Yep, it depends on your feet ;) I've used New Balance for over 30 years now, I like men's because they seem to last longer, plus you can find the smaller sizes in men's on sale frequently.

I think it's a great idea as well. I was in a book club a few years ago and we did the novels of Well Educated Mind. We met once a month to discuss, and we didn't really follow a format - though SWB's discussion questions are a good starting point. We had 15-20 every month and people came even if they never said a word. We all felt we were better off having read and discussed some than none at all. :) You might not want to start with the novels of WEM but you could do some good books, like Jane Austen or Dickens, and still use the WEM questions as a springboard. And if it's just you and one or two other moms, you're making a better use of your time than sitting around and gossiping :)

Anything and everything by Elizabeth Vandiver. All the music ones by ?? Robert Greenberg - I think that's his name. He conducts the San Francisco orchestra.

Honestly, as seldom as anybody gets a snail mail thank you these days, I'm sure your recipients will be thrilled. And based on my relatively small experience, I've never known anybody to deliberately NOT write on the back of the paper. If the note is complete within the inside bottom, so be it.

I watched them with my dd. They were okay. The instructor has a heavy (Spanish?) accent which we both found distracting. Plus she wears HUGE earrings. I would let you borrow my set but I sent them to a single homeschooling mom.

Did you do a gc letter for her college applications? I got samples from several people here and elsewhere, and cobbled together one for my dd. Then I had several people read it (including dd herself since it was about her and for her benefit). I really feel like the final product is a true representative of who she is. I discussed our reasons for hs'ing, her major strengths and why I felt she would be a good fit for XYZ college. I should add I started a draft in the summer, which got totally redone in the last fewmonths. :glare:

I think the MOST they will offer is 1/4 so they can turn around and sell it for 1/2.

Get her his other music - she'll love it. MY 17yo dd is jealous of yours.......:)

This one :) One Wintry Night.

I was thinking about you yesterday Heather - didn't you recommend the Jerry Reed Smith Christmas CD? My dd now owns everything he's done ;) It makes great background music during school. :) I'm sorry about your crazy Christmas schedule....

Since you really want to go would you family consider holding off on her service a few days? I also like the idea of flying into Canada or using FF miles. I'm sorry for your loss. :grouphug:

I'm not Jane ;) but we also did WTM for ancients and medieval and LOVED it. Sadly my dd wanted more interaction with other students so she's done an online lit class for 11th and 12th grades (if you want to go that route I highly recommend Scholars Online). Regarding the Teaching Company lectures, we loved anything and everything by Elizabeth Vandiver - Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Greek Myths, etc. We also did part of the big lit set, she does a lot on there as well. Then we did the 3-part Middle Ages set by Dalleader. ETA we also did SL through 5th grade, but like you it felt too rushed, and looking at the high school levels I knew I would want to go deeper into fewer selections. :)

Thanks so much Joan. The AP exam is only part of her concern, she really would like more writing evaluation in general from her class. We had talked about looking at AP review books - we'll probably defer that till after the holidays. :lol: Ironically she has two writing assignments due in December so here's hoping the teacher steps up to the plate and gives her more feedback than she's done previously. :tongue_smilie:

Sorry I didn't respond to you directly previously, Cleo. Yes she did look at the website - thank you so much. I think it's a bit above her head at the moment (yes she's a bit like Goldilocks in wanting something "just right"). I've bookmarked it though - you never know how things will be a few months from now :) Thanks so much for your input!! And I'm glad you haven't totally abandoned WTM for the SL board:001_smile:

Thanks so much Joan. So what would you recommend to teach the French format of writing?

Their information isn't always accurate. We were looking at an expat assignment to Germany, and their website was grossly inaccurate (this was several years ago and I haven't checked them recently). As others have said, they get involved in issues that have nothing to do with homeschooling.

Thanks Cleo and Nan. My dd is 17. I guess what I want is something along the lines of Jensens Format Grammar, but for French and more at the sentence composition level. Does that make sense? I guess the difference would be that English is her native language and she has a very good grasp of grammar and sentence structure in English. So I want something that will help her fine-tune her writing skills, using the right tense, putting the words in proper order, etc. But not a full blown course, just something to supplement. Does that make more sense? Honestly I don't know WHAT I want :p

Ack - I can't believe I'm asking this. My dd is taking an online French class for French IV. Previous years have been a combination of Rosetta Stone, some French grammar books, some French vocab books, and French in Action. The description of this online class sounded good. She's finding the teacher doesn't correct anybody's writing or pronunciation (and this is supposed to be an AP class!). So... she'd like to supplement this class with some composition in French. Google provided more options than I would have thought. So what do you recommend? It doesn't have to be a composition/writing book per se, just provide lots of writing practice :) She doesn't want a French writing practice forum :001_smile: Thanks!

Apples to Apples.

What a great summary! The only thing I would tweak is #2, in that colleges want corroboration of your mommy grades - so AP and SAT subject tests fit that bill as well. Strong test scores can help verify your high mommy grades. And APs and SATs can be self-studied by homeschoolers. Really I think adcoms only want to predict how well a student will do if accepted. Most bricks and mortar schools have a school philosophy and profile - so we get to provide whatever we want for that ;) I heard, from a mom who went before me in this process, that her goal was to have the adcoms not spend any of the very few minutes they'll spend on her child questioning what she meant in her documents, so her intention was to answer all potential questions from the get-go ;)

I don't think the upper cores have enough literary analysis, and some of the books I would NOT include in a high school course description list. I guess it depends on where your student want to go after high school, but we found WTM when my dd was in 5th grade and it's been a great fit for our family. I reluctantly gave up lit for her to do an online class last year with Scholars Online and she's continued with them this year (senior year) - it's been a great transition to a classroom setting for her.:001_smile:

Oh! I wasn't criticizing you for her college history. I just loved reading his reasons for college not being a good fit for everybody, and could "delay" their actually finding their niche. :grouphug:

not a career but a book suggestion - "Real Education" by Charles Murray. Excellent discussion of how not everybody should be going to college. You might also want to read the article in Gwen's thread.

Chex mix!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013004574517482456740524.html