I prepare 15 weeks of work at a time. I just label them Week 1, Week 2, etc. Then we have 4 months to complete the schedule. If the kids want to work ahead they can. If we decide to take a day or a week off, we do. But the schedule must be completed by the end of the fourth month - April, August or December.

It must be really hard to transfer public schools since there do not appear to be any standards from location to location. My youngest sister is just finishing 8th grade (public school.) In her school district the honors students take Algebra I in 7th and all others in 8th. Generally, only kids with IEPs would be taking Algebra I in high school. (And I guess those that transfer in from other school districts where Algebra I isn't taken in Jr. High. :confused:)

Hi Sue, I always love to see how your son is doing. Since we hope to follow a similar plan, you and your son are like my online mentors. :) Congratulations on the great scores! Since you have your son take online classes, is there an specific reason you do not use Florida Virtual School? Our current plan is for my dd to take Honors Physical Science (starting this month) followed by Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry through FLVS before heading to the CC. The science classes she wants to take at the CC require the student to have taken high school level Bio and Chemistry. They haven't said that they will not accept parent grades and I do have the PH books with Kolbe syllabi, but I don't want any issues. Dd wants to start an art class through FLVS this month as well. If you've heard anything negative about them, I'd love to know - you can PM me. If your son takes the Intermediate Math class at the CC, I'd love to hear what you think of it. My dd wants to skip it because it can only be used as an elective here - not an actual math credit. But I worry about her jumping straight into College Algebra. She is a strong math student, but I think the speed of the class might be too much.

Thanks!! This is the best site I've seen this year. :D

All four of mine were wonderful hospital births. We had a great hospital known for its labor and delivery floor. All four were rushed in the sense that I delivered quickly, but no bad experiences and no drugs (not by my choice. :D)

Would you consider these three components to be acceptable for 1 credit of freshman English? Galore Park - Year 9 English text Classical Writing - Herodotus Memoria Press - Traditional Logic 1 The reading from CW Herodotus will be done, but I am also giving 1 credit of literature and listing those readings in the lit credit so not including them in the English credit. I am not giving a seperate credit for Logic so it will simply be a part of the English credit. My other possibility is to add a short story component to the credit to fill it out. I would prefer not to add anything if the above three seem like enough for a full credit.

dd 13 - Latin and math get equal time, much more than any other subjects dd 11 - Latin and music get equal time, more than any other subjects

I've never used them, but you can see inside them on Amazon.

I just found out yesterday my 11 year old daughter didn't know how to use a plunger. She does now. :D

My dd spends ten to twelve hours for everything including labs and exams. I am hoping the same will be true for Biology. For biology I have the virtual labs and plan to do all of these as they are scheduled. However, with this particular child I do not need to give a lab credit so I do have the option to skip labs if we are falling behind. My goals are to make sure she learns the necessary terminology, has a decent overview of biology, can write a good lab report and obtains a high school credit in the subject (so that she is eligible and prepared to take Biology with lab at the local comm. college the following year.) Sorry I couldn't help more.

I haven't used the Biology syllabus, but I have it here to use next year. The religious portions are listed seperately in the syllabus - under the heading Church teachings - you can easily skip it. There are six exams to accompany the biology program. The first exam has 30 matching questions, 34 multiple choice questions, 3 short answer questions and ten short essay questions (for honors students only.) I don't see any religious questions in any of the exams. I've never used Kolbe's services, only the syllabi so I can't help there. The syllabus is written so the student can use it alone. I usually get with my daughter twice per week for discussion, to review assignments, go over essays or labs, give quizzes or tests, etc. She is currently doing Physical Science and spends ten to twelve hours per week for everything combined. I am estimating the same amount of time for Biology this coming school year. ETA: You might get more answers posting in a couple of weeks. I know many Catholics give up the computer for lent - and tomorrow is Palm Sunday.

I received a Memoria Press catalog today and it lists an online class with First Form Greek. I wasn't aware they were making a Greek curriculum. I don't see it on the website. Is anyone in a First Form Greek class or perhaps beta testing First Form Greek at home???

Sometimes you need a code. This might be the one to put all the courses on sale - 47617 And this one definitely worked for .99 shipping a couple of days ago - MRAF You can use both (if they still work.) :)

I don't know what CC teaches, but we enjoy The Body Book for elementary human anatomy.

Favorites: Robin Hood King Arthur Arabian Nights Hobbit (not exactly middle ages :)) Adam of the Road Beowulf Books from your list that didn't go over well: Pedro's Journal Ivanhoe - hoping for a better response from my son when he is older :) -- about half your list are books that could be read in a day or two - so you could likely get through the whole list if you wanted to --My kids read Castle Diary, Battle for the Castle? and sequel and Knight's Castle (Eager) and enjoyed them all - but I've never read them myself.

If Angelicum is the the program that is the same as the Great Books program - I purchased their elementary lessons (second grade?) a few years ago. There was no guide - but they may have changed things over the years or it may be different at older levels, I really don't know. However, there were no guides when I purchased them. There were only one page book report forms to be completed and sent back after the child finished reading each book. I used the Memoria Press guides last year and again this year. I think they are great for about 3rd-6th grade - but they are time consuming. Each chapter is covered individually and looks exactly like the examples. I think there is too much writing/busy work for the younger kids - but it is possible that when my kids are young I don't ask as much from them as is standard. I don't really like the guides for use beyond 6th grade either. I tried the Homer guide and it just doesn't ask enough of the student. Way too much time on basic questions more suitable to younger grades especially on a chapter by chapter basis and no really thoughtful, penetrating questions at all. I am a fan of Kolbe. I wound up using the Kolbe guide for Homer and will use the rest of the Greek history/literature guide this year for my eldest daughter. I also have the junior high literature program. I will be doing the poetry sections with my dds 13 and 11 this year and my dd11 will also do about six of the novels. I have found most of Kolbe's programs to have a nice combination of vocabulary/comprehension/discussion questions. And they provide a teacher's guide that summarizes the main points, highlights things that should be discussed, require additional research, etc. There is usually a weekly essay topic, answers to all questions, vocabulary, essay topics. And I like the added quizzes and tests - especially since I need to provide a report card for 7th and 8th grades.

That makes it easy. :D Thanks!

If I order the Life of Fred companion book - do I still need to purchase the City Answer key?

7th Physical Science - Prentice Hall (w/Kolbe syllabus) 1 cr Astronomy - Teaching Company DVDs w/additional reading .5 cr 8th Biology - Prentice Hall: Miller & Levine (w/ Kolbe syllabus) 1 cr Geology - Teaching Company DVDs w/ additional reading .5 cr 9th Chemistry - Prentice Hall (w/Kolbe syllabus) 1 cr Human Anatomy/Nutrition - Teaching Company DVDs w/additional reading .5 cr 10th-12th community college classes

around age six - except the eldest, she started around age 9

I've never used a teacher's manual for either series. The Skoldo student book comes with the song CD. The answers to all the worksheets are in the back of the book as are the English translations to the songs and a vocabulary list. I do purchase the answer key and CDs to go along with SYRWTL French and wouldn't want to use the student book without those additional items, but I've never felt the need for the additional assessment packets.

We're very happy with: Junior English / SYRWTL English Skoldo French / SYRWTL French Junior History / SYRWTL History Junior Science / SYRWTL Science We have SYRWTL Geography and ISEB Latin Practice Exercises but haven't used them yet. Didn't work for us: SYRWTL Spanish Latin Prep / SYRWTL Latin ETA: I don't think there is anything wrong with these language programs. Rather, I am not the kind of person that enjoys trying to teach something I do not know well. We switched Spanish for French because that is the language I took through school and the GP books for French were so much easier for me to use. :) And then I outsourced Latin and now we are all happier.

Thanks Laura! I think it is simply the Galore Park publishers that I really like. I'm going back to my older plan of moving right from Galore Park into the Teaching Company DVDs in our content subjects. And I'll just keep an eye out for new products from GP. I just ordered the English Year 9 books and am looking forward to using them this year. Hopefully more books for older kids will be out soon as well. :)

As our homeschool continues to evolve, I am VERY pleased with how the Galore Park books are working for us. We are really enjoying devoting the majority of our day to Latin and Greek but getting the basics done well but rather painlessly with GP. The progression in skills through the books has worked well and the amount of info packed into the short chapters has been perfect. Are there any other programs that are similar to cover subjects not offered by Galore Park such as American history, fine arts and geography (at the lower level)? Also, I know in England the school subject material is detrmined by the state. I see many study materials coming out now through Galore Park. But where could I get a list of the texts used? I've tried internet searches but I don't have enough information to search effectively. Could anyone point me in the right direction? I feel like the texts used in the US are too watered down, too PC, too bulky with "extra stuff" and not to-the-point information, and there is no progression of skills. I am wondering if the upper level texts used in Europe are different? Or are they similar to what is available for high schoolers here? Thanks!

As our homeschool continues to develop, I am VERY pleased with how the Galore Park books are working for us. We are really enjoying devoting the majority of our day to Latin and Greek but getting the basics done well but rather painlessly with GP. The progression in skills through the books has worked well and the amount of info packed into the short chapters has been perfect. Are there any other programs that are similar to cover subjects not offered by Galore Park such as American history, fine arts and geography (at the lower level)? Also, I know in England the school subject material is detrmined by the state. I see many study materials coming out now through Galore Park. But where could I get a list of the texts used? I've tried internet searches but I don't have enough information to search effectively. Could anyone point me in the right direction? I feel like the texts used in the US are too watered down, too PC, too bulky with "extra stuff" and not to-the-point information, and there is no progression of skills. I am wondering if the upper level texts used in Europe are different? Or are they similar to what is available for high schoolers here? Thanks!