Will the courses at the CC will be on his permanent/official transcript? Will those grades follow him when he applies to a four year university, if that's something he might want to do some day? If so, it might be worth keeping that in mind when selecting courses to take at the CC. ETA: I agree with Kiana about the type of reading material in a CC class. I would get the reading list for the class/es you're interested in and see if that's what your son would be interested in reading or best served by reading.

Copying and pasting from another thread I posted to in reply to this question.... WHA is unabashedly Christian, and the teachers teach from that world view. ... I am a committed Christian, but I don’t think that Christians need to, or should, avoid secular science texts. Whether one is a young earth creationist or not, one should understand the theory of evolution because it's a big part of "science." A YEC will consider it a flawed or incorrect theory, but s/he should still have an understanding of the theory. If I recall correctly, the students in the WHA biology class read & discussed the evolution unit of the ML text and took a unit test on it. Obviously, that would require having some understanding of evolution, regardless of personal beliefs about it. I think the WHA instructors try to be very respectful of different families' beliefs. Even among Christians, there are YEC, OEC, theistic evolutionists, etc. I'm pretty sure the Biology instructor presented the theory of evolution simply as something to be understood, but left it to the families to interpret as correct or not, according to their beliefs. I know she never spoke of it derisively, as I've sometimes heard Christian speakers do.

I only use these sites for ideas. They may contain books that would not be a good fit for all readers. Each family has to use their own judgement. Read Your Way Through History A Book in Time Juvenile Series & Sequels This definitely contains books I wouldn't recommend. However, it's useful if there's an author or series that you like and you're looking for other books by that author. You can do the same on amazon, but this one is faster for me, esp. when I'm trying to figure out the order of books in a series. Classical Christian 1000 Good Books List

Can't help with Physics or the Novare texts, but my 9th graders took WHA's Biology last year with Marie Owens. We were all very happy with the class!

There are a couple sample transcripts in the files of the Homeschooling Toward College yahoo group. I think I'm going to use the Excel "Transcript Final" sample. It has a gpa calculator.

We've used TPS for French (along with the supplemental conversation class) and we've been very happy with it. Not sure about the 9th grader, but for the 7th grader, I would opt for TPS over OS. She's younger, and it seems like something specifically geared for students her age would be more optimal. From your signature, it looks like she's doing AoPS Alg 1, so she must be a bright and competent student. TPS's regular German 1 might even be an option for her. The other, major advantage to TPS is the live speaking opportunity. Unless one is just checking the "three years of a foreign language box" (which is perfectly reasonable for some students!), the opportunity to actually use a modern language in spoken conversation is pretty critical. On the other hand, if you know German, or if you know people locally who do, maybe you or they could provide the conversation piece to supplement the OS program. Another advantage to TPS is that you will keep moving forward. For me, the risk of doing some course at half-pace is that I might drag it out even longer. But, that might not be an issue for your dd. Is there an advantage to OS, other than the cost? And, actually, if you end up needing a tutor to provide the conversation component to the basic OS cost, that's going to add up fast. I'd definitely go with TPS, assuming the teacher has good reviews.

There's an abbreviation sticky. "DD" can be dear daughter "DS" dear son "DH" dear husband. Sometimes other possibilities come to mind. ETA: fix link

Congrats!!! :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

If your child had not gotten into the lottery "magnet" school, would you have sent him to your zoned public school? If not, it might be worth thinking about whether the lottery school will address whatever your concerns with the regular public school are. "Magnet STEM" school conjures up ideas and expectations in our own minds of some amazing, ideal school environment. But, those visions are probably a little rosier than what the reality will be. In my area, "magnet" labels are not as pervasive as they once were. It seemed like they were more of a sales & marketing tool than anything else. And they worked to attract people initially, but they didn't work long term. (Don't have any hard evidence of this, though. it's just my guess.) If admission to the STEM is purely lottery based, with no requirements or testing or ... anything, the student population is likely to be similar to the student population of any of the other schools in the district. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on the quality of the district's schools. A private school is likely to have admissions requirements which, for better or worse, might screen for higher level students. A private school can also fire less effective teachers more easily and quickly than a public school, so the overall quality of teachers might be better at the private school. Education does seem to be one area where you "get what you pay for." Best of luck to you in making a decision. I know it's hard making that decision even though it's "only Kindergarten." It just seems so huge when you're looking at it.

My daughter may try TPSs summer starter photography class. If it goes well, she'll continue in the fall. If anyone has taken photography classes at TPS, I'd love to get your thoughts!

Dolciani Algebra 2 & Trig. My sons are doing this with Anne Stublen at Wilson Hill. Highly recommend the class, if you're looking for an online option!

Sign her up for the class! You have the most wonderful gift arriving in October! Of all the years to remove some stress, lighten the load a little, and give you some breathing room, this is the one! It will probably remove some stress from your dd, too, having an outside, not-mom teacher for a subject she doesn't particularly like for a year. There will probably still be tears, but moving the center of gravity for math from you-her to outside teacher-her will make a big difference. You'll be able to step in alongside her and coach/cheer her through when she needs help. After plugging away through pre-algebra with my daughter last year, I outsourced algebra 1 to Wilson Hill this year. It has been the best thing for my daughter and me. Yes, there are still tears, but 90% less. She did so much better than I'd expected! I'm thinking of making a second pass through algebra with her next year because it still isn't easy for her and I think one more pass through it might really help the pieces to fall into place, making her more ready for, and more confident in, the rest of her math courses. Having had a year "off" of doing math together has made all the difference for both of us.

My oldest are only just finishing their second year of high school, so I can't speak to the best path in high school. Still feeling our way through it. I do think that doing Rod & Staff English and WWE/WWS is a really solid route. We used R&S 2-7 and I couldn't have found a better foundation for grammar. It was one of the best curriculum choices we made. We also did most of the writing in R&S, but I wasn't sure it was enough. We did parts of WWE, a lot of WWS 1-2, and some of WWS 3. (WWS came out a little too late for us.) If I had younger children coming up, I would absolutely do R&S 3-7 or 8 plus WWS 1-3, maybe some WWE. I know myself and I would burn out trying to do WWE 1-4 AND then WWS 1-3. I think maybe R&S's writing through 5th grade and then WWS for 6-8th might be enough. Good luck with your planning! I am totally with you on wanting a long term plan, even though I knew it would change. It does make the whole thing seem more doable and, at least for me, if I don't know where I'm aiming long term, I end up wasting time going in random circles. I looked at my plan at the end of every year and modified as needed. Just don't get bogged down looking for the one, perfect curriculum. It doesn't exist. There are multiple, equally good paths. It's the doing that matters most, not the planning. Have fun! Home schooling is such a wonderful adventure! Yvonne

Does anyone happen to know how the Saxon Geometry text (not integrated) compares to other geometry texts? I'd prefer Jurgensen because I'm familiar with it and know it's solid. I was very happy with the WHA online course that my boys took using Jurgensen. I'm just not sure how my math-uninterested daughter would do with Jurgensen. Thanks, yvonne

We used library books to flesh out the science memory work. It was our best year of science in K-6! I'd go to the library and get bags full of books on whatever the science memory work was for the next three or four weeks of CC. (The year we did it had a lot on geology & rocks.) I'd bring home books from the picture book/easy reader section up through adult books with lots of captioned pictures. We all spent 30 minutes a day reading whatever we felt like from the stacks of books on that period's topics. If they wanted to read an entire book, fine. If they just wanted to page through and look at the pictures & read the captions, fine. It was surprising how much they went on to read when they were free to read whatever they wanted. On Friday, we'd get together and I'd write up on the whiteboards a sort of combined outline of the interesting facts/info we'd each accumulated during the week. (I usually had a general idea of the basic framework of info/ideas/supporting bits of info for whatever that week's topic was that I kind of guided the children toward building on the whiteboard.) It was everything I'd hoped home schooling would be when we started! Almost completely interest-driven, but guided by a general framework that I kept in sight. I wish I could have been as flexible with other subjects and in other years. It was a truly great year of science!

I wouldn't use it for a "literature" class, even in the earlier grades. History, maybe. I would not assign it for history or lit at the high school level. But, there must be some reason for the choice for that particular student.

I agree with the pps about not repeating LfC B. Maybe, if a student just barely skimmed along, barely getting through B, it might make sense, but for diligent students who successfully mastered the material, it would be a lost year that could otherwise have been used to make significant forward progress. I would figure out the co-op's end goal for Latin and work backward from there. If there are students who want to, or who you think might eventually want to, pursue Latin through AP, and if you'd like to accomplish that by x year of high school, I'd figure out an efficient path now. Does the co-op plan to use LA through AP? If so, move all the 5th or 6th graders to LA 1 now. LA1 starts at the very beginning, just as LfC A does. I can't imagine that a typical 6th grader, with no prior Latin background at all, would have any problem at all starting Latin Alive 1. If you wanted a different track for students who were younger, or who weren't as interested in Latin, or who were not as diligent, LfC A-C might be enough for them. LfC is a very good program. I didn't realize how solid until I saw how well just the first two years fed into Wheelock's. So, just completing LfC A-C would provide a good Latin foundation, I think. And, of course, a huge factor in deciding what to use is the level of the Latin teacher. Someone who is learning Latin along with the students is going to want/need different things than someone who already knows where they're going and how all these early pieces fit into the later, more advanced picture. An experienced Latin teacher can "teach ahead," making the early years more robust and preparing students better for the later years. It can be hard to find those folks, though. YMMV, esp. depending on goals of the students, work ethic of the students, ability & experience of the teacher, grammar foundation that the students bring to the study of Latin, and lots of other variables!

When we registered for the PSAT & SAT subject exams, I think a list of schools near us that were offering the exams came up. We just picked one we were familiar with. Registering for APs was harder. I had to contact schools personally. (Thanks to Arcadia, I found a location that was very open to outside students.)

I know some folks were looking for this & it is super hard to find. There's one on ebay for $49, if anyone is still looking.

My daughter completed LfC A&B in 4th & 5th grade. We tried to go to Latin Alive 1, but it was sooooo tedious. There was just too much overlap with LfC A&B, at least at the beginning. I wish I had just tested her through LA 1 until we hit new material, but I'd signed her up for an online course. We've done a lot of online courses, and that was the only one we've ever dropped. I ended up letting Latin go for that year (6th grade) and then putting her in Lukeion's Latin 1 (Wheelock's first half) in 7th grade. It was a completely seamless transition! So, in the end I was glad we hadn't slogged through LA 1. YMMV ETA: My sons did the same thing.... LfC A&B in 4th and 5th. They started to audit a LfC C class in 6th, but dropped it after the first semester because auditing a live class wasn't working for them. (I guess we've dropped two classes.) They didn't do any Latin second semester of 6th. In 7th, they went right into a Latin 1/Wheelock's course. It was a seamless transition for them, too. ETA: Latin Alive is not necessarily a dull text. It's just that LfC A&B prepared us really well and LA 1 started from the beginning again.

We've done R&S 3-7. I would do R&S 7 and then do R&S 8, rather than spreading R&S 8 out over two years. Part of the strength of the R&S program is that it circles back over the grammar every year, each year adding a layer of complexity. For us, circling back over and adding to the grammar each yet meant that my students really internalized the material. If you have two more years to spend on grammar, and especially since you've only done one year of R&S so far, I'd definitely take the opportunity to circle over it twice more with R&S 7 & 8. R&S 7, especially, would really pull things together for a student who has only done R&S 6 so far, imo.

Wilson Hill has a solid math sequence, pre-algebra - calc, and excellent math teachers. So far, my students have done algebra I, geometry, and algebra II there with Leslie Smith and Anne Stublen, and they will be continuing next year. We've all been very happy with it. I like the fact that WHA uses the Dolciani sequence and that it provides a continuous path from pre-algebra through calc. I don't want to have to look for a new math provider every year, and I don't want to have to jump around between math publishers. I also like the fact that we've had consistently good teachers there.

If she does a few practice tests and it looks like she'll have a decent score, I'd go ahead and take the SAT. If she ends up taking AP bio later, great. Take the AP test, too. If she doesn't, she'll have a bio score in her pocket. I wish I had had my sons take the Bio SAT last year when they finished their bio course, but I figured they would have other science SAT scores down the road and/or an AP bio or chem course. They're veering more towards the humanities, though, and may not end up with that AP bio course after all. It would have been nice to have that SAT score, especially if they don't do a bunch of AP science courses the next two years. Definitely dropped the ball on that one.

My boys are taking the French and US History exams on Saturday. They're worried about the US History because they haven't done any prep at all for it beyond the work they've done for the class they're taking. I had read somewhere on the CB site, I thought, that one could pick & choose which specific SAT subject scores to send to colleges, even if both tests were taken the same day, so I figured there was no downside to trying the US History exam. I can't find that info anywhere now, though, so I'm beginning to wonder if they should skip it?!

Through AP with a native of France teacher would be good.