I'd love see the responses to this as well. In fact I posted a similar question here. We do use Omnibus books, but I skip some books and choose some from other sources (such as TOG or WTM--although there's a lot of overlap among them.) And to confuse matters further, I don't do any of the books of the Bible because we read through the Bible regularly (either a chronological survey as we did this year or focusing on one or more books) and it just didn't fit in with my plans. Plus it cuts down on my having to rework points of disagreement. So our Omnibus study comes down to a split between History and Literature...and in on instance math/science (Euclid). The Omnibus CD-ROM that comes with the teacher's edition does have a spreadsheet for calculating credits and grades. So that might be helpful to you. You can find course descriptions on the Veritas Online Class site http://scholars.veritaspress.com/. Even with all that, I'm still a bit undecided as to how to break it all down for the transcript.

I don't know of anything, but I did figure out pretty early on that my oldest needs to pace to memorize. When he was very little I would sometimes read longer stories to him while he played in the bathtub or sandbox or with toys like cars & Legos. As he got older, that morphed into doing our Bible reading and usually history while eating lunch. I don't know whether it helps him learn exactly, but it decreases the fidgety-type interruptions. Of course he's old enough now to sit and listen to something but it helps with the youngers too.

Well, maybe you could just do the 2nd pre-algebra book--is it Economics? Do it over the summer or at the beginning of the year as a review/intro and then go straight into Beginning Algebra. Since it'll mostly be review I would think you can probably get through it fairly quickly.

I missed the discussion and didn't realize there was any reason to be concerned. I did a quick check and it does look like Apologia's Chemistry text contains a section on Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry. If you did both books, would that not cover all the bases? Would love to hear more on this.

That's interesting, because I believe he wrote the pre-algebra books (like about a year ago) after so many people clamored for them. He had initially said that anyone who had mastered Fractions and Decimals & Percents could go straight into Beginning Algebra. The pre-algebra books also state that there is no such thing as "pre-algebra" it's just the preparatory math that gets you into algebra. Perhaps it has more to do with the scope of Saxon Alg. 1/2? Maybe they don't cover some things that he thinks should be done before Algebra. How well did she do with Saxon 1/2? Maybe you could do some KhanAcademy.com over the summer (it's free) to lay some groundwork and just start with Beginning Algebra in the fall? Or see if you can look it over before you buy to figure out whether it would be suitable.

We're just finishing up 9th grade. DS read SWB's History of the Ancient World as well as great books selected from the WTM recommended reading list and Omnibus 1 & 4. (There's a lot of WTM/Omnibus overlap). Since so many of those texts are historical in nature, think of it mostly as history. Don't know if that helps. Best wishes!

I'm afraid to say it, but yes, at the moment that's basically what we're doing. We supplement with KhanAcademy.com though so maybe that's not JUST LoF. Anyway, DS isn't much of a math type but LoF really got him through a rough patch when Saxon just became too confusing (somewhere along 87 I think it just started introducing things too quickly and then moving on to the next thing.) Anyway, we shopped around a bit, but I finally decided that the math we do will be the math we do. This year we're doing LoF:Beginning Algebra and about once every week or two DS will spend an hour on KhanAcademy.com. The time spent on KhanAcademy depends. If all is well with the regular math, he just flits around and works on either the suggestions or whatever catches his fancy. If a concept is proving difficult I'll assign specific videos and practice exercises for him to get a handle on it before returning to LoF. I know there's a debate about whether LoF is "enough." I don't really think that's an issue. The author addresses this on his website and I've read enough reviews to convince me it is enough. I do think that learning style has a lot to do with whether or not it will work in your own situation. And DS has decided that he likes LoF so that helps too. This year his standardized test scores in math were much better than the usually are, if that means anything. But I think maturity has something to do with it. We began supplementing with LoF in 6th or 7th grade I think, starting with Fractions. He did Decimals & Percents and two of the Pre-Algebra books. All of these were alongside other programs (Saxon at first, then Teaching Textbooks, then Aleks.com) until this year when I sort of switched the emphasis around.

Thanks, that's comforting at least. I was even thinking of maybe going through and dividing up the Great Books into fiction and nonfiction or fiction and primary sources or something to represent literature and history. Does "English" need to include "Literature"? Or maybe dividing it along the the same lines as Omnibus does. Suz

I thought I had a handle on how I wanted to show the subjects DS has taken this year in 9th grade on the transcript. But I keep changing my mind about the best way to do it. Obviously Math, Latin and Science are neatly compartmentalized...for the most part (he did read Euclid--see below). And I had in mind that "English" would consist of equal parts: Grammar, Vocabulary Study and Writing. But then we did Omnibus/Great Books and it starts to get all messy. Veritas Press says that it counts as 1 credit each of Bible, History and Literature. I am not using it for Bible credit, so that portion has been removed. DS also worked through SWB's History of the Ancient World so that's additional history. And we are incorporating Art Appreciation as we go which will count as a total of 2 credits at the end of the four years of high school (1/2 each semester.) So my question is, should I keep "9th Grade English" as Grammar, Vocab and Writing and count all of the Great Books reading through Omnibus as "History"? Or do I just call it "Great Books" and include in our description what that entailed? But if I do that, is it separate from History or all inclusive? I've read and re-read SWBs recommendation in WTM and while I'm confident that we will have a very robust transcript, I'm just undecided as to how to label things. Any help is appreciated! TIA:seeya:

We also use Omnibus. I select which books we will use based on the WTM recommendations or my own interest in a book. DS reads the Omnibus intro and we discuss the book doing some writing assignments and supplemental activities but not all. Some books are definitely a bigger hit than others. I try to alternate heavy and light readings when possible.

Oh My Yes! I do wish I could offer resource suggestions, but just thinking of the scope of American History, I hear the soundtrack from it all--Folk songs, hymns, spirituals, Aaron Copeland, Blues, Jazz, Glenn Miller, Elvis, Rock & Roll, John Williams--if nothing else a few Ken Burns documentaries or the soundtracks from "O Brother Where Art Thou" and "Forrest Gump" would prove my point. Music is intertwined with history. Good luck on your search.

Like Jenny in Florida, we don't have strict time limits, but DS doesn't always have time for screen activities so it's somewhat self-limiting. All computer and video game time is contingent upon schoolwork being completed and a good attitude. I've found if the attitude is bad, a week without video games magically corrects it. Our biggest concern is video games. We don't usually watch TV during the day and then DH watches news or things he likes once he gets home. About 3-4 times a week we'll watch Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs or one of the survival-type shows as a family. And maybe once or twice a week we watch an old Gunsmoke on Netflix together. We have had time limits in the past, but this year really didn't seem necessary. Scouts, Wednesday night Bible class, campouts and other activities all put natural restrictions on screen time here. While there may be an occasional Saturday marathon of games, it's pretty rare.

You could quickly work through the modules but take a cumulative test at the end of the year instead of one after each module. You would still need to take notes and study (a cold hard fact of school) but you might be able to move a little more quickly.

My husband had a friend in college who had worked for a few years before going to school. (I don't recall whether he had a job while in college but my understanding was that he saved up in order to go to college.) The thing that impressed me most about him was that he was fun-loving and easy-going, but he did his assignments and studying early rather than cramming at the last minute. During finals week or just before a paper was due, he'd be off to the movies or going fishing or whatever else struck his fancy because he'd done everything he needed to do already. I don't think the should be any particular reason to not take a break before college, but I think WTM recommends going ahead and taking the SAT or ACT at the normal time since those scores will be requested by colleges even later in the game and it's better to take them while they are still fresh. And along those same lines, it might not hurt to take one or two community college or correspondence courses a year, just to keep things like math fresh. That would give him the option of transferring credit and perhaps opting out of a lower-level requirement. Just a thought.

This isn't exactly what you asked for, but since others have already covered the online classes with actual teachers, I thought I'd throw in Aleks.com (paid) and KhanAcademy.com (free) for review, supplementation or in the case of Khan, help in a particular area. Blessings!

I think you can count it as an elective. But if you need three maths for graduation, or three maths for college admission, it won't count for that. Those must be Algebra 1 and higher. I am not a math person and took Pre-algebra in 9th grade. Looking back, I probably could have managed Algebra, but at the time, the very thought freaked me out and I convinced my mom that I couldn't handle it. (Oddly enough, I talked her and my Algebra 1 teaching into letting me take Honors Geometry two years later and did well.) So my transcript shows that I took Pre-algebra in 9th grade, and it counted as a "credit" but I still had to complete Algebra 1 & 2 and Geometry for graduation and college acceptance. HTH

My 9th grader has read History of the Ancient World this year in conjunction with Omnibus. I don't require much in the way of outlining, essays or discussion for history. DS just reads it as assigned (I tried to line his history readings up with the Great Books where possible.) Most of his writing assignments have come from Omnibus and Classical Writing and I think of the history book as context. We love history here. DS has been through SOTW twice and liked the idea of an adult version of that book. I do plan to do the same thing next year with History of the Medieval World, but after that I'm not sure how we'll handle the last two years of high school. If SWB's next volume is out we'll probably use it, but I don't know how many years it will cover since she's already announced a change in the format. Maybe we'll go with Spielvogel--or maybe we'll have to use several books to cover the different periods of history.

If you are not talking about the online classes, here's what we do. I choose the Omnibus books we will study based on WTM recommendations, whether we have already covered the book in-depth within the last year or two and my own level of interest in having my kids read it. We usually end up with a selection of books which is equivalent to a full year of Omnibus, but sometimes I pull one or two in that are not covered or are from a different Omnibus volume. And sometimes I drop a few here and there. I believe this is in keeping with the spirit of Great Books studies and is acknowledged by both WTM and Omnibus to be acceptable. We do both Primary and Secondary books, and while I do often schedule books concurrently, I try to be mindful of how long or difficult the books are so that DS isn't expected to read two very challenging works at the same time. Sometimes I will encourage DS to read one of the Secondary books quickly over a weekend to get them "out of the way" and allow more time for focus on the Primary books.

:bigear:I've used CW since Aesop and am trying to decide whether to use Herodotus next year or jump ship to IEW Essays :) I do like the series, and I like that it's a marathon, not a sprint. But DS is somehow not developing his writing as I would like to see. I'd love to hear how other people have fared with Herodotus as well as seeing the series through to the end. Suz

I was interested to see what sort of replies you got but since no one else has said anything, I will. I don't think I can answer the question you asked, but I can tell you what I'm doing this year. It's partly based on WTM suggestions. My 9th grader has worked through the Grammar portion of Abeka's 9th grade grammar (Sorry, I can't think what it's called right now), he's doing Classical Writing's Diogenes: Chreia and we're doing Great Books with Omnibus. I do not normally assign the Abeka writing excercises, although we are working on a few of them now since we were able to finish the rest of the book before the end of the year. We do only a few of the Omnibus writing exercises, when they seem worthwhile to me. Portions of CW have required reading of Strunk & White's Elements of Style. At the end of the year, he will have earned 1 English credit. He's read lots of books (I do keep a log) and he'll have written lots of compositions (summaries, descriptions, essay's in praise of this or that) and he'll have had yet another year of grammar rules under his belt. I believe the quality of the books (and discussion &/or writing about them) is more important than the quantity of books.

I don't know whether this is sufficient for stand-alone, having not actually seen it myself. But I must have heard about it somewhere along the way and added it to my Rainbow Resource Wish List. The Chortling Bard From RR Review: Back by popular demand, author J. Kiester has written a high school-level book incorporating her highly entertaining and effective Caught’ya! method of teaching grammar (please see the description for item #031116 above for more details). For this book, Kiester has turned to the famous works of the Bard himself and provides 3 amusing Caught’ya stories. Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Twelfth Night have been modernized and rewritten in a narrative, dialogue style for effective teaching. The book’s introduction provides information on the rationale, research, and background of Kiester’s distinct teaching method. Chapter 1 of the book is a condensed version of the first three chapters of the original book, and provides an overview of how to implement the 10 step method as well as guidelines for a 3 step evaluation process. Chapter 2 is brief in content but includes important teaching notes on how to use the particular Caught’yas in the book. Chapter 3 provides a short warm-up activity to familiarize students with the language of Shakespeare before delving into the heart of the program. You may choose to skip this exercise at your discretion as it focuses in on Shakespearean insults. The remaining 3 chapters each focus on one of the three plays and include 120+ Caught’yas each. An exam is included for each of the stories. This book covers a wide range of grammar, usage, and mechanics including (but not exclusive to) the following: abbreviations, active vs. passive voice, adjectives, adverbs, agreement, among vs. between, capitalization, clauses and phrases, comma rules, comparisons, diagramming sentences, helping verbs, independent clauses, introductory words and phrases, irregular verbs, modifiers and misplaced modifiers, parallel construction, the eight parts of speech, plurals vs. possessives, common spelling errors, spelling rules, summarizing, titles, and much more! 225 pgs, pb.

Cool! In the Student Text introduction they make a big deal about not giving the student access to the book but concentrating on listening and speaking. I looked at the first lesson and it's certainly intriguing. If it works for diplomats I guess it might be worth a try.

Thank you! I wasn't sure how much help Latin would be for a non-Romance language. But in my own experience it has been useful to have learned a language (any language) when studying other languages.

Thank you, I'll look into it. Surely there's a Russian Major out there willing to part with their old copy. :)

O.k., well maybe I need to find out what the online resources are. I'm generally a bit turned-off by the price, but if it's worth it, it's worth it. I've looked at The Potter's School and Landry's Academy. What other online resources are available for high school Russian?