From 7th grade up, we prefer to do annual testing rather than the annual portfolio review. My kids take either the ACT or SAT each spring/early summer. We use those two because they are the only two accepted for dual enrollment purposes and the state college scholarship program. We might as well kill two birds with one stone. :)

I had to go with other on the last question. My teens will sleep until noon on the weekends if there is nothing going on. They will also be up late on Friday and Saturday nights. But, they aren't a bear to wake at any time. They are both up early every morning during the week and they will get up pleasantly on the weekends as well, if there is a specific reason to be up. Otherwise, I let them sleep and they are up on their own around noon.

There are actually three. :) History Odyssey - Pandia Press This is a lesson plan that includes writing assignments, literature assignments, mapping assignments, etc. You must yourself gather together a listed set of books. Human Odyssey - K12 This is a set of three text books geared toward junior high school. Human Odyssey - Spielvogel This is a high school level world history text often used by WTM members.

My 15 year old dd spends 40-45 hours per week on school work. It isn't that she loves it, just that she is a slow worker. She doesn't seem to be overloaded with school work though. She still has time to take dance classes twice a week, acting class once a week, practice guitar daily, perform in at least a couple of plays per year, volunteer at the community theater, etc.

My father was in the delivery room with each of his children (early '70s.) They asked him if he wanted to cut the cord when I was born - he fainted. From then on, he politely declined. :D My husband didn't take the chance and politely declined each time from the start.

No, going to public/private high school is simply not an option we offer to our children. They can make many choices about their high school education. They can choose to dual enroll at the local university, the local community college, or both. They can choose to take some or all of their courses through our state virtual school. They can choose to take electives classes, join sports teams or participate in extra-curricular activities at the local high school and they can sit with me and make decisions about what classes they would like to take and what materials they would like to use. However, attending school is not on the table. That being said, none of my children have ever expressed any real interest in attending high school full time and so perhaps, that colors my view.

Peace Hill Press puts out a series called The Creative Writer. I wouldn't start at the beginning, maybe jump in around book 3. Classical Writing also puts out a series of poetry writing books. Again, I would probably start with the Intermediate level.

Dh and I decided to go back to college and will be starting out with one class each for the spring term. We plan to live in this town, which is quite nice, but which we don't love, for the next eight years due to its great opportunities for our children. We decided to take advantage of its many academic opportunities ourselves, as neither of us are thrilled with the academic choices we made the first time through college. I don't want to limit myself to teaching in my retirement. Not when I have time now to branch out and work toward something that fits closer to the person I've become over the years. I also plan to join 52 Books in 52 Weeks. I might get motivated to read a wider variety of books than the couple of categorical ruts I've let myself fall into the last few of years.

I am trying to prepare a high school transcript for my dd that needs to be submitted next week. I want to list her classes by subject area and want to keep it to six categories. Mathematics Sciences Foreign Languages English Electives ??? In my mock transcript, I have the sixth category as History. Do I stay with that, but put classes such as Anthropology and Economics in the electives? Or do I name it something else such as Social Sciences or Humanities (and do those include history)? Or do I just need to add a seventh column to the transcript and have History and Social Sciences or ???? :confused1:

I paid $2.48 today. That is the lowest I've seen it around here.

Saxon Math Singapore Math Hooked on Phonics Michael Clay Thompson English Simply Grammar Story of the World Ambleside Online I don't remember what I was using for science - but, I'm sure I didn't like it. * * * I still use Saxon math and SOTW (but as a read aloud now.) I dropped Simply Grammar, AO and MCT (other than the grammar and practice sections - which I still love.) I switched Singapore Math for Beast Academy. And put the Hooked on Phonics away for the grandchildren. I still haven't found an elementary science program that I really like - though I do use TOPS regularly (and kind of like it. :) )

My DE dd had her first experience in taking a university "weeder" class. I wasn't sure how to advise her. I didn't want her to take it too early and wind up losing an opportunity at a major she is very interested in. On the other hand, if she couldn't major in that area, the local university might not rank so high on her college list. She decided to take it. She said she definitely felt the pressure to do well throughout the semester, especially as a large portion of her grade came from various group projects. She wound up with a B+ so that major is now open to her. And she has maintained her required 3.0 GPA. (Though honestly, I was more worried than she was.)

I just received an email today from Classical Learning Resource Center saying that students were welcome to join their literature and composition classes for just the spring semester. www.clrchomeschool.com ETA: Their classes are $300 per semester.

The Rosemary Sutcliff books There is an Amazon list that has all of her books listed in chronological order. I would link it, but I can no longer get the link button to work for me - sorry.

In my experience, the poorer one is, the smaller one's world. An upper middle class family generally spreads its wealth over a larger area. Middle class families may be using their money to buy a home, plan for retirement, go on vacation, have a large Christmas (including buying for multiple relatives,) paying for their children's college, going to the theater or a sporting event, traveling across country (maybe for a wedding or funeral or graduation,) sending their kids to summer camp, paying for ballet or gymnastics. The middle class (and above) world is very large. A poorer person doesn't foresee a future where he/she will ever be able to buy a house, or retire or pay for their children's education. Their self worth and status in their family and community generally encompasses much smaller things like a new bike or a new car or nicer clothing. Items they can realistically aspire too.

Usually, one chapter per day.

I would wait on the local homeschool mom. That sounds like a great opportunity and most like what your dd is looking for. If the mother has done these classes in the past, there is a good chance she is going to go ahead with her plan. VP has an October sale every year. I think it includes the Omnibus self-paced classes. And I don't think they allow you to choose a start date for the class. Your one year generally begins a few days after you pay.

In my mind, if the student's "official high school transcript" must come from the parent, the student is homeschooling. I have a dd that has completely dual enrolled for over two years. I haven't taught her anything at home. But, the state lists her as a homeschooler and when she is a senior it will be me creating and mailing her official transcript. So I still consider her a homeschooler. I have a dd taking three of her classes through our state run virtual school. She is in the same online classes as students considered by the state to be public school students. But, when the time comes she will receive no diploma from the state and I will be the one mailing her official high school transcript so she is a homeschooler. All four of my children are listed with the county as homeschoolers and each will have one official high school transcript which reads Last Name Homeschool at the top, so they're all homeschoolers, no matter how much I choose to outsource their education.

I-phones

I stagger the kids start times to make sure each has quality one-on-one time with me. Dd15 starts school at 7:30, dd11 starts at 8:30 and ds9 starts at 9:30. They each get an hour and then they mostly study alone asking for help as needed. Lunch for everyone starts at noon. Then I stagger the afternoon times as well. Dd11 is back to school at 1:00, dd15 back to school at 1:30 and ds9 back to school at 2:00. So they each get 1.5 hours of individual time per day. I also work one-on-one as needed over the weekend. My eldest is entirely on her own, but if I needed to add a fourth child I would tack the youngest on to the end with school time being 10:30-11:30 with me and 30 minutes alone followed by an afternoon session from approximately 2:30-3:30 or 4:00 with me.

We use Van Aken - Plastalina Modeling Clay. It is used in clay animation. I use it at co-op with kids as young as 5 or 6 as well as at home with my kids. You can buy it online at Mister Art for $2.67 for a 1lb bar or $2.83 for a set of 4 different colored 0.25 lb bars. I've seen it sold other places as well. I would post a link, but I no longer seem able to do so.

Evening babysitting for young children She just brings her books and studies once they are in bed.

Teaching Company has lots of DVD literature courses: American Literature, English Literature, Short Fiction, Great Books, etc. I would not do Excellence in Lit without internet access. There are bunches of links in each unit that really add to the fullness of the class.

Thanks, regentrude. These classes are for my 11 year old. She will only be in 6th next year. But, we will definitely keep MOOCs in mind for a couple of years down the road.

Are all MOOCs college level courses? I don't believe she is ready for that level - especially the speed at which college classes run. Even moving at the pace of the student, the amount of information acquired per class would be too much for her at this time and I believe the math and science would just be above her. Are there MOOCs that are considered junior high or even lower level high school classes?