:iagree: I only peeked in there on occasion and came away each time feeling totally incompetent.

CC is free for homeschoolers here in 10th-12th grade. Ds started in 10th grade with a math class (his strength) and a college success class. I was diligent in providing challenging curriculum for ds through 9th grade, some of it carefully outsourced with outstanding teachers. An easy way to tell is that they pass the college placement test. We used CC because it was free. As pps have stated, the preference is very individual. Besides the college placement test, you have to be able to honestly assess their maturity and/or motivation.

We used LLfLOTR in 9th grade. Here is my review: Amelia Harper has enthusiastically designed Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings for students in grades 7-12. Their website is http://www.homescholar.org/LOTR%20Curr.htm. We used LLfLOTR for 9th grade English. For each chapter in the LOTR, the curriculum provides: Study guide (fill in the blank summary of the chapter) Vocabulary exercises Additional notes (discussing literary devices, LOTR background information, Tolkein background information, probably more) Comprehension questions (short answer) There are 13 unit studies: Exploring the Author Exploring Linguistics Exploring Setting Map Study Exploring Epics (Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid) Beowulf Parts 1 & 2 Exploring Genre Exploring Poetry Exploring Arthurian Romances Parts 1 & 2 Research Project Exploring Unifying Elements Optional Movies and the Classics Optional Religious Elements Finally, the curriculum provides: 6 tests 18 vocabulary quizzes Enough suggested writing assignments to have several to choose from on a weekly basis Pros: Pick up and go (minimal teacher preparation) Well organized (lesson plans available at the website) Quizzes, tests, papers provide objective material for grade Secular (with one optional Religious Unit Study) Cons: None for me. Some people complain about the fill-in-the blank activities. We used everything as is. Let me start out by stating that the LOTR is my favorite book of all time. I loved this curriculum. Ds was less enamored, but tolerated it well. I also have a degree in math, so I loved how EASY it was for me to implement. I wish Amelia Harper would write more. A supplement I enjoyed was The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad ISBN 0-618-1258805

I am going to try making this this week. One thing confuses me though. Why do you think it calls for 3 teaspoons of cinnamon instead of 1 tablespoon? when I see things like that, I wonder if it's a typo, especially when it's listed right after 2 other ingredients calling for 3 tablespoons.

:hurray: Thank you! You have mail...

Anyone willing to organize this year?

I remember being very impressed by Muttichen's post in this thread:

:lol: We considered Rose Hulman. Colorado School of Mines doesn't have any essay requirement. Just sayin'. ;)

Thank you for the review. I discovered these, alas, after we had already tried other paths. I think they would have been useful.

I used to say that I was the only obstacle between (bright but unmotivated) ds and a life of leisure. I had to push, pull, drag him through schoolwork daily. I had to keep an eye out for cheating. Outsourcing helped some, but he also learned that some teachers demanded less than mom and he could get a good grade easily. Occasionally, I might tell him, or say to someone else in his presence, that the goal was that he be self-supporting. Actually, my parenting goal is that he be happy, responsible, and self-supporting. I don't know if the talks do any good, but they certainly indicate that you care about him and his future. He will know that in the back of his mind. Ds grew out of it. I would say sometime junior year, choosing CC classes for senior year, when he already had enough credits to graduate, he had more of an idea of what would make him an attractive college student. When coaches started calling the summer before his senior year, the reality that he was an attractive athlete, helped him WANT to succeed. First semester freshman year at a challenging STEM school was a wake up call. He decided on his own that he needed to spend more time studying and less time with video games. As a college sophomore, he rocks. I have a friend whose dd is brilliant but also challenging. My friend pulled her hair out for years. There was no carrot big enough to entice and no stick big enough to prod the dd to do the things she did not want to do. She would stop going to CC classes. She had to repeat several. She eventually graduated with her HS diploma and AA degree. Then, she took a year off and drifted. This year, she is a freshman at a small, local, private college and doing absolutely fantastic. Good luck!

Check out the links under CAREER: Tests, Exploration and Resources in post #5 of this pinned thread.

The Science of Sports, if he's interested in sports. There is no box for it, so it would have to be built. :laugh:

We used MUS from K through Algebra way before online was available (and we wouldn't have used online anyway). Here is my review. Math-U-See website is: www.mathusee.com. There is a placement test at the website. I think MUS is terrific in the elementary years! We completed MUS from K through Algebra. The advantage for the teacher is that the program is laid out so well. I spend a maximum of 15 minutes a week preparing for the lesson. Each teacher's book comes with a DVD or video, where Steve Demme teaches each lesson in front of a small group of kids. This helps me with ideas on how to present the lesson to my son. The DVD basically repeats what is said in the teacher's manual, but somehow it helps me to see it. I watched the video religiously for the first few years. Now, I just read the teacher’s lesson, which has the same information, and present the lesson to my son. Some parents have their kids watch the DVD with them. Some parents have their kids watch the DVD without them. The advantage for the children is that each lesson works on a particular skill and yet lays the foundation for advanced material. While they are teaching addition, they have problems like 5+A=12. Because of problems like this, when it came time to do subtraction, my son already knew it. They teach skip counting in K-1st. After they teach skip counting by 5s, they teach reading a clock to the 5-10-15... minutes. After they teach skip counting by 7s, they ask how many days in x number of weeks. So, they apply skip counting right away. While they teach skip counting, they have the children figure out the area of a rectangle using their skip counting. So, they are teaching multiplication before they have even heard the word or seen 5x3=15. While they are formally teaching multiplication, they have problems like 6xA=24. Because of problems like this, when it came time to do division, my son already knew it. In fact, he said 'This is the easiest thing I've ever learned'. Throughout Alpha through Zeta, they are solving for the unknown, which is preparing them for algebra. They use blocks as manipulatives. The blocks are kind of like legos in that it is easy to tell the number of each block. When they add 5+7, they take a 5 block, stack a 7 block on top of it, then side by side, they put a 10 block and a 2 block. It's easy to SEE the answer. They use the blocks to teach multiplication. When they multiply 12x13, they use a red 100 block with 2 blue 10 blocks on the right hand side to show 12 columns. They use 3 more blue 10 blocks on top to make 13 rows. They fill in the 6 blocks in the corner to make a rectangle. It's easy to SEE that 12x13=156. My son would use the blocks a bit at first, then he wouldn't need to use them anymore. He just knew how to do it in his head. Epsilon (5th grade) works with fractions. They have fraction overlays that really help the kids SEE fractions. They are a little difficult to describe, but I'll try. On the bottom, there is a white background piece. On the top there is a clear plastic piece with lines dividing the white background piece into halves or thirds or fourths or fifths ... In the middle is a colored piece that represents 1/2 or 2/2 or 1/3 or 2/3 or 3/3 or 1/4 or 2/4 or ... When you add 2/3 + 1/4, you set up the 2/3, set up the 1/4, then take the extra clear plastic piece divided into 4 and place it crosswise over the 2/3, SEEing that 2/3 is the same as 8/12. You take the extra clear plastic piece divided into 3 and place it crosswise over the 1/4, SEEing that 1/4 is the same as 3/12. Adding, 8/12 + 3/12 is easy then. I have found the balance of new material vs. review to be just right for us in the new program. There are 30 lessons in each book Each lesson has 3 lesson pages (new concept) and 3 review pages. The first review page had a “quick review†of a particular topic. This helps to refresh my son’s memory if he has forgotten the topic. The review of earlier concepts is very methodical. Sometimes, people ask about testing. Here is my experience. When my son was about ½ way through Epsilon (5th grade), I had to have him evaluated due to state law. He took the Woodcock Johnson test (national test which only took 30 minutes total), and the results were startling. His math calculation came out upper 8th grade and his math reasoning came out mid 9th grade! It took me a while to understand this. It does not mean that he is doing 8th/9th grade math work. It means that my son, working at 5.5 grade level, does as well as the average 8th/9th grader. When he was ½ way through Zeta (6th grade), he took the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement and scored post high school in math. After MUS Pre-Algebra, he scored 11.4 on the math total of the ITBS. Sometimes, people are concerned about the scope & sequence of MUS. If you look at the scope & sequence of some other math curriculums or what is being taught in your local elementary school, you may find it different from MUS. MUS uses a "mastery" approach. It focuses on single digit addition and subtraction in alpha, multiple digit addition and subtraction in beta, multiplication in gamma, division in delta, fractions in epsilon, and decimals in zeta, roughly 1st-6th grade. Other curriculums use a "spiral" approach. They do a little bit of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions in each grade with each year getting progressively more difficult. This concerns some people. If they put their child in school in 3rd grade, their child may have not seen fractions at all, whereas the ps'ers would have seen simple fractions. This does not mean that the 3rd graders who have been taught simple fractions actually understand them, just that they have seen them. But, because MUS focuses on one concept each year, I see that as one of its strengths. I think it really helps the child to know multiplication (for example) until they know it forwards, backwards, sideways, and upside down. I think it helps to CEMENT it in the child's head. Here are some of the negatives I've heard over the years: (1) It has no color, pictures, or games to make it “funâ€. That’s true. It’s more of a solid, straightforward approach. (2) The word problems aren't as challenging as they could be. We do supplement with Singapore’s Challenging Word Problems. I have a degree in math. My son picks math up very quickly. But, this program is so well laid out that most of the time, the learning is easy. Once in a while, it’s a little difficult, like multiple digit multiplication and long division. But, the approach is so incremental, that they learn little by little until they know a whole lot. I hope this has been helpful. Believe it or not, I'm not a rep. Just a very happy user. Final note: I was not as impressed with Algebra as with the previous levels. It did not cover as much material as traditional Algebra texts (ex. quadratic formula was not presented). We will not continue with MUS through high school.

Ds did not come home for Thanksgiving. He has games over both Thanksgiving and Christmas break. The dorms remain open over Thanksgiving. He and 2 teammates found a restaurant on Thanksgiving day. He stayed with off-campus teammates after dorms closed for Christmas and before dorms opened after Christmas due to practice/games. There are generally still games over spring break, so he didn't come home then either. I can't remember if dorms closed. If they did, he stayed with off-campus teammates. However, they have a short break a few weeks after spring break, and he asked to come home then. FWIW, ds only lived on campus his freshman year. At his school, it is typical for all others to live off-campus.

We are blessed that CC is free for hs'ers in 10th-12th grade here. We pay books and fees. Honestly, though, I think it is an indication that PS is so bad that the brighter kids head to CC early.

by David Servan-Schreiber. I read this when it was recommended to a friend going through cancer. It is very good. Not only diet recommendations, but just a good book about keeping your priorities straight for a fulfilling life.

Eat to Live is my nutrition bible. I recommend Disease Proof Your Child by Joel Fuhrman. Nuts, seeds, avocado, nut butters are great snacks for those who do not need to lose weight. As for the junk: One thing I learned from Fuhrman was to cheat out of the house. It's so much easier not to eat junk if it is not in my home.

You can make sure that all your curriculum is high school level and college preparatory without question. Not only do you want the NCAA to approve the material, but you want your ds to be well prepared for college level studies, right? I mailed the in all at once, but ds had no ccw for after 10th grade due to dual enrollment. It has always been the case that they only review the student's information after an inquiry has been made. Otherwise, they would be wasting their time reviewing information when no coach is interested in the student. PM me with your email address if you would like my core course worksheets. ETA: I was told by hs'ers before me that the NCAA is not out to prevent hs'ers who have been schooled in a conscientious manner from playing college sports. I hope that thought comforts you. :grouphug:

:toetap05: Here ya go. :grouphug:

Wowsa! Since Division 3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships, I have always been curious to know if they somehow offer other scholarships instead. We were told by our swimmer tour guide at Emory that the school is not allowed to give any more scholarship money to athletes than non-athletes. Do you happen to know your husband's cousin's experience wrt $$$?

Texas Tech University ISD

How tall is your ds? Is he playing AAU? It would be helpful. Any possibility of him playing for public or private school? Official stats and a "paid" HS coach who has navigated the recruiting process is helpful. OTOH, our AAU coach likely sealed the deal for our ds. PM me with your email address, and I will send you ds's basketball brochure. I wrote about our recruiting experience here. Stats, video are necessary. I'd think that NCAA Div 3 or NAIA or CC would be better fits. I have heard that Div 3 teams are geared towards who wants to go to that school and plays basketball, but based on the number of coaches that called ds, I don't know that I would agree with that statement. If you've got a couple thousand dollars to spend, you may want to contact a company like NSR or NCSA (referenced in the link). "paid" because our HS coach got an extra $2.xx per hour for coaching...

This doesn't meet all your criteria, but I would recommend Derek Owens. We used him for Physics in 9th grade. You may read my review here. He also offers Physical Science. While I like the idea of a single provider for multiple years, the quality of the class/instruction was more important to me, and I was willing to pick and choose for an outstanding instructor. Good luck!

I am not sure of the answer, but I suspect it won't matter, especially because of the high English and Reading scores and the AP score. I am not sure of the changes, but ds didn't do well with the timed essay for the ACT. 1st time (2012) 51% and 2nd time (2013) 38%. :scared:He had high English and Reading scores and 2 dual enrollment Composition classes. I think the only red flag would have to do with the format of the section itself.

Congrats! But, I'm confused. Are you going to be a teacher or a student? Faculty means teacher to me. Maybe it means something different in Canada? Or are you going to be a graduate student?