Thanks, Pegasus. I understand it better now.

8, kinda confused. Filing Requirements for Dependents in Publication 17, page 7 in the PDF states: This led me to believe it was earned income. :confused1: However, you are probably right because I don't personally have this situation, and I think you do. Oh I see it now. I have never seen this as a volunteer because form 8615 is out of scope for us. ETA: Nice to see you back! :seeya:

No. 14000(scholarship)-8000(tuition)=6000 taxable scholarship=earned income Yes, add books to the 8000. He pays taxes on the scholarship amount that exceeds tuition, fees, books, supplies.

This is my 3rd year as a volunteer tax preparer. Single Dependents under 65 and not blind must file if any of the following apply. Your unearned income was over $1,050 Your earned income was over $6,300 Your gross income was more than the larger of (a) $1,050 or (b) Your eanred income (up to $5,950) plus $350. Unearned income includes taxable interest, ordinary dividends, and capital gain distributions. If also includes unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits, pensions, annuities, and distributions of unearned income from a trust. Earned income includes salaries, wages, tips, professional fees, and taxable scholarship and fellowship grants. Gross income is the total of your unearned and earned income. If I understand correctly then, if box 5 was $6,300 or more than box 2, then he would have to file. For example, if box 2 (tuition and fees) was $1000 and box 5 (scholarship) was $7,000, then his earned income would be $6,000 and he does not have to file. HTH!

I used the PayPerPaper service through Write at Home. I could probably locate a few papers to share if you want. Just PM me with your email address. I also used Cindy Marsch of Writing Assessment Services. This was probably higher quality, but also more expensive. I think I've lost those papers.

We used Write Shop for 6th-7th-8th grade. It would meet these 2 desires for you. Here is my review: Write Shop website is http://writeshop.com/. We used Write Shop 1 & 2 for 6th-7th-8th grade. Write Shop 1 consists of 16/30 lessons covering descriptive, informative, and narrative writing. Write Shop 2 consists of 14/30 lessons covering reviewing the basics, expanding your skills, persuasive writing, and essays. Pros: Extremely detailed instructions for the teacher (this might be considered a con if the teacher didn’t need extremely detailed instructions) Extremely detailed instructions for the student (ditto) Teaches a variety of methods for brainstorming Teaches many ways to make writing more interesting and varied and requires the student to use them over and over (ex. paired adjectives, present and past participle sentence starters, adverb sentence starters, similes, etc.) Helps the student use vivid words by providing them with thorough lists of words to choose from Strictly limits dull writing (to be verbs, weak words, repetitive words) Towards the end of WS 2, teaches thesis statement, organization, and outlining Guides the student to edit their own work by giving them a checklist Guides the teacher to edit the student’s work by giving them a checklist Nearly secular Cons: Learning curve for the teacherEach Write Shop lesson contains: skill builders (review of synonyms, appositives, adverbs, participles, etc.) pre-writing activity brainstorming/practice paragraph brainstorming/sloppy copy 1st revision final copy We spend 2 weeks per lesson, but that is working 3 days the first week and 2 days the second week. The first 2 days are the most teacher intensive, covering pre-writing lesson (which might involve looking at travel brochures and discussing how they are worded to entice the customer to visit) and the dreaded (for my son and I) practice paragraph. Writing is not my favorite task. Teaching writing is not my favorite task. I spend more time preparing for each writing lesson than I do preparing for any other subject. Writing is not my son’s favorite task, either. We spend more time together working on writing than any other subject. I have seen his writing improve tremendously with Write Shop. I have been able to teach writing and help my son improve his writing through Write Shop. The results have been worth the time and effort. After we completed WS 2, I sent 3 of ds’s essays to Cindy Marsh of Writing Assessment Services for evaluation. The Write Shop paper earned an A- but she said it was "formulaic". The literature paper earned a B- because he didn't actually follow the instructions. The history paper earned an A due to the content. Overall for 8th grade, I’m pleased. Full disclosure: During 7th and 8th grade, we had some supplemental help. Ds completed three 6-week sessions of Home2Teach (so-so) and 6 months of working on revisions to papers with Aubrey from TWTM boards (helpful).

Ds took Spanish in 10th and 11th grade at PS. He also took Law Studies one semester and PE for 4 semesters. As others have said, there were days that it was kinda chaotic because the school had some special activity that necessitated a change in schedule and we were never notified in advance. Also had to jump through hoops every year in order to register and the guidance counselor was an idiot so there was always a hassle about the schedule at the start of the semester. Until he got his driver's license, transportation was a pain. But, he also took classes at CC and had basketball practice and weight lifting, so it wasn't just the PS schedule. We ran a taxi service until he got his driver's license which was within a month of his 16th birthday. Ds really wanted to do something at PS (he was on PS basketball team 7th-12th grade). IMO, besides the Law Studies class (which ds enjoyed), it was a waste of time. PS here stinks. I once asked him to compare the students at PS and CC. He said that, at CC, at least the students cared. You are correct that foreign language and science labs may be worth it depending on the quality of the school. I was nervous about ds taking foreign language at CC because the Spanish teacher had a tough reputation and foreign language was not a strength. He did take Spanish at CC in 12th grade. He took 3 semesters of science at CC. Actually, he graduated HS with 69 CC credits and a 4.0 GPA. Quality was much better than PS. Had it been 100% up to me, ds would not have taken anything at PS. Taking 2 classes was a compromise.

You have a PM. I am happy to share ds's resume (he's a sophomore in mechanical engineering).

Ds returned to school Dec 26. The NCAA requires basketball players to have 7 days off for Christmas, and so they did. :closedeyes: School starts tomorrow. Dh is visiting right now. Ds told him that he is ready for classes to start. With nothing else to do but basketball, I think he's bored and he and his 3 teammate housemates are getting on each other's nerves. :rofl: Last year, he came home for a weekend a few weeks after spring break (he had a few days off school for what he called a drunkfest), then in May for a week after classes finished. We don't know when he'll be back next. Basketball usually goes through spring break. Drunkfest won't bother him this year because he's off campus. He has a summer field class to take. We are having a family reunion in CO in July, so I know I'll see him then. I just don't know if I'll see him before then. I was surprised at how disappointed I was that he wouldn't be back during drunkfest. :eek: This is for all the other posters. :grouphug: ETA: I will admit that hearing that ds is ready for classes to start is like music to my ears. In his homeschool days, video games readily filled every available moment to my great chagrin. I used to say that I was the only obstacle between ds and a life of leisure.

I can't think of a grammar curriculum that I would call beautiful, but I do consider Analytical Grammar interesting. I even said that each lesson has a theme and that made it interesting to me. Mostly, I consider it efficient. You may read my review here. It doesn't really sound like what you are looking for, but ya never know. :cool:

This

:iagree: I assumed that the dd had already learned her grammar and the intensive grammar instruction was just beating a dead horse for her. I could be wrong, though. Perhaps her grammar skills are weak and that is why she is overwhelmed?

Agreeing with the pps. We used Analytical Grammar in 6th-7th-8th grade. In 9th, we used their reinforcement book weekly. Nothing after that except wrt writing.

RMA? :blushing:

Um. How do I know if it is sold directly by Amazon or by an independent seller? :blushing:

I am not a shopper. I've ordered a few things off amazon and have never had to return anything. I'm thinking about orderings several pairs of women's loose fitting longer inseam shorts (impossible to find locally) for the gym. What if I don't like them? Some say free returns and some don't. Thanks.

Yes.

I gave ds 1 credit for basketball/weight lifting each year.

No need to itemize deductions with a schedule A. Standard deduction is fine. I use Form 1040 line 68 for the American Opportunity Credit. Doesn't look like it's available on 1040EZ.

Yes. Dig out that receipt. Quote from Directions for Form 8863: We (the volunteer tax preparers I know) consider a computer as equipment needed for a course of study. Yes. Quote from Directions for Form 8863: "may" because there are other conditions: - student must be attending at least half time - student must be pursuing a program leading to a degree or other recognized education credential - school must be "eligible" - married filing separately returns are not eligible - student must not be a drug felon - only first 4 years post secondary education - joint modified adjusted gross income < $180,000 For the average parent/student, all these conditions will be met. HTH!

:iagree: FWIW, this will be my 3rd year as a volunteer tax preparer.

Lori probably never used the tests. I used the tests as well as the comprehension questions and vocabulary quizzes. From content information:

IMO, no. Ds took algebra-based physics in 9th grade through Derek Owens. Fall 10th grade, he took a semester long Exercise Physiology and Sports Medicine through Landry Academy. Then he had DE Earth Science in the spring. 11th grade was DE Bio in fall and DE Chem in spring. He took DE math every semester 10th-12th grade as well. Ds took Bio and Chem in 11th grade. No science in 12th grade. At our CC, they have Bio with a pre-req of Comp 1 and Bio with a prerequisite of Comp 1 and Chem 1. He took the former. They have Intro to Chem with a pre-req of passing the placement test and Gen Chem with a pre-req of Intro to Chem or HS Chem. He took the former. None of his science classes transferred to his 4 year school, and we were not planning or expecting them to transfer. Ds seems to have chosen Mechanical Engineering. HTH!

We used LL7 and LL8. Here is my review: We used LL7 for 7th grade and LL8 for 8th grade. Lightning Literature can be found here. Samples can be found if you look around the website. Pros: Gentle introduction to literature and literary analysis Pick up and go (minimal teacher preparation) Well organized (ie. they give you a reasonable weekly schedule to use) Written to the student so it can be done independently Nice variety of books and genres (biography, poetry, novel, short story, etc) Uses whole books readily available at the library Not too much work – we are able to use a separate grammar and writing program and read other literature without stress Secular Cons: NoneNote: Figuratively Speaking is a nice supplement.