Most of all, don't be afraid of having standards; standards really are a good thing. Above all, don't let your children fall into the trap of underestimating themselves. Embrace the hard topics with enthusiasm and grace. Don't give up too easily, but listen to your high schoolers so you know when you are pushing too hard and they need some space to mature. None of us, not. one. single. one. of. us. is perfect at this job. Keep that in mind when you read through the threads. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHY THIS FORUM IS TRULY ASTOUNDING!!!

I struggled in chemistry. What saved me was a self-paced programmed learning course with no professors lecturing or class to go to. We got chapter assignments and problem sets to do, when you felt confident, you took a test. You could go at your own pace. The best thing was that, if you had questions or difficulties, you could ask a tutor for help. Once you passed the test, you went on to the next unit..... That was for inorganic. For organic, I went back to class but had realized that I had to teach myself. We did a nice little study group that met the evening b4 the tests to iron out our difficulties. We also got together to review major problem sets. This was the best thing.....If we all got stuck on something we called on some available (cute boys) chem majors (we provided ice cream and cookies) up stairs and they would help us resolve our problems. I took a full year of organic in a summer semester. After every Thurs. exam we would have a big bon fire out at the lake at night and go swimming. Next morning, next chapter. I did v. well this way. Co-operative, rather than competitive learning fit the bill for the rest of my heavy science classes. My roommate just studied on her own but, she too reached out as need be. All her bfs were upperclass STEM majors!!!! (Mine were humanities!) My college was heavy on competitive learning in STEM. The grading curves were brutal. Initially, co-op learning was frowned upon. But, our classmates and profs gave in b/c we never did and we did well on every test. My advise would be to set up a study group the first week of class. Don't wait 'til you get stuck to reach out.

Stephanie; Fab issue to bring up. When my dd and I decided to go for homeschooling for her last 2 years of high school, I really did not know how to begin. THANK YOU FORUM MEMBERS ONE AND ALL. What I did have in the back of my mind was what I felt should be the result of high school....a certain level of abilities to read and write, exposure and mastery of some key subjects, an idea of self-organization and study skills management. We enrolled under an umbrella school that has certain requirements that are similar to the basic state requirements. We can generate a good paper trail if need be. Dd wanted to take certain subjects this past year and others for her sr. year. She had planned to do them at the ps. The curriculum that we had/have worked out has been more product-oriented than the one that she would have been exposed to in ps. I found lots of quality curriculum suggestions on the internet.....so many AP and college syllabi out there!!! The texts I chose came from those sites and from this forum.....we have made do with older editions and just made sure that the subject was covered as completely as in the curriculum guidelines from the web. This year we "finished" pre-calc and bio. We did much more than what was in the US History text. We sampled several books on argument analysis and writing enough to cover that topic fairly well. Am. lit was coupled to US History which made for exercises, not only in argument analysis/writing and literary analysis, but also historical analyses. All this was much more extensive than what they did in ps. Though, I often times wondered if they were more efficient there. The main issue that we are now grappling with is that of taking outside classes, for let. of rec. and "validation". One of my current chores is to find out if I can write the teacher rec.---our umbrella school can provide the counselor letter. Our feeling right now is that homeschooling should be done at HOME. Dd is largely self-taught at this point. I am the grader, "discussion co-ordinator", logistics and support staff. I think I could present an honest evaluation of my dd's strengths and weaknesses. In conclusion I am hoping we can finish at HOME....We can take standardized tests and submit portfolios if need be. We can get LOR from outside dance and community service adults... Home schooling is a challenge but, what an adventure.....Wished we had started in 8th grade!!! There's so much we could have had fun doing!

Our ps has math placement tests available the first week of school for kids who have studied subjects over the summer. For example, if you studied Geometry so you could advance to Alg. 2, you take the Geo test and if you do ok you take Alg. 2 during the school year. Some kids take Geo during the year and do Alg. 2 on their own so they can get into Pre-calc. the following year and the Calc. BC during Jr. year. My dd qualified for an "AP math track" and took Alg. 1 in 8th, Geo in 9th, Alg. 2 in 10th, Pre-calc in 11th, Calc BC in 12th. She took the AP exam and got into Calc 3 her frosh year in college. She did not like the math dept. so, she did not pursue math any further. She is a philosophy major b/c she feels it taps similar skills. If she had been a STEM major, (but not a math major) she would have been "done" with Math after Calc. 3. She felt that the biggest drawback to taking Calc. 3 in college was that the teaching/learning expectations were so different from high school. She had had really excellent professional teachers in high school so, she did well.

Stephanie - We are using the Norton Anthology of World Lit. for Gilgamesh, the Aeneid, Aristophanes, Oresteia. If you look the books up on Amazon. There are some discussions in the reviews about the best translations. Particularly Dante, Virgil, and Sophocles. There are also discussions about which editions of the translations are easiest to use, e.g. note placement, layout. I found these helpful. Hope you've recovered from your "Kansas weather".

Congrats Jean- But, you know you'll be buying "just one more book" even after the youngest goes to college? My dd is also a sr. this coming year but I will probably be buying things this coming April!!! We are only in our 2nd year of homeschooling here. Can't imagine what it would be like after so many years to have the last graduating. I hope you will get to do something equally as rewarding as your next "thing".

I might add that most jobs are very project oriented. Knowing how to plan and manage and carry one out is very important. All dh and i ever did at work were "projects." So, projects might be considered vocational training. And too LIFE is a project!!!!

This is what we do, I like the synthesis and digging parts of our "projects" most of the time they are written but, we've used photography and video in power point. My dd is more creative, she likes to USE information that she has learned. I'd call just about any science lab a project.

We are out of the box except for German at OSU. With all the resources on the web and texts with instructor's resource guides, it is easy to go unboxed. My dd says she loves it. I make her write a lot of essays and do projects that combine subjects. It is more like a private school here than anything in a box could provide. I looked at the prices on the "boxes" and said "no way." We barely have money for the texts. I have stopped working full time so I could take this on......Also dd does not like working at the computer for more than 1 hr. at a time. She is taking standardized tests of various sorts in the subjects so we have validation.

We did Foerster's precalc and trig. this year. I think you need trig for calculus and physics and beyond. I thought the Thinkwell class had trig. Check the syllabus.

Gwen - Your children are living the dream that we as parents are all working so hard towards!!! My dd, in a top LAC, says that loads of kids there are just not interested in real learning (the kind of thing that your kids are doing). I remind her that SHE is. She is in humanities, art history and philosophy, and I try to make sure that she is participating in her own education, taking classes that she wants, doing real work, being engaged in her own search for knowledge.....so far so good. I, myself, loved college. I developed my own major and worked on loads of projects by myself and with profs. Learning was fun. I did grad school and taught various classes and really enjoyed the kids who were engaged and interested. I taught at a state university and was despised by some b/c I did not give mc tests. There were kids who did very well in my classes and some who left after the first 2 weeks. Most who stayed were REALLY interested and stayed after to discuss issues, etc. oooops prattling on, need coffee.

We are using Larsen for Calculus this year. We have the big Calc. 1,2, and 3 book. Also Calc. for the Forgetful as an outline/crib.

Jeri I bought the lab book from alibris, I think. It was v. expensive. It says www. collegeboard.com/ap on the back. It was the 2001 Biology Lab manual edition for students. No ISBN # on it at all. It was pricey and I think if you google enough you could manage to put together one for yourself. The Bozeman guy covers lots of them and Ward Scientific had some of the lab print outs.

Faith - My oldest dd who was highly self-motivated used "The Real SAT study guide" and she did v. well. She used it to study for the PSAT as well (Natl. Merit Finalist). The younger dd did just ok with using it. She used a big yellow book by Gary Gruber to brush up on specific skill sets. Maybe a class would have been better but, she did not want to go. She may be a more ACT-type. She took an ACT course last summer at the ps and studied the Real ACT book and did pretty well. She is retaking them this Sat. after more study and practice. Who knows???

From what I've heard from kids recently, it is best to work a year or two at someplace that is interesting to him now. That way he can define what sort of grad degree he wants/needs, really narrow down his field of interest. Then he can look at specific departments and faculty at various universities. For example, if he decides he is interested in foreign NGO type aid and developing-country economics, he would look at schools that gear their int. rel. or econ curricula towards that interest. If he is interested in political economy then he might go someplace else. He should read faculty publications and correspond directly with someone who he wants to work with. Prepping for the GRE is pretty straight forward with the Kaplan style courses. He should definitely ask around about which one is the best.

We used Campbell and Reese with a Test bank of multiple choice tests. We also had the study guide and workbook that went with the text. I had her write some of the essays that I found in the Cliff's AP bio review book. The MIT intro to bio class had several quizzes and tests posted and I used some of their questions as essays. You'll need the AP bio Lab book, We did some of the labs and used some on-line resources to generate activities about the subjects that we could not do the "normal labs" for (too expensive or too technical). The exercises in the Lab book are doable without having done the labs themselves if you use the on-line resources. Lab Bench (on-line videos and exercises) and Bozeman Biology (you tube videos) were good resources for review and clarification. I do not know how well she did on the exam. It was not enjoyable to her (she loves bio) b/c it was so much of a cram....sometimes 3 chap./week. I would have liked a more synthetic approach, using the text as a reference.

We did 8th = Alg1/physical sci. 9th = Geo/Bio 10th = Alg2/Chem 11th = Pre calc/AP Bio 12th = Calc BC/Physics B (alg/trig based) I will agree that I've found the college texts to be the best as far as presenting info. and having worthwhile problem sets. Dd has only been homeschooled this year, Jr. year. For pre-calc we used Foerster with Khan videos for reinforcement and Campbell and Reese for Bio. The Bio was a lot of busy work. They are supposedly changing the course. I would have preferred a more synthetic/problem solving approach.

Great article. As the parent of a rising sr. I am sucking these up. My dd needs college in that she needs basic science knowledge to be able to begin to work in her field. Homeschooling has been great b/c she can start getting her skills together. She wants college, not only for the "practical aspects" but for some of those intangible skills like being able to write effectively and read critically. I do not think she is mature enough to be able to perform at a high level in her field over the course of years. She needs a sturdier foundation.

When we went on college tours, everyone had a binder with sheets of info and extra paper to take notes. We started out with pocket folders and worked our way up to binders. We even had separate ones at one point for parent and student.....mostly due to the Financial Aid stuff. When we went on tours we had a little ole spiral notebook with our questions and notes jotted down. We transferred the relevant info when we got home. We are just starting once again, glad this subject came up. We do have "the list" that we must now triage. I found that taking notes when visiting college confidential and the school website was v. helpful. I'm not a big spreadsheet person but, my dh would probably do it that way, he is king of Excel!

We have something called Calculus with Analytical Geometry 7th edition by Larson Hostetler Edwards ISBN 0618141804 It says in side that it is Calc. 1, 2, and 3. We will do Calc. 1 and 2 (Chap. 1-10, I think?). I thought it wise to get the whole nine yards in case there is something in the later sections we should know. Also Study and Solutions Guides Vol. 1,2, and 3 ISBN 0618149228, 0618149236, 0618149333 And Instructor's Resource Guide ISBN 0618149309 And Test Item File ISBN 0618149287 I am not sure how we are going to use these. The test item file has multiple choice and opened ended answers for each section. The IRG has chapter tests and projects. As I said, I've just amassed these and will know when I am planning what will work for us. I also bought Calculus for the Forgetful to use as a crib guide and an outline of sorts.

I have family up there. They were not affected but, I have welcomed them and you to our club. I welcome you as well. We have weather like that quite often down here, accompanied by the all night wail of tornedo sirens. You might call the college board and ask them what to do. Have you e-mailed them? There should be some numbers and addresses on your admission ticket to get you started. Also check the registration portion of their site. There should be a number to at least start with there as well.

I made some sheets up on Word similar to Music Mom's and printed them out and then filled them in by hand, updating periodically on the computer. We also bought a couple of those really big blotter calendars. We used different colored pens for different kinds of dates. I like the lists. My dds like the calendars.

Oooooh!!! I have a subscription, can't wait 'til it comes. We are debating this subject quite a lot in our house. I really enjoy reading the author of the article. Thanks.

Dd test drove one of Thinkwell's lectures and said it was just ok. She is a big Khan academy fan though. I was hopeful that we could use the Thinkwell course. We are going to develop our own curriculum (BC) paced along the lines of NROC. Thinkwell uses the Larson book and we liked that the best of the ones we looked at. I will use the AP guidelines and sample curricula as well to plan out this course

Faith, I am hsing a High school sr. next year and I hope that we can work through your whole process in 1 year. I do not think we will reach anything close to a 20 pg. paper. I will aim for a 10 pager. Establishing the process before college seems so important. I too graded very hard our first semester this year (our first ever homeschooling) but, in our case it was good. Dd took the whole enterprise much more seriously. My school is so much harder than the public school she went to. Gradually, the writing has gotten better, especially the "test" essays. She still gets bogged down when asked to submit a typed project-style paper. I find that nurturing her thru the outlining process seems to set an optimistic tone.