I just posted in a later thread about my experience with it. It has proven to be very effective for my writing students. I usually work through the book with my children when they are in 7th grade or so, once they have a really strong foundation in grammar. Frode Jensen makes the punctuation simple and easy to remember.

...for Jensen's Punctuation. I have found it to be a painless introduction to proper punctuation for students who have a good grasp on grammar. It introduces one basic punctuation rule at a time and provides five practice worksheets for that rule and all the other rules he or she has studied. After studying and practicing a rule, the student takes a test to measure mastery of that rule and the ones studied before it. When the student has finished studying all the rules, the book provides excellent punctuation practice exercises to keep the rules fresh in the student's mind. I have found that using that book once in middle school helps the student learn to punctuate so that we can spend more time writing rather than discussing mechanics later in middle school and in high school. I use something else for grammar, but I definitely recommend the punctuation book.

...to take AP courses in the disciplines that are *not* a student's planned major in college. That is because many colleges require majors in a discipline to take special introductory courses which are more challenging than their standard introductory courses. So, for example, the student who wants to major in biology may find that a good score on the AP Bio is a help in admissions and scholarship competition, but it will not allow him or her to place out of the freshman introductory biology course for majors, but will only give him "elective" credit. Otoh, if a student is moving toward the humanities, taking a science AP exam can help to meet basic educational core requirements and free the student to explore a more specialized science or to focus in on another area of interest. The AP language exams seem beneficial for all students who plan to attend a college with a language requirement. Some colleges also give their own placement exam, but some place students in intermediate level courses based on the AP exam scores. Whether a good score on an AP language exam meets the language requirement for graduation from college varies by college. Some require more advanced language studies, and others allow the student's high AP language score to meet the language requirement fro graduation. If your child is interested in Latin and the humanities, I think Latin would be a great choice for an AP course. Since almost all colleges require English, I also think that the English Language and English Literature exams are great places to begin for those interested in humanities. The AP European History and/or US History exams are other good choices. I have not heard of schools requiring special introductory courses for history majors, and again, most schools require a basic history course, this requirement could be bypassed with a good AP score. Often those basic courses are the more crowded and impersonal courses at larger colleges, too, so bypassing the intro course for a higher level course also can mean more personal attention from the professor and a more engaged student group in the class. hth

...as to how much aid they have available for students. Some colleges are well-endowed enough to be able to help a student with aid to make up the difference between the EFC and the cost of attendance; others are not. Even for the ones that do meet all financial need, the difference between the EFC and the cost of attendance may be bridged with a combination of scholarships, federal and college grants, subsidized loans (no interest is charged the student until a few months after graduation), and unsubsidized loans (interest begins to accumulate as soon as funds are dispersed). Those loans are what unnerve me! Some of the colleges that guarantee students that they will meet all documented need are listed here: http://www.cslf.com/if/payingforcollege/collegesthatmeetneed.htm I don't know anything about Wisconsin schools, but you might start looking for an answer here: http://heab.state.wi.us/appinfo.html It looks like state schools in Wisconsin don't require additional information after receiving the FAFSA, so they wouldn't require the extra form(s) mentioned on the boards earlier. But the individual schools might differ as to how much aid they have available to bridge the gap. Of course, you can always consider one of the tuition-free colleges, "hard-work universities" where most students attend tuition free: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2007/pi20071113_819956.htm hth

...at a local school, the process was very challenging, but eventually dd was able to take the test even though it was one that the school did not administer to its own students. That was eight years ago. Ever since that first time, however, the local school has been very kind to administer the exams for local homeschooled students. Our local Christian school has just begun to offer some AP exams, too, so even in our small town, we now have two good options. Just be sure to contact the school and begin the process early. I usually make the first contact just after January 1 to find out when they need the information and the payment for the exams. Usually the test order isn't made until February or March, but by contacting them early, we keep the lines of communication open, and I show respect for their deadlines and need to plan. Gwen, I didn't know VA had a law requiring schools to administer tests to homeschooled students; we need similar laws across the country!

...are really philosophical. I believe that homeschooled students should be treated identically in admissions policies to students in public schools or private schools. The courses taught in traditional high schools can vary widely (as can the grading standards), but to my knowledge, public and private high schools are not required to send course descriptions with their transcripts (the CA state university system may have created an exception). I want my children to be considered not as "special cases" but just the same as any other students who are applying for admission or scholarships. I remember a state school saying that in order for my Natl. Merit Finalist and NM-scholarship-winning child to apply to that school, she would have to pass the GED. That is the kind of entrenched arrogance that I oppose. I don't have any philosophical objection if a school requires x number of SAT II exams for all their applicants (and some do), but I do object on philosophical grounds if a school requires x number of SAT II exams from homeschooled students and none from others (and some do). I believe so much in what we homeschooling families have committed ourselves to doing; I have devoted my life to teaching my children and tutoring homeschooled students in my community. As we homeschoolers continue to uphold high standards for education and diligently to teach our children and/or coordinate their instruction with other tutors, as our children become active and contributing members of their college communities and then their adult communities, I think homeschooling will continue to gain respect among college admissions personnel, and that it will come to be viewed in the society at large as a competitive alternative to traditional education rather than as a "special case." At the same time, I don't want to cause offense in the admissions offices. Those folks are just trying to do their job well, and I respect that. Most of them have been so gracious and helpful to us. That is why I offer to send the extra information. But first I want to give those folks the opportunity to examine all the documentation that any other school would send them. I think that information speaks for itself. If not, I'm confident the course descriptions would. But, so far none of the colleges have asked for them, and my children have been blessed with generous merit scholarships from every school to which they applied. I'm really not militant, just a sort of reluctant radical. :001_smile: I want so much for people to realize that education is not something that must be left to the professionals or the credentialed. Any human being can take his education in his own hands and soar!

...after having four children apply to and be accepted to fourteen different colleges with homeschool transcripts. On the transcript I indicate that a complete set of course descriptions is available on request, but none of the colleges have ever asked for them, even the ones that say on their website that they require course descriptions from homeschooled students. All four of my children have been awarded generous merit scholarships for academics, too, including full tuition scholarships. IMHO colleges give most weight to the SAT or ACT scores, letters of recommendation from teachers other than parents, and personal essays and interviews when evaluating homeschooled students. At least that's the only reason I can think why my course descriptions have never been requested when I was willing to make them available. The schools my children applied to were all excellent private Christian liberal arts colleges. I suspect that had one of them applied to the USAFA or one of the California state colleges, I would have had to send course descriptions, but I wonder if the overworked admissions staff at most schools just don't really have time to read through all those impressive course descriptions I was willing to send. :001_smile:

...that you are teaching yourself? I have tutored my own children and a few local students in European History and US History, and they have all done very well on the AP exams. I keep wondering if I'm doing my students a disservice, though, by *not* going through the College Board certification process so that they can list the course as "AP" on their transcripts. I just noticed that the CB is allowing teachers of certified courses access to sample exams and other resources unavailable to those of us who have not gone through the certification process. Does anyone have experience with this process as a home-school parent? If you have gone through the process, how much work was it to jump through the CB hoops to have your own home-school course certified? TIA

Ds decided the last week of February to graduate a year early since he has plenty of credits, so he didn't submit his applications until 3/1. I will be *so* glad when he finally has all the offers on the table!

Karin, We were a Matin Latin family once that curriculum came out. My oldest had used Artes Latinae because that was all that was available for the non-Latin-trained teacher to teach at the elementary level back in the early 1990s. Matin Latin was a much better choice once it became available, but probably the biggest advantage my children had when beginning online Latin studies was an extensive knowledge of English grammar. That made Wheelock's much easier for them. Accelerated Latin wasn't available when my older children took their first online Latin courses, and when my youngest started his Latin studies in middle school, I *knew* he wasn't ready for the accelerated pace. Even if it had been available before, I don't think I would have chosen to enroll my 9th grade students in the class. I think it would have been better to enroll them as 7th or 8th grade students in the Latin I and Latin II sequence than to wait to enroll them as 9th grade students in Accelerated Latin. Of course, that's just my kids. I'm sure there are some students that would be capable of more advanced work and a more accelerated pace than mine were. IMHO (and, of course I don't know your children) most 9th grade students are not ready to handle Wheelock's in a single year even if they have studied Latin using an elementary Latin curriculum. Because Wheelock's is a one-year college text book, covering the entire book in a year is like keeping up with a classics student at a liberal arts college. That would be tough for a 9th grader with little Latin background. I can imagine Accelerated Latin as a great option for a senior who really wanted to bypass elementary Latin instruction in college. I can imagine it as a good choice for a student who has finished a course using one of the high school level curricula (like Henle or Cambridge or any of the other good choices out there) who wants to solidify the concepts he or she has already learned and to broaden vocabulary before tackling college Latin or an AP Latin course. I can also imagine it as a good choice for a very diligent and self-disciplined younger high school student who really wants to make it through AP Latin Vergil but who has had a late start. It would take a LOT of work for the latter, though, and I wouldn't tackle it without planning to spend at least two hours a day studying nothing but Latin. I can even imagine it for someone like me whose Latin definitely lags behind that of her kids! Hth

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...sophomore year of high school. He had completed BJU's Biology and Apologia Chemistry. I considered having him do Apologia's Advanced Chem, but in the end, he decided to take Dr. Christe McMenomy's Chemistry course with the AP option in his junior year and her Physics course with the AP option in his senior year. That was a perfect choice for him. The chemistry book used in the Scholars Online class is the same one used at my son's college, so he had a full year of challenging college level chemistry during his junior year of high school. While his year in Apologia's Chemistry course helped him 'hit the deck running' in Dr. Christe's class, her course goes so much farther and deeper that the overlap was negligible. Dr. Christe's students do really well on the AP exams from everything that I have heard. My son ended up not taking the AP exam because his year was disrupted by my husband's terrible automobile accident, but I think he would have done well if we would have registered him in time. He took Dr. Christe's Physics course in his senior year, and again it was a very good course which also used the physics book used in the course for non-majors at his college. He elected to take a trip to England in the spring of his senior year, so again he missed the AP exam, but I think that he would have done very well on it, too, simply because he really *knew* beginning Physics after that year in the SO class. Dr. Christe's teaching style is different from many online tutors. She is a brilliant scientist with a strong background in the history of science and with astoundingly precise communication skills. Her teaching style is more like an Oxford don than someone who learned how to teach in the education department of a modern college. Grades and testing and traditional evaluative tools are less important to her than that the student learns chemistry or physics. I think the student has to attend class ready to roll up his sleeves and do/discuss science, not just meet the requirements of a course. My son found that just being in the class was an education in itself. I saw him grow into thinking like a scientist ("Why can't I do [scientific process or problem] this way?") rather than like a student ("What do I have to know for the test?" or "How many points is this worth to my grade?") That made the class so worthwhile. My oldest daughter also saved Physics until senior year because I let her drop science in her junior year in order to add Greek I. She was already doing advanced studies in Latin, and we thought it would be better to skip science that year in order to focus on her language studies. She did Apologia Physics in her senior year, which gave her a good basic introduction to physics, but didn't require as much time, good for her since she continued with Greek II in her senior year. The Apologia course is much more basic than the Scholars Online course, but it did provide an elementary introduction to the subject, which given the constraints of dd's schedule was adequate for her. Hth

...When No One Sees: The Importance of Character in an Age of Image and Steering through Chaos: Vice and Virtue in an Age of Moral Confusion. These are both excellent books, and they have led to lots of thinking and meaningful discussions. The books are approachable for students as young as 13yo, and they become truly priceless when the reading is accompanied by discussion with a parent and/or other family members. Os Guinness draws from history and from literature to help modern students gain perspective about our own culture and to reach for values that span the ages rather than being held captive by the time in which we live. I would really like to study two other books in the series with my youngest child: Doing Well & Doing Good: Money, Giving, and Caring in a Free Society and Entrepreneurs of Life: Faith and the Venture of Purposeful Living. Has anyone read these?

...are the ones that Jean in WI recommended on the boards here, so those were the ones that I purchased for my son who wanted to learn Spanish. They are excellent courses, and he uses them on a Windows XP computer. He uses the 2007 edition, and the course has been great for him. Spanish I - 2007 edition - ISBN 9780740314674 Spanish II - 2007 edition - ISBN 9780740314674 I remember Jean saying that the courses her daughter took were not the Elementary Spanish or the Secondary Spanish ones, so that is why I chose Spanish I and II. If I remember correctly, she said that these other two courses were simplified and covered less ground than Spanish I and II. I just saw that AO has the SOS courses on sale at 20% off through the end of this month, too. I don't know if the 2008 courses will require Vista or just be compatible with it. I do know that the 2007 courses work great on XP. Hth

...different options of pace through the sequence. The introductory courses all use Wheelock's, and the student has a choice of doing the entire book in a single year (Accelerated Latin I-II) or taking two years to complete all of Wheelock's (Latin I and Latin II). Latin III is a course in translation practice after the student has completed all of the basic grammar and vocabulary in Wheelock's. Dr. Bruce McMenomy teaches the upper levels of Latin including not only Latin IV - Vergil (which prepares students to take the AP Latin Vergil test) and Latin V - Latin Literature (which prepares students to take the AP Latin Literature exam...until the College Board does away with the test), but he also teaches Medieval Latin. I know that many people prefer Henle for its limited vocabulary and its high-school level instruction, but like your son's Latin teacher, I much prefer Wheelock's. With its comprehensive Latin grammar instruction, its large vocabulary, and the wide variety of classical authors translated in the course, it prepares the student well for reading all kinds of Latin texts in college. The diligent student is well able to manage Wheelock's with good instruction, even if he or she isn't naturally language-oriented. My 13yo is half-way through Wheelock's now; the SO pace taken is just right for him. I have been very happy with the Latin instruction that my children have received through Scholars Online. They have all won gold or silver medals on the NLE while studying Latin with SO (my 13yo just received his Silver Medal this week!), and/or have earned 5's on the AP Vergil test after taking the SO Latin IV course. That 5 on the AP Vergil exam has been a great benefit in college, allowing the bypassing of two years of college language classes to move directly into reading classical authors in upper division courses. The teachers that my children have had in the courses really care about the students, and they know their Latin really well. I only wish that I had been able to start all of my children in the sequence in 7th or 8th grade instead of waiting until 9th grade so that they would have had the opportunity to take the full sequence. If your son has finished Cambridge Latin III, you might want him to take a placement test to see if he needs to do Wheelock's or not. I am less familiar with Cambridge than other programs. Since his teacher recommended Wheelock's, he might find that the Accelerated Latin I-II is a good course for him, allowing him to make it through Wheelock's at a rapid pace, yet insuring that he has all the foundational grammar for success in translating at the next level. However, his grammar may be solid enough that he would succeed at the Latin III translation course, too. If it would have been up to me, I'm afraid that my children would have never made it as far as they have in Latin. I've been so glad they have had the option of studying with folks who know and love Latin more than I can even hope to do. http://scholarsonline.org/Info/latin.php I hope you find just the right course to help your son continue his Latin studies at the right level for him.

...I do have a degree in Biology from long, long ago, so that's my disclaimer. Nevertheless: One thing that I think is important for the student and the parent to realize is that the first unit of BJU's Biology course covers very challenging unfamiliar material--basic chemistry (which most biology students will not have studied previously), cellular processes including the biochemistry of metabolism and protein synthesis, and genetics, including the biochemistry of inheritance. These few chapters are VERY tough for the beginner, and I always take them at a slow pace with my 9th or 10th grade students. It is so easy for the students to become so discouraged with these few chapters at the beginning of the book that they decide the course is too hard for them. However, once you get past those early chapters, BJU's course is, like most biology, largely about memorizing terms. Memorizing so many terms requires a good plan for studying and reviewing, but that is the perfect habit for the 9th or 10th grade student to cultivate. It is only those early chapters that seem overwhelmingly difficult to understand. I tell my children that the book will make their brain hurt with new information at first, but to persevere, and it will become much easier after a month or two. Once the student moves into the classification and biology of organisms, the course becomes a lot easier, although it still requires a lot of time and discipline to learn all the terms. I think that recognizing that the first few chapters will be very difficult will help you to get through them without despairing or deciding that you need to have videos to help. If you don't think you have the background to understand the biochemistry in those first few chapters to help your student understand them, another alternative would be to seek help from someone who does while you work through those early chapters. Once you get into the study of whole organisms, you will probably be able to manage on your own. BJU's Biology course really is a good one, and I think it prepares students for the challenges of college courses of all kinds. In addition, it gives even the future liberal arts student a foundational understanding of his or her own body and of biological systems all around us in the world. I think that is really important...and worth the 'brain-pain' of making it through those first few chapters. Hth

Here is what we are planning so far: Literature - Western Literature to Dante (with Dr. McMenomy at Scholars Online. A boatload of challenging reading is required, but the course has been one of my other children's favorites in their high school years.) History - Western Civilization I (I use Spielvogel's Western Civilization over the course of two years during 9th and 10th grade and have the student take the AP European History exam the second year. It's a great complement to the Western Lit to Dante course.) Latin - Finish Wheelock's Latin II (with Ms. Decker at Scholars Online) Writing - I will assign writing assignments drawn from readings in Western Literature to Dante and Spielvogel Math - Finish Foerster's Algebra I and begin Jacobs' Geometry (2nd edition) Science - BJU Biology with labs Logic - Traditional Logic II Extra-curriculars: Voice Lessons Taekwondo Boy Scouts Basketball (He hopes to play on the local Christian school team this year.) I suspect that this will take him a full 7 or 8 hours a day not including the extra-curriculars. I always require a big jump in responsibility from 8th to 9th grade, so I have been trying to prepare my youngest for the demands he will face next year. I hope he will be ready! I find it challenging to find the balance between holding the bar up high enough to encourage my children to reach their potential, but not overwhelming them or causing them to be unbalanced or self-absorbed. Ninth grade is usually one of the bigger adjustments for them.

...vary little from 1984 through the latest edition. I used the 1984 edition with my oldest, and the only major difference between that one and the later editions is the removal of the chapter on BASIC computer language and the addition of a few corrections. Even the solutions manuals are compatible with the different editions. I would look for an affordable copy of the TE and then purchase the student text to match. I'm not even sure that the Solutions Manual is still in print, so if you need one of those, don't worry about matching editions. While there may be a few very minor differences in the different editions, the vast majority of the book will be the same no matter what edition of the student text you buy. hth Under His mercy, LaJuana

Hi, Kendall, While I think doing both in a single year would be really tough, your son has going for him the fact that he already has done Conceptual Physics. I think a better option would be to take three semesters to go through both Apologia physics books. With only sixteen modules in each course, and 20 weeks in a semester, that would give him 60 weeks to do 32 modules. The pace of one module in two weeks is easy to keep up, and there are a number of modules, especially early in the first book, that can be easily finished in a single week. It probably wouldn't take him quite the full three semesters if he pushed himself to do the easier modules in a single week. I really do think he will have a great advantage already having studied some physics before. My oldest son used Giancoli, and did great with it, but I didn't even attempt to teach it myself, despite a decent physics background, too. He took the AP Physics course through Scholars Online, which used Giancoli. It's the same textbook used for non-science majors at his university. He learned a lot, but I am sure he wouldn't have learned nearly so much if I had tried teaching him myself. I just didn't have the time to do it well. Under His mercy, LaJuana