If I don't hear that Kinetic Geometry is ready in the next few weeks, we will go with Teaching Textbooks. My son looked it over and likes it fine. Not as much as Kinetic, but it will do.

I found a website that showed the average scores for each test. They suggested that if you were at least 50 points higher than the average, go ahead and send the scores. If you are looking at ivies or highly competitive schools, it would need to be higher (but they didn't say how much). I wish I could remember the site-I think I just googled "what is a good score for SAT 2 test" or something like that.

I agree about the testing. It really stinks! I so miss the days when we could just curl up with books and take our time...so what if we only got half way through that science book!?! But my son has big dreams for life, and unfortunately he is going to have to play the game to make it happen. Thank goodness my 12dd wants to be a chef and my 10ds wants to be a professional golfer! I hope to never look at SAT2 tests again after my oldest graduates, unless my 4dd needs them-right now all signs point to her being an artist or a pole dancer :D ha ha just joking most 4 year olds dance on tables in their undies, right?

So sorry. Will be praying for you and your family.

Thank you all so much! Janice, your posts are always such a reassurance to me! I have several I need to print out and keep in my records :D feeling my breathing getting back to normal...

we used kinetic books algebra 1. I determined his grade as below: 70% tests 20% homework 10% cumulative review I didn't use any magic formula, this is just what I came up with.

I think the point would be the same as doing it three times (cycles) previously-you get deeper each time. I'm sure a college class will go into much more depth, even if you are using a college text at home, because (hopefully) the professor will be an expert in the field and have more to develop. Or I could be completely wrong. We love history and learn something new each time we study a time period. ETA: I also think that with WTM, followed strictly, there is more of an emphasis on great books in high school with history just coming up along side it to support and give context. So there should definitely be something new to learn in college. I know I heard the word Mesopotamia for the first time in college. I know, says a lot about my high school education!

Does anyone know of a good online forensics class? I saw one at Jubilee Academy, but it seems I've read some sketchy reports on them. Any others that you know of?

Kristine, I looked at that book and it looks like a complete history? It only has a chapter or two that would be in that time period. Were you thinking of just adding those on to the end of HoMW? Here is a link, they have a lot of extras for the book http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072316551/student_view0/ If you read the previous posts, you saw that Jennifer is adding Beautiful Feet Medieval to HOMW. I am also looking at the books that Potter's School uses in their Medieval class. One in particular has caught my eye, because the author has posted discussion questions to go with each chapter of the book on her website, and there is a coordinating primary source book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1442601043/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=A33AYO0FZG6YH I'm not sure what I am going to do. still trying to wrap my brain around it all!

Thank you Lori, very helpful information! I came home tonight and my son was watching Lord of the Rings for the upteenth time. I told him my plan and he is psyched! So how many extra books do you think would need to be read to have a separate literature credit? This year, I marked his language arts studies as Honors English 1. He took the SMARR ancient history course, which included the grammar and writing portion as well as a research paper, and he completed VfCR books B & C as well as Easy Grammar Plus. He also read through Strunk & White and did about half of Reasoning & Reading. For 10th, if he does LLfLOTR with Beowulf, Sir Gaiwain, & Canterbury Tales (and maybe another King Arthur-he just loves it so much!), half of Analytical Grammar, VfCR D & E, finish REading and Reasoning, & High School Essay Intensive-that should be a regular English credit, right? So then I could have him do a few more books in the WTM style for an extra literature or Great Books credit (probably half). Did you just keep up with the hours to determine if they earned additional credit? Thanks for your help. Trying to determine how to put all this down has been a little harder than I thought it would be!

and how did you put all that down on your transcript? This would be for my 10th grade son, who will be studying the Middle Ages. I am trying to decided between this option and using SMARR. We used SMARR ancients last year but I'm not sure I want to use it again. My son, who used to love to read, will hardly pick up a book now in his free time. I don't know if this came from all the analyzing, too much writing, or just his age! I thought I would try something a little lighter this year, maybe. Thanks!

bumpity bump still hyperventilating here :D

no one has answered yet so I'll take a stab ;) I have not used it, but did research it and have a friend that uses it. It is a traditional program in that it is a text and includes tests/quizzes. It also includes some literature and primary source documents. I ultimately decided not to use it because my son loves history so much and has read so much already-he used to read Kingfisher and Streams of Civ for fun in the 4th-5th grade!-that I thought he needed something that would go deeper. I think it would be hard for him to use any text that covers world history in one volume and get much out of it, but that is just him. For most people it works just fine. I know My Father's World uses it and adds additional readings from other sources to add depth. I think there are quite a few samples on the website: http://www.notgrass.com/world-history-high-school-curriculum.php I know it has worked well for my friend whose daughter is not a history freak like my son (or at least I assume so as they are using it again next year). HTH

So I guess I am hyperventilating a little here. I just rode to Bible camp with my son. Rode with him. Not drove him. The years seem to be flashing through my brain like a bad romance movie! How did we get here? I only have 3 years left! How am I going to prepare him for college, much less life!?! Deep breath. Ok, so how can I do this at home? Specifically, I guess, the DBQs and those other things, free form something I think? (too many letters floating through my head). If we follow the WTM, will that be enough? And can I do WTM myself? I am sad to say we pretty much skipped that primary source document stuff in the logic stage, so now we need to play catch up. Or maybe I am looking at it wrong? When I think primary source, I think Magna Carta and Declaration of Independence. But time period literature, like Tacitus, Herodotus, City of God, The Prince...is that primary source? I have been toying with the idea of printing off all those examples from CB to work on, but I honesty don't know if I could even grade them effectively. So here I go again..to get to the end goal, do I put him in a class? He is motivated, looking at competitive colleges like Patrick Henry, FSU, Georgetown- I know he needs to stand out. Sorry this turned into such a long rambling post. And thank you for all the advice! One more thing...how do you pick which subjects to test in? The ones he is most interested in and does the best in, I would assume? Or should you try to spread them out, like one math, one science, one english, one history, etc? Or concentrate on testing in the area of his intended major?

Jennifer (sorry about calling you Jill):) Thank you for the encouragement. I definitely feel like we need to make it to 1500 this year. My son may be taking an outside literature class that will use the SMARR Medieval course, so I would like for the classes to coordinate. I was looking at the Medieval guide on the BF website today and they are revising it. Do you know what the changes will be? Does it have a spine for history? Thanks

I have never heard of this until the last few weeks. Is it the same as an honors designation? How would a class be evaluated to be preAP worthy? thanks

so how do you pick which SAT II tests to take? and how many would you recommend taking during high school? and which do colleges prefer? SAT II or AP? which gets them in the door easier (and with the most money :D)

A lot to think about, ladies. Jill, how are you adding the BF books? That is a full year curriculum, right? I have just been drooling at the Potter's School Med, Renn, Ref class. The books all got stellar reviews on Amazon. The class, however, is closed. Do you know if they ever open up new sessions if they have several people on the waiting list? Or if they would sell the syllabus for the class? (not sure how well I could combine all those books myself) The Debra Bell class looks good also. And I'm really looking more at the texts, since I doubt my dh would be on board with paying $500 for one class! My son just loves, loves, loves history and really loved the HoAW. He loves that it goes into such detail. He has always read so much history, I think he is enjoying learning some new things instead of going over the same old same old! Oh, just when I thought I had it all figured out! Do you know how many hours I spent putting that syllabus together:glare: As for goals, Janice, you are right about there being sooo much in years 3 & 4. I don't want him to get bogged down those last two years as I will probably have him do a separate Econ and Gov (maybe AP) class in 11th &/or 12th, in addition to history.

has anyone ever combined the two? My son will be taking a lab with a homeschool dad who teaches Chemistry at the local college. The lab will be at the college, and I think it will just be such a great experience to be in a real lab! I'm not sold on Apologia, though, which is what it will be based on. I am leaning towards the Prentice Hall book that has the Kolbe syllabus, but I know it would bug me if the labs did not match the concepts being taught. So...has anyone ever tried to combine the two? We will have about two weeks from the start of our school year before the class starts, so we'll have a little room to work ahead.

My brain may not be functioning properly-a/c is down and its almost in the hundreds here!-but I can't figure out how the SWB history book sequence is going to work out. We are finishing up Ancients, and I have my syllabus all planned out for HoMW. However, it only goes up to the year 1099. In WTM, the sequence outlined went about 400 years past that, with most of the literature books in that missing 500 years. So, if we use the list from WTM, there are only about 5 or 6 books for the time period that goes with HoMW. Does this make sense? Heat and lack of coffee may be impairing my ability to communicate :D I am trying to decide if I should supplement with something to get us up to 1500, just in case the third volume of SWB's book isn't ready by fall of 2012, and use the full list of lit in WTM, or just not worry about it and use the books that fit the time period of HoMW. Clear as mud, right?

Try to remember, also, that for many of us it is the 2nd or 3rd or more time around the block ;) I will be teaching 5th grade for the 3rd time in the fall. That still doesn't mean I have it all figured out though! They are all so different. For example, my now 15ds read all the Chronicles of Narnia books and Lord of the Rings, etc, etc when he was 3rd-4th grade. He couldn't get enough. He used to read Kingfisher and Streams of Civ for fun when he was 10 or 11. My ds that is now 10, there is a completely different story. All he wants to do is play golf or bounce a ball or be outside. He is dragging through those Narnia books just now. He started back before Christmas and is only on the 3rd one. As far as what books to read, I go by several lists. Sonlight, WTM, All Through the Ages by Christine Miller, and I have routinely searched for reading lists by googling things like "5th grade reading list christian classical school". YOu will be amazed what you'll find. And if all else fails, just ask here. I have pages printed out where I would get frustrated and just ask very specifically, like "need books for 12 year old boy who loves fantasy and scifi, without cursing or ...." I have always gotten responses. As for scheduling the day, I have assignment sheets that I make up for my kids and print weekly. They have folders for their loose papers. We have to have rules. No TV, video games, or "fun" reading until schoolwork is done. School is their job, and it has to be done before free time. I do give them small breaks to run around outside or chase each other around the house if they need it while they are young, but not long. A short jaunt to the backyard can easily end up taking all morning. And sometimes that is ok. When they were younger, I would let them get lost in games of Little House on the Prairie or Robin Hood outside. But as they get older their interests change, and watching ICarly is not nearly as educational as playing Joan of Arc! It also might be helpful to just lay out a simple plan for your son. Just an order of subjects to do. I am making up something like this for my son, in addition to his assignment sheet. I know it is really hard with the little ones. I had a situation similar to yours at one point-I think 5th, 3rd, and 1st at one time. Honestly, its all kind of a blur :D I do remember rotating between them. I would give each 30 minutes undivided attention from me, and just rotate. So one child would get 30 minutes with me, then an hour to work independently (if he had nothing else he could do independently, he had free educational time, like educational games, books, puzzles, computer games), then they would get another 30 minutes of time with me, etc. That seemed to work well. You also might try the audio cds for SOTW. You could let them listen to them during "quiet time" while they were resting, or in the car (this didn't work very well for us, too distracting). Finally, I would suggest moving on if you are still in SOTW 1 after that long. It seemed to take us a long time to get through the first volume the first go around, too. We just closed it up for another time, and we have used it again and will be using it again in the future. Maybe knights and castles would spark their interests more and get you all going! :D

Oh boy, do I hear you! It seems so weird-my family and non-hsing friends finally see the benefit if what I am doing and don't think I'm crazy now. But my hsing friends can't understand why I don't follow the path of least resistance!

Wow, this has been very eye opening! Thank you for all the responses. Maybe we will do a Biology 2 class and use a more advanced text? He is desperately trying to avoid Physics ;). I also find it interesting that DIVE gives options of Apologia Chemistry, both books or first book with extensive added websites, or just one year of the Bob Jones book, with no websites added (I think one added website with the 3rd ed, none with 2nd ed). We were all set to take a class with our homeschool group again this year. The teacher is a homeschool dad who happens to teach Chemistry at the local college. He is going to use Apologia, but mostly it will just be the lab work-he is not giving tests or homework, but may lecture some. I'm wondering how it work to do the labs there and use a different text. Would it be that big a deal if they did not match up exactly? Maybe I should just try to do it at home, though I have to admit that scares me! :D don't know why-I absolutely loved Chemistry in hs and college. I think I am just afraid the labs won't get done with our crazy life-somehow I picture my 4dd getting into the chemicals and either eating them or blowing the house up :tongue_smilie:

Might I ask your major? and did you attend college in the US? I ask because this is so vastly different than my experience. I majored in Biology at a major university here in the US and had textbooks for all my classes, except literature, with a syllabus of readings given at the beginning of the semester. Pretty much could study the text, take good notes and study those, and you would do well in the class. Just curious.

The not finishing his textbook didn't bother me-I asked him about it because I always feel tied to ours, like we can't be done with school unless every chapter is covered. Same with the writing-I just wanted to see what was acceptable there to compare with what we are doing at home. It was the not reading a whole book that bothered me. And by book I mean literature book, not textbook.