up at 5:30. sport 6:30-7:30 five days a week 8 school 2:45 pick up 5 days a week of homework/independent study/tutoring (as needed) 10 minutes to 60 minutes. I cut off homework at the hour mark. Life is too short to sit at a desk! 30min piano 5Xs a week 1 hour min of being outside daily. Sundays are off the schedule. I have found letting her spend her free time as she likes helps her learn what is important to her and where she wants to put free time. I wish days were longer so she could just spend time laying on the lawn and looking at clouds. I wish school was shorter. Bed at 9pm

Dd could homeschool, but she loves her gifted program and friends. It is public school but the program is very creative and she has a lot of experiences. School is a good experience for her. Afterschooling allows her to go into more depth. Often we call friends from her class and we take day trips together for projects so it's extra fun.

Word of mouth worked for us. Our music teacher has a BA in piano from a music college in Ukraine. She herself is a beautifully talented pianist and she has bonded well with my child. I would ask for a trail lesson or two before deciding. Question that haven't been mentioned: scheduling (do your schedules mesh well?) vacations (do you pay for them?, can you do a make up?) missed lessons (do you pay for them? are you permitted to schedule make ups) do you have a piano that is tuned? If you do not have a piano will they teach a child on a digital piano? (some will not) billing - some require you prepay a semester, some let you pay weekly, and others monthly. read the contract - do you have to purchase books directly from them? what is the cancel policy? Do you want a piano teacher to teach in your home or do you want to go to a studio? We are a super busy family so we went with a teacher who works for a music school. If we need to cancel and our teacher isn't available for a make up, we can see a different teacher (not ideal, teacher consistency is important), but it is an option.

No...there isn't any reason to teach her spelling. She can spell everything thrown at her. Instead, she likes to study SAT word lists and spelling comp lists for "fun". The closest she comes to spelling work is writing an unfamiliar word and then learning about it and finding a synonym. But all that is on her own.

I only record during the summer - my library issues receipts and she highlights what she read on the receipt before we return them. Our library is computerized so I can make wish lists of books (I do print them out as well as it has crashed in the past). After they are returned, I use Goodreads and she enjoys rating the books. Before the library switched systems I was always having late book fines. Now I get reminder notices and can renew online so I have been fine free!:D I don't like buying books - we already have so many! Instead I ask the librarian to post the book on the library wish list, they get it and prepare it for circulation and we get to be the first to read it (it gets a name plate as well). This insures we get to read a great book and that others can read it as well and the library, in a time of cutbacks, gets to continue to build its collection.

My daughter is 8 and starting 3rd grade. She has practice for her sport four days a week. She has dance one night a week and an additional sport one night. I am hoping to add in piano this fall and once the school year begins she starts Juliettes. She has Sunday and one weekday where she has no activities. She feels like her days off are very important to keep free - and I agree. I would cut her sport back but she is developing a very deep interest and would be very upset - the only way to get better is practice and at her level practice is playing games with other girls. So our schedule: Sun - free Mon - sport practice followed by a fun casual dance class T- free Wed - long day - sport practice from 3:30-8 (she is not practicing the entire time-we break and have 90 minutes for dinner) Th - sport practice Fri - casual fun sport (purely recreational and almost free different from her serious sport) Sat- sport practice (done by 11) She does an online math program in the morning after breakfast. I think our afterschooling focus will be grammar as it is glossed over in school.

Ds was in public school and AP classes were free. The College Board charges for taking the test. For some classes he had to take the honors class first and others he had a pre req - a summer session to qualify for AP placement. There is no limit on who can take an AP - but schedules make it unusual for a freshman. My sons first AP was World History as a sophomore. Weighted grades in our district are different (with .10 in the equation) and weighted, non weighted, and A-E,G courses are reported on the transcript. As for the comment about everyone getting a 3 - a three qualifies at most universities for credit. You don't get more credit for a 5. :tongue_smilie:

My son is taking a graphic novel course at the university as part of his English requirement, I am anxious to read his notes and books. He loves The Sandman and Metamorphosis was well done. I think there is a place for everything. My daughter enjoys comics like Calvin and Hobbes and it's subtle humor. She enjoys Owly because she is obsessed with owls. She is very visual and artistic so they well done graphic novels appeal to her. Yes, I like some graphic novels, yes, some are well done, yes some are not well done. I don't think they pander in general, I think they appeal to different audiences. I do think they entice reluctant readers. My kids are selective with reading materials.

My son took 7 or 8 AP exams and passed with mostly 4's and 5's. He is upset now he didn't take more. He loved seeing almost all of his gen ed classes waived when signing up for college classes last week.