We have done: Astronomy with field study Forensic science with lab (currently doing) Physical education included horse back riding, hiking in National Parks, and games like horseshoes etc. will be visiting Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and Boston as part of history/government

Oh man, we plan to do the physics next year sure hope they start to offer the online schedule. The one for chemistry is so nice.

When we bought the chemistry curriculum we received a code to go a direct link to the online schedule. My husband set this up on the desk top as a direct link. So we just click on it and we are have the schedule.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature (the Gold Books) have Short Stories, Poetry, and Novel studies for World, American, and British History. We are only going to use parts of the guides.

The world history seems okay to me. We won't use the American History though. I started watching those and I could really see the liberal slant in them. Blessings, Pat

My dd is going back to TT because the algebra we have been using is taking so long to complete and she feels better using TT. She is college bound, but not as a STEM student. As to whether a student can use TT if they are going to college, yes I think they can. I think the best thing is to have the student in the program that is going to teach them and move them forward and that they can feel comfortable with, whether the program has consistently good reviews or not. The college will test your student for placement anyway. Going through TT will most likely put your student in a good starting place in college as long as they understood the material and with TT they are probably going to understand it since they have such good explanations of each problem. I'm thinking if you have a student headed for a STEM degree in college you would probably want them to go through another pre-calc or calc class before heading off to college. JMHO Blessings, Pat PS. My ds went to public school for 9-12th grade and his single biggest complaint about math courses was that they did not explain the material well or tell why you did something. He didn't encounter that teacher until he went to CC. Ds didn't do great in his high school courses but he did well in the college course. A Student that hates a program or can't understand the material will never do well with that course.

This is what my son had in school, a class called Conflicts in U.S History. They watched movies, read historical fiction, and wrote papers. I wish I could remember all of the books they read and movies they watched. Some of the movies I recall are: The Patriot and Gone with the Wind. This was one of my son's favorite classes because it wasn't reading a textbook and watching documentaries. There are so many movies about the major wars the U.S. has been in. Blessings, Pat

Yes I agree about 30 minutes a day. Blessings, Pat

:bigear: Interested in this also.

Essentials in Writing is what is working best for my dd. Easy to use and covers the different essays and research papers.

Thank you for your replies. I am going to check out Friendly Chemistry. It looks the most appealing for my daughter at this point, possibly Conceptual Chemistry. Blessings, Pat

I'm looking for a chemistry curriculum for dd for next year. She is more of a creative mind loves art and music. English is her favorite subject right now and math/science on the bottom. This child has always loved nature and animals so we always thought she would do something with animals. Although it is not looking like this right now, I still want to give her the science background just in case. Is there a chemistry program that you would recommend that would engage and teach the subject matter without being too much for her (technical ??). No Apologia we tried that for biology, not a good fit at all. Blessings, Pat

Bumping for you!

We haven't used this but it always looked good to me. I hope to get dd to use this sometime in the future. http://www.timberdoodle.com/Premium_Professor_Teaches_Office_Super_Set_p/080-213.htm Blessings, Pat

Midnight in Siberia by David Greene maybe??

I found our Understanding the universe on Ebay for around $100. You might find it there.

Teaching dd astronomy this year using: The Great Courses : Understanding the Universe (Dad and her discuss after each viewing) Astronomy for Dummies (She gives a oral or written narration from this) The Stars by H.A. Rey (A little bit of reading but mostly a good reference) Her reading for now: Great Astronomers by Sir Robert Ball Galileo and the Magic Numbers by Sidney Rosen will be adding to this as I can Dad and her will be star gazing (dh has telescopes), going to the planetarium, and hopefully attend some events with an amateur astronomers club. HTH Blessings, Pat

We are using Cracking the PSAT by The Princeton Review. We haven't gotten very far into it though so can't give a good review. So far it seems very good. In just looking through, it goes over what the test is and different strategies for taking different parts of the test with practice problems and review throughout and 2 practice tests in the back of the book. I'm having dd do this to strengthen her test taking skills as she will take the PSAT 10 in the spring.

Essentials in Writing has DVD's and book to learn from and is a good program for learning the various types of essay writing. You would order it at grade level. The Power in Your Hands is a book option that looks very good. We haven't actually used this one yet, but are planning on using it this year. Blessings, Pat

Rainbow Resource has The Reader's Odyssey for $12.95.

I think if your student wouldn't like cutesy then yes go with The Power in Your Hands or Essentials in Writing at grade level.

I can't address Jump In or The Power in Your Hands - I tried to use Jump In years ago with my son, but we didn't get very far. Not sure why. Power in Your Hands I will be using with dd this coming year so no experience yet. It looks good from just skimming through it. We have used two years of EIW Years 8 and 10. This program does fit your description of not being cutesy, but is focused on academic writing. Mr. Stephens begins by going over sentences, then moves to paragraphs, then to essays and a final research paper. All very incremental with examples and good grading rubics. It is a good program and dd did well with it. She really improved in her writing. HTH Blessings, Pat

:bigear:

My daughter will be doing astronomy this year using : Astronomy for Dummies, Understanding the Universe (Teaching Company videos), Reading Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei, and Great Astronomers by Sir Robert Ball. She will be doing written narrations throughout the semester. Also doing telescope things with Dad. (He's the amateur astronomer) Would also like her to go to some of the local astronomy meetings and the planetarium. I think after reading some of the previous posts I will be adding H.A. Rey's book The Stars and the book Rocket Boys or movie October Sky. My daughter will also be finishing up Biology along side doing astronomy.

What worked for me last year was a 3-ring binder with dividers. I kept track of the grades on the back of the dividers for each subject. That way it was all in one place and I could keep any papers for myself or my student right in the binder along with the grade all divided by subject. Examples of work you would like to keep for examples can be kept in here too. I just marked the outside 9th grade. Blessings, Pat