Thank you! I was looking at this one. It makes me feel better to hear from someone who has used it :).

Thank you!

My son is finishing up 9th grade. This year for English credit, I had him take Rhetoric Writing 1 with WTMA, work through a list of books (focusing primarily on ancients such as The Odyssey) that we frequently discussed, and finish up his formal vocab study (Vocab from Classical Roots). We did extensive grammar study in the earlier grades so we only did necessary review as things came up. Anyway, as I plan 10th grade, I am planning for him to take Rhetoric Writing 2, but I would also like to incorporate more formal literature study. I want to be sure he can write a solid literary analysis / critique. I have been looking at different curriculum pieces, but nothing is jumping out at me as the right fit. I want to be gentle (as he will be doing a good bit of writing for his rhetoric class in addition to algebra 2 and chemistry), but I also want to make sure he is ready for college level writing (possibly planning to DE in English comp during his junior year). I have an engineering background, so though I am capable, I don't consider myself as particularly strong in literary analyses as I haven't done tons of it. So, I need a bit of help in teaching it. Recommendations, anyone?

I’ve been looking at both Miller Levine biology and Berean Builders. Does anyone have any insights? Thanks! Also, if you have used Kolbe, what did you use for labs?

We did the Art of Argument and the Argument Builder at home and we loved it. We had some amazing discussions. We also are in the process of doing the Discovery of Deduction (formal logic) at home. It's a great course, but I wish I had invested in the videos or done it as a class at Schole. The concepts were a bit more complex, and it would have been nice to have extra explanation :).

Has anyone had a child take WTMA Prep for Rhetoric or Rhetoric I in the last few years? I'm looking for more recent reviews of the classes and coming up with only older reviews. I'm interested to hear how difficult the work load was, what the instructors are like, and how effective the classes are in teaching writing. Thanks!

I have tutored a group of students in Saxon Calculus that had previously had the Adv. Math course. They seemed well prepared for Saxon Calc. I’d personally avoid them both. The Adv. Math book is long and really hard to squeeze into one year (Saxon integrates the last 1/3 geometry credit into the Adv. Math book). Many Saxon students take 1.5 or 2 years to complete it. Saxon Calc. mixes derivatives and integrals into a spiral, and I’ve seen that confuse students. I prefer (just my preference) to cover derivatives thoroughly before moving on to integration. I find that less confusing for students and more similar to what they’ll do in college calculus. 🙂

Hello 🙂. When you say Calculus is the endpoint for high school, do you mean that your kiddo is unlikely to take it in college? If so, I’d go with something MathUSee. It offers fairly clear instruction and teaches the basics. You could watch the videos and then teach your kiddo. If your child is likely to take Calc in college, I’d use something like Larson pre-calc and then Larson calculus. I would not recommend Saxon Calculus, especially without the advanced math book for pre- calc. I really don’t like the spiral approach for Calculus (imho, mastery works better at that level - spiral is great in earlier years). Whichever path you choose, given that screens are an issue and that upper level math may be difficult for you to teach, possibly look into a tutor to work with your child once or twice a week. It doesn’t have to be a math expert. Engineering juniors and seniors or recently graduated engineers might be a good possibility. 🙂. Best wishes 🙂

Thanks @Lori D.! That is very helpful!!!

I was thinking of following SWB’s recommendations for rhetoric (counting as language arts/English credits) and great books as well as history. Should I make the history and lit into one credit?

Our state requires the PE and financial literacy for public school. I don’t have to require them. I think the PE thing is kind of silly. I could just put his martial arts as an activity. He will probably go in-state, so I was wondering if colleges around here would be looking for at least the financial lit class? Same with econ and government. Could I drop those?

Thanks so much for the feedback :). Those are good points. My son isn’t at all sure what his potential goals are. He has mentioned computer game programming and cartoon illustration… outside passions have been his art classes and computer coding. I’m going to give him a half credit each year for art and a full credit for some sort of computer coding in 10th. He really enjoys history and reading, so I have included lots of that. I’m going to use outside courses for speech and writing next year. I’ll probably outsource a few classes for 10th. Beyond that, I’d like to have him take some of his junior and senior classes as dual enrollment. Once he narrows his future goals, I may change things, but for now my goal is to keep options open.

9th English 1 World Literature 1 Geometry Ancient History Biology Spanish 1 Art (1/2 Cr) Health (1/2 Cr) Speech (1/2 Cr) 10th English 2 World Literature 2 Algebra 2 World History 2 Chemistry Spanish 2 Fine Art (1/2 Cr) Technology Elect. 11th English 3 European & Early American Literature Precalculus Early Modern & American History Physics Spanish 3 PE (1/2 Cr) Financial Literacy (1/2) Cr Elective (1/2 Cr) 12th English 4 Modern American and European Literature Calculus American and Late Modern History Science elective Economics/Govt Electives (up to 1.5 Cr) This will be 28=30 credits

Thank you so much for your thoughts @cintinative! Very helpful! Small world - we are live in the Cincy area :)

I'm so happy to see this thread! I am planning for my oldest son (3 more kiddos to follow after him). Not sure yet if he will be college bound but I want him prepared, none the less. I feel like I'm flailing about, honestly. Here is what I am thinking so far: English I (Not sure what mix of grammar and writing and literature - and does all that only count as 1 credit?) History - most likely world history, but the SWB "adult" books look so good, so maybe Ancient History Geometry - working through Larson Geometry Biology - tempted to use Miller Levine (Macaw version or newer version?) Spanish I (I want to do online for this, but where?) Art / PE (year long classes, but 0.5 credit each) Speech (maybe through Schole Academy) Maybe financial literacy or more computer coding??? I feel like I'm spinning in circles here. I've always used WTM as a template but honestly the high school recs feel confusing to me.