We used LToW I in 7th grade, and it is one of my top five homeschool picks. I have the latest edition and don't see any need to rewrite the TM, and unlike Ruth, I believe the TM is necessary. I have an older edition of the curriculum, and it was confusing, but the new materials are very good. LToW I teaches many writing skills, but the value of the curriculum goes beyond the teaching of concrete skills. I encourage you to listen to Andrew Kern's free podcasts from Circe Institute and buy a few of his conference lectures. I have been listening to them for months, and they are giving me a better understanding of LToW even though the lectures are not all related to writing. Not to discount reviews, but honestly, if a curriculum appeals to you, the only way to see if it is a good fit is to use it. Fwiw, I have been on this board for several years, and I often read reviews about curriculum I have used and my takeaway is very different than the poster. In addition, I have used curriculum that doesn't work for other families, but it has been perfect for my children.

When our oldest, who does have learning disabilities, began college, he needed lots of help with organization and time management. Even though we had worked on this during high school, he still needed me. Honestly, the first year was very difficult. He could do the work, but he struggled with developing a daily study plan. The second year he still needed help, but things were better. By the third year, I only helped if he asked. In the long run, it was worth it. He had a scholarship, kept that scholarship, and made very good grades. He became independent. If we had pulled back completely, he would not have made it. Fwiw, we had a neuro psych eval and diagnosis in place to get help from the disabilities office, but they didn't offer anything of worth.

Take a look at Bravewriter's Timed Essay class. It is excellent.

Adding this. We know many students who used Apologia for high school, and they have gone on to college and careers in the medical profession; i.e. nursing and med school, and in other science-related fields.

We began homeschooling when two of our children were in in 8th and 11th grades and used Robinson Curriculum with them for several years, so they could focus on core skills. Using RC made the transition from school to home smooth for them and for me. We eventually added everything necessary to complete a transcript with our oldest child doing a gap year. Their academic work far exceeded anything they did in p.s., and years later, we still think it was a good decision.

Biblioplan Classical Writing Lukeion Latin Math Relief Redwagon Tutorials

I also think Biblioplan might work for you. Our Biblioplan history/geography work takes either three to four days. That leaves time for other reading, which woud be SWB's adult books in your case. We loosely follow Biblioplan's suggestions for literature, and I give a full credit for that. We use a separate composition and grammar curriculum for the English credit. We tried MFW and Trisms, both excellent, but I needed a history curriculum with a schedule and the flexibility to do what we wanted for English and additional reading.

Julie Bogart/Bravewriter has a packet called "Bravewriter at the Movies" that focuses on literature elements in film. A group of papers using this type of analysis or even comparing movies of the same genre could give you a solid 1/2 credit film elective. Vision Forum has materials on film making that might be helpful.

Thanks all. I am getting the picture and will check on the websites.

We will be facing this soon with dd, and I have a few questions. For violinists, can the 1-5 pieces be single movements of concertos or can she prepare a full concerto? Should she prepare etudes? How many scales should she prepare and does that include arpeggios? Also, will she be asked to sight read? Finally, do we contact the music departments for audition guidelines? Thank you!

I am using Biblioplan with a teen girl, and she loves it. For Year I, we used the Companion, Cool History, maps, timeline, history and geography tests, and we have added the new discussion guide for Year 2. We don't use anything else for the history portion because the Companion, etc. is more than enough with literature guides and Bible reading/study. For ancient literature, we used most of the lit portion of Beautiful Feet Ancients; i.e. I typed this up as a study guide, and we also used Smarr literature guides. We worked through The Old Testament Challenge to add depth to the Bible reading. We use a separate English composition curriculum, so the Smarr guides were a good fit for us since they are primarily reading guides. I gave the following credits for Year 1 - 1 credit for Old Testatment Bible, 1/2 credit for World History, 1/2 credit for World Geography, 1 credit for Ancient literature. Biblioplan is flexible. The Family Guide gives suggestions for supplemental reading and literature guides. You can follow those suggestions or not. I used resources I already had for Ancients. Biblioplan is easy to use for me and my student, and we have worked out a schedule that is good for us; i.e. Monday- Read Companion and Cool History, Tuesday - Cool History, Wednesday - Cool History, Thursday - Off for music and errands, Friday - Mapwork and Discussion w/Mom. Dd studies a few days a week as well, so there is no cramming for tests. Literature has a separate time slot. Bible, we do together. We did not need 3 days for Cool History with Year 1, but Year 2 requires a bit more work, so I have scheduled 3 days.

Dd is currently taking Lukeion Latin I and doing very well. She had no previous Latin background because we never had time for Latin, but she does have a solid foundation in English grammar, including lots of diagramming. In fact, we still work on grammar as part of English. I do think some Latin background might have reduced the amount of time that dd spends each day on Latin, but a student who follows Amy Barr's study suggestions will succeed. It's been good for dd to tackle a challenging course without previous background, and she loves the course. Lukeion is one of our top ten best homeschool decisions.

Our path for ACT and SAT has been slightly differently than other posters. When both of our children had the necessary math in place; i.e. Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry ( and Advanced Algebra/Trig for one of them). We began practice tests on Saturday mornings at the time they would be taking the real test. They did many complete practice tests. This approach worked. Fwiw, one of them is gifted in math, and the other struggles with math and has learning problems; i.e. slow processing, etc. For us, practice was the key. We used practice books from a variety of publishers that we borrowed from the library or bought from B&N. Our math struggler made a very good score, and his speed improved with practice.

Help for High School can be done without prior experience with The Writer's Jungle and that is what I would do with a high school student. At this point, you want him to learn one widely-used essay form; i.e. the persuasive essay with documentation. Help for High School is excellent for this. There are other resources that are good as well. Then, go from there.

No, I do not mean "The Writer's Jungle." I am talking about "Help for High School." It is written to the student. You will not be in the equation except to provide input. Your son will read the directions and complete the assignments. After :Help for High School," he will be able to write persuasive essays about topics of his choice.

My two cents. I have been in your place with two of our children, and I would suggest the following. Work through Bravewriter's Help for High School. It is written to the student. It is not boring. It will teach your son to write persuasive essays with documentation. He will know how to develop his own thesis, so you won't need to think up topics. After he has finished Help for High School, he should write more persuasive essays using what he has learned. After he has finished Help for High School, which will take about one semester, I would suggest Julie Bogart's Timed Essay class, and either Windows to the World or Bravewriter's high school literature course. Your son will need to practice and master what he has learned with these materials. On the skill side, I would teach notetaking from a textbook and from lectures. We use Cornell notetaking, and it has worked well with everyone. If he gets through all of that, you can try other writing formats using something like Writer's Inc. or The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing. Use one program at a time, get through that, and master the concepts it teaches by practicing.

With just one student left to homeschool, you would think I would have oodles of time, but I am as busy as I was with more children. So...I am stocking my freezer with meals, making mixes, etc. Does anyone have a good cookie dough that can be frozen? I would love a basic dough that can altered with spices and add-ins. Also, does anyone have a good quick bread mix? The muffin mix from Make-a-Mix is yummy, and it has many variations. The quick bread isn't as good. Thanks! 1togo

When I read your post, I also thought about Julie Bogart, and I see that someone has already recommended her. I would call Julie, explain your situation, and see what she suggests. Our sons took several of her classes, and Julie helped them in ways I could not.

Oops!! I meant to write that she is rarely ready for the quiz before Monday. She has taken quizzes on Sunday, but she usually needs to study through the weekend to do well on the Monday quiz. The posts about top performing students have been good for dd. She has to work hard for her grades, and she is pleased when she makes top grades. When she doesn't, she evaluates i.e. Did I follow the schedule and give the work my best effort? Do I need to work harder on my flashcards or play more online games? As she worked through the pre-semester quiz process, she realized that she should put more effort into her charts and has added that to her study routine.

Our experience seems to be the same as others; i.e. 60 to 90 minutes per day. The work has been challenging, but dd loves it. Her schedule when everything goes well looks like this: Monday - Quiz, read next chapter, make vocabulary cards, put vocab on ongoing vocab lists Tuesday - Class, study, Wednesday - Self-tutorial, study (Also, 4-session Romans workshop as prep for NLE.) Thursday - Homework, study Friday - Finish homework & post Saturday - Study - cards, charts, online games Sunday - Study - ditto She is rarely ready for the quiz on Monday.

Sadonna, Thank you for the link. It's reasurance for the path we have taken. 1togo

Lisa, You might want to check out Lukeion. They teach AP Latin. Dd is taking Latin I with Lukeion and loves it. 1togo

This is our third go round with 11th grade, and I am seeing a repeat of the previous years. My student is working solo except for the subjects I want to teach, meeting deadlines, etc. Also, since we have curriculum that works for us, I don't need to do a lot of curriculum research. We're set for almost every subject, and we have so much on the shelves that I won't need buy a lot. What say the Hive? Is anyone making major changes for 11th grade or is it pretty much status quo?

Yes, you can rearrange. Each book is a stand alone unit, so you can use them in any order and delete some if necessary. We did this for Ancient Literature.

Not an answer to your question, but we also use CW. Homer covers a lot of ground, so it's a commitment to get through it, but I am glad we didn't give up. We began with Aesop/Homer-in-a-Month last year, and we are finishing Diogenes Maxim next week. Like Cleopatra, moving from the ancient essay form to modern writing in the last unit of Maxim has been smooth for us. In fact, dd easily understands how to use all of the paragraph types she learned in the maxim essay in her 5-paragraph essays, and the instructions for developing a modern thesis, intro and conclusion are excellent.