We are in Latin 1 as well this year, but I am also a BTDT. My recommendation is use quizlet, use quizlet, use quizlet.. to study the definitions and/or make flash cards. Have her study them every day! Make sure she knows the 1st and 2nd declensions endings, present tense conjugation endings, and be able to conjugate sum, esse, fui, futurum (pg 34). Make sure she knows those cold for this first test. When she gets ready to take the test, but before you give her the test, give her a blank sheet of paper and have her make a "cheat sheet". Have her write her conjugations, declensions and her conjugation of sum, esse,... from memory. Then she can use this piece of paper during the test and it will help her not to get so confused when she is trying to translate a word and trying to remember whether the word is 1st or 2nd declension, what the ending means, and same with the verb conjugations. Doing it this ways helped my kids greatly and by the end of the school year they knew all of their declension and conjugation endings. Have her do this before every test. Also, on the vocabulary section make sure she knows both sing/plural for her words. For example, if she has to translate the word girl and she writes just puella instead of puella, -ae (or puellae) on the test, it will be a 1/2 point dock and that will add up if there are 30 vocab words. I can't stress making a "cheat sheet" enough. It will definitely help, especially as she moves up in Latin and she is having to remember 5 different declension endings (M, F, & N) and well as all the different conjugations. HTH

Posting so I can find later

Just posting so I can find later

I second Spelling Workout or Building Spelling Skills. My daughter is also finishing 1st grade in PS and will be coming home next year. She too has also done very well on the spelling test that she has been given. I don't know if your daughter's school is the same, but Nina was given a list of words to learn for the week and they worked on that list in school. Come test day she knew the words and passed the test easily. One thing I noticed though is that she doesn't know the rules for spelling what she is spelling. For example, she knows coin and boil because she was taught those words, but she was not taught the "oi" vs. "oy" rule, so therefore can't spell spoil. For this reason I am starting her at the beginning of a spelling program (using Building Spelling Skills) and I figured that she would move quickly through the areas that she knew and slow down at the parts that she didn't.

I have not used Write @ Home so I can't give any advice on them, but my kids have taken several classes with Rebekah including the High School Comp Class. I was very impressed with all of the classes that my boys took through Laurel Tree. She was very prompt and thorough with her feedback and she helped both of my boys greatly improve in their writing skills. You will not go wrong in choosing Laurel Tree.

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Thank you for the suggestions and the ideas for papers. Also, the books that I am considering for their reading list next year are: The Scarlet Letter Last of the Mohicans Johnny Tremain ? Rabble in Arms ? Oliver Wiswell ? Federalist Papers Antifederalist Papers and biography of their choice (has to be a signer of the Declaration of Independence) Are their any other must reads for this time period, or other books that I should consider

That is a good idea. I had not even thought about that. My oldest would probably enjoy that more than a written term paper. Thanks for the suggestion. Anyone else with ideas

I am putting together a history course for my boys (rising 11th and 9th grader) for this coming school year. We are going to be covering Early American- American Revolution. I have got my text, Great Course lectures, documentaries, and everything that I want to use fairly well lined up. Where I my having difficulty is the writing assignments. How many writing assignments should I require and what length? Is 4 sufficient, with maybe 1 or 2 of them being term papers? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I have some research to do. I have used Sonlight in the past, just not with this particular child. I had completely forgot about that. I may have to go back and look at that again. I will also be checking out the other curriculum suggested. Thank you all who replied. Any more suggestions will also be appreciated.

I am looking for a science curriculum for my youngest son. He is a late reader and still struggles a little with reading, but he is going to be 5th grade next year. He likes workbooks, so this year we tried CLE Science. He has enjoyed the fact that it is fairly independent, but he is not remembering what he is reading. It is just not visual enough nor hands on enough for him. We have also tried Apologia in the past, which was a complete bust for this particular kid. So, what I am looking for a a science curr. that is visual, hand on, fairly independent, with maybe some type of workbook (not notebooking) component thrown in. Is there anything out there like this? I appreciate any and all suggestions.

I actually use both. I used SM all the way through 6B with my two oldest boys. I love singapore, but it just wasn't working with my youngest son. He, like your DD, could find the answers with help from me, but just couldn't seem to do it on his own. I looked at CLE, liked what I saw, and decided that I would give it a try. Since it is a cheap as it is, I figured that I didn't have much to loose. Like you, there were things that we had not covered, so we started at the beginning with 101 and he moved fairly quickly through those early booklets. So here we are a 1 1/2 years later still using CLE. He balked at the beginning when we first started. (Didn't want to be using a 1st grade curriculum when he wasn't in 1st grade.) I can definitely see the difference in his understanding of math as opposed to when we used SM alone. His confidence has increased, he can work on his own using the CLE with relatively little input from me ( which is a big plus for him). So what we do now is, he does a lesson in CLE on his own, we check it, discuss and correct any issues, and then do approx. 3-4 pages in our SM. ( We use the text, WB, CWP, and IP). This works for us because I now don't have to worry about anything he is missing in SM because the CLE is filling in the gaps. Also the CLE has seemed to allow him to move through SM with greater understanding. Hope this helps.

You did not offend me at all. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that you did. (That is part of the reason that I dislike emails and such. It is very difficult to interpret people's tones and inflections.) I am glad you expanded more on the text and what it is like. I am familiar with BJU's spanish, but didn't know if their French books were set up the same way. From what you have said, it seems like they are. This sounds like it will work for my purposes, because that is exactly what I wanted. Something that teaches the grammar, etc. I really appreciate your and everyone elses input. As far as my son goes, he says he wants to try for the honors track, so that is what we are pushing for. I just hope we both survive. Thanks again for you input.

I am very familiar with VPSA as my two oldest are taking online calsses with them. The reason that I am wanting to stretch French out over 2 years is that the son that will be taking French next year already has a full load next year with several online classes. Plus he will be taking latin 1 concurently (VPSA online class). His goal, at this point in time, is med school and potentially a service academy. His foreign language goals are 2 years of latin and 2 years of ancient greek. Since all of the service academies require a modern foreign language, he settled on French since his dad is fluent. So his goal is to complete French 1 and 2 over the four years of high school as well. (We will see how this actually plays out over time, but I am willing to try this, if he is willing to work.) Thans for all of the information this is really helping.

Has anyone used BJU's Frecnch 1 curriculum? If so what did you think of it? I am looking for a French 1 curriculum for my son to work through over two years. His dad is fluent in french so at least I don't have to worry about the converasation aspect of the curriculum. If anyone has any other suggestions on a French 1 curriculum I am all ears. I am looking for something that will teach more than just conversation French. Thanks

My 16 year old son has had to write a compare/contrast paper on Edgar Allen Poe'sThe Pit and the Pendulum and The Tell-Tale Heart for his Omni class. He is a very reluctant writer and does not write well for his age. He doesn't pay attention to what he is writing and does not proofread closely, so I know that there are spelling errors in this paper. He doesn't like to hear too much criticism from me (he thinks I am picking on him and being nit-picky) He does much better with an objective criticism from other people. I am posting his paper in it entirety, just as he wrote it, errors and all. If someone would comment and give him some feedback on how to improve this paper, he and I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance. Poe Paper Compare and Contrast. The author Edgar Allen Poe has written significant horror stories in his time; and they have been read throughout the generations. Two of these stories are “The Pit and Pendulum,†and “ The Tell-Tale Heart.†They both have some comparisons and differences that are easy to spot and to understand. The comparisons of these stories are not noticed until you look how both are connected. In “The Pit and The Pendulum,†the victim is in terror of his tortures and what comes next after it. In “ The Tell-Tale Heart†the murderer is in terror of the old man’s vulture eye and how it pierces his mind. He explains that his eye is “a pale blue, with a white film over it.†They both experience death. The prisoner want to die rather be tortured and he comes close to it every time. The old man is actually killed from suffocation from his caretaker. They both cannot see, the prisoner can’t see because he has been placed in a pitch-black room. The old man is blind because his eye has a cataract, an eye infection that covers the eyes with a transparent white. They both experience mental torture. The prisoner is torture mentally and when he passes out or falls asleep his captors have another one planned. The old man is mentally tortured because when he hears a noise “ tries to says,†It is just the wind or “It’s just a mouse.†They both experience pain. The prisoner experience pain through his torture. The old man experiences pain when he is being suffocated in his sheets. Last, both the prisoner and the murderer narrate the stories. The Prisoner talks about his life and why something like this would happen to him. The murderer tells his story and how he murdered the old man. There are some features in these stories that contrast with each other in some ways. These show what is different between them. One main fat is that one has more pages than the other. Short stories and books are roughly about the same size in length when wrote by the same author. Both stories are narrated by two different people. In “The Pit and The Pendulum†the victim is telling the story and what is happening to him. The murderer is telling his story in “The Tell-Tale Story.†The way the stories happen are different. The victim is the prisoner, while in murderer in the other story works for the old man. The endings in the stories are different. The first one ends with the prisoner being rescued at the last moment when he thought he was going to die. The second one end with the murderer showing the authorities the old man’s corpse. The prisoner fells joy during his rescue, while the murderer felt guilt. Both stories have the characters talking to themselves. The prisoner wants to die than be tortured, and the old man talks to himself to assure himself that no one is there, but it was all in vain. The narrator’s feelings are different. The prisoner hates his captors and wants them to be punished. The murderer really has no grudge and actually loves the old man, and kills him all because of an eye. These show the characteristics of the author and how he writes his stories. This is how he thinks how the feelings of humanity are sometimes and how they react to it. The prisoner is confused, angry, scared and yet he is in control of his sanity. The murderer is scared, hateful, loving, and loses his sanity for a little all because of the old mans eye. I think these are the character traits in each stories and how each one affects the other throughout each one.

My DH is also active duty stationed at Ft Bragg. We live in a small town in Harnett county, about 4 miles from Campbell University.

We have used Red Wagon tutorials for the last two years. We used the DVD for physical science( 2 years ago for my oldest) and my sons used the live classes for Honors Biology and General Science this past school year. We have signed up for the live classes for Honors Chemistry and Physical Science this year. I would recommend the DVD or the live classes. As far as labs go, Yes, they do labs. The students write lab reports for all labs done; 4 formal lab reports and the rest are informal. I have been impressed with the instructor and the work they do. My boys have learned a lot.

FWIW, there are some heavy hitting books in Omni I, so I don't think you will have a problem with the challenge aspect, even for a 9th grader. My oldest did Omni I online last year in 8th grade and my Middle son is in Omni I online this year (7th grade). My sons had and have 9th graders in their Omni I class.

Thank you so much for your input. Writing is not my strongest subject so it is always nice to have someone elses opinion. Cheri

paragraphs were indented properly, but apparently that didn't come through when I posted.

My son (13) had to do a character analysis for one of his assignments in R&S 7. He absolutely hates to write so this was a painful process for him. This is copied and pasted as written. Any feedback/corrections would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Cheri My Pastor My pastor, Mr. Jesse Mooney, is a man who has a great love for God. I enjoy listening to Mr. Mooney preach on Sunday mornings. He always adds personal touches to his sermons to make them easy to understand. He always preaches the Word of God boldly and reads from the Bible. He favorite song is “Victory in Jesus.” Mr. Mooney is his mid sixties, bald, wears glasses and always has a smile for everyone. He has a quiet, friendly voice, and goes out of his way to talk with people. He makes people feel like he truly cares about them. He makes you feel good when you shake his hand. He is willing to help anyone. He is a humble and carrying man. He is there when he is needed. He visits people in the hospital and ministers to them. Mr. Mooney is a very special man. His love fore God is noticeable in everything he does. Even though He has been our pastor for twenty years, I hope he is our pastor for another twenty.

We did ours through classical conversations, so I know that they have them. But ours was on the cd with the other memory work and don't know it they sell them seperately or not. I think http://www.audiomemory.com sells them. I think I bought the addition and subtraction songs for my daughter from them. I will find my stuff and check and if it is a different vendor I will post it, but I am almost sure it was audio memory.

Have you tried using songs? My son memorized them in 1st grade in classical conversations in no time that way. That was 2 years ago and he still sings his multiplication tables.

My oldest will officially start high school this fall. This is my first time with a high-schooler. Since he is the guinea pig, I am hoping I don't mess him up too much.