Thanks, all!! I'm sold on 2.0 over the older version. What I'm struggling with now is the level. I know this has been talked about to death but the 1.0 looks like almost a complete review of what my kids have already completed in Pre-Algebra (public school). Although, I'm not sure if it totally sunk in like it needs to so I'm not totally knocking using Algebra 1 TT as a review. Maybe I'll get 2.0 in anticipation of Algebra 2 2.0 in the Fall. Jill

:bigear: Definitely listening in. I purchased the older version of Algebra 1 used to try it(can return it later this week). My girls are sort of struggling / sort of hating Saxon so I'm giving this a whirl and if they like it I'll probably return the older version and buy 2.0. However, the girls are looking over the table of contents and reviewing a few lessons so far and this it's more like Pre-Algebra. This week I'll be giving them pre-tests for Algebra 1 and 2 from TT website. Interested to hear other thoughts.

Any thoughts on the 2.0 version for TT Algebra (or Pre-Algebra)? I found the older version used for $130 but can still return it next week. We are going to review this week and possible switch from Saxon as Saxon appears to be more of a preparation for dental school because it's like pulling teeth! If we decide to go down the TT path, I'm wondering if I should just buy the 2.0 version new to get the enhancements. Is the automated grading worth it - I have twins at the same math level - or is it just another step to enter your answer into the program? Any thoughts out there on the additional lessons in 2.0? Also, has anyone inquired or heard of a timetable for adding the automated grading to Algebra 2, Geometry and Pre-Calc? Thanks!

Great list, Lori! I'll definitely review that material further. My twins came out of public school last year with no real skills for note taking - and they were mostly A, honors students. I knew something was up when the notes from their classes were identical even though they had the teacher during separate times of the day. The teacher would literally say, "now write this down..." We have used the Middle Ages lectures from The Great Courses as a means for learning to take notes. This series is mostly lecture, a few major names and dates displayed on the screen. I will watch with them and take my own notes. Then we compare what we each wrote after the lecture. I point out areas where they really didn't need the details in their notes, like when the lecturer is just telling anecdotal information to elaborate a point. And we highlight the most important events and are going to start adding them to an online "history of the world" timeline. It's trial and error but with each lecture their note taking improves.

Yes, tiki-toki is an online tool. My husband went a little crazy last night when we started fashioning a physical timeline out of manila envelopes. So he searched various online tools and liked this best. No dedicated schoolroom here, so a big timeline really is impractical. We haven't ventured to an iPad yet. Really waiting to see if the Kindle Fire will be a good alternative because the price is much better.

We try to do most things online or electronic - it's just how we roll :lol: My husband just found tiki-toki.com. It looks like a really great tool. With a free account you can set up one timeline - "The History of the World" is what I'm thinking. Has anyone used this? What do you like, not like, about tiki-toki? Any other online timeline tools that have worked for you? We started homeschooling our twins last spring - 13 yo eighth graders now. We've been using The Great Courses Middle Ages lectures. The professor jumps back and forth in time to cover various topics so it's confusing my girls a bit. I want to capture the major points a timeline to give them the chronological context they seem to be missing from the lectures. Thanks for any input. Jill

You can start anywhere. Create your own account as a coach, then the students can add you as their coach. Under the Vital Statistics for each student, look at their Exercise Progress. This has all the math activities is the order Khan Academy places them (roughly). You could pick where you want them to start and go from there. HOWEVER, I do really like the idea of starting from scratch. Here's what we did. I pulled my twins from public school at beginning of the 4th quarter of 7th grade. Pre-Algebra was a disaster and I wasn't sure where to start them. So I started them at the very beginning. The cool thing with starting at the beginning is that all the exercises feed into the next level but you only need to get 10 correct in a row to be considered "proficient" and move to the next item. So the early levels go quickly and you can catch little areas that need work that you might not have otherwise realized. The system recommends, in green, the next exercises your student is ready to take. Every once in a while an older exercise will show orange for review. If the student answers the first question correctly, the review is done. If they get it wrong they get another chance. If wrong again the system recommends a video and then the student must get a streak of 10 to prove proficiency again. My girls basically started with 2+2 and finished through the Pre-Algebra Challenge in about 3 months, working an hour a day. It really is an amazing program. We've been using it again in December because we've been so busy with Christmas and have kept our textbooks on the shelf. I think we'll continue with one day a week in Khan. Good luck. There is a great video about how the software works. Watch this if you haven't already. Jill

I would suggest starting her on the very first item in the Knowledge Map and moving from there. We pulled our twins out of public school last spring after a miserable 7th grade experience - particularly pre-algebra. They are bright, but more Bs than As in Math so I had them start from 2+2 and move forward. The early stuff went fast without the need for videos. 10 in a row correct and you move on. They watched videos when needed. I monitored their progress as their coach and required 60 minutes a day. I think it's great to start from the very beginning of the map because you can really pinpoint where foundational issues exist. One of my daughters really didn't understand place value rounding. We would have never known this without Khan. If you scroll out on the Knowledge Map you get the challenges. I required both the Arithmetic and Pre-Algebra Challenges before they could start Algebra this fall. Good luck. We really think Khan is an amazing tool.

At six years old, do whatever makes her happy. With that said, ballet really is the foundation for dance. My girls have always attended a school affiliated with a professional ballet company. So now at 13 they have potential to pursue classical ballet professionally, if they so choose. I always tell people that any dance school is good for the earlier years but if your dancer has serious desire and/or talent for classical ballet you need to find a school that teaches proper ballet technique by 7 or 8 years old. The foundation starts that young. At 6, just make sure you are comfortable with the style of dance and costume choices the studio makes then let her do what she enjoys.

Depends on how much time you devote to Science. Physical Science has 17 units. Each unit has a lesson with 10 - 13 (so far) sections to watch as the core of the lesson. Then there is an applications section, six three-question pre-tests and a 35 question mastery test. Start to finish, my girls could probably do the whole unit in one session - we have the 11 - 1:45 time slot - but that never happens. That's a lot of science without a break. The lesson takes about 90 minutes, other three sections take about 30 minutes each. We average one unit every other week (skipping the odd weeks to do something else) so it will take us most of eighth grade to finish. With that said, one could certainly do all 17 lessons in half a year if you scheduled it as such.

We've been using Plato Physical Science since September. It came highly recommended from others in our local co-op. It is all online. The program has what they call applications that the student completes after doing the full lesson. I wouldn't call them labs though. My twins aren't very into science so we do an every other week lab at co-op that doesn't follow the online program but at least they get some hands-on labs. It probably wouldn't be hard to find some do-it-yourself labs to correspond. I had looked at middleschoolchemistry.com before we started the co-op. You could line up a few of these once in a while. My kids just came out of public school in the spring and they absolutely love Plato. It's extremely thorough, almost to the point of overly repetitive at times, but that's all part of the retention. You can print out the tests from Homeschool buyers co-op site. My girls have taken the tests online together and now they are working through the printed tests separately as a unit review so I can gauge retention. So far we really like it.

Hi, Thinking about buying the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op High School Biology with the group buy ending tomorrow. An email from the co-op indicated that their great offering of plato's science course might be going away for good. This is such an inexpensive option, I hate to pass it up. Anyone use the HS Biology course? Give me your opinions. My 8th grade twins are loving Plato's Physical Science now but will finish before the school year ends. If this $49 option is going away, I think it might be worth the money to go ahead and buy Biology. We would never finish it before the subscription expired but could pick and choose topics of interest. Thanks. Jill

Pick up a few of the No Fear Shakespeare versions from SparkNotes. They have the Olde English on one page and a modern translation on the opposite. My girls got into those all on their own in 7th grade. I found it to be a good way to get into Shakespeare for first timers. This year we will tackle one without the "crutch" of the modern translation. Try shmoop.com for study guides. I love them. Character summaries, scene summaries, literary theme topics, questions to think about... it's all in the shmoop guides and they are free.

I'll be very interested to hear how she likes the Exercise Physiology class. I just looked at it online and will keep it in mind for the future. My twins are dancers and we've spent many, many, many hours at the physical therapist while one of them recovered from foot surgery earlier this year. She now really would like to pursue exercise phys or PT later in life. Jill

I'm considering Artistic Pursuits for my twins. They are almost 13. They both have natural artistic abilities and do well mimicking other art work. Artistic Pursuits looks interesting but I'm not sure which level to start with. Anyone have experience with both the Junior High and Senior High books? It looks like the books cover the same aspects of art, with the HS level more in depth maybe. I like the sample step-by-step on the Junior High description page. Is there enough step-by-step in the Senior High books or is it assumed you don't need the step-by-step at that level? Can anyone weigh in on the difference between Senior and Junior High books? Thanks. Jill

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So glad to read this post today. I withdrew our 7th grade twin girls from public school yesterday, too. Middle School is such a wasteland and can really negatively impact children at this very critical point in their lives. We are so excited to start our hs journey next week. Good luck to you.