Farrar, Thank you for your response. I appreciate your input. I have NO idea what an AP course looks like or the workload thereof. Do you have any suggestions on how to order those courses so that his first year will be a bit lighter? I would say that he is the sort of kid that does enjoy traditional school and does very well with fairly little effort - this is also one of the reasons I want to challenge him a bit - but not overwhelm him. He *thinks* he is working hard - but he has no idea what working hard looks like. He works 4 days a week, 9 - 3 and reads the assigned books while we drive or listens to it on audiobook while he walks the dogs. He has never had to study for anything, he has seldom had to figure out math or science that he does not understand from the textbook, etc. (Selective universities in the US would be great, but the cost of it might be simply impossible. The best universities in Canada are at most 1/3 of the price and are not as crazily competitive.) This past academic year he completed the following courses. Would he be well set-up for the proposed courses? WHA Pre-AP Biology WHA Great Conversations 3 WHA Spanish WHA Academic Writing Pre-Calculus 12 Physical Education 10 (required by province) Career Planning 10 (required by province) Music 12 The year before: WHA Pre-AP Chemistry WHA Great Conversations 1 WHA Logic 1 WHA Expository Writing Pre-Calculus 11 Latin III Music 11

We also dropped AP Physics 1 which was scheduled in gr. 11. If math comes fairly easy, would stats not be even easier? He is only 14.5, but is not sure if he is interested in a career in science or in business - I'm trying to help him build a plan which will allow him to explore both. I am not sure if he will attend university early, but I would like to keep that option open, if he chooses to do so.

Thank you all for your replies. It is much appreciated. How does this slightly revised plan look? It's really mostly about his grade 11 year. I have learned not to plan too far ahead - the grade 12 plan might be crazy or completely doable - time will tell. He will then be 16.5 when he graduates. At that time, I will advocate for an exchange or some for of gap year. (And to get university applications done, take an SAT if he wants to go to the US, etc.) Grade 11 AP Seminar AP Biology AP Statistics Calculus 12 Literary Studies 11 Strings 11 PE 11 Computer Programming 12 (Outside of timetable - he is 1/2-way with Derek Owens CS' course. The school will give him this credit.) The school really wants him to do the AP Capstone Diploma. Since I don't think it would be terrible for Marcus, and they are giving us $45,000 in Scholarship money....I think it's ok. From what I understand, he can make this all about something that he is interested in anyway. Grade 12 AP Research AP Physics C AP Chem AP Micro/Macroeconomics AP Calculus BC English 12 Strings 12

My DS (14.5) has been accepted into a great, selective boarding school a few hours from home. It was his choice to apply. He has always been homeschooled and has thrived for the most part. We have, however, recently thought that he is sort of outgrowing our little pond, even though we have a great, vibrant, active local scene. (We are a good 3 hours away from a major city.) DS needs 2 more courses to graduate from High School - one English and one Social Studies course. His grades are stellar. He has a perfect GPA, is the concertmaster of our local orchestra, etc. - he is a great kid with a kind heart - we are very, very blessed. Anyway, in selecting his courses for the new school year, the school suggests he enters into grade 11. I'm fine with that, but I don't really want him to graduate 2 years early. I'd prefer he stays in school 3 more years and take a whole bunch or courses that looks interesting or that he is curious about...like you would offer a child in gr. 9. The school proposes this: Grade 11 AP Seminar Literary Studies 11 Calculus 12 Strings 11 PE 11 AP Physics 1 AP Bio Outdoor Leadership 12 (outside the timetable) Grade 12 AP Research AP English Literature AP Calc BC AP Physics AP Chem AP Micro/Macroeconomics Strings 12 It looks like to much to me. He is giving up Spanish and Computer Science (a recent discovery of his that he is really enjoying.) This does not take into account that he is a serious violinist which would like to finish his Royal Conservatory Gr. 10 violin exam next year. Etc. etc. One of the reasons for wanting to attend school is so that he will have the opportunity to explore and partake in their many extra curricular activities - I worry that with this plan, he will be stuck to his desk - exactly as he is now as a homeschooled kid taking a lot on (wonderful) online classes. The whole AP thing is new to us (we are Canadian) - so I don't really know...does this seem doable for a 14.5 year old, bright boy with great work ethic, executive functioning and time management skills, or is this simply just too much?

My son has recently started DO's CS course. It's a great course and he enjoying it thoroughly. Our only issue with it is that it takes weeks to get assignments back. He is hoping to take DO Calculus in the fall, but if the time it takes to get CS work back is representative of all the DO courses, it would be a dealbreaker and I would need to start looking for alternatives. Any experience with this?

Edited: We'll go with 4.

My son and I will be attending a group tour of our local university on Monday. This is arranged by our support teacher (DL school) and there will be other kids and a few parents in attendance too. DS13 is technically gr. 7 but has finished 3/4 of the high school courses he needs to graduate, including math, physics, and chemistry. I do, however, think we will now go the "rebel route" and not graduate with the standard diploma but rather look at alternative options to get into our local university at a younger age. There is just to many "fluff" courses that he needs to do to get a standard diploma and the specified content of required courses leaves little space for pursuing his own interests. DS is currently taking many courses with WHA and is doing wonderfully, but as an extrovert, he is pretty lonely. What questions would you have for the admission officer, keeping in mind that we will likely be back in a few months to apply to their "concurrent studies" or dual enrollment program? As far as I know, they have yet to admit a student so young. I would like to make a good impression and start the conversation intelligently.

Mrs. Bailey is a great teacher. It seems like she really cares about her students and explains topics thoroughly. Her expectations are fair and the workload is manageable. Great class!

Mr. Baker is FANTASTIC! He is my son's favourite teacher. Mrs Bailey is wonderful too. She is very approachable and explains concepts well and thoroughly. She seems to really care about her students.

SO VERY HAPPY with WHA this year. Looking forward to Feb 1.

Wonderful! Well done Quark!

My 12-year-old son is currently in GC 1 with Mrs. Bailey. This is an amazing class! I was also pretty intimidated by the booklist, but it has been wonderful. DS is not an over-enthusiastic reader or history-lover but has been fine with keeping up with the amount and content of the books. He has listened to some books as audiobooks since we spend a lot of time driving every week. Just last week DS told me that he is interested in history again, and that reading fiction is actually "pretty fun." Looking at the materials your son is currently using - I don't think he will have a problem.

Could anybody please point me to great samples of high school portfolios? I want to try and stay on-top of things as we go. Thanks

Like others said, GSWL is a great introduction. However - it would go very fast for a strong student. My son (now 12) finished it in about 2 months or so. It was a good foundation and I would do it again. We then tried LfC and Lively Latin. We stuck with LfC for 2 years, but it became tedious very quickly. It follows the same lesson pattern lesson after lesson. I found that my son did not retain the work very well, even though we added Headventureland, etc. We are now taking the intermediate online classes with CLRC. I am very happy with it and my son is enjoying it. He likes that he gets to speak Latin to other students. The homework is manageable and a little more varied. The textbook they use contain interesting stories and history and is not overwhelming or "young" like some other texts. The class was small, but not to small :) I should have moved to online Latin a long time ago. We are actually getting somewhere now.

Since it's so hard to find great online courses for the Logic Stage set, I thought I'd post about our recent experience with online class providers. First, CLRC (Classical Learning Resource Centre) My son just finished Intermediate Latin A with them and it has been a wonderful experience. The teacher is knowledgeable and the workload perfect. Oxford Latin (the textbook they use) is clear and not overwhelming, like some other Latin texts. I really liked that he got to SPEAK as well - the class did little plays, etc. (They offer Latin at all levels - elementary to high school.) The online social interaction in the class was enjoyable to my son and always positive. We are so impressed by this company, that I have enrolled my DS into 2 other classes offered by CLRC - Literature and Composition as well as Critical Thinking/Philosophy. The last course is listed as a high school course, but after emailing back and forth with the teacher, it seems like it would be fairly accessible to a strong middle school student. Their teachers are highly qualified - and it shows. Another big plus is that they offer very reasonable payment plans with no extra or hidden costs. :laugh: (Early registration discounted fees end May 31!) Next - Barbarian Diagrammarian and Witty Wordsmith with Lukeion. Another great experience. The teacher is very knowledgeable and strict - this was good for my son. (I was going to enroll DS in their Latin program but did not want to spend so much time per week on it - DS just does not have time.) The course material was provided and excellent. I would highly recommend these courses. And now we never have to do grammar again!! And then there is Clover Creek Physics. My son actually cried when this course finished. It's a high school course, so I will not go into to much detail over here - but it has made our year. I would go as far as to say that it has been the BEST homeschool course we have ever done. If your child is not ready for it now, get on the waitlist, it fills up VERY quickly. For online classes next year we are doing 3 courses with CLRC and one with Wilson Hill (Chemistry.) Looking forward to hearing about your online experiences..... (I'm in no way affiliated to any of these companies.)