Definitely Apologia, in my opinion. It is very thorough, easy to use and understand, the Labs are very user friendly and if your daughter wants more, she can read the extra books suggested on the apologia website! My 2 cents worth. :)

:grouphug: Hugs and prayers.

Finally made the decisions for next year, but just double checking my line up of classes. I'm a little flighty sometimes (Brain surgery side effect) Anyway, if I'm missing something let me know. :) For Both children the Bible and Literature will be done together with Mom and or Dad as a group. History will be completed without us, but discussed on Fridays. 9th dd MFW US to 1877 Bible/Worldview Literature History Saxon Alg 1 Apologia Biology (online with Redwagon) BJU French 1 (online with Veritas) Rod and Staff English 8 (elective english credit) Building Spelling Skills 8 10/11th ds (haven't decided what grade he is....) MFW US to 1877 Bible/Worldview Literature History Saxon Advanced Math (first half) Apologia Human Body (online with Redwagon) Portuguese 2/3 (Rosetta Stone and tutor - he's nearly finished with 2) Rod and Staff English 6 OR Analytical Grammar (If you have on opinion here, I'd love to here it!) (just because he needs to learn grammar) Game Programming - Homeschool Programming

Yep! I sure do!:) Plus I'm glad we don't have to suffer through the Sonlight Government....from what you and others have said, it's boring and difficult!

Thanks for the great ideas ladies. We have unanimously decided on doing MFW US to 1877 together. I will do the Literature books out loud with them along with the Literature supplement, and the 2 lit style Bible books aloud also. Hubby will teach the weekly Thinking Like a Christian lesson and review. We ordered TWO copies of the US History Text and the Government Text so that they would not have to share those and can read them on their own. We will have a weekly discussion about History, but the kids can work together during the week if they choose too. We bought two of each history book so they wouldn't be trapped in to having to juggle the book. I really have a peace about doing it this way. My hubby has spent a lot of time in prayer about the issue and I trust that he is correct. The kids did want Sonlight UNTIL they realized that the MFW has more books than they thought. Red Badge of courage, Scarlett Letter, Billy Budd and Huck Finn are all in one book together! Plus, they asked if we could read some of the Sonlight books during the weeks when you "choose" your own literature. So, now everyone is happy and excited! Blessings Sandra

I seriously need to work on phrasing my questions better.... 51 views and not a single reply!:confused:

Thanks for helping once again. My son has done AHL and WHL with MFW and has done well with them. We are very pleased academically. We did Starting points with our 8th grade daughter this year and were pleased with that. The problem comes in here.... Both children have stated that they miss being schooled together. They miss the continuity of studying the same history and literature which is what took place until my son started AHL as a freshman. Our son is actually suffering a depression from feeling "isolated" from the group study (I did starting points with dd and her friend). We know that we must do American history this coming fall to keep our son on track. I simply can't decide if it would be best to continue with MFW and just have dd do the years out of order (the two us history/govt/economics years first, then the AHL and WHL) or to jump ship and combine them in Sonlight Core 100. But if we do 100, I seriously doubt she would be able to do 400 (which son would need for his senior year) at age 15. They both miss Sonlight and the reading together. My thought is we could do MFW sort of the way we did Sonlight. Read all of the literature selections aloud... apparently I do cool "voices" when I read:), and discuss things more than we have been. I could even do the history work myself so that I could be up on what they are studying for history. I'm very pulled to Sonlight also, I love the books! But, I really like the way MFW has the tests, worksheets, grades, etc... It makes life so much easier. I know that with MFW you are supposed to start at AHL, but dd is quite capable, I think, of doing the work. She would miss out on some of the writing instruction from the first two years, but we could cover that material on our own. She does a good job of writing anyway. Any thoughts or other suggestions? Blessings Sandra

I highly encourage you to check out the recorded lectures from redwagontutorials.com we have used redwagon for a few years now and couldn't be happier! If you send me a pm, I'd be happy to share more. Sandra

Precisely why we are sticking with MFW!

I would like to let everyone know that we have used writeathome for many years with the full year courses and have been very pleased. I realize my initial post sounded like it was bashing writeathome and that is NOT my intent. If I could figure out how to remove the post I would! I do appreciate all of the comments and help. We are going to continue on with the paper as though this were his first draft and work together using the comments we've received, Writer's INC and internet resources as well. I have decided not to request a refund or a redo. I read every bit of feedback that the instructor provided each step of the way. Although he didn't provide much grammar or sentence structure guidance, he did make some suggestions regarding content, and adding more of his own thoughts, which my son did not utilize. I would like to have seen that when an instruction was not followed that the instructor would have addressed that, however, I also feel that if I had not chosen to be "hands off" I could have caught these issues earlier. The End. :) Blessings Sandra

Update: I have emailed with the instructor and have a clearer idea of how the score was given. It was given based on improvement and although the score was a perfect 5/5 it was not meant to imply a perfect paper. That part is still confusing to me. I see 5/5 and I think perfect score,. The paper has been regraded and now is a 4.17/5 which I still feel is way too generous, but we are simply going to redo this project and count this as a learning process. Blessings Sandra

Thank you both. Just for the record, I didn't accept the paper. This was a "hands off" workshop for me. Just my son and his writing coach and me to provide library access etc.... He did the work himself without my input. We have decided to take the input from "the hive" and work on revisions. Now I just have to decide how to do the grading. In light of his confusion on what was to be done, we are going to go back to the notecard step, and I am going to provide the feedback and redo the project. :) Thanks again. If anyone has an interest in grading the final product for me privately, please pm me. :) Blessings Sandra

THANK YOU! I knew I wasn't nuts! I am quite disgruntled at the end results of the paper, and the grading. Not a happy camper. I told my hubby that I would have given the paper a D if I graded it, which of course wouldn't be acceptable. Below a C and forget it, you do it over. :)

Okay, I posted the paper on the writing forum above. My son received a perfect score for his research paper. I don't think it is a perfect paper. Opinions? thanks so much! Sandra

Moody, Glyn. Rebel Code: inside linux and the open source revolution. New York: Perseus Publishing, 1991. Wilcock, John. The Staffordshire University Computing Futures Museum Computer Software Page. fcet.staffs.ac.uk. Updated June 23, 2010. Unknown sponsor. Accessed October 19, 2011. http://www.fcet.staffs.ac.uk/jdw1/sucfm/sucfmsoftware.htm Matpal, Deepak. Origin and History of Linux. Matpal. Updated January 30, 2011. Blogger.com. Accessed October 19, 2011. http://www.matpal.com/2011/01/origin-and-history-of-linux.html Microfaqs.com. What is Linux. Mirofaqs. Updated 2011. Nixtimes.net. Accessed October 19, 2011. http://microfaqs.com/what-is-linux.html Transclusion. History of Linux? Transclusion. Updated July, 2011. Unknown Sponsor. Accessed October 19, 2011. http://www.transclusion.dog.jaworzno.pl/p-History_of_Linux Linux-Box.org. Creation of Linux. Linux Box. Updated 2009. Unknown Sponsor. Accessed October 19, 2011. http://www.linux-box.org/uncategorized/creation-of-linux Torvalds, Linus. Linus Torvalds Quotes. BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2011. Accessed October 23, 2011. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/linustorva367380.html

The history and ideals of the creators of the Linux operating system and of the operating system itself is a very interesting and diverse subject. First, the paper will cover the parent operating system, UNIX. Then, the paper will briefly explain the GNU project and MINIX, which are both foundational to the birth of Linux. Next, the paper will discuss the creation of Linux, its name, and its licensing. Thereafter, the paper will discuss Andrew Tanenbaum’s attacks on Linux and finally how Linux is being adopted world wide as a leader in operating systems and its future. The history of the Linux operating system began with a man named Dennis Ritchie. Ritchie needed to create a programming language that would efficiently compile and execute scripts and be able to make an operating system function highly, thus was the birth of C. C is a programming language, in fact, it is what absolutely everything in the entire computing world is based on, from super computers to wrist watches, from your calculator to your oven, absolutely everything that involves a computer is based in C. Thus was the beginning of all high level programming (Wired). In the growing technological world of the late 60’s and early 70’s, operating systems popped up here and there, being developed by different organizations, companies, and programming hobbyists. The story of Linux comes into play here with an earlier operating system named UNIX; the UNIX operating system was originally developed in 1969 by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie of the AT&T Bell Laboratories and was released in 1970 (Staffordshire). This operating system led to an explosion in the development of operating systems because of its versatility and simple to use interface; UNIX was also the parent of other operating systems including Mac and Linux and soon became a competitor to Microsoft. BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) was created in 1977 and sued for stolen UNIX code by AT&T, this lawsuit was greatly important to Linux because it impaired BSD’s ability to make their operating system, which is stated by Linus Torvalds that he would not have written Linux had the BSD operating system been released (Matpal). There were a few people and organizations that played a huge role in the development of Linux, these people and organizations are the main reasons for Linux existing at all. In 1983, Richard Stallman started the GNU project, which was designed to be a UNIX compatible software file system. Stallman quit his job at MIT so that they could not try to take ownership or interfere with distributing GNU as free software. The object of the GNU project was to bring a completely free operating system into the market, by allowing the users to view source code in order to help develop the system (Matpal). Also, in 1987, Andrew S. Tanenbaum, a professor at MIT and world renowned programmer, wrote the MINIX operating system, but MINIX was quickly discarded because it was a 16 bit operating system in a world where 32 bit operating systems were growing increasingly popular. Linus Benedict Torvalds, the father of Linux, was born in Helsinki, Sweden on December 28, 1969. He was named after Linus Pauling, the American Nobel Prize winning chemist, however, Torvalds has said, "I think I was named equally for Linus the Peanuts cartoon character", noting that this makes him half "Nobel-prize-winning chemist" and half "blanket carrying cartoon character†(rebel code). Linus first began his programming studies at the Helsinki University after being fascinated with a computer he had used. Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, and during this time, he created the Linux operating system. (Wiki-Linus Torvalds) Linux was originally made in 1991 to be a terminal emulator that would access the UNIX servers at the Helsinki University in Sweden. Torvalds eventually realized that he had the beginnings of the source code for an operating system and started writing more and more code so that he could build an operating system. Linux was written within the MINIX operating system, but instead of using a microkernel, he chose a monolithic kernel but Linux inherited the file system. Another interesting thing about Linux is that it was constructed for exclusive use with the Intel 386 processor, even though Intel was considered to be a “weird†line of processorsat the time. Linux was originally published under its own restrictive license, but was later published under the GNU General Public license, Torvalds once said, “Making Linux GPL’d was definitely the best thing I ever did.†(Brainyquote).Being under the GPL, Linux was able to be added to, modified, shared, and distributed by anyone who wanted to have a go at it. Another interesting facet in the birth of Linux was the creation of its official name and mascot. Linux was originally named Freax (a mash up of free, freak, and x [as a reference to its relation to UNIX]) (Linux Box). The original Linux kernel was uploaded to the university servers where it was changed to Linux (a mix between Linus and UNIX) by Ari Lemmke, another student at the university, without Linus’ consent but the name stuck (Transclusion). Torvalds had already considered the name Linux but didn’t want to sound self centered so he changed the name. In 1996, Linus Torvalds told the Linux community that the official mascot for Linux would be a penguin; this idea came about when he was bitten by a little penguin while at the zoo. One major reason that Linux became so popular was the fact that Tanenbaum began a long, drawn out debate between himself and Linus Torvalds by stating that Linux is inferior because it relies on a “weird†processor like the Intel (later disproved as Intel processors have become almost ubiquitous)(Torvalds vs. Tanenbaum debate). Tanenbaum also stated that Linux is obsolete because the kernel is old fashioned and Monolithic (containing all of the required drivers for hardware and software pre loaded) and that there were useless features such as a multithreaded file system (which Tanenbaum refers to as a “performance hackâ€), however, multithreaded file systems are currently a computer standard. Tanenbaum thought that allowing the public to use and manipulate the source code for distribution is wrong because it would make everything free and there would be no total control over the development of an operating system. The result of this debate, however, was not harmful to Linux but actually publicized the operating system in a positive manner by the intelligent ways in which Torvalds debated with Tanenbaum, who was known all over the world for his programming knowledge and work. “Without these debates, Linux may well have remained a limited use niche product in the operating system worldâ€, (quote from Steve Dispensa, CTO of PhoneFactor). Linux employs a CLI (command line interface, used for writing code and other purposes) and a GUI (graphic user interface, the point and click ability of a computer) and is run on a very unique and ingenious thing called a shell. A shell is like a skin for a computer, such as the XP skin or the Vista skin, but is instead its own GUI, different shells are able to access, manipulate, and customize the system in their own unique way. The most popular shells include the KDE Plasma Desktop, GNOME, xfce, and the most recent shell, Unity. Another main function of Linux is that some distributions have made their operating systems compatible across all other operating systems, meaning that a windows program would be able to run in Linux. The Open Source Development Lab and the Free Standards Group joined to make the Linux foundation in 2007 (microfaqs), a non-profit organization devoted to the further development of Linux, at which, Linus Torvalds still develops the Linux kernel. Linux and all of its components is developed by the user, for the user; meaning that the community builds the source code and develops the operating system and any related software, all being free of charge. Lastly, Linux runs over half of the Servers in the world and most of the current supercomputers because of its affordability, its compatibility, and its speed. Linux distributions are developing desktop operating systems for use by the general public, and as with all things Linux, they are all absolutely free. The current most popular distribution of the Linux operating system is the Ubuntu distribution, Ubuntu is a derivative of an ancient African word that means “a shared humanityâ€. The concept behind Ubuntu is to take everything proprietary and set it free, to build something built upon the community and not a lab full of programmers, but a living development project that brings a special bond between all of the users, something that has never been done before, giving the world a free operating system that becomes better every day and is simple to use so that anyone can use the operating system without any training. The history of the happenings in Linux history, from itscreation until today, is a very interesting subject. From its creation to its current development, we can see that the Linux operating system is growing fast and with a little help, has the potential to become a world standard OS. The history of Linux is a very interesting subject and the idea behind the open source movement is phenomenal, in an attempt to build a free world within computers, Linus Torvalds was able to use his programming genius to build an operating system that is changing the world.

Okay, this was done through an online service with a research paper workshop. I think they graded on the very light side, but before I lower the grade, I would like to get some feedback. 90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C, 60-69 D I do break up within those to - and + So be as detailed as you'd like. Thanks! (They gave him a perfect score which is why I am doing this) 15 year old son, 1st research paper ever, grade 10. putting it into several posts because of lenth: Title page It is properly spaced, just doesn't show that way here: The History of Linux Ronnie Research Paper Workshop October 31, 2011

The Lions are from Kansas City.... We are all called the "Kansas City East Lions" football, volleyball, whatever...we are simply, "the Lions". If you all go to Sprinfield next year, let us know, maybe we can say hi and meet in real life! Sandra

Wonderful! Where are you guys from? Sandra

Ahh... I see there are two DIFFERENT National Tournaments.... We won at the 2nd link below. Our organization is the KC East Lions, we have volleyball, football (you can find our stats on maxprep and my son just got his first varsity letter this year- ugh letter jackets are expensive) basketball, cross country, track and field, soccer, and baseball. Pretty cool because in addition to homeschool teams, we also play public and private schools. We are a certified school with the states, but all our students are homeschooled. It's the best of both worlds! The nice thing is we've had students get scouted and receive athletic scholarships. I'm so thankful that things like this exist for homeschoolers today! http://nhsvbt.org/ http://nchclive.com/

So did we! We took first in Varsity, and Junior High, and 3rd in Junior Varsity for Nationals, so I'm assuming you are either part of the KC East Lions or you are talking Junior Varsity! Either way, WAY TO GO! And if you are part of the Lions, hi neighbor! Sandra

I would love them! What are the details to your offer? Blessings Sandra

Okay, I'm a meanie. If the question has part a and part b and they leave part blank, I count the whole thing wrong. We use Saxon for math and this is what Art Reed suggests. It really has made a difference in their attention to detail. Especially on labels etc.... 35 in not 35 inches or 35 boxes etc... no label, it's wrong. I know it seems harsh, but honestly I think when they go to college if they haven't learned it now it will be that much harder then. Son got a B on his Algebra 1 last year. Could have been an A if not for the careless mistakes. He's being much more precise this year with Alg II. Sandra

Forgot Apologia Academy. Ronnie took 1 year with them and it was very good too. Mr. Rosenoff is more challenging in my opinion, as he requires more from the students (at least I think so) but they are both great options. Sandra

We us http://www.redwagontutorials.com Mr. Rosenoff is the instructor and he used to teach for TPS. He is AMAZING! My kids really enjoy his live classes. Sandra