you probably mean the equation for SH being specific heat? Since the amount of heat, Q, can be found from: Q= m c deltaT (with c commonly used as symbol for the specific heat), you would solve for the temperature difference: delta T= Q/(m* specific heat) If stuff like this happens again, I suggest that you try to do a dimensional analysis to see which version of the equation is correct: if you put the units for all the quantities in, the units on the left and right side of the equation must be the same. specific heat is Joule per kilogram and per degree, so J/(kg oC) must equal J/(kg oC) on the right hand side which tells you that delta T was in the denominator in your original equation

I liked the assessment. I would like to add a book recommendation I found useful: College-prep homeschooling by David Byers, who is a homeschooling father and college professor. This book addresses some of the issues of college preparedness in homeschoolers

Just a suggestion: Instead of calling it English I and II you can call it English Composition I and II. This way it is clear that it's the writing part of English. And it makes sense that there is a separate literature component as well.

My son used Saxon Math 8/7 for fifth grade. Basically the only previous knowledge he needed in order to succeed was arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) with positive numbers. Anything further, starting from arithmetic with fractions and negative numbers, was taught in Saxon 8/7. The book goes very slowly in incremental steps. What problems on the placement test did your son miss? Did he make careless mistakes, or did he have trouble with concepts? I would start with 8/7 and see how it is going- you can always switch back.

Often the instructors need to get their textbook lists to the university bookstore before the beginning of Summer break so the bookstore can order - that means that most instructors should have their textbooks picked. If the course website or the instructor's website and the school's bookstore do not have any information about the textbook, I would suggest to contact the instructor directly by email. It would also be a good idea to ask the instructor whether the specified edition is absolutely required (the bookstores often can not order others than the current edition) or whether an older edition of the same title would suffice. This can save a LOT. Used textbooks can be bought for instance at amazon marketplace, or at abebooks.com. Renting is cheaper than buying the new book, but buying an older edition is usually the cheapest bet. Also, she might ask students from previous semesters whether they would like to sell her their books directly without going through the bookstore.

It makes a lot more sense to write in the expensive college texts and actually USE them than to return them to the bookstore in pristine unread condition :-) I wish my students read their textbooks... honestly, it would make so much of a difference. They pay for them anyway, might as well actually use them. For my kids I try to buy a lot of books used (older editions are great) so they CAN and mark write in their books (as opposed to library books).

Not sure what subject you are doing, but I'll give it a shot. What I would change is: No flash cards. Taking notes on the reading, new words and definitions in color, should suffice. Careful examination of what website/video tutorial has to offer - those can be time sinks: Have I understood the concept from the reading? - if so, I do not need to watch every animation. Can I work the problems with the help of the book examples? If so, I do not need to follow along with a video tutorial. In my experience, the textbook publishers (on college level, but I suppose it is similar for highschool) supply a variety of auxiliary resources such as tutorials and websites in order to help students with different learning styles and in order to give themselves a market advantage over very similar books. This does not mean that every student needs every one of those resources.

Once they can read, what would more phonics accomplish? Once the step from letters to blending sounds into words has been made, all they need is reading practice to gain vocabulary, speed, and confidence.

The heavy duty reading with graphs and worked problems are typically the science and math books. We do one hard core science a year, plus math. The other subjects involve less technical reading. I find teaching my children to read a science textbook effectively one of the most important skills for college preparation. As a college instructor, I notice that one of the most common factors contributing to student failure is not reading the textbook. So I find time learning how to work with a textbook well spent. The student needs to learn how many notes to take and what to omit. If it takes insanely long, often the student is writing down too much, drawing too pretty figures, wasting time somewhere. OTOH, worked examples in a physics text for instance should be worked through. If there really is not enough time, I would rather not cover the whole textbook material in a cursory fashion, but do selected topics thoroughly. For some subjects, even if the book is thick, you don't cover the whole book in one year. For instance, for history, we are using Short History of Western Civilization which is dense and heavy. BUT the material she covers this year is Ancient Greece and Rome only, so it comes to one chapter per month. In math, the texts typically involve lots of worked examples. We use AoPS, and the kids work through every single example- that's how they learn. DD finished only 510 pages of her math book last year, but this material she mastered. Skimming through the math book in order to get to the end would have been useless.

I don't assign a set number of pages. I expect my children to read for a specified amount of time daily or weekly. Since their comprehension level and reading speed develop and their tastes change, I find it impossible to predict how many pages they should read in a year. About level: My children went to public school for a few years and were extremely frustrated by teachers telling them which books they were allowed to read because they were "in their level" and which they could not because the "level" was wrong. It has been my observation that they are pretty good judges themselves about what they can read - if it is much too easy, they will find it boring - if it is too advanced, they will not stick with it. If they devour it and want more, it's "just right". Occasionally I will challenge them by assigning books they will find difficult. But I don't push them to read only those, and I don't mind if they read "easy" literature (both my kids tested way above grade level in their reading skills, but no 10 year old wants to read highschool level books all the time, YKWIM?) not sure whether this helps. regentrude

I'm not sure I understand: is your son planning to go back to the public highschool (since you write about what they are covering)? If you want to coordinate, I think you can just have him jump right in where your younger son is at. It is not ideal, but the ancient knowledge is not absolutely essential for understanding modern (purists will disagree with me, I am saying this from merely a practical perspective). OTOH, I can tell you what we are doing: my kids are 11 and 13 as well, this is our second year homeschooling, and we work out of sync. This is our first year following WTM, so I have DD 13 start the rhetoric stage with the ancients. (She had studied the Renaissance last year, because in her last year at public school they had medieval history and we wanted to continue chronologically at first). DS11 has studied ancient history last year because he had not previous formal history teaching. So he will do Medieval and Renaissance this year. Since at that age they will read a lot and research independently, I feel it feasible having them work on different time periods. (It would be different if they were young kids where I had to read to them and do more, then I would probably not choose to do it this way). Good luck. regentrude

DD (13) loves Muse. She also reads the Economist (great current events magazine, for adults, but good for highschoolers too) We also get Audobon Sierra Club Nature Conservancy National Geographic My kids never cared much for Ranger Rick or Natl. Geographic Kids. regentrude

You know your decision was right when your child is working at the material, getting it, enjoying it, being stimulated by it, happy. Your decision was wrong when the child is bored, unwilling to use the material, overwhelmed, unhappy. You know your child best and can make a good prediction whether she is ready for a particular curriculum. You might still discover after you have started using it that it was not the right resource - but that can happen for any kind of reasons, such as just not a fit to the learning style, and does not need to have anything to do with level. Go ahead and disregard all "age level" designations. My kids are consistently above grade level - at age 10, DD read on 11th grade level according to her school's test (she stilll went to school then), my 11 y/o DS is working on algebra now. That's 2-3 years ahead of what the public school grade level box says :-) regentrude

That is precisely the reason why my kids do NOT do their own laundry - it is not effective in terms of water and energy use. If laundry is done, it is done for the whole family and only after at least a medium size load of that color has collected. If they MUST have ONE particular shirt before that, they can handwash. regentrude

Sure. My kids don't do every single subject every single day anyway - when the science fever hits, we do a lot of science, at some other time they get engrossed in their English projects. it averages out over a month. Some things we do as block anyway. regentrude

Why should it not work if he's ready? I don't know TT - but my DD did algebra 1 and some algebra 2 in 7th grade. She will do alg 2 and geometry in 8th grade - and we'll take it from there. My 11 y/o DS has completed Saxon 8/7 with pre-algebra in 5th grade and has begun working on algebra for 6th grade. There is nothing wrong with calculus in 10th grade if the kids is capable - and it's not the "end" of math: there is multi-variable calculus, statistics, number theory, differential equations ... If your son is ahead of schedule, it can free him up to explore topics that are not covered in the traditional math curriculum. regentrude

Since many girls get their period at 10, I'd say it's really time she learns about the body changes. I can't imagine how a girl must be freaking out if she is unprepared for it when it happens. regentrude

Keep dreaming ;-) I can't even get them to read the book DURING the semester - even though some of them paid $100 for it. And yes, I do tell them to read and how, I break the reading assignment in small sections in order not to overwhelm them, and I do give them reading quizzes. Sadly, most of them have no clue how to read a textbook - and how useful it would be to do so. regentrude

Fluoride helps in building up and strengthening the developing tooth enamel and protects it against being demineralized. Your experiment might have failed for several reasons: 1. I would suspect that the makeup of an egg shell is very different from tooth enamel. Egg shell is 95% calcium carbonate - tooth enamel is not. 2. I do not think that there is any process happening in a layed egg that constantly reinforces the shell and uses fluoride (our teeth reform enamel constantly). 3. the time span would be too short - it is the continuous application of fluoride and the building into the enamel that helps; a one-time-exposure to fluoride does not protect the tooth against a massive onslaught of acid. regentrude

I am only familiar with Saxon 8/7 - but that alone was a TON of work and we cut out problems. No way my kids would have done another math program in addition to it. I'm no fan of spiral, but it will be fine; if done diligently, Saxon leads to mastery. Or pick the other one - but Saxon PLUS another one is too much and can turn a kid off math. regentrude

I sent you a private message.

I do not believe that worksheets are needed to test reading comprehension. My kids attended public elementary school; they both loved to read, and they both hated having to take tests on their reading comprehension- to the extent that they started complaining about the reading itself. Now we are just talking a lot about books they read. They love telling me the plot, and we discuss issues. I guess you can call it narration. They still hate writing book reports, and honestly, I do not really find it necessary. From the discussions I can clearly see that they are understanding what they read - and don't need to check up on that. I second the suggestion of audiobooks and creative writing. And just give her wonderful books to read and let her share. regentrude

She needs your approval of her appearance - why don't you give it to her? She tells you that this is important to her. I needed my mother's approval on another area of my personality and never got it. I am 42 years old and still find myself seeking this approval from my mom; it does not matter that she praises other things and that we have a great relationship and that I understand that she loves me- it is this one sore spot that continues to bother me. Rationally I know I should not need this, but emotionally it is a big deal. So obviously her looks is very important to your daughter and she wants to hear from YOU that her perception of herself as beautiful is correct. I don't see a problem in telling her that it is. Teenage girls often have issues with their bodies - so in her mind it can translate into "not even my MOM thinks I look nice". regentrude

Let me preface my post by saying that I do not know the video However, I prefer teaching my child those skills on a concrete example. The first time my 12 y/o started working with a regular textbook, I sat down with her and taught her how to take reading notes. We then revisited this after a few weeks of her working with the book, pointed out where she was taking inefficient notes, taking too long, writing too much. I believe that this is a skill that needs to be acquired by doing, not just by watching a demonstration. In order to acquire good note taking skills in lectures and presentations she will sit in on a college class this semester. She will need to take notes on the assigned reading and in class. I will review her lecture notes and give her suggestions. Again, I think this is best learned by actually following a lecture. If you do not have the opportunity for your son to take life classes, you could use a Teaching company lecture (but one with actual content) for him to practice this. I am sure the video is useful; but I personally would not spend $ on something explaining theoretically a skill that needs to be acquired through practice. regentrude

MY 6th grade son would not be able to put in 7 hours of concentrated schoolwork every day. We are going to aim for 4-5 hours. 7 hours is what I might expect a highschool student to work. Granted, this means that we are NOT able to do everything TWTM suggests - but then, I use it as a guideline and not as a prison. I like to retain some of the flexibility homeschooling gives me. Agnes