My sophomore took the PSAT for the first time and scored a 199. We know that's a great score (top 4%), but we are still a little disappointed. The cutoff for our state is 215ish, so it looks as though a lot of studying is in my kid's future - I had hoped to avoid losing part of our school day to SAT prep. I did not post in the other threads. I tend not to post unless I'm asking/answering a specific question about homeschooling; otherwise I feel like I'm crashing the party. (Also, being even a little disappointed over a 10th grader's 199 is ridiculous. :tongue_smilie: ) Congratulations to all of our students!

I take a full point off for misspelling, but only test grades count towards the final course grade. By the time the test rolls around, any spelling issues have usually been ironed out.

My son no longer does karate, but when he started at age 7, he went twice a week. By the time he reached green belt (I want to say by age 9?), he was attending four times a week.

I see we were posting at the same time. Thanks for the information!

I'm so grateful to all of you for your help! My kid is sitting here wishing he had been born into a different family. :tongue_smilie: Yes, how does one take it at home? We have family near Carnegie Mellon, and I was actually considering planning our vacation around the testing dates before I came to my senses. :lol:

:001_wub: Thank you both so much! That is more than enough to get us started.

Yes, please! I was hoping you'd see this, Ester Maria. :001_smile: I'm especially interested in what NOT to include. I've only just started reading, and there is so much. (Please tell me I can ignore all or most of the philosophy. :tongue_smilie:)

My son is watching and enjoying The Teaching Company's Understanding Linguistics. He'd like to make a course out of it. I'm thinking of using this MIT course as a guide. He would finish the TC lecture series, work through An Introduction to Language, do the MIT assignments and the squib project (probably focusing on Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages given our location), and then.... I don't know what. Just a few popular nonfiction books? (I have several, but their focus is the development of the English language.) Has anyone here done a introductory linguistics course with their high schoolers? Do you have any suggestions? :bigear:

We haven't outsourced any academics yet, but I'm considering Latin IV from Scholars Online ($450) for next year.

Lately an hour and a half has been the norm, but two hours is definitely not unusual at our house.

My son (15) is a writer and is involved with local theater. He reads constantly. He likes scuba diving, but isn't able to go as often as he'd like. (You can't go if you're alone, sick, injured, busy, or broke, so it's easy to go several months between dives!) My daughter (13) spends between 15 and 20 hours a week at her ballet studio, and enjoys pilates, baking, and painting her nails. They both play piano and take ballroom dancing lessons. Sometimes they make short films, or invent a new language, or walk around taking pictures of the neighborhood. My son does some wood burning, and my daughter likes to sculpt with polymer clay. They play video games a few times a week; usually Rock Band or Lego Whatever. They also love watching movies, playing board games, and playing at the beach. I'm really enjoying the teen years, algebra and hormones notwithstanding! :)

I'm sorry, I got the names mixed up in my previous post. :) Advanced Math can take 2, 3, or 4 semesters. My son will finish it up at the end of October. He has been working at it pretty steadily since last September.

Pooh is not behind. Rabbit is advanced. If I were you, I wouldn't change a thing. :001_smile:

Thanks, Kathy! I appreciate you taking the time to type all that out. I think I'll order one or two of the Legamus readers and go from there. :001_smile:

I have a 7th grader this year. Math: She does this on her own; all I do is check her work and answer the very occasional question. Latin: She does this mostly on her own; she reads the lessons and works the exercises herself. I grade her papers, answer questions, and hear recitations. Greek: She does this on her own, with a little help from her older brother. Logic: She does this on her own; I grade her work and help puzzle out the occasional problem. English: She reads her grammar lessons by herself, but anything she can do orally she does with me. I grade writing and diagramming exercises. She reads literature on her own and discusses the books with me. Teaching writing takes a lot of my time. Science: She does this on her own. I mostly just hand her books and critique any writing. History: See above.

This interests me; my 10th grader is working through Henle III this year. Latin has always been his favorite subject, and he's doing very well, but I'm starting to worry - instead of "Hey! It's time for Latin!" I'm hearing "Oh. It's time for Latin." Are the BC materials that much more engaging? I'd like to see that "spark" again.

Yes. My 7th grader started Henle 1 in 5th grade. We use the MODG I&II syllabi, completing every exercise, quiz, and test, but at half speed. She has done very well, but Latin is not her best or favorite subject, so I expect the Henle 1 book to last well into 8th grade.

My 7th grader just started Algebra 2. She worked through 5/4-8/7, but skipped Algebra 1/2.

It is possible to homeschool through high school. It is even possible to do it well. :001_smile:

I assigned all of them. At that point, the time spent really depended on the attitude of that particular child on that particular day. One lesson could take 45 minutes on a good day, and two hours on a bad day! And yes, that included corrections.

The last time we moved, we did math, Latin, reading, and writing. I was the interactive dictionary, thesaurus, and style handbook. Google was the encyclopedia set.

This is what my 7th grader is using this year.

We did not do any formal science prior to 9th grade, so yes, we are studying geology and astronomy. This is my son's plan for high school science and math: 9th: Geology, precalculus 10th: Astronomy, calculus 11th: Physics, biology (at local CC), calculus 12th: Physics, chemistry (at local CC) We use introductory college texts and Teaching Company lectures.

We're aiming for 6 hours of school work for my 7th grader this year. That does not include 1 hour of piano practice and 3 hours of ballet.

Pesto, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, fresh tomato slices.