I'd try to separate out his previous behavior from the decision of the best academic choice for him. IF you all decide that starting in grade 8 is a good decision for the academic/social/whatever reasons, I'd just put his being a pain about the whole thing to the side. I understand you don't want him to think his campaign has been a success, but to keep him home for another year primarily based on that would not be good for anyone, IMO. I wish you the best! My boys have some of the same descriptors you use for your son. They started ps full time in grades 9 and 10 (this year) and it has been a big transition, but all around a good choice for our family.

When I feel a need to vent, I often just read message boards and it dampens my desire to vent. :)

I was stressed too when DS was 9 and not reading. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: He was also behind in math and handwriting. For him, when he did learn to read (and write and work on math), his ability grew much faster than I expected. He did not slowly become a better reader and he did not stay behind. By the time he was in middle school (age 13-14) he was all caught up and now (age 16) he scores exceptionally high in reading comprehension tests (and other subjects). He has never learned to knit though. :) He also loved audio books and could hold onto an incredible amount of information. He is an auditory learner and this has served him well in high school classes. He reads slowly but thoroughly. I hope your DS will progress in the same way. I wish I had a secret method to guarantee this, but I don't. I just kept loving and supporting him and I didn't push reading (we had already tried a few programs for dyslexics and they all caused incredible frustration). One thing that might have helped him was listening to audio books and then reading them. He did this with the Artemis Fowl books...I wonder if he basically memorized the audio and then deciphered the book from that.

I have never grown strawberries in a grow bag but was also considering it here. The biggest concerns for me are watering (making sure I don't forget to water regularly or over water) and being sure I fertilize frequently enough. You could use stiff wire fencing and 3 foot metal stakes to section off a small area. Then the costs tend to add up though. Good luck with your strawberries. :)

This is along the lines of what I was thinking. Bringing them back to the table seems like the sociable and friendly thing to do as opposed to eating them alone in the kitchen. But, around here, if dinner does not include a starchy food, DH brings bread, chips or crackers to the table. I do not consider it rude. They are available as sides to all who care to partake. It it was all my teen was eating for dinner, then I'd mention the need to have a variety of foods.

I know some state universities do not require foreign language for admission but do require the equivalent of 4 years of high school foreign language for graduation.

I usually avoid gory/scary movies and books. I was reluctant to watch The Walking Dead from the description on Netflix. DH and I passed on it several times. But one night we finally watched an episode and we both got hooked. Yes it is gory, but it IMO the directors do a great job in giving the violence a graphic novel feel and they contrast that effectively with the character development. The zombie fight scenes are reminiscent of a Halloween haunted house sometimes. Some parts are super cheesy too but then they throw in an excellent line that elevates the show to a new level. As far as the pop out scares--there are very few of these. Many many times DH and I have wondered if a zombie was about to appear, but one doesn't. The suspense builds up and you imagine one might be around the corner, but usually one doesn't show up. Makes it all the more intense.

He does not remain in a philosophical view point imo. Rather, he is suggesting that belief in a creator is supported by science and data. ".....from a scientific standpoint, if you want to look at this scientifically, you have to look at the data,..." Also, just because many people derive a sense of comfort from their belief in a deity, it does not necessarily follow that not believing in a deity results in a lack of positive thoughts or a lack of a sense of meaning in one's life.

My kids didn't follow a standard math program. They have 2e qualities (gifted w/LDs). Most workbook programs resulted in a high degree of frustration. Midway through elementary, I finally adopted a living math approach. We read tons of math readers from the local library and we integrated math into our everyday lives. We measured and poured and weighed and counted and talked about numbers. We used tiles and math cubes and geometric shapes. When my kids were ready for pre-algebra they did have some gaps. Khanacademy.org was a wonderful place to fill in those gaps. By the time they were ready for prealgebra though, my kids liked math and found the concepts interesting. They are now doing very well in high school math. My 9th grader is getting As in geometry and my 10th grader is getting As in precalculus. I am pretty sure they will both go into STEM fields. Your activities sound like a great basis for developing an understanding and appreciation for math. :) I highly recommend saving coins in a large pickle jar and counting them from time to time. Is it risky? I do not know....I am beginning to wonder if sticking to a standard math curriculum is actually MORE risky as it seems to too often result in young students disliking math and finding it incredibly boring.

Thanks for the reply Sue. :) It is always interesting to hear how the home school/ps/DE enrollments can progress so many different ways. I hope your son has a great year.

Doing well on the AP exams without officially taking the AP approved class is probably fine. If she does well on the exam, she is showing her mastery of the material. There have been some threads in the past addressing self studying for AP exams. You might be able to tag this thread *AP* and see if you can then search through other threads tagged that way. I am not entirely sure how the tagging and related thread functions work on the new message boards.

Thanks Sue! We did look into scheduling more classes at the U. Did your son start with Spanish 1 at the CC or did he take a higher lvl spanish class after some self study? Foreign language is another scheduling issue for DS since he is only in Spanish 1 now at the high school. He just won't have time to complete 4 years of FL unless he takes 2 semesters at the U or does some accelerated work on his own. He is ok with only having three years, I just wish we could work in 4.

Students can definitely get into good schools without any AP classes. I would take a look at admission pages for colleges your kids are interested in. Many college web site have a section detailing admissions process for homeschool students. AP classes and AP test scores do help show potential colleges that the student has completed college level work. Students can gain college credit for AP classes in some schools (this is highly variable though). So much depends on the student's goals and what you really mean by a good college. Are you talking about public state universities? Private schools? We don't have enough info to go on. If you have more specific goals for your students, you can post and get plenty of feedback. :) GL!

We used SWI B without TWSS. My kids were around 6th, 7th grade. Maybe 7th and 8th... I just cannot remember at the moment. Anyways, they were definitely reluctant writers, 2e type. Once I got the notebooks set up and figured out the scheduling, it went very smoothly. We did watch together at first so I knew what to expect but toward the end, DS would do it independently. In one section the expectations suddenly ramp up and I did have to find some outside help at that point, but we got through that just fine. Younger son did about 90% of the program. My older son did about 70% but has been going strong with writing since then. They later did most of WWS 1 and Figuratively Speaking and transitioned into public high school honors LA classes without problem. They have strong verbal skills which have helped them in their classes.

I do agree. It is a bit mind boggling actually. My younger son is aware of Stanford as a potential college due to the number of computer science classes offered by Stanford Profs on Coursera. Other son has been watching MIT online classes for a long time.....sigh. DH and I have graduate degrees from state schools and are doing just fine. We have not advocated top schools at all. Darn you online classes!! I am joking here--the kids have gained so much from online content. I sincerely wish you all the best. We left a high COL area over three years ago and DH took a big pay cut. Only after moving did I fully realize how stressed out we were there. This brings up an interesting idea though. Go to a top school and become a leader in your field and you effectively exclude yourself from a large job base. You then have to stay in the higher COL area to maintain your job. Even for my husband with a Ph.D. from a public U, his area of expertise is so specific, there are only so many places where he can work. We have moved away from family in order for him to pursue his career. I would be happy if my kids went to the local U and stayed on in the area, but I doubt they will do that. :(

I'd vote for keeping it on the list. This was one of the memorable books DS read this year (sophomore). He continues to bring up ideas from it, particularly doublethink.

This is good to keep in mind. Last week we went over the online schedule and saw the time commitment for the class, including, as you say, lecture, recitation and lab. After realizing the amount of time for this one class, DS suggested reducing his high school class load, to my relief. He had originally planned on AP English instead of a Lit class and adding in AP Biology as he was still thinking he should take 7 classes. I agree about being able to adjust other work loads. We just mocked up a possibly daily schedule for him but still need to sit down and fully consider the time commitment involved. This does concern me, for both my kids. Next thread: How to help kids avoid burn out! He has been very self directed in his high school education. I would allow him to slow down, but he doesn't want to. He finds physics & math fascinating and wants to be in these classes. It is, honestly, scary. Last year we were debating regular physics or AP physics and wondering if he would have had enough Alg 2 to get into pre-calculus at the high school. I don't know if he needs to be reined in or let loose! His physics and math teachers find him an exceptional student, so I do feel, at least, a strong sense of outside validation. Part of me wishes he would just go to the U full time next year. He would have fewer classes to keep track of. About the high school credits, does your son already have 4 years of high school English? This is the one subject that would hold up DS. Our Univ. has a program for high school students to enter the U pursuing an undergrad degree, but they still prefer to see 4 years of English. I know he could take 2 semesters of LA at the University, but that adds additional kinks to his scheduling. Thanks for mentioning this. We will look into it. We generally don't have attendance problems but it is good to be mindful of possible limits. My son too. He has definite 2e qualities though. Or at least he has for most of his life. His high school classes are going very well with 95%-99% in all his classes. I doubt he will have trouble with the concepts in either class at the U. He seems to take to programming quite naturally. He has watched most of physics 1-3 online at MIT open courseware. In AP Physics he has been familiar with all the concepts presented so far but physically completing assignments still takes time. The amount of time and effort he puts into each assignment concerns me. He works very hard...sometimes too hard! I never imagined I would be advising my kids not to work so hard. We will spend some time talking about ways to pace yourself. I appreciate the replies. :) I am a massive worry wort. Isn't there a worry emote??

My son enrolled in the public high school for grade 10 as a sophomore. Here it is decided by the individual school district. The online school district info was not very helpful. After reading through the guidelines, I thought it was going to be a huge mess, but it ended up working out well, despite all the confusion. Finding the right person who actually knows the answers to your questions was the hardest part.. She eventually placed him into the classes we requested without prior testing. For example, he went into AP Physics, a class sophomores rarely take at the high school. Even though he is currently a full time student and has to take classes THIS year consistent with getting a high school diploma, he does not necessarily have to actually get a diploma from the high school. This is something he is currently debating. In order to get a diploma he has to meet certain requirements, ones that aren't very high priorities for him, such as health which we did on our own in grade 9. Hope your meeting goes well. ETA: The school district here will not accept any of our home school credits either.

I know there are a few families here with kids who took advanced math/science as DE in high school before attending college. Any issues you wish you knew about sooner? If your child started dual enrollment classes, how did the work load affect their other subjects? Any advice/awrnings/things to think of as my son plans his first DE classes? Junior year DS can take intro physics 2 and comp sci 2 and 3 at the local University at no cost us. The University adviser recommended physics 2 for majors, but that class is only offered mid day, interfering with high school classes. Senior year he plans to continue with math, physics and comp sci classes. At that point, I do not know how he will fit in his LA and language classes, or any kind of electives. He is currently grade 10 in public high school full time after hsing grade 1-9. Junior year he should also take (high school): AP American Govt. Literature class Spanish 2 AP Calc BC. He is self studying calculus now in order to be better prepared for the physics class and has just passed half way mark through AoPS calculus book. If he attends the public school he needs to take a trimester each of PE, economics, health. He can take classes at the high school or do a combination of public school, online and self study.. He has enjoyed the interaction of live classes and is less interested in online classes at this point, but scheduling his DE classes is hit first priority, with the physics class being top priority. He will most likely take only one university class per semester, but if first semester goes well, he could take two. He plans on a undergraduate degree in physics with a minor (or dual major?) in computer science. He wants to apply to selective schools but attending our big state university is an option. I feel some anxiety creeping into me. He is a strong student but he likes to think about assignments thoroughly and work on them meticulously. He ends up spending a long time on his homework and he seems .... tired to me already. He has cut down on extra curricular activities because of his school work (some of this, like the calculus, is self imposed). Sometimes lately, when I suggest activities (minor family things), he declines and says he would like to just sit there and do nothing for a while. I have never heard him say anything like this before and it surprised me. I wonder if he is already over extending himself and he isn't even taking any DE classes yet. He has 7 classes at the high school now, including AP Physics and AP Comp Sci. His other classes are honors except Spanish 1, which has been surprisingly easy for him (he has struggled with dyslexia issues in the past and I thought foreign language might be over taxing for him.) ME: :scared: :scared: :scared:

Job shadow and career research, nutrition, health, family and consumer sciences kinds of project. Online classes in web design/programming. All your ideas sound great. :thumbup1:

Khan academy Coursera Udacity iTunes University WEM and the library.

We were very relaxed homeschoolers. My kids struggled with most typical school work and I eventually decided to approach their education a different way. It took me a long time to accept this change in my attitude about what education looks like. We settled on an approach wehre they were busy taking in information but did little in the written output category. Unschooling is an easy way to describe it although at the time, I didn't use that term because I knew too many unschoolers who were unparenters, and that did not appeal to me at all. I read TWTM when the kids were elementary ages. The structure simply would not work for us. When the kids were in middle school we discussed high school and college plans. At that time both kids decided they wanted to follow a plan similar to a rigorous high school experience. They knew they wanted to attend college and were already considering graduate school as well. Right at this time we moved to a new state where the high school offered classes well aligned to my kids' interests, primarily computer programming, engineering and AP sciences. We met a family loosely using TWTM in high school (and attending the ps part time) and at that time I joined these boards. We did tighten up schooling at that time, but it was definitely driven by my kids. I helped them stay on track, but I was not a task master to them. I think they had to want to do the work, and overwhelmingly they did want to. They are interested in so much! Finally, the kids were interested in outsourcing lab science classes and this led to trying out the public high school when oldest was in grade 9. His Chemistry honors and Engineering classes went exceptionally well with him having the highest percentage across all the classes. This year they enrolled in public high school full time (one is in grade 9 and one is in grade 10). They are exceedingly well prepared for honors and AP classes despite not having drilled math facts, grammar rules or scientific facts. The high school has high academic standards too--it is not as if they have found they can manage in watered down classes. My older son is that kid who could not do elementary level math worksheets in grade 7 and is now advanced in math. He was definitely behind in most academic areas based on his written output. His conceptually development and verbal skills however, have long been quite high. He went from starting prealgebra in grade 8 to being halfway through Art of Problem Solving Calculus in grade 10, without me assigning any math, hovering over him, or grading his work. He is officially enrolled in precalculus honors at the high school, but he enjoys math so much, he works through the calculus book (he asked for it), watches videos on khan academy and has taken parts of calculus online through coursera. I know if this kid had been dragged along a typical math trajectory, he would have a different attitude about math. I don't know if he would still hate it as he did as early as grade 1, but I doubt he would have been able to excel at his own pace if I insisted on him working through a workbook in the typical manner. We have used/tried/read/discarded many homeschooling programs and text books along the way, especially as the kids hit preteens. We have talked about everything under the sun too. We are voracious library users and audio book lovers. When they were around grade 6 and 7 we talked about writing skills and ways to develop them. I showed them some writing programs and we ended up trying out SWI B. Both kids were on board with doing this program. They wanted to be able to write and agreed this could be a useful approach. Younger son ended up doing about 90% of the program and older son did about 70%. WWS 1 was the same experience. We have so much freedom in homeschooling. Definitely do what works for you and your family. I can say that I was extremely scared to try an unschooling approach. I imagined my kids forever behind and without skills. It just isn't true!!!

IMO, the original assignment does not lend itself very well to a focused essay. The assignment is a series of questions, each requiring short answers or even essays on their own. Your son has written paragraphs to address each of the questions in the original assignment but they do not connect together as an essay. I think your son could write a focused essay based off his first paragraph using "The gods are used to personify human tragedy, feelings, and emotions felt by mortals during the campaign." as his thesis statement and forget about the rest of the issues raised in the original assignment. But, he probably doesn't really want to spend any more time doing that. :tongue_smilie: He could work on writing stronger sentences. He uses a lot of passive voice sentences. Switching those to an active voice would help improve the essay. For example, instead of: Homer was a Greek orator who performed popular epics of his era. One could write: Homer, a Greek orator from the _fill in the blank w/appropriate descriptive term_ time period, performed popular epics of his era. Instead of: The plot of this story is the conflict between the tale’s legendary heroes, Achilles and Hektor. Try something like: The story centers on/revolves around/focuses on the conflict between the tale's.................. This is similar to how my DS wrote in grade 9. His writing matured greatly over a year but he did several exercises on generating stronger sentences.

Activities similar to Hands on Equations Geo board activities http://www.ttaconline.org/d/sol/Mathematics/Geometry_OT03LN03.pdf (Pythagorean theorem activity)

Khan academy? It is a free online program. She would have to make an account to keep track of her progress. With Khan she can start at the very beginning, basic addition, and it goes pretty quickly. When she reaches a concept with which she is unfamiliar, she can go directly to watch the corresponding videos. This was very good for DS when he started algebra and we realized he had some gaps. ALEKS is another online option. You can often find free 2 month trials for ALEKS. My kids prefer Khan though as ALEKS does little conceptual explaining. Other than that, :grouphug: . DS couldn't stick to a math curriculum until 8th grade but since then he has been doing 2 math subjects per year making him on the advanced side now (grade 10 in pre-calculus)