Frankly speaking, I quit Facebook several months ago when I had to follow my own advice to kids about its waste. As for the reading lists, I do not trust others to say what kids should read; the list is made by their own interests and passions. Besides, I buy a lot of books from Europe, and I like their language much more than any modern bestseller, etc. American NY etc., winning book. It's like you are reading Rick Riordan, and then you open the pages of Stephen Fry and say, WOW, why did I start the first book in the beginning? As for the literature, I could not find (maybe yet) a good curriculum for kids. The one, which really teaches critical thinking and logic. Right now, it's a bunch of bits of here and there.

I hope your kids will love Lukeion. Even when the subject was not a favorite one or too hard, kids still think they gave them more than any other program. Yes, they use IEW, it's not easy, but we are not so fluent at home with English, and I would like to give them as much as I can (feeling guilty that I cannot teach English as I would love to.) My 8th grader will take Latin 2, Philosophy, and Shakespeare (he took Tolkien last spring and fell in love with it more than before and more than I could think is possible, the teacher has such an amazing charisma!), and Advanced Literature.

I prefer Singapore Math and Beast Academy as an olympiad supplement. In this case, I would start with Singapore level 2 and quickly go up (we have a year-round school year) until he feels comfortable and slightly challenged. Math mammoth, etc., I would never consider as a math curriculum, but in this, I think everyone prefers their own program.

Thanks for the encouragement! And thanks for sharing your homeschooling path. I am reading your posts/replies since the beginning, every day at night.

I think that depends heavily on the student. For my unmathy kid, I am going to take all their classes- (history now, I cannot praise it enough), philosophy, rhetoric for the ninth grade (I tried in the seventh grade, but the textbook is more for 9th graders and higher). The Muse is really good. I would add witty and scribbler, but only because we are immigrants; I cannot teach ELA; I can check, but when I am writing, I translate in my head. With 4 homeschooling kids, the dream to study here is just a dream. Their logic course is really great! For unmathy kids, I would leave it for 9th or 10th grade. My mathy kid did it in the 8th grade, and I wish I had known about this class earlier. It's so deep. I took Memorial Logic I, and the quality is low compared to Lukeion. We canceled Memoria Logic II for the spring semester. We did Witty and Barbarian diagramming in the fall, and Muse II in the spring. It's ok to change the courses and take what the kid likes more. They are very supportive, and I had to ask for some changes due to schedule, overloading, they always helped, and even transferred some classes for the next year. And their canvas system is so friendly for kids and parents! You always know what is waiting for the kid in weeks ahead; there are no surprises, and everything might be planned ahead. The grading is clear. I am demanding, and I have never met a situation when the kid asked the question and was sent to watch the video muplitple times until they understand the solution! (PA homeschoolers).

My kids were taking these classes, and now my youngest is taking Scribbler and Creative Scribbler. 1. It was pretty rigorous, and I am sure with these courses, they know the stuff (my 8th grader was taking sat after that, and he said that witty wordsmith really helped him, and he loved the class and the teacher, though he refused to prepare and hid from me all the critical thinking books). As for writing courses, they are amazing, and the feedback is very good (I stopped Blue Tent, CTY writing courses, and Athena due to the lack of feedback, so I am pretty picky about how the teachers check the homework) 2. yes, I would think it's enough, but I added))) 3. They are the best teachers I have seen in online courses—very respectful, treat kids with amazing care, and require them to behave like in college. I do not know how they do that, but my kids love all the teachers (though they had issues with IEW, for example, and Athena —and they dislike those "oh, you are great, the job is fantastic," etc.). Their canvas system is so easy to navigate and they never had problems with assignments because everything was clear from the beginning; we were traveling and moving, so kids could easily do the job in advance, read the material, and submit tests. I highly recommend this school.

I loved all of them. I am a big fan of Lukeion, and together with AoPS and IEW, that's the only courses I use now for kids. The workload was good, I did not find any issues, pretty rigorous, detailed. Kids loved them. After the course, my 8th grader had the SAT without any preparation, and he said that Lukeion, a barbarian and witty wordsmith, saved him. He is the kid who could come to me 30 minutes after the class started and say, please, talk to the teacher, and let's stop the class; I do not want to waste my time. I highly recommend them. Now, my 7th grader is doing Scribble on and Creative Scribbler. The first one is without classes, just recording (the first semester was with a class), and the second has a class. The discussions are active, and I am guilty; I like to read them, too. They are done not for grade, but because kids love to share their thoughts. And kids love to share their thoughts when they are taught well and know the material. And they are taught only well when teachers demand a lot and give away a lot. My 4th grader loves listening to these classes and begged to have their mythologist next year. What I personally like the most, it's how they treat students - with respect and dignity. That's the image of a teacher I would like my kids to carry through their life. Without silly screaming - "oh, it's fantastic-amazing"-"nice job - no feedback - and then, 80% - I am so proud of you". They are demanding (the Roman history project assignment was read to everyone in the family, concluding my husband) - the teachers have such a good humor, and they really love and care about kids. And yeah, they are strict with the assignments like IEW - but then, who wants to come to see a doctor or a teacher, who make mistakes and then, redo it several times to get a better grade?

I loved all the scribble classes, they did the first one in the fall, and now the scribble on, which is academic writing, and creative scribble. I do not know about you, but I choose the classes which are not blah blah, which should be rigorous and with pretty much workload. They are completely different, and help him grow fast in writing. The feedback is detailed and to the point. The kids are amazing and are very involved in discussions. The creative includes a reading each week, discussions, and a writing piece. In scribble on it’s a paper with outline and thesis statement. The teacher pays attention to everything and kids work hard to earn the grades. By the way, my son said that their grammar classes were the best help in passing sat. He did barbarian and witty wordsmith. Amazing classes. I am so grateful to the teachers working there!!!

We started with PA Homeschoolers and then switched to self-paced. I do not see how inline is better unless you have good teaching; otherwise, watching videos and learning by heart the teacher's/videos' explanations can be done for free at home. The books have solutions, and all the problems from the AP statistics textbook have video explanations that you can google.

The labs are excellent - and very time-consuming, done at home, we did not buy the kit; I bought on Amazon what he needed. The labs include a lot of questions, explanations, videos, and photos. My friend's daughter had Honors Chemistry, and they needed the help, so the tutor from the high school teaching AP, said it was much harder and more rigorous than AP.

What do you mean by plans? Kids did it at home, virtually, and there were appointments with the teacher when the questions arose from tests, exams, or labs.

Check this website https://www.loveofmath.com/courses. My son had these teachers in AoPS classes.

What about AoPS? If not, I would use only CTY. It's very expensive, but that's the class where I want to be sure the kid knows the material. Well-trained was a complete waste of time and money. My kid did Algebra I and Geometry with CTY, but we got the financial aid for Honors Physics, and we paid. It was with every penny. Strict, rigorous, demanding; teachers are great and VERY helpful. Tests, exams, homework, everything was unique and demanded the maturity of a high schooler. And yes, the labs were fantastic.

Thank you so much for posting this information!!! I was wondering where they disappeared from AoPS.

We had a harsh fall, moved, lost massive amounts of money, sold our house, and adjusted. The oldest was struggling with physics, starting AP statistics and AP psychology in online schools. After a few months, I asked him to quit those classes, gave him time to do the schedule, and finished physics with A. Though he did not do almost anything then, he was fine in other classes, too. I cannot imagine what would happen if he was in real school. But it was a good lesson for him (with a few nightmares), and he feels great about himself because he had done it. He knows grades could be higher but is learning how life works. And for me, it's more important. Life is not a system or jail-like in school; I would give him grace (reminding him for a month about that:)))

The links were an ad type I did not ask for. But still, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Thanks a lot! I will check the websites. I agree, it's not so difficult to make a transcript when a person has always been in the system. I have made mine following the google images, but it's still a thought maybe you are wrong:)

Dear homeschoolers! Could you please share the best (you have used) website to generate a transcript? I have never studied in the US, and having a high schooler, it's a bit scary. Thanks for any help in this process! PS I have 3 homeschoolers, and the fourth is coming next year.

I had the same problem recently, besides, the difference in grades was huge - 70-80 for the draft, and after I had to explain what was demanded, it was A+. The feedback was scarce comparing to IEW, and we cancelled the other class. The idea of Bluetent is great.

I signed a 7th grader, he is a good writer, loved the class tremendously, and the teachers feedback is always deep and one of the best I have seen. I pulled him out of the class, I think the rhetoric book is more inclined to the high schoolers. My 9th grader will do it next year, and the younger son was switched to scribble on and scribble creative classes. I would compare lukeion with AoPS approach, rigour, depth of knowledge and strictness. Kids did philosophy history writing and all grammar and Latin.

I have a kind of this type of son, but no adhd etc. he is a strong mathy kid. I have chosen IEW and Pamela White for him. I have just withdrawn a kid from blue tent, and frankly speaking, the customer service is fantastic, the feedback is very poor, but am all against discussion waste after CTD, CTY, blue tent and Athena classes for 3 kids. Of course it all depends on your teaching style, I would avoid these creative writing or English classes.

Loved Rhetoric classes on Lukeion. Hope all my kids will do them.

We had assessment in SC and no assessment in Tx, now in MD, I am VERY HAPPY with assessment, testing, opportunities, high school sports, etc. At least they should know how MUCH we do homeschooling)))

My son would like to test the program. He has tried with the teacher, but the teacher was not so enthusiastic AND the kid was too small (not even precalculus). He would like to try it now.

Thank you!!!