My dd didn't have any issues taking 3000 level classes early, so long as there was no prerequisite. She took a lit class and a science class. She especially enjoyed the discussion level of the 3000 lit class. I have always regretted not taking a class taught by James Michener spring of my freshman year. I was going to wait until my sophomore year and he stopped teaching due to health reasons at the end of that year.

Key to ...... series

The Giving Tree Are You My Mother? I didn't read either of them too many times before both disappeared from the house.

1. Read the chapter ahead of time. My dd will make more of an effort to do this in the fall. She is a procrastinator. 2. Do Alcumus. Mrs. Quintero gives extra credit for it. I don't know how much or if it really affects the final grade, but it is very good for cementing topics.

If it was through a not-for-profit charity I would go door-to-door through town hitting every large corporation. For individual fundraisers, golf tournaments with a silent auction have proved best in my opinion, they can secure around $10,000+ though they take quite a few man hours to prepare. I agree with looking for grants, too.

Our nearest high school is about 3 miles away. The high school we are zoned for is about 5 miles away. When we used to live out of town the closest high school was about 4 miles away and the one we were zoned for was about 17 miles away - as was our zoned elementary and middle - they were all one building.

I know we still have two or three groups that get together with teens. My teens choose not to participate once they get to the middle/high school age. They prefer to spend time with others that have common interests. My runner spends time with other runners, my actress spends time with other actors, etc. Simply being homeschoolers together is no longer a draw for them at that point. Only my youngest is still a member of a homeschool co-op. And we are having a hard time pulling the co-op together this year. Each child has such different needs and desires by middle school. It is hard to make it fit for everyone.

We've been renting for years and have never had a book not accepted. However, I did have dd send one back immediately after it arrived because I felt it was not in an acceptable condition and did not want to be charged for it at the end of the term.

I don't believe that is how those type tests work. When they say 7.9 it means that most kids would not get all of the words she was given correct until they were at the end of 7th grade - not that she was tested on any 7th or 8th grade words. So a 5.6 means she scored as a fifth grader would be expected to score on the information at the grade level to which you tested.

This is my father. When I was in junior high we stopped at a red light behind a car load of high school students. They threw their McDonald's trash out the window. My father got out of our car, picked it all up and threw it all back in their window. We lived in a very small town with only one middle school and one high school. Everyone knew everyone. Yes, it was talked about all day at school the very next day. :001_rolleyes: He was known throughout town for all sorts of similar "odd behaviors."

https://www.meetup.com/Gainesville-Homeschool-Cooperative/ - this one is not as active as it used to be, but good for finding park days to meet others http://homeschool-helpdesk.com - this is a local homeschool information board that is kept current There is also a very active secular homeschool group in Alachua, FL (the town north of Gainesville) I don't have the link handy, but it is probably available somewhere on the Homeschool Helpdesk website. ETA: There is also an active secular homeschooling Facebook page - I think it is called Gainesville Area Homeschoolers.

Yes, Intro to Lit and Comp. They have strict age/grade requirements for the classes at Blue Tent. She's not old enough for English 1. I think the Intro class will be the best fit anyway. She is more of a math and science girl.

I was very happy with Well Trained Mind Academy Pre-algebra. We will be doing Algebra I through them with the same teacher next year. My dd has had a few issues keeping up with the homework, as I did not get involved at all. But, she has learned a lot. I am pleased with her current math skills. We also took WWS 2 through WTMA. It was fine. My dd has learned to write papers on her own without me standing over her the entire time. I really needed her to learn better time management and taking ownership of her schoolwork. And she did. However, next year we will be using Blue Tent for Composition and Literature. I almost forgot, my dd also took WTMA Socratic Discussion last fall. Another good class. Dd learned to analysis stories and discuss literature in an online setting. I plan to have my ds take that class in fall 2018. This upcoming fall dd will also be taking Physics and Modern History through WTMA. If they go well, we will continue those subjects with WTMA into high school. My dd also took Latin through CLRC. We only did the first semester. It was very good; my dd has just decided she would rather learn Spanish. If they taught Spanish I would take it through them. :) We have also used them for high school level Japanese and Chinese and middle school level French. Those three were quite intense. We have been very happy with all of our foreign language classes at CLRC.

My dd 19 is my most "normal" child. She lives at home, goes to college, has a part time job and helps around the house. She has a car at her disposal (shared with her sister) works on her art and poetry in her free time, putters with her plants and is supposed to be studying to retake her GRE this summer - not sure how much of that is happening. She is happy and responsible and lives her life. No significant other at the moment (that I am aware of, anyway.) My other three, however, don't quite meet that same level of "normal." :)

I think generally speaking you are right. For us personally, we do mostly dual enrollment with a few online classes for high school - no at home classes that need course descriptions. And we are staying in state, so all of the colleges are already aware of what she has taken based on the college course codes which are standard across the state.

Thankfully, we haven't come across any colleges that require course descriptions. I have a rough draft of her transcript ready to go. Dd 17 will begin submitting applications next month. :scared:

My dd is registered for one of the T/R sections.

I work for a company mentioned in this post. So I worked most of yesterday, much of this morning, and will work another ten hours tomorrow. Two of my kids are sick in bed, so the children could not clean and organize the garage as they were planning to do for my Mother's Day gift. :( We decided to have pizza and ice cream and watch the end of the golf tournament on tv. :thumbup:

Shmoop courses?

There is no such law in Florida. The only thing you would need the 24 credits for is getting into Florida universities. It is true that the universities prefer to see more standard transcripts from homeschoolers in this state, but that has nothing to do with high school graduation requirements. If she is planning to attend CC first I wouldn't worry at all. I know many local homeschool families that unschool through high school, go on to CC without issue and transfer to state universities to finish their degrees. We have a large unschooling population here and it has never been an issue. The only disappointment comes when they don't get accepted immediately into the top state universities.

You really don't hear much about it anymore, but I used Kolbe literature and history (Great Books based) for my eldest for high school and it required an essay every week.

I think we have some of the earliest finals of the year. Both my dds are done and have all of their grades back. An excellent semester for one and not too bad for the other. My eldest is taking the summer off other than work, but dd 17 starts Summer A classes tomorrow. :willy_nilly:

Use the YMCA pool when it is extremely hot or you want to socialize and practice swimming. There really isn't room to practice swimming technique at the community pool over the summer. I'd spend the money on a few day trips or a well chosen weekend trip. My dh purchases day passes and takes the kids a few times per summer. They enjoy the waterslides but don't desire going any more often than that.

Our town has so many police officers - state, county, local, campus, it would seem a strange day not to see a couple dozen at least. They are everywhere. :) It seems to be a fairly safe area (maybe because of the number of police.) They have to be someplace when nothing is going on. Ours cruise through all of the parks, the schools, downtown. They just drive up and down or walk around and chat, keeping an eye on things, being available. I did wait with my dd at soccer practice last week when there were eight or so police cars with lights going (no sirens) blocking the next two streets. They brought in a K-9 and I assume found the person/thing they were looking for as they all left a few minutes later without incident. I left after that. The police forces here are the nicest I've met anywhere. We have very few issues and I feel comfortable with my kids traveling the city on their own.

We don't pay for any. We supply our dds with a car, which they share, and pay the insurance and upkeep. They are responsible for all of the gas.