Thank you for this. I shy away from fiction, especially the classics, because I don't feel qualified to read them. I just want to either learn something (non fiction) or have fun (science fiction).

It depends on the course. If you know which test she plans to take we can make recommendations, or you can check out the sticky threads. ETA: I mean "pinned" threads.

And for this they call us helicopter parents. Sheesh.

My dh and I both took the SAT in 7th grade, so we didn't think much of it and signed up our kids for it at that age, too. I don't even really remember how it happened for me. It was just something 7th graders do I guess.

Longitude by Sobel

Dd used either the 10th or 11th edition for PAH AP Chem. No complaints, good textbook, but we can't compare to older editions.

I agree with PPs here. If she claims to not to know the answer, can you take her word for it, and lead her to the answer Socratically? I don't know what she's studying in math, but let's say it's long division. If she claims to not remember long division, you can review it again together, ad nauseum. "Well this looks like a long division problem. Do you remember how to do long division? No? Okay, let's review from the textbook. Now let's see how we can apply this algorithm to your current problem." Step through it again. If she can't do the next problem, ask her, "Well this looks like a long division problem. Do you remember how to do long division?" Do not be sarcastic; be sincere. Do not offer the answer, but offer to review the algorithm with her as many times as she needs. I'm guessing she'll tire of hearing how to do long division over and over again. And at best, with all this extra review, she'll never forget.

This is a great story. Thank you!

This is a really good message. I also like the "you never know what the future will hold" message, whether it's an MBA, an accounting degree or something else unexpected that requires quantitative skills. Keep the stories coming! These real life anecdotes will help me drive the point home.

I was so excited to read this in the MC newsletter I just received, regarding Edward Wan, who not only won the national championship, he won as a 7th grader (most winners are in 8th grade), and also received a perfect score on the written competition. "Given this list of rare achievements, many would assume Edward is simply a prodigy, someone whose talent in mathematics is purely natural. But what makes Edward even more exceptional is this: he did not qualify for the MATHCOUNTS National Competition last year. A Mathlete, who less than a month ago received a perfect score on arguably one of the most challenging MATHCOUNTS tests ever written, was defeated at the Washington State Competition last year. In fact, when interviewed for a blog post by Microsoft, Edward summed up his achievement this year, compared to last year, with a simple adage: “Practice makes perfect.†"That Edward practiced and worked very hard for his achievement is a point that is probably not highlighted enough in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. Many people continue to view talent in STEM as something that we are born with, or born without. But the truth is, brilliant students like Edward cultivate their brilliance through effort, persistence and yes, failure. But when these students inevitably make a mistake—whether at the nation’s most prestigious math competition or on a routine test at school—they rethink their strategies, learn from their errors and keep trying. Practice makes perfect. It is also what makes a national champion." While I do have a hard time buying that some inborn talent is not necessary to become a champion, I do believe that anyone can be a reasonably good math competitor. If math competitions were like AYSO soccer, where practically every parent in the US signs up their kid to kick a soccer ball around on Saturday afternoons, we'd yield a lot more mathletes.

This is for those parents whose kids insist they don't need to study much math because they are interested in the arts. My homeschooling friend's daughter is an aspiring film maker who resisted doing much more than the minimum amount of math needed to pursue her craft. Ultimately she was admitted to NYU film school, and while there was intrigued by a dual MBA/MFA program they offer, specifically to teach artists about the business side of their trade. Sadly, she didn't bother to apply, though her parents encouraged her, because she just didn't think she could hack the math classes. I'm posting, hoping that others don't miss out on opportunities they may not have anticipated. I wonder if there are similar examples out there? ETA: Consider this an invitation to post your own stories either pro or con for a strong math training. I'm giving a presentation at a local homeschooling conference about teaching math, and I need some motivations for the parents attending!

I had lunch with an old friend who is currently an English professor at a LAC. She was complaining that her students did not have a good command of grammar and usage, they didn't know where to put their commas, etc. (She didn't feel like it was her job to teach them how to use commas, but then you don't want to graduate students who can't write.) So of course I began to panic that my own kids might be ill-prepared for college writing, even though they are working with a writing tutor. In elementary and middle we used MCT materials through Voyage level, but not Magic Lens. Is there something we can use now for a quick occasional review, like a workbook with exercises for high school level? At least just to reassure me that everything is okay, or highlight any deficiencies?

Out of curiosity I checked the school of engineering at CMU: College of Engineering High School Course Requirements 4 years English 4 years Mathematics* 1 year Chemistry 1 year Physics 1 year Biology 2 years Foreign Language 3 electives History isn't even mentioned, lol!

It does seem like OP is mostly concerned about history? I would check with the colleges that may interest her. If she's interested in STEM, you may find that many technical colleges are not very specific about history. For example, here's MIT's recommended high school coursework: One year of high school physics One year of high school chemistry One year of high school biology Math, through calculus Two years of a foreign language Four years of English Two years of history and/or social sciences You can pretty much do anything you want for history, as long as it's fairly rigorous.

Coincidentally, I just came across this cute (wordless) video on binary.

I'm more of a math/science person (as are my kids), so take with a grain of salt. It's been a while, but I recall there were a lot of typos in my editions of the grammar texts, and there isn't an errata page so I would get stuck not knowing what was what. If you yourself are solid on grammar, then it shouldn't be a problem. When I would report on an MCT public forum (the yahoogroup) about errors, the response was lukewarm. Did I mention there's no errata list? Otherwise, grammar was great until we reached (I believe) Magic Lens. Then it seemed to get very detailed with progressive forms and present perfect and all that. It was fine, but the 4Practice books didn't seem to reinforce these concepts. It was all about parts of speech, parts of the sentence, phases and clauses like all the previous practice workbooks. At this point, my dd was in 9th grade and I decided she had had enough grammar, so we dropped it. (I also hadn't had this level of grammar detail when I was in school, so I didn't feel bad about it.) But I'm eager to hear if others had better success with ML. I outsourced writing to a tutor, so we dropped AAW. My kids really aren't into poetry (neither am I) so we stopped using those books after Level 1. My kids can't be bothered with annotations, so they just read assigned literature from their kindle or library books. WWW is different from CE. You should be able to find old threads on this topic. The definitions are not always the ones I would choose, the words are sometimes obscure and weird. For example in real life teratogenic means any substance that can cause birth defects. MCT's definition relates to creating monsters. Now I get it, the stem terato means monster, but at this point my dd was studying WWW independently, and I don't want her thinking babies exposed to teratogens are monsters. Dd also complained that she learned 2-3 synonyms for tightrope walker. Despite my complaints, we continue with WWW1,2,3 just because of ...I don't have a good reason. We use it as an expensive list of words and stems and tests. But I'm looking forward to switching to Worldly Word.

I admit I haven't done much thinking on this topic, but I did just read that the Common App itself is the root of all evil here, and it doesn't actually add value to the application process, both for students and schools. Should we advocate for the end of the Common App?

IMO: The Caesar's English series is outstanding. Lots of fun and you learn a lot. The grammar instruction is great. Could use some improvement, but it does the job. I didn't really care for anything else.

This is a very good question. In my mind, an electrical engineer and a mechanical engineer have very little overlap after freshman physics classes, and both have a pretty full 4 years of classes and projects in their major. But I do have an open mind, and I'd like to hear what others say as well.

I host a MK site, and I just today received an email regarding awards, with a tracking number for FedEx. It seems they were just mailed. I have one kid from my site who won a gift card (15th place) and another who got a water bottle (4th place). Checking my emais, it seems like they were a little late with the awards this year, by 1-2 weeks.

This is a photo of some sheet music (Summer from Frozen). I'm a little unsure about the second measure with all the accidentals. Take a look at the first note in the triplet in the base clef...is that C (natural) - D - D#? And what are those 2 large lines that go from the F-Eflat chord up to the B-A chord and back down to low C? Glissando?

Speaking of gimmicks and buzz words, another one we see is Design Thinking. Our local private school cancelled classes for 2 days for a DT workshop. It was a disaster. Dd came home and complained and I told her to call in sick the 2nd day, and she refused, because that would be, uh, lying. So what happens? Half the school called in sick the next day. Dd dropped out and returned to homeschooling 6 weeks later. Thank goodness for tuition insurance. Having said that, I would choose the STEAM school just because it's free. If things don't go well there, call the private school at around Christmas. Parents of students who aren't a good fit for the school will often stick it out through December before making a change. Or check back for 1st grade, because the same thing happens. Good luck with your decision. If you go private, get tuition insurance.

dp.

Seriously? That's pretty funny to me because I thought they wouldn't want to be bothered by some lay person, lol, pestering them. This is very good to know!

Is it normal for some regular person (like me) to email the author of a paper and ask for a pdf copy? Or maybe a hard copy in the mail? Is there a standard language or verbiage to use? Should I direct the email directly to the researcher or to his/her admin? Thank you!