My teenage dds emailed me this list of 25 homeschool wishes. I needed a laugh today and thought it might bring a smile to someone else too! http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/001/bitter_homeschooler.html The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List by Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling, Issue #1, Fall 2007 1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it? 2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts. 3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize. 4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know. 5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double. 6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away. 7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling. 8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious. 9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons. 10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions. 11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school. 12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind. 13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky. 14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator. 15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else. 16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then. 17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more. 18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one. 19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else. 20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood. 21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled. 22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids. 23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids. 24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school. 25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up! More about Issue #1 Home Secular Homeschooling magazine Current Issue | Issue List Purchase/Subscribe Calls for materials | Advertise | E-mail me Homeschooler Resources Secular Homeschooling Press Bitter/Sweet | Don't worry! The Editor's Blog Diary of a Mad Editor Contents © 2007–2010 Deborah Markus

I did look at hippocampus, but a couple of the parts I looked at I wasn't very impressed with -- but I did not do a careful study of it, so I may be way off on that. We did just start watching the Axial Age set of DVDs from Teaching Company... just the first lecture, actually. I was listening while doing dinner prep, so not as focused as the girls, but I found it interesting. I really like that the focus of this series. HOWEVER, as soon as it was over, the girls were going on about how the lecturer's tone was condescending. I'm trying to remember their examples, but it was something like the teacher saying "these people imagined" when speaking of their beliefs. My girls felt that even if one doesn't agree with someone's beliefs, you should be respectful enough to at least say, "the people believed...." I never noticed any comments like that, lol, but they were quick to jump on it. So I guess I'll have to listen better and see for myself! Will keep you posted!

I'm not sure if this would help or not, but when I was looking into math options with the Foerster text (using Math Without Borders), the man who does the video tutoring (David Chandler) gave me an explanation on the Al2/Trig book counting as pre-calc. A friend of mine wanted to go from that book to Calc, and I was trying to figure out if that was viable. My question to David was :Is the Foerster Alg2/Trig book a course that includes pre-calc? I don't know if it's appropriate to paste in his answer, so I'll link directly to his response on his Yahoo Groups page (no membership required to read the threads). It seems like "pre-calc" is this rather nebulous topic, with publishers overlapping various topics in different ways. BUT, given that your child took that course soph year and has the career aspirations you mentioned, I would definitely seek to do some more precalc AND calc by the end of senior year. That might place her out of 1st year calc for college, but if not it would give her a very strong foundation for that class and she would probably breeze through it. Don't know if this is helpful, but at least it will keep it at the top of the forum list. ;)

Thank you for taking the time to reply, GardenMom. I always like your posts. :) I've never bought Sonlight before and had certain expectations. Maybe it will all be fine, I don't know. I started out thinking we'd self-study for it, but when posting here about that possibility and thinking about my own limitations (with keeping up with reading, discussion, essay assignments, structure) -- when I feel like I can barely hold on to daily life with my little ones -- I thought Sonlight seemed like the "perfect" answer because of having self-guided questions on daily readings, etc. Ugh! I am torturing myself! We have a self-study AP Psych going, and I think that is going quite well, but it's a different type of test. Having a good AP textbook as a base makes it so much easier! lol I have looked over the college board site, but honestly it feels like edu-double-speak sometimes. I will try again, now with SL materials in hand. It may be that we keep some of the units (like Wuthering Heights and Sound and Sense?) and modify from there?? More thoughts and replies welcome!!

OK, I bought the 530 IG and materials because my dd really, really wants to take the AP Lit exam this May. She's just finishing week 1. Now I'm kind of freaking out because I'm hearing stories about kids not doing fabulous (like a score of 3 -- respectable, but I'm expecting consistent 4s and 5s). And it sounds like lots of kids who use the program aren't necessarily taking the AP test at all. Again, the only reason I bought it is BECAUSE of the AP test. <sigh> So I was already thinking to trim out a couple of "non-AP" books (or at least delay them until after the exam), and possibly add in an extra book or two that seem like more obvious AP Lit choices. BUT I would really love to hear any experiences from anyone here with 530 and taking the AP Lit exam -- c'mon, let me hear it: the good, the bad, the ugly. Honesty, above all else, please! Did you do it as is, readings, writings, etc.? Modify? Help! I'm wondering if there are *too many* reads, with not enough depth?? There was someone here who told me her more science-oriented son did 530 his junior year and passed the AP (although I don't remember the score, if she said it). If you're out there, did he just do the entire program as outlined? Did he also do an AP test prep book a few weeks ahead??

Hmm... thank you for the interesting ideas. A couple of questions for you ladies: - Can you compare/contrast SOTW with the K12 Human Odyssey? I'm a little concerned about not using something more challenging... but then I guess that's where the supplemental lit comes in. - Any opinions on Van Loon's Story of Mankind? What about compared to the above two titles? (Of course, his ends around WWI, I think.) - Where can you buy or find samples of the K12 book? I looked on Amazon and there were high-priced used copies. Thanks! Others welcome to join in the discussion! :)

Can anyone recommend a "readable" history spine that would cover world history, particularly for the past few hundred years of world history? We've been using an AP world history text and are around the halfway point (which is around the year 1600/1700, I believe). I do like some things about it -- it actually deals with WORLD history and not just European history. But now that I know they are not going to take the AP world history test, I don't feel as tied to this text. I would like to bring in supplemental reading: Hiroshima, The Mainspring of Human Progress, All Quiet on the Western Front, etc. -- but don't necessarily feel like we'll have TIME to do that if we stick with this text. <sigh> I don't know what to do. I don't know how to use the textbook in a more limited way, and still have it be meaningful. I don't know if a more "readable" history exists. I even pulled Van Loon's "The Story of Mankind" off the shelf tonight to see if that could suffice. **This is their last pass at world history while in high school, and I don't feel like they have a very good grasp of world history at all. ** :confused: Thanks for any advice or encouragement you can offer....

Wow. That's all I can say. Just... wow. OK, now that I feel like I do NOTHING! around here, let me scrape my jaw off the floor and ask a few specifics. lol Does it... um, how to say this.... Does it always look like this? Or rather, does it STAY looking like this? In Pic2 you have some charts and lesson books on the table. I would love to hear more about this. Based on your sig, it looks like your curriculum picks are pretty eclectic. Can you tell me more about what's on the charts, if you have specific assignments planned out every day for months, or what? Thanks! And thank you for the inspiration as well! :) Stacey

Sage advice from Creekland! :) That was the deciding factor for my dd, who needed to switch this summer to a new curriculum. TT and MUS were in the running. She looked at a bunch of online samples of the video segments and book excerpts from both and went with... does it matter? lol She picked the one that SHE connected with, and I am so grateful for that. At this level (halfway through high school), she knows this is HER education, and it is what she makes of it. I don't know that she'll ever jump up and down about math (in joy, that is!), but she likes this program much more than other things she's tried. AND the other day she was actually all excited to tell me about something "cool" she learned from the lesson that had everyday life application. Attitude is HUGE, and if she has a more positive attitude about the math program (and a say in it at this age), I know she'll learn and retain more too. Good luck!

Oh yeah, that is nasty. :ack2: You can buy a "hair catcher" at Walmart or a grocery store; it's in the $2-$4 range. It doesn't catch everything, but definitely makes a huge difference. Then you just pick it up after every shower and wipe off the hair and throw it in the garbage. Mine catcher is about 4-5" across, white plastic, and the center area is raised up and mesh. (The raised up part is supposed to make if fit over the drain stopper if you have one that stays in, but it doesn't fit over ours, so we had to remove the drain stopper.) Good luck! That stuff is just nasty -- I know!!

Does anyone have a coupon code for Sonlight for something like $15 or 10% off? I heard some say there's a code on conference catalogs or something. (Or maybe that's only good for one person?) At any rate, I must order this morning -- in the next 2 hours -- so if anyone has one to give, PLEASE let me know!! Thanks so very much! Stacey

Anyone have a coupon code for this $15 or 10% off?? I need to order this morning. Thanks!

Thanks for the link, Joan, that is helpful!

So... anyone else self-studying for AP Psych? We've decided to use Zimbardo's AP text plus his online videos (correlated to the text, which is quite nice). I'm thinking we will use Forty Studies as well, but haven't quite worked out exactly how that will develop. Anyone else? (crickets chirping through the dead silence....) :001_unsure:

I'm getting all teary-eyed hearing you and thinking of my two oldest ones leaving in two years. And I know they'll both likely be across the country. <sigh> I know it needs to happen but I absolutely love having them around!! Thank you for sharing this -- another reminder to embrace each day! :)

The subject line says it all. ;) Has anyone transitioned from the one to the other? How did it go? Any gaps that needed to be addressed first? Thanks!

That totally qualifies, IMO! Thank you so much for sharing, Kirsten, as we had looked at this resource and wondered how good it would be. We've never used Sonlight... although I've often drooled over the catalog. ;)

We had major issues with reliable connections with TracFone, just thought I'd mention. I loved the idea and we REALLY tried to make it work, but there were major pockets where it just couldn't get a signal, or it would frequently cut out. Now we have a "family plan" on US Cellular where we all share minutes, and that works great. Plus cell phone calls to other USCellular customers (including each other) are free minutes. You can get texting on individual phones, and we will look into those options for college. But it's just an extra $10/mo per phone to share the family minutes, so that works out great for us. Cheap-o phones, too. If you don't need to be under contract you can even buy old used ones on eBay -- just make sure they are good for your cell co. provider. I just did that for my phone when I needed a replacement after a mishap. <ahem> Apparently cell phones don't like being immersed in water... who knew? :blink: Good luck finding the right fit for what you need!

One of my teens is planning to take one of the AP English tests this year -- we still need to decide which one. Anyone have experiences to share with one or the other? She is planning to self-study for whichever route she takes. Anyone else doing the same? If so, would love to confer and possibly be some support/encouragement for each other! Also, if anyone's already trod this path and would care impart their wisdom, please share! Stacey :)

I've got two teens doing a self-study AP Psychology course this year. Anyone else doing the same? If so, would love to confer and possibly be some support/encouragement for each other! Also, if anyone's already trod this path and would care impart their wisdom, please share! Stacey :)

Has anyone used Religions of the Axial Age or the 5-volume set Great Religions of the World to enrich a study of world religions?? I am interested in feedback on these or other Great Courses. And if you have any to sell or rent out, LMK! ;) I would particularly like to find resource(s) that actually tries to be fair in its approach and looks to leaders/people within that religion and the actual religious texts (rather than interpreting other religions from, say, a Christian worldview... and I am saying this as a Christian). Thanks! Stacey :)

A huge THANK YOU to all the replies on this -- such a nice variety of comments, too. They now have LOTS of good ideas and specifics. Still working out the itinerary, but well on their way. Thanks! :)

I don't think virtual labs are ideal, in terms of the traditional experience, but there are some advantages to them and from what I've seen they are an approved form of lab. I do think the Froguts labs are much better than many other virtual labs I've seen, including some of those I know are in use in state high schools. (Not like you want a review of Froguts, but thought I'd mention it in case someone else is curious. lol) But mine also did traditional chemistry labs, will be doing traditional physics labs, and will do traditional labs for AP bio as well, so I know we're covered for lab work! ;) I am interested in seeing your transcript material -- will PM you!

I just wanted to encourage you to do a search on the boards here for the topic, as I found several promising resources for this particular exam. We have opted not to do this particular AP exam, but it wasn't for a lack of resources available! :) For the main AP text, there are several to choose from. We opted for the World Civilizations: the Global Experience, AP edition, but Stearns -- you can google for teacher reviews of APWH texts to get various opinions. We picked this one based on reviews (narrowed it down to 2 choices) and availability (the clincher for this one over the other, at the time). For supplemental materials: One title I remember in particular was AP World History: An Essential Coursebook (by Ethel Wood) -- oh, and a standard "Cracking the AP" or "5 Steps to a 5" for the world history AP, as well. Read some reviews on Amazon of these books, and you'll see links for others too. Be advised that the APWH exam will be changing in another year or two, so if you are preparing to take the test THIS coming school year that's fine, but if it's later than that be sure to check when the changes will be implemented.

What kind of samples would you provide of lab work? Just curious. We actually ended up using Froguts for biology (virtual) dissections. As for credits, we do stick with 1 credit but list the course title "with labs" as I have seen that on many examples. Martha, are you doing anything to make the transcript look pretty at this point, or just plotting it all out?