There's no way I could afterschool with Storm now that she entered high school this week & taking several honors courses. Her work load is just too heavy to add any additional material. That said, I did supplement during the summer with a bit of literature, history, biology, and chemistry along with an introduction of the math text for the following year--lots of TC DVDs. She took some fun writing courses through The Loft, and participated in a Jane Austen book club. I had a lot of input from Storm as to how we should proceed as I wanted her to enjoy her summer. I also requested a reading list of complete literature texts for the coming school year (school is based on TWTM). Any book for the high school Ancients rotation I felt Storm should read, we did so over the summer. I also had her read SWB's HOAW, TWEM, and HTRAB (zzzz). Oh, she also reviewed the Teaching Company Super Start Student DVDs. Storm's school works on trimester/semester/ block scheduling--I know, confusing. She takes Humanities (1.5 hrs. LA/History), math, and biology as trimester classes for the full year, music and art each for a semester, and block scheduling for music/art, Latin & Rhetoric--but for the whole year via A, B, & C days.

If Discount Dance Supply does not have what Storm needs, All About Dance sometimes does. I know AAD did when Storm needed a specific Bloch lyrical shoe that we could not find anywhere. We are lucky, as there is a local store,Grand Jeté, that specializes in ballet slippers & points, but also sells tap & jazz shoes--love them to death.

The Classics edition does not have any color jumping off the page, and is an actual reprint of the texts from the 1980's. The only color are the blue chapter & section headings, and a black & white photo on the chapter intro page. IIRC, you can use any of the older TMs & SMs with the Classics Edition.

No, we never were offered travel expenses outside of gift cards for meals.

Our copy is the Prentice Hall Classics edition, a reprint of Algebra I: Expressions, Equations, and Applications. ISBN #0-13-165708-9 or 9-780131657083. I purchased our copy via Amazon.com. Follett Educational Service also has several editions along with TMs. We do not own a solutions manual, as I don't need one at this level.

100% Tuition plus room & board, but Taz had a bad roommate experience his first year and moved back home. University of St. Thomas-- 100 % of tuition, room & board & depends on major & department. Wabash--but did not cover 100% of need, as we had a gap of about 14K per year for tuition/room & board-- not to mention books, transportation, and other basic needs.

My sister and I went this morning to Staples and picked up the notebooks for her class. Anyone wishing to shop the .01 cent deals must do so by Wednesday store close time.

8/15/10 update: Done as of now and nothing we wanted over the past 6 weeks (Sunday after July 4th is when school supply sales begin) of sales was ever out of stock. I've shopped the sales for school supplies since my eldest was kindergarten age. I refuse to pay retail. I also stock my sister's classroom every year as her birthday present. My savings for this fall is 72% of retail by only shopping advertised sales at Target, Walmart, Office Max, Office Depot, Staples, Dick Blick's and Discount Office Items. We're stocked for the year! Off the top of my head & a glance through a few old ads: Ball bearing metal compass with safety point $1.00 Oxford 90lb weight index cards .51 cents each--these are thicker than all others on the market Oxford 90 lb weight 5x8 index cards $ 1.29 each--thicker than other brands on the market Dixon pencils .88 for 24 count box Walgreen's 10-count pencils $.09 per box Staple's 10-count pencils .01 cents per pack plastic folders .25 cents each wood ruler .01 cents each flex ruler .01 cents each reinforced loose leaf paper $1.99 each per 100 regular loose-leaf paper .20 cents per pack paper folders .01 cent each Prang 24 count crayons .89 cents each Prang paint $1.00 each (for sister's class) prang markers $1.87 each Post-It notes .50 each Scotch tape .67 each Elmer's jumbo glue sticks .47 cents each (for sister's class) paperclips .19 per box 3-hole punch for a binder 1.00 mechanical pencils .49 per 5 copy paper 1.00 per pack 500 sheets Liquid Paper correction fluid .19 cent each Bic pens, 10 count free Uniball pens .67 each highlighters .19 per pack of 5 Frixion erasable ink pens .99 per 2 pack Mead Five-Star 100 page notebooks .50 each Staples spiral notebooks .01 cents each Roaring Spring notebooks $1.00 each composition notebooks .25 each book covers .25 cents each I still need to purchase Storm's art supplies, but do not receive that list until the first week of school. I'm buying extra papers the week before school so I have tons of Michael's coupons.

I'd go with Latin as the language will help your dc later with the Romance languages of Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese, but I would start with only one language. Many Christian homeschool vendors have online Latin classes. You also may wish to look into Latin for Children, Getting Started with Latin, and Lively Latin. Will add links in a minute or two.

I wouldn't have my student sit any SAT IIs unless it was honors level using a college level chemistry test book. If you take a visit to College Confidential and see when students in brick & mortar schools take these tests, it's usually after the student took a vigorous honors or AP course. I'd go over to CC and search for posts discussing which science SATs provide the most generous curve and begin with those. We took an alternative science route with with Taz, excepting he just finished pre-calculus the beginning of his 9th grade year, and had a solid mathematics background. Science and math is easy for Taz, and jumping straight into AP level courses was not a problem. My dd, Storm, on the other hand, is an average math student. This fall she's taking biology in 9th grade at her charter school that uses Campbell's text with the jaguar on the front cover, and the course is not even honors. I have her working through Bridge Math to make sure she's able to complete and understand how, why, and when to use specific conversions or math applications as she works through the chapter problem sets. You may want to purchase Bridge Math if you plan to begin with honors chemistry so your dd understands the conversions and math calculations at the beginning of an honors or AP level chemistry textbook.

I'm still purchasing as I only buy when items go on sale for the lowest price of the season. We also are school supply snobs and like specific pencils, pens, notebooks, and etc. In addition, we buy items only made in America or from recycled or alternative materials only. I usually finish a week before school begins.

Blaze begins August 30th (public), and Storm, September 7th (charter).

We used the free UC Open Access AP courses during high school with Taz. Open Access provides a complete syllabus, list of texts and lessons with readings, assignments, and in some courses, quizzes. I linked you to the high school course catalog.

We went with a Classical Charter school based on TWTM with an upper campus student body of about 250 in 6th-10th grades. Dd did not to attend a large public school, wanted to continue with the classical methodology.

We purchase the majority of Taz's textooks through Amazon at roughly 10-30% off retail unless we can find used books in mint condition for 30% or more off retail through EBAY or the school's bookstore. Taz also had great success of connecting with students from previous sections and purchasing mint texts from them for 50% of retail. We then sell the books he knows he'll never pick up again back to the school at 33-40% of retail.