Nothing today--we're having 25 for dinner after a memorial service (internment---she died last year). The older generation is paying for full catering so we just need to start with clean house :) Yesterday's bootcamp class was excellent. Dh and I were the only participants when usually there are 10-12! We did kettlebell swings, reverse lunges w knee ups, pushups, and an ab thing-----countdown-style, so 20 swings-10 lunges each side-10 pushups. 10 abs, then 19-9-9-9, all the way to 11-1-1-1-------followed by plank-to-plank bridge-plank-plank bridge-plank countdown sequences (30 sec-20-30-20-30, then 20-10-20-10-20), ending with stretching. I will recreate that class when I can't thing of what to do on non-lifting weight days.

Today will be double sessions: 50 minutes of mixed cardio (elliptical/bike/rowing machin) while dd is at class and the bodyweight boot camp class this evening with dh.

I have totally stepped up my exercise since joining the gym (an Anytime Fitness within walking distance of home) last January. I had been in your shoes, bored with the elliptical and various videos. Now I lift free weights, use cable machines, take a bodyweight bootcamp class, and (yes) use an ellipical plus a bike and rowing machine. I still hate treadmills and prefer to do my walking outdoors. In nicer weather (which is pretty much anything dry-ish over 35 and under 85 degrees) I will walk the two miles to the gym to lift.

I plan and teach all but English and foreign language (I know my limits!). HG was so much fun to do with dd :) I'll be happy to share more information when you're ready.

What we did: 5th: first volume of K12 Human Odyssey with the corresponding OUP books 6th: second volume of K12 Human Odyssey with the corresponding OUP books 7th: third volume of K12 Human Odyssey; world geography 8th: K12's American Odyssey (some consider this high school level; I feel it flowed nicely from HO 3) plus OUP's US-specific "Pages from History" volumes and other library books 9th: ancient world history based on the Great Courses "History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective"; AP Human Geography And this year she's not doing any history but following her interests: 10th: AP Comparative Government and Politics; AP Psychology Thoughts for next year (graduating early--she wants to study international relations plus critical languages): 12th: AP US Government and Politics (definite); AP US History (maybe); modern world history (maybe)

Recycle unless you can afford the cost. It may be interesting, it may help a student decide what to study (or not!), it may give a student an idea of another part of the country. It will NOT help with admissions. We have been receiving that and similar offers for years, since my oldest was in seventh grade. All those poor trees... ;)

It's a busy week so I only had time for a training session today.

First I've heard of it! Looks interesting after 5 minutes of perusing the site. I'll go back to the Calc AB section (not familiar with the other options) when I have more time.

Oh Kim :grouphug: So much rain. I'm going to the gym after we finish calculus for some cardio and stretching.

Let me take a stab. D basically has been working at her own speed since sixth grade. Most of her work is done during the academic year but she likes to do some things intensively during the summers, such as geometry (7th into 8th), number theory and AP Human Geography (after 8th), and Arabic 2 (after 9th). This summer, after 10th grade, she will either be studying Arabic or another language intensively while abroad or studying Russian and political science at a university. Our "together" academic subjects are done in blocks when possible: this year she did bio in the fall and is doing AP Environmental during the spring; next year she'll do math and US govt in the fall, science during winter session when she's not taking her languages, and macro econ during the spring. She also unschools geology and astronomy. I may bundle all that learning together as separate credits. Kind of confusing, I know. I don't count hours but material. Maths and sciences are easy. Social sciences get a little tricky determining what exactly constitutes a credit. That's one of the reasons why I write my own syllabi for AP courses. (I outsource English and foreign language.) Dd is accelerated and will graduate a year early. This year is 10th grade. Next year will be 12th grade. I'm not sure yet how I'll do her transcript---if I'll just bring 8th grade forward as 9th grade or what. I may pick and choose from what she did in 8th because some was definitely high school level input and output while the rest was only input. The PSAT counts for National Merit when it is taken in the student's next-to-last year of high school, which for most is junior year. For my dd that will be this, her 10th grade, year. For someone taking five years to graduate (for health or whatever reason), that would be during the fourth year of high school. D had to write a letter to the NM scholarship people attesting that this is her next-to-last year since she selected 10th grade on the PSAT form (at that time we weren't certain she would graduate early). (Good gravy, writing all this out makes me realize just how crazy our life must look from the outside. D drives this train!)

Derek Owens online classes are not live (at least Calculus) but are recorded lectures. Some PA Homeschoolers classes may have live components but most are generally asynchronous. Art of Problem Solving has live math and computer science classes. Dd has taken a couple classes. The Potter's School has live classes beginning in middle school. Dd took Arabic 1 from them.

Yay deadlifting :party: One of my favorites! Yesterday I refused to be gymtimidated by the guys in the weights section while I did my thing (lat pulldowns, rows, bicep curls, hammer presses, a twisting pulling core thing using the cable machine which strengthens my shoulders, assisted pistol squats using TRX bands). I worked hard for almost an hour before stretching. :D Today was a day totally off. We were supposed to spend the day visiting a college two hours away, but the special program was cancelled due to weather when we were halfway there. So I decided this would be my day off this week.

She's scarily self-motivated when it's something she wants to study. AP Lang, not so much ;) (That class is my requirement :lol:) She spreads her work out over all days of the week, from about 9am to 4pm and then after ballet/MUN/YIG for an hour or two. Having Arabic in the middle of the day is a bit tricky as we're gone from 12:05-1:20 four days a week. She prefers to work in bursts with breaks for exercise on non-ballet days, meals, and reading fan fiction in between.

Yes, they're about 10 minutes apart in two different districts about 45-60 minutes away. They couldn't have been easier or more welcoming :) Our district with three high schools offers the basis: bio, chem, one physics, calc AB, APUSH, alternating Lang and Lit, alternating World and Euro, psych, Spanish, with macro/micro or stats every so often. Dd would still need Enviro and Comp Gov. I didn't even ask our feeder school once I learned that the original school, the one she tested with last year, had 4 of the 5 classes. Comparative was the tricky one! Next year she'll probably just take US gov and Macro. Micro and APUSH are under consideration, depending on what she does this summer (Plan A abroad vs Plan B domestically). I am sure I'll be able to get her a seat either at our feeder high school or one of those two downstate high schools :)

My favorite part of homeschooling middle school is that you can do pretty much whatever you want :D We started in fifth grade, and I let dd choose the science every year: 5th: earth science (so much fun) 6th: life science 7th: a mishmash of topics including astronomy, geology, botany, genetics, and a bit of electricity (that was a great science year) 8th: she was ready for high school algebra-based physics (both in the math and science) Happy planning :party:

(Our state does not require maintaining a portfolio of work.) If a college requires samples of dd's work, she could just submit work done during the beginning of senior year. We have kept her notebooks, just because they were all put in one spot at the end of freshman (last) year. All of her writing is on her laptop. So there's that.

Dd definitely does a lot more writing this year than last but most of it is informal or unpolished, like a page or two in response to a government or environmental science question. She doesn't do any journaling. We operate like 8: If dd has a paper to work on for her outsourced English class I do not assign one for another class.

So awesome!!!!!!

I follow a lot of book bloggers and published authors on twitter who share recommendations.

I've read from Wattpad but that's it :)

:party: She's all set! I have to mail a check to the second school and do online registration through TotalRegistration for the main school. Whew. It's been a stressful 24 hours!

The spring semester began this week after a long winter session. My junior is taking the last needed class for her French major, the next-to-last ones for her English major, the next-to-last for her theatre minor, and a really cool linguistics class. High school dd's Arabic prof told her Monday that she would test at intermediate-low now :)

I do this for any course dd is considering. At first I search for any syllabi and then add author/book names once I narrow down choices to one or two texts. I think I spent a good week of my "free" time searching before I begin to develop my own ideas.

I take one class at my gym. It's a body weight bootcamp class. I really like it as it's a blend cardio and weight training, the two things I do the other days of the week. (The class is free with my gym membership.) So yesterday was training and stretching. I had no time for cardio, which stinks. Today I will do some cardio while dd is at Arabic (I have 50 minutes between dropping off and picking up) and then dh and I will go to the bootcamp class at 6.

I love my HR. I will wear it until it dies. The Blaze might be cool, though it depends on the size.