So, my 7th grade daughter was taking WTM biology, so young for a high school class. It's a lot of work, but dd says it was not busy work. There is a lot to learn. Students do need to write 2 papers on scientific topics. The first paper was stressful for my writing-averse kid, and the 2nd semester has an even long paper. Also, the exams were stressful for my perfectionist kid. So we dropped the class at the midterm, but I am continuing to follow the syllabus with the readings and the labs. I'm adding a few labs of my own for fun. Amy Upperman is lovely. This semester we occasionally ping her with questions, and she has responded quickly. We think she is terrific and despite our not continuing, we think the class is great. It was just that while dd was academically capable of understanding the material (she got high grades), she just wasn't personally ready for the stress. HTH.

Is anyone out there using Blue Tent or Thinkwell for biology? I'm on the fence about AP bio or regular bio for dd next year. Thanks!

How is AP biology going this year? I'd love to hear from PA Homeschoolers or Thinkwell folks or anyone else taking AP bio online. How's the quality of the coursework? Are the students feeling prepared for the exam? How is the work load? Thanks!

Also to keep you grounded a bit, there are some schools which already have excellent reputations that are dropping APs. They have the luxury to do so because the quality of their graduates is high, so they don't need to validate as much as a school with mostly mediocre students attending with some that are outstanding. I know of at least one local private school that dropped all their APs, and another that doesn't have any science APs in their course catalog. As homeschoolers, we usually lack this reputation and need to provide some kind of validation. It doesn't need to be an AP score, but for many of us it's convenient and does the job.

(Reposting from the education boards.) Dd14 wants to make instructional Youtube videos, but we, her parents, are concerned about her privacy and safety. What should we know, and what precautions should we take? Thanks!

I am not a big fan of the AoPS online classes for my kids. I like to take our time and make sure we have mastery over the concepts however long that takes us. I don't like the idea of adhering to a class schedule, particularly the breakneck pace of AoPS. My kids have taken plenty of AoPS classes, but those were extras: AMC prep and python programming, which isn't as fast-paced as the math classes. When dd took the AoPS online class in counting and probability with her friend, I had her go through the book with me again because she just wasn't doing all the problems in the book, and I wanted her to be solid there. I know lots of kids on this board have had success with AoPS online classes, but you should know that other students who enroll, say, in AoPS geometry are kids in regular school who have already taken geometry IRL and are taking it again with AoPS for extra challenge.

This is such a spot on, well-written informative post, that I can't let it go without quibbling about minor points that no one cares about. (I also love the big rock metaphor. Are you sure you weren't a humanities major?) Somehow I've missed the Latin vs. Greek discussions. Is this really a thing? I've always thought it was ironic that Greek, which is a living language, is less commonly taught that Latin, the dead language. I find that there are a lot of people on this board who are very knowledgable about math. I eagerly read their posts and consider everyone's thoughts and positions (including yours, Janice!).

Dd14 wants to make instructional Youtube videos, but we, her parents, are concerned about her privacy and safety. What should we know, and what precautions should we take? Thanks!

There are so few resources for Farsi, that I'll just post what I know, even though it isn't DVD. My highest praise is for Pimsleur. I've used them for Spanish and Farsi, and the audio CDs are excellent. Too bad that it doesn't get much beyond beginning Farsi. I also enjoy Farsi with Chai and Conversation. Frankly, it isn't all that great, but as I said, there is so little out there, I'm grateful to anyone who is facilitating learning Farsi. About 20 years ago I studied from this Teach Yourself Modern Persian book. It's dull, but it does the job. I see on Amazon that there appears to be a new edition of the book by a different author. I'm listening in to see if anyone else has suggestions.

I think your plan of using AoPS, WTM Academy and PA Homeschoolers is a good one. (I don't have personal experience with Kolbe.) We don't have immediate plans to enroll in CC. We're counting on AP scores and extracurriculars to validate, but we haven't ruled out CC yet. You can look at my signature for dd14's freshman year. Next year, she's planning to study math with me at home using AoPS (precalc next year) and a few classes (history and Spanish and Java with data structures) at Stanford Online High School. She'll continue with her writing tutor, and maybe take AP stats from PA homeschoolers. She'll take either bio or AP bio. Junior year will probably be AP calculus BC and the AP physics series, Spanish 3 and some other history, depending on how she liked her classes at SOHS last year. More math senior year and more of everything else. If she takes regular bio her sophomore year, maybe AP bio this year? Or some other science. As far as transcripts, we've always used myhomeschooltranscripts.com. I like that I get a lifetime subscription for as many kids as I want, and I've already had to use it many times for applications to high school, SOHS, and academic summer camps, and internships. It's also a great scaffold for record keeping. Everytime I receive a test score, I record it immediately into their transcript. HTH!

Agreed. Teachers can make or break a camp and they vary by location and year. Add to this that some students just aren't as communicative when they return home from camp. Sometimes the only info we get is that they "liked" it.

Now I don't feel so bad about my dd taking 4-5 APs, spread out from 8th - 12th grade, at most 1 or 2 a year, and only 2 if one of them is easier.

Yes, this one looked excellent, but it was too far from home for us while she's in middle school. Please post a review when she returns if you can!

My dd is signed up for a principles of engineering summer camp with CTY. What is your dd doing?

What Arcadia said. It's an elementary and middle school science course. There's a lot of info about it on these boards, good and bad. We are fans.

Sequential Spelling is all words lists with no rules. At least, not explicitly. The word lists have many words grouped together that demonstrate a pattern. So you might see a word list like: light bright sight etc. The next day's word list includes: lights brights sights etc. It kind of drives home the point by illustration. I like to call it the spelling curriculum for moms who aren't sure they want to do spelling. I also like that there are frequent placement tests so as your child gets the hang of spelling, they can skip big chunks of the book. It's a nice feeling!

My dd and I are big fans of PA Homeschoolers AP chemistry taught by Mr. Moskaluk. You'll read a lot of positive reviews on the WTM pinned discussions, and he's a gem. She's a freshman and had no chemistry apart from what she learned in middle school science with BFSU. So she's working hard, 1-2 hours a day, but she loves it. If you look at the website, math-wise they want their students to be really solid on logarithms, probably because of calculating pH? We were just debating the other day the merits of taking AP bio. Since she's STEM-y, she's going to take AP physics and calculus for sure. We're on the fence about AP bio, just because, well, she needs a break. OTOH, my middle school dd is taking WTM bio, and it's solid, but it does gloss over a bit, so I'd like them take a deeper bio class, since it could be the last one they ever take. We're skipping other APs, but maybe doing AP stats because I heard it was easier. She also took AP CS last year, which is also fairly easy. So if we stick to this plan it looks like she'll take 4 or maybe 5 APs. That sounds like a lot now that I think about it, lol, but she likes tests, so it's a good fit for us. Anyway, I edited my earlier post about alternatives to showing rigor in college preparation that avoids APs, so please take another look.

I'm curious, do archaeology PhDs in the US pay tuition?

I wouldn't recommend 6 APs. If you want to take some APs to show proof of rigorous coursework and competency, I would choose the ones in your students' area of interest. If she's a STEM type, do AP Calc, physics and chemistry. A future english major should do the AP lit or lang/comp. Etc. No need to bust your butt proving you are excellent at everything. ETA: Or don't do APs. If your future STEM major can demonstrate excellence in some other way, such as science fair awards or other competitions or some other cool STEM-y project, do that instead. A future english major may focus on his writing, maybe try to get something published or win an award or do something in that field. If APs aren't a good fit for you (and it sounds like it isn't), there are other ways to achieve college admission.

Have them take your kiddos to some favorite historical site or museum and give them a tour?

I also feel you pain. I try to minimize fails by running through an experiment once or sometimes twice, so I can get a good feel for it. If not, there's always someone on youtube who has done the same demo, but successfully. Youtube is a lifesaver.

I think this speaks to the strength of our PhD programs. The US churns out many, many excellent academics doing great research, but there aren't very many spots available for full time tenured faculty at the tippy top universities. So you'll have highly trained researchers taking jobs at colleges without a big name. This may represent a great opportunity for students at lower ranked schools to have access to top faculty who could not get a tenured position at a name school, simply because the timing wasn't right. If you are a competitive candidate (big fish) at a less selective college, you'll not only enjoy greater recognition, but faculty of a quality equivalent to that of name schools. But that's just my speculation.

I will speak to this, since I attended a top competitive name college. I was constantly in the company of incredibly accomplished students, quite brilliant and amazing. On the one hand, it's hard to hold one's head high in the face of such of an environment, but at the same time it is inspiring. I grew by following the examples of my peers. But I didn't receive any special attention from my professors or anyone really because I was not a shining star among all these amazing students. I was mediocre compared to them. (I was admitted because my family resided in an underrepresented state in the midwest. I call it "the other affirmative action." I never would have been admitted from a more urbane location, though I wonder if I would have been a more competitive candidate?) OTOH, upon graduation I have found that our colleagues have gone on to extremely successful careers; many of them have founded companies you have heard of. These contacts are invaluable to my dh in particular. He often attends meetings where he meets up with someone he TA'd for or had a class with, or lived with, and now they do important work in his field. So, yes an uber-competitive college is not for everyone, but it does have advantages, too. Reading 8's description of her son's college made me wistful. What if I had been a big fish in a small pond? What if I had received recognition and encouragement from my professors?

So, posters of students that one would hang on their bedroom wall? I can't decide if that's creepy or hilarious. I would hang it between my posters of Shaun Cassidy and Erik Estrada. :lol:

No advice, but you are wise to think of this. With only 2 kids, my AoPS books get pretty worn and torn. I wish I had thought of this.