Thanks to all of you who have replied. This is most helpful!

I am soon to be in the world of high school homeschooling, and I have some questions about awarding credits for science. If my dc take the Apologia sequence (biology, chemistry, physics, and possibly some of the advanced courses), should I do a lab component for each course? If I do a lab component, is the entire course awarded 1 credit or 1.5 credits? How do you list it on the transcript? Is it Biology or Biology with Lab? Also, how many lab courses do most colleges want to see?

I don’t anyone here IRL but many of you obviously have gifted children. Would you mind helping me with a family I have to deal with? We see them annually and I honestly have started to dread them coming. We have the usual conversations about their life: “How’s your job?†“How are your parents?†Then… when the conversations switches to the inevitable “How are your kids?†we can’t hear a sentence that doesn’t have the word gifted in it. (I mean this almost literally.) It’s like their whole identity as parents is wrapped up in having this identification for their kids. (Their kids are in a public school highly gifted program.) It seems to be a part of their entire family life, too. For example (I could give other examples like this one from other visits), their oldest got into trouble for not helping her mother so her mother scolds her dd by repeating OVER and OVER about how smart she is and she won’t get anywhere in life if she doesn’t work. My dh and I were scratching our heads about what does her intelligence have to do with her current lack of willingness to help. I would have told my dd she needed to work harder and that she was being lazy and selfish. I guess I want to know if this is normal in your circle of friends. I’m assuming it isn’t. Any hints on how to steer the inevitable conversation when they come visit?

and spent several years in the company of people who bought everything Doug Wilson said hook, line, and sinker. They definitely saw homeschooling as second rate and their school as virtually flawless. Doug Wilson has said plenty more about homeschooling. Go look on his blog or his church's magazine and search the archives. He can't say anything nice about homeschooling without using "but...." and a list of things that would make any homeschooler feel inadequate. I have since moved to another part of the country and am surrounded by public school "brainiacs" that could compete with this classical school any day of the week. Maybe that will be another post...

which, academically speaking, has quite surprised me. The elementary and middle school are within walking distance and service a large population of students, many of which are children of immigrants. Having met some of them and looking at the school in general, I am impressed with the academics. All of the kids in the fourth grade (based on the state test) are at grade level for reading and math. Roughly 20% qualify for the gifted program. That means taking the IOWA a grade level ahead and scoring 98% or higher plus at least a 130 on the Cog AT test. Several of the kids compete nationally at different things. For example, 2 of the kids at the elementary school are nationally ranked chess players. One more thing, most of these kids speak and write a second language. They learn this at home or at after school classes. How would my kids do? They could keep up with the mainstream but would not be standouts.

We have some friends who have their kids in a full-time highly gifted program in their local public school. They haven't mentioned a lot of specifics, except that their 4th grader does plenty of writing. They use to have their kids at a classical christian school but kept saying their kids were ahead of whatever the CCS was doing. That left me wondering since they never made it past the 2nd grade with the CCS before pulling them out. Aren't these schools suppose to be highly academic, especially as you progress through the years? I was wondering how your homeschool curriculum with your gifted kids compares with what the public school offers for their qualifying gifted kids.

1. I hope to have the time each day, say 1.5 hours, to do this. He is currently doing well with math. 2. I don't necessarily want a self-teaching program unless it is superior to my instruction. If the self-teaching program is better, I want to use it. 3. I have a decent math background so I should be ahead of him. I might have to review a few things here and there. Thanks for your help!

Hi, everyone! My oldest in soon to be in the realm of algebra and I wanted to get some opinions here. What, in your opinion, are the best books/programs for the college prep math sequence (Alg 1, Alg 2, Geometry, Pre-Cal, and Cal 1)? I am planninng to teach this myself, but I am willing to consider a DVD/computer program if you think it is superior.

They have 2 courses at the high school level: Beautiful Feet Ancient World History and Honors Ancient World History.

and recommended it to others who want to see another educational view or whose children attend school with Asians. Having said that, I really didn't like the tone of the book or the overall message the two Korean sisters were giving. The bottom line I inferred from it all after I read the last page and closed the book was "all that mattered to my parents was that I am a professional (fill in the blank with doctor, engineer, lawyer)." Maybe my view is a little harsh but I have seen this (whole scenario as presented in the book) in real life with the Asians and Indians I know. I like them (they have been wonderful to get to know) but as a group they are obsessed with their child's academic performance: grades, test scores, on and on. The Asian and Indian parents I know with young kids are always wondering if they are doing enough preschool and young kid activities to prepare their kids to be "successful." To fill that need there are at least 10 tutoring businesses within driving distance of where I live plus numerous "in-house" tutoring businesses. There are great tips in the book which I think many moms are already doing here but the potential for overkill is also there.