This is just my opinion, so take it or leave it. ;) I think since your ds is determined to work hard and succeed at school, it would be a mistake to pull him out. Given his health issues, I'm sure his teachers would be willing to work with him and allow flexibility on some due dates. Is he willing to make a point of asking his teachers for help? I do believe that parents have the final say on what's best for their kids, even 14 year olds,:D but in this case, like you say, I would want to support his desire to stick with a difficult situation and succeed. It is an important life skill.

I don't know what the talk/feeling among the kids is. I imagine the idea is that when you're in class you are in a peer group that is comfortable. So the chunky girls don't have to change and compete with the thin, althletic girls in class. Also, then the teachers can tailor their lessons to the fitness level of the class. I hadn't thought about the stigma of being in a certain class, though that certainly could be an issue, the way kids compare everything!

My friend is a high school PE teacher. At our school they have separate PE for boys and girls and also separate by how fit the kids are. ie the athletes are in "A" PE, regular kids in "B" and overweight/sedentary kids in "C" PE (or something like that--i'm not sure exactly of the labels...) Anyway, kids are required to change but I think showers are optional. There is just one big shower room and no changing stalls, so no privacy whatsoever. My friend told me that she will be doing aerobics and pilates with her classes, plus some weightlifting, etc. I would definitely call the school and talk to the PE teacher. Getting a student perspective is also a good idea.

I found the article very interesting, and while there were many observations I concur with (I am a teacher and work with other teens besides my own) I also wonder if this is a bit of a "chicken and egg" situation. Have our social values and parenting styles led to less mature teens or vice versa?

My children don't write their foreign languages in cursive, but they don't write English in cursive either. Actually I don't think the kid studying Greek could--there's not a cursive version of that alphabet, it there? :D I don't rememebr exactly when I started writing Spanish in cursive, but at least by the beginning of 3rd year I know we were required to turn in a paragraph each Monday and it was in cursive. If you think it will help them write faster and that is their habit in English, I'd start with copywork until they are comfortable composing on their own.

Ds who is using Foerster this year did Jacobs Alg & geom the past two years. Like someone said, the actual title of the Foerster book is Algebra and Trigonometry (no "II"). We are planning to do it in one year, I have a syllabus someone posted to this board I can email to you if you need it. I bought the student text and TM used from Math-n-Stuff http://www.math-n-stuff.com/. Isbn student: 0-201-32460-1 Isbn teacher: 0-201-32461-X HTH!

Great list--here are a couple more that I know of: University of Idaho--full ride including tuition, fees, r & B and books! Roberts Wesleyan (Christian LAC in New York) full tuition to finalists and half tuition to semi-finalists

There are some great suggestions in the threads Michelle linked. I have one other idea that may help. This is something we have kids do in the SAT prep class I teach. It is not the primary strategy, and I don't let them do it until they have written at least three practice essays :D, but it is possible to prepare some examples ahead of time. I have kids write down two books they have read (with details like author, setting, major themes) two historical events or people (with a few details ie era, location, historical significance) and two personal examples (travel, hobby, serious illness--anything that affected their life and was a learning experience). If they have a few things in mind, they can be used for many different essay topics. This may help prevent the "deer in the headlights" and at least give him a place to start. Let's see--how does the life of Abraham Lincoln demonstrate that leaders are born, not made (or made, not born?) How about Great Expectations, is there anything in that book that applies? Does this relate in any way to my experience studying guitar for the past several years? etc. I don't know if this will help your ds but it works for some kids--just a thought. :)

This is so interesting--I had a completely different experience. I went to school in a town that had one elementary (K-6) one middle school (7 & 8) and one high school (9-12, about 450 kids total). I thought the transition to high school was a positive one. This is when grades really count on the permanent record, extracurriculuar activities such as sports and theater are available, etc. I mostly hung around with a group of 9th grade peers and we knew we weren't allowed to sit at the "senior" table at lunch :) but overall it was a positive experience. In the area I live now we are an isolated valley with a river in the middle dividing into two school districts. On one side we have several elementaries feeding three 6-8 middle schools feeding one big (2500?) 9-12 high school. On the other there are several elementaries feeding a few 5-7 middle schools feeding one big 8-9 junior high and one 10-12 high school. Overall the school experiences of the kids I know are more positive at the 9-12 high school. I'm sure there are many contributing factors including the principals and teachers but from what I've heard the behavior at the 8-9 school is the worst in the area. I think asking 9th graders to act mature isn't unreasonable and they will live up to expectations, especially when it comes with additional privileges. Very interesting article, Beth. I think the separation happens due to crowding more often than anything else, and I thought the last remark was especially telling--about how you don't want to have the same problems a year later by not providing support for 10th graders. Any time kids switch schools there is going to be a learning curve re: the procedures, not just the academics.

I have a little book called Scientists Who Believe. It is a collection of 21 brief biographies of scientists told in their own words--they were originally radio broadcasts sent behind the Iron and Bamboo curtains (early 1980's, I think). The book has a focus of how scientists are welcomed in places they wouldn't be able to go as evangelists, but they can be a witness through their profession. Very interesting if you are of an evangelical bent. Authors (editors) are Eric Barrett and David Fisher. Published by Moody Press.

I agree with Krista and Jann. My kids have good number sense and they know how to work out problems like exponents from pre-algebra. I gave then calculators (the TI-30XIIS) shortly after they started algebra I. They didn't use them a lot but it saved some time, and like Jann said, learning to use a calculator to save time is also a valuable skill. Now I'm trying to decide if I should spring for the graphing calculator in Algebra II or wait til pre-calc. :tongue_smilie:

I've had good luck with abebooks.com, but my favorite is amazon.com. Right now they are having a special promotion where if you order $100 worth of textbooks you get a free 3-month subscription to amazon prime (free two-day shipping on any size order!)

As you know, there is no *only* science curriculum for college bound kids--even those that want to major in science! My ds thinks he wants to go into microbiology, and he has been a science kid since he was a toddler. :-) We used A Beka Biology in 8th, since a homeschool dad/cc prof taught a lab for homeschoolers and he used that book, and ds liked that book a lot. It seemed in depth to me and I took 2 years of bio in high school including AP. I thought it was a bit preachy in places but ds didn't seem to notice or care. Last year ds used The Spectrum for chemistry (by the Rainbow Science people) and that was a great choice. Good instruction and lots of labs that got done since they were all preplanned. This year we are going to use Conceptual Physics by Hewitt. That will leave the last two years of high school to do AP science or classes at the community college.

I'm not a classical specialist at all, so hopefully others who know more will chime in, but my understanding is that for training the mind and learning grammar and vocabulary both are equally beneficial. The reason more people start their younger children in Latin is that there are many more resources available. Also, since Latin uses the same alphabet as English it seems more accessible to parents teaching a classical language for the first time.

I bought mine at amazon--I have the 2e which is no longer discounted. The new 3e is coming out the end of this month and is discounted, so that's probably the best choice. I don't know what's new in the 3e. It's just a text--I don't know of any add-ons like TMs or answer keys. Answers to even exercises are in the back and odd answers are available at the St Augustine's Press website (directions in the book). HTH!

The website at this store isn't terribly useful, but they have tons of stuff in the store. You can call--or better yet email them a list of what you want and they will email you back with what they have and condition and price. I've found them very nice to work with in person and long distance. (I used to live nearer but am now 3 hours away so a visit is a treat). They have lots of BJU. http://www.hspbooks.com/

In the new edition of WTM, the rec will be Trad Logic w/DVD - per Atlanta conference. I wasn't there, but that's what I read in the thread linked above. :-)

10th English - Analytical Grammar, Vocab for the High School Student, Great Books class at co-op History - Great Books, plus SWB's History of the Ancient World and/or Spielvogel's Western Civ, Timetables of History Algebra II - Foerster's Algebra and Trig Latin II - Latin in the Christian Trivium vol II Physics - Hewitt's Conceptual Physics 9e at co-op/electives: Speech & Debate, Economics, Civics/Election unit, and a Bible study on relationships He also swims and participates in Boy Scouts and church youth group. In response to Martha's questions about testing, would you guys be willing to add in what testing you plan to do this year? Ds will take the PSAT in October, NLE in March, and probably the ACT in June.

I don't have the book in front of me, but I have read some sample chapters online here: http://www.classicalacademicpress.com/images/samples/new_AA_sampler.pdf. Beth, It appears to me that it would be a good jr high course, or it could be used as part of a high school course. I don't think it would be worth a full high school credit by itself, but ymmv. It really just covers fallacies, and I like it better than FD for that purpose. Carmen, I'm sorry I don't know exactly what your concerns are, so I would recommend that you read the sample chapters and see if it will work for you. Unlike FD and TL, it seems like most of the examples in AoA are taken from pop culture rather than ethical or religious issues (ie abortion). Classical Academic Press, publisher of AoA, doesn't describe itself as a Christian company, but the book does quote some scripture. I don't know the individual authors' pov.

My kids have taken the Iowa from about 2nd to 8th grade. I have found it somewhat reassuring to know that they are on track, and I have found it fairly accurate in pointing out weaknesses (ie when ds was struggling with spelling, I was unsurprised to see a low score in that area). From reading the article, I think the new "PSAT" for 8th sounds like an aptitude test, as it is supposed to help them identify students that are ready for advanced classes. That readiness could have to do with achievement, if students have been taught skills in advance of their grade level already (at home? in a gifted program?) but I think it is mostly going to identify kids who are naturally "quick" as ready for advanced work. It seems like there are enough tests going on in middle school to do that already--between No Child Left Behind assessments, state assessments, etc. The College Board really is in the business of making $$$. It doesn't seem like a good use of school district time & $ to add another assessment. Whether it is good for individual students and homeschoolers is another question. The SAT was originally called the "Scholastic Aptitude test" and it was designed to let colleges know how well kids were likely to do in college based on their abilities. In fact, I recently read that on the old SAT, back when it was math and verbal, you could add your two scores together, take off a zero, and that was an estimate of your IQ! Since it has become non-PC to talk about some kids having more inborn "ability" than others they have taken out the word aptitude from their name and changed the test a bit--I still consider it an aptitude test even though I teach prep classes at Sylvan Learning Center and have seen kids raise their scores significantly after studying. I'd say it is more of a hybrid than a straight aptitude test as it used to be.

I had one ds do Fallacy Detective in 7th and the other do Traditional Logic I and (part of) II. I like Traditional Logic, and my 7th grader liked it as well, but I have since discovered Art of Argument. I think it may be a little less intimidating than TL and easier to fit into a packed schedule. I would use it instead of FD if I were doing 7th grade again.

At that age my kids really loved looking at/playing with a globe. We just have a basic one from Staples, but it does have 3-D mountains. I guess there is also an interactive globe that talks if you want to get fancy. For K-ers I think seeing the world as round helps them get a clearer picture of the world than a flat map--save the flat maps for details of particular countries or continents.

I have it and plan to use it this year--what I've read so far I like. We also used Foerster for Algebra I and liked it very much, so I had no qualms about choosing Foerster for Alg II.

My kids don't like audio books at all. They'd rather just read the book themsleves. That's what they did with the SOTW series. I read the first two, then they asked if they could just read the chapters on their own. Younger ds has read the series about 5 times. :-)

I think that would be reasonable. Your student's results on the PSAT will give you an idea what kind of score to expect on the SAT--the main difference is the essay on the SAT, and it doesn't effect the writing score that much. You can also do practice tests and that will give you an idea how prepared your ds is before having him do the tests "for real". Keep in mind that your ds's score will depend a great deal on how much math he has done. If he is doing algebra this year in 8th and hasn't had geometry yet, there will be a lot of questions he won't know how to do on the ACT in June and the PSAT in October. I had my older ds take the PSAT last October at the beginning of 9th, and he only had two months of geometry under his belt--he said there were a lot of questions he didn't know how to do. When I gave him a practice ACT at the end of this year (after geometry) his math score was much better. I expect after Algebra II the scores will climb even more.