Live Education is my favorite, but it also requires the most from the instructor. In order for it to really work the parent/instructor needs to prepare each block in advance often finding resources and putting together plans on his/her own.

Epi Kardia?

We have a final list now, too. Nearly everything has been ordered. Saxon Algebra 1 (after finishing Saxon Algebra 1/2) Kolbe Physical Science + TOPS Analysis, Solutions, Machines and Sound FLVS Psychology + CLEP exam Write at Home Expository Writing 1 and Essay 1 + EIL American Literature + Killgallon SC for High School Kolbe Modern and US History + Teaching Company History of the United States + CTT The Three R's and Revolutions & Nations + CLEP US History I exam CTT Screenwriting I

I'm so sorry. :grouphug: :grouphug:

Paper, Scissors, Stone sells them. They are half way down the page on the right hand side.

Our co-op has many unschoolers. The co-op classes are as close to schooling as many of them get. And we all know the co-op is mostly a social hour (for the parents as much as the children.) It has to be very informal as families will just choose not to show up if their kids don't feel like going and the kids that are unschoolers will just walk in and out of the classes as they choose. Our family is the most "schooly" in the co-op and everyone else is just somewhere along the scale. We all bump along nicely. I like all the other mothers (and the occasional father) at the co-op. Many of the parents in the co-op are very interesting and also very knowledgeable in their fields of study. Several are also current college professors. Many of the unschooled kids are incredibly knowledgeable in their areas of interest and I would guess (though I've never asked) that a few are highly gifted. But I will admit that the common lack of discipline among unschoolers (and honestly just homeschoolers in general) can be trying and I wouldn't be in a co-op that met more than once a week for a couple of hours. :rolleyes:

This year for 4th dd had two blocks: 8-11 and 12:30-3. Next fall her planned schedule for 5th is: 7:30 - 10 Latin Math French Spelling 11:30 - 3:30 History Science Literature Grammar/Composition Art and music appreciation are on weekends. She has gymnastics nearly every afternoon.

Does this have a teacher's book that has answers to the writing assignments or example essays?

We have that law here in FL, too. I have the reviewer come to our house. That way I do not have to put together a portfolio at all. :) The kids just pull down there work from the bookshelves and go over it at the dining room table. I don't expect to get anything from our reviews though. I am just trying to comply with the law in the easiest way possible. From seventh grade on we do ACT/SAT testing instead of the reviews. We never do both.

Write at Home has 8-9 week writing workshops. This upcoming year my dd is going to do 1 or 2 of the workshops along with American literature at home with me to complete her English credit.

All three girls' names mean strength (in various forms) and son's means leader. Their meanings did play into why we chose the names, as is common in our family.

This looks very interesting, my dd would love it. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on the class part way through the year.

:bigear: I would really like something like SWB's History of the World (high school/adult version) with accompanying Study Guide, written for US History. Any suggestions?

Another pro - If you are considering NCAA sports, the Kolbe diploma is accepted by them (last time I checked.) It is the route I was planning to take if either of my older two were potential prospects and the route I still have planned for the younger two if Kolbe is then a viable option (according to the NCAA.)

Delta - Science in a Nutshell We have been very happy with all of these. The materials are good quality and the activities interesting. They are for the age group you are looking for and come with multiple journals for the kids to record their information. I consider them the precursor to the higher level TOPS programs. The TOPS electricity book is a good choice for younger kids. It always seems to be a hit. My kids have come back to it in their free time.

I am looking for suggestions. We need a US History program that has the writing and discussion (and possibly the literature, too) already scheduled and tied together. We are not looking for a textbook program. So far, I am looking at Fundafunda US History and Kolbe US History. It would need to be secular or Catholic friendly. I did try pulling related resourced together this year and that did not go as well as we had hoped. Any other suggestions for pre-planned programs?

I didn't see one of my favorites anywhere on the list - My Many Colored Days. :)

We are just wrapping up 10th grade. Our school year officially ends in two weeks, though there will be some summer school going on for all of the kids. Latin 3 (DE) .5 Latin 3B (FLVS) NC English Literature (DE) .5 Poetry Writing (DE) .5 Ancient Greece (DE) .5 Ancient Rome (DE) .5 US History I (DE) .5 Oceanography (DE) .5 Plants & Plagues (DE) .5 Gardening (DE) NC Web Design (FLVS) 1 Math - none :blushing: We will be devoting the summer to math review so dd can take College Algebra through DE next fall.

Yep. My cousin. She has the most amazing time management skills. She never, ever puts off for even an hour anything that can be done now. She is so very organized it is often frightening. All of us (cousins & sisters) admire her, yet none of us others really strive to be her. :)

All four of my kids were/are average aged readers. None of them learned to read until 6 or 7. None of them were fluent readers until 8-9. One of the many reasons we decided to homeschool was the fact that I did not like my eldest dd's kindergarten teacher trying to force her to learn to read before dd was ready. :)

Driver's Ed. My eldest doesn't even have her license yet, and now my 8th grader starts driver's ed this summer. So, I'll need to be driving with both girls (separately) this fall. I really, really dislike teaching my children to drive. I know it will be my husband driving with them more than I, but I still find the whole thing incredibly nerve racking! :scared: :scared:

I would like to see our co-op take a more academic turn next fall. Is there any sort of one day per week program that is more secular in nature? I know we could put a plan together piecemeal, but I would prefer a program that already has some structure and details on how to successfully teach once a week classes.

Here is the For Sea recommended reading list.

You don't have to take the exam at the end, but if you finish the AP class and don't take the exam FLVS automatically changes your recorded transcript to Honors (subject) instead of AP (subject.) My dd started two AP classes, but dropped both of them - AP Human Geography and AP Art History. She found it to be too much work to do both AP and dual enrollment. I though both classes were well done. I was happy with both teachers. There is a lot of work, but it is much less busy work than the regular high school classes. There was a lot of writing, especially in AP Art History. But, that AP exam includes a lot of writing. Once you are assigned a class you can look through all of the assignments for the whole year. Both classes has a mixture of content assignments and assignments that focused on writing for the AP. Both classes expected assignments to be turned in three to four times per week so it was easy to fall behind quickly. I have no idea how well prepared the students were at the end, but both teachers assigned to my dd were accessable and appeared to want the students to do well. The AP Human Geography class teacher had weekly meet-up times where students could hold discussions. I think FLVS is trying to do more of that this year as well. HTH.

Our primary joint interest is sports. We enjoy going to college basketball and football games. We talk sports a lot and will watch some on TV, but we only get the basic 5 channels (bunny ears.) We listen to sports news podcasts together in the car. We both love to be on the water. Moving so far inland last year was hard on us as we would be out in the boat together regularly before we moved - now we've sold it. :( We also like to play Scrabble.