For rigor's sake, yes I would. Dd didn't get a good vibe from the Latin 3 teacher at Lukeion though, so I doubt she would have thrived. She needs that connection with an instructor and wasn't getting many "warm fuzzies" from the Lukeion teacher.

My dd did Latin 1 and 2 at VP and did well, though she wasn't particularly challenged. She switched to Latin 3 at Lukeion and had a tough time right from the get go. After scoring poorly on her first assignments, she got it in her head that she couldn't do it. We ended up switching to German. I would say going from VP to Lukeion is a jump in workload and expectations, though they use the same materials.

Each Brave Writer class is 1/4 of a credit, so if you want 1/2 credit from that source, you're set!

Oops, the original post did go through. Sorry for the duplicate post.

Hey all, Just wanted to update you on a NCAA nugget we found out this week. Veritas Press now has pre-approved course status with the NCAA for their online courses. They don't advertise this on their site so I thought you might like to know!

I wanted to check in and see if anyone has any updates on working with the NCAA this year. I have two: 1. The nice gal informed me that they don't start evaluating homeschoolers until the winter of the senior year for eligibility. This seems late to me, but she says they're booked earlier than that evaluating graduated seniors and their ability to play. 2. Veritas Press (online Christian classes using classical model) now has pre-approved course standing with the NCAA. Keystone used to have this, but doesn't anymore. This means their classes don't have to go through the review process like other homeschool classwork. DS is transferring in as a junior to go full-time with them next year, though you can take just a class if you want. For those who don't know, VP has teacher interaction classes which meet twice a week. This has worked well for DS, who has done Composition I, Geometry, and Algebra II with them.

Well, looking at the two books in front of me (I've done CT in the past, but picked up AoA to use along with CT in my logic class this fall), I will say that Chapter 2 of CT (Introduction to Logic, symbols used, and/or sentences, etc.) is not much in evidence in AoA. These are the chapters: Ad Fontem Arguments Appeals to Emotion Red Herrings Fallacies of Presuppostion Fallacies of Induction Fallacies of Clarity It looks a bit more appealing, with an opening "dialog" between two characters to introduce the chapter topic, and pictures of fake ads to highlight the fallacy being covered. CT has more examples/discussion questions. I don't think AoA is meaty enough to use in a class without some extra stuff added in. My .02,

DS did the French 2 class through Keystone. It was thorough, but I find the lack of textbook resources unhelpful (all instructional material is online). Also, almost no teacher interaction except grade comments and Emails. Can't see that it helped his speaking at all.

I'm sure many of the good programs listed above will have an element of fun to them. I think positive feelings about grammar come a little bit from positive attitude (as opposed to awesome curriculum). Many folks (and I don't know if you are among them) have a preconceived notion of grammar as dry and boring (kinda like math!). Then, unsurprisingly, grammar is dry and boring. We don't have a rip roaring time at our house, but we do have fun trying to be "the grammar king of the world," as well as quietly poking fun at grammar mistakes we see out in the world. Grammar knowledge makes us feel very superior, lol. I also try to keep in mind a sentence is like a logic problem, and we have to figure out the puzzle of why you can't use certain structures because they mess with the logic of sentences. It can be fun.

For us (in central MD) there is a bee organized by the library. The winner goes on to the national bee. They want homeschoolers to participate in a bee through a homeschool group to win the right to go to the library one. So, homeschool groups and libraries are two places to look!

I didn't realize BTB could be used for advanced levels. Just ordered level 3 for ds who needs to review in the fall before taking equivalent of French 4 at the cc in the spring (hopefully). Thanks for the recommendation!

I can't readily recommend any particular program for book work as I speak French and so have a different approach, but as for spoken French practice, I really like the BBC Languages classes French Steps and Ma France. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/

We didn't intend to do it as a pre-algebra, but my non-mathy 8th grader had such a fuzzy understanding at the end (as did the son of a friend), we ended up doing Algebra 1 again through an online class. Ds was shocked at the number of things covered in the class that weren't addressed in TT. This was a few years ago, so if there is a new version, it might have improved. If I were going that route, I would search out something else. JMO.

It is helpful to recognize how your child learns best. We did courses through Keystone in 9th grade, but the self-paced low teacher interaction courses didn't motivate my student to do much, and he got very behind. This year he took geometry and Composition 1 with Veritas Press. This was a class that met online twice a week for an hour and a half. He did much better, and I think the courses are solid. He'll do Algebra 2 with them next year.

I found I couldn't keep up with weekly or daily organizing, so I moved to the semester plan system. I create a semester binder for each kid (I have done this on a quarterly basis, too), and put calendar pages in the front of each section with a semester's worth of assignments. I also tear out workbook pages and stick them in there, along with blank sheets of paper if I am asking them to write something. Downside: few spontaneous activities; can feel sometimes like we're in a rut; big effort to set up; we sometimes get way behind on the schedule Upside: kids don't have to wait for me to figure out what they're supposed to be doing; encourages them to be independent as much as possible; if we get behind, my kids realize they need to catch up (not just forget about doing it). I wouldn't have attempted this in the early days because I didn't have a good sense for how long things were going to take. I also live a busy life with various coaching and teaching commitments, so I need this to stay sane. Good luck to you!

If you visit the NCAA eligibiltycenter.org you will find resources for homeschool students there. A basic checklist to give an overall idea: http://web1.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/pdf/Home_School_Checklist_Example.pdf Plus if you search NCAA on here, you'll find lots of helpful talk. Good luck! I just spent the evening comparing NCAA course requirements to those for our umbrella group and for ds's top three college choices. Not a lot of choice for what he'll be studying the next few years!

As much as any kid retains anything I think (which is a great reason why we go through the history cycle a few times), SL works.

If by TPR you mean Total Physical Response, I'm not sure there are pronunciation guides (a lot of the stuff is meant for teachers who know the language). You can adapt TPR to any curriculum at all - it's mostly a method for presenting vocabulary and grammar. Maybe if you pick up one of James Asher's books at TPR-world.com, you might get some good direction on how to go forward. When I taught language in schools, TPR storytelling revolutionized the way my students interacted with me and each other. I used Blaine Ray's "Look, I Can Talk," and Stephanie Campbell's "Contes de Salade/Cuentos de Ensalada." (for high school). You can find supplies at blaineraytprs.com and through teachersdiscovery.com (source for many foreign language materials). Good luck, and my apologies if you meant another kind of TPR! Kirsten

We did Bravewriter's Boomerang for lit last year(and met once monthly for book group). We liked the book choices and discussion; ds was willing to do the writing stuff, but we ended up not having enough time. It looks solid, though! Kirsten

Option 3 has a schedule of sorts in that it is broken down into 36 lessons, so your student knows what to accomplish in a given week. Not daily assignments, though. Kirsten

Oak Meadow

I chose the book from the critical thinking folks. Thought it might be a nice supplement to the pre-logic class I'm teaching this fall.

Alex et Zoe is a sweet program: http://europeanbook.com/alexetzoe.html Kirsten

My ds is doing a review course this summer (end of sophomore year), then will take the SAT in the fall, again in the spring, and once in the fall of senior year if he needs it.

Option 3 would give you some essay topic ideas and project work, if you'd like to supplement with that.