Ester Maria, thank you for taking the time to post this. I've printed it out so I can digest it! I think it makes sense to break sentences down into parts as you show. This seems like it will require a fair amount of prep on my part for longer passages, but it will be a consistent system. Mary

Ds attends Georgia Tech, which is not a party school (though as above posters have stated, there is a party element to EVERY school.) However, the school does have a reputation for heavy drinking--after midterms, finals, major tests even. Ds is a total "nerd" spending Friday nights at programming competitions and such. He chose this school based on the academic outcome he wants. After a certain point it's all up to the student. We as parents can only shelter them so much. Ds spent his first 2 years of college attending a very small university an living at home. He knows binge drinkers. He knows students who never drink. He knows he is not of legal drinking age yet, and he has seen others get into a lot of trouble. He stays away from the frat life. He is totally monetarily self sufficient, but he still seeks our advice. I have had several "philosophical" discussions with him that drove me to tears, because he was testing beliefs he encountered at his co-op job against the "mom and dad wall of judgement!" I guess my point in all the above is that parents have to let go. And the kids have to grow up. I thank God every night that ds is safe and still seems to have his head on pretty straight! Mary

:grouphug:\ Nothing to offer but hugs. When ds moved to school, less than 1 hr away, I missed him, but it was time for him to go! It was good to help him get his stuff together on this step towards independence (even though I was not real good with the co-ed by suite dorm thing!) He visits, we talk on the phone, we visit him at school, he calls his siblings; and all is well, though sometimes I REALLY miss him (until he decides to stay for several days!) When/if dd goes, I know it will cut much deeper. Mary

:lurk5: Bumping to see if I can get some more input. Thanks! Mary

I have been doing something similar; but it seemed like for some assignments or tests I was dealing with too many points, and it was really cumbersome. I have also tried using broader categories like assigning an over all point value to the exercise, and then a rating system for categories like vocab, grammar use (construct, tense, case, etc.), and whether or not the translation reads smoothly. Eg Vocab 4/5, grammar 3/5, etc. But I'm not really sure this system is a very accurate way to grade. I have been very inconsistent! A grading rubric. A framework within which to grade/evaluate translation from Latin to English or English to Latin. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks! Mary

I get bogged down trying to assign point values to grammar, vocab. Any suggestions appreciated. I have to keep grades for Latin, since we plan to have dd's work count for high school credit. Thanks. Mary

I get bogged down trying to assign point values to grammar, vocab. Any suggestions appreciated. I have to keep grades for Latin, since we plan to have dd's work count for high school credit. I'm posting this on the high school board as well. Thanks. Mary

Oh my goodness. I should just go to bed. Reread your post and saw you want writing for grades 1 & 3. WWE is my vote for that age for sure! CW later. Mary

I'm looking at the ages of your dc. Are you talking about CW vs WWE for the dc < 11? I used CW starting in w/ Aesop A in 3rd for oldest dd, now 13. Youngest dd, 7, is in WWE 2. I plan to keep youngest in WWE through 4. I love CW, but CW takes a lot of time. I plan this time around to wait for a slightly more mature writing/analyzing brain and do CW for Older Beginners after finishing WWE series. I don't think the time spent in Homer for 4th and 5th is necessarily time well spent. I think some students would do better getting the bigger picture faster. The advantage I see to CW is that it now goes up into the high school years. I don't know what curricula SWB will eventually publish for that level. Older dd is now in CW Chreia. You mentioned IEW. I used IEW a bit with oldest now 19. Imho it just doesn't compare with CW. It's apples vs oranges. CW gets the student to think "deep." But the instructor needs to participate too. IEW is more formulaic. CW teaches excellent analysis skills. You also mentioned Writing Aids from TOG. When I used TOG writing component (there was not Writing Aids then) I quickly arrived at the conclusion that they were breaking the task of writing up into too many minutiae and then compartmentalizing it. The emphasis was on what type of writing the assignment as opposed to analyzing and writing. Writing instruction is one of the most difficult areas for me to teach. In school I was a "natural" writer. So when it came time to explain the process, I was totally lost with my completely non-natural writer first born. CW has really helped me articulate how to write. Mary

This may not be helpful at all. For my ds at that stage it was like the alg and trig were the "dirty work." He hated it. It was a total pain. He got to calculus and then loved math again. He saw how all these things fit together. You know you have a nerd for a son when he comes home from class and tells Dad about all the "cool" things he learned in calc. Maybe there are curricula that can hold interest and inspire at that level, but imho a lot of it is just hard work even if you do have the "why" presented. Many concepts and ideas won't come together until the student does calculus. Even if some texts explain where it is all going, you just don't really see it until later. We used Foerster's for alg 1 and 2. Then did Jacob's for geometry. Next some of Foerster's calc then on to joint enrollment. I can't teach above alg 1 very well. We are blessed dh can do all upper level math and science. Blessings and good luck finding a solution. It really is hard. Mary

Yes, I am so proud to be living in the state that has the #1 party school! Ds is a GT student and got a real good laugh out of it. Mary

If your ds decides he might want to try it without a teacher CLE LA 8 is a good option Is he willing to work through a book in any of his other subjects, or does he prefer generally to have a teacher, video or otherwise? CLE is very thorough, can be done totally independently, and is very inexpensive. Here is a link to samples. http://www.clp.org/store/by_course/38 We had been using R&S up until 7th when I needed to find something less teacher intensive for dd. We switched to CLE and are now in our second year with it. Good luck! Mary

Six is still young. I wouldn't consider shy behaviors rude at that age. My oldest dd used to hide from cashiers and baggers in the grocery store. Folks would speak to her and she would hide behind me or her older brother. She particularly had trouble with tall deep-voiced males. She hid from relatives and neighbors. She would even try to hide from nurses and doctors under a chair or table in the room. When people she did not recognize came to the door, she'd run to her room. We practiced different scenarios with her and explained how her behavior might be perceived by others, and her behavior changed over time. She is still this day at the age of 13 somewhat shy, but she makes a real effort now at introductions and participating in conversation. She really does not like to conduct phone inquiries; but if it concerns something she wants, she has to make the phone calls to get the information. She was even very shy about walking up to a food counter and ordering. I put her in charge of taking younger sibling and ordering for both. I never asked a doctor about her behavior, and I have never heard of selective or progressive mutism. I've known children even more shy than my dd. With understanding, patience, and a little pushing it all got better. I agree with Parrothead. Help the child through. Talk her through social situations as they happen. Good luck, I know it's hard when it's your child. If dd had been my first, I would probably have freaked out! Mary

Are they counting time spent on homework as studying? I don't know how much time ds spends on studying per se, but he spends huge amounts of time on homework and projects. Mary

Oh my goodness! I think you have opened up a new can of worms here. We've already got the debate about the high cost private vs the lower cost public universities going on. I suppose that if a student was going to university at minimal cost then economically it might not matter if he or she got a degree that was an "unattractive qualification." There are some majors that will never get anyone a decent job, but if you spent very little to get that degree, so what? You move back in with your parents? If the goal was to get a job and make a living maybe trade school/technical school would have been a better choice. Also, there are some jobs that require a four year college degree that really don't justify one. That's a different can of worms! For other more viable fields of study, there are different levels education. Some universities are definitely better or more rigorous than others. I don't think we have an exact rating system like what you describe. So for any given profession, the top jobs will go to those with the top qualifications and so on down. This is largely dependent on field of study and geographical location. OK I've rambled enough! Mary

This sounds like a great schedule to me, and it's what we try (with varying degrees of success) to do at home! Mary

I posted in imeverywoman's thread below, and I think I sounded judgmental. I am definitely not against folks spending their money on a private school tuition if that is what they believe is best. I do understand that many students do not pay the full price tag to attend these schools and have often proven themselves to obtain large merit scholarships. But for those who are paying these really high tuition costs, even if it is within family budget, my personal view is that for many of these jobs there will be equally qualified candidates from "cheaper" schools. To me it's the same as spending $125k on a kitchen renovation when houses in your neighborhood go for $150k. I would not forbid my dc to apply to a school with a price tag beyond our reach, but it would be clear that dc would have to come up with how to pay for it if accepted and excessive debt is no option. Dc would have to cough up the app fee too! My $.02. Mary

If at all possible, try to talk some other homeschoolers in your area who have done what you are going to do. Where I live, if you plan to send your dc to public high school, you really need to do it in 9th because the schools do not recognize a homeschool transcript and will require testing. Everyone I know who has looked into the back-to-school route after 9th has ended up doing private school, independent learning academies, or stuck it out until the dc could do JE. But this all depends on what the schools do in your location. I would really get that information before meeting with anyone from the school if at all possible. Good Luck! MAry

Funny! My dd says she wants to be an entomologist. Our fridge always has bugs in containers in it. Friends get a little creeped out sometimes. NEM1 has a great intensive mathematics review in the first 4 (I think) chapters. Maybe 5 chapters. From there we switched to Foerster's Alg 1. I have an older edition. I would like to have continued with the NEM series, but I just can't teach it. And dh, who does our upper level math around here, prefers the more traditional track. Either Foerster's or Jacob's will "get her hands dirty." Good luck! Mary

I'm totally flabbergasted by posts like this. It's really great if a family can truly afford a $38k/yr education for a child while supporting the rest of the household. But I have to ask, how many fields of employment justify spending that kind of money on an education? In this or any other economy? It's the law of diminishing returns x 10 (or more.) I so totally cannot relate to this. My dc will pay for their own educations and #1 dc in college these 3 yrs does, and he is in an excellent public university for his major (CS.) His education is truly an investment and will get him a job that justifies the cost even should he lose his merit scholarship. He has a co-op job and pays all of his housing, parking, books, car ins. etc. He has no loans. I believe that loans are going to become much harder to get and will carry higher interest rates. And back to my point above about an education being justified by the end it qualifies the student for, I have nieces who opted for very expensive schools for professions ranging from teaching to acting and they are in debt up to their eyeballs. 80k+. And this was from the late 80's early 90's. They are still paying huge monthly payments, and it greatly impacts their lifestyles. These crazy tuition rates will never change until folks quit paying them. OK. Off my soap box now. Please, no tomatoes! Mary

Your plan does sound fine, but when you say Singapore 7/8 do you mean NEM1? We did part of that for pre-alg. I have never found a site with sample pages of Foerster's Alg. TOC only. If it is feasible for you, I would order both and compare; send back the one you don't want. Yes, you do have to eat some shipping costs. That's what I did. Whether you choose Foerster's or Jacob's is really a matter of your and your dc's preference in presentation. Their scope and sequences are pretty comparable. Both are very good programs. Hope your dd is better.

In my experience Introductory Logic/ Intermediate Logic do not neatly lend themselves to one lesson per week. I do not try to plan out anything like this anymore. We just set rough target dates and work through the curriculum. Flexibility, after many years, has become my word around here! Mary

NO!! Well, maybe for these really organized people who are diligent about a place for everything and everything in its place. But it's an ideal I've never achieved! (And some of my very neatest friends actually still have-dare I say it-JUNK DRAWERS!) Mary

My sis lives in MT and my niece went to University of MT in Missoula. Never heard of Mt Western, but I'll ask her. Mary

Hi, I voted "other" in your poll, and I have a question for you. Why do you have trouble getting history going at your house? Could TOG be part of the problem? I have used TOG at dialectic and rhetoric level off and on. It takes a lot of your time IMHO! (I know you said dh will help.) When I was working 25-30hrs/wk IN my home I could not have done it and kept up. I had 2 schooling at that time and I used SOTW for the little and TWTM logic level history study for the older pretty much as outlined in the book. It worked well and older dd has actually gotten a decent understanding of the flow of history and retained via TWTM. TOG is a great program and I really value its world view. I could not teach that way without TOG's help. I will return to it in high school for older dd. That's year after next for us. We'll do y3 in 9th, y4 in 10th. Whatever you decide to do, I agree with those who say pick up where you feel you left off and continue. Good luck! Mary