I think the .5 credit per class is fairly standard - even for the AP level. I would be hesitant to award any more credit unless you see it done other places in your area. Otherwise, it looks like you're padding the transcript.

Wrapping up 9th grade soon: Algebra 1 (Saxon/ Life of Fred) Geometry (Saxon/ Life of Fred) Physical Geology w/lab (outsourced) Composition (outsourced) Latin (outsourced) Philosophy (outsourced) .5 credit Poetry Writing (outsourced) .5 credit 6 credits (though I will drop the two math credits if she gets through another four math classes in the next three years)

I thought as much. I often wonder if we made the right decision with gymnastics. She only does 9-12 hours per week this year, the minimum required to stay on team. Next year she will have to do 12-16 hours minimum. She has a strong front stroke and the swim team would like to recruit her. Swimming seems the better choice to me, but she will certainly choose gymnastics. I'll keep her in recreational swimming, just in case she has a change of heart some day. :)

Isn't that crazy? Here there is a bus that goes around to the schools and brings the kids straight to the gym. Then they get out of practice at 8 PM. Most of them are away from home from 6:30 am - 8 pm four days per week. My dd is the only homeschooled gymnast in our gym. They do school work on the bus, during break and while stretching. I have no idea when they eat. We couldn't do it.

I suppose it must be decided by the individual colleges. I was just going by the catalog of the college where my kids will be taking the CLEP exams. Santa Fe College catalog (on earning CLEP credits): Credit for the general and subject examinations may be earned in those areas where students have not already earned academic credit. Credit for the examinations may be earned, provided the student has not already earned credit for the particular course(s) for which Santa Fe could give examination credit. Credit is not awarded for a basic course in areas where advanced course credit has been earned. No examination may be repeated in an attempt to receive credit. Score minimums, credit hours awarded, and course equivalencies awarded are subject to change for any examination without prior notice. (Bolding added by me.) Sorry for any added confusion. :)

I only looked into this for colleges my dd was interested in attending (state university level) and at that level you are welcome to try both CLEP and AP. However, the CLEP can only be taken one time per subject. I don't know if that is true for the AP exam or not. From the UF website: Credit awarded for dual enrollment or transfer courses takes precedence over credit by examination. If duplicate credit exists among AICE, AP, IB or CLEP, the exam yielding the most credit will be awarded.

Are any of your children both a competitive gymnast and a competitive swimmer? If so, how does this work out, especially concerning competition seasons? I've been wondering whether or not these two sports can both be pursued simultaneously (at a competitive level.)

We joined a new gym this year too. You and your dh will really need to put yourselves out there and be accepted into the gym as a family; it's not just your dd being accepted as a gymnast. Gymnast families tend to be very tight due to the long hours together. Volunteer whenever there is a chance, go to the team building events over the summer and say hi to everyone - parents and gymnasts. When you are in the lobby, smile and join the group (no matter how uncomfortable you feel at first.) There will be no need to eavesdrop to get information if you are standing/sitting with the group. For us it was a double barrier to cross as our dd is the only homeschooler and several of the parents are educators. It was stressful at the beginning of the year. What worked best for me was to introduce myself to one parent at a time and ask about that person's child. How long has she been in gymnastics? What school does she go to? If you want to fit into the group you will honestly need to be interested. Watch how the other kids do in practice and at meets. Praise/sympathize with the parents regularly. It has to be a two way street. And when you are new to the gym it tends to fall on you to start the balls rolling (even though common sense would dictate that it should really be the other way around. :rolleyes: )

Well, I guess we would be considered way over-scheduled. My children make their friends through their activities. My gymnast in particular has mostly other gymnast friends. They know and understand each other very well, spend ten plus hours per week together during practice alone and it is easy to plan play dates and such as all the girls have a similar schedule. We are flexible with our schooling schedule in order to meet up with other homeschoolers now and again. And I generally will allow the kids to run outside for at least half an hour anytime the neighborhood kids happen to be outside - which really isn't all that often, maybe once per week.

You must also be a state resident so you would have to move a year early. :D

That is actually decided college by college and not by the state. The college my dd attends allows 30 (free) credit hours per year for up to 4 years.

Is there a football based elementary curriculum? I'm not sure exactly what I am looking for, but something focused around football. I remember Elizabeth Foss doing a geography study based on Monday night football that I am going to try and look up again. Anything else in that vein?

Sorry, running like crazy this week. Dual enrolled students can wait until near graduation time to decide whether or not to accept the college credits and take an upper level standing at university or basically deny them and enter as a freshman. If one wanted to go to an ivy league school that doesn't accept dual enrollment, he/she can decide to use any college credit as advanced high school credit only and begin again as a freshman.

Well, there is the upcoming Ron Paul curriculum. :leaving:

Why would they necessarily be reading Milton or taking Calculus? My average dd dual enrolled at the local university at 14. She will take College Algebra, Precalculus, Statistics and Survey of Calculus. By the time she gets to her survey class, she'll be 17. She plans to earn her masters without ever seeing a Calc 1 class. And she has taken Comp 1 and Comp 2 and they don't read anything the likes of Milton. Here you really can just walk in and say you want to register your student. There aren't any hoops. You just show up with an ACT or SAT test score.

That's going to vary by state, but in FL all (undergrad) college classes taken before high school graduation are free.

If you don't want to send your kids to university at 14 it probably wouldn't work for your family. :D We moved to the town we are in specifically so we can send our kids to the university at 14 and they can continue to live at home. However, they are dual enrolled, so they will have more options at age 17-18 than students that choose to graduate homeschool early. But our kids would be able to graduate university at age 17 or 18 if that is what they chose to do.

Skoldo French

We followed a similar course, except I voted less than one year. Since then, I have outsourced Latin. :)

I love Don Quixote. Other books that seem to have a similar wit/feel (though adult themes abound in many) ... Canterbury Tales Decameron 1001 Arabian Nights Candide one of the King Arthur legend books - maybe Once and Future King?

Memoria Press Many of their programs are meant to be done once per week, so do it two or three times a week and you'll be done in no time.

Ours is interesting. We have two choices for our county. The county school district which is all the schools in the county minus one. And then we have one school that stands alone as its own school district. How can that be? I've never heard of one school being its own district. And that school has numbers well above the county district numbers.

Geography Government Economics Psychology Sociology Archaeology Philosophy

It looks fine and well rounded for elementary. If I had to place a grade on the materials as used in our homeschool it would be 3rd/4th. ETA: Although some of the literature we do in 2nd grade, but we don't use MBTP which likely goes more in depth with the novels.

My drama/music dd has decided to go with Saxon as well. We used it some when she was younger. She really, really dislikes math. This year we did Chalkdust Basic math so I could get a really good idea where she was struggling most. It wound up being primarily fractions and fraction conversions. We are working on those now with the Chalkdust DVDs, LOF fractions and Key to Fractions. It was her choice to move back to Saxon Algebra 1/2 this fall for 8th grade. She likes the consistent layout and the fact that there will only be 30 problems each day. She also likes the exams (of only 20 questions) each week to evaluate how she is doing and the solutions manual to get a better understanding of exactly how to solve the more difficult problems. She plans to use Saxon Algebra 1/2, 1, and 2 for 8th - 10th and then on to College Algebra and Statistics as a DE student in 11th and 12th.