Just one more comment-- The State of Washington, your doctor and public health employees cannot force you or your child to be vaccinated. Your child cannot be excluded from a school or public program because you have exercised your right to not vaccinate. I understand that this means your child cannot be denied participation in school or a public program due to your choice not to vaccinate, ie when you go to enroll your child and they ask for a vaccination record. However, it doesn't mean that you can continue to send your child to school if they get sick. This past year a family in our homeschool group came down with whooping cough (they don't vaccinate) and were sick for several weeks. Obviously they stayed home! Somewhere in the middle of those two is the "we're not sick but we're not vaccinated and there's a lot of this going around, maybe we should stay home so we don't contribute to the epidemic." That is the iffy middle ground, imo, and I'm not sure if that RCW speaks to that issue. Of course it's your right to appeal the school's decision if you disagree.

Whoops! I'm probably already going to get slammed for my unpopular opinion, now I just realized I'm on the afterschooling board! I thought I clicked the general board from the main page. Don't mind me, I'll just crawl back to the high school board where I usually hang out.:tongue_smilie:

Well, the way I understand it is that the reason the government requires vaccines is not only to protect the ones vaccinated, but for the good of the community. That is why we get flu shots--not just so we won't suffer from the flu, but so we won't spread it to babies, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. I absolutely believe that parents should have the right to choose not to do vaccines for themselves and their children. However, it seems reasonable to me that schools and other institutions be able to restrict access at certain times for those who don't vaccinate, in order to protect their own health and also to keep them from further spreading the disease. It is common to not know your child has chicken pox until a day or more after they are already contageous. If the school is trying to stop the outbreak I don't think their method is unreasonable. If you want your children exposed, you'll just have to schedule a playdate with one of the sick kids outside of school. ;)

Their website says summer 2009 http://resources.veritaspress.com/SL_Resource_Download.ASP

Wow, Eliana, I am so impressed that you have read and compared so many different translations! My dc will be using Lattimore for their Great Books class in the fall (Iliad & Odyssey). Ds #2 is studying Greek and wants to read Homer in the original before he finishes high school.

http://www.biblicalgreek.org/classes/web/ I believe they use the Athenaze curriculum but the focus is on reading the NT.

My 9th grader took the PSAT this year. He'll take it again next year, and probably also take the ACT at the end of 10th.

Thanks, Peela...that's another idea to consider.

Finishing up 9th now, ds has done: Jacobs Geometry, 2e Spectrum Chemistry (look familiar so far?:D) Great Books tutorial which included essay writing, plus A Beka Grammar & Comp III and Vocab for the High School Student at home Latin in the Christian Trivium (level I) Traditional Logic I and II (through a class at co-op--the teacher added a fair amount of writing and called it "Reasoning and Writing"--great class!) Journalism - He wrote for and took a turn editing a school paper for our co-op this year. Learned a lot--I'm giving him a 1/2 credit. and the big bomb of our school year...history. I still don't know how I am going to put this on his transcript. We started out with the idea that he would read and write on topics from The History of the Ancient World by SWB. However, that only got done for about a month. The reading happened for a few more weeks, but I think I only saw one paper. Maybe two. By Christmas I realized this wasn't happening, and it wasn't as relevant as I would like because his Great Books class was doing more modern works, I decided to put HOAW away until next year. I picked up a book about the history of America at War. I thought it sounded like something that would appeal to ds. He read it. Part of it. No writing or discussion. Mostly he was so busy with his other classes and activities that it just wasn't getting done. It was now spring. I panicked. I bought Lifepacs. He is doing three lifepacs on government. I figure with that plus his reading of Rouseau's (sp?) Social Contract and founding documents of the US, plus three citizenship merit badges we could call it Foundations of Government and give 1/2 credit. It's kind of scary now that 9th grade "counts". You can't just blow off a class and get to it next year. A college admissions person could say, "Why don't you have any social studies in 9th grade? Why do you only have 5.5 credits? What were you doing?" Ds: "Umm, I was swimming?" :rolleyes:

I'm researching online Greek classes for ds who'll be a 13 yo 8th grader in the fall. He's done the first two levels of Elementary Greek this year as a 7th grader (his idea, not mine--he wanted to quit Latin and start Greek) and while he's enjoyed learning the basics of Koine Greek, he is getting bored with doing it all alone. The last month or so he's gotten sloppy and I know he'd shine in a class and be inspired in his studies if he had someone to discuss them with. Our writing tutor recommended Institute of Biblical Greek, and another personal friend recommended Potters School, but after a bit of research ds wants to do classical, rather than Biblical Greek. Our writing tutor also recommended Schola Tutorials (Wes Callihan) which offers two years of Homeric Greek grammar, including reading the Iliad, followed by a third year of reading, and Escondido Tutorials (Franz Hinrichs) which only offers one year of Classical Greek but it sounds really intense--it goes through a basic grammar in a year that the other classes take two years to do. Escondido and Schola are live audio and chat. They each meet once a week for 1.75-2 hours. Gwen in VA recommended Scholars Online, which offers several levels of Attic Greek. It is chat only--no audio--and meets twice a week for 1.5 hours. Ds has a preference for a male teacher, and SO has a female Greek teacher (though she sounds very qualified, and quite young--not the same as taking a class from mom, lol). Also, the higher levels of Greek have a male teacher, so that probably wouldn't be an issue in future years. It's not really that big of an issue--just a minor preference. The cost of each of the three is about the same, and we could make the schedule work for any of them. It has helped me clarify what I know so far just typing this out. Maybe my research will help someone else, too. If you know of any other classical Greek tutorials, or if you know more info about any of these three--especially if you have personal experience, I'd love to hear it! :bigear:

By all means--skip them! Enjoy the summer guilt-free!

We do lit at co-op, and to be honest the book list is not critical to me. So I think you should pick what you like! I put my kids in lit at co-op because ours includes essay writing and I need someone else to teach my kids writing and grade it. Also, I think they get a lot out of discussing the books in class. I think if you pick several "classics" it doesn't really matter what author, time period, etc. they come from. And there will always be plenty more to do with your younger ds! Have you looked at the Total Language Plus book guides? We have a mom teaching lit to younger kids (9-12 yos) using those and they have been a big hit--I think they come at various levels.

Thanks to both of you. I'm leaning toward the three-year plan. I'll make sure I get the reinforcement book. Ds wants to do an online classical Greek tutorial that will take 10-12 hours a week, and with the rest of his schedule I think he's going to be swamped. Plus, the Greek will work on grammar, too.

Hey Amy, talk to me more about your schedule. I'm going to have my 8th grader start AG next year, but I don't know if I want to try to do it all in a year or spread it out over 2 or 3 years. I have the recommended schedules from the authors, but I'd be interested to know how much time your dd spent doing grammar. My ds has done A Beka grammar for several years, so I don't expect the concepts to be new to him, but I know he's going to have a lot on his plate next year. Do you have an estimate of average minutes/day, days a week your dd spent?

Stacey, your daughter is adorable. How clever of her to play all those different parts! I voted for her, I hope she wins.:001_smile: My 12 yo read that book this year and he enjoyed it also. It was one of his favorites from all the Sonlight 5 literature.

Piggybacking--I'm looking at the Memoria Press Material Logic class. My kids did Traditional Logic 1 & 2 this year at co-op and really enjoyed it and learned a lot! I think the Material Logic class is new but if you have experience w/ Memoria Press classes I'd like to hear it. I noticed they don't have DVD's for that course.

I can't remember exactly, but I remember being impatient and it took longer than I thought it should. Maybe three weeks? Hopefully you'll hear back soon. Don't despair--it's worth the wait. :thumbup1:

It's a good thing there is so much variety available so we can all find what works for us and our kids! I only know two other families who used SRA and they were happy with it, but that's a pretty small sample size for my informal survey. :D I don't want to argue with you, but I would like to continue this conversation a bit so that those who are deciding on elementary math curriculums can learn a bit more about the strengths and weaknesses of the different programs. I hope you don't mind. You said, "To me, SRA introduces too many advanced concepts in math too soon without giving proper introduction, and it doesn't review basic arithmetic enough and starts out on algebra too soon." For me, the advanced concepts and algebra introduction were a big plus. I can see why some people would not want those introduced so early, but probably because of my background as a junior high math teacher where I saw so many kids come into pre-algebra and algebra absolutely freaked out by variables and funtions, I think introducing them early gets kids used to the ideas so they are not so scary later on. Also, my kids loved the way the concepts were introduced via the "Thinking Stories." Regarding the basic arithmetic review, it is true that there is not enough of it in the texts themselves. SRA has a game pack that is intended for arithmetic review, and it is a lot of fun to play dice games and board games that reinforce the facts. I also used Calculadders speed drills when I didn't have time to sit down and play games with the kids, but they loved the games and they really worked. I don't know if you used the game pack or not, but imo the program is not complete w/o it. You mentioned that you don't like the review in Saxon--I taught Saxon 87 at a charter school one year and I really hated the randomness of the organization. For one thing, there are not enough problems on each new topic, and for another, having a lesson on adding fractions followed by a lesson on vertical angles, followed by a lesson on ratios drove me nuts! Just my personality, I think. :) One thing we can agree on--Foerster Algbra is great! I had one ds doing Jacobs and one in Foerster at the same time and I loved the Foerster so much more (nothing wrong with Jacobs--it's just not as in-depth and mathematical. Next to Foerster it felt like algebra "lite"). I just got Foerster's Algebra and Trig text for Algebra II next year and I'm so excited to use it--I really like his style. I actually might be interested in your SRA for a lady at my co-op. I got rid of mine when my kids were done with it and now I'm kind of sorry because I've occasionally been asked about it and it's hard to explain and hard to find samples. PM me with your asking price if you are serious about selling. :)

I started homeschooling with a first grader and a Pre-K-er. A friend recommended SRA Math Applications and Explorations so I picked it up right off the bat and we stuck with it for K-6. I really love it! I think it provides the best combination of manipulatives and memorization, and really teaches mathematical thinking from the start. My kids are confident at math and not afraid of word problems or any other type of math problem. My older ds is doing geometry, chemistry, and formal logic this year as a 9th grader and his math skills have definitely stood up to the challenge. After finishing the SRA series in 6th you can use the Open Court Real math for 7th and 8th if necessary. I found that just the 7th grade book was a great pre-algebra curriculum and after finishing that ds did Jacobs algebra and geometry. My younger ds is naturally good at math and he aced the algebra readiness test after completing the SRA 6th grade book! He did Foerster Algebra I and is now in Jacobs Geometry. The SRA books are not readily available at the usual homeschool retailers; I got mine from Math-n-Stuff in Seattle (they take phone & online orders). http://www.math-n-stuff.com/curriculum.html

Thanks, Moira, this is helpful. Matthew isn't doing any other languages, so I think he could handle the workload (he had two years of Latin & a smattering of Spanish in the early grades). He's done Traditional Logic I and II and is working on geometry. He is a math whiz--very analytical by nature and just loves anything that has to do with logical thinking. I'm just considering whether this is the route we want to go. I've had it in my mind that we'd stick w/ Biblical Greek, but reading the "Why classical Greek?" essay on the SO website got me thinking that it makes sense for this particular child to delve deeper. Now to convince dh that the tuition is in the budget. :D If anyone else has comments re: Koine vs. classical Greek or other online Greek classes besides SO I'm all ears. :bigear:

Gwen, Did your ds start with Greek I? Who taught his class? I am looking into the Greek I class for next year for my ds who will be an 8th grader. He is in level 2 of Elementary Greek now, and he enjoys it but I think he needs some interaction with other people studying Greek (not other ds and I, lol). I couldn't find anything on the website about curriculum--do they use a standard text? Any info would be appreciated! Thanks.

We have the single volume. I haven't seen books A and B in person, but I believe they are the same content split into two books, so a school could use them for two years, ie Book A in 9th grade and book B in 10th. The single volume is quite a bit for one year. We decided not to finish it and save some for next year.

Latin in the Christian Trivium is a high school level course that is easy to use for a beginner and doesn't require the teacher to know Latin. http://www.latintrivium.com/ My 9th grader is doing year 1 now.

Since my ds was in 6th grade when he started Foerster Algebra I, I wasn't in a hurry for him to finish it. He did one lesson a day 4 or 5 days a week. Skipping the one chapter on programming, he spent all of his 6th grade year and Sept-Nov of 7th grade doing the whole book.

For a general geography overview, try Voyages and Travels: Ancient and Modern by William Eliot (this is a really old book--like 1910--with various explorers' travels in their own words) or East to West: Journey Around the World by Arnold Toynbee (1959 historians's travel journal). I got these ideas from All Through the Ages--a book of booklists by topic. It also has lists by continent which yo umay want to check out for more ideas.