I have a 16yo (turning 17 this summer) going off this fall as well. I am sad that this period of our lives is ending, just for my own feelings of missing the daily interaction, but I do think it will be a wonderful next step for her. She is going across the country and sure, she has some issues -- I wish her room were cleaner, I wish..., I wish..... But *I* still have issues too! ;) She's got a good head on her shoulders, she will continue to learn as she goes. One thing that I think may make your situation different and harder -- I've known for the past 2 years that she *might* go off a year early. Wasn't sure until this past fall. I think it would be harder, emotionally, to have all this come up for you guys in such a short time. Good luck with everything!! :grouphug:

Thanks you guys -- I knew I could find some emotional strength from you wonderful ladies!! Some days I am just excited, some days I have to leave the room with an excuse because I'm about to burst into tears. And I know they are super excited but then other times they feel scared. I don't remember feeling the ups and downs when I was their age -- I was just happy to get out! lol But I was also only going a couple of hours away. I think knowing that I will be lucky to see them at Christmas, knowing that we have no family or anything out there gets to me a little bit.... But I'd probably be like this no matter what. I'm just so accustomed to seeing them and hearing all the little things going on in their lives. They really are friends to me now, and I am going to miss their company so much. And that will leave me with 3 young children, 8 and under. My life is going to be so incredibly different. Ugh, I'm started to get teary-eyed again. WHAT AM I DOING?! I can do this. Just smile and be happy -- it's exciting, I'm trusting that all will be well!! :thumbup1:

Umm... check that. I found the preview link. :blushing:

OK, I looked up some of these and am intrigued but there are no sample pages. Is Julie still on here? Do you know if she has sample pages on a blog or anything? Just debating.....

I forgot about that -- we use the light blue series as well. I also like that there are cumulative reviews at the end of each chapter with previous chapters. Let us know what you decide! :thumbup:

OK, I have two seniors -- my oldest two, my first ones to leave home -- yesterday and today they signed up for housing. On the other side of the country. They have roommates. They have suitemates. I am so excited for them. But I am freaking out on the inside! This is really happening! All these years I knew it was coming. The college app process made it seem very real. But now there are OTHER names -- real people who will be part of their lives, who they will see every day and live with. I just can't believe it. Breathe. Breathe. ...what am I going to be like in August?! I want to be like this :thumbup: :seeya: ... But I feel like this :crying:

Great links -- thank you! I really like the idea of an inexpensive downloadable file that I print off for multiple kids, too. And Penny Gardner! I haven't been to her site in ages! Thanks for the reminder on that. I remember when her site was new. lol I used a lot of her stuff with my older ones when they were little. A fond memory.... <sigh>

Thanks for the recommendation, ElizabethB. :) I know there's a cut-n-paste feature, but my PC that runs that software is so ridiculously slow it just is such a pain. And honestly there are just so many choices (font, size, dots, degrees of shaded lines, etc) -- I think it just overwhelms me. I know I sound so pitiful! lol I should probably just jump in and DO IT! It doesn't have to be PERFECT! Just pick the style I want go with it. At least they'll be doing something, right? Ugh. Why do I make things so much harder than they need to be?? Hmm... I probably could've made up a couple of StartWrite pages in the time it took me to write the posts in this thread.... :lol:

OK, I am a big believer in using copywork to aid in handwriting practice. There are many great copywork resources out there for free or $$. I love Spelling Wisdom from Simply Charlotte Mason as one example. BUT I am struggling with my younger ones (K and 2nd grade) who can totally handle the quotes (meaning they can fluently read and can copy words), but their letter formation isn't the best. So now I am rethinking this whole process. With my older ones I used 1-2 Getty-Dubay Italic workbooks then moved into more direct copywork. For the younger ones, I bought StartWrite thinking I would create our own pages...but I'm just not getting to it!! lol So I feel like they are waiting on me. I could get some Getty-Dubay workbooks, but I'd love to just pick something up from Amazon instead of special ordering from a homeschool store paying shipping for just 1 or 2 books, etc. The books on Amazon seem to focus on just one letter per page though -- I am looking for something that maybe focuses on a certain letters but has them writing words or -- better yet -- meaningful phrases, sentences, etc. Any ideas or recommendations? Or do I just bite the bullet and order italic workbooks or put in a night or two of making StartWrite sheets just the way I want them? Ugh. Sorry so long. :(

Wanted to add, too, that part of why MM works so well for us is that it is ery self-explanatory for my kids. They are understanding and don't need me to "teach" a lesson. Of course I do need to check over their work to make sure they are getting it, but I am very pleased. I used other programs with my older ones, but MM is a great fit for our family now and the huge need I have for simplifying where possible (without sacrificing quality). I also really like the RightStart Card Games Kit for games that apply learning without really feeling like it. :) (We tried RightStart and it's a great program but definitely not a good fit for me at this season of my life.)

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the ones you mentioned, as long as it seems like a decent fit for your kids AND you are consistent with it. :) Personally, I voted for MM with LOF because those fit well with my style and my kids. Good luck! :)

My senior is supposed to be writing a major research paper for a semester-long, independent study course in history. Any thoughts on how long a culminating research "should" be? The current plan is that the research paper is the main submitted work. (Obviously steps leading up to that could be a part of that, but at least right now there are not other essays, etc., expected to be submitted.) FWIW, I'm not entirely sure I am comfortable with this arrangement. lol Thanks for any opinions! :)

My two oldest took the PLAN and -- perhaps because the ACT is the focus test for them -- I thought it was worthwhile. It's cheap ($10??), and gave them the experience of standardized testing conditions, etc. (Their 1st standardized test.) Not a huge thing to take it, and no scholarships associated, but again for us it was worth the $10 to get their feet wet with the test that is their focus.

Thanks for all the encouragement! I especially liked seeing the examples -- very inspiring! We're definitely going to give this a go. I can't believe how crazy busy these girls are this fall -- now we just need to carve out time to get out there and do it. Thank you all!

After reeling at the hundreds of dollars it would cost for "real" senior pictures (very common here, not sure if that's "normal"), my DDs want to try doing their own pics on our camera and then Photoshopping them as needed. Anyone done this? Tips to share? Some of their ps friends already have theirs, so they want to do them this week or next with good weather (outside pics of course). Thanks!

Well yes, of course the individual courses do have those specific designations (World History, US Govt, etc) -- but I'm talking about the category as a whole. I've seen "Social Studies" as a category on a subject-organized transcript, but I'm not crazy about that name. I think "social studies" makes me think of elementary years or middle school years. lol But at least SS could include psych, Econ, and such -- whereas "history" could not include those. So obviously I have a category for English, math, science. Those are easy and they'll have 4+ courses listed in each of those. And if I list SS as a category, I can group a bunch of courses there besides history/govt titles. But if I list it as history then I'm limited to ONLY listing the history/govt courses. Where do I list the Econ, psych, even personal finance then if not in an "electives" or "misc" category? Fine arts could be a category for music theory, art, art history, and the lIke. If I arranged it all by year then I suppose this wouldn't be an issue, but I like that they can SEE all the math, science, English all together like this -- particulary since they've done a lot of those. This seemed a lot easier before I was actually trying to finish it. ;)

lol-- seems kind of obvious to me now. ;) Thanks! I like that better. So should AP Psych go there too, ya think? I had it under social studies, but I could make that category history and get psych out of there. Hmm... where would that leave world religions then -- history or electives? Thnking....

My categories are English, math, science, foreign language, social studies (don't really like this title), then a misc category which has some fine arts (category by itself??), lifetime fitness, personal fitness, computer programming (stick it in math), and economics. Thoughts? Different names for categories?

originally we did have an art school wanting a GED, but I thnk they are going to work with us on the issue (still need to verify that, but it's promising). But yesterday afternoon I started calling around to make some contacts -- the one that wants the GED is a private 15,000 student school with an avg ACT score around 24. The one that didn't want a GED but also said not to trouble myself with our own transcript is a private, Division 1, 30-some thousand student school with an avg ACT of 28. This got me thnking last night -- maybe schools with lower ACT scores are more likely to require the GED? whereas a more competitive school knows their applicants are going to be at a certain academic level (in terms of standardized tests) that the GED would be pointless? IDK. Still confused and frustrated. More schools to call today... we'll see what happens....

Of my younger crew, I have one in 1st grade math, another in 2nd grade (Math Mammoth). I love the idea of LOF and have the trig and adv alg set. BUT in terms of supplementing with it, would you consider buying, for example, every other book? I don't know that I want to use them (in terms of both time and money).

Do you have any specific examples of this? Right now our pride is the biggest reason NOT to take the test. I'd love to have a reason like what you said. :)

We've always homeschooled, and really have tried to pursue a course of excellence. No one can take that away from my kids, I know. But I am so irritated that several of the colleges my rising seniors are applying to don't even care about SEEING a transcript or course descriptions or a GPA or a booklist, etc. ACT/SAT scores and grades for any "real" high school or college classes -- that's what they want. Oh ya, and some of them say go ahead and take the GED because you need that to substitute for a diploma from an accredited institution. Thankfully my kids do have good ACT scores, and they've taken some AP/IB courses too (a couple at the local high school, a couple AP courses that I've gotten the College Board certification for, too). "Well," colleges say, "courses and grades from those accredited institutions have certain standards that must be met so we know can compare students' grades when they come from those institutions. For homeschooled students, we have no basis of comparison because they do not have that accreditation." Now, I am not a homeschooler who thinks that homeschooling trumps public school education. There are some truly excellent public school teachers and courses, and there are some awful public/school teachers/courses. The same can be said of homeschoolers -- we all probably know of a family or two that makes us cringe at the thought of them telling people they homeschool because they don't take it seriously. And there are certainly things I wished we had done differently in hindsight. But it is just so frustrating to feel like none of this matters to them. And we all know that an "A" from this chemistry teacher is NOT the same as an "A" from that chemistry teacher (even at the same school). So grades at public schools are hardly objective standards of measurement. I know it doesn't matter in the big picture. The knowledge and skills my kids have gained is theirs forever. It is a part of them and has helped shape them into the wonderful people they are today. I do not wish any of that away. And I guess I can't completely begrudge the schools who say this. They have thousands of applications to sort through and the "numbers" do help them make some easy cuts. But still... ugh. It's just so disappointing. Oh and my kids feel like it's an insult for them to have to take yet another test (the GED) to "prove" to someone that they have "graduated" high school. <sigh> This is not how I pictured the college application process -- even when I looked on schools' websites for requirements for homeschooled students before all this began. This is not what I expected at all. :(

Hi and welcome! :seeya: I have a 1st and 2nd grader, as well as 2 high school seniors who did this stuff forever ago. I really agree with the advice you've gotten as well as this particular comment above. Now we did do history every year in the elementary years, but science was mostly nature walks and nature notebooks for elementary. My older ones had no "textbook" science until 8th-9th grade, but they know HOW to learn, read oodles of quality books, and had a love of learning. They spent time in nature and learned to OBSERVE as well as to record their observations. Nature notebooks are particularly good at getting you to really LOOK at something you've seen many times before. Fast forward to the high school years where we still homeschool but they take a science course from the local high school. They've done very well in biology, chemistry, physics classes with rigorous teachers -- and those skills of observation, curiosity, being intelligent readers, etc., are what laid the foundation for that. And that's the plan I intend to follow for my younger crew as well. It will be ok -- enjoy it! :D

Do you guys think the elementary books are all sequential in nature? At $16 each, I can't see buying all TWELVE books by the time he gets through writing the series. For my younger crew, I've got one in MM1 and another in MM2, plus a littler guy too. Just thinking long term. I would like to use them to supplement the Math Mammoth. How do you forsee utilizing these if not buying every book for elementary?

Love the review and thread -- thank you! I definitely will be using Apples with my younger crew. However, since the thread addresses other opinions, I will add that I tried LOF trig with my older high schoolers and they weren't crazy about it after getting a few chapters into it. :( I think -- having used more traditional textbooks in high school years for math -- it was frustrating to them. I thnk with only a year left of high school they felt too rushed and pressured for all they HAVE to do that they couldn't enjoy the less direct style. I was disappointed because they are so literary I though they would love it. :( But will get the younger set hooked earlier!