Congratulations to both of you!

Bravo!

Some other considerations, Calming Tea: Re: a charter school, how important to you is a classical approach to education? You mentioned your preference to maintain independence as a homeschooler and I see you use Calvert, which I believe is a classical curriculum. I understand the benefit of a-g courses through a charter school, but that may come at a cost if you have to give up the classical approach. Most charter school curriculum at the high school level is not what most would call classical. If the goal is to arrive at a UC with a solid classical foundation then adding some Test Prep to that foundation might be less time consuming than jumping through the hoops of a charter school. Re: CCs, when you consider the time and frustration of trying to get the necessary classes each semester (many students stand in the back of classrooms for the first week or two, hoping that enough students drop the class to create openings) you may decide that the time spent on test prep is not as bad as you think. Just some more things to think about. Best of luck to you and your family!

Yes. Dss laugh when they remember how they called it "Writing Will Kill" because they enjoy it so much now, and they recognize how it has made them better writers.

Somewhat older. They began WWS1 in 6th grade, WWS2 (beta test) in 7th grade and WWS3 (beta test) will take them through the 8th grade (ages 131/2-14). I know the WWS materials say a student can begin WWS1 as early as 5th grade, but from what I've read, starting in 6th isn't necessarily a "late" start. Since there will be an optional WWS4 to shore up skills, it appears the program anticipates flexibility in the starting age because a student beginning WWS1 in 6th grade could skip the 4th volume in order to begin rhetoric in 9th grade. Even though the content of WWS becomes more difficult, the skills increase and the student is therefore up to the challenge. So, I think age as a factor would be most relevant for WWS1, since the skills are just beginning and an older student may acquire them more quickly or easily. I think a student beginning WWS1 at a younger age may just need to stick with it, if possible, because the combination of growing maturity and repeated use of the skills will make the curriculum easier with time. An older student will start off with more maturity (hopefully) and may have less of a learning curve.

At first my sons called it "Writing Will Kill." But they have since recanted! My sons are creative writers and at first they bristled at the intentionally slow pace of WWS. I liked the structured thinking that came from WWS1, so we agreed to beta test WWS2. While they still disliked the way they had to follow the same small, repeated steps, dss stopped complaining as those steps became easier and easier. I noticed, too, that as they matured they began relating to it differently. They began seeing it as skill building. One thing I like about WWS is that it doesn't talk down to the student. The instructions are written in an intelligent, academic tone and with time a student will rise to that standard. Your daughter is 12 and that can be an age of resistance to everything, especially everything that mom wants. Since she relates to other school work in the same way, the problem may not be the curriculum. It takes time. If you see merit in the curriculum I encourage you to stick with it. HTH.

Are you looking for an integrated program, ( SPM and DM are integrated), or do you want to switch her to the traditional U.S. math sequence? If the latter, have you looked at Chalk Dust Algebra? The DVD lectures give extremely thorough explanations.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-harvard-cheating-20130905,0,2944624.story

When dss began reading her history books in 5th grade they said her tone was condescending. Is that what you experienced?

As a Van fan, I thank you for posting this. Did ye get healed?

Thank you for the info, everyone. While our library has free ebook loans, they don't have the title I want (The Once and Future KIng). so I'll check out some of the free sites. Thanks again.

I can't decide whether to follow AOA with DOD or AB for dss 13. Any opinions or experiences? TIA.

I know there are many sites with free e-books for downloading, but Amazon has free or cheap versions in Kindle formatting for many books, so I usually get their e-books because it is faster and easier. The Kindle version of The Once And Future King is $11.99, however, so I'd prefer free but don't really know the best place to get it free. Do e-books at the free sites have the features I love, such as accessing the dictionary definition of a word by pressing on the word, and the ability to go to a chapter directly from the table of contents. What do most of you Kindle users do? Also, any other Kindle wisdom that you would like to pass on? Thanks a million!

I know there are many sites with free e-books for downloading, but Amazon has free or cheap versions in Kindle formatting for many books, so I usually get their e-books because it is faster and easier. The Kindle version of The Once And Future King is $11.99, however, so I'd prefer free but don't really know the best place to get it free. Do e-books at the free sites have the features I love, such as accessing the dictionary definition of a word by pressing on the word, and the ability to go to a chapter directly from the table of contents. What do most of you Kindle users do? Also, any other Kindle wisdom that you would like to pass on? Thanks a million!

I know there are many sites with free e-books for downloading, but Amazon has free or cheap versions in Kindle formatting for many books, so I usually get their e-books because it is faster and easier. The Kindle version of The Once And Future King is $11.99, however, so I'd prefer free but don't really know the best place to get it free. Do e-books at the free sites have the features I love, such as accessing the dictionary definition of a word by pressing on the word, and the ability to go to a chapter directly from the table of contents. What do most of you Kindle users do? Also, any other Kindle wisdom that you would like to pass on? Thanks a million!

My undergraduate degree is in English and I believe that the question your daughter asked correctly corresponds to the underlined word. The master's question also correspnds to the underlined word, but your daughter's question does so more elonquently.

Thank you for posting this.

Yes, the a through g courses are the standard way, but the UC also offers Admission by Examination http://admission.uni...ts/examination/ Admission by Exception http://admission.uni...tion/index.html The webpage for the latter specifically mentions homeschoolers.

I agree that the reason you are seeing it used by older students may be because it wasn't available when they were younger. SWB's production schedule has always been about one year late for my dss (if I look at the recommended age to begin the curricululm) but I have always used her materials one year later simply because they are so good! That being said, if the materials had been available when my sons were younger I would have used them. I think your observations are really just a reflection of the quality and adaptability of WWS. HTH.

Thanks for the important reminders, Hive. May I add my own little confirmation to the mix? I used WWE and now WWS with dss and we did some extra narration, outlining and dictation on the side. Last week, while we were on a field trip to the Norton Simon art museum, the docent asked our group if anyone could tell the story of an event depicted in Rubens' "David slaying Goliath." Ds volunteered and after he spoke the docent said, "That was a perfect and concise account. You included all the important facts." That's when I whispered into my son's his ear, "Thank you, Susan Wise Bauer and Writing with Ease." While I valued narration for the way it helps build writing skills, I had forgotten about the great benefits it lends to speaking and thinking.

It will be interesting to see how the Common Core Standards play out. For now, this erstwhile trial attorney is pleased to see the emphasis on teaching students to support their positions with evidence. Here's to a better educated future jury pool.

For Monica/Renaissance Mom. I checked with dss and yes, they bought the DVDs at CBD. At the time that was the best price they could find. HTH.

Wasn't there some controversy about the ethical way to refer to these degrees? I'm thinking of the "Tyra Banks went to Harvard" controversy a while back. Thay may have been a different program but it raised the issue of how she could ethically represent her eduacational background. It may be wise to ask them how you label these degrees on a resume.

Monica, My sons gave the DVDs to us for Christmas. I will check with them to see where they purchased them. I bought the companion book for one of the lectures in kindle format at Amazon. It is called "The Ultimate Proof of Creation." Amazon also sells Dr, Lisle's book, "Discerning Truth" which discusses this topic as well.

We read and view many of the materials written and presented by astrophysicist Dr. Jason Lisle. We especially like his respectful demeanor and logical explanations. My sons are working through Classical Academic Press "The Art of Argument", and we have been supplementing it with Dr. Lisle's lectures called "Ultimate Apologetics" because Dr. LIsle teaches about logical fallacies in the context of the Creation/Evolution debate. My sons have enjoyed discussing logical fallacies in a context other than advertisements or politics, especially because Dr. LIsle has a subtle and enjoyable sense of humor. These materials would be in the category of six day creation. We have read internet comments about Dr. Lisle by people who disagree with him, and while many do not like his Christianity, they almost all regard him with professional respect and hold him in high regard. Enjoy your reading.