My high school student wants to focus on environmental science, ecology, and conservation is college. She will be starting out at a community college. She needs a high school credit for chemistry, but has little attention for anything unless it is directly connected to her interests. We have made the transition to online classes with teachers away from curriculum that I facilitate. Does anything like this exist for homeschoolers?

My son is just now a freshman and has expressed interest in a STEM-related field at an Ivy League or highly selective school. He's not particularly sure yet a more specific direction, just loves all things science. He will most likely dual enroll at our local community college for as many credits as he can get. I have no concerns he will have the grades and test scores for admission to highly selective schools. For schools like this, I've read that it's the student "resume/portfolio" outside of grades and test scores that really set students apart. My concern is this, many of these "opportunities" are not available in our area, only available for public or private schoolers, or cost prohibitive for us. If you have a similar experience, how did it work out for your student?

My student likes the idea of using a "regular" high school text book for learning a language. I've done some research and textbooks- student and teacher- are usually quite cheap on Amazon. My concern is that work i the student text will reference other components. I've seen workbooks, readers,... Any experience here? I assume there are audio files needed also? I can't seem to find those anywhere. We are looking at starting Russian and German this year. Thanks

I only visit these boards sporadically through-out the year, so this may be common knowledge or glaringly obviously posted somewhere. Does anyone know when the rest of the series will be published? thanks

So, math has always been a struggle due to a learning disability. Future goals are military and/or law enforcement and/or criminal justice degree or maybe even psychology/counseling- first 2 years at community college only require 1 lower-level "Survey of Mathematics" class- nothing algebra heavy. Currently (nearing end of 11th grade), difficulties lie in preparing for ACT and gaining this darned Algebra 2 credit needed. Ugh. Original plan was to spend part of year prepping for ACT, then tackle the "rest" of Algebra 2 topics through online program or whatever text I can get my hands on. The year has slipped away from me and independent work (in math) was avoided, so we are cramming now with the prep program. He's been getting anywhere from 17-20 in diagnostic stuff and still has plenty of time for prep. I'm left with the dreaded algebra 2 credit now. I'm thinking just plug through the summer doing Teaching Textbooks? what do you think? I've always shied away from TT because Ive heard they were almost a year behind. He'd get the credit and maybe a better grade for GPA purposes, but is enough prep for the minimal amount of math he'd do in college anyway?

Dealing with this exact same thing here with a 12 yo girl. Social Anxiety, but still "want" it enough to try and brave it out. Praise her for it, it helps.

I'm looking for an ACT Prep book that has more -review of the content broken down by each category, -drills/practice specifically broken down by each category and less -strategy for answering questions, familiarizing with the test, examples/types of questions, or practice tests. I have ordered Cracking the ACT with 6 Practice Tests, 2018 (Princeton Review). I think it breaks down the categories from what I'm seeing. The Official "Red"book seems to be more strategies/practice tests;same with Barron's. Anyone care to weigh in?

Im looking for a source to evaluate several sample ACT writing essays, preferably one that will not break the bank. I realize that is subjective, but I'm hoping to find a source that doesn't equate 1 act essay with a "paper" that may be several pages long. thanks

*somewhat of a vent, but feel free to offer constructive advice* I have an 11th grade student that does not and has never seen the value of academics. He has struggled academically with a math learning disability- that is why we started homeschooling. High school has been a "like pulling teeth" experience with him. We have tried numerous different types of curricula for all subjects. We have tried to help him see the connection between current choices (regarding education) and future success in life. He just doesn't feel the need to suppress that "I hate what I'm doing" feeling with his teacher- me- and has his education at the end of his list of priorities. Outsourcing is not an option- it's either me/at home or public school. He has maintained a fast food restaurant job for over a year and is an awesome employee. He also has some exceptional goals for his future like "something in music," a professional video game player, or a tower climber- all while doing nothing for any of those goals. I feel I am left with 2 choices at this point- either putting my foot down, connecting his effort in education to things he is directly more interested in, and ruining our relationship (which is important to me)- this is what we have been doing or leaving him to his own devices, letting him fail, lose credits, maybe a GED instead of a high school diploma, leaving me to feel as I have failed as his teacher, and maybe repairing some damage to our relationship. I'm not so worried about the outcome. He has to learn there are consequences to actions, but I want what I am supposed to do. Fail as a teacher or mother- I feel like that is the choice I am left with. Thanks for listening.

Great suggestions! Some resources I hadnt considered. Off to do my homework!

I can teach the material, but I want the student to have immediate access to the answer (and solution) and not wait for me as I have 3 other students ranging from 5th through high school.

Has anyone found a strong online option for high school math- preferably for a gifted student? Everything I research ends up with very little practice and problems. *This" is what I want the digital aspect for. I don't mind teaching math and have a strong understanding myself, but I need the bank of problems and immediate answers and solutions. Any ideas?

I was advised to verify all the courses I was interested in were available in GCplus because not all are. I checked my list of courses that were recommended and every one of them were. I'm going to find details on that good deal.

I'm sure this has been discusses, but I can't seem to find anything. We've never used either. I'm sure there is a ton more great videos by purchasing, but since we have never gone that route, would be just as pleased with the Plus?

thanks so much folks!

For each year, what literature book was your student most excited about, interested in, engaged in? Not necessarily from your perspective as a parent if you had to "only" pick one to read, but the one that "spoke" to your child the most?

I am trying to plan a conceptual physics course for a student that is not academically strong. Which would you use, but still count as a credit for high school? https://www.ck12.org/physics/

Ok, I think I have a good understanding of outlining and how it is taught in WTM. We have always used Kingfisher as our History Spine. I don't see, however, that it has enough material to do a 3 level outline. We do each paragraph as a roman numeral. Then we were doing details as capital letters. It seems like there would need to be ALOT of material for a distinction between 2nd and 3rd level. Any suggestions?

Does such a thing exist? Anything dealing with creation of earth and space, early history, evolution- all that awesome controversial stuff- from a Biblical view, but not Apologia or Answers in Genesis (Ken Ham). No judgement, just personal reasons. Prefer high school and adult level. Curriculum or just nonfiction books are fine. thanks

Yes, I could get them from the study guides, but this is for a middle school student. We went through sotw/activity guides in elementary and I have since sent them out of my home. We have also moved to a world history in a year (sh, don't tell Susan). Anything anyone has put together on their own? thanks

Definitely- "struggles and need something a bit light" Thanks

My high schooler is not math-oriented. He is also highly distractable. What paper/book text would be "easy" to look at without a lot of business on the page, but still complete? Any suggestions?

I truly appreciate all of your posts, but this one was so encouraging to me. Thank you.

WWYD? I have a just finished 9th grader that hates and is deficient in writing skills. He's my oldest and I feel like I've "done everything wrong" with him. I would kind of like to go back to square one, run through a series of skills (curriculum or not) this summer. It's everything- coming up with what to write, getting ideas on paper, organized... It is so stressful for him (and me). He loves to read, reads like crazy and is very artistic. It doesn't help that I am a numbers person and I feel like so much of writing is subjective. I think BOTH need to learn together. I do want him to be prepared for community college composition. What resources are there that are- remedial, high school (not juvenile in nature), mastery-focused (not necessarily review included- you get the skill and move on) include all steps of writing- ideas on paper, organize, and properly formatted & preparation for SAT writing and entry-level college composition?

Thanks for all the input. I am always afraid of asking that illusive "stupid question" and I imagine people looking at my post and saying, " and she's trying to homeschool kids?" I guess I have a hard time distinguishing between mastering a subject and memorizing facts about it. I thought the purpose of a high school biology credit was to prepare the student for a college level biology class? What does "prepared" even mean? It sounds so subjective to me. I want to meet him where he is, but also make sure he is prepared. ETA again: Why did you opt for that book? There are plenty of other quality books out there that are not as long and still high quality. Not criticizing, just asking. I don't like the book all that much, but DD liked it and I agreed to it because it does have some features I like (like the layout I mentioned, above). Edited by reefgazer, Yesterday, 01:21 PM. -only because it was highly recommended and appears to have some faith-based "counterarguments" out there for us to get a balanced, faith-based view of evolution. See- I want my cake and to eat it too! I would love any suggestions for a quality Biology textbook that DOESNT have all of that busy, side-bar, extra stuff. It is actually very distracting to him. Also, I didn't want anyone to get the opinion he was refusing to do work or being intentional about this. I'm sure there are some learning disabilities that have existed for a long time. We've never done any testing just been naturally "accommodating" him up to now. I'm just hung up on quantity/quality/and what he can do now in high school as there seems to be more focus on quantity and what an actual credit of biology is. I want to have integrity when I give him a credit and a grade. I would love to hear more about assessments based on understanding and not memorization. What exactly does that look like in a real day of homeschooling?