I enjoyed CE when I did it with DD1, and I have a PhD in political philosophy and I won't tell you how old I am. I think it is great for any age. FWIW, I am planning to use it with DD2 in 7th grade. We have too much on the schedule to fit it in this year, and it is a curriculum to be savored rather than rushed.

It seems to me that admission to the most select universities in the US has become increasingly capricious. There are plenty of students who check all the boxes, have all the test scores and extra curricular activities and still do not gain admission to their top choice. It would seem to be a waste of your son's heretofore remarkable education to spend high school going backward and taking a traditional HS science sequence. So I totally agree with you that you should focus on the packaging (of course I don't have kids of college age quite yet, so my advice is worth exactly nothing :)) I would think of this situation the same as other advanced or prodigious students. The basic lab skills were completed in middle school and high school. Make a list of those lab skills (as you did up thread with the biology skills) and show how he developed those skills in his research projects. If there are any basic lab skills missing, then focus on finding a way to incorporate those into your HS plans (although it looks like you already have that planned). Then show how he has moved beyond basic core courses with his current research. I really think this is one of the great benefits of homeschooling. advanced students are able to complete core courses when they are ready and move on to doing real work in their field of interest. As a previous poster said, celebrate that accomplishment. The other point I would make is that wherever he chooses to go he is going to be looking for a place that will mentor and support his research area. His focus may change as he grows up over the next few years, but I would think these years are a good opportunity to cultivate relationships with researchers in his field of interest. Find out who is doing work in that field. There's no point in jumping through all the hoops for admission to Princeton when the people working in your field are all at Ga Tech or MIT or somewhere else. At his level, establishing a clear field of interest, working with an experienced and knowledgeable mentor at home, and communicating with other researchers in that field across the world will make much more difference than whether he took a traditional science sequence.

I have been wondering about these recommendations as well. I have also been wondering if Writing and Rhetoric includes high school, or if it is only a middle school program. The CAP recommended grades for this program go up to grade 8-9, yet SWB has it recommended for grades 10/11. Hard to know when there is no description of the upper levels.

I would love to see more info about the Intro to Expository Writing. I don't think my 10yo is quite ready for WWS, but I don't really want a repeat of WWE 3/4. I am wondering if this course would fill the gap between WWE and WWS.

Perhaps this is a semantic issue which depends on your definition of a "good" college? Students attending 4 year residential college directly out of a 4 year high school make up only about 15% of the undergraduate population in the US. More than a third of US undergraduates are over the age of 25, and a quarter are over the age of 30. So, in fact, traditional students are a very significant minority of students attending college in the US. The reason I think this is important is because the traditional college model is quickly becoming financially unsustainable for both colleges and students. College education is changing. Non traditional students getting non traditional educations are becoming the norm. And, admissions departments are already rethinking how they evaluate these students. I think homeschoolers sell themselves short when they endeavor to make sure they look just like students graduating from traditional brick and mortar high schools. If you want to look just like a traditional student, then traditional school is probably the best way to go. Homeschoolers, on the other hand, are non-traditional students. We have already rejected the traditional route. If a student wants to finish math or foreign language requirements by 9th grade so they can spend their "high school" years pursuing a passion in poetry or archeology or music or whatever, then I would represent and defend that decision honestly in a college application. In other words, represent who the student truly is on the college application, rather than trying to mold the student to fit some generalized model of admission requirements.

I have to admit I find these sorts of discussions baffling. Don't colleges admit non-traditional students all the time? Some kids go to school for 12 years. Some kids go to school for less, some more. Some students don't apply to college until they are 20 or 30 or 60 or 70? What college worth it's salt would evaluate them based on the immediate 4 years prior to the college application? The most elite private boarding schools in the US are full of students doing a 5th (post graduate) year of high school. I am pretty sure those kids are putting all their courses on their high school transcript. If my child takes a high school level class at age 10 or 11 or 12, then I am putting it on the high school transcript. My dd took Lukeion Latin in 8th grade, and it is definitely going on her transcript as Latin I.

I think this is the real crux of the issue. In most of the rest of the world, the second language everyone is learning is English. They may choose to learn other languages in addition to English, but just about everyone is learning English. This creates a community of learners that kids here just don't have. My dd has one friend learning Spanish, another learning French, another learning Chinese etc.. And, she is learning Latin. Just imagine how different it would be if all students in all schools in all states began learning Spanish (or whatever the chosen language was) in elementary school and continued on through college. Instead as parents, teachers and students, we are all sitting here wondering, "what language should I learn?" I think the emphasis on the "why" of language learning stems from the fact that there is no clear choice for students whose first language is English. So we tend to focus more on why we are learning a language in order to make a choice among a variety of interesting languages. In most other places the choice is not really a choice, it is automatic.

And yet, I know quite a few people who knew nothing before moving to another country, and they became fluent ( in spoken language at least) quite quickly.

None of my three children were early readers. The oldest is dyslexic and did not read until 8 1/2. The middle child began reading in first grade (boringly normal), and my ds is 6 and working on sounding out every single letter in very simple readers. There was an reading poll done here recently that confirmed that most of the children on this board read begin reading at the very normal age of 6-7 years. The most enlightening thing about the poll was that most of those who posted about their kids (and not just answered the poll) had early readers. So it is true that the early readers just get talked about more. They do not, in fact, predominate. That said, if you have not read it, please read The Dyslexic Advantage, by the Eides. It will help you to see all the amazing skills that many kids have outside of those traditionally rewarded in school. I think this book should be required reading for all teachers and parents, including those whose children are not dyslexic.

I just asked this very same question with regard to 9th grade, and didn't get much of a response either. Even if there is no standard answer for what an acceptable course looks like, I'd be interested in knowing what others have done.

Relieved to see it's not just me! My mind runs like crazy over these questions. With something like Latin I feel like it's more clear. We'll finish the second half of Wheelocks and that will be Latin 2. It may take more than one year to finish, but that's ok. I know where the finish line is. But English seems so much more ambiguous.

Thanks for responding! This is where I get befuddled. I have no doubt we could fill the 180 hours with what I have, but with a dyslexic kid, it is hard to go by hours spent working. She and I both are just used to her working harder than most kids to accomplish the same tasks. Writing tasks, especially, just take longer. Is it really ok just to say "we spent 180 hours and here is what we did" and count that as a full credit. Or, is there an expected amount of output and an expected amount of reading for a high school credit. On some level I think I sound crazy asking this since I am sure standard high school classes vary widely, but it's hard for me to judge what to expect from her because she is not a "standard" kid.

My dd will be in 9th grade next year. She is my oldest, and first high school student. I am trying to figure out what appropriate expectations are for a 9th grade english credit. She is dyslexic, so we have always moved at a little slower pace with reading and writing. But, I would like to make sure that we are doing enough to count for a full English credit. We started using K-12's 8th grade Literature and Composition as an independent study in January. I am very happy with the course materials and would like to finish the course next fall. We will be almost half done when we break for summer in June. If we do this she will read Antigone Romeo and Juliet Bible stories as Literature Poetry (3 units) 2 additional novels (choose from Yearling, Tale of Two Cities, Separate Peace, Jane Eyre, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm) Diary of Anne Frank She would write three literary essays, a short research paper and a speech. The k-12 course also includes weekly grammar and vocabulary. I was thinking of adding some of Windows to the World, to fill out the remainder of the year. I don't want to do all of it (the worldview stuff is not quite my thing), but I do think the chapter on annotation would be useful, and the literary terms would be good to do. Anyway, I guess I am hoping someone can tell me how much reading and writing is typically expected for a full credit of 9th grade English, and how much more I need to add to fill out the year?

I am turning over math to my dh next year (finally). He is chair of the math dept. at a selective private boarding school, and a 25 year veteran teacher. They use the Jurgensen text for all their geometry classes. He gives it very positive reviews.

I think Music of the Hemispheres is the best of the MCT series, and great as a stand alone resource.

This is a lovely post and spot on, IMO! I would also like to point out that children, like adults, are different. Some kids may have little difficulty with adolescent hormones or brain growth or whatever, but others may experience those changes acutely. I know some people who seem to take everything in stride shrugging off changes in weather, seasons, allergens, hormones, life circumstances etc. as if they were nothing. I also know people who are extremely sensitive, and feel these changes on a much deeper level. It's a good thing that the world is made up of different kinds of people. So, just because some adolescents coast through middle school without a hitch, that does not mean that the experiences of those who struggle are less valid. And, it is entirely possible that those who do not find middle school challenging will meet their challenges at some other point in their lives. In general, it would be nice if educational goals and methods could accommodate all kinds of learning and allow kids to change and grow and struggle when necessary without casting them off as failures. There are plenty of late bloomers who do not excel until college or later.

Yes, Singapore DM is integrated. You would just have to look at the scope and sequence to decide where to jump in.

I second this book recommendation! As your kids grow you will appreciate that their individuality can blossom because they are not so dependent on peer acceptance. And, as they get older and are involved in more extra-curricular activities, they will spend plenty of time with other kids.

We have always taken a full summer vacation. My DH is a teacher and we follow the same school schedule he does. We usually finish up some time in the first half of June and then resume after Labor Day. I have no problem fitting in three 12 week terms, and still have time for a week at Thanksgiving, a couple weeks at Christmas and a week in March. I would be in a state of perpetual burnout if we schooled over the summer. I am 100% introvert and I catch up on alone time during our time off. I also review the previous year and plan for the next year. We have never had any problem with forgetting over the summer. We don't do any special review in the fall, but just start back up either where we left off or with new material. If someone forgets something like a math skill it usually only requires a 5-10 minute review and it comes back. If these skills are well mastered it doesn't seem to be a problem. I also believe strongly in the importance of time off (I wrote a blog post about this). We spend tons of time outdoors, at the pool, and just hanging around with neighborhood kids. I take each of the kids on week long backpacking trips. The older children participate in summer activities like camp and Suzuki music institutes. My oldest does 8 weeks of ballet intensives so school would be impossible for her anyway. I just think of us as classical home schoolers for 9 months and unschoolers for 3 months. The weather is nice in New England in the summer, and it's much easier to stay inside and work in Jan and Feb when the temps are in the teens and single digits. It's funny, but I have been on this schedule my entire life. I went to public school, then college, then grad school, then right into an academic teaching position. Even though I would "work" during the summer, it was not on the same day to day schedule. I have always wondered what it would be like to work a "real" job where you don't have summers off. It seems so endless to me. I love the rhythm of summer vacation.

4.75 My two girls are Dec and Nov birthdays, so they are quite young for their grade.

Interesting. I had the opposite reaction. As I kept reading the responses it seemed that a good majority of posters had early readers. It was not until I looked at the poll results that it became clear that there was a pretty normal bell curve. So, it seems the people who had early readers were much more likely to post about their experience than those whose kids fell in the average part of the curb.

Learning letters is actually quite a complex process. Kids have to recognize that speech sounds are different from letters (symbols). This is a meta-linguistic task that many three year olds are not ready for. Then they have to recognize that sounds are mapped onto symbols (which is different from the name of they symbol). They need to be able to isolate sounds in order to do this. They need to be able to visually discern the difference between symbols (that's why many kids flip letters - we are used to reading from left to right and keeping symbols going in the right direction, but there is nothing natural or intuitive about that). And they need to be able to put these skills together. Being able to do this at age three is probably normal for some, but not being ready to do it is also normal. Sometimes I think we tend to diminish the difficulty of what kids are doing when they are learning to read.

I agree with this! Also, we are not really talking about whether it is ok or developmentally normal for preschoolers to learn letters. Learning letters between the ages of 3 and 6 seems fine and normal to me. The original question was really about whether it is appropriate to expect Kindergarten skills of three year olds. It is also perfectly normal for many kids not to be ready for these skills until age 5 or 6. Another question this raises is when it is appropriate to address potential reading issues. Most of us with dyslexic kids head straight for an OG phonics program to address the problem. If most 6-7 year olds were being taught with a similar type program then I expect we would find many fewer instances of struggling readers. Kids already reading could move through a quicker phonics primer and work on developing reading skills. We did not catch the dyslexia in our oldest until age 8. I do wish that we had started a good OG program at age 6-7. But, I don't think addressing these issues earlier than that would have been beneficial. Kindergarten to first grade is a good time to assess and then look to address any problems. Typical preschool activities, such as rhyming games and rhythm games work on a lot of these issues without the stigma of trying to teach a kid to read before they are ready. Having her in a preschool classroom at age 3-4 trying to learn to read would have just made her feel stupid. Instead, she had a happy, peaceful pre-school experience enjoying books and stories and not worrying about making progress reading.

I don't place much value on early, formal academics, and yet I do all these things. I don't see this as valuing early academics, but rather as just decent parenting. I am passionate about books and reading. I have book collections, I love the feel and smell of books. I love reading and always have books with me in the car, in my purse, by my bed, on my desk. But none of this is because I value early academics. I value thoughtfulness and inquisitiveness. I value ideas and ideals. I value beautiful language and the feelings and experiences that books can evoke. My point here is that none of my passion for books and reading would translate into desiring early formal academics for my kids. Rather, I value the wealth of experiences that enable great writers to write great books. Literacy is not just about being able to read, it is also about having something to say. I worry that the excessive focus on academics in early childhood robs children of some of the freedom and exploration that broadens their experience. Because our society seems to value hyperlexia, and to extrapolate high intelligence from the ability to decode early, parents are encouraged to focus on early academics. High achieving youngsters are admired, promoted and praised for their intelligence. They are the high achievers. Parents and teachers see them as the high achievers, the smart kids. They see themselves as smarter than other kids. And, it perpetuates the belief that these particular linguistic skills are the most important skills in society.

How would a parent express "valuing early academics" to a two year old? It's not quite the same as playing a instrument or some other hobby that the parent would engage in regardless of their child's presence?