Hi! Does anyone know where I could get access to older versions of Rosetta Stone Supplemental Resource CD for homeschooler in Mandarin? Apparently an online subscription doesn't have those available for Chinese anymore. Super frustrating for wanting to have lesson plans, quizzes, and tests like I did for my older kids with the boxed curriculum. If anyone has a copy of it I would be willing to pay you for it too!!

Hi, I'm trying to purge all our past work before the school year begins and I'm wondering what stuff most of you keep. I have workbooks and subject homework neatly filed for each child but now I'm thinking maybe this is all a bit much to store. I obviously would keep projects and artwork, but what about grammar notebooks and writing assignments, or latin workbooks and spelling tests? Seems silly to keep it all, but yet hard to throw out everyone's hard work! I would love some perspective! Thanks

That's really good advice, to record keep and choose later. Thanks. I think I'm wrestling simultaneously with the fact that he might choose ps next year and then what will best set him up for acceptance of his homeschooled credits.

I would be curious what the term of 'needing a credit' would be? Currently he has 6 as a 9th grader. Not sure how that will pan out as the years go on, aside from our tenative plan. He is currently taking credit courses: Science Math Foreign Lang. English I Ancient History Ancient Literature I am glad to know the necessity of extra curriculars. How many are good? He also works the media dept. at church and runs the cafe. But ps kids don't site that stuff on transcripts as extras do they? Do sports/instruments work in as extras too or PE/band credits? There is certainly more flexibility then I thought!

My son loves film. He probably spends around 3 hrs each day on something regarding movie making from filming, to writing, to editing a short work. And on the weekends he trys to create at least one original idea and carry it out from conception to completion. While also viewing and sometimes writing a critic about a new or classic movie every week. Can I give him a high school credit for all this work?! I in no way assign him any projects and quite frankly it would seriously stunt his creativity for me to dictate something I know very little about. So how does it play out if I log hours but don't have any deadlines or oversight? Can I simply compile a portfolio? Which he kinda already does for himself. Seems so silly for me to create a Fine Arts credit for him while he does his own fine arts continually!!

My 6th grade son just finished up Singapore Primary Math 5A. He does the workbook and extra practice great while we're doing the lesson. But on the final Review he got 2 out of 24 questions right?! He did the same thing on the semester reviews. I realize Singapore is mastery vs spiral and it has served us well since kindergarten but I'm wondering if he needs something that reviews better on a daily basis. The confusing part is that when I give him placement tests for other curriculum options he is either on grade or one above? TT he was 2 grade levels above. I want him to be thought ready for prealgebra. Has anyone else sifted through this kind of middle school ambiguousness! What solid programs make the transition to Algebra in these oh, so critical years? I'm considering Math Mammoth or continuing with 5B in Singapore but with supplemental review. Also would love an independent study like Saxon, but not Saxon. I currently 'teach' him every lesson before he does the workbook. Exausting. And should it be necessary at this grade or should the book be presenting the info enough to learn math concepts well?

Sebastian and Regentrude, Thank-you for such well thought out scope as to how you do what you do. I've lurked on these boards for years so I know there's a wealth of perspective and understanding but I guess till I truly hit a wall do I enjoy the interaction so much more. I love the range of thoughts! To me it's just a by product of parents passionate about the instruction of their kids! :) On another note, It seems like everyone finds such interesting courses to take! I admit by nature I have a "check it off the transcript" default. It's how I functioned thoughout highschool and college. I love a good checklist! But I think zooming out instead of micro managing it all, might refresh a lot!

It seems my questions have caused a bit of debate. :) So I did a bit of reading this morning... According to WTM, English IS only language arts. She continues to outline using Vocabulary in 9th if you haven't completed it, Grammar as a full course still, Writing folded into Rhetoric studies {but ends up with a whole credit to itself} and the quoted reasoning is,"The high school student will be writing continually about history, science, art, great books, and everything else he studies". Reading is also quoted as "Rather than studying history and literature as two seperate subjects, the classically educated student recognizes that these pursuits are essentially the same. Because of this, "reading" as such is swallowed up by the great-books study...". Then when breaking down credits WTM says, "If you keep to this schedule, you award 1 English credit per year for the study of grammar (that's the language-arts requirement). {Her words, not mine} The Great Book study is the equivalent of considerably more than 2 high-school courses...{and} encompasses world history, world literature,(although the study of grammar provides the necessary language-arts credit, you can give elective credit in world literature for every year of great-books study)..." {again her words, not mine} Does anyone follow this in practice? I realize from the core that education in classical studies from the beginning is very different than that of standard schooling. But it seems that in high school the pressure to make it more reasonably align with common standard philosophies of education produces a very gray transition. Fundamentally it seems that the trick is fitting what is important to a classical foundation philosophy such as great books (which many ps don't even consider cracking open) into what will compete effectively in collage academic administration.

It bothers me that his transcript would be "weak", but after MUCH deliberation we choose for him to get a good solid understanding of pre-algebra again so that all subsequent mathematical studies would be an A instead of an on target C. Since most graduates should have 3 math classes and he will most likely major in a Fine Arts discipline, I was trying not to panic over his temporary set back. Some suggested labeling it differently. It's a thorough course that leads into using Jacobs Algebra at a very fast pace.

Sebastian, can I ask what motivates you to have so much time spent in Latin? Is it a subject that your daughter really desires to pursue or is there a firm belief that the benefits will correspond with so much dedication? I am just wrestling with it being my ideals or really important. It's SO counter culture to all these APs and duel enrollment the his peers spend their time on. Totally just curious. I'm proud he studies Latin but I really want him to enjoy all that I know high school years can be. Knowing whether I'm being double-minded or simply aware of needed adjustments can be SUCH a fine line! :)

Haha! Trying to quote add hit reply!! I think integrating material is something I am vastly overlooking! Thank you!

Look for subjects that can be integrated such as great books with history and art. Vocabulary with science. Grammar with Latin. By integrating them a bit, you can really cover a lot of bases while focusing on fewer subjects.

Thank you Julie! That explains a lot! And also confirms why we let him choose Swedish. We have a close friend who is a linguistics major in Chinese and he said most students drop out because they were learning a language that somewhere someone told them it would be a good idea but the love for it was never innate. I am hoping that the love of languages in general fuels his future than a disinterest in something practical. Wouldn't the grammar and sentence structure demands of Latin then somewhat compliment an immersion program, even with being different languages?

You all are incredibly helpful and this is decreasing my stress exponentially! Someone please talk me through how you see great books. If I use it as an English credit that would be way too much for one credit. He's needs the skills in WWS 1 and it takes him a good hour every day. The vocabulary is Classical Roots workbook. It's quick and I feel it's doing a lot of good for his writing. I could drop spelling, it's just Apples program reinforcement in a day of "texting" communication. Haha! Grammar he has scored above 12 grade for 3 yrs now but I just don't want him to get rusty before SAT time. So many programs combine history and great books. I'm wondering more how I could possibly make one credit instead of two for ancient world studies.

I hear all the suggestions to drop Swedish but right now this is the ONLY subject that he looks forward to! And he's getting a solid A. Why is Rosetta Stone not a full credit? It's frustrating to spend THAT much money and it not be. He works at least an 45 min on it each day. I ordered it through MFW who uses it as a full credit. Helene Latin is also a full credit according to MP. I am just wondering if this is the most successful course. It a very old text and I see good things said about Lukeion or something else maybe? Does no one take two foreign languages simultaneously? Or is this overly idealistic!?