. Turscak knows what she is doing.

My dd is doing Greek I with Mr. Barr at Lukeion. There is an option to take Greek I & II in one year at CLRC and earn college credit and I believe they also have a regularly-paced program. My dd may take Greek II through CLRC next spring. Both providers use the Athenaze books.

I’ve chosen to include all her middle school classes that were at high school level on the transcript, but have a notation that they were taken in middle school and no credit was given. Almost all of my dd’s math and English classes were at high school level, though, and she took a number of years of foreign language in middle school. If she didn’t have so many classes like that in middle school, I would have just listed them and given her credit, There are many legitimate ways to handle it, though. The best thing you can do to help yourself is to keep good records of all of your students classes and write the course descriptions as you go along. Once you are ready to put the transcript together and have the whole picture in front of you, then you can figure out how you want to award credit. ETA : I didn’t read your question carefully before replying. Yes, I did include all of the middle school classes in the course descriptions.

I think it’s really relative, but while I have been compiling my dd’s transcript and course descriptions, I am realizing that many of the classes she has taken have been very heavy or college level even if they were not AP. When I am looking at all her classes listed out, I can easily pick out the ones that were a more typical high school level classes vs what went further and deeper. I didn’t label many of my son’s classes honors because he took more mainstream options, so maybe that gives me the perspective to see what is honors with my dd’s stuff. However, it is totally up to your discretion. For example, all of my dd’s online Spanish classes were labeled “honors”. At Lukeion, none of her Latin classes have been labeled “honors”, not even her post-AP class. In reality, I would say the Latin class went further and required more but each of those teachers chose to label their classes differently. So, for classes that you are teaching, if you feel it is honors level, I would say you can label it that way.

I will have to try that font. I am currently at 16 pages, but think I can get it to 15 with my current 12-point font. So maybe significantly better even with 10-point.

Thanks! When my son applied a couple of years ago, it felt like I spent half the summer pulling the material together. So, I have a head start on some of this with my dd because of what I did for him. I want to get this done so I can focus on helping her finish researching schools early in the summer so she can write all, or at least most, of her essays before her classes start in the fall. And then I hope to have one last lovely low-stress year with her at home.

My son used the Red ACT book. I had him do a section one day and then we’d go over his answers the next day and try and understand why he missed the ones he got wrong. Then, he’d do another section the next day. My book is a bit older and had 5 or 6 exams. For the first exam or two, I didn’t time him. After that, we started paying attention to the time. I had him do one full exam straight through a week before the exam. I never thought to go through the answers he got right. That’s a good tip to keep in mind. There are a series of YouTube videos to help with the science section of the ACT.

I totally agree with this. Language classes can end in so many places, especially when you are talking beyond year two. If he’s put in the time, give him the credit.

Well, I guess I am on a Khan Academy kick, but I am planning on using it with my dd for AP Government next year. You can watch the videos with your son and learn alongside of him. It looks like it is a pretty efficient course. I am very big on efficiency right now.🙂

I think the painted brick looks really pretty. However I would want to know how much it would cost to have it painted every 3 to 5 years as they are recommending. A friend of mine has a house with a wood siding and has had to repaint it a couple of times and it was seven or $8000 to have done.