Chemistry lab with them is mediocre. Most things could be done at home. I would only go if it was cheap (purchase when they run their discounts) and close enough so you don't have to travel. Their biology lab is well worth it! We are going to Pittsburgh this afternoon for biology lab Friday and Saturday. Just my opinion - we've done both. Love bio and chem was just meh...

We use Kolb - but not their math... We use TT through Pre Calc. You can buy it and resell it on EBay for almost what you pay for it new...

Kolbe Academy Homeschool has course plans using Hole's Anatomy and Physiology

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the little fact that Apologia biology does not cover any human anatomy... We used Miller Levine and Kolbe lesson plans...

I'm in PA and I just pull a few pages out of their notebook that they used to do their work in - nothing fancy. The state does not require grades, test, etc they just want to see progress so I take a few from the beginning, middle and end. Maybe 6-8 pages total. It's not always neat or arganized either!

For Alg 1 and 2 we used Life of Fred and the books that the local high school use for their honors math along with some TT (only the Alg 1). We just did not like the videotext at all. I didn't even think to save it for my younger daughter. I especially did not like the fact that there were many different books, one for lessons, one for tests, one for anwers, etc. It seemed like we were always just trying to find the right book. She did like the TT in that every single problem is worked out for you so if there was something she didn't understand all she had to do was click on the problem to see it explained to her. I think that is route we are going to take for geometry next year then revaluate for pre-calc... I know a lot of homeschoolers that use videotext and love it but it was not for us. I am a big believer in using whatever works. My daughter is more of the lanueage arts, creative type but I do want her to have a solid math background because you never know what she will decide to do. I had a tutor for the last few sections of Alg 2 just to make sure everything was covered and she was actually understanding the concepts. He gave her a final that would be for an honors or advanced Alg 2 and she got a 94. I don't like to piece together curriculum - esp math so I was nervous. My younger daughter just finshed TT prealg and she loved it so I'm thinking of just letting her do that for Alg 1 next year and supplement with LOF.

My daughter started with VT in 7th grade and she absolutely hated it - the lectures were long and boring to her. She's not a math kid but gets it quickly. We ended up selling the whole thing on eBay after a few months. Never tried Tablet Class...

Wow, your girls sound just like my two girls! My oldest daughter did 9th grade this year. I tend not to be very organized and the thought of planning high school level classes really scared me. My oldest is "gifted" so school has always been easy for her and I tend not to push for stuff to always get done. So for 9th grade I really wanted her to answer to someone else and to have someone else read her English papers for grading. She does not like to be on the computer much and prefers book learning so I had to look for something that fit for her. We also are very busy so I needed something that she could do at her own pace and not locked into any specific time frame or times when we needed to be home. We ended up using Seton (even though we are not Catholic). She took their 9th grade English, Grammar and Compostion (required by Seton), Biology and Geography through Seton. She did Spanish and Biology lab at a co-op and Algebra 2 as independent study. (Seton uses Saxon which we do not like.) It seemed to be a good mix and we will continue the same route for her next year. The English class was a lot of work and she is still finishing up a few book analysis's but she learned a lot and did well. So for us it was a very good decision even though I still get the frequent eye roll and "this is stupid" or "no one will ever use this stuff" she did step up and get the work done. She also will have an accreditied transcript and I do not have to keep records of hours, etc. Seton also is not aligning with the common core. My younger daughter will be in 8th next year. She is the total opposite of my older daughter and I have no idea what to do with her! We might do a few Seton courses but I'm still on the fence. She is excellent at math but does not like to read or write but I feel I need to do more next year so she will be ready for high school. But overall - enrolling was a good decision for us and will allow us to continue to homeschool through high school.

Yes, Teaching Textbooks has all solutions worked out and explained for every single problem in the text book.

We are finishing up TT pre alg here now. There are a few review questions of each topic each lesson - each lesson has about 24 questions. I usually make a list of the problems I would like my daughter to do for each lesson. I feel there is plenty of review...

We did not use the elementary books but my daughter did use Advanced Algebra this year. While Beginning Algbra was fine (she did TT Alg 1 also) she needed help with Advanced and I ended up getting her a tutor. She finished the book with him but he felt there were quite a few topics that were left out that are part of a "regular Alg 2" class (ie public school text) so they worked through those topics. His assement of LOF Advanced Alg: Not a complete Alg 2 text. Some topics are more often covered in a Pre-Cal/Calc class so definitely an honors/advanced text but does need supplementing as some common Alg 2 topics are left out. Not sure if that helps you. We are not going to continue with LOF next year...

my daughter's friend who went with us actually did opt out of the cat - she was not the only one and it was no big deal...

My daughter took the bio lab. It was in a church in Pittsburgh. You can opt out of the cat - it is the very last thing they do in the lab. My daughter loved it and she will be doing the chem one in Philly in October. She never mentioned anything about prayer/evolution, etc. I really don't think it would be an issue as previously stated there isn't really much time for anything other then the lab!

We use Seton (Catholic) and don't take the religion classes. Other then some stuff in biology (euthanasia and right to life church doctrines) there have been no issues for us. Both my husband and I were raised Catholic but we are not practicing (currently attending a Methodist church). We sub out some things but they require that you use their English and history. I like the accountabilty and the fact that my daughter knows what she needs to do. She's in 9th grade this year. I looked at Kolbe but couldn't get past the history. A whole year of ancient history did not appeal to my daughter! She did geography this year with Seton and will take world history next year. I believe Kolbe reqires their history as well but you can sub the middle school into high school or something like that... While Seton has not been perfect - it has worked this year and we will continue for next year. I have especially liked the fact that they do all the grading (esp for essays) and record keeping.

We used TT for Alg 1 and used Khan as needed which wasn't much. She also worked through Life of Fred. This year for Alg 2 we used a tutor and Life of Fred Advanced Algebra and Khan. We will be going back to TT for geometry next year! My 7th grader is using TT Pre-Alg this year and actually enjoys it! If she finished a pre-alg course then she should have no problems with Alg 1. Otherwise - give her the placement test on the TT website to make sure she is ready (ie solid in percents, ratios, fractions, decimals, etc...)